[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4598. Mr. SCHUMER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2017 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle C of title I, add the following:

     SEC. 128. TESTING AND INTEGRATION OF MINEHUNTING SONARS FOR 
                   LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP MINE HUNTING CAPABILITIES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Department of the Navy has determined that the 
     Remote Minehunting System (RMS) has not performed 
     satisfactorily.
       (2) On February 26, 2016, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus 
     stated that new testing must be done to find a reliable 
     solution to the mine countermeasures mission package and that 
     the Navy wants to ``get it out there as quickly as you can 
     and test it in a more realistic environment''.
       (3) There are several mature unmanned surface vehicle-towed 
     and unmanned underwater vehicle-based synthetic aperture 
     sonar (SAS) sensors in use by the Department of Defense and 
     navies of allied nations.
       (4) SAS sensors could provide a technology that would meet 
     the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) minehunting area clearance 
     rate sustained requirement.
       (b) Assessment Required.--The Secretary of the Navy shall 
     perform at-sea testing of a range of sonar technologies to 
     determine which systems can meet the requirements of the Navy 
     LCS mine countermeasure mission package (MCM MP).
       (c) Report to Congress.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than September 30, 2019, the 
     Secretary of the Navy shall--
       (A) conduct operational at-sea testing and experimentation 
     of currently available and deployable United States and 
     allied conventional side-scan sonars and synthetic aperture 
     sonars;
       (B) complete an assessment of minehunting sonar 
     technologies that could meet the requirements for the LCS MCM 
     MP; and
       (C) submit to the congressional defense committees a report 
     that contains the results of the at-sea testing and 
     assessment described in subparagraphs (A) and (B).
       (2) Elements.--The assessment required under paragraph 
     (1)(B) shall include--
       (A) specific details regarding the capabilities of current 
     United States Navy minehunting sonars and in-production SAS 
     sensors available for integration in the LCS MCM MP;
       (B) an estimate of the capabilities that could be achieved 
     by integrating SAS sensors in the LCS MCM MP; and
       (C) recommendations to enhance the minehunting capabilities 
     of the LCS MCM MP using conventional sonar systems and SAS 
     systems.
       (d) Sonar System Defined.--In this section, the term 
     ``sonar system'' includes, at a minimum, sonar systems 
     relying on conventional sonars, side-scan sonars, or 
     synthetic aperture sonars.
                                 ______