{"id":63611,"date":"2023-02-21T18:45:44","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T18:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/21\/navy-divers-apply-typical-skills-to-odd-mission-spy-balloon-recovery\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:48:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:48:44","slug":"navy-divers-apply-typical-skills-to-odd-mission-spy-balloon-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2023\/02\/21\/navy-divers-apply-typical-skills-to-odd-mission-spy-balloon-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy divers use typical skills in odd mission \u2014 recovering a balloon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 The day President Joe Biden ordered a Chinese spy balloon shot down, sailors at Naval Expeditionary Combat Command began thinking through their potential involvement in recovering debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They didn\u2019t know if the military could successfully shoot down the balloon and, if so, what debris might remain. They didn\u2019t know where it would fall, and they didn\u2019t know what hazards might be present among the wreckage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the command had salvage divers and explosive ordnance disposal divers on ready-to-deploy orders, and so those teams began gathering their unmanned underwater drones, remotely operated vehicles and dive gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the evening of Feb. 3, two days after Biden\u2019s order, they deployed south from their home base at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia toward the Carolinas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next evening, they were in the water bringing up the first pieces of debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head of the command, Rear Adm. Brad Andros, and the leader of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2, Capt. Chuck Eckhart, spoke to Defense News on Feb. 19, shortly after the recovery effort formally ended. They explained how it took a mine countermeasures team and a salvage diving team to carry out this unusual mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Nobody had seen this before\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Navy\u2019s EOD Group 2 is the explosive hazards clearance group for the Atlantic fleet. Like their EOD counterparts in the joint force, these sailors can operate on land; uniquely, they are also certified to dive, allowing them to search for, identify, and neutralize mines and other hazards in the water and on the seabed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Navy in recent years has invested in its expeditionary mine countermeasures companies, small organizations within the EOD Groups that conduct mine-hunting clearance operations using divers and unmanned vehicles at sea on small craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also housed within EOD Group 2 is a mobile diving and salvage unit, with divers specifically trained to clear harbors of underwater obstacles or retrieve things like downed aircraft. The team sent on the balloon recovery mission primarily consisted of an expeditionary mine countermeasures company from EOD Mobile Unit 2, as well as a command-and-control element from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2. They received assistance from MH-53 aircraft from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though expeditionary mine countermeasures divers and salvage divers typically wouldn\u2019t work together, Andros and Eckhart said this mission required both sets of expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andros explained that salvage divers typically have a more precise location, such as a latitude and longitude associated with a jet crashing into a body of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, with mine countermeasures missions, the divers must search and clear a wide area \u2014 and with a high degree of certainty they\u2019ve found every single piece of hazardous material, otherwise they\u2019re putting their fellow sailors at risk when ships pass through those waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eckhart said the balloon recovery mission was a mix of both, involving an initial location where a large piece of debris fell, but without the certainty of knowing \u201cif that was the everything. So we started there, then we kind of shifted into mine countermeasures, and then the team did come down and do a salvage op in the middle of a mine countermeasures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCapt. Rick Hayes, commodore of EOD Group 2, enters the water on Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story while working a salvage job in 2020. (Chief Petty Officer Jeff Atherton\/U.S. Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Tough weather conditions dragged out the mission, with heavy winds and seas pausing dive operations multiple times throughout the two-week effort. Because of shallow waters, bad weather on the surface churned up the seabed and moved around debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team from EOD Group 2 searched an area of about 4 square miles, Eckhart said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, Andros added, the team didn\u2019t have to clear the water to the same level of certainty as they would for a mine-clearance operation. Instead, they searched until the FBI was satisfied it had enough debris to study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnlike other missions, there wasn\u2019t the pressurization of time,\u201d he added, whereas with mine clearance the rest of the fleet cannot proceed with their operations until an area of the water is cleared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another key difference in this mission was the uncertainty about what sailors needed to find, Andros and Eckhart said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was an unknown thing. Nobody had seen this before. We couldn\u2019t go to the intelligence community and get very specific\u201d information on what they were searching for, Andros said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Send in the drones<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Eckhart said mission participants found a lot of items on the ocean floor during an initial scan, including what appeared to be a telephone pole. But the team relied on unmanned underwater vehicles\u2019 sonar and video to look for human-made objects, typically something that looked out of place or featured sharp corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naval Expeditionary Combat Command and U.S. Fleet Forces Command \u2014 acting in its role as U.S. Naval Forces Northern Command \u2014 held daily meetings with the FBI and intelligence officials from several government agencies to review what divers brought up and what more the FBI wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs we handed things over to the FBI, they would then sync up with this organization and give us the feedback of, \u2018Hey, we don\u2019t think that you\u2019re finding the right stuff\u2019 or \u2018Hey, thanks, this was the right stuff,\u2019 \u201d Andros said, noting that information was passed down to Eckhart\u2019s team in the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 2 launch a rigid-hull inflatable boat to conduct unmanned systems night drills off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va., on March 16, 2021. (Chief Petty Officer Jeff Atherton\/U.S. Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
When searching a new area, Eckhart said, the team would first use the Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish underwater drone, which weighs about 600 pounds and launches from a rigid-hull inflatable boat. The captain praised the system for its long endurance as well as sonar and video technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on information from the Kingfish, the team would then send down the Mk 18 Mod 1 Swordfish, a smaller underwater drone that weighs about 150 pounds and can be carried into the water by a couple sailors. Eckhart said this small system is more maneuverable and could get a better look at a specific item of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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