Navy's top officer wants Sea Dragons retired

The Navy's top officer says he would like to retire the service's aging fleet of mine-sweeping helicopters "sooner than later," primarily because they are expensive to operate and not as efficient as the underwater robots that will someday replace them.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, made the remarks Wednesday after a Virginian-Pilot reporter asked about the state of the Navy's mine warfare program.

Greenert, who was in Norfolk talking to sailors in an all-hands call, said the program is in a state of transition. The service is in the process of testing a new fleet of underwater, unmanned vehicles that can be launched from littoral combat ships to find and disable underwater mines.

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