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Testimony from Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, commander, U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 9, 2013, discussing how PACOM will meet President Barack Obama’s directive to make Asia Pacific a top priority.
Renew or Replace? A big choice is coming up for the Navy on a crucial system that ties together both ship to shore and ship to ship for the Navy’s carrier strike groups. Should the Navy continue to use the C-2A(R) Greyhound, a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft, for carrier onboard delivery or should it seek a replacement? By Henry Canaday
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Unmanned Aircraft on Carriers Becoming Reality
Close-In Defense
Taking Aim
VXX Redux
UCLASS is a system comprised of three major segments: the carrier segment; the control system and connectivity segment; and the air segment. The UCLASS system will provide persistent unmanned semi-autonomous, carrier-based, ISR and targeting, and strike capability to support 24/7 carrier operational coverage. The final request for proposal is likely to be issued in early spring 2014. By Brian O’Shea
Today’s shipboard close-in defense systems came to be developed, deployed and improved, in many cases, in reaction to specific incidents. One iconic event was the July 2000 attack on the USS Cole by suicide bombers operating a speedboat in the Gulf of Aden. By Peter Buxbaum
Departments
Hitting the target with as much explosive force as possible and minimizing collateral damage are key benefits to using precision guided munitions on the battlefield. NPEO takes an in-depth look at current technology what the Navy is looking for in a next generation version. By Melanie Scarborough
Barring any surprises, a new helicopter to transport future American presidents will be selected in about a year. The U.S. government and defense contractors are gearing up for a competition to replace the aging VH-3D and VH-60N Marine One presidential helicopters. The program hopes to award an engineering and manufacturing development contract to the winning bidder by mid-2014. By Marc Selinger
View From the Hill
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Rear Admiral Thomas J. Moore PEO Aircraft Carriers U.S. Navy
“CVN 78 is the first aircraft carrier to be completely built using a 3-D model that allows every space on the ship to be visualized before drawings are issued to construction crews, allowing issues to be resolved before costs are incurred.” - Rear Adm. Thomas J. Moore
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As many publishing companies are decreasing the size and scope of their coverage, I am thrilled that KMI Media Group is expanding its family of publications spotlighting military and federal agency operations and technologies. Navy Air/Sea PEO Forum focuses on operations within Navy program executive offices with emphasis on carriers, ships and aircraft, as well as Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Air Systems Command and U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems. Naval operations are ongoing and there is much to cover. For example, the recent successful carrier take off and landing of the X-47B, a first for an Brian O’Shea Editor unmanned aircraft on an aircraft carrier. The X-47B is the proto-prototype for a fully armed and operational unmanned aircraft called the UCLASS (Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System), but the Navy A draft request for proposals (RFP) for the UCLASS will soon go out for industry feedback, followed by a formal RFP in early 2014 and a final decision on one contractor before the end of 2014. Unmanned squadrons are planned to be in operation by 2019. Or take the construction of the first of its kind Ford Class aircraft carrier the Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), one of the most technologically advanced and capable carriers in the world. “This will mark the beginning of a new class of aircraft carriers that will be in service for the next 94 years,” said Rear Admiral Thomas Moore. “With exception of the hull, virtually everything has been redesigned to make the Ford class more capable and more powerful than in the Nimitz class. This new class of carrier will build on the legendary performance of the Nimitz class carriers and will provide 25 percent more combat capability, increased service life margins throughout the ship to handle the aircraft and weapon systems of the future including unmanned aircraft and futuristic directed energy weapons, as well as driving down the total ownership cost of the ship by $4 billion over its 50 year service.” Whether it is the $37 billion littoral combat ship program or the F-35 joint strike fighter program, if it involves the U.S. Navy in flight or in maritime operations, Navy Air/Sea PEO Forum is your source for coverage. If you have any questions regarding Navy Air/Sea PEO Forum feel free to contact me at any time.
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UNDERWAY
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Next Generation Jammer Contract Awarded Raytheon Company recently announced it has been awarded a $279.4 million cost-plus-incentivefee contract by the U.S. Navy to conduct the technology development phase of the Navy’s Next Generation Jammer program. “We believe the Navy’s choice validates Raytheon’s leadership in advanced electronic attack systems and technologies,” said Rick Yuse, president of Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business. “Raytheon looks forward to building on our long-standing relationship with the U.S. Navy as we provide the warfighter with innovative and reliable Next Generation Jammer solutions now and for many years to come.” Raytheon leveraged knowledge and experience as a leading tactical weapon systems integrator to provide an affordable, low-risk, comprehensive NGJ solution to the U.S. Navy. Raytheon also leveraged its Gallium
nitride-based AESA technologies to provide warfighters with enhanced electronic attack capabilities. “Raytheon provided the U.S. Navy with an innovative and efficient design capable of jamming current and future threats,” said Yuse. “Our technology approach met the program requirements and leveraged our industry team’s extensive experience in combat-proven, highreliability agile-beam RF systems designed for demanding carrierbased aircraft environments.” NGJ will replace the ALQ-99 tactical jamming system currently on the Navy’s EA-18G Growler tactical airborne electronic attack aircraft. Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business, based in McKinney, Texas, will lead the technology development phase of the NGJ program with collaboration from Raytheon facilities in El Segundo, Calif.; Forest, Miss.; Dallas, Texas; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Largo, Fla.; and Andover, Mass.
U.S. Navy Awards Contract for Physical Security/Access Control Securityhunter, a federal security company, recently announced it has been awarded a multiple award contract for physical security and access control for U.S. Navy installations worldwide. Securityhunter is one of three companies sharing a total contract value of $99 million dollars over the course of three years. Securityhunter was awarded the contract for physical security/access control (PS/AC) systems for the U.S. Navy in the continental United States and outside the continental United States installations, including joint bases assigned to the Navy. This award includes perimeter security and access control for both vehicles and pedestrians. Physical security information management will be included to help collect and analyze data. The contract is part of the Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Ashore Program to protect the Navy from natural disasters, acts of terrorism and other human-caused disasters. Ross Nelson, federal program manager for Securityhunter Navy programs, said, “I am very excited about the PS/AC award. Working with the Navy on their Technology Refresh program has allowed the Securityhunter team to gain a unique understanding of what the Navy’s PS/AC contract is attempting to accomplish. I am looking forward to working with the Navy to accomplish their goals for this program.”
Ballistic Missile Defense System Completes Successful Intercept Flight Test The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) successfully conducted a flight test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, resulting in the intercept of a separating ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean by the Aegis BMD 4.0 Weapon System and a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB missile. Earlier this year, a separating short-range ballistic missile target was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, on Kauai, Hawaii. The target flew northwest towards a broad ocean area of the Pacific Ocean. Following target launch, the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) detected and tracked the missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar. The ship, equipped with the second-generation Aegis BMD weapon system, developed a fire control solution and launched the SM-3 Block IB missile. The SM-3 maneuvered to a point in space based on guidance from Aegis BMD Weapons Systems
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and released its kinetic warhead. The kinetic warhead acquired the target reentry vehicle, diverted into its path and, using only the force of a direct impact, engaged and destroyed the target. Initial indications are that all components performed as designed. Program officials will assess and evaluate system performance based upon telemetry and other data obtained during the test. This test exercised the latest version of the second-generation Aegis BMD Weapon System and Standard Missile, providing capability for engagement of longer-range and more sophisticated ballistic missiles. Last night’s event, designated Flight Test Maritime-19 (FTM-19), was the third consecutive successful intercept test of the Aegis BMD 4.0 Weapon System and the SM-3 Block IB guided missile. Previous successful ABMD 4.0 SM-3 Block IB intercepts occurred on May 9, 2012, and
June 26, 2012. Other Aegis BMD intercepts have employed the ABMD 3.6 and 4.0 with the SM-3 Block IA missile, which is currently operational on U.S. Navy ships deployed across the globe. FTM-19 is the 25th successful intercept in 31 flight test attempts for the Aegis BMD program since flight testing began in 2002. Across all Ballistic Missile Defense System programs, this is the 59th successful hit-to-kill intercept in 74 flight tests since 2001. Aegis BMD is the naval component of the MDA’s Ballistic Missile Defense System. The Aegis BMD engagement capability defeats short-to intermediate-range, unitary and separating, midcourse-phase ballistic missile threats with the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), as well as shortrange ballistic missiles in the terminal phase with the SM-2 Block IV missile. The MDA and the U.S. Navy cooperatively manage the Aegis BMD program.
NPEO Preview Issue | 3
UNDERWAY
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Digital Receivers for Electronic Warfare Application Order Received Mercury Systems Inc., a provider of commercially developed, open sensor and big data processing systems for critical commercial, defense and intelligence applications, recently announced it received a $4.7 million follow-on order from Lockheed Martin for advanced digital intermediate frequency receivers for a shipboard electronic warfare (EW) application.
The orders were booked in the company’s fiscal year 2013 fourth quarter and are expected to be shipped by its FY14 first quarter. “Our decade-long relationship with Lockheed Martin exemplifies our commitment to extending customer success over the entire life of this critical EW defense program, one of the largest for Mercury,”
said Didier Thibaud, president of Mercury’s commercial electronics business unit. “Our ability to deliver advanced mixed-signal offerings with unique capabilities in ultra-fast tuning, high dynamic range and extreme data processing will help enable our customer to gain a competitive advantage with its EW solution.”
PEOPLE
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Strike Group Three, San Diego. Ponds is currently serving as commander, Navy Region Hawaii/ commander, Naval Surface Group, MIDPAC, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Five Four, Yokosuka, Japan. Munsch is currently serving as deputy director, Submarine Warfare Division, N97B, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.
Security Agency, Fort Meade, Md.
Rear Adm. Cindy L. Jaynes
Rear Admiral (lower half) Cindy L. Jaynes will be assigned as program executive officer, air anti-submarine warfare, Assault and Special Mission Programs, Patuxent River, Md. Jaynes is currently serving as commander, fleet readiness centers/ assistant commander for logistics and industrial operations (AIR-6.0), Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River.
Rear Adm. Fernandez L. Ponds
Rear Admiral (lower half) Fernandez L. Ponds will be assigned as commander, Expeditionary
4 | NPEO Preview Issue
Rear Adm. Michael E. Jabaley Jr.
Rear Adm. Charles A. Richard
Rear Admiral (lower half) Charles A. Richard will be assigned as commander, Submarine Group Ten, Kings Bay, Ga. Richard is currently serving as deputy commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Global Strike, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. Rear Admiral (lower half) Stuart B. Munsch will be assigned as commander, Submarine Group Seven/commander, Task Force Seven Four/ commander, Task Force
Rear Adm. Terry B. Kraft
Rear Admiral Terry B. Kraft will be assigned as commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Japan/commander, Navy Region Japan, Yokosuka, Japan. Kraft is currently serving as commander, Navy Warfare Development Command, Norfolk, Va. Rear Admiral (lower half) Willie L. Metts will be assigned as director for intelligence, J2, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. Metts is currently serving as deputy chief, tailored access operations, S32, National
Rear Admiral (lower half) Michael E. Jabaley Jr. will be assigned as deputy commander for undersea warfare, SEA-07, Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. Jabaley is currently serving as vice commander, Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C.
Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey
Rear Admiral (lower half) Brian L. Losey,
who has been selected for the rank of rear admiral, will be assigned as commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, San Diego, Calif. Losey is currently serving as commander, Special Operations Command, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart, Germany.
Rear Adm. Hugh D. Wetherald
Rear Admiral (lower half) Hugh D. Wetherald will be assigned as commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Seven/ commander, Amphibious Force, U.S. Seventh Fleet, Okinawa, Japan. Wetherald is currently serving as deputy chief of staff for plans, policies and requirements, N5/N8, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
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Unmanned Aircraft
on Carriers Becoming Reality U.S. Navy’s competition for an unmanned aerial system providing ISR and strike capability. By Brian O’Shea NPEO Editor
Northrop Grumman’s X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator completed its first carrier-based arrested landing on board USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) off the coast of Virginia on July 10. “It isn’t very often you get a glimpse of the future. Today, those of us aboard USS George H.W. Bush got that chance as we witnessed the X-47B make its first-ever arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “The operational unmanned aircraft soon to be developed have the opportunity to radically change the way presence and combat power are delivered from our aircraft carriers.” The recent demonstration was the first time a tailless, unmanned autonomous aircraft landed on a modern aircraft carrier. Naval Air Systems Command released a request for proposal to four companies on June 10, 2013, for further design studies on the Navy’s planned unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) system. Those companies include Northrop Grumman, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), Boeing and Lockheed Martin—the four UCLASS industry partners that previously had been awarded broad agency announcement study contracts to advance their concepts for the program. UCLASS is a system of systems comprised of three major segments: the carrier segment; the control system and connectivity segment; and the air segment. The UCLASS system will provide persistent unmanned semi-autonomous, carrier-based, ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and targeting, and strike capability to support 24/7 carrier operational coverage. The final request for proposal is likely to be issued in early spring 2014. Information concerning this highly competitive contract is difficult to come by as the four companies are not keen on discussing their entrants in detail. The X-47B may have a leg up on the competition as it was selected for the demonstrator aircraft and has had multiple carrier launch and landings under its belt. The X-47B is a tailless, strike fightersized unmanned aircraft currently under development by Northrop Grumman as part of the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. Under a contract awarded in 2007, the company designed, produced and is currently flight testing two X-47B aircraft. The UCAS-D program will also mature relevant carrier landing and integration technologies. The Lockheed Martin UCLASS air vehicle concept integrates proven technologies from F-35C, RQ-170 Sentinel and other operational systems to provide both the lowest development risk and greatest ISR mission capability. Lockheed’s approach is expected to leverage the experience of the Skunk Works and their cross-corporation team to meet the Navy’s requirements for a versatile and supportable carrier-based unmanned aircraft. UCLASS will balance endurance, early operational capability and inherent growth that will enable operations in any environment or threat scenario. www.NPEO-kmi.com
Key features of Lockheed’s possible UCLASS entrant include integration of proven technologies, persistent 24/7 ISR operations, full spectrum adaptability, signature control, open systems architecture, reduced manpower requirements for command, control and maintenance, and future growth provisions. While Boeing will not discuss details of its UCLASS UAV, Phantom Ray does play a significant role in Boeing’s knowledge of unmanned systems as well as their ability to rapidly prototype an aircraft, said Deborah VanNierop, Boeing spokesperson. “Boeing knows carrier aviation,” said VanNierop. “We bring 90-plus years of naval aviation history including delivering carrier-based aircraft to the U.S. Navy, and more than three decades of unmanned systems experience. When combined, Boeing’s capabilities-based approach, Naval and unmanned systems experience, and rapid prototyping will allow us to create an affordable and low-risk solution for our customers. We have been very busy exploring the UCLASS trade space, but due to the competitive nature of the program, we are not prepared to discuss details of our work at this time. I can tell you that Boeing will give the Navy a UCLASS system that can provide a persistent CVN [Carrier Vessel Nuclear]-based ISR and strike capability supporting carrier air wing operations.” General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., a manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), tactical reconnaissance radars and surveillance systems, introduced Sea Avenger in 2010, a carrier-based derivative of its Predator C Avenger UAS, to fulfill the U.S. Navy’s need for a UCLASS system. General Atomics has acknowledged that the Sea Avenger will likely be their entrant into the UCLASS competition. Like Predator C Avenger, Sea Avenger presents a low-risk, high technology ready procurement option as it leverages more than 18 years of Predator-series UAS development, manufacturing and system support, along with 1 million flight hours of operational experience. In addition, many Predator-series elements, components and subsystems already provide mature, proven and affordable mission capabilities desired by the Navy for a UCLASS system. Anticipating a future requirement for a carrier-based UAS, GA-ASI designed specific features into its Predator C Avenger to facilitate subsequent development of an aircraft uniquely suitable for carrier operations that would also integrate seamlessly into the carrier air wing. These include a highly fuel-efficient engine and inlet design, retractable electro-optical/infrared sensor, internal weapons bay, and folding wings. The aircraft’s structure was also designed with the flexibility to accommodate carrier suitable landing gear, tail hook, drag devices and other provisions for carrier operations. O
For more information, contact NPEO Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.npeo-kmi.com.
NPEO Preview Issue | 5
Special Section
Indo-Asia-Pacific Shifting focus to address burgeoning threats. By Adm. Samuel J. Locklear
For the past 12 months I have had the honor to lead over 328,000 servicemembers and 38,000 civilian employees as the U.S. Pacific Command [USPACOM] commander, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you on the strategic environment of this diverse and complex theater. In 2011, the president directed his national security team to make America’s “presence and mission in the Asia-Pacific a top priority.” This testimony discusses the foundations of our strategy and how we plan to accomplish the president’s directive by providing a candid assessment of the opportunities and challenges USPACOM faces in this critical half of the world. The Indo-Asia-Pacific stretches from California to India. It encompasses over half of the earth’s surface and well over half of its population. The Pacific Ocean is the largest physical feature on the planet. If all the world’s landmasses were placed in the Pacific, there would still be room left over for additional North American and African continents. To give you an even better idea of its size, a Carrier Strike Group takes three weeks to transit from the U.S. West Coast to the Philippines; 15 hours to get 6 | NPEO Preview Issue
to ensure the safety and security of these there in a C-17; and from Fort Lewis, Wash., vital trade routes will become increasingly to the Maldives is 9,000 miles. important over coming decades. This region is culturally, socially, ecoBy any meaningful measure, the Indonomically and geo-politically diverse. The Asia-Pacific is also the world’s most militanations of the Indo-Asia-Pacific include rized region, with seven of the 10 largest five of our nation’s seven treaty allies; three standing militaries, the world’s largest of the largest economies in the world, and and most sophisticated navies, and five of seven of the 10 smallest; the most poputhe world’s declared nuclear lous nations in the world; the armed nations. All these largest democracy; the largaspects, when you take them est Muslim-majority nation; together, result in a unique and the world’s smallest strategic complexity. And republic. this complexity is magniThe Indian Ocean is surfied by a wide, diverse group passing the Atlantic and of challenges that can sigPacific as the world’s busnificantly stress the security iest and most strategically environment. To be successsignificant trade corridor. ful, we must draw on the One-third of the world’s Adm. Samuel J. Locklear strengths of the entire U.S. bulk cargo and two-thirds government, the U.S. econof its oil shipments now pass omy and the American people. through the Indian Ocean. Nine of the At a time when the region is experiworld’s 10 largest ports are here, and the encing such significant change, we must Indo-Asia-Pacific is the engine that drives clearly communicate to our allies and partthe global economy. China, Japan and India ners our commitment by maintaining a are three of the world’s largest economies. credible, forward-deployed, sustainable Last year alone, there was over $8 trillion force. of two-way trade. Regional cooperation www.NPEO-kmi.com
Special Section
Pivot
Security Environment The Indo-Asia-Pacific has a myriad of security challenges, including rapidly growing military capabilities, nuclear developments, unresolved territorial and resource disputes, violent extremism, natural disasters, proliferation, illicit trafficking and more. This complex security environment continues to evolve with both positive and negative trends. Overall, the region enjoys considerable political stability. In the past year, we have seen a series of peaceful leadership transitions, most notably in China, the Republic of Korea and Japan, which have reinforced existing succession processes. With the obvious exception of China, these changes have also advanced democracy and democratic principles. We’ve noted the positive changes occurring in Burma’s government and look forward to its continued progress. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) continues efforts to provide leadership on regional security issues and to effectively address transnational challenges such as natural disaster, terrorism, transnational crime, climate change, while simultaneously working towards its goal of becoming a single economic www.NPEO-kmi.com
community by 2015. We expect ASEAN to continue to grow in this role under Brunei’s chairmanship in 2013. We have also seen encouraging examples of states using international bodies to address disputes peacefully, such as Bangladesh and Burma using the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to resolve their disputed maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal, and Thailand and Cambodia are awaiting a ruling later this year from the International Court of Justice on their long-disputed border region. We encourage all claimant states to seek peaceful means to resolve their disputes. However, not all developments have been positive or stabilizing. North Korea’s repeated violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions that forbid building and testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missile technologies represent a clear and direct threat to U.S. national security and regional peace and stability. China’s rapid development of advanced military capabilities, combined with its unclear intentions, certainly raises strategic and security concerns for the U.S and the region. And continuing plans by violent extremist organizations to attack host nation and U.S. targets is another example of the issues in this vast region that are of concern not just to USPACOM, but to many Indo-Asia-Pacific nations. North Korea: Kim Jong Un used 2012 to consolidate his power. Kim is the youngest head of state in the world and holds the leadership position in all significant North Korean institutions of national power— military, state and party. We were cautiously encouraged in February 2012 when North Korea agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests and nuclear activities at Yongbyon. However, Pyongyang almost immediately broke its promise by attempting to place a satellite into orbit using proscribed ballistic missile technology and parading an alleged road mobile intercontinental range ballistic missile system. Pyongyang responded to the unanimous U.N. condemnation of
its December launch with renewed rhetoric, threats and bluster. Just a few weeks ago, again in clear violation of U.N. resolutions, North Korea announced it had conducted its third nuclear test, which it claimed—without any evidence—was a “smaller, more powerful weapon.” North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, its illicit sales of conventional arms, and its ongoing proliferation activities remain a threat to regional stability and underscore the requirement for effective missile defense. North Korea maintains a significant percentage of its combat forces forward deployed along the demilitarized zone with the ROK. From these locations, they could threaten U.S. and ROK civilian and military personnel, as they showed in 2010 with the surprise attack on the ROK ship Cheonan and the artillery attack on Yeonpyeong-Do Island. The continued advancement of the North’s nuclear and missile programs, its conventional force posture, and its willingness to resort to asymmetric actions as a tool of coercive diplomacy creates an environment marked by the potential for miscalculation that and controlled escalation could result from another North Korean provocative action. Kim Jong Un’s stated emphasis on economic development and promises of economic growth have so far yielded little, and are undermined by North Korean missile launches and nuclear tests that lead to further sanctions and international isolation. We remain concerned about the potential for peninsular and regional instability while North Korea continues to prioritize military objectives above economic recovery and reform and thus remains unable to sufficiently provide for its own population, a concern shared by our allies and partners. Proliferation: We remain concerned by North Korea’s illicit proliferation activities and attempts to evade UN sanctions. North Korea’s acts defy the will of the international community and represent a clear danger to the peace, prosperity and stability of the Indo-Asia-Pacific. NPEO Preview Issue | 7
Special Section USPACOM’s Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction [CWMD] program is a complementary multinational activity intended to support counter-proliferation interdiction operations. USPACOM welcomes Thailand as a recent endorsee of the Proliferation Security Initiative [PSI] and looks forward to the new opportunities their active participation will bring. CWMD provides a voluntary framework through which PSI partner nations can improve operational capabilities and domestic legal authorities in order to interdict WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials. Participation in PSI is vital, as part of an interagency approach, to the reduction of WMD trafficking. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and USPACOM continue to synchronize a wide range of CWMD-related activities such as international counter proliferation with our allies and partners, and foreign and homeland consequence management. Additionally, USPACOM is coordinating with the U.S. Department of Energy to establish Centers of Excellence with both China and India to promote effective nuclear security and safeguards. China: China’s military has benefited from many years of double-digit economic growth, which has helped fund a comprehensive military modernization effort. China’s military is an increasingly trained and capable fighting force focused, in part, on denying U.S. access to the Western Pacific during a time of crisis or conflict. There are a number of notable examples of China’s improving military capabilities, including five new stealth and conventional aircraft programs and the initial deployment of a new anti-ship ballistic missile that we believe is designed to target U.S. aircraft carriers. China is producing great quantities of advanced aircraft, missiles, electronic warfare systems and other specialized military equipment, while its shipyards are currently building six classes of modern diesel-electric submarines, destroyers and frigates. These new systems augment or replace older platforms and are rapidly transforming the People’s Liberation Army [PLA]. China commissioned its first aircraft carrier a few months ago and is continuing efforts to integrate aircraft with the ship to achieve a nascent regional power projection capability within the next few years. Chinese military operations are also expanding in size, complexity and geographic location. Last summer, the PLA-Navy conducted its largest-ever exercise outside the 8 | NPEO Preview Issue
first island chain and into the Western Pacific, demonstrating increasing proficiency and sending a clear message to the region. Chinese maritime intelligence collection operations increased in 2012 as well, with historic first such missions into the Indian Ocean and within the U.S. exclusive economic zones off of Guam and Hawaii. Overall, China’s intensive efforts to build, test and field new aircraft, ships, weapons and supporting systems are of increasing concern to the region. Many Asian nations worry about Chinese current and future intentions, with many of them asking, “As China’s military capabilities improve, will China’s intentions change?” Chinese naval and maritime law enforcement vessels have been active in recent years in trying to advance China’s territorial and maritime claims in the South China and East China Seas. China’s strong rhetoric about the indisputable nature of its claims, combined with active patrolling by civil and military ships and aircraft in the air and waters surrounding Scarborough Reef and the Senkakus Islands, has raised tensions with the Republic of the Philippines and Japan respectively. China has also used other economic and diplomatic tools to pressure those countries to accede to Chinese claims. These actions have resulted in U.S. partners and allies in East Asia seeking additional support and reassurance. I am particularly concerned that the activities around the Senkakus islands could lead to an accident and miscalculation and escalation between China and Japan. The close proximity of ships and aircraft from all sides of these disputes raises the risks of escalation. Elsewhere, in the South China Sea, periodic confrontations between Chinese and Vietnamese ships and Chinese efforts to pressure international companies to not explore for oil and gas raise tensions. China has consistently opposed using collaborative diplomatic processes— such as negotiations of a code of conduct or international arbitration—to address disputes in the South China Sea, instead insisting on bilateral negotiations. China’s relationship with Taiwan remains stable following the re-election of President Ma Ying-jeou in Taiwan. Cross-Strait tensions are at historic lows because Taiwan and mainland China have consistently pursued increased economic integration and peopleto-people exchanges. However, the PLA continues to maintain a robust military buildup opposite Taiwan that contradicts Beijing’s
stated pursuit of a “peaceful development” of cross-Strait relations. Many of China’s military developments appear specifically intended for use in a possible future conflict with Taiwan. Included in this growing arsenal are hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles and land-attack cruise missiles, high-speed patrol boats equipped with advanced antiship cruise missiles, naval mines suitable for blockading Taiwan’s ports, and various types of electronic warfare and cyber attack systems. Cyber activity presents a significant and growing threat to USPACOM. China is rapidly improving its space and counterspace capabilities to advance its own interests, and presumably to challenge the U.S.’s or other actor’s use of space-based systems. China is expanding its satellite navigation, reconnaissance and communications capabilities through routine space launches. At the same time, we are concerned over extensive writings about—and apparent continued testing of—anti-satellite systems, including a purpose-built missile system, lasers and jammers. One military development worth specifically highlighting is the advances being made across the Indo-Asia-Pacific to enhance or expand submarine forces, including in several smaller navies as a potential counter to stronger neighbors. From the northernmost part of our area of responsibility where Russia maintains attack and strategic capabilities in its Pacific Fleet, to the westernmost boundary where India is growing its submarine force, we see an emphasis on submarines throughout the region. The largest and most capable non-U.S. submarine force in the region is clearly China’s, which continues to expand and modernize to complement China’s increasingly capable surface fleet. Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the ROK are nations that have recently launched—or soon will launch— new, modern submarines. Both Russia and China are expected to soon field new ballistic missile submarines capable of ranging the U.S. homeland. O This article is an excerpt of testimony This article is an excerpt of testimony from Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, commander, U.S. Pacific Command before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 9, 2013. For more information, contact NPEO Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.npeo-kmi.com.
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The C-2 Greyhound has been the steady, long-range supply platform for the Navy since the mid-1960s.
By Henry Canaday, NPEO Correspondent
A big choice is coming up for the Navy on a crucial system that ties together both ship and shore and ship to ship for the Navy’s carrier strike groups. Should the Navy continue to use the C-2A(R) Greyhound, a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft, for carrier onboard delivery (COD) or should it seek a replacement? Sticking with the Greyhound would mean extending its service life substantially and probably doing other upgrades to reduce life cycle cost. This option also implies continuing with a hub-and-spoke delivery system for carrier groups. Under this system, the C-2A(R) delivers and picks up cargo and personnel by landing on aircraft carriers, and Navy rotorcraft, currently the Sikorsky H-60, transfer the cargo and personnel to other ships by vertical onboard delivery (VOD). One considered alternative is to eliminate both Greyhound and the hub-and-spoke system and use the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey to perform both roles, COD and VOD. The Osprey would give up some of the fixed wing Greyhound’s range and altitude capabilities for the COD role. And, as a new aircraft, it would presumably cost more than extending and upgrading the existing fleet. But the flexibility built in to the V-22’s design means it could handle pick-ups and deliveries across the strike group and thus replace both Greyhound and H-60s.
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Northrop Grumman’s original C-2A Greyhound was a derivative of the E-2 Hawkeye, with the same wings and engines but with a wider fuselage and a rear loading ramp. A powered winch enables fast cargo loading and unloading. Production of the C-2A began in 1965. Starting in 1984, the Navy ordered 39 new aircraft, called the C-2A(R) for re-procured. These new Greyhounds had upgrades in both airframe and avionics. The new C-2A(R)s began receiving a surface life extension program (SLEP) in 2005. This SLEP made improvements in the center wing and upgraded navigation with GPS. A ground proximity warning system was also added. The SLEP gave Greyhounds 15,000 hours and 36,000 carrier landings. Of the 39 C-2A(R)s originally delivered after 1984, there are 35 currently flying. One was used to help design the SLEP, one neared its fatigue limits before SLEP, and two were retired due to strike damage after over-running runways. The Navy flew these aircraft heavily when An MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (HMM) 166 moves down the flight deck of the the tempo of operations was high in both Iraq amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4). Boxer is currently underway off the coast of California. [Photo and Afghanistan, but that tempo has eased courtesy of the Department of Defense] up now. “Once they did the SLEP to 15,000 hours and 36,000 landings they felt much more comfortable,” said Stephen Squires, decision will be made in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016, director of the C2 Greyhound Program and Capture at Northrop with a contract award immediately following that. Grumman. The Osprey is purpose-built to quickly carry people, supplies Squires estimates that conflicts can double the range of or equipment over long distances, making it a perfect fit for the Greyhound missions and nearly double the number of missions. COD mission, said Joseph Weston, senior manager of business “In peace time, they fly 400- to 600-nautical mile missions and development for Boeing’s Navy Integrated Product Team. “In this two sorties per day. When the shooting starts, they do 600- to era of fiscal vigilance and limited resources, the Navy warfighter 800-nautical mile missions and up to three or four sorties per deserves a reliable, operationally agile and affordable replaceday.” ment logistics delivery aircraft, and the V-22 fits the bill.” Weston The Navy is looking at its COD choices now, because in a little said a Navy V-22 tilt-rotor solution would exploit an in-producover a decade, even with the recent SLEP, Greyhounds will begin tion, non-developmental fleet of more than 400 aircraft that have reaching their fatigue end-of-life. “There is also an opportunity proven their mettle, continually performing combat missions to modernize them and keep them relevant,” Squire stressed. around the world since 2007. The Navy is proceeding very deliberately. It has completed the Weston emphasized that the V-22 is a turboprop airplane that analysis of alternatives for a long-range, manned, carrier-based can also operate as a vertical-lift platform, like a conventional logistics aircraft to replace the C-2A(R) COD aircraft, explained helicopter. “This combination of capabilities means the V-22 Brian Scolpino, program manager of the COD Recapitalization offers unsurpassed operational flexibility across the full range of Program Office of the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Navy transport and support missions, COD/VOD, casualty evacTactical Air Programs. “The Navy is proceeding with COD recapuation and point-to-point mobility within the task force. These italization programmatic activities and requirements developtasks are currently split among several different platforms.” ment for a competitive acquisition program,” Scolpino said. Weston further argued that the V-22’s payload flexibility, However, “it is too early in the process to speculate on details of and comparable speed and range, as well as its ability to take off potential alternatives leading into a competitive procurement.” and land vertically, expands the provision of rapid, long-range, Even evaluation criteria for assessing the alternatives have not high-priority logistics delivery directly to the point of need: yet been established. both shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship, all with a single multi-role Scolpino said his office has been doing market research for aircraft. the past 12 to 18 months and is comfortable with the informaWeston said the V-22 requires no modifications to perform tion it has obtained to date. He expects that a request for proposthe COD mission. “As a matter of fact, V-22 operations require als (RFP) will go out in late 2014, with a due date for responses fewer aircraft, personnel and support assets than conventional of 90 to 120 days after the RFP is issued. He predicts a milestone 10 | NPEO Preview Issue
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fixed wing and rotorcraft assets, resulting in a reduced footprint and reduced total life cycle costs.” Reduced footprint and life cycle cost derive from the dual capabilities of the V-22. “It can perform the mission of both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters,” Weston stressed. The V-22 would be able to deliver to both the main carrier and other ships in a task force, using vertical takeoff and landing or even hover and hoist. Weston said that this direct delivery capability of the V-22 would be more efficient than the legacy hub-and-spoke system. He said a single aircraft can thus offer COD and VOD capabilities and a host of other multi-role mission capabilities. “Additionally, the V-22 is a modern fly-by-wire composite aircraft requiring less maintenance than legacy systems and significantly less training costs. It could also conduct the cargo portion of the mission at night.” As examples of additional capabilities possible, Weston said the V-22 could be easily kitted to perform aerial refueling, airborne mine counter measures, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and other tasks vital to strike groups. In contrast, Squires emphasized the capabilities of the fixed wing Greyhound. “Its primary mission is COD with a 1,300 nautical-mile range and a pressurized interior that can carry 26 passengers or 10,000 pounds and up to 860 cubic feet of cargo,” he explained. The Osprey can carry 20,000 pounds internally, has a useful cabin volume of 739 cubic feet and can also carry external cargo. Squires emphasized the Greyhound’s advantage in cubic feet of internal capacity. “It’s important because cargo aircraft usually cube out before they weigh out.”
A C-2A Greyhound from the Rawhides of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40 taxis on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). [Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy, by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Rob Rupp]
Northrop thus recommends modernization of the Greyhound and extension of its service life. One modernization opportunity that Squires said is “staring us in the face” is putting a new engine in the C2A(R). Twenty years ago, the E2D got a new engine, a Rolls Royce T56-427A. Putting the same powerplant on the Greyhound would yield a 13 to 15 percent gain in fuel efficiency. “That is proven,” Squire said. Installing a new cockpit suite in the C2A(R) would bring another 9 percent reduction in operating-and-maintenance (O&M) cost per mile. So Squires and Northrop estimate that reengining and cockpit modification together would cut O&M cost by 22 to 25 percent. Northrop’s recommendation to the Navy is to do the two upgrades, of engine and cockpit, first and then, as the aircraft near the end of fatigue life, to add a new center-wing section. “Then they can fly to the mid-2060s,” Squires said. He declined to estimate the cost of the upgrades-plus-extension but said, “These will cost far less than anything that is on the market now.” If the Navy chose to buy brand new C2A(R)s, Squires said Northrop would accept that option. But he believes the modernization program is “the best and most affordable approach.” The Northrop exec contended that, apart from economy, continuation of the Greyhound has several advantages over switching to the Osprey. He said the C2A(R)’s collaboration with H-60s in a hub-and-spoke delivery system is “tried and true” and similar to the cargo networks used by commercial carriers like FedEx. The pressurization of the aircraft’s cabin lets it go long distances with passengers and fly above bad weather, with a service ceiling over 33,000 feet, compared with the Osprey’s 25,000 feet. Further, the Greyhound’s 1,300-nautical-mile range, with no refueling, lets it reach carriers when strike groups are dispersed widely over the seas. The Osprey’s unrefueled range is a bit less than 900 nautical miles. And the fixed wing Greyhound can land and take off with minimum disruption to an aircraft carrier’s operations. “I am biased, I think it is a design masterpiece,” Squires said, only half-jokingly. “The performance has been eye-watering for 50 years.” When deployed, the aircraft has a mission capable rate near 100 percent, the Northrop exec said. He declined to estimate maintenance cost, noting that, as is customary for high-demand, low-density aircraft, the C2A(R) is maintained by the Navy. O
For more information, contact NPEO Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.npeo-kmi.com.
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VIEW FROM THE HILL
Littoral Combat Ship Widespread misunderstanding of its mission remains biggest hurdle for LCS. By Congressman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.)
During a May 7, 2013, Navy budget hearing, one of my congressional colleagues cited a year-old report calling into question the integrity of one of the Navy’s most adaptive new vessels, the littoral combat ship (LCS). The report and news coverage it has generated are focused on a mixture of outdated concerns and lingering disagreements over future naval strategy, and as a result, a very good ship is being sold short. In response, I extended an invitation to fellow members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to personally visit the LCS shipyards to see firsthand the capabilities of one of the future workhorses of the United States Navy. In recent history, it is hard to find such a transformative vessel that has been as maligned and unfairly discounted, even before a single ship was christened, as the LCS. From its inception, the LCS has been labeled by many as not survivable and less capable of performing its mission than the frigates and various minesweeping vessels it is designed to replace. Much like the armchair quarterbacking so popular in my favorite football conference—the SEC— the talk has gotten ahead of the game. Critics have pronounced the LCS program dead on arrival because they fail to understand the Navy’s new game plan, which is different from anything in the previous playbook. Viewed through the lens of the current Navy, the LCS is a significant departure from the more traditional and narrowly defined roles of many of the fleet’s ships. With a reconfigurable mission platform built on speed and agility, it combines the size of a frigate with the maneuverability of a patrol boat, but with the versatility to perform the mission of three different vessels. The LCS offers a platform adaptable to the varied littoral missions of countering mines, small speed boats and diesel-electric submarines, and it is upgradable to integrate new technologies. It fits well within the Navy’s new strategy to counter asymmetrical, anti-access, nearshore threats. Yet opponents continue to view the LCS out of the context of its mission environment. Navy Undersecretary Robert Work commented on this disconnect in a January 2013 paper: Some compare the ship to a guided missile frigate, and are left wanting. Others complain that there are better, less expensive, better-armed inshore gunboats. Others think the Navy would be better served with fast attack craft or small corvettes festooned with antiship missiles. Still others believe a purpose-built ship is the only and best choice for the mine warfare mission. All of these alternatives might be potentially attractive choices—provided the Navy’s future fleet architecture had a need for such ships. However, the FORCEnet/TFBN operational construct and architectural framework calls 12 | NPEO Preview Issue
for a different ship altogether: an affordable, self-deployable, multi-role ship optimized for battle network operations in the forward littorals. And that is precisely what the Department of the Navy got in the LCS. The LCS is not designed to operate in all contested environments alone. In an effort to keep the cost per ship down and to meet the new concept of operations defined in FORCEnet, the Navy intentionally designed the LCS to a Level I+ survivability standard, allowing for it, as Admiral Greenert put it in our Navy hearing, to take a direct hit and limp home. The LCS and the LCS mission modules were designed to provide the capabilities currently offered by frigates (Level II), mine countermeasures ships (Level I) and coastal patrol craft (Level I), most of which will decommission over the next several years. It’s also important to recognize that in situations where the threat of anti-ship missiles is high, the LCS will be operating with a battle group designed to enhance its strengths and protect its weaknesses. As we assign levels of survivability in the traditional sense— with a scale of one to three, including several different measured areas beyond armored plating—we must also consider the environment in which the vessel is operating. While a DDG may be survivable at the highest level in a blue-water environment, it certainly does not have the same level of survivability in the brownwater, littoral environment. After all, speed and agility are not considered advantages possessed by our destroyers or even our aging frigates. The LCS excels best in these close-in engagement scenarios. The LCS will be capable of surviving most anti-access environments on its own through its use of speed and new weapon technologies. One promising example of new technology is the development of the Advanced Low Cost Munitions Ordnance Program, or ALaMO. ALaMO is a 57 mm guided smart munition developed to counter small boat threats, whether in the Straits of Hormuz or off the Horn of Africa. This hit-to-kill guided bullet, still in the testing phase with promising results so far, can be utilized by the LCS’s Mk110 57mm gun to take out approaching small boats before their weapons pose a threat. Each ALaMO munition uses built-in radar to guide and redirect the round to compensate for gun pointing errors, allowing for more efficient firing and providing the LCS with standoff capability from small swarming threats. Many critics have also pointed out the logistical hurdles of maintaining and manning the LCS. Thus far, the Navy’s answer has been to forward deploy these vessels in host nations with a complement of support crew and materials. However, there may be an even simpler solution just over the horizon. The joint high www.NPEO-kmi.com
speed vessel (JHSV) has recently been touted as a logistics platform that could be positioned to support the LCS mission, carrying maintenance crews, spares, modules and other supplies. We often have to worry about the diplomacy of forward deploying vessels in host nations, but with a JHSV serving the role of host, the game may be a little less complicated. As with the development of any new ship, there will be growing pains. Early issues of cracks in the LCS-1 Freedom variant, built by Lockheed Martin of Marinette, Wis., and corrosion in the LCS-2 Independence variant, built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., have been addressed. Mission packages are also being improved to keep pace with the Navy’s evolution of LCS strategy and improved performance. The LCS Council was created to address weaknesses in the program, and Council Chairman Vice Admiral Richard Hunt recently voiced confidence in both the improvements and the role of the LCS. “LCS will be an important part of our future surface force. The focus of the council has been to utilize feedback and information gathered from program reviews and fleet operations to identify areas of improvement. We understand what is at stake and will get this right. I have great confidence in the LCS program.” While sequestration presents added challenges to the Defense Department and the Navy’s plans to expand the fleet, the LCS program has demonstrated that it can be built on budget and on time. Responding to criticism of the program’s Top: Independence-class littoral combat ship (LCS) designed by General Dynamics consortium. Above: The Lockheed Martin-designed Freedom variant of the U.S. Navy’s LCS program. [Photos courtesy of the U.S. Navy] cost, Secretary Ray Mabus told House appropriators on May 7, the LCS has experienced a “dramatic” decline in cost from the first ships, and the Meanwhile, LCS 1 arrived in Singapore on April 17 and LCS 2 program is well within congressional cost cap. The LCS represents and LCS 3 continue to operate and conduct testing out of homeexecution of one of the Navy’s best acquisition strategies, providing port San Diego. Secretary Mabus recently noted that four LCS will lower cost, improved delivery and enhanced capabilities over legbe deployed in Singapore by 2016. acy platforms. As the LCS evolves to meet the Navy’s new littoral mission stratWith the support and confidence of Navy leadership, the LCS egy, the LCS is poised to deliver a knockout punch at the right time program is pushing ahead in the shipyards, in the halls of Congress in the right places. It is absolutely prudent to keep a strong focus and at sea. The Navy is calling for a total of 52 LCSs, down only on cost, on-time delivery and quality control going forward. I am three ships from the original plan based on a change to the presence confident, however, the LCS will not only stand up to such scrurequirement in the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance. The Navy’s tiny, but will live up to high expectations it has created within the FY14 budget includes a $1,793,014,000 request to keep the program Navy’s top ranks. O on pace. As noted previously, the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee heard budget testimony from the Navy chiefs in May U.S. Representative Jo Bonner, R-Ala., is a member of the and hopes to mark up the defense appropriations bill in June. House Defense Appropriations Committee. www.NPEO-kmi.com
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MAIN DECK Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical UAS Enters Production Phase The Department of the Navy recently announced that the RQ-21A small tactical unmanned aircraft system (STUAS) received Milestone C approval authorizing the start of low rate initial production. With MS C approval, the RQ-21A program, managed by the Navy and Marine Corps STUAS program office (PMA-263) at NAS Patuxent River, enters the production and deployment phase of the acquisition timeline, according to the PMA-263 program manager Colonel Jim Rector. “This milestone allows us to provide our warfighter with a unique capability—an organic UAS capable of operations from both land and sea,” said Rector. “The RQ-21A will provide persistent maritime and land-based tactical reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition data collection and dissemination capabilities.” The Navy awarded Insitu Inc., an engineering manufacturing development contract for STUAS
in July 2010. Since then, the government/industry team has executed land-based developmental tests (DT), operational tests at China Lake, Calif., in December 2012 and conducted the first sea-based DT from USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) in February. Concurrently, Marines are flying an early operational capability (EOC) system at Twenty Nine Palms, Calif., for pre-deployment preparation. Lessons learned from EOC will be applied to operational missions in theater. The aircraft is based on Insitu’s Scan Eagle UAS, which has flown more than 245,000 hours in support of Navy and Marine Corps forward deployed forces via a services contract. The RQ-21A system has a 25-pound payload capacity, ground control system, catapult launcher and unique recovery system, known as Skyhook, allowing the aircraft to recover without a runway. The RQ-21A includes day/night full motion video cameras, infrared marker and laser range
finder, and automatic identification system receivers. The ability to rapidly integrate payloads allows warfighters to quickly insert the most advanced and relevant payload for their land/ maritime missions and counter-warfare actions. “The expeditionary nature of the RQ-21A makes it possible to deploy a multi-intelligence capable UAS with minimal footprint, ideal for amphibious operations such as a Marine Expeditionary Unit conducts,” Rector said. “The RQ-21A can be operated aboard ship, and then rapidly transported ashore as either a complete system or just a “spoke”, or control center, making this system ideally suited for humanitarian or combat operations, where getting real-time intelligence to the on-scene commander is crucial.” The DoN plans to purchase a total of 36 STUAS systems, each with five aircraft. Initial operational capability is scheduled for second quarter fiscal year 2014.
Navy Triton Unmanned Aircraft System Completes First Flight The Navy’s newest unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft platform, the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS), completed its first flight from Palmdale, Calif., marking the start of tests which will validate the Northrop Grumman-built system for future fleet operations. During the 80-minute flight in restricted airspace, the MQ-4C, controlled by ground-based Navy and Northrop Grumman personnel, reached 20,000 feet altitude. “This flight represents a significant milestone for the Triton team,” said Rear Admiral Mat Winter, who leads the Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons at Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. “The work they have done and will continue to do is critical to the future of naval aviation, particularly to our maritime patrol and reconnaissance community.” The MQ-4C provides the fleet with a gamechanging persistent maritime and littoral ISR data collection and dissemination capability, said Winter. It will be a key component of the Navy’s Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force family of systems. As an adjunct to the manned P-8A Poseidon, the MQ-4C will be a major part of the 14 | NPEO Preview Issue
military’s surveillance strategy for the Asia and Pacific regions. The Triton will fly missions for 24 hours at altitudes greater than 10 miles, allowing the system to monitor 2,000 nautical miles of ocean and littoral areas at a time. The P-8A is the Navy’s new multi-mission maritime aircraft being built to replace the P-3C Orion long-range anti-submarine warfare aircraft. “When operational, the MQ-4C will complement our manned P-8 because it can fly for long periods, transmit its information in real-time to units in the air and on ground, as well as use less resources than previous surveillance aircraft,” said Rear Admiral Sean Buck, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group commander, who also witnessed the flight. “Triton will
bring an unprecedented ISR capability to the warfighter.” The MQ-4C UAS will be based at five locations around the globe. Triton operators will disseminate data in real time to fleet units to support surface warfare, intelligence operations, strike warfare, and search and rescue. “Our goal is to mature the Triton UAS before supporting the Navy’s maritime ISR mission,” said Captain Jim Hoke, program manager for the Persistent Maritime UAS office, which oversees the Triton program. “The data we collect the next few years is essential to certify the system for operational use.” Flight tests will continue in California for the next several months before the team transitions the aircraft to Patuxent River in the fall. www.NPEO-kmi.com
Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
Navy Christens First Mobile Landing Platform The Navy recently christened the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) Montford Point in March ceremony in San Diego. USNS Montford Point (T-MLP 1) is named for the approximately 20,000 African-American Marine Corps recruits who trained at the North Carolina facility from 1942 to 1949. Their exceptional service prompted President Truman to sign an executive order in 1948 disallowing segregation in the Marine Corps. These 20,000 Marines were recently recognized with our nation’s highest civilian honor for distinguished achievement, the Congressional Gold Medal. “I chose to name the department’s new MLP Montford Point as a way to give some longoverdue recognition to these proud Americans who gave so much in the defense of our nation,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “The courage shown by these Marines helped forge the Corps into the most formidable expeditionary force in the world.” The MLP is a highly flexible platform that will provide capability for large-scale logistics movements such as the transfer of vehicles and equipment from sea to shore. It will significantly reduce dependency on foreign ports and provide support in the absence of any port, making an MLP especially useful during disaster response and for supporting Marines once they are ashore.
Navy Receives First F-35C Lightning II
The ship will leverage float-on/float-off technology, allowing Montford Point to partially submerge, facilitating easy movement of cargo and craft. Additionally, the ship’s size allows for 25,000 square feet of vehicle and equipment stowage space and 380,000 gallons of JP-5 fuel storage. With this set of capabilities, the ship is able to easily transfer personnel and vehicles from other vessels such as the large, medium-speed, roll-on/ roll-off ships onto landing craft air cushioned vehicles and transport them ashore. The platform with its open, reconfigurable mission deck will serve as an important flexible and transformational asset to the Navy as it can be reconfigured to support a wide variety of future operations. MLPs will have a maximum speed of 15 knots and range of 9,500 nautical miles. At 785 feet long, MLPs displace more than 80,000 tons when fully loaded. MLPs will operate with a crew of 34 Military Sealift Command personnel.
The U.S. Navy’s Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101 recently received the Navy’s first F-35C Lightning II carrier variant aircraft from Lockheed Martin at the squadron’s home at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The F-35C is a fifth-generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. The F-35C will enhance the flexibility, power projection and strike capabilities of carrier air wings and joint task forces and will complement the capabilities of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which currently serves as the Navy’s premier strike fighter. By 2025, the Navy’s aircraft carrier-based air wings will consist of a mix of F-35C, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers electronic attack aircraft, E-2D Hawkeye battle management and control aircraft, unmanned carrier launched airborne surveillance and strike (UCLASS) air vehicles, MH-60R/S helicopters and carrier onboard delivery logistics aircraft. VFA 101, based at Eglin Air Force Base, will serve as the F-35C Fleet Replacement Squadron, training both aircrew and maintenance personnel to fly and repair the F-35C.
New Precision Munition Will Protect Against Swarming Boat Threats Raytheon Company has initiated an internally funded program to enhance its combat-proven 155 mm Excalibur GPS-guided projectile with a new guidance and navigation unit (GNU) with a semi-active laser (SAL) end-game targeting capability. Addition of the SAL seeker will allow the munition to attack moving targets, attack targets that have re-positioned after firing, or change the impact point to avoid casualties and collateral damage. “No other gun-launched GPS-guided artillery round is as precise as Excalibur, which in its current design gives one the ability to hit within 4 meters of the target 90 percent of the time,” said Kevin Matthies, Excalibur program director for Raytheon Missile Systems. “Now we’re ready to take this to the next level, giving the warfighter the ability to not only re-target the munition in flight, but leverage Excalibur’s maneuverability to use the pinpoint precision of a semi-active laser seeker to hit targets on the move.” This new Excalibur variant using SAL guidance paves the way for GPS-guided Excalibur Ib customers to upgrade their Excalibur Ib
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guidance and navigation units with a GPS/SAL capability. Recent tests of the SAL seeker have demonstrated the robustness of the design in a severe gun-firing environment. In addition to 155 mm artillery land forces worldwide, the GPS/ SAL capability will be available for both 155 mm and 5-inch (127 mm) naval guns to address moving targets on land and at sea. Counterswarming boat capability will be the prime focus of the at-sea moving target capability using a high-firing rate, large caliber, affordable munition that can be fired from land or sea platforms. The transition to the naval 5-inch configuration is easily made as the existing 155 mm Excalibur Ib GNU design also fits in a 127 mm projectile body. “Excalibur has proven itself an invaluable asset for avoiding collateral damage while defeating targets that may otherwise be out of reach or cannot be quickly engaged,” said Michelle Lohmeier, vice president of land combat for Raytheon Missile Systems. “The need for this degree of precision to attack moving targets is there, and we now have the ability to leverage demonstrated Excalibur Ib technology to make this happen.”
NPEO Preview Issue | 15
Carrier Craftsman
Q& A
Managing Aircraft Carrier Operations within the U.S. Navy
Rear Admiral Thomas J. Moore PEO Aircraft Carriers U.S. Navy
A second-generation naval officer, Rear Admiral Thomas J. Moore graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in math/operations analysis. He also holds a degree in information systems management from George Washington University and a Master of Science and an Engineer’s degree in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a surface nuclear trained officer for 13 years, he served in various operational and engineering billets aboard USS South Carolina (CGN 37) as machinery division officer, reactor training assistant and electrical officer; USS Virginia (CGN 38) as main propulsion assistant; USS Conyngham (DDG 17) as weapons officer, and USS Enterprise (CVN 65) as the #1 plant station officer responsible for the de-fueling, refueling and testing of the ship’s two lead reactor plants during her 1991-1994 refueling complex overhaul (RCOH). Additionally, ashore he served two years as a company officer at the United States Naval Academy. In 1994, he was selected for lateral transfer to the engineering duty officer community, where he served in various staff engineering, maintenance, technical and program management positions including: carrier overhaul project officer at the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va., where he led the overhaul of the Enterprise, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and the first year of the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) RCOH; assistant program manager for In-Service Aircraft Carriers (PMS 312) in the office of the Program Executive Officer, Aircraft Carriers, Aircraft Carrier Hull, Mechanical and Electrical (HM&E); requirements officer on the staff of the chief of naval operations Air Warfare Division (OPNAV N78); and five years in command as the major program manager for In-Service Aircraft Carriers, where he was responsible for the new construction of the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the RCOH of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and the life cycle management of all in-service aircraft carriers. In April 2008, he reported to the staff of the chief of naval operations as the deputy director, Fleet Readiness, OPNAV N43B. In May 2010, he assumed his duties as the director, Fleet Readiness, OPNAV N43. Moore assumed command as Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers August 11, 2011. 16 | NPEO Preview Issue
Moore’s personal awards include the Legion of Merit (three awards), Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards). Q: Could we start with a look at the carrier fleet in terms of number deployed, number readying for deployment, major maintenance schedule, and production timeframe for work underway and planned? A: With the inactivation of Enterprise [CVN 65] in November 2012, there will be 10 aircraft carriers until the Gerald R. Ford [CVN 78] is commissioned into active service in 2016. PEO Carriers is working closely with the fleet and carefully managing aircraft carrier maintenance schedules to ensure operational needs are met. At any given time, approximately one-third of the CVN [nuclear-powered aircraft carrier] force is deployed, one-third is in maintenance availability or just returned from deployment, with one-third preparing for deployment, and one in refueling and complex overhaul [RCOH]. Q: How would you characterize the construction progress for the USS Gerald R. Ford? Are there lessons learned that will improve the process for the second in the class? www.NPEO-kmi.com
A: Gerald R. Ford is over 90 percent structurally complete, and the Island was landed on January 26. We have encountered “first in class” issues that have affected cost and schedule performance. For example, CVN 78 uses thinner steel plates for decks and bulkheads compared with Nimitz class aircraft carriers to reduce overall ship weight and restore growth margin in the ship’s life cycle. The thinner plate design has necessitated use of temporary bracing to allow handling of the modules as well as causing rework to flam straighten plates. Although shipbuilder actions to resolve first-of-class issues have retired some technical and schedule risk, NNS-HII has been unable to retire all schedule risk, and we expect a four-month delay to the launch and a subsequent delivery of CVN 78. In order to ensure that lessons learned from CVN 78 are incorporated into the rest of the class, PEO Carriers has stood up a new program office, PMS 379, to bring the class into serial production, driving down cost and maximizing contractor and government performance. I expect John F. Kennedy [CVN 79] to be completed at significantly less cost than CVN 78 and with fewer man-hours than CVN 77, and I expect that trend to continue for Enterprise [CVN 80]. Q: For a new ship design like the Ford, how important is modeling and simulation to the naval architects putting the puzzle of an aircraft carrier together? How did this affect the development and construction strategy? A: The advance of 3-D modeling design allows us to compress the time span for ship design and reduce the time it takes for the traditional design spiral. It also provides benefits throughout the carrier’s life cycle. CVN 78 is the first aircraft carrier to be completely built using a 3-D model that allows every space on the ship to be visualized before drawings are issued to construction crews, allowing issues to be resolved before costs are incurred. The construction crew uses the 3-D model to plan and rehearse complex tasks. Operators have a virtual ‘walk-through’ environment to enhance training and qualification, while maintenance activities use the capability for maintenance and modernization. Q: Can you elaborate a bit more on the benefits of the carrier’s life cycle in regards to the use of 3-D modeling and simulation? A: By employing a 3-D product model, the PEO and shipbuilder can easily redesign systems that are updated frequently, provide schematics wherever and whenever necessary, compare and contrast arrangement options, and test new arrangements before installation. This enables greater sharing of information, reduces rework and lowers costs. The Navy in general is moving toward more of the 3-D product modeling of our systems. We’ve started with the Virginia class submarine. The benefit of 3-D product modeling is that once you get the models and you start to build the ship, it gives the folks that are building the ship the ability to go in and look in advance at what they’re about to put together. They can actually have a dry run of how they’re going to put the ship together. We’ve already found with CVN 78 significant benefit to that. They have a room set up where they put goggles on and they’ll sit there with certain portions of the ship and they’ll go in and allow the deck plate guys to look at the arrangements. The other thing is when they look at the arrangements, they have the ability to make suggestions and www.NPEO-kmi.com
say, ‘That’s going to be a problem’ and ‘You might want to think about changing this.’ So we’ve made updates to the design before we put the pipe and other things in place. In the past, we would have put it in and they would have said, ‘That pipe doesn’t fit’ and we’d have to reroute it over here. As far as the sharing goes, this will all be rolled over to CVN 79, which will make the second ship even easier to build from a configuration standpoint. We’re working with the public shipyards that will eventually be maintaining the Ford class in the future. Our ability to share that data with them and the hull planning folks in the future when they get ready to do maintenance or modernization on the ship—the ability to have that data right there and go look at it—will make it much simpler for us to modernize and cut costs down significantly in terms of the number of ship checks we have to do and provide us with better first time quality in terms of our ability to install new things on the ship going forward. We see great advantages to the 3-D product model going forward, and I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of all of the benefits this will provide us. I think the 3-D product model is going to provide us not only with the ability to build the ships more affordably but also maintain them more affordably. The ability to share that data will make it much better for us over the entire life cycle of the ship. Having the product model gives them the ability to look at the space up front, and the craftsman can point out problems that could be caused later. Q: How does the Navy adapt and adjust its fleet operations to account for construction and delivery delays? A: Under the Navy’s Fleet Response Plan [FRP] construct, a number of aircraft carriers, operating within their notional 32-month operational cycles, are available to surge on relatively short notice. When dictated by emergent conditions, such as an unplanned delay from construction or maintenance availability, the flexibility generated by FRP enables the Navy to decide between extending a current carrier’s deployment or surging other carrier forces from their homeports to best support combatant commander global presence requirements. Extending or surging carriers is considered a short-term, stop-gap measure, and is not sustainable for the long term. When delays are known well in advance, the Navy can also choose to manage its overall deployment schedule to fill potential presence gaps. The original goal was to deliver CVN 78 in September 2015. We’ve had a four-month delay to launch and we’re now going to christen the ship and launch it in November of this year, and that will result in a corresponding delay in the delivery. Right now we expect to deliver the ship in the second quarter of 2016. We’re already down to 10 carriers because of the inactivation of USS Enterprise last November. So we’re operating in a period of time where we’re operating 10 carriers, which have a temporary waiver for until the commissioning of CVN 78. CVN 78 is a little bit unique because it’s the first ship of the class, so when we deliver it, it has to go for a shakedown and then post shakedown availability. It also has a fairly elaborate test-and-evaluation period like the first ship of a class would. It’s probably not going to be operational and deployable until about 2018. So any delay in the delivery of the ship is something we take very seriously. It’s regrettable we’re going to have a four-month delay in the ship, but in terms of what is the best for the ship and what’s the NPEO Preview Issue | 17
most affordable delivery process for the ship, what we’re doing with CVN 78 makes sense. We have the ability, because of the FRP and the way we operate carriers, if we have enough advanced notice to adjust the carrier schedules of the current in-service fleet, we can make that plan work. You don’t want to do that over a prolonged period of time, but for a short four- to six-month period like what we’re talking about here, as long as we know about it in advance we can make the adjustments necessary. So we’re talking about 2017-2018 timeframe, where we’ll probably have to make some minor changes to the current carrier schedule. We actually build these long-range schedules for the deployment of the carriers and air wings that are five to seven years out; we have the ability to make minor adjustments and we’ll do that in this particular case. Q: Carriers are designed with an inherently long service life. Can you talk about how life cycle management and sustainment has been considered in the new carrier class, and how is it being improved for the existing ships? A: With a 50-year service life, aircraft carrier life cycle management is vitally important, and we are constantly upgrading the ship to maintain its combat effectiveness. Nimitz, our oldest carrier, has the same combat capability as George H.W. Bush, our newest carrier. Because the ship’s combat capability is contained within the air wing, we are able to bring new generations of combat aircraft onboard with minimal ship alterations. To achieve the 50-year service life, the mid-life RCOH is essential. More than 35 percent of the maintenance and modernization that takes place aboard a CVN over its 50-year service life occurs during this 44-month availability. Properly planning and executing the RCOH gives the fleet a fully working asset for the second half of its service life. The Ford class was designed from the bottom up with life cycle management and sustainment in mind. For instance, the Ford class is designed to go 43 months between major depot availabilities, compared to 32-36 months for a Nimitz class carrier, and Ford can go 12 years between docking periods, compared to eight years for the Nimitz class. Q: Can you describe the process of RCOH and what it generally entails? A: RCOH is a mid-life overhaul for the recapitalization of Nimitz class aircraft carriers. This 44-month maintenance period extends the service life of a Nimitz class carrier to 50 years by modernizing the ship’s combat and safety systems and equipment and refueling the ship’s nuclear reactors. Additionally, an RCOH provides an opportunity to perform underwater hull inspections and other maintenance-related evolutions that cannot be accomplished while the ship is waterborne. The RCOH provides sufficient time to perform more extensive propulsion plant repairs and testing than is possible during shorter scheduled maintenance periods. At the 22- to 23-year point, ships are in RCOH for 44 months and then come out for another 22-23 years. It is akin to open heart surgery. It’s not just the refueling of the two reactors on the ship—that’s certainly a portion. The refueling of the reactors is only about 10 percent of the total cost of the RCOH. The rest of the cost is doing things like working on the piping systems, working 18 | NPEO Preview Issue
on the tanks. It’s also an opportunity to modernize the ship for the second half of her life. For instance, Theodore Roosevelt is just about to come out of RCOH and when she delivers, she will be the most combat capable aircraft carrier we have, even though she’s 23 years old. So we have the ability to come back and put the latest technology on that ship and the latest war fighting systems. You can look at Nimitz right now, which is 38 years old, and she is just as combat capable as the George H. W. Bush, which was delivered in 2008-09. RCOH is a key component of our ability to maintain these ships over their 50-year life cycle. It’s top to bottom, it’s radars, weapon systems, self-defense systems, communication systems, all of it; she gets a complete makeover in the time she’s in there. It’s a very important part. We do 35 percent of all maintenance that we do in the 50-year life cycle in one four-year period. That four-year period is only 8 percent of that ship’s life, but it represents 35 percent of all the maintenance on the ship. Q: Tell me about the new electromagnetic aircraft launch [EMALS] system. What does it bring to the table and how confident is the Navy that the system is ready? A: EMALS brings great advantages to the fleet. The primary advantage is that it allows us to remove steam everywhere outside the propulsion system, eliminating huge amounts of maintenance and corrosion and a corresponding number of maintenance personnel. EMALS allows the amount of force used to launch the aircraft to be precisely calibrated, reducing stress on the airframe and enhancing aircraft service life. Lastly, we predict EMALS will be more reliable than steam catapults, so the air wing will be able to generate sustained combat operations. Water or steam and metal leads to corrosion. By having it all electric, you won’t have that with EMALS, so it will significantly reduce the corrosion levels that we see. Any time you’re in a salty air environment at sea and you have metal, it’s just the laws of physics, it’s going to cause rust and corrosion. We will limit that by using EMALS. Another thing is that by having it all electric, we’ll really take a significant amount of steam piping out of the ships today. Today, you run these massive steam pipes that come out of the propulsion plant that provide steam into the catapults, and now it’s all electrical cabling. So you have significant weight reduction, significant decrease in the amount of corrosion on the piping and then, because EMALS is designed to be more maintainable and more reliable, less people to maintain it than the steam catapults. You put all those things together, along with increased operational availability and the fact that you’re going to be able to dial the forces on the airplane and you provide a significant reduction in total life cycle cost. We’ve tested and launched several hundred aircraft already, so we know it works, and we’ve got a design site and we’ll keep testing it. A lot of the major components of the EMALS system itself are already loaded onto the ship [CVN 78] as we continue to construct it. Q: With EMALS allowing for the launch of heavier aircraft, how does that work with the new advanced arresting gear [AAG] system? A: EMALS offers greater flexibility at the upper and lower ranges of aircraft weight. AAG offers a similar capability, but the systems are independent of each other. www.NPEO-kmi.com
Q: Can you describe the primary benefits of the AAG compared to the previously used arresting gear system? A: AAG is a modular, integrated system consisting of energy absorbers, power conditioning equipment and digital controls, designed to replace the existing Mark-7 [Mk-7] arresting gear and provide higher reliability and safety margins. The Mk-7 system is a linear hydraulic machine that requires aircraft-specific tension adjustments for each landing. AAG is designed to allow arrestment of a broader range of aircraft, from the lightest unmanned aerial vehicles to the heaviest manned aircraft. AAG also has built-in test and diagnostic capabilities, resulting in less maintenance and manpower to operate. The flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier pre-commissioning unit (PCU) Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is completed with the addition of the The key to AAG is that com- upper bow. The bow weighs 787 metric tons and brings Gerald R. Ford to 96 percent structural completion. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy] pared to the old Mk-7 system, you have the ability to adjust for A: The CVN is capable of operating any aircraft that the Navy wishes, changing weights of the aircraft. AAG can be dialed up so that and unmanned will certainly be part of that mix in the future. I the tension on the arresting gear purchase cable is matched see no reason why unmanned combat aircraft cannot be successexactly to the weight of the aircraft. So if you were to look at the fully integrated into carrier operations with a minimum of ship forces on the plane as it lands, the idea is you would like to have alterations. a constant slowdown force rather than jerk it to a stop, because then you put additional stresses on the airframe. AAG has the Q: What are some of the primary alterations necessary for aircraft ability to tailor itself to the weight of the aircraft, which is ideal carriers to support unmanned aircraft? because today’s aircraft—whether it be a joint strike fighter or Super Hornet, or even unmanned aircraft—provides us the A: Although the X-47B unmanned combat air system-demonstraability to adjust the forces on the plane to limit the stress to the tor [UCAS-D] was recently used to demonstrate the capability for an airframe. It increases the flexibility and our ability to operate unmanned vehicle to safely conduct carrier operations, UCAS-D is a a wide range of aircraft, and aircraft that we haven’t even envidevelopmental aircraft only, not the Navy’s final selection for an opersioned yet, into the future. ational unmanned system. It is an example of the continuing ability In combination, EMALS does the same thing. EMALS of the aircraft carrier to incorporate new types of aircraft as technolallows us to dial precisely the weight of the aircraft. The comogy advances. bination of landing it with a constant deceleration and then Someday, the unmanned aircraft will join the monoplane, jet airlaunching with a constant acceleration based on the weight of craft and helicopters in the carrier air wing, with minor modificathe aircraft will significantly reduce the stress on the airframe, tions to accommodate an unmanned vehicle command and control which we think over time will reduce the amount of maintework space, and upgrades to existing carrier command and control nance we have to do on the aircraft and increase the fatigue life systems to include air traffic control, and intelligence, surveillance of the airframe itself. There are some significant benefits. The and reconnaissance systems. system itself is more reliable, easier to maintain, and will take To be honest, we just had the X-47B on the George H.W. Bush. fewer people to maintain. From that standpoint, you have a life We expect that there won’t be any major changes. But we fully expect cycle cost reduction because you have less maintenance and to use the installed systems to land unmanned aircrafts. You may less people. The added benefit is to the airframes themselves, have some different systems that you have to have to do maintenance which I think at the end of the day we’re going to find is the on board, but in terms of the flight deck itself, unmanned aircraft are biggest cost savings associated with both AAG and EMALS—in not going to change the catapults or the arresting gear alignment on addition to just the pure combat capability that you get from the carrier. We won’t put anything special on to handle those aircraft. the systems themselves. Q: Will unmanned systems become part of a carrier’s inventory? www.NPEO-kmi.com
Q: What is the timeframe for that to be the operational norm, having unmanned systems operational on a carrier? NPEO Preview Issue | 19
A: The X-47B is obviously in its early stages of development. I think the program offices will take it as a prototype and then go back out to industry and say, ‘Okay, we’ve proven it can work,’ and we’ll probably have a competition for it. So we’re years away from having a squadron of unmanned aircraft on board. It’s obviously pretty easy to envision in the not too distant future, 10-15 years down the road, we could easily have unmanned squadrons on board the aircraft carriers. Do I personally think they will ever replace manned aircraft? No. I think they’ll supplement it. They provide a lot of additional capability in terms of the ability to stay up for long periods of time for surveillance and additional mission sets. Eventually you’ll see them combining with manned aircraft to really provide an additional complement to the combat capability of the aircraft carriers. Q: How important is PEO Aircraft Carriers’ relationship with industry to stay up to date of the latest technology? A: PEO Carriers teams with various industries to address current and future technologies. Our shipbuilder, HII-NNS [Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding], is a key source and integrator of new technologies both onboard our vessels and for construction of carriers. We collaborate with the shipbuilding industry through the National Shipbuilding Research Program [NSRP] to develop technologies to reduce the cost of carriers. Through the Navy’s Manufacturing Technology Program, PEO Carriers partners with U.S. Manufacturing Centers of Excellence and HII-NNS to develop and advance technologies to reduce cost, and improve performance and responsiveness. PEO Carriers is also an active participant in the congressionally authorized Small Business Innovation Research [SBIR] program, which provides direct transition of innovative small business technologies to product lines. One SBIR example is the in-line fuel oil content monitor system, which continuously checks aviation fuel for dirt and water, avoiding the time-consuming task of a sailor taking a large number of samples and performing tests in a lab. PEO Carriers also works closely with their system providers and their industry partners to address their system technology opportunities. We obviously have a professional working relationship with industry. We can’t build these ships without them. We’re partners in this. We have the responsibility to the taxpayer to make sure that we build these ships correctly, in a quality manner at an affordable price. So we provide the requisite oversight accountability for the overall project itself. It’s incumbent upon us to develop a professional relationship with industry and that includes HII-NNS, and that includes the supplier base, so we’re very supportive of them and we want them to succeed. When they succeed, we get a good product and we get it at the best price. So it’s incumbent upon us to try and make them as successful as we can. Q: What do you foresee will be PEO Carriers’ biggest challenges in 2013? A: Our biggest challenges of 2013 will also be our biggest accomplishments. The launch of CVN 78, the first new aircraft carrier design in 50 years, will be a major accomplishment for the Navy. We will also redeliver CVN 71 to the fleet, ready to defend our 20 | NPEO Preview Issue
nation for the remainder of her 50-year service life, and begin the first inactivation of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with USS Enterprise [CVN 65]. All of these projects must be accomplished in an era that demands more affordability from all of our product lines. It’s a big year for us. Christening and launching the first of the Ford class in November is going to be a monumental event. It’s going to be a fabulous ship. At the same time, we’re looking to sign the contract for the second one [Ford class] John F. Kennedy and we’re really starting to work in earnest to drive more affordability into the CVN 80. We have the new construction program going on [CVN 78]; we’re going to deliver CVN-71 from RCOH. We just started the RCOH on the Abraham Lincoln [CVN 72], so we’re basically three months into her 44-month RCOH, and that’s a big deal. We’re starting the plans for CVN 73’s RCOH, which we start about three years in advance—she’ll start in 2016. And sadly, we’re also inactivating the Enterprise [CVN 65]. Q: What are some of the lessons learned from the construction of CVN 78 that you’ll take into the CVN 79 process? A: I think the three biggest lessons that we’ve learned from CVN 78, which we won’t repeat on CVN 79, are first, CVN 78 was originally supposed to be part of a three-step process. We were not going to put all of the new technologies on the first ship; we were going to do this in steps. OSD [Office of Secretary of Defense] and the Navy agreed back in the 2003 timeframe and said, ‘Rather than use three steps, why don’t we just go ahead and we’ll incorporate all the new technologies on the first ship of the class.’ So we changed the plan a little bit at the beginning and I think in the long run we’re going to be happy that CVN 78 will have the full suite of new technologies. But as a result of that, we started building CVN 78 without the design complete, and without full bill of materials. We didn’t have all the material in hand. Those two things, not having the design complete and not having the material in hand, has really caused us some challenges. So as the ship builder has built the ship and put systems together, there have been instances where he’s building the chill water systems and he’s missing a valve because it was a brandnew developmental valve and the supplier base was not able to make all the valves as fast as we had hoped. So they built the system, they put a temporary spool piece in or a blank and continued building the system, and then they have to go back and remove the blank when they finally get the valve and put it in. So it’s caused churn in the process, which has added cost to the ship. Some of that started upfront just because we didn’t have the design complete. Those two things will change for CVN 79. We’ll start CVN 79 with a full bill of material and a complete design. Those two things by itself will significantly reduce the cost to build CVN 79. One other example, when we designed CVN 78 one of the things we really tried to do is take a bunch of weight off the ship to restore service life margins, because we tend to add things to its life. From a naval architecture standpoint, we wanted to start with a lower weight and lower center of gravity to give us a little bit of room. So we designed a lot of the decks with thinner steel on CVN 78 than we have typically done on the Nimitz class. We build these large sections of the ship on dry land and then we lift them up to place them, and what we found is that the www.NPEO-kmi.com
thinner steel buckled and warped. So we had many cases where we put large sections of the ship in and the shipyard had to spend an awful lot of time straightening the decks out. We realized that thinner decks reduce the weight, but the unintended consequence is that it [takes] a lot of man hours to go back and straighten these plates of steel out. Basically, you’re just heating the deck and then the steel eventually flattens out. But it cost us a lot of money and time to do that, so we’re going to go back on CVN 79 and go back to the typical steel thickness that we used on the Nimitz class. Those are three significant things that have changed on the CVN 79 that as compared to CVN 78 will make a significant difference in the affordability of CVN 79. Obviously we have a very active lessons learned program on CVN 79 that I just kind of scratched the tip of the iceberg here.
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), assisted by tug boats, transits the James River as the ship relocates from dry dock 11 to a pier 2 at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. The ship is currently undergoing a 39-month refueling complex overhaul; the move marks the ship’s first underway since August 2009. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sean Hurt]
Q: Any closing thoughts? A: Aircraft carriers have been the centerpiece of our Navy for more than 70 years. We are an aircraft carrier-centric Navy. Aircraft carriers remain our most enduring and transformational platforms, supporting the full spectrum of our maritime strategy. The legacy of today’s Nimitz carriers will be carried on when the Gerald R. Ford [CVN 78] is delivered. The Ford class will bring significantly increased combat capability, the margins and flexibility to handle the missions of tomorrow, and will cost $4 billion less to own and operate over the 50-year life compared to a Nimitz class carrier. It is an exciting time to be in carriers, and we are excited about the future. There’s been an awful lot of focus in the media and on the Hill of the cost of the first ship, and rightly so. We’re not happy with the cost of the first ship, but it is the first ship of the class. It is a completely new ship compared to the Nimitz class, and we certainly have had our challenges on the first ship of the class with all the new developmental items on there. Having said that, we have a plan going forward that will significantly drive costs down on CVN 79 and CVN 80, and will drive costs down to historical Nimitz class levels. We’ll build CVN 79 with fewer man hours than CVN 77, the last of the Nimitz class. As we talk about the cost of the ship, I think it’s important that people realize why we built the Ford class. We really did it for three principal reasons. First, to provide increased combat capability and flexibility going into the future. This ship can generate 33 percent more sorties than a Nimitz class can; it’s set up for net-centric warfare with open architecture, so from a combat capability this ship is a leap forward compared to the Nimitz class carrier. Secondly, we also knew that the ship had to be designed with margin in it so we could adapt the ship for technologies that we www.NPEO-kmi.com
haven’t even envisioned yet. For instance, the Ford class has three times the electrical generating capacity than the Nimitz class. Could you envision a time 20-30 years from now as we develop directed energy weapons and lasers? It’s possible, because you have that additional margin of electrical generation capacity. The Ford class would be able to take these new weapons on board. Aircraft that we haven’t even envisioned yet, the Ford will be able to adapt to over time. And the great thing about aircraft carriers, and the reason they can last for 50 years, [is that] they do not become obsolete. The weapon system on the aircraft carrier is the planes. So the carrier is always designed to adapt to handle new aircraft—the Ford class even more so than Nimitz. We have a class of ship that’s going to be around for 94 years, and that class of ship will be able to adapt to changing weapons systems and aircraft that we haven’t even envisioned. The third thing is this ship will cost $4 billion less to own and operate over its 50-year service life than a Nimitz class carrier. The reason that is it’s built for maintainability. And secondly, we’re going to take 900-1,200 people off of that ship. People are the most expensive component of the life cycle cost of a ship. They represent about 40 percent of the total cost of a Nimitz class carrier over its 50-year life. Nimitz was built in an era where labor was relatively cheap—that’s not the case today with health care costs, etc. So it’s incumbent upon us to build a ship that takes fewer people to operate. When you add the $4 billion reduction in total ownership cost, the increased combat capability and the ability to have margins going forward, the nation is getting a great aircraft carrier that’s going to provide what the nation needs for the next 94 years. I’m not at all minimizing the cost of CVN 78—we have to do better going forward—but when you talk about the cost of the ship, you always have to take a step back and recognize why we built the Ford class and what we’re going to get going forward. O NPEO Preview Issue | 21
Often the last line of defense, close-in weapons are a ship’s guardian angel. By Peter Buxbaum NPEO Correspondent
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“When you combine layers of defenses the probability of Today’s shipboard close-in defense systems came to be threat annihilation goes up,” said Jim Sigler, a product mandeveloped, deployed and improved, in many cases, in reaction ager at Raytheon, which provides the Phalanx CIWS as well as to specific incidents. One iconic event was the July 2000 attack other ship-defense systems. “The layers are architected like a by suicide bombers operating a speedboat in the Gulf of Aden hockey team defense. The Evolved Sea-Sparrow missile is the on the USS Cole. That incident led to the formation of the U.S. longest-reaching system and is typically engaged first. If there Navy’s Task Force Hip Pocket, which recommended major are threats that make it past ESSM they are engaged by the upgrades to the MK 38 machine gun system to improve antiRolling Airframe missile and if it makes it past RAM, Phalanx terrorism and force protection capabilities for deployed ships. is the goalie.” An earlier, less well-known incident was the sinking of “To continue the analogy, Raytheon’s Ship Self-Defense the Israeli destroyer Eilat by Egyptian Soviet-made Styx antiSystem (SSDS) would be the center—assessing the situation ship missiles in 1967, which led to the adaptation of an Army and driving the engagement strategy with all of the available close-in weapon system (CIWS) for Navy vessels. Since its iniweapon systems,” said Karl Bunker, the system’s senior protial deployment in 1980, the Navy’s Phalanx CIWS has evolved gram manager. SSDS is an open, distributed combat managein response to increasing threats, adding anti-air warfare ment system for aircraft carriers and expeditionary warfare improvements along with surface threat and low/slow flyer ships. It is designed to expedite the detect-to-engage sequence to defensive capabilities. defend against anti-ship cruise missiles. Six different U.S. Navy “Almost every ship in the fleet has a Phalanx CIWS, makship classes use SSDS MK 2, including San Antonio (LPD 17), ing it the most prolific multi-mission weapon system the Navy Nimitz (CVN 68), and Iwo Jima (LHD 7), with Tarawa (LHA 6) has,” said Navy Lieutenant Kurt Larson, a spokesperson for the and Whidbey Island/Harpers Ferry (LSD 41/49) in test, and Ford Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). “The Navy will com(CVN 78) in development. The system integrates and automates plete the upgrade of all fleet CIWS to the latest configuration, standalone sensors and weapon systems to provide the required, Block 1B, in fiscal year 2014.” quick response and multi-target engagement capability. In all, the U.S. Navy has deployed some 15 shipboard sysESSM provides a ship self-defense capability against hightem for close-in defense. The oldest, the MK 45 MOD 2, came speed, low-altitude anti-ship cruise missiles, online in 1971. The newest, the MK 110 MOD 0, low-velocity air threats such as helicopters, came on board in 2008. and high-speed, maneuverable surface threats. How might the MK 38 upgrade have defeated ESSM is deployed on U.S. Navy Arleigh Burkethe USS Cole attack? “After the Cole incident, the class destroyers, Ticonderoga-class cruisers, airNavy decided to upgrade the system to add eleccraft carriers, and large deck amphibious ships. tro-optical and infrared sensors, a control sysThe RAM MK 31 guided missile weapon system, tem, and to make the system remotely operated,” with its Block 2 configuration, now in low-rate said Reuven G., technical expert from Rafael, initial production, is designed to counter antiwhich provided much of the technology for the ship cruise missiles. upgrade. The MK 38 MOD 2 upgrade, which came “If the same boat showed up today it would Ben Nies about in response to the Cole attack, provides a have been seen 5 kilometers away” thanks to the stabilized solution to counter small boat threats integrated sensor system called Toplite, said Ben and is equipped with a 25 mm ATK cannon. “The Nies, program manager at BAE Systems, the prosystem includes a dedicated electro-optical senvider of the system. “The system would have kept sor for situational awareness and fire control,” watch on it and tracked it as it got closer, and said Larson. “The maximum effective range if there were evidence of hostile intent a warnis 2,900 yards and the gun can fire up to 180 ing system would have been activated. Toplite rounds per minute.” MK38 MOD 2 is installed replaces the sailor standing on deck looking aboard 10 classes of naval vessels as well the U.S. through binoculars.” Coast Guard’s FRC class ships. Plans call for The multiplicity of close-in shipboard defense installation aboard CVN and AS class ships and systems is explained by the different environMK VI patrol boats. ments in which the U.S. Navy operates, the Jim Sigler The control stations incorporated into the greater emphasis on close-to-shore operations, jsigler@raytheon.com upgraded MK 38 resembles a video game conand the need to protect vessels with a layered sole, with a 12-inch screen and two joysticks. defense system. “In littoral combat environ“The operator can’t see the system but can see what the system ments, ships must defend themselves within a reduced batis looking at,” said Nies. “It provides a simple intuitive interface tlespace and with less reaction time, resulting in the need for that takes about an hour to figure out.” a layered defense,” said Larson. “There is a need for multiple Toplite, which is equipped with day, night and laser range systems due to current and evolving threats. In littoral comcameras, provides the vessel command with a 24-hour surveilbat environments, the Navy cannot afford to develop one sinlance capability. “The Navy tells me that when a ship leaves a gular solution that counters all possible current and future port they turn on the power to Toplite and they don’t shut it off threats. Surface ships, particularly amphibious ships, must be until they come back into port,” said Nies. “They can make a lot equipped with robust defense systems which have been tested of decisions based on what they are getting out of Toplite.” against a variety of threats in numerous scenarios.” www.NPEO-kmi.com
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If a threat is detected the system goes into hostile mode and locks onto and tracks the threat. In the event engagement becomes necessary, a switch is flipped and warning shots will be fired. “If the target keeps coming, the commander makes the decision to fire,” said Nies. “They don’t have to shoot until the target is within 500 meters. That way they can wait to see if it turns around. Once the system starts shooting it is going to hit. The target has no chance to get out of there once they start shooting.” The system is capable of being integrated into a ship’s fire control and command and control systems, noted Reuven G. “Some other navies have done that,” he said, “but the U.S. Navy has opted to have the system operated as a standalone system by a human at a remote position.” The system can also be equipped with an additional weapon such as a machine gun. The Phalanx CIWS provides defense in littoral combat environments, which places ships and their crews at risk to an increased number of threats, including small, fast gunboats, standard and guided artillery, helicopters, mines and a variety of shore-launched anti-ship missile. Phalanx is equipped with a 20 mm M61A1 Gatling gun, which fires armor-piercing rounds at a rate of 3,000 or 4,500 rounds per minute. “The system is equipped with an advanced search and track Ku-band radar to provide autonomous target detection and engagement,” said Larson. “It can be interfaced with virtually any ship combat system and can provide target designation for other shipboard weapons, such as RAM.” Phalanx is installed on practically all U.S. combatant ships and on those of 22 allied nations. Phalanx can automatically deliver bursts of rounds at a designated target, noted Sigler. “Once it starts firing the system automatically closes in and adjusts its aim,” he said. “The gun can be upgraded with a longer barrel to improve accuracy. We will be incorporating an infrared sensor and thermal imager into the system to improve performance day or night.” Another of the Navy’s close-in defense systems, the MK 46 MOD 2 was adapted from the Marine Corps’ expeditionary fighting vehicle gun application. General Dynamics Land Systems has been providing the MK 46 to the Navy for about 10 years. The 30 mm MK 46 gun weapons system is lightweight, fully automated and remote controlled. The maximum effective range is 4,000 yards and can fire up to 200 rounds per minute. Two MK 46 GWSs are permanently installed aboard LPD 17 class ships. Two MK 46 MOD 2 are integrated with the MK 50 gun mission modules for the surface warfare mission package aboard LCS-class vessels. “The system provides a capability against small, fast, and highly maneuverable surface threats,” said Larson. “We have designed the MK 46 to be an all-weather day or night weapon,” said Joe Segar, GDLS’s MK 46 program manager. “It is also a stabilized system so it can be used in high sea states and turbulent sea states. The system can be integrated with other shipboard systems or as a standalone system. A sailor could also sit in the turret and operate the system from there in case they were to lose communications from the console.” When integrated with fire control systems, the MK 46 can look for targets and train its weapon on them. “We have no requirements from our current customers to provide those capabilities,” said Segar. Among other close-in defense systems, the Griffin missile is able to hit speedboats at 2 kilometers using GPS coordinates or laser designation. The Griffin is used by Navy and Coast Guard patrol crafts and Navy littoral combat ships (LCS). 24 | NPEO Preview Issue
The newest of the defense systems, deployed in 2008, the MK 110 MOD 0 provides a capability against surface, airborne and sea-based threats. “The 57 mm MK 110 gun mount is medium weight, fully automated, and remote controlled when integrated with a fire control system,” said Larson. “The maximum range is 9.5 nautical miles and it fires at 220 rounds per minute.” Seven MK110 gun mounts have been delivered to the Coast Guard’s national security cutters and the Navy’s LCS. Recent enhancements to both the MK 38 and the MK 46 include an embedded trainer which allows an operator to train on the actual system without having to use live ammunition. “The embedded trainer simulates the functionality of the system and works from the same console the operator works at for actual operations,” said Segar. “Gunners can use the trainer when the ship is deployed and is unable to go to an area where they fire live ammunition. It also saves the cost of the ammunition itself. It allows them to set up scenarios including the number and type of targets and their locations. The system gives the instructor the ability to document how well the student performed and record that for history.” The MK 38 will be undergoing enhancements to provide the system with an improved electro-optical sight, an integrated loud hailer, and a coaxially mounted 7.62 mm machine gun. ‘The improved sight will provide the fleet with improved situational awareness, allowing for detection and identification of potential targets at longer ranges,’ said Larson. ‘The loud hailer will allow the fleet to engage targets with a non-lethal warning tone or voice commands. The 7.62 mm machine gun will increase the MK 38’s anti-terrorism and force protection capabilities while in-port and while transitioning narrow waterways.” “The system could be equipped with a number of additional weapons,” noted Nies, “including a small missile.” The RAM and ESSM are also undergoing improvements. “The RAM Block 2 missile upgrade will address missile kinematics and an RF sensor upgrade to counter evolving and future threats,” said Larson. RAM Block 2 is in low-rate production with initial operational capability planned for 2014. The ESSM Block 2 will integrate the existing ESSM semi-active seeker with an active seeker. “This configuration will improve the effectiveness of the missile against existing threats and deliver capability against emerging threats,” said Larson. Raytheon is starting to work on a next-generation Phalanx that will be adaptable to smaller vessels. “Phalanx is extremely heavy and has a large footprint,” said Sigler. “Smaller vessels like offshore patrol boats aren’t big enough to take a full-sized system. We are working at applying the Phalanx technology to a smaller form and fit so we can offer it on smaller ships.” “A balanced, integrated combat system solution is essential to defeating threats,” said Larson. “Improvement in any one element alone is inadequate. Increased target detection ranges, decreased system reaction times, advanced command and control features, and improved hard kill and electronic warfare weapons must be integrated and coordinated to provide an effective defense. The ultimate goal is coordinating onboard, offboard and future systems to respond to advanced anti-ship missiles in a manner that enhances survivability while effectively and efficiently employing all fleet assets.” O For more information, contact NPEO Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.npeo-kmi.com.
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Precision-guided munitions have revolutionized Naval warfare,
increasing success and efficiency. By Melanie Scarborough NPEO Correspondent Boeing builds the joint direct attack muniAlthough bombing is a critical compotion (JDAM), a tail kit that ordnance crews nent of warfare, it historically bore the discan install within minutes on unguided advantage of being imprecise. Pilots were warheads. The tail kit contains GPS/INS dependent on weather that allowed suffiwith small motors that move the fins; the cient visibility for them to take good aim motorized tail fins steer the weapon to a at their targets, and even then bombs often precise location in its GPS coordinates. went astray and caused civilian casualThe resulting weapons are capable of relities. That problem has been significantly ably defeating multiple high-level targets in diminished by the development of precia single pass—in any weather—with minision-guided munitions (PGMs) that strike mal risk to the aircraft. with remarkable accuracy, enhancing misIn addition to the tail kits, Boeing prosion success. duces laser JDAMS, a modular laser sensor Generally, PGMs are air-launched and kit installed in the front of JDAM weapons guided either by laser, electro-optical senthat adds the capacity to prosecute targets sors, global positioning systems (GPS) or of opportunity, including moving and mariinertial navigation systems (INS). Since time targets, with a high degree of accuracy lasers and electro-optical sensors rely on and reliability. According to a Navy spokesvisual sighting of targets, experts agree that man, the laser JDAM with direct attack the future is in GPS/INS guidance, which moving target capability is proving particuoperates independent of weather. (Experts larly effective because it promay say the future is a dual vides the ability to strike in mode system with both laser GPS-denied environments. and GPS/INS capability). “Adding GPS/INS/laser The development of guidance allows the weapon PGMs means not only to engage fixed targets in any improved destruction of weather condition while addmilitary targets but lower ing clear-weather capability expenses as well. “Precision to engage fast-moving targuidance offers tremengets or fixed targets that have dous savings because now large target location error,” the warfighter only has to said a Navy spokesman. put one weapon on target to Scott Wuesthoff Weather is always a considensure mission success,” said eration and often a challenge, especially in Scott Wuesthoff, director, Boeing Direct the winter, the spokesman said, which is Attack Weapons. “The beauty of all this is why the Navy counts itself fortunate to have that it reduces collateral damage and costs.” a wide range of PDMs that forces can choose Most PGMs are created by adding a from, specific to targets and weather. guidance system to unpowered ordnance, Baseline JDAM is a coordinate-seeking turning “dumb” bombs into “smart” ones. weapon immune to weather conditions. In its St. Charles, Mo., production facility, www.NPEO-kmi.com
Both preplanned targets and reactive target coordinates can be generated prior to release and no after-release support is required (i.e., “launch and leave”). Laser JDAM utilizes a semi-active laser detector compatible with all U.S. and NATO airborne and groundlaser designators. Other PGMs the Navy says are especially useful include direct and time-sensitive weapons—the Hellfire, Griffin, Maverick and the advanced precision kill weapon system (APKWS)—that have provided the Navy with a multi-mission, multi-target, precision-strike capability in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Mission Flexibility Accomplished Another variation on the baseline is JDAM extended range (JDAM ER), which provides triple the range of a conventional JDAM for additional stand-off and threat protection for the warfighter. The modular add-on wings are used with a conventional 500-pound and 2,000-pound JDAM and are designed to unfold in flight, tripling the weapon’s glide range to more than 40 miles. Like the other JDAM variations, the JDAM ER wing kit is assembled within minutes at weapon build-up time for ranges beyond 15 miles. The advantages of JDAMs include low cost, near-precision accuracy, high reliability, all-weather capability, and a large enough inventory to support operations around the world. “In the present environment, cost is key—one weapon, one target,” said James Dodd, vice president, Boeing Global Strike, Weapons & Missile Systems. “Anything you can do to help the warfighters NPEO Preview Issue | 25
launcher (PGRL). The GATR incorporates conflicts. Consequently, Boeing is developachieve their goal with one weapon, while the same semi-active laser seeker technoling both mid-course and terminal guidance giving them the capabilities they’re asking ogy used in the JDAM weapon, employing capability to supplement GPS. Secondly, for in an affordable way, you have supported a penetrating warhead probecause several countries have very capable your customer.” grammed from the cockpit air defenses requiring weapon engagement The decision of which to deliver impact fuzing to from standoff range, Boeing is developing PGM to utilize is dependent defeat soft targets or delayed JDAM range extension kits to provide this upon many factors, includfuzing to penetrate hardened additional range. ing mission, platform and targets. Wuesthoff predicts that Boeing’s PGMs availability. Of the PMA 201 “The GATR provides a of the future will have increased seeker portfolio, the Navy reports tactical employment envecapabilities coupled with the ability to push that the most commonly lope as much as 50 percent the weapon greater distances, keeping the used is the JDAM, followed greater than currently fielded pilot or crews out of harm’s way. “You will by laser JDAM. Of the PMA laser-guided rockets and optialso see the ability to ‘talk’ to the weapon 242, the most commonly James Dodd mized terminal performance through data links, thus giving the warused is the APKWS Hellfire against hardened, stationary fighter the opportunity to better control the and Griffin. and moving targets,” explained Tim Strusz, weapon and its impacts,” he said. “This is a Texas Instruments, now Raytheon, was business development manager for ATK tremendous capability that will also reduce the first to develop laser guided bombs Guided Weapons. “GATR provides the war the cost for a successful mission.” (Paveway) during the Vietnam War. Since fighter the confidence of “lock on before Dodd agrees that the next generation of then Raytheon has continued to advance launch” and the flexibility to successfully PGMs will—literally—provide more bang the capability and was the first to introengage multiple target types with unprecefor the buck. “As we miniaturize technology duce dual mode systems (GPS/INS and dented precision.” with increased reliability and then package laser). Raytheon’s Enhanced Paveway comit in ways that give warfighters the desired bines the accuracy of laser-guided weapeffects they need, you’re going to see a new ons with the GPS/INS advantage of being The Next Generation generation of affordable precision-guided immune to weather conditions. As a result, munitions appear.” the Enhanced Paveway lowers the necessary Although 100 percent accuracy is probAt Raytheon, incorporation of the next weapon inventory while raising the mission ably unattainable, the next generation of generation of seeker technology, guidance success rate. “Paveway has revolutionized PGMs is being developed to get as near that logic and navigation is being tactical air-to-ground warfare by providing ideal as possible. “The curemployed to expand highthe warfighter unparalleled accuracy and rent trend for our military speed maneuvering tarstandoff capability, proving itself in every forces is to field weapons that get engagement and overall major conflict in which it has been used,” offer greater levels of preweapon performance. said Taylor W. Lawrence, Ph.D., Raytheon cision,” Strusz said. “We’re Taking budget considMissile Systems president. at the point now where we erations into account, the According to Raytheon, the Paveway are able to offer weapons Navy anticipates that it will guided bombs are the most widely used that have been refined to the continue to make meaPGM in history. During operations in Libya, point where they are capable sured changes, such as for instance, the vast majority of PGMs used of offering extreme precision. converting unguided weapby allied forces came from the Paveway Weapons that use modern Tim Strusz ons into PGMs, rather than family. SAL seekers have shown they major overhauls. “Our abilThe company also says that no competcan reliably strike within a ity to make incremental improvements has ing product offers the breadth of warhead meter of an intended target.” advanced the combat-proven capability of compatibility as the Paveway family of weapThe Navy expects that next-generation direct attack and precision strike weapons ons. Control sections are fully compatible weapons will use propulsion, wing kits, or without the need for costly investments with MK series warheads and the BLU-109, a combination of both to reach further disin new production,” said the spokesman. and size varies from 250 pounds for countances. Additionally, the PGMs of the future “The effort of our acquisition professionterinsurgency/low yield to 2,000 pounds— will be network-enabled and use multials in developing these technologies proand even 5,000 pounds for “bunker buster” mode sensor technology. Multi-mode seekvides our sailors the right tools for success, penetration. Additionally, the Paveway proers capable of addressing multiple target which is a priority for all of us who serve at vides a full range of cockpit selectable terscenarios and support all weather employNAVAIR.” O minal impact angles and headings with a ment requirements will be pursued in the mature height-of-burst. future, the Navy said. Arlington, Va.-based ATK is developBoeing believes that as global security ing a family of precision guided munitions moves away from Afghanistan to other locaFor more information, contact NPEO Editor that include small glide weapons (known tions and adversaries, two areas are likely Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or as Hammer and Hatchet) and a low-cost, to change: For one, GPS availability cannot search our online archives for related stories at lightweight guided advanced tactical rocket always be guaranteed, yet the accuracy prowww.npeo-kmi.com. (GATR) with a precision guided rocket vided by GPS will be a necessity in future 26 | NPEO Preview Issue
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VXX Redux
With a new U.S. presidential helicopter replacement program in the works, companies that might be competing to build the aircraft are touting the benefits of their respective platforms. Barring any surprises, a new helicopter to transport future American presidents will be selected in about a year. The U.S. government and defense contractors are gearing up for a competition to replace the aging VH-3D and VH-60N Marine One presidential helicopters, which are operated by a Marine Corps unit, Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1). Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), which is overseeing the contest, issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program (VXX) in November 2012 and a final RFP on May 3, 2013. NAVAIR has given industry 90 days (August 1) to deliver their VXX proposals. The program hopes to award an engineering and manufacturing development contract to the winning bidder in the April-June quarter of 2014. Compared to the decades-old helicopters it would replace, the VXX “will address capability gaps associated with aircraft performance, passenger payload and communications,” NAVAIR spokeswoman Kelly Burdick said. Over the years, Sikorsky-built VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N WhiteHawk helicopters have undergone modifications and improvements that have “added weight to the aircraft—decreasing other aspects of mission capability, like range, and limiting the ability to incorporate future improvements because of the negative effect of further weight growth,” the Government www.NPEO-kmi.com
Accountability Office (GAO) wrote in a February 2012 report to Congress. A predecessor VXX program, also known as VH-71, was derailed four years ago by cost overruns, schedule delays and performance problems fueled by “the worst case ever of requirements creep,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at the Teal Group. The GAO concluded that the VH-71 program “was started with a faulty business case, did not perform appropriate systems engineering analysis to gain knowledge at the right times, and failed to make necessary trade-offs between resources and requirements even after years of development. Furthermore, it did not seek to develop knowledge incrementally, but rather sought to develop the desired capability in a single step.” NAVAIR said it is trying to avoid repeating those problems by holding development in the new program “to an absolute minimum” and discouraging changes to major components, such as the drive train, rotors, engines and basic structure. “The Department of the Navy has developed an acquisition strategy for the Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program that balances system performance with an emphasis on affordability, cost control and risk reduction,” Burdick said. “The program will focus on integration of mature mission equipment into an existing aircraft that can meet the mission requirements.”
By Marc Selinger NPEO Correspondent
The Navy has budgeted almost $2.5 billion for the new program through fiscal year 2018. The government plans to buy 23 aircraft, including two dedicated test aircraft, and achieve an initial operational capability by 2020. At press time, potential competitors for VXX included a Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin team offering the VH-92, a variant of Sikorsky’s S-92; a variant of the AgustaWestland AW101 offered by Northrop Grumman and AgustaWestland; the Boeing H-47 Chinook; and the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.
VH-92 Sikorsky would be responsible for total system performance of the VH-92, while its teammate, Lockheed Martin, would integrate the mission systems. Bruce McKinney, Sikorsky’s VH-92 program director, said the helicopter’s benefits include its affordability, security and successful track record. “Our aircraft meets all the mission requirements,” he told Navy Air/Sea PEO Forum. “And, the Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin team has a history of integrating missions systems into aircraft to deliver high performance on schedule.” That history includes Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin teaming for nearly four decades to build hundreds of SH-60 and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters for the U.S. Navy. NPEO Preview Issue | 27
McKinney described the S-92 as a mature platform that has amassed more than 535,000 flight hours since it was introduced in 2004. “With that number of flight hours on the fleet, we really know this aircraft,” he said. Ten countries operate the S-92 aircraft for their head of state transport. The majority of the operational 170 S-92s are being used by the offshore oil and gas industry, search-and-rescue teams and paramilitary organizations. Sikorsky is building about 36 aircraft a year in Coatesville, Pa., near Philadelphia and is ramping up to an annual rate of 40. The S-92 demonstrated its durability by achieving a 96 percent availability rate in harsh, space-constrained offshore environments in 2012, McKinney said. And Sikorsky continues to make the aircraft more reliable by monitoring data generated by health and usage monitoring systems aboard each aircraft. Customers feed that information to Sikorsky’s Fleet Management Operations Center in Trumbull, Conn., where Sikorsky employees look for trends in aircraft performance and anticipate maintenance needs. The S-92 has the lowest lifecycle cost of any helicopter in its weight class, according to McKinney. The company engineered low operating costs into the aircraft, including high fuel efficiency and a minimization of scheduled maintenance. The company also puts emphasis on ensuring that spare parts, technical information and training are readily available to operators. Having built the VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters, and supported white-top aircraft for decades, Sikorsky has the infrastructure in place to support presidential aircraft and could “quickly provide for that type of secure environment for the new presidential helicopter,” he said.
AW101 Northrop Grumman and Italian partner AgustaWestland announced in September 2012 that they had signed a teaming agreement to offer a U.S.-built helicopter based on the AW101. The companies said their arrangement “pairs Northrop Grumman’s proven management and systems integration expertise with AgustaWestland’s world-renowned rotorcraft manufacturing and advanced helicopter design and development.” The announcement described the AW101 as mature, reliable and highly 28 | NPEO Preview Issue
capable and cited Northrop Grumman’s experience delivering a broad range of air systems, including the Navy’s new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early-warning aircraft and the Air Force’s E-8 Joint STARS ground surveillance jet. The two companies promised to deliver a presidential helicopter that is “fully integrated with the most advanced mission suites, integrated onboard sensors and communications systems available today.” AgustaWestland said the AW101 has “extensive operational experience gathered in both the land and maritime environments,” including more than 10 years of active service with the Royal Canadian Air Force, and “benefits from a modern design with embedded safety-enhancing features.” Aboulafia said the VH-92’s advantages over the larger AW101 include being less expensive and being built by a U.S.-based contractor that is also the longtime incumbent for presidential helicopters. In its green configuration, the two-engine S-92 costs about $21 million, or about 40 percent less than the $29 million to $30 million price tag of the three-engine AW101. “In budgetarily constrained times, a lower-cost option might have its charms,” Aboulafia said. But Aboulafia noted that the AW101 has an advantage when it comes to size: The S-92’s smaller cabin lacks the growth potential for people and equipment that the AW101 would provide. “There’s a reason the 101 won the first competition” for the VXX in 2005, he said, referring to the US101, a Lockheed MartinAgustaWestland-Bell Helicopter variant of the AgustaWestland EH 101. It is unclear whether the Northrop Grumman-AgustaWestland bid will be hurt by allegations that AgustaWestland paid bribes to secure an Indian helicopter deal. The situation poses a “distraction and a disruption for AgustaWestland management,” but there is no formal mechanism to factor it into the evaluation of VXX bids, Aboulafia said.
H-47, V-22 Aboulafia described the H-47 and V-22 as long shots at best. He considers the H-47 to be too big for the VXX mission, which includes landing on the space-constrained White House South Lawn, and the V-22 to be too risky given its troubled history, including four fatal crashes.
Jim O’Donnell, spokesman for the V-22 Joint Program Office in Patuxent River, Md., disagrees with Aboulafia’s assessment that the V-22 is “too risky.” “The V-22 has a Class A mishap rate of 1.48 per 100,000 flight hours since it was declared operational in 2007 according to Naval Safety Center statistics,” said O’Donnell. Class A mishaps are those that involve death or permanent disability or more than $2 million in damage. O’Donnell said he was unaware of any requests for the V-22 to be the new Marine Corps One aircraft and referred any questions to the Presidential Helo Program Office PAO. Boeing touted the capabilities of both rotorcraft but, at press time, said it would await the final RFP before indicating whether either platform would be entered into the competition. “Both the V-22 and H-47 have been and continue to be used by current customers to transport [very important persons] as part of ongoing combat, humanitarian and contingency operations around the world,” Boeing spokesman Andy Lee told Navy Air/ Sea PEO Forum. “In particular, the oneof-a-kind combination of speed, range and vertical takeoff and landing offered by the tilt-rotor Osprey has made it the aircraft of choice for moving military and political leaders around Afghanistan, while the unmatched stability and heavy-load capability of the tandem-rotor Chinook make it very well-suited for VIP transport and a multitude of other missions.” “The government is currently developing the requirements for this mission, and the Bell-Boeing team is monitoring this process and will determine if the V-22 would be a good fit to fulfill this role,” Bell spokesman Bill Schroeder said. While the VXX will transport the president to Camp David and other locations, Hubbard noted that the HMX-1 squadron is already slated to receive 14 MV-22s to provide logistics and passenger support during Marine One flights and fly VIPs to various locations in and around Washington, D.C. The MV-22s will replace the squadron’s aging Boeing CH-46E Sea Knights. O
For more information, contact NPEO Editor Brian O’Shea at briano@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.npeo-kmi.com.
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September 2013 Volume 1, Issue 1
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Cover and In-Depth Interview with:
Rear Adm. Donald Gaddis PEO Tactical Air Programs U.S. Navy
Features
Special Section
Airborne ISR
Mine Warfare
Knowing where enemies are, how many there are, what they’re doing, how they’re supplied and what kind of support they have can give our forces a distinct edge. The U.S. Navy employs ISR assets to great benefit.
Naval mine warfare can be used offensively to destroy surface ships or submarines, or defensively to create safe zones around ally vessels.
Ballistic Missile Defense Leadership insight from the program manager of the Navy’s ballistic missile defense program discussing methods for detecting, tracking and eliminating incoming ballistic missile threats.
Ship Life Cycle Management In order to maintain, monitor and refine class maintenance plans for all naval vessels and ensure materiel readiness for the projected service life, planning and management are key.
Program Spotlight Littoral Combat Ship Outting the evolution of this $37 billion program and how the Navy will marry technology with mission requirements.
Naval Distance Learning The Navy College Program Distance Learning Partnership is a continuously expanding program that helps sailors utilize their skills from service to earn credit towards receiving a degree. Insertion Order Deadline: aUGUST 23, 2013 | Ad Materials Deadline: aUGUST 30, 2013
Nikki James, Associate Publisher • nikkij@kmimediagroup.com • 301-670-5700 x116