BAE to Support US Navy Submarine Torpedos

The U.S. Navy has awarded BAE Systems an $80 million contract to continue providing systems engineering and other technical services to support the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Keyport Division in Washington State. BAE Systems, along with six local subcontractors, will assist the Navy in maintaining the operational readiness of submarine torpedoes and other weapon systems. NUWC is the Navy’s full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and Fleet support center for submarines, surface and air anti-submarine warfare systems, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare and related areas of homeland security and national defense. The three-year contract, managed by Naval Sea Systems Command, builds on BAE Systems’ ongoing support of the Navy’s submarine weapons programs. For more than 30 years, the company has provided a range of services to NUWC in Keyport, Washington; Newport, Rhode Island; and Groton, Connecticut. In addition, for more than 40 years, BAE Systems has provided systems engineering and integration to the Navy’s submarine-based Strategic Systems Programs. That workforce, based in Rockville, Maryland, ensures the readiness of the Trident II fleet ballistic missile and the SSGN Attack Weapons System. At the Keyport site, the BAE Systems team provides life-cycle systems support services for the Heavyweight and Lightweight Torpedo, and for information assurance and submarine towed systems. These services include engineering and technical support, performance analysis and monitoring, training, logistics, troubleshooting and problem resolution, and project management. The team also supports tactical software systems development at Keyport, in addition to administrative, training and ammunition operations at the Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific in nearby Bangor, Washington.

Raytheon delivers second Phalanx Block 1B for Australia's Air Warfare Destroyer

Raytheon delivered the second Phalanx Block 1B Close-In Weapon System for installation on Australia's newest Air Warfare Destroyer, the Brisbane. A previously awarded direct commercial sale contract calls for a total of three Phalanx mounts to be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy. The first mount was delivered in late 2012 for installation aboard the Hobart. A third system is under construction and will be installed on the Sydney in 2014 . The 6,500 metric ton Hobart Class AWD is based on the Navantia Spanish F100 ship design. It is being developed and built by the AWD Alliance, with the Australian Government (represented by the Defence Materiel Organisation) as owner-participant, with ASC as the shipbuilder and with Raytheon Australia as the Mission Systems Integrator. Phalanx is a rapid-fire, computer-controlled radar and 20 mm gun system that automatically acquires, tracks and destroys enemy threats that have penetrated all other ship defense systems. More than 890 systems have been built and deployed in the navies of 25 nations. These Hobart Class AWDs will provide air defence for accompanying ships in addition to land forces and infrastructure in coastal areas, and for self-protection against missiles and aircraft. The Aegis Combat System incorporating the state-of-the-art phased array radar, AN/SPY 1D(V), in combination with the SM-2 missile, will provide an advanced air defence system capable of engaging enemy aircraft and missiles at ranges in excess of 150km. The AWDs will carry a helicopter for surveillance and response to support key warfare areas. The surface warfare function will include long range anti-ship missiles and a naval gun capable of firing extended range munitions in support of land forces. The Hobart Class will also conduct Under sea Warfare and be equipped with modern sonar systems, decoys, surface-launched torpedoes and an array of effective close-in defensive weapons.

US Navy to Deploy Laser Weapon System

The U.S. Navy announced last Monday that it is preparing to deploy a new laser weapon capable of destroying planes, drones and boats.
LaWS has been in development for six years at a cost of $40 million. The gun was tested in California last summer, aboard the destroyer USS Dewey, and it went 12 for 12, shooting down drones and fast boats.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Naval Sea Systems Command recently performed demonstrations of high-energy lasers aboard a moving surface combatant ship, as well as against remotely piloted aircraft. Through careful planning of such demonstrations and by leveraging investments made through other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, researchers have been able to increase the ruggedness, power and beam quality of lasers, more than doubling the range of the weapons.
Officials consider the solid-state laser a revolutionary technology that gives the Navy an extremely affordable, multi-mission weapon with a deep magazine and unmatched precision, targeting and control functions. Because lasers run on electricity, they can be fired as long as there is power and provide a measure of safety as they don't require carrying propellants and explosives aboard ships.

Lasers complement kinetic weapons to create a layered ship defense capability, providing improved protection against swarming small boats and unmanned aircraft at a fraction of the cost of traditional weapons.

The advancing technology gives sailors a variety of options they never had before, including the ability to control a laser weapon's output and perform actions ranging from non-lethal disabling and deterrence all the way up to destruction.

General Dynamics Completes Critical Design Review for Knifefish Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has successfully completed the critical design review for Knifefish, the surface-mine countermeasure unmanned undersea vehicle (SMCM UUV), one month ahead of schedule. The General Dynamics team will now begin the development of the system hardware and software to integrate the approved design via the fabrication of three engineering development modules. Knifefish is an essential component of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mine countermeasure (MCM) mission package, providing U.S. Navy commanders and sailors with enhanced mine-hunting capabilities.
Expected to attain initial operational capability in 2017, Knifefish is the first heavyweight-class mainstream mine countermeasure (MCM) UUV that will address the Navy's need to reliably detect and classify mines resting on the seafloor and buried mines in high-clutter environments and areas with potential for mine burial. Knifefish also gathers environmental data to provide intelligence support for other mine warfare systems.
Knifefish will help greatly reduce risk to Navy personnel and ships by operating in minefields as an off-board sensor, while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries. The modular, open Knifefish has been designed to integrate with both variants of LCS via the common LCS interface control document.
The U.S. Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a contract to design and build Knifefish in September 2011. The General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems team on the Knifefish program includes Bluefin Robotics (Quincy, Mass.), Ultra Electronic Ocean Systems (Braintree, Mass.), Oceaneering International, Inc. (Houston, Texas), Metron (Reston, Va.), Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University (State College, Pa.), 3 Phoenix (Hanover, Md.), General Dynamics Information Technology (Fairfax, Va.) and ASRC Research Technology Solutions (Greenbelt, Md.).

DARPA's Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting Program Tests Submarine Hunter Prototypes

DARPA’s Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting (DASH) Program has tested two complementary submarine hunter prototype systems as part of its Phase 2 development effort. The prototypes demonstrated functional sonar, communications and mobility at deep depths. The successful tests furthered DASH’sgoals to apply advances in deep-ocean distributed sonar to help find and track quiet submarines. The (DASH) program intends to reverse the asymmetric advantage of quiet submarine threat, through the development of advanced standoff sensing from unmanned systems. The first prototype is the Transformational Reliable Acoustic Path System (TRAPS), developed by a team led by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). TRAPS is a fixed passive sonar node designed to achieve large-area coverage by exploiting advantages of operating from the deep seafloor. This expendable, low-size, weight and power (SWaP) node communicated to a stationary surface node via wireless acoustic modems, with further secure RF reach back to the performer’s facilities via satellite. The second prototype is the Submarine Hold at RisK (SHARK), an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) developed by a team led by Applied Physical Systems (APS). SHARK intends to provide a mobile active sonar platform to track submarines after initial detections are made. APS team member Bluefin Robotics recently deployed the prototype to depth in February 2013. A third DASH team member, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, supported the physical network layers that both teams used. TRAPS and SHARK are scheduled to demonstrate their core sonar functionality together. Subsequent efforts may follow to realize multiple sonar nodes as well as the integration of the SHARK UUV with its sonar.

Sea based X-Band Floating Radar

X-BAND RADAR PHOTO:MDA

The Sea based X-Band Radar (SBX) a self- propelled, semi-submersible radar station is the tracking and discrimination radar used as part of the US Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system against long range ballistic missiles. This is the world's largest X-band radar. SBX, a key component of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program, consists of an advanced radar system mounted on a sea-going platform. SBX is capable to track, discriminate and assess long-range ballistic missile threats. SBX passes data to elements of the GMD system to facilitate the interception of missiles by ground-based interceptors. The radar will continue to relay updated targeting information after an interceptor launches its kill vehicle toward the incoming target. It is based off the coast of Alaska and is linked to 10 ground-based interceptor missiles deployed at Fort Greely in Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. By providing the radar with a sea-borne mobility, this sensor can be deployed to support either GMD system testing or to provide radar coverage for possible threat missile launches throughout the world. The radar (known as X - Band Radar or XBR) is designed, built and tested by Raytheon. XBR is a mechanically-slewed phased array sensor that uses the most advanced electronic components and software. Its high output power, along with sophisticated signal detection algorithms, allow the radar to accomplish its mission against a host of very small targets and at very long ranges. To protect the radar from the anticipated harsh environments, an air- supported radome was devel- oped using a unique synthetic laminated fabric and innovative assembly techniques. The radar is described by Lt. Gen Trey Obering (director of MDA) as being able to track an object the size of a baseball over San Francisco in California from the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, approximately 2900 miles. The SBX radar system has a continuous communications between the platform and shore facilities, provided via a commercial C-band satellite, using a unique redundant dual-antenna system designed and furnished by Harris Maritime Communication Services (MCS) subsidiary. SBX's floating platform, a modified oil-drilling vessel Moss CS-50, measures 240 feet wide and 390 feet long. It includes a power plant, bridge and control rooms, living quarters, storage areas and the infrastructure necessary to support the massive X-band radar. Moss CS-50 is a fifth generation, semi-submersible, multi-purpose bare deck platform built by Norway's Moss Maritime AS. The height from the water surface to the top of the radar dome will be 250 ft. The SBX has a submerged draft displacement of 50,600 tons. The platform is twin-hulled, self-propelled and designed to be stable in high winds and turbulent sea conditions. Its bare deck is strong enough to accommodate a topside structure with the weight up to 20,000t. With a main deck area larger than a football field, the SBX is self-sufficient and contains an infrastructure that will support deployment for extended periods of time. The GMD System, as well as the SBX component, were developed under the direction of the Boeing Company, the prime contractor. As prime contractor for the GMD program, Boeing is responsible for the development and integration of the GMD system components, including the SBX; ground-based interceptor; battle management, command, control and communication systems; early warning radars; and interfaces to the Defense Support Program early warning satellite system. The Missile Defense Agency completed integration of the SBX platform and radar in the spring of 2005 at a cost of approximately $900 million. United States has deployed this sea-based radar to the ocean east of Japan to track any North Korean ballistic missile launches.