P-8 Multimission Maritime Aircraft (MMA)
The Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) is a modified Boeing 737-800ERX, bringing together a highly reliable airframe and high-bypass turbo fan jet engine with a fully connected, state-of-the-art open architecture mission system. This combination, coupled with next-generation sensors, will dramatically improve Anti-Submarine Warfare, or ASW, and Anti-Surface Warfare, or ASuW, capabilities.
MMA offers a modern, highly reliable airframe that will be equipped with improved maritime surveillance and attack capability, allowing a smaller force to provide worldwide responsiveness while potentially on a smaller support infrastructure. MMA will ensure the Navy's future capability in long-range maritime patrol. It will be equipped with modern anti-submarine warfare (ASW); anti-surface warfare (ASuW); and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors. In short, MMA is a long-range ASW, ASuW, ISR aircraft that is capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations.
MMA will use state-of-the-art simulation and training systems and implement performance-based logistics concepts. It will be a key component in the Navy's Sea Power 21 Sea Shield concept by providing persistent ASW, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare capabilities and will support Sea Power 21 Sea Strike doctrine through provisions of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and armament capabilities. This platform will also play a key role in the Navy's Force Net architecture via development of the common undersea picture.
The contractor for the system development and demonstration phase is the Boeing Corporation. On June 14, 2004 They were awarded a 3 billion, eight hundred eighty-nine thousand dollar cost-plus-award-fee contract to develop the Navy's Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft. The aircraft procurement section of the program is estimated to be a $20 billion effort. And then the total life cycle cost for 25 years of life cycle support, as well as the aircraft -- is estimated to be about a $44 billion program. These numbers are FY '04 dollars, not inflated to be then-year dollars.
The budget includes about $100 million of MILCON. The 737-800 ERX, as Boeing calls its aircraft, is a bit larger than the existing P-3. And so the Navy is going to have to make some local modifications to existing hangar space to accommodate. Obviously, given the four major operating sites, $100 million is a fairly modest amount.
The program objective currently is 108 aircraft, along with an additional three SDD aircraft. As of mid-2004 the fleet of P-3 aircraft was 196 aircraft. The Navy is gradually bringing that number down, both because of the time that's being put on the P-3 fleet and the ability maintain them, as well as the anticipation of MMA. The government is looking for a full rate production decision in FY '13 at the latest, and is trying to accelerate that, if possible. The Navy expects to buy 34 low-rate initial production aircraft in the years '10, '11 and '12, and then transition beyond that in the year '13, to hit full-rate production.
Initially Boeing was going to essentially take a 737 commercial aircraft and modify it into a naval variant, and that involved essentially remanufacturing the aircraft. What Boeing has committed to do, as they do on the commercial 737s, in parallel production lines, they will build the fuselage in Wichita; they will take the fuselage to Renton, Washington; they will add the wings; the engines and the rest of the things that look like an airplane, and then they will fly it to Seattle to actually install the mission systems and do the checkout and the fly-off from that point.
The smaller fleet size at 108 aircraft reflects some work that's been done between the acquisition team and the requirements community about what the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system, or BAMS, anticipated to be an unmanned air vehicle. There's an assessment about the persistent surveillance and coverage that BAMS will provide, and then the manned segment of this that augments that surveillance and provides additional armed capability and performs other missions, including littoral. So the balance between those systems provides the full Navy maritime surveillance capability. And BAMS is proceeding on course in the budget.
The budget considers the time frame anticipated for MMA, and has laid in funds for P-3 maintenance, sustainment, and even some structural life modifications to extend the life of that fleet to the time at which the Navy anticipates MMA coming into the force in numbers.
The system design and development contract covers the full range of developing what's required for the aircraft, including all of the onboard mission systems, the modifications to the airframe itself, all of the training systems, and all of the software laboratories that are required. There's an extensive amount of software development, almost 2 million lines of code just for this application. It covers developing all of the integrated logistics elements, including the trainers and the simulators and the courseware. Essentially everything that's required to get ready to build the production aircraft which will be delivered to the fleet.
In terms of the technical risk, it's not so much the technologies that particularly are of concern, and where we're going to set up the award fee plan to make sure, it really is the integration and getting the mission systems to work together. This is a very significant step forward in what we call an open architecture-- to make sure that any of these sensors can play with the current suite, and then, as future technologies evolve, they can be plugged in to the open architecture backbone without requiring an extensive amount of redesign. It will be a relatively straightforward plug-in.
There is something on the order of 225 P-3 type aircraft in 15 countries. There is a great interest in both people that currently have P-3s and then countries where they're not -- they're using other than P-3s but have recognized both the diesel threat and the increasing need to have ship tracking capability for these maritime threats, and especially in littoral waters, where there's a variety of operations that could be related to the war on terrorism. So the interest level has been pretty high from international countries.
Features:
- Open Mission System Architecture: reconfigurable and expandable system facilitating easier, more affordable upgrades.
- Sensors: Active multi-static and passive acoustic sensor system, inverse synthetic aperture / synthetic aperture radar, new electronic support measures system, new electro-optical / infrared sensor, magnetic anomaly detector.
- Nine-person crew: dual-pilot cockpit, five mission crew (plus relief pilot and In-flight technician). Workstations with universal multi-function displays, ready accommodation for additional workstation, workload sharing.
- Lethality: internal weapons bay, four wing pylons, two centerline hard points with digital stores management allowing for carriage of joint missiles, torpedoes and mines. Search stores: rotary reloadable sonobuoy launcher.
- Net Ready: Link-16, Internet Protocol, Common Data Link (CDL), FORCEnet.
- Performance based support/logistics with availability a key performance parameter.
MMA will be a key component in the Navy’s Sea Power 21 Sea Shield concept by providing persistent Anti-Submarine and Anti-surface Warfare capabilities. MMA will also support portions of Sea Power 21’s Sea Strike doctrine through provisions of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. MMA will play a key role in the Navy’s FORCEnet architecture via development of the Common Undersea Picture (CUP). It is designed to replace the P-3 Orion, which has been in service since November 1959 [P-3A] and August 1969 [P-3C].
Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR) Maritime Surveillance Aircraft (PMA-290) program office’s Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) program is taking a dynamic and unique approach to an area that is often overlooked in the acquisition process – the human element.
The program has a comprehensive plan for Human Systems Integration (HSI) that is documented in MMA’s Human System Integration Plan (HSIP). The goal of the HSIP is to optimize total system performance, minimize total ownership cost, and ensure that the system meets the needs of the users.
Human-related constraints and goals should be identified early in any good acquisition process. MMA took the lead in HSI by quickly developing an HSIP that was implemented at the system engineering level.
HSI is a process that ensures human performance constraints, manpower, personnel and training, and safety/health aspects are considered throughout the design, development, fielding, and sustainment of a weapon system. A recently issued Department of Defense Instruction identified seven specific areas that make up HIS - human factors, manpower, personnel, training, safety, habitability, and survivability.
The MMA Training Integrated Product Team initiated a front-end analysis (FEA) to ensure HSI aspects of the training system development were addressed early in the acquisition life cycle.
As the MMA design is further refined, the FEA processes developed to support HSI will provide the program office with recommendations on manpower. Results of HSI implementation will also be considered regarding the design of facilities, and safety requirements for both government and commercial support.
Selecting the right number of people and determining they have the proper knowledge, skills and abilities are vital to ensuring the MMA can operate in a safe and effective manner. Since HSI looks at more than the immediate operator-machine interface, it will also help ensure the people who work on and near the aircraft are safe and qualified.
When aircrew and maintainers can efficiently and effectively manage a system, errors and costly training systems can be reduced. Manpower (aircrew and maintenance) and training are two of the biggest factors in total life cost for most weapon systems. Experts in HSI said there are cost savings associated with implementing this concept.
HSI will save programs money by identifying and solving human engineering issues. When the human elements of the weapon systems are considered early in development, the training can then be developed to match the KSAs (knowledge, skills, abilities) of the skill sets that will operate the aircraft.
One of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark’s recently released initiatives is the Human Capital Strategy (HCS). MMA is quickly becoming known as one of the cornerstones of HCS. The MMA team crafted a very forward leaning acquisition strategy that was tied to the Navy leadership's vision for the future, incorporating critical HSI concepts into our formal requirements. MMA is one of the Navy’s most important programs. It is transforming and setting the standard for Navy acquisition.
CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of Snecma Moteurs and General Electric Company, provides the CFM56-7 engines that will power the Boeing 737 MMA. This is the same engine that powers the Boeing 737 Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft, as well as the Navy's C-40 transport. The two engines will each provide 27,300 pounds of takeoff thrust. The CFM56-7 is one of the world's most reliable engines. This fleet of engines has logged more than 30 million flight hours while maintaining an industry-leading .002 percent in-flight shut down rate per 1,000 hours of flight.
Northrop Grumman's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector will provide the electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor, the directional infrared countermeasures system, and the electronic support measures system. Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector, based in Reston , Va. , will develop data links for MMA. The company's Integrated Systems sector, based in El Segundo , Calif. , will support the mission planning effort.
Raytheon will provide an upgraded APS-137 Maritime Surveillance Radar and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) solutions. Raytheon is also offering its revolutionary GPS Anti-Jam, Integrated Friend or Foe, and Towed Decoy Self-Protection suites, and the aircraft's Broadcast Info System (BIS) and secure UHF Satcom capability.
Smiths Aerospace will supply both the Flight Management and Stores Management systems on the 737 MMA. The Flight Management System provides a truly integrated open architecture that is CNS/ATM compatible along with an inherent growth path for upgrades. The Stores Management System provides a comprehensive system for the electronic control of integrated weapons management.
The Navy completed a three-day Systems Requirements Review of the program Sept. 30, 2004 . This was the first major review of the program since the SDD contract was awarded. The review was a crucial step that permits the program to continue forward. The purpose was to ensure understanding of the planned system and contract requirements. A Preliminary Design Review is slated for September 2005.
