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	Director, Operational Test & Evaluation
	FY98 Annual Report

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION & CONTRIBUTION TO JOINT VISION 2010

The Submarine Exterior Communications System (SubECS) is an umbrella program, which consists of about fifteen smaller programs to improve submarine radio connectivity. There are two major components of SubECS: the Submarine Communications Support System (SCSS), which will upgrade communications systems for existing classes of submarines, and the USS VIRGINIA (SSN 774) Exterior Communications System (VIRGINIA ECS) which will go on VIRGINIA class submarines. VIRGINIA ECS will use many SCSS equipments, but may have some different architecture, hardware, and software, as it is being developed and integrated by the VIRGINIA lead shipyard. SubECS supports information superiority by improving data rates and incorporating key information systems technology, including IT-21, JDISS, and GBS that will improve submarines' contributions to dominant maneuver, precision engagement, and full-dimensional protection.

The SCSS program is an incremental phase program, which plans to have full compatibility and interoperability with other Navy and U.S. forces in the 2005 time frame and beyond. SCSS will be procured in five two-year phases. During these phases, software and hardware upgrades to equipment from previous phases will be conducted as necessary to keep up with commercial technology. The test concept for SCSS involves IOT&E for each participating program, as it would normally occur, as well as a series of phased tests for the overall system. Each phase of the system will undergo a land based developmental test and an OA, which will be used to certify the system for installation on a submarine. Subsequent to submarine installation, each phase will undergo an at-sea TECHEVAL and OPEVAL. Periodically (every two years or as dictated by the pace of change), the system will undergo the same or similar series of developmental and operational tests to assess incremental improvements. The VIRGINIA ECS will be tested in the VIRGINIA Combat Control System Module (CCSM) Off-hull Assembly and Test Site (COATS) as part of VIRGINIA's OT-IIB OA, and will undergo OPEVAL with VIRGINIA.

The Navy is presently staffing the Capstone TEMP, which should be to DOT&E by early in calendar year 1998. This will culminate a more than two-year effort by DOT&E to have the SubECS program achieve a more focused overall test strategy.

No system level OT&E has occurred to date in the SubECS program.

OPEVAL of one of the key SubECS components, the Submarine LF/VLF VME Bus Receiver (SLVR), which in its final configuration will replace legacy submarine ELF, VLF, MF, and HF receivers, completed in October 1997, with a subsequent verification of correction to deficiencies (VCD) test completed in April 1998. This particular configuration of SLVR received only in the VLF and LF spectra; the remaining frequency ranges are still in development. COMOPTEVFOR concluded that SLVR (VLF, LF) was operationally effective and operationally suitable as a standalone system. DOT&E is reviewing the OPEVAL data. COMOPTEVFOR will conduct FOT&E in FY99 to test SLVR with imbedded encryption capability (KOV-17) and in a TRIDENT SSBN Integrated Radio Room interface.

In September 1998, COMOPTEVFOR completed FOT&E of the production Baseband Switch, a key component that automatically connects radios, cryptographic equipment, and input/output devices. The test results will be available in early FY99.

DT of SubECS equipment is scheduled to occur during FY99 in the Land Based Submarine Radio Room at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, RI (NUWCNPT).

OT&E have been conducted on components of SCSS in accordance with their individual TEMPs. However, no SubECS or SCSS integrated phase tests were done.

The operational test concept for SubECS and SCSS remains sound, but the Navy's C⁴I acquisition practices, with shorter and shorter generation cycles to employ state-of-the-art communications capabilities, have caused much instability. Configuration management in such a C⁴I environment is a daunting challenge. VIRGINIA, for example, which faces severe funding constraints as well as a very unstable developmental climate, has changed its acquisition strategy for the VIRGINIA radio room. The program is now waiting until the ship's first shipyard availability after new construction to install its final suite of equipment, opting for a minimal capability radio room during the post-construction shakedown at-sea period.

The introduction of a SubECS Capstone TEMP provides VIRGINIA a framework in which formal communications system requirements can be addressed, but it remains to be seen how well discipline can be maintained in the current unsettled communications environment. DOT&E continues to monitor and work with the SubECS program office, the sponsor (OPNAV N87), and both the SEAWOLF and VIRGINIA programs to keep focus on submarine C⁴I testing. It may be that budget restrictions will help force a less ambitious acquisition program, which may help bring more stability.

Although the use of COTS products in communications systems has the potential to provide fleets with needed capability quickly, its use should not come at the cost of inadequate logistics, poor training, and erroneous documentation.