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U.S., Australia to Modernize Advanced Capability Torpedoes Under Armaments Cooperative Project

NAVSEA News

1 Apr 2003

By Capt. Miles Quigley, Undersea Weapons Program Office

WASHINGTON -- A new partnership between Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) and the Australian Navy will allow for joint development of the next-generation heavyweight torpedo.

The Program Executive Officer for Submarines (PEO Subs), representing the Department of Defense, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Commonwealth of Australia to cooperatively develop, produce and support the MK48 Advanced Capability (ADCAP)/Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS) Heavyweight Torpedo.

The MOU, a culmination of more than three years of effort by the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), will be formally approved on April 1 by Rear Adm. John D. Butler, PEO Subs, and Rear Adm. Kevin M. Scarce, RAN, Head, Maritime Systems Division.

The MOU is built upon a long-term initiative to modernize the MK48 ADCAP torpedo under a USN/RAN partnership. The ten-year project is essential to further strengthen the ability of both project participants' submarine forces to meet current and future undersea and surface threats. The MK48 ADCAP CBASS Torpedo is being designed for enhanced performance in the littoral shallow water environment and is the product of the continual modernization process of the MK48 ADCAP Torpedo.

The project will consist of three concurrent phases over a ten-year period: Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD); Production; and Support. During EMD, USN and RAN personnel will jointly develop CBASS using a two-phase approach. Phase I will include hardware and software development of the CBASS upgrade kit. Phase II involves Science & Technology transitions and subsequent testing of advanced broadband signal processing from laboratory and industry developers into torpedo software upgrades, which will allow for improvements against multiple advanced countermeasures in harsh shallow-water environments.

The production phase will consist of procuring and installing CBASS upgrade kits into the MK48 ADCAP weapon inventory. The support phase will cover the through-life support of the CBASS torpedo, and will also cover the transition of the current RAN MK48 Mod 4 Intermediate Maintenance Facility to a MK48 Mod 6/CBASS IMA and Progressive Depot Level Repair facility.

As a result of the MOU signing, the two navies will stand up a Joint Project Office (JPO) in April 2003. The joint project has been officially nicknamed "Pammandi," a term of Australian Aboriginal heritage, and appropriately means "to join, to bind together."

The JPO will be located at NAVSEA headquarters in Washington DC and will be comprised of representatives from both the U.S. Navy and the Commonwealth of Australia.

U.S. Navy Capt. John Elnitsky has been assigned as the JPO Project Manager, in addition to his duties as Program Manager for Undersea Weapons Program Office. Royal Australian Navy Cmdr. Robert Humphreys will serve as the Deputy Joint Project Manager.