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CSCS Streamlining Close-in Weapons System Training

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS041029-16
Release Date: 10/30/2004 4:25:00 PM

By Fire Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Rick L. Magee, Center for Surface Combat Systems Public Affairs

DAHLGREN, Va. (NNS) -- The Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) announced plans to reengineer Close-in Weapons Systems (CIWS) Technician and CIWS Gun Technician Enhancement Training in the fall, with both courses scheduled to convene this year.

Formal schoolhouse training at CSCS Training sites Dam Neck and San Diego will replace courses currently being conducted at Fleet Technical Support Command Atlantic Norfolk, Va.

The goal of this training is to provide immediate feedback to the training environment, specifically to experienced CIWS shipboard technicians, and will focus on common problems reported from worldwide technical assistance visits and discrepancies documented under the "troubled system" process.

"We do our best to maintain the highest standards of Navy training and a quality of instruction that is second to none," said Chief Fire Controlman (SW) Mark Duby, course manager at the San Diego schoolhouse. "And streamlining CIWS training is one way CSCS can make training better and more efficient for the fleet."

Today's CIWS training consists of four separate courses of instruction that award three separate Navy Enlisted Classifications (NEC). The new courses will combine all CIWS Operation and Maintenance courses into a single curriculum and produce a CIWS technician capable of being assigned to any CIWS billet. This goal will be supported through the use of computer simulation (PC SIM) products to accelerate the rate of basic operation, maintenance and casualty correction training, and provide students more troubleshooting scenarios.

"If we want our Sailors to excel professionally, then we need to be smarter about leveraging the right mix of people and technology, align courses where it makes sense, and provide the best learning environment possible," said CSCS Commanding Officer Capt. Rick Easton. "This is about providing the fleet with the right Sailors with the right training right now, and setting them up to succeed."