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Warfare Center Delivers Unprecedented Capability for Coalition Exercise

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS090724-17
Release Date: 7/24/2009 10:29:00 AM

By Troy Clarke, Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Public Affairs

NORCO, Calif. (NNS) -- Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona personnel lead the installation of two new range targeting systems in Australia as part of Exercise Talisman Saber 09 which runs July 6-25.

Exercise Talisman Saber is a biennial combined training activity, designed to train Australian and U.S. forces in planning and conducting combined task force operations, which will help improve U.S. and Australian Defense Force combat readiness and interoperability.

The two systems installed by NSWC Corona, a Naval Sea Systems Command field activity, provide an inaugural capability to Australia as a rapid-turnaround solution - from concept to installation within 12 months. This enhances the United States' maritime strategy goals of strengthening existing alliances and partnerships to establish favorable security conditions around the world.

"The Corona solution has provided the Australian Defense Force with a state-of-the-art weapons scoring capability and also an excellent visual range surveillance system," said Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Wing Cmdr. Ian Honey. "We can now enable realistic scored bombing training with little or no restrictions, along with high-end live, virtual and constructive simulation services for joint and combined forces. Due to its size, the range has created unparalleled flexibility in operational training for all types of aircraft."

NSWC Corona provided the RAAF with an integrated two-system solution that has never been built before in Australia, and it gives the RAAF unprecedented capability to calculate target accuracy within one meter.

"The two systems Corona installs on training ranges complement each other," said Corona's lead engineer on the project, Joerg Nowak. "One is called the Target Area Safety Surveillance System (TASSS) that allows the range control officer to do a remote scan of the area and view the incoming aircraft on a wide angle for safety purposes. The second one, the Weapon Impact Scoring System (WISS), is a teleoptical system where two cameras look at the same locations simultaneously doing a triangulation reference to score the ordnance drops from aircraft."

NSWC Corona has engineered and improved the WISS and TASS systems during the last 30 years and now installs and maintains 106 systems around the world for the Navy and Air Force. The U.S. owns the system, and Australia is the latest nation to install it.

NSWC Corona serves as the Navy's only independent assessment agent and is responsible for gauging the warfighting capability of ships and aircraft, analyzing missile defense systems and assessing the adequacy of Navy personnel training.

For more news from Naval Sea Systems Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/navsea/.