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Corona Warfare Center Partners with Premier Pacific Range Facility

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS090828-06
Release Date: 8/28/2009 4:57:00 AM

By Troy Clarke, Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona

LIHUE, Hawaii (NNS) -- The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona and the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) signed a agreement Aug. 26 in Kauai, formalizing a partnership between the Navy's leading independent assessment agent and the Navy's premier ballistic missile defense training range.

The agreement secures a decades-long collaboration between the two commands to strengthen the Navy's future fleet and ballistic missile defense (BMD), a core Navy mission and key warfighting capability of the U.S. Maritime Strategy.

"We must ensure the Navy continues to meet our many missions of today, while preparing for the unknowable but inevitably complex challenges of tomorrow," said Capt. Jay Kadowaki, NSWC Corona commanding officer. "This is one way we provide the support around the globe to our warfighters and to sustain the powerful naval capabilities for our nation."

PMRF is the world's largest instrumented multi-environment range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air and space operations simultaneously. The Kaua`i facility's mission is to provide integrated range services in a modern, multi-threat, multi-dimensional environment to ensure safe conduct and evaluation of training and test and evaluation missions. These capabilities improve its customers' ability to achieve readiness and enable it to meet other national defense objectives.

"PMRF is the only remaining place with the desired characteristics to conduct testing and evaluation of our complex systems and weapons required to defend our country," said Capt. Aaron L. Cudnohufsky, PMRF commanding officer. "It's important for the Navy to maintain our vital contribution to our nation's ballistic missile defense capability, and this agreement will help us execute that mission."

As a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command, NSWC Corona's expertise in range systems engineering and instrumentation, as well as range laser and directed energy safety, has been employed to supplement the workforce at PMRF for the development, integration, and operation of remote sensor systems. While working with PMRF personnel on these and other systems, NSWC Corona engineers have developed expertise in PMRF's range infrastructure and are able to provide range systems engineering support to PMRF and augment its workforce during high manpower-intensive periods.

"NSWC Corona's expertise in range instrumentation and performance assessment of missile and combat systems gives us unique capability to support PMRF," said Kadowaki. "We are very proud of this partnership, and are eager to support the ballistic missile defense of today, and the even more-sophisticated capability to tomorrow. This agreement helps us to do just that."

NSWC Corona serves as the Navy's 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. The base is home to three premier national laboratories and assessment centers, the Joint Warfare Assessment Lab, the Measurement Science and Technology Lab, and the Daugherty Memorial Assessment Center.

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