Military

The Chief of Naval Research, RADM Jay Cohen, has established fleet-oriented priorities for ONR, including technologies for all-electric ships within the next ten years, producing electric-powered high energy laser and microwave weapons - literally the "killer app" for those electric ships, enabling the CNO's revolution in training, building intuitive tactical displays that turn data into knowledge, and overhauling the maintenance system. Here, I'd like to give the readers of UNDERSEA WARFARE a quick sense of why we believe we're worth the Navy's investment.

Why all electric?

.and the Navy After Next. Twenty years or more from now, ships like USS Seawolf (SSN-21), pictured above, could benefit from technologies not yet conceived of by naval scientists.

Navy ships and submarines can use 80-90 percent of their power-generating capacity for one purpose only - propulsion. Yet how often do our ships operate at flank speed? If all of that surplus power were converted to electricity, it would be available for high-powered sensors and weapons. There are other advantages to moving to an all-electric architecture as well. Replacing our current hydraulic and pneumatic systems with electric controls and actuators will eliminate some of the biggest maintenance burdens on our ships. And removing those big piping infrastructures will allow future modernization to be done in a more "plug-and-play" manner. [Editor's note: See "An Integrated Power System: The Next Step" in the Fall 2000 issue of UNDERSEA WARFARE.]

Getting to the electric ship of 2010 requires investment in four major areas: high power-density electric motors and generators, perhaps using super-conducting technology; high power electronics and switching for self-healing power distribution and heavy lifting; wide band-gap semiconductors for high-power radar; and research on "beam weapons," such as high-power lasers and microwaves.

To demonstrate these innovations, ONR is developing a revolutionary surface vessel called the Littoral Surface Craft (Experimental) - LSC(X). The goal is to produce an experimental platform large and fast enough to operate with the fleet, so that new doctrine and new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) can be evolved along with new technology. LSC(X)'s initial purpose will be to support experimentation on the range of capabilities required in contested littorals. The initial design probably won't be all-electric, but this craft will ultimately be an electric-technology demonstrator.

Looking Ahead. Navy Department science and technology resources support all three "navies," but focus largely on the problems of the "Navy and Marine Corps After Next." The operational Navy and Marine Corps focuses on "Today's Navy and Marine Corps," while the acquisition community focuses primarily on the "Next Navy and Marine Corps," which is from five to 20 years in the future, and the Department of the Navy Science and Technology efforts focus primarily on the "Navy and Marine Corps After Next," which is 20 years and more into the future.

The littorals are not nice places to operate. Shallow, crowded, difficult acoustic conditions - they are a tough challenge for ships and submarines. In wartime, enemy mines, submarines, swarming surface craft, shore-based ballistic and cruise missiles, and other threats complicate and compound that challenge. To survive there, ships will need to be operated with a fighter-aircraft mentality. We expect an F/A-18 to be able to withstand a certain amount of damage and continue to fight. Why not design a surface craft with the same approach? A ship, like an F/A-18, needs to be able to withstand a hit and continue to operate. It will need chaff and other countermeasures to deflect incoming ordnance. Why not give it an ejection system for its small crew, so they have a better chance of surviving loss of their ship? And if we give it an ejection system, we'll want to support it with the same kind of search-and-rescue systems and concepts we use for pilots.

The LSC(X) is being designed with a top speed of about 50 knots using podded propulsors and a mission payload of small affordable missiles that will carry a 200-pound warhead 500 nautical miles. The ship will be designed with built-in stability to allow operations in high sea states, a landing pad for a helicopter or Vertical Take-off Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (VTUAVs), and undersea sensors that can detect mines and submarines even when the LSC(X) is moving at high speed. ONR plans to deliver the baseline craft in late calendar year 2003.

A revolution in training
Interactive software and miniaturization, coupled with a dramatically improved understanding of human cognitive functioning, have the potential to change fundamentally the manner in which training is implemented. We are working on a way to train battle groups without live fire. In the past months, we have demonstrated a system that allows a surface ship to fire at a specified target area on the sea surface and use an array of acoustic buoys to determine the fall of shot on a "virtual island" at that location. This highly-portable system can be used anywhere in the open ocean, and a similar system is being developed for air-dropped ordnance. Related "virtual reality" technology can be applied to other tactical missions, damage control, navigation, and maintenance.

Relieving the maintenance burden
The current preventive maintenance system requires Sailors to open and inspect equipment primarily on the basis of elapsed time. We have all known occasions where routine maintenance errors have put critical equipment out of commission, necessitating extensive repairs and causing a loss of significant capability. If equipment were properly instrumented and monitored, maintenance could be substantially reduced. We are working on monitoring systems that will signal impending failures in a piece of equipment so that we only need open it up when there is really a problem. We are also building devices that can record equipment operating data and send it ashore for analysis, rather than taking up Sailors' time with continuous watches and data logging. By having technical experts ashore do the monitoring, we can provide ships the most expert troubleshooting advice available.

Future Naval Capabilities
This year, we kick off a program called Future Naval Capabilities (FNCs). Aimed at the "Next Navy" - acquisition programs planned for delivery in the next three to seven years - the first FNCs were approved by a board composed of the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition). Twelve critical areas have been chosen for emphasis (see the accompanying sidebar). In these twelve disciplines, ONR and the CNO's science and technology resource sponsor (N091) are partnered with members of the warfighting requirements offices in the Pentagon, the acquisition community at the Systems Commands, and the fleet to develop new capabilities for programs like the Virginia-class submarine that will be delivered to Sailors in the next few years.

Here are a few examples:
Littoral Anti-submarine Warfare. Tomorrow's littoral anti-submarine warfare (ASW) task is more complex than what we encountered in the open ocean during the Cold War. Expeditionary forces in the littorals today will face small, quiet, non-nuclear submarines, and our ASW forces must handle this more probable threat while still maintaining their blue-water capabilities. We need an effective and affordable capability to detect, track, classify, and neutralize not only submarines, but also unmanned underwater vehicles and mining or surveillance systems that seek to deny our access for projecting power ashore. Some of the technologies we're pursuing to give us new capabilities in the littorals include: acoustic communication devices for undersea sensor networks, advanced fiber optic towed sonar arrays, multi-static active sonar systems, and the information technologies needed to build an undersea common tactical picture.

Autonomous Operations. We think that, wherever possible, we should let robots do the dangerous work. Naval forces can enhance their capabilities with technologies that increase the autonomy, performance, and affordability of their organic, uninhabited vehicle systems. Autonomous systems greatly extend the reach and capability of naval forces while substantially reducing the risk to Sailors and Marines. They promise us significantly increased access to areas the enemy would deny us and also give us the means to deny areas to our enemies. Some of the specific technologies we're pursuing to give us new capabilities here include: intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and ASW sensors for mission-configurable Unmanned Undersea Vehicles, small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, high power-density batteries to extend the life of autonomous vehicles, and autonomous ground vehicles.

Knowledge Superiority and Assurance. This FNC lies at the heart of network-centric warfare. Our goal is to provide Sailors and Marines with rapid, accurate, and consistent situational awareness. We're giving them tools to turn situational understanding quickly into plans and actions coordinated across organizations and echelons in all naval operating environments. Decision-support systems help warfighters find the best solutions to rapidly changing problems. Information distribution and management over reliable, high data-rate, networked, wireless communications provide responsive, integrated, over-the-horizon command and control. These advances are being made possible by new wide-aperture antennas to deliver high data-rate connectivity, buoyant antennas for submarine communications below periscope depth, and intuitive computer displays for tactical systems.

360-Degree Periscope. Another project the ONR Swamp Works team is working on is the development of an omni-directional periscope. By combining a sensor capable of seeing 360 degrees with an imagery discrimination system for distinguishing objects, we will be able to track surface contacts passively on a bearing-versus-time display whenever the scope is up. This graphic shows two schematic drawings of the 360-degree periscope. The drawings illustrate various components of the periscope, including the Camera Circuit Boards; GPS Antenna; Visible Transparent Window; Cabling for GPS; Cabling for power, Visible Video and GPS; LWIR Transparent Window; Antenna Disconnect; Lower Staunching Plate; Eyepiece Box; and E&E.

Capable Manpower. Sailors and Marines must be fully prepared to fight and win in an information-rich, distributed battlespace. We can give them the edge with affordable human-centered hardware and systems developed from a thorough knowledge of human capabilities, limitations, and needs. Our operational doctrine expects far more of the individual Sailor and Marine than ever before, and we cannot operate 21st century forces with a manpower approach rooted in the 19th century. Attracting talented volunteers, training them, retaining them, and enabling them to work up to their potential is one of the Navy's and Marine Corps' greatest challenges. We will meet that challenge only if we provide Sailors and Marines with the best possible quality of service. The Submarine Force is among the first beneficiaries of these new capabilities, with advanced distributed-learning systems to bring classroom training from the schoolhouse to the ship and visualization-based training tools like the Interactive Multimedia ASW Trainer (IMAT).

Time Critical Strike. Warfighters need the ability to strike time-critical tactical, operational, and strategic targets at the right moment. At ONR, we are supporting the ability to destroy, neutralize, or suppress targets of immediate importance. We are developing technologies that enable striking targets in joint operations during brief vulnerability windows in any environment, under all conditions. We don't want enemy forces to be able to hide, or flee, or get in the first blow. Adversaries will be mobile, they will do their best to hide in clutter, and they will be uncomfortably close to friends and neutrals. Our forces will need to deliver strikes with unprecedented accuracy, flexibility, and speed. We're working to provide these enhanced capabilities through new technologies, such as in-flight control and targeting of missiles, imagery analysis tools for faster target recognition, and high-speed strike-weapon technology.

Technology for Today's Fleet
In addition to executing the FNCs, which will deliver between 2002 and 2008, ONR will be more responsive to today's fleet problems. We have commissioned a "Swamp Works" group at ONR to concentrate on high risk, high payoff items responsive to current needs. The Swamp Works team is looking at tough challenges, like technologies to safeguard a ship or submarine entering a foreign port in the face of a terrorist threat. One current project is an omni-directional periscope. By combining a sensor capable of seeing 360 degrees with an imagery discrimination system for distinguishing objects, we will be able to track surface contacts passively on a bearing-versus-time display whenever the scope is up. This work emerged from discussions with operators at SUBPAC, who graphically described the impossibility of keeping track of dozens of littoral surface contacts with our current periscope search procedures.

We also are working on something we call the "virtual periscope." This is a camera that views the sea surface from underwater, with image processing that removes water interface distortion, to yield a surface picture when the sail is still 30 to 50 feet down. If this works out, we can eliminate the perceptual "no man's land" between 150 feet and periscope depth, and really assure ourselves that we won't hit something coming up.

So how can you influence our invest- ment? We are initiating an on-line fleet support line, "Tech Solutions," at http://techsolutions.navy.mil/nre/techsol.nsf. Working closely with the Naval Research Science Advisors, who serve on the staff of all the type commanders and fleet commanders, we have set aside resources to provide rapid response solutions to fleet problems. This system will be fully operational by September 2001. If you have a great idea on how to make things better, or a nagging problem you want a technology solution for, you can post it to our website. We are committed to getting answers back to the fleet within weeks of a submission. If you want more information on this topic, please contact your science advisors, Dennis Freeman at SUBLANT (cslsta@nosc.mil, 757-836-1360), or Steve Basile at SUBPAC (cspsta@nosc.mil, 808-473-5651).

We in the Submarine Force have always had the reputation of being progressive and technically-minded. The match between submariners and the scientists of the Naval Research Enterprise has traditionally been very fruitful. Our continuing partnership will deliver the technologies we need for undersea warfare in the 21st century.

A submariner since 1979, CAPT Schubert has commanded USS Chicago (SSN-721) and served on both the OPNAV and COMSUBLANT staffs. He is currently the Assistant Chief of Naval Research.