THE INDUSTRIAL BASE

Textron Marine Begins LCACService-Life Extension Program

By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor

Textron Marine & Land Systems in New Orleans, La., has been awarded a $35 million Naval Sea Systems Command contract to begin a service-life extension program (SLEP) on the Navy's fleet of 74 LCACs (Landing Craft, Air Cushion). The contract covers the work on the first three LCACs.

The first LCACs, manufactured in 1984, were expected to have a design service life of 20 years. The SLEP, intended to extend the service life to 30 years, will upgrade the main engines and also include installation of a new skirt system, modifications to the hull and fuel system, modifications to improve trim and damage-stability characteristics, and upgrades to the communications and navigation systems. LCAC #91, delivered to the Navy in March 2001, served as a test craft for the design changes.

In a related development, Textron Marine has been awarded a $91 million contract from the Yamada International Corporation for two LCACs--as well as spares and support services--for the Japan Defense Agency (JDA). Both LCACs are scheduled for delivery in late 2002. Two earlier LCACs were delivered to the JDA in 1997, and two more--now under construction--are to be delivered later this year and in early 2002.

In a second development, a team consisting of Textron Marine, Mitsubishi Precision Company, Yamada, and Link Simulation and Training has been awarded a $24 million contract for the purchase of an LCAC full- mission trainer (FMT) for the JDA. The FMT simulates LCAC operations on diversified terrain and in varying sea states and wind conditions. A complete visual and aural system allows the FMT to simulate the LCAC's operational environment, including well-deck operations.

NNS Board Recommends Acceptance of GD Offer

The Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) board of directors has unanimously reaffirmed its recommendation that the company accept the purchase offer proposed by General Dynamics (GD).

The recommendation did not constitute a rejection of the offer made by Northrop Grumman (NG) to buy the huge shipbuilding company, NNS officials said. The board concluded that it did not yet have enough information available to make a decision on the NG offer.

"We will seek to determine the position of the U.S. government regarding these two offers as expeditiously as possible," said William Fricks, chairman and CEO of NNS. "The primary interest of the board of directors is for our stockholders to receive the best value for their shares in any acquisition of Newport News Shipbuilding."

The Departments of Defense and Justice are reviewing the offers from GD and NG to ensure there would be no antitrust problems.

General Dynamics owns three shipyards--Bath Iron Works, Electric Boat, and the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company--and with the NNS merger would possess a virtual monopoly in the building of nuclear- powered ships, a concern raised by NG in its offer. NG entered the shipbuilding business earlier this year with the purchase of Litton Ship Systems and its Ingalls Shipbuilding and Avondale Industries yards.

X-32B Begins STOVL Tests At NAS Patuxent River

Boeing's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstration aircraft (CDA) has begun STOVL (short takeoff/vertical landing) testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

The X-32B completed its first engine runs at the air station's hover pit facility, a ten-foot pit with a grated deck below which turning vanes redirect the aircraft's downward thrust away from the aircraft. The pit "emulates the out-of-ground-effect environment," said Paul Martin, Boeing's flight test manager for the X-32B.

The X-32B is fitted with a new engine and with fixed lift-improvement devices that help capture and focus the exhaust plumes from the X-32B's vertical-lift nozzles, company officials said. "In a production configuration, the lift improvement devices would have actuators to engage them," Martin said, "but this is a concept demonstration airplane."

Testing of the X-32B at Patuxent River is expected to run through mid-July 2001. Among the principal "milestones" events in the test series are the transition from wing-borne flight to jet-borne flight, vertical landings on the hover pit, and vertical landings on a solid hover pad.

P&W, GEAE, DOD Sign Pact on JSF119 Engine

Pratt & Whitney (P&W) and General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) have reached a formal agreement with the Department of Defense to ensure that both companies' engines "will be physically and functionally interchangeable across all three variants of the JSF [Joint Strike Fighter] program," DOD officials said.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin both selected P&W's JSF119 engine--a derivative of the F119 engine that powers the F-22 Raptor--to power their JSF concept demonstration aircraft, the X-32 and X-35, respectively. GEAE is developing a derivative of the F120--originally developed for the YF-22 and YF-23--for the future JSF.

DOD plans to compete the P&W and GEAE engines starting in approximately 2011. "All JSF aircraft will be able to use either the P&W or GEAE engines," said Maj. Gen. Michael A. Hough, DOD's program manager for the JSF.

Boeing Harpoon II Records Successful First Flight

The Block II version of the Harpoon cruise missile has been successfully launched for the first time.

The Harpoon Block II was launched on the sea range of the Naval Air Warfare Center's Weapons Division from the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur in a test designed to demonstrate the missile's open-ocean capability. The Block II missile was fired against a Mk35 SEPTAR target boat.

The Harpoon--built by Boeing-- incorporates features adopted from other precision-guided weapons that provide long-range guidance for targeting coastal facilities as well as ships close to land and/or in congested waterways. The missile uses the low-cost inertial measuring unit from the Joint Direct-Attack Munition and the software, mission computer, integrated global positioning system (GPS)/inertial navigation system (INS), GPS antenna, and GPS receiver from the AGM-84H SLAM-ER (Standoff Land-Attack Missile--Expanded Response).

The GPS/INS unit enables the Harpoon to strike ships with greater accuracy--and, for the first time, such land targets as coastal-defense sites, surface-to-air missile sites, exposed aircraft, and industrial and port facilities. The GPS/INS unit also provides navigation solutions to permit the discrimination of hostile ships from neutral ships, as well as islands and other obstructions, and uses designated aimpoints to hit a designated target with a 500-pound warhead.

"The Block II missile clearly provides a significant improvement over the existing Block 1C version currently in the U.S. Navy's inventory," said Capt. Carl Reiber, the Navy's program manager for standoff missiles. "These improvements support a warfighter's needs as a flexible multipurpose missile."

The Harpoon Block II Development and Test Team includes Boeing; the BSC Corporation; the Delex Corporation; the Standoff Missiles Program Office and the Cruise Missiles Weapons Systems Program Office of the Program Executive Officer for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aircraft; and the Port Hueneme and Indian Head Divisions of the Naval Surface Warfare Center.

Boeing has been given approval to market the Harpoon Block II to international customers under Foreign Military Sales agreements.

SLAM-ER Scores Hit With New ATA Module

The Navy has conducted a successful test launch of an AGM-84H SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile--Expanded Response) possessing the new Automatic Target Acquisition (ATA) capability.

The improved SLAM-ER was launched over the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California from an F/A-18 Hornet more than 75 nautical miles from the target and flew a path that included altitude changes, terrain following, and several waypoints. The pilot of a second F/A-18 used data transmitted from the missile's ATA system to identify the target--a simulated surface-to-air missile battery--and to guide the missile to a direct hit by using the missile's Stop Motion Aimpoint Update feature.

The ATA system includes a small hardware module as well as modifications to the missile software, and to the mission-planning software, that provide the controlling pilot with the real-time target data needed to find the desired target and aimpoint. The ATA system also assists the pilot in striking targets obscured by clutter, countermeasures, or environmental conditions such as smoke and haze.

SLAM-ERs equipped with ATA units are scheduled for fleet introduction in early 2002.

Raytheon Company's ESSM Passes Major Aegis Test

The Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM)--built by Raytheon--has demonstrated compatibility with the Aegis combat system--built by Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems­Surface Systems--with a successful launch from a vertical-launch system (VLS) at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

The flight test shot demonstrated the ESSM's performance against a high-altitude, long-range, subsonic incoming target. The ESSM used the Aegis S-Band mid-course guidance VLS configuration, also used by the Standard SM-2 missile. The test was intended to demonstrate the ESSM's "stability and control using the tactical digital autopilot, midcourse guidance performance, and the ability of the missile to guide to a long-range, high-altitude target," company officials said. All test objectives were met, the officials said.

The first shipboard demonstration of the ESSM integrated with Aegis is scheduled for June 2002.

The ESSM, which is designed to destroy current and projected near-term antiship missiles, particularly sea-skimmers that maneuver during the terminal phase of flight--will be integrated into the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyers (with the Baseline 6 Phase III version of Aegis), the Spanish Navy's F-100 frigates, and new Norwegian frigates equipped with the SPY-1F radar system. The older RIM-7 SeaSparrow missile system never has been integrated into the Aegis system.

Ship Self-Defense System Passes Endurance Test

The Mk2 Mod 0 version of the Raytheon-built Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) has successfully completed a 25-hour endurance test, company officials said. The test--conducted at the Raytheon Expeditionary Warfare Center's System Integration Laboratory in San Diego, Calif.--was part of formal factory qualification testing.

The SSDS Mk2 Mod 0 is designed to provide aircraft carriers and amphibious warfare ships with improved self-defense capabilities against antiship cruise missiles, with particular emphasis on performance in the littoral environment. The SSDS is scheduled for installation, in July, on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.

The endurance test was designed "to measure the reliability of the computer program under various levels of stress," company officials said. The 25-hour test included "several periods of high-volume tracking with a total of 493 self-defense engagements," in which, the officials said, the system "directed the simulated firing of 1,182 Rolling Airframe Missiles and NATO SeaSparrow missiles against these targets."

Latest JASSM Shot Destroys Hardened Target

The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM)--designed by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Company--has successfully demonstrated an end-to-end performance by destroying a concrete bunker.

The test shot at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was launched from an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Upon release, the production-representative JASSM deployed its wings and tail and used its integrated global positioning system (GPS)/inertial navigation system (INS) to guide it on a 23-minute, 195-mile flight through 10 waypoints. Upon reaching the target area, the JASSM's infrared seeker and real-time automatic target correlator algorithms guided the missile to the target. The missile's warhead penetrated the concrete roof of the bunker and detonated inside the bunker.

The test shot was the 23rd JASSM launch in the development program to date. The 22nd shot, conducted from an Air Force F-16, also was successful, with the missile destroying its target.

The 2,250-pound, 14-foot JASSM--intended for deployment from B-1, B-2, B-52, F-16, and F/A-18E/F aircraft--is designed to give Air Force and Navy crews a long-range standoff capability against high-value, highly defended targets. Once launched, the JASSM--guided by its jam-resistant GPS and infrared seeker--cruises autonomously in any weather, day or night, and strikes its intended target with a 1,000-pound warhead.

Lockheed Martin has built the production tooling for the JASSM at its plant in Troy, Ala., and already has produced a number of test missiles at the facility. The JASSM used for the 23rd test launch was the eighth built in Troy. A decision to begin low-rate initial production of the JASSM is expected in late 2001.

Key Test Clears ERGM For Development Phase

The Extended-Range Guided Munition (ERGM)--designed by Raytheon--has successfully completed a critical test that allows the company to proceed with the development phase of the ERGM program, company officials said.

Control Test Vehicle One (CTV-1)--fired from a Mk45 Mod 4 5-inch/62-caliber gun--was the first all-up ERGM round fired in a controlled test from that type of gun, and the first all-up round "to demonstrate a series of pre-programmed flight maneuvers after gun launch," company officials said. The CVT-1 firing took place at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

"Gaining agreement from the government that program progress meets expectations for the first eight months following rebaselining planning is a very positive event," said Brian O'Cain, Raytheon's ERGM program manager.

Defense Industry Notes

* U.S. Marine Repair (USMR), the nation's largest non-nuclear ship repair, modernization, overhaul, and conversion company, has offered to purchase Marisco Ltd., one of the only two full-service shipyards in Hawaii. Company officials said they expect Marisco to enhance USMR's ability to perform upkeep and repairs on Navy surface ships based in Hawaii. USMR--owned by the Carlyle Group--already has shipyards in Norfolk, Va.; Ingleside, Texas; and San Diego, San Pedro, and San Francisco, Calif.

* AMSEC LLC of Virginia Beach, Va., has been awarded a $62 million Navy contract to provide mission- essential engineering and technical services for the Carrier Engineering Maintenance Assist Team, a unit of the Supervisor of Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va.

* General Electric Aircraft Engines has been awarded a $399.9 million Naval Air Systems Command contract modification to start full-rate production of 78 F414-GE-400 engines (plus eight spare engines, other kits and spares, and associated engineering and logistic support) for Boeing-built F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters.

* National Steel & Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) has begun construction of the first of two roll-on/roll-off ships for Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE). The 839-foot-long Orca-class ships--being built for TOTE's service from Tacoma, Wash., to Anchorage, Alaska--will be the first dry cargo vessels built in the United States in 10 years, according to NASSCO President Richard Vortmann. The diesel-electric-powered Orca-class ships--designed to carry 600 cargo trailers and 200 automobiles--are powered by twin propulsion plants, each with its own propeller and rudder system.