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With the successful completion of trials at the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii, the Navy's Linebacker theater ballistic-missile defense (TBMD) system is ready for sea.

Two Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided-missile cruisers--USS Lake Erie and USS Port Royal--have been upgraded with Linebacker modifications, which allow Aegis ships to detect and track tactical ballistic missiles and intercept them with Standard SM-2 Block IVA surface-to-air missiles.

"The delivery of Linebacker is a significant milestone towards an initial Navy area TBMD capability and a major success for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization [BMDO] and the Navy," said Rear Adm. George Huchting, program executive officer for theater surface combatants. The Navy considers TBMD vital to the defense of forward-deployed forces against the threat of ballistic-missile attack.

Raytheon Systems Company will begin delivery of the Standard Block IVA missile in 2000. Lockheed Martin developed the Linebacker computer program and equipment for the Aegis system.

USMC Helos and Hornets Shift to MCAS Miramar

The Marine Corps has started to shift its helicopters based at Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, Calif., to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif.; the long-awaited transfer resulted from BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) recommendations approved by Congress and the president.

CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 (HMH-462) began arriving at Miramar on 1 September as the first of approximately 100 Marine Corps CH-46E and CH-53E helicopters scheduled to be based at Miramar by July 1999, when Tustin and the nearby Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro, Calif., are scheduled to close.

A ceremony held last month in El Toro marked the end of an era as the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing's F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter squadrons completed their transfer to Miramar. The last squadron to transfer--Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101--is the Marine Corps' replacement training squadron for Hornet crews.

Miramar eventually will serve as home base for eight F/A-18 Hornet squadrons, one KC-130 Hercules tanker squadron, four CH-53E squadrons, and four CH-46E squadrons. Three of the CH-46E squadrons based in Tustin are scheduled to move to Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Nuclear Power Command Opened In Charleston

The shift of the Navy's nuclear propulsion training program is now almost complete, following the official opening, in Charleston, S.C., of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC), once a key tenant of the now-closed Naval Training Center in Orlando, Fla.

The NNPTC, which will oversee all training of personnel for the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, was opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at which Adm. Frank L. Bowman, director of the naval nuclear propulsion program, praised the professionalism and safety record of the Navy's nuclear power program over the last 50 years. "This program has compiled a legacy of achievement and of unmatched standards of excellence, literally in every area of endeavor," Bowman said. "These specially selected instructors, staff, and students here today are already part of that legacy."

"This school is the vital link in a chain of extreme importance," said Robert Pirie Jr., assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and environment. "The nuclear power program hasn't experienced any safety accidents in its 50-year history, which is a sign that our crews are using proper procedures to support safety of all equipment."

Also attending the ceremonies were Eleonore Rickover, widow of Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, "father of the nuclear Navy" and program director for its first 34 years; retired Adms. Kinnaird R. McKee and Bruce DeMars, who followed Rickover as directors of the program; and Carl H. Schmitt, deputy director of naval nuclear propulsion.

Charleston was chosen as the home for the NNPTC after an earlier decision--to locate the school in Groton, Conn.--was reversed. The decision to close the complex in Orlando was made by Congress when it concurred with recommendations of the 1993 Base Closure and Realignment Commission.

Construction of the $110 million NNPTC campus--which features a state-of-the-art training facility, a student activity center, a dining facility, and six dormitory-style barracks--started in October 1996.

Capt. William M. Hicks, the first commanding officer of the NNPTC, said the transition from Orlando to Charleston "will be complete ... by January 1999."

WWII Carrier Hornet Becomes Alameda Display

The WWII aircraft carrier Hornet has opened as a memorial museum at the former naval air station in Alameda, Calif. The historic ship was been formally donated to the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation (ACHF) by the Navy.

Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton signed the donation contract on 26 May, officially transferring custody of the Essex-class carrier to the ACHF, which is restoring and displaying the ship for the public. The Hornet, which has been designated a national historic landmark, is berthed at Pier 3 of the former naval air station, which has been leased to the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Authority.

The eighth Navy ship to bear the name, the WWII Hornet was commissioned as CV 12 on 29 November 1943 and participated in intense combat operations in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and in the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. Aircraft from the Hornet helped to sink the Japanese battleship Yamato in 1945. The Hornet was decommissioned in 1947, but was recommissioned in 1953 and served for another 17 years with the U.S. Pacific Fleet; converted to an antisubmarine carrier (CVS) in 1958, she later supported naval air and surface operations in Vietnam. The Hornet recovered the crews and spacecraft of both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 after their lunar missions.

Naval Station Bremerton Established Adjacent to PSNS

The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Wash., has been divided into two bases in recognition of its expanded role as a homeport for operational ships. PSNS continues its previous mission under the command of Capt. Dale E. Baugh. The new base--which takes over the active-ship berths adjacent to the shipyard--has been established as Naval Station Bremerton.

Vice Adm. James F. Amerault, deputy chief of naval operations for logistics, was the principal speaker at the 1 October ceremonies, held on board the decommissioned aircraft carrier Independence. Also speaking at the establishment ceremonies were Rear Adm. George R. Yount, commander for engineering, Naval Sea Systems Command; Rear Adm. William D. Center, commander, Naval Base, Seattle; Baugh; and Capt. Judith A. Holden, the first commanding officer of Naval Station Bremerton.

"In recent years the shift in the [U.S.] global strategy and the composition of the Navy's fleet has continued to change and Bremerton is again playing a pivotal role in that change--evolving into a homeport and a full-fledged naval station with a premier industrial shipyard close at hand," said Yount. "The Naval Sea Systems Command is proud to transfer--lock, stock, and barrel--an excellent naval station and homeport that will provide our valued sailors and their precious families the quality of life they richly deserve."

The Navy has invested more than $175 million in renovations and new construction at the Bremerton facilities in recent years. Bremerton is homeport to one nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, an ammunition ship, and four fast combat support ships.

Navy Research Team Tests DNA Malaria Vaccine

A team of researchers led by a Navy physician has successfully tested a DNA vaccine in healthy humans, a first for medical science. The DNA vaccine for malaria represents "a significant milestone in the medical profession's campaign against deadly diseases," officials said.

The team, led by Capt. Stephen Hoffman of the Naval Medical Research Center in Bethesda, Md., included researchers from Vical Inc., the U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Pasteur Merieux Connaught (of the Rhone-Poulenc Group). The team immunized 20 healthy human volunteers with a malaria DNA vaccine. More than half of the volunteers developed the "killer" T-cells that defend the human body against the disease.

"The purpose of this study was to determine if DNA immunization is safe, well-tolerated, and generates an immune response in normal humans," said Hoffman. "We established this, so our next step is to develop a vaccine that will provide protection."

Hoffman said that the team used malaria as "a model system" because malaria "is the most important infectious disease threat to our operating forces." Hoffman stressed that the significance of the malaria DNA tests "is in the proof of principle that allows us to advance toward a new era in vaccines."

Hoffman's team worked with researchers from The Institute for Genomic Research, and the National Center for Biotechnology Information, to successfully complete the DNA sequence, or "genetic blueprint," of an entire chromosome from the human malaria parasite.

The Naval Medical Research Institute began researching DNA vaccines more than six years ago. Malaria afflicts 300 million to 500 million people each year and is considered a major threat to U.S. military forces.

Sea Service Notes

• Naval Air Station Dallas, Texas, has closed, ending nearly six decades of service. The base was ordered closed by Congress upon recommendation of the 1993 Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Units formerly assigned to NAS Dallas have relocated to the nearby Naval Air Station Fort Worth-Joint Reserve Base, located on the former Carswell Air Force Base.

• The Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile has passed the Y2K (Year 2000) test and is declared ready to operate beyond 1 January 2000. A Block II Tomahawk missile passed a functional ground test--which involved a live firing--at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Indian Head, Md. The test was preceded by several Y2K simulations, including launching in 1999 and landing in 2000; launching in 2000; and launching on 29 February 2000 (a test of leap-year recognition).

• Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay L. Johnson has issued directives to reduce the number of inspections required of ships and squadrons during their interdeployment training cycles. The reductions are intended to reduce the burden on units between deployments, enhancing the quality of life of personnel and restoring training initiative to the units' commanding officers.

• The Integrated Process Team for the SSDS (Ship Self-Defense System) program has been awarded Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Award, which recognizes accomplishments in improving government performance through, among other things, streamlining operations and cutting costs. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology Jacques S. Gansler, who presented the award, credited the SSDS team with cutting program costs in half. The SSDS, the world's first distributed processing combat system, is designed to reduce the manual reaction time needed to detect and engage hostile threats.

• The Bureau of Naval Personnel offices in Tennessee have been redesignated the Navy Personnel Command. Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton and Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Daniel T. Oliver headed the list of principal speakers at the official establishment ceremonies in Millington, Tenn. Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mid-South--formerly known as Naval Support Activity Memphis--is the new location of the Navy Personnel Command, which moved there earlier this year from Arlington, Va. The Navy Recruiting Command is scheduled to move to NSA Mid-South next year, according to The Millington Star.

• The Maritime Administration has completed enrollment of U.S.-flag shipping operators in the VISA (Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement) program for fiscal year 1999. The VISA program is the U.S. government's principal sealift readiness program for using commercial sealift to meet the needs of Department of Defense contingency requirements. A total capacity of 160,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of militarily useful intermodal capacity and over 1.6 million square feet of militarily useful roll-on/roll-off sealift capacity is committed for 1999.

• The Best Manufacturing Practices (BMP) Program at the Office of Naval Research has been named a winner of the Innovations in American Government awards, presented by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The BMP "is a unique technology and knowledge transfer program that promotes sharing of technology and knowledge, even between competitors," said Rear Adm. Paul G. Gaffney II, chief of naval research. "Working with a small annual investment, the BMP program has built a national voluntary network of representatives from industry, academia, and the military who are committed to excellence and [are] actively working to keep America strong and globally competitive."

• The Acoustic Data Analysis Center at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center has been named for one of the world's experts in submarine silencing. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay L. Johnson authorized the center to be named the "Dr. M.M. Sevik Building." Sevik was head of the Ship Acoustics Department that has been credited by the Navy with major contributions toward winning the Cold War.

• The Military Traffic Management Command has activated its newly formed Deployment Support Command at Fort Eustis, Va. The 500-man joint unit is assigned the role of coordinating and sustaining delivery of warfighting supplies to U.S. military/naval forces deployed overseas. The new command's responsibilities include managing military port operations, operating the Defense Railway Interchange Fleet, and supervising the training (and mobilization, if required) of 20 Army reserve units and one Navy reserve unit.

• The former Navy frigate Constellation--built in 1854--will be transferred to the Living Classrooms Foundation, according to the Baltimore Sun. The board of the Constellation Foundation made the decision to give up the ship "in order to save it, acting in the belief that education is a more attractive cause for today's donors than saving old ships." The transfer of the ship--currently going through an extensive restoration--is scheduled for the summer of 1999, pending approval from the Navy and the city of Baltimore.

• The American Council on Education has been selected as a third-party quality standards system organization by the U.S. Coast Guard to review and evaluate the quality of basic programs offered by schools that specialize in maritime training. Previously, training courses required for seafarer certificates and merchant marine licenses were approved only by the Coast Guard.

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