| By RICHARD R. BURGESS
The Virginia Advanced Shipbuilding and
Carrier Integration Center (VASCIC) came one step closer to reality when ground was broken
in Newport News, Va., where the center will serve as the focal point for the integration
of systems and the application of emerging technology into future aircraft carriers.
Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), which is
building the facility for the Newport News Industrial Development Authority, will operate
the center under the oversight of a board appointed by the governor of Virginia. The
230,000-square-foot center--scheduled to open in mid-2001--will be the work place for more
than 400 employees from NNS, other Virginia shipbuilding industry firms, the Navy, and
several Virginia universities.
Among the numerous dignitaries attending
the groundbreaking ceremonies on 9 March were Virginia Governor James Gilmore; Virginia
State Delegate Alan Diamonstein; NNS Chairman and CEO William Fricks; Chief of Naval
Operations Adm. Jay L. Johnson; Virginia Secretary of Trade and Commerce Barry DuVal;
Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers Rear Adm. William V. Cross II; Joe Frank,
mayor of Newport News; and William Grace, president of the Newport News Industrial
Development Authority.
"The center will place Virginia at
the forefront of maritime design and construction both today and in the next
millennium," said Gilmore. "We will be on the cutting edge of the industry as
the center conducts on-site testing, design, and laboratory research on the next
generation of Navy vessels." The Virginia legislature approved $58 million over three
years to build the VASCIC and $40 million to begin operations at the center.
"In our crucial strategy of forward
presence and strategic engagement, there is no substitute for an aircraft carrier,"
said Johnson. "The work to be done here at the Carrier Integration Center will ensure
that critical relevance well into the future."
Johnson pointed that the next carrier to
be built at NNS, CVN 77, will serve in the fleet until approximately 2060. "There are
Sailors on duty today whose great-grandchildren may serve on that ship," Johnson
said. "It is an awesome responsibility to ensure that the technology they will
operate is as good and as current as it can be."
In related developments:
(1) NNS has been awarded a $56 million
addition to a Naval Sea Systems Command contract for planning work on CVN 77, the final
Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The contract modification, for purchase of
long-lead-time materials such as steel, brings the total awarded to date to $162 million.
(2) NNS hosted an industry conference in
March in preparation for the acquisition of a warfare system for CVN 77. NNS officials
said the company expects two industry teams to compete to build the CVN 77 warfare system,
which will include new sensor and communication systems technology in an integrated combat
system, designed both to improve operational capabilities and to reduce the ship's total
ownership costs.
"This approach to acquiring the
carrier's warfare system is a significant departure from the way the Navy has done this in
the past, buying discrete components of a system through a variety of separate Navy
organizations," said Irwin F. Edenzon, director of future carriers at NNS.
Super Hornet Declared Ready for
OPEVAL Phase
The Boeing-built Super Hornet strike
fighter has completed its second set of sea trials three days ahead of schedule and has
been declared ready for OP-EVAL (operational evaluation). Both two-seat F/A-18Fs in the
seven-aircraft EMD (engineering and manufacturing development) test fleet participated in
two weeks of carrier suitability trials off northern Florida in March on board the
Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
The two aircraft were launched in
crosswinds and at slower-than-optimum speeds, and recovered variously in crosswinds, in
single-engine situations, at night, with unbalanced trim configurations, and while
asymmetrically loaded with weapons. Automatic carrier landing approaches also were carried
out by the test pilots. Navy officials said that the Super Hornet, which has demonstrated
a landing speed eight knots slower than the F/A-18C/D Hornet (making the aircraft both
safer and easier to handle), is meeting every requirement set by the Navy, including the
ability to return with heavy loads of unexpended weapons.
"We have seen the Super Hornet
demonstrate its sea legs," said Capt. Robert O. Wirt, government test flight director
for the Super Hornet program. Wirt said that the Super Hornet is "more than
ready" for OPEVAL.
"I'll fight any aircraft in the
world in the Super Hornet," said Lt. Cdr. Michael Wallace, the pilot who made the
first Super Hornet landing on board the Harry S. Truman. "This is the premier
strike fighter in the world."
One of the F/A-18Fs used in the latest
tests conducted the Super Hornet's initial sea trials in January 1997 on board the
Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. The first seven
LRIP (low-rate initial production) Super Hornets will begin a six-month OPEVAL by Air Test
& Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9) this month at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake,
Calif.
Raytheon's RAM Block 1 Downs
Supersonic Vandal
The Block 1 version of the Rolling
Airframe Missile passed another development program milestone with the successful
interception of a supersonic target.
The RAM--built by Raytheon Missiles
Company--was launched from the ex-USS Decatur, a decommissioned guided-missile
destroyer used as a self-defense test ship (SDTS) in live firing tests at Point Mugu,
Calif. The SDTS's sensors detected the Vandal target--launched from San Nicolas Island off
the coast of California--and handed the target track to the Mk31 RAM system. The RAM
acquired the Vandal autonomously, homed on its heat signature, and intercepted and
destroyed it (at the RAM's planned intercept range).
The RIM-116A RAM is a lightweight
quick-reaction ship-self-defense missile equipped with an autonomous dual-mode (radio
frequency to infrared) passive seeker. The Block 1 version has the additional capability
of operating solely with an image-scanning infrared seeker to counter antiship missiles
that do not employ active radar guidance.
"With the continued success of the
Block 1 program, RAM is well-poised to go forward into operational testing," said
Capt. M.S. Frick, RAM program manager at the Naval Sea Systems Command. "In this
exercise, the RAM missile was equipped with a telemetry unit in place of a tactical
warhead. RAM's surgical infrared guidance accuracy provided a skin-to-skin intercept and
resulted in target annihilation nonetheless."
Defense Industry
Notes
Raytheon Systems Company has been
awarded a $118.4 million letter contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command for the
development, manufacture, and test of a high-power-discrimination (HPD) radar prototype.
The HPD is being developed to support the Navy's theaterwide ballistic-missile defense
(TBMD) system.
The Block 1B version of the Mk15
Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS) has successfully completed surface-mode
technical evaluation on board the Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Underwood.
During the tests the Block 1B CIWS destroyed two high-speed target boats, two unmanned
target aircraft, and three 55-gallon drums.
The safety, reliability, and readiness
of the Trident I (C4) submarine-launched ballistic missile--built by Lockheed
Martin Missiles & Space in Sunnyvale, Calif.--has been verified by a series of
four launches at the Eastern Test Range off the East Coast of Florida. The 210th through
213th launches in the missile's history demonstrated the durability and reliability of the
Trident I, which was designed to last 10 years but is now in its 19th year of service. |
