Advanced Gun System hits milestone
May 28th, 2010 | Maritime operations Navy ordnance Science and technology Ships | Posted by Lance Bacon
- An artist’s rendition of the the AGS at work.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead in an interview with Navy Times last month voiced his commitment to providing Marines precision littoral fire support.
We’re looking at rounds that give us extended range and are compatible with 5-inch guns. Precision is going to be key. In today’s world, if you are developing a fire solution, it must be able to give you almost pinpoint accuracy, to within a couple of meters. GPS technology offers that. Of course, there is a huge G-force, so [the round] will have to be able to withstand a pretty significant speed of launch and flight.”
As that science is worked out, Devil Dawgs can give an emphatic “Ooh-Rah” to the Advanced Gun System. The 155mm system, which is part of the DDG 1000 program, can tattoo targets from 70 miles using Lockheed Martin’s 230-pound Long Range Land Attack Projectile. The program hit a milestone this week as BAE delivered the first AGS automated magazine. A mammoth of a magazine, this thing can organize and process 38 pallets weighing three tons each and fire up to 10 rounds per minute, according to this release. The world’s largest fully automated magazine, this two-story magazine is 45 x 30 and weighs 160 metric tons.
That’s enough firepower to make any Marine smile.
The PT is virtual, but the sweat is real
May 26th, 2010 | Recruiting Science and technology The deckplates | Posted by Phil Ewing
HM1 Guy Duke helped ET3 Joshua Benedict attempt the tree position -- or vrksasana, to purists -- in Wii Fit yoga. The Navy may consider adding Wii Fit, or video games like it, for boot camp classes. // MM3 Juan Pinalez / Navy
The Navy’s top medial officer, Vice Adm. Adam Robinson, isn’t personally acquainted with the video games these kids play today — your crazy golfing games, or your yoga things they have now, and such — but he said last week he could see the Navy using them to help new recruits get into shape.
Robinson was good enough to spend some time here at the Center of Excellence for a meeting with Military Times reporters and editors to talk about a wide range of health-in-the-force issues, and you can get the full accounting, including stories and an extended transcript, in the print edition of Navy Times now on newsstands. But in a special blog sneak preview, you can check out his video game ideas right now.
One thing we wondered about is whether the Navy would use existing software and hardware, or develop its own custom equipment to train recruits. For example, the Navy could design a game using the “Dance Dance Revolution” gamepad in which you accidentally found yourself in blue-tile country, and you had to run away as an angry officer chased you back to your berthing spaces. Or you could use a Wii remote to check tank levels in the machinery spaces — the old fashioned way.
How would you use video games to help Navy newcomers get into shape?
Let the flights begin
May 14th, 2010 | Aviation Navy Science and technology | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Northrop Grumman's unmanned X-47B UCAS-D will have company in the air later this year.
This week, another defense giant, Boeing Defense Space & Security, unveiled its unmanned prototype called Phantom Ray during a ceremony in St. Louis.
Boeing's Phantom Ray unmanned combat air vehicle, unveiled May 10.//Boeing photo
At least that’s the plan. N-G officials expected its first flight of UCAS-D in late 2009, but problems with the engine start sequencing pushed that plan several months, and the latest word is the inaugural flight won’t happen until later this year. We’ll wait and see. Interestingly, three years ago, Boeing lost to Northrop Grumman in the Navy’s competition to develop the UCAS-D.
An airship for LCS
May 3rd, 2010 | Aviation Science and technology Sea Air Space | Posted by Phil Ewing
The Fire Scout may not turn out to be the only unmanned aerial vehicle that sails with the littoral combat ships of tomorrow, according to the Navy’s program manager for the LCS mission modules. Engineers with Naval Sea Systems Command have tested using a miniature blimp, also known as an aerostat, with the LCS mine countermeasures equipment, said Capt. Mike Good, and he said it worked well.
In an aerostat test in Panama City, Fla., NavSea demonstrated that it could operate the LCS mine-countermeasures vehicle at distances of up to 35 miles, Good said, which is much longer than it’s designed to operate from the ship at sea. The aerostat loiters at high altitude and functions as a relay antenna so that an LCS can bounce off signals for its robot.
“Basically we create our own cellphone tower,” Good said — one that can stay in the air for much longer than the ship’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter.
Geek Squad takes on whole new meaning
April 20th, 2010 | leadership Maritime operations Naval Academy Navy Science and technology | Posted by Lance Bacon
As further evidence that the Geek Squad provides the best pickings for tomorrow’s Navy, we turn to the latest news out of the Naval Academy.
For the Class of 2015, cyberwarfare and cybersecurity will be right up there with the traditional instruction of all things nautical. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to the latest gaggle of plebes. Most spent their elementary recess periods pecking away on a computer, so they get it.
For the older salts who are scratching their heads, realize that the Navy righly recognizes cyberwarfare is arguably the greatest threat facing the modern military. This understanding has long been a part of the Naval Postgraduate School curriculum. The Navy also embraces the technology like no other. Consider this:
- Its newest ships will have more computers and fewer sailors. Just check out this story.
- The Navy has reorganized the OPNAV staff by consolidating Naval Intelligence (N2) and Communications and Networks (N6) into a super cool, techno-savvy brainiac commune called Information Dominance (N2/N6). These are the folks who defend and manage Navy networks and the information transported and contained therein.
- Fleet Cyber Command and 10th Fleet are up and running and provide central operational authority for Navy cyberspace operations afloat and ashore.
- Even the lawyers are in on this action, as the JAG established a division to focus on the laws and policies regarding cyberspace and intelligence operations.
- Tens of thousands of sailors and officers now wear the Information Dominance Warfare pin — and that’s just the beginning. The Navy is putting a concerted effort into the recruiting, retention and development of personnel in information-centric disciplines such as intelligence, information technology, information warfare, oceanography and space cadre personnel.
Indeed, today’s geeks are tomorrow’s warriors. So if you want your kids to follow in your footsteps with a Navy career, don’t worry if they choose a computer club over a camping trip. Chances are it will get them faster promotions and bigger bonuses when they join Big Navy.
Whew! Sailors regain access to Fox News site
April 16th, 2010 | Science and technology Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
Perhaps not since the Battle of the Java Sea have U.S. Navy personnel had to endure such a withering hardship as the one they struggled with earlier Friday, when — are you sitting down? — they couldn’t view Fox News online. Fox News, of course, was on the case, with a headline on its homepage reassuring worried readers that, yes, it’s all right, the Navy “restored” access to FoxNews.com after the interminable drought:
Fox News received e-mails from Navy personnel around the world on Friday complaining that they could not gain access to the Web site. They said they were able to view numerous other news Web sites. When they tried to access FoxNews.com, the following message appeared: “Access to this site has been denied in accordance with Navy policy to safeguard the security posture and/or to maintain the operational integrity of the NMCI.”
NMCI stands for Navy Marine Corps Internet.
Almost — it stands for Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. It’s the largest internal computer network in the world, it’s buggy, weird and many sailors and Marines hate it. It does this stuff all the time. It is relatively secure, however, although Fox News was sure to ask about whether not being able to see Fox News indicated a malicious security breach:
[Navy spokesman Lt. Justin] Cole said several sites were affected by the outage. He said there was “no concern at this moment” that the network had been hacked.
Then again, it might have been the work of a high-powered black-hat team working for CNN.
Just one text and you could be next
April 14th, 2010 | Blogs Foreign navies Life at Sea Science and technology | Posted by Phil Ewing
1943 poster by John Philip Falter // Collection of the New Hampshire State Library
From our colleagues in the Emerald Isle comes a cautionary tale for these strange times when the young people have their Inter-Webs and their Twit-Tubes and their Face-Space and such — an Irish sailor is in legal trouble for “disclosing the whereabouts of his vessel to his girlfriend by text,” reports the Irish Times.
It could’ve been worse for Able Seaman Eoin Gray, who was initially charged with smuggling cocaine, but still he has fallen into a “loose lips sink ships” situation:
Outlining the case, military prosecutor Comdt Patrick Burke said Able Seaman Gray had on several occasions contacted a friend in the Fisheries Monitoring Centre about the status and location of his ship, the LE Orla, and whether or not it would be on standby duty. He wished to do so to see if he would be free for the weekend and texted his girlfriend accordingly, Comdt Burke told the military judge, Col Anthony McCourt.
Consequences: Three months in prison and a discharge. You feel for the guy, but at the same time, you can’t have just anybody knowing when a warship is coming and going.
How do you and your command balance operational security with the need to keep in touch?
Career advice from a Navy legend
April 13th, 2010 | Diving Historical NASA Naval Academy Navy Science and technology Submarines | Posted by Lance Bacon
Scoop Deck spent an awesome morning with retired Capt. (Dr.) Don Walsh, pilot of the bathyscaphe Trieste, which recorded the deepest dive any man has made. He and Jacques Piccard on Jan. 23, 1960 dove 35,797 feet (6.8 miles) into the deepest known part of any ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. (Navy Times has some special coverage regarding that dive in the upcoming edition.)
Walsh, a submariner by trade, shared another interesting story: how he got his doctorate. The Naval Academy grad didn’t finish on the top rungs of his class. In his words, he was “officially stupid.” After his XO tour, the Navy had a problem.
Seven in Seven
April 9th, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Life at Sea Maritime operations Navy NECC Pirates Science and technology Seabees Ships The greenside | Posted by Lance Bacon
The Navy kicked off the month by kicking pirate butt in three foiled attacks. The stories that nabbed most other headlines this week included the Nuclear Posture Review, which was all the talk in the beltway; F-35 training, which continues despite problems getting the jets; the Fire Scout, which scored its first drug bust; the smoking ban on subs and the Navy’s decision to restrict the wear of ball caps and coveralls.
Here’s seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that you may not have seen, but are worthy of notice:
Navy leads way, again
April 5th, 2010 | NASA Navy Science and technology | Posted by Gidget Fuentes
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., before dawn Monday carrying a seven-member crew led by Navy Capt. Alan G. Poindexter. /NASA/Kenny Allen
It’s the rare space shuttle that doesn’t shoot toward space without the Navy aboard in some form or fashion.
Monday’s predawn launch of Space Shuttle Discovery – officially it’s STS-131 mission – from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center came with two military officers at the helm, including shuttle commander and Navy Capt. Alan G. Poindexter, 49, along with pilot, Air Force Col. James P. Dutton, Jr., 41. The seven-member crew, which includes three women, is on a 13-day mission and the 33rd shuttle trip to the International Space Station.
Poindexter, a veteran F-14 Tomcat and test pilot, joined NASA in 1998, according to his NASA biography. He completed his first space flight 10 years later as the pilot for the STS-122 mission aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. Before the current mission, he had tallied 306 hours in space. And, yes, he is the son of retired Navy Rear Adm. John Poindexter, former national security adviser to the late President Ronald Reagan.
STS-131 mission commander Capt. Alan G. Poindexter/ NASA photo
Space fans collecting mission patches might want to check out STS-131’s colorful, movie-styled poster on NASA’s Facebook page. And countdown watchers will want to take note: There are only three more approved space shuttle missions left before NASA shutters its shuttle program after Discovery completes the final launch, which is scheduled for liftoff on Sept. 16.
Scoop Deck wishes the commander and crew a safe return.