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Sub-Finding Sensor Nets Get a Step Closer

02-Dec-2005 06:26 EST

Related Stories: Americas - USA, Coastal & Littoral, Contracts - Modifications, Design Innovations, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, Sensors - Aquatic

NAVY_ADS_Concept.jpg
ADS Concept
(click to view full)

Lockheed Martin, Maritime Systems and Sensors in Manassas, VA is exercising a $5.3 million option under previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee/ cost-plus-award-fee contract N00039-04-C-0035 for optional contract line item number 0003. This provides for a critical design, development and demonstration of a fully integrated Advanced Deployable System (ADS, System Development and Demonstration phase), and delivery for technical and operational evaluations. This increases the estimated cumulative value of the contract, if all options are exercised, from $239.1 million to $243.3 million.

What’s an ADS? It’s actually part of a broader trend we’ve covered toward beefing up the USA’s littoral warfare capabilities in shallow waters and near coasts. It also fits into the USA’s new anti-submarine doctrine. Specifically…

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)
General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
(click to enlarge)

ADS is a system designed to detect and track modern diesel electric and nuclear submarines. It will also be able to track surface ships, and will have some capability to monitor mine-laying activities. The idea is to have an undersea surveillance system that can be deployed as needed by platforms like submarines, Littoral Combat Ships, et. al. rather than relying entirely on systems like FSD (Fixed Distributed System) that require extensive installation work in advance to place them along the ocean bottom.

ADS will provide threat location information directly to tactical forces and to the joint commanders, and has four major subsystems: sensor, analysis and reporting system, tactical interface, and installation support.

The ADS Underwater Segment (UWS) is an expendable, battery-powered, wide-area field of distributed, passive undersea sensors. It would be deployed quickly and unobtrusively in regional contingency areas to monitor enemy submarines, minelaying, et. al. prior to or during regional conflicts.

Its Processing and Analysis Segment (PAS), meanwhile, can be contained in reusable, transportable vans and connected to the ADS sensor field by a shore cable if used to protect friendly ports. When used to monitor hostile territory, of course, the cables will either connect to ships, submarines, or other devices as applicable to upload/ transmit their data, or transmit it wirelessly.

NAVY_ADS_Drawing.gif

From a program perspective, ADS builds on work already done on the longer-lasting FDS-D Fixed Distributed System test with distributed fields in shallow noisy water, using FDS developed processing technologies and also incorporating advanced sensors and technology from other related programs. The overall program was restructured as a phased build during its early years, and incremental capability builds are moving from Trip Wire to Small Field to Large Field capabilities.

They’re also working on issues like survivability. Problems include fishing fleets with their environment-damaging, bottom dragging trawls; on the other end of the equation, fish bites have also been cited as a survivability problem. Approaches that have been pursued have included cable burial (for the fishing fleets) and greater cable diameter (for the fish).

Work on the contract option described at the beginning of this article is expected to be performed in Manassas, VA (11.2%); Melbourne, FL (21.7%); Everett, WA (2.1%); Riviera Beach, FL (18.6%), Portsmouth, RI (43.3%), and Newport, South Wales, UK (3.1%), and is expected to be complete by September 2008. If all options are exercised, work could continue until September 2010. This contract was not competitively procured because it is a sole source acquisition by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, CA (N00039-04-C-0035).

UPDATE:

ADS was canceled. As the FY 2007 Selected Acquisition Report release noted: “Program costs decreased $883.8 million (-62.6 percent) from $1,412.6 million to $528.8 million, due to termination of the program by the Navy Acquisition Executive in October 2006.”

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