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Archives by category > Coastal & Littoral (RSS)

MH-60R/S: The USA’s New Naval Workhorse Helicopters

Apr 23, 2018 04:50 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Despite differences over who will pay for the wall along their common border, the Mexican government has been cleared by the Trump administration for the potential purchase of 8 Sikorsky MH-60R Seahwak helicopters. Announced in a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) press release on Thursday, April 19, the package is estimated to reach $1.2 billion with Lockheed Martin's Rotary and Mission Systems outfit based out of Owego, New York acting as principal contractor in the sale. Included in sale are engines, radars, radios, naval equipment and spares, alongside deliveries of Hellfire missiles, Captive Air Training missiles, Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (APKWS) II rockets, and Mk -54 Lightweight Hybrid Torpedoes (LHTs). The Seahawk is the US Navy’s version of the US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk. According to the DSCA, the potential acquisition of the helicopters is part of a modernization push by Mexico’s armed forces.

USN Helo Master Plan

USN Heli Plan

The US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawks have always had a naval counterpart. SH-60B/F Seahawk/ LAMPS helicopters were outfitted with maritime radar, sonobuoys, and other specialized equipment that let them perform a wide variety of roles, from supply and transport, to anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, medical evacuation, and even surface attack with torpedoes or Kongsberg’s AGM-119 Penguin missiles. Like their land-based counterparts, however, the Seahawks are getting older. The Reagan defense build-up is receding into history, and its products are wearing out.

European countries chose to build new designs like the medium-heavy EH101 and the NH90 medium helicopter. They’re larger than the H-60s, make heavy use of corrosion-proof composites, and add new features like rear ramps. The USA, in contrast, decided to upgrade existing H-60 designs for the Army and Navy. Hence the MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter (aka. “Romeo”) and MH-60S (aka. “Sierra”) Seahawks. MH-60Rs and MH-60Ss will eventually replace all SH-60B/F & HH-60H Seahawks, HH-1N Hueys, UH-3H Sea Kings, and CH-46D Sea Knight helicopters currently in the US Navy’s inventory. Both programs are underway, and will be covered in this DID FOCUS Article.

Continue Reading… »

It’s All in the Package: the Littoral Combat Ship’s Mission Modules

Apr 04, 2018 04:56 UTC

Latest updates[?]: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. has received a contract for the production of gun mission modules for the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships equipped with the Surface Warfare Mission Package. The contract is valued at $7.4 million. The Navy’s $35 billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program intends to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that can operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes. The LCS can be equipped with different mission modules. The Surface Warfare (SUW) attack module makes use of 4 weapon stations. In addition to the 57mm naval gun, firepower would include the same Mk.46 30mm cannon system used in the Marines’ canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. That level of armament makes the LCS a $550 million coast guard cutter in littoral regions filled with missile-armed fast attack craft, as well as motorboats with torpedoes. Work will be performed at facilities in Huntsville, Alabama and Bethpage, New York. It is expected to be completed by December 2019.

Loading the LCS Module

Loading…

What makes the USA’s Littoral Combat Ship designs truly different? They’re built with minimal fixed equipment and large empty spaces for modular gear, instead of a set array of weapons and mission electronics. Otherwise, they’re almost the size of Britain’s Type 23 frigates, and might well be classified as frigates, were it not for their shallow water design and equipment choices.

LCS is a great concept that has been marred by poor execution, and design decisions that have robbed it of flexibility in the one area where the ship is weakest. The US Navy is buying quite a few of them anyway, and so the capabilities of the ship’s mission packages will determine what kind of contribution they can make.

Continue Reading… »

MQ-8 Fire Scout VTUAV Program: By Land or By Sea

Mar 21, 2018 04:54 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Bell Helicopters will provide the US Navy with airframes in support of the MQ-8 Fire Scout program. The work order falls under a $9.8 million contract awarded last Friday,March 16, and calls for the delivery of three Bell 407 variant commercial airframes, as well as associated Bell 407 unique components, and preservation and storage associated with the system. Work will take place at Ozark, Alabama, with a contract completion date set for December 2020. Developed by Northrop Grumman, the newer MQ-8C Fire Scout variant is the latest unmanned autonomous helicopter being developed for the Navy for reconnaissance, aerial fire support and other naval missions. It is larger than its predecessors, using the Bell 407 airframe rather than the Sikorsky 330 and 330 airframes used on previous variants.
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MQ-8B Cutaway

MQ-8B Fire Scout

A helicopter UAV is very handy for naval ships, and for armies who can’t always depend on runways. The USA’s RQ/MQ-8 Fire Scout Unmanned Aerial Vehicle has blazed a trail of firsts in this area, but its history is best described as “colorful.” The program was begun by the US Navy, canceled, adopted by the US Army, revived by the Navy, then canceled by the Army. Leaving it back in the hands of the US Navy. Though the Army is thinking about joining again, and the base platform is changing.

The question is, can the MQ-8 leverage its size, first-mover contract opportunity, and “good enough” performance into a secure future with the US Navy – and beyond? DID describes these new VTUAV platforms, clarifies the program’s structure and colorful history, lists all related contracts and events, and offers related research materials.

Continue Reading… »

LCS: The USA’s Littoral Combat Ships

Mar 20, 2018 04:55 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Northrop Grumman will deliver services in support of littoral combat ship (LCS) mission modules for the US Navy. Valued at $46.7 million, the contract modification was announced by the Pentagon last Wednesday, March 15, and tasks Northrop Grumman to provide engineering, technical and sustainment services for the Navy's littoral combat ship mission modules—which are designed for naval operations against asymmetric threats and anti-access obstacles in littorals near the coastline. Work will take place Bethpage, New York, San Diego, California, and several other US locations with contract completion scheduled for March 2019.

Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)

Austal Team
Trimaran LCS Design
(click to enlarge)

Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $35+ billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program was intended to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that could operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes.

It hasn’t worked that way. In practice, the Navy hasn’t been able to reconcile what they wanted with the capabilities needed to perform primary naval missions, or with what could be delivered for the sums available. The LCS program has changed its fundamental acquisition plan 4 times since 2005, and canceled contracts with both competing teams during this period, without escaping any of its fundamental issues. Now, the program looks set to end early. This public-access FOCUS article offer a wealth of research material, alongside looks at the LCS program’s designs, industry teams procurement plans, military controversies, budgets and contracts.

Continue Reading… »

Puma AE: An “All Environment” Mini-UAV

Mar 19, 2018 04:54 UTC

Latest updates[?]: AeroVironment has landed a $9.09 million foreign military sales contract to provide an undisclosed number of its RQ-20B Puma surveillance systems and support to the government of Egypt. Work will be performed in Monrovia, California, with an estimated completion date of September 16, 2020. The RQ-20B Puma AE II M3/M4 is a man portable system capable of both ground and water landings. It is equipped with an electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) camera and illuminator and can deliver 3.5+ hours of flight endurance while versatile smart battery options support diverse mission requirements. Other operators of the system include the US military and Belgian Army.

Puma AE

Puma AE team

The mini-UAV market may lack the high individual price tags of vehicles like the RQ-4 Global Hawk, or the battlefield strike impact of an MQ-9 Reaper, but it does have 2 advantages. One is less concern about “deconfliction” with manned aircraft, as described in “RQ-7 Shadow, or the Cessna-sized MQ-1 Predator.

The other advantage is mini-UAVs’ suitability for special operations troops, who are being employed in numbers on the front lines around the world. “Raven UAVs Winning Gold in Afghanistan’s ‘Commando Olympics’” details the global scale of this interest – and in July 2008, a $200 million US SOCOM contract for a breakthrough mini-UAV underscored it again. Now AeroVironment’s S2AS/ RQ-20A Puma AE is moving beyond Special Operations, and into the regular force.

Continue Reading… »

The USA’s Spearhead-class, expeditionary fast transports

Feb 28, 2018 04:54 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: The US Navy has christened its latest Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, the USNS Burlington, during a ceremony in Mobile, Alabama, on Saturday. It is the tenth of 12 Expeditionary Fast Transports being built for the Navy at a cost of $1.9 billion. Overseeing the event were the ship's primary sponsors US Senator Patrick Leahy and his wife Marcelle Pomerleau. Marcelle Leahy said naming the ship after the Vermont city of Burlington was "fitting because Vermonters have long heeded the nation's call to service." Built by Austal USA, the vessel is designed to transport troops and equipment at high-speeds and in shallow waters for rapid deployment. The Navy says it can "carry 600 short tons of military cargo for 1,200 nautical miles, at an average speed of 35 knots." This equates to the Burlington being able to carry 1,200,000 pounds for 1,380 miles at an average speed of 40 mph. It also has a flight deck for helicopter operations and an off-loading ramp for disembarkment missions.

Austal JHSV

Austal MRV/JHSV concept

When moving whole units, shipping is always the cheaper, higher-capacity option. Slow speed and port access are the big issues, but what if ship transit times could be cut sharply, and full-service ports weren’t necessary? After Australia led the way by using what amounted to fast car ferries for military operations, the US Army and Navy decided to give it a go. Both services leased Incat TSV/HSV wave-piercing catamaran ship designs, while the Marines’ charged ahead with very successful use of Austal’s Westpac Express high-speed catamaran. These Australian-designed ships all give commanders the ability to roll on a company with full gear and equipment (or roll on a full infantry battalion if used only as a troop transport), haul it intra-theater distances at 38 knots, then move their shallow draft safely into austere ports to roll them off.

Their successful use, and continued success on operations, attracted favorable comment and notice from all services. So favorable that the experiments have led to a $3+ billion program called the Joint High Speed Vessel. These designs may even have uses beyond simple ferrying and transport.

Continue Reading… »

Taiwan’s Force Modernization: The American Side

Dec 29, 2017 04:56 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: USAF test pilots are in Taiwan as part of ground testing of Republic of China Air Force (RCAF) F-16V Viper fighter aircraft modernized by the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC). Four models have currently been upgraded to the V standard from their original A/B configuration, with improvements to include new mission computers, navigation equipment, large color multifunction displays, Advanced Identification Friend or Foe (AIFF) transponders, updated electronic warfare suite, and the Link-16 tactical data link, as well as an AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR). Flight testing is to take place in 2018. Also expected next year, are deliveries of AIM-9X air-to-air missiles, which have an improved seeker head capable of high off-boresight cueing via a helmet mounted display, and are more maneuverable and have more range than existing air-to-air missiles currently in Taipei's arsenal.
Taiwan military

Despite China’s ominous military buildup across the strait, key weapons sales of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, Patriot PAC-3 missiles, and diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan had been sabotaged by Taiwanese politics for years – in some cases, since 1997. The KMT party’s flip-flops and determined stalling tactics eventually created a crisis in US-Taiwan relations, which finally soured to the point that the USA refused a Taiwanese request for F-16C/D aircraft.

That seems to have brought things to a head. Most of the budget and political issues were eventually sorted out, and after a long delay, some major elements of Taiwan’s requested modernization program appear to be moving forward: P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, UH-60M helicopters, Patriot missile upgrades; and requests for AH-64D attack helicopters, E-2 Hawkeye AWACS planes, minehunting ships, and missiles for defense against aircraft, ships, and tanks. These are must-have capabilities when facing a Chinese government that has vowed to take the country by force, and which is building an extensive submarine fleet, a large array of ballistic missiles, an upgraded fighter fleet, and a number of amphibious-capable divisions. Chinese pressure continues to stall some of Taiwan’s most important upgrades, including diesel-electric submarines, and new American fighter jets. Meanwhile, other purchases from abroad continue.

Continue Reading… »

The USCG’s Legend Class National Security Cutters

Nov 28, 2017 04:59 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Huntington Ingalls Industries launched last Wednesday, its eighth National Security Cutter vessel, Midgett, for the US Coast Guard. A Legend-class cutter, the vessel was launch at Pascagoula, Miss., ahead of its christening on December 9. It is named after John Allen Midgett, who was awarded the Silver Cup by the UK Board of Trade in 1918. Midgett received the award for rescuing 42 British sailors aboard the British tanker Mirlo after it was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of North Carolina. The legend-class is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter and are being procured to replace the service's legacy Hamilton-class cutters, which have been in service since the 1960s.

CGC NSC Bertholf Machinery Trials

WMSL-750 Bertholf

The Legend Class National Security Cutters were the largest ships in the The US Coast Guard’s massive $25 billion Deepwater meta-program, and served as its flagship in more ways than one. The 418 foot, 4,400 ton ships will be frigate-sized vessels with a 21 foot draughts, and are rather larger than the 379 foot, 3,250 ton Hamilton Class High Endurance Cutters (HECs) they will replace. Controversies regarding durability and potential hull fatigue, as well as significant cost overruns, have shadowed the new cutter’s construction. The program has survived, and is pushing toward its end in a few years – but will the number of ships bought be enough to help the USCG?

This DID FOCUS Article covers the Legend Class cutters’ specifications, program history, and key events…

Continue Reading… »

The USA’s DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class Program: Dead Aim, Or Dead End?

Nov 06, 2017 04:58 UTC DII

Latest updates[?]: Raytheon received Tuesday a modified $29 million contract for mission systems equipment for the Navy's DDG 1000, or Zumwalt-class destroyer. The order calls for the firm to deliver total ship computing environment hardware, and software research, test and development for the Zumwalt—the largest and most technologically advanced guided missile surface combatant ship in the world. Work will be performed across the country, with 46 percent place in Portsmouth, Rhode Island., and the work is expected to be completed by September 2018.

DDG-1000 2 Ships Firing Concept

67% of the fleet

DID’s FOCUS Article for the DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyer” program covers the new ships’ capabilities and technologies, key controversies, associated contracts and costs, and related background resources.

The ship’s prime missions are to provide naval gunfire support, and next-generation air defense, in near-shore areas where other large ships hesitate to tread. There has even been talk of using it as an anchor for action groups of stealthy Littoral Combat Ships and submarines, owing to its design for very low radar, infrared, and acoustic signatures. The estimated 14,500t (battlecruiser size) Zumwalt Class will be fully multi-role, however, with undersea warfare, anti-ship, and long-range attack roles. That makes the DDG-1000 suitable for another role – as a “hidden ace card,” using its overall stealth to create uncertainty for enemy forces.

Zumwalt parody

True, or False?

At over $3 billion per ship for construction alone, however, the program faced significant obstacles if it wanted to avoid fulfilling former Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter’s fears for the fleet. From the outset, DID has noted that the Zumwalt Class might face the same fate as the ultra-sophisticated, ultra-expensive SSN-21 Seawolf Class submarines. That appears to have come true, with news of the program’s truncation to just 3 ships. Meanwhile, production continues.

Continue Reading… »

RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs

Oct 23, 2017 04:57 UTC

Latest updates[?]: The Republic of Korea Air Force is planning to set up a new airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) unit in December, specifically tasked with analysing the data collected from its new RQ-4 Global Hawk assets. A total of four Global Hawks are on order, with the first batch of two scheduled to arrive next year followed by the final two in 2019. The new unit will work alongside Seoul's existing ISR battalion which includes a fleet of four Boeing 737-700 Peace Eye airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) system aircraft.

RQ-4 Global Hawk High Over Seashore

RQ-4A Global Hawk

Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk UAV has established a dominant position in the High Altitude/ Long Endurance UAV market. While they are not cheap, they are uniquely capable. During Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), the system flew only 5% of the US Air Force’s high altitude reconnaissance sorties, but accounted for more than 55% of the time-sensitive targeting imagery generated to support strike missions. The RQ-4 Global Hawk was also a leading contender in the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) UAV competition, and eventually won.

The Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration Program (GHM-D or BAMS-D) aims to use the proven RQ-4 Global Hawk airframe as a test bed for operational concepts and technologies that will eventually find their way into BAMS, and contribute valuable understanding to the new field of maritime surveillance with high-flying UAVs. It’s not just a test program, however, as its remaining drones also deploy to assist the fleet in active operations.

Continue Reading… »
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