USNS Montford Point (MLP-1). U.S. Navy Photo via Military Sealift Command

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday accepted delivery of the very first Mobile Landing Platform, USNS Montford Point (MLP 1), from General Dynamics-NASSCO in San Diego, Calif.

The Mobile Landing Platform is a new class of ship that is expected to provide the capability for large-scale logistics movements such as the transfer of light and heavy vehicles and equipment from sea to shore.

“MLP-1 has gone from concept to delivery in under five years, a remarkable feat reflecting the diligent work of the Navy and shipbuilding team from design through testing and trials,” said Capt. Henry Stevens, PEO Ships’ program manager for strategic and theater sealift. “With its open, reconfigurable mission deck, USNS Montford Point will deliver innovation and exceptional flexibility to future Fleet operations.”

Named in honor of the 20,000 African-American Marine Corps recruits trained at Montford Point Camp, N.C., MLP-1 is a modular, adaptable platform that may be used across a broad range of military operations supporting multiple operational phases. The Navy says that the vessel will act as a mobile seabase, and will be part of the critical access infrastructure that supports the deployment of forces and supplies to provide prepositioned equipment and supplies with flexible distribution.

The 83,000 ton, 785-foot ship is equipped with float-on/float-off technology, allowing Montford Point to partially submerge, facilitating movement of cargo and craft. The ship’s size allows for 25,000 square feet of vehicle and equipment stowage space and 380,000 gallons of JP-5 fuel storage. MLP-1 has a maximum speed of 15 knots and range of 9500 nautical miles.

The Montford Point will now undergo test and trials period to install and incorporate the ship’s Core Capabilities Set (CCS) in Portland, Ore. The CCS includes modules that support a vehicle staging area, sideport ramp, large mooring fenders and up to three landing craft air cushioned (LCAC) vessel lanes. This will allow the MLP-1 to transfer personnel and vehicles from other vessels such as the large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships (LMSRs) onto LCAC vehicles and transport them ashore.

The ship is owned by U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) and operated by a 34-person civilian-mariner crew under contract to MSC.

The Navy plans to integrate an MLP into each of MSC’s Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadrons.

MONTFORD POINT Photo Gallery:

MSC operates approximately 110 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

MSC is Hiring! Click HERE for Jobs

Damage to the USS Porter after colliding with a supertanker in the Persian Gulf in August 2012. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Sunderman/Released)

On August 12, 2012, the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter collided with a Mitsui OSK Lines’ supertanker M/T Otowasan near the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.  The collision tore a 3 by 3 meter (9.8 ft × 9.8 ft) hole in the starboard side of the destroyer, forcing it to Jebel Ali, Dubai for repairs. No one was injured however.

The ship’s captain, Cmdr. Martin Arriola, was subsequently relieved of command and replaced by Cmdr. Dave Richardson. On 12 October 2012, the Porter rejoined Carrier Strike Group Twelve for its transit through the Suez Canal following extensive repairs to the ship.

On Tuesday, Navy Times released the following bridge recording of the conversation between Cmdr. Arriola and the OOD leading up to and during the collision….

gCaptain Forum Discussion: BRIDGE recording of PORTER (DDG78) collision

Audio background from Navy Times:

The pilothouse recording above begins immediately after Porter turned left to pass ahead of a ship going the opposite direction. The destroyer, with another warship following, had been headed southwest on course 230 at 20 knots.

The officer of the deck wanted to steer right to come back to this base course. This aggravated Porter’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Martin Arriola, who was focused on shipping traffic headed the opposite way and converging on the channel back through the Strait of Hormuz. Arriola and the OOD are the most prominent voices in the recording. Others relayed course and speed changes to the amphibious dock landing ship Gunston Hall, which was following Porter.

After clearing the vessel, the OOD spotted another ship — later determined to be a supertanker — behind it and realized Porter was in danger. Arriola decided to turn left, an unusual maneuver, to streak ahead of aship’s bow a second time. Read More…

Rear Adm. T. K. Shannon (left) and Rear Adm. Mark Buzby congratulate each other during a change of command ceremony aboard the USNS Spearhead (JSHV 1). U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Jesse A. Hyatt

Sailing Confidently Into the Future

It’s great to join Military Sealift Command! This is a job I’ve wanted from the moment I graduated from Maine Maritime Academy and began serving our country. Although I genuinely miss sea duty, I assure all of my MSC shipmates that I will visit as many of you as I can – as often as I can.

I try to be judicious in the use of the word “I.” As anyone who’s been around the waterfront for a while knows, it’s all about our mariners and sailors who operate our Navy’s MSC ships. You’re out there, around the world, every day, supporting our warfighters, as our Chief of Naval Operations says, “where it matters – when it matters.”

Whether you’re serving on a fleet replenishment oiler supporting a carrier strike group, or an oceanographic survey ship gathering critical data, you’re doing an important job. If your time afloat is spent on a prepositioning ship stocked with the vehicles, gear and ammunition for our Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps, you are making a positive and important difference in our nation’s reaction time in contingencies. If you’re working on a rescue and salvage ship helping clear wreckage from a harbor or on a chartered float-on/float-off vessel hauling Navy mine hunters to the Middle East, you’re part of our global force for good, supporting our U.S. armed forces with everything they need to maintain readiness, win the battle or sustain the peace.

Our new joint, high-speed vessels operated by our CIVMAR crews offer fleet and geographical commanders exciting capabilities with their speed, shallow-draft and flexible mission loads, options that could make a difference in tight situations.

The presence of USS Ponce, our interim afloat forward staging base, in the Arabian Gulf brings our Navy a solid sense of confidence as a platform for a multitude of missions and a forward operating base. When USNS Montford Point and our other new mobile landing platform ships and their afloat forward staging base variants reach operational capability, they, too, will support and be part of our great Navy.

When we look at what our Military Sealift Command brings to the fight, we begin to understand the high level of trust we enjoy within our Navy. Our mariners crew our Navy ships that allow our combatant fleet to put warfighting first. MSC ships provide the combat logistics that keep our Navy operating forward, always ready.

Our Navy’s civilian mariners and uniformed sailors are the best on the planet. At MSC we’re on top of our game, and that’s where we’ll stay as we sail confidently into the future.

Thanks for your service,

Thomas K. Shannon

Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy

Commander, Military Sealift Command

About Thomas K. Shannon

A graduate of Maine Maritime Academy and native of Calais, Maine, Shannon assumed command of MSC following his last tour of duty as Commander, Carrier Strike Group One in San Diego, Calif.

Shannon’s at sea assignments include tours aboard USS Jack Williams (FFG 24), USS Nicholson (DD 982) and USS Boone (FFG 28). His afloat staff duty includes chief staff officer in Destroyer Squadron 14 and surface operations officer in Cruiser Destroyer Group 12. He was also commanding officer of USS De Wert (FFG 45), commanding officer of USS Vicksburg (CG 69) and air defense commander for the John F. Kennedy Battle Group.

MSC operates approximately 110 non-combatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.

MSC is Hiring! CLICK HERE for jobs. 

(Feb. 24, 2013) Mine countermeasure ships USS Pioneer (MCM 9) and USS Warrior (MCM 10) rest atop merchant vessel Super Servant III as it slowly rises to the surface during a heavy lift operation. U.S. Navy Photo.

Today’s ship photos actually come to us from back in February when the mine countermeasure ships USS Pioneer (MCM 9) and USS Warrior (MCM 10) were loaded onto Dockwise’s heavy lift ship, Super Servant III, after successfully completing eleven-month deployments to the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.

Mine countermeasures ships USS Warrior (MCM 10) and USS Pioneer (MCM 9) undergo the sea-fastening aboard the heavy lift ship Super Servant III. U.S. Navy

USS Pioneer Returns to San Diego

The U.S. Navy said Thursday that the USS Pioneer arrived safely at Naval Base San Diego on May 5 aboard the Super Servant III.

While in the U.S. 5th Fleet, Pioneer conducted mine warfare operations and exercises, including the first International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX) September 2012, and training mineshape recovery operations in the Gulf of Aden.

“They were tremendous ambassadors. In their execution of IMCMEX ’12, they not only integrated smoothly with partner nations at sea, but during the in-port phase, they hosted the entire international officer delegation to discuss U.S. mine warfare capabilities,” said Mucklow. “It was truly an outstanding deployment by an outstanding MCM crew.”

Pioneer will remain in San Diego to prepare to meet 3rd Fleet AOR mine warfare mission requirements.

The Warrior was delivered to her new homeport, Sasebo, Japan, as the replacement for the decommissioned USS Guardian (MCM 5).

The Pioneer and Warrior, along with the USS Sentry (MCM 3) and USS Devastator (MCM 6), were transported from San Diego to Bahra in June 2012 to support a U.S. Central Command request for additional MCM assets in the 5th Fleet. Sentry and Devastator remain deployed.

The first of class littoral combat ships USS Freedom (LCS 1), rear, and USS Independence (LCS 2) maneuver together during an exercise off the coast of Southern California in 2012. Photo: U.S. Navy

May 7 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Navy leaders were warned last year that a $37 billion program to build Littoral Combat Ships can’t meet its promised mission because the vessels are too lightly manned and armed, according to a confidential report.

“This review highlights the gap between ship capabilities and the missions the Navy will need LCS to execute,” said the report prepared last year for the Navy by Rear Admiral Samuel Perez. “Failure to adequately address LCS requirements and capabilities will result in a large number of ships that are ill-suited to execute” regional commanders’ warfighting needs.

The 36-page report obtained by Bloomberg News is at odds with assurances from Navy leaders that their project is on course to deliver a small, speedy and adaptable ship intended to patrol waters close to shore.

The review, requested by Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations, echoes findings by critics inside the Pentagon who deride the vessel. The report, stamped “confidential draft,” found that the plans to swap equipment needed for different missions are impractical, the vessel’s width may prevent it from docking in some ports, and the decision to proceed with two versions complicates logistics and maintenance.

A steel-hulled version of the vessel is being made in Marinette, Wisconsin, by a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp., and an aluminum trimaran is being built in Mobile, Alabama, by a group led by Austal Ltd.

Greenert’s Council

The review is dated March 9, 2012, and labeled as “not subject to” disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. It remains relevant today because its findings, and those of three other internal reviews, formed the nucleus of an “LCS Council” that Greenert set up last year to improve the program. The council’s charter was renewed and expanded in March of this year.

Representative James Moran cited the Bloomberg News report on the LCS assessment at a hearing today of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, saying Perez “addresses some of the issues that some of us have raised.”

The combat ships “are only marginally useful,” said Moran, a Virginia Democrat. “We are now in the context of sequestration where we’re furloughing folks, we’re cutting back on programs, so I do think we need to address the appropriateness of putting this much money” into the Littoral Combat Ship.

‘Great Shipbuilders’

Asked by lawmakers about the Perez report, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the ship started out as a “mess” and has “become one of our best-performing programs.” He praised “two great shipbuilders” and said the vessels are now “coming out under budget and on time.”

Greenert said the “study is over a year old — we’ve done a lot since then.”

In the report, Perez said “the first step in ‘getting LCS right’ is to determine the correct concept of operations.” He said the Navy advertises’’ the vessel as a replacement for frigates, patrol craft and countermine ships and “drafted the initial concept of operations accordingly.”

While the Perez report said the Navy must deal with the major problems outlined “as soon as practical,” it didn’t recommend canceling the program or cutting its numbers. The report said the LCS has “the potential to be a remarkable ship” and the use of mission modules to swap armaments can prove an “outstanding asset.”

Four More

The Perez review, along with the three other assessments and wargames, “identified areas where the program needed improvement and further development,” said Lieutenant Junior Grade Caroline Hutcheson, a Navy spokeswoman.

The Navy has 20 vessels under contract out of a planned fleet of 52. Construction costs have doubled to $440 million per ship from an original goal of $220 million.

The Navy is requesting $2 billion to buy four more in fiscal 2014, half from Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed and half from Henderson, Australia-based Austal.

“LCS will stand up to the scrutiny,” Representative Jo Bonner, a Alabama Republican who represents Mobile where the Austal vessel is built, said today in an interview. “I welcome it.”

Key to the Littoral Combat Ship’s success is fulfilling its planned capability of switching within 96 hours the vessel’s weapons modules for missions, such as finding mines, conducting anti-submarine operations and waging surface warfare.

96-Hour Goal

The confidential report found, though, that the 96-hour goal doesn’t represent the entire process of switching weapons modules. The clock only starts when the module and everything ready to support it are dockside, the report said.

One wargame demonstrated that “getting all of the right people and equipment on station to conduct the exchange could take several weeks,” according to the report, and that process “removed LCS from the tactical fight.”

The concept of swapping equipment modules “no longer has the tactical utility envisioned by the original designers,” it found.

A March 29 Navy memo expanding Greenert’s advisory council said the LCS’s “requirements, rapid acquisition and innovative manning and sustainment strategies pose unique challenges” as it’s introduced into the fleet.

Staffing Questioned

The council “will rapidly and decisively resolve impediments” to the success of the LCS, “determine the way forward for the future evolution of capabilities and inform senior” leaders of “key issues which require decisions at the highest level,” according to the memo.

The Perez report recommends that the Navy reconsider its plan to have as few as 40 sailors per vessel whose mission is to run the ship because it “compounds the problems of executing” the service’s intended operations. Having so few produces a “very fragile” operating environment, according to the report.

“Crew interviews confirmed fatigue levels setting in by the third day of normal LCS operations,” the report found. “The minimal-manning level and subsequent fatigue result in significant operational and safety impacts, with notable degradation of crew readiness, performance levels and quality of life.”

The Navy’s LCS Council is reviewing the manpower requirement to include lessons from the current eight-month deployment to Singapore of the USS Freedom, the first completed Littoral Combat Ship.

Not ‘Survivable’

The Perez report also highlights the vessel’s limited combat capability. The Navy has acknowledged that the vessels are being built to the service’s lowest level of survivability, a Pentagon-approved decision that sought to balance cost and performance.

The ship “is not expected to be survivable in that it is not expected to maintain mission capability after taking a significant hit in a hostile combat environment,” Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester, said in a January report.

Even in its surface warfare role, when all armaments are working as intended, the vessel “is only capable of neutralizing” small, fast-attack boats and it “remains vulnerable to ships” with anti-ship cruise missiles that can travel more than five miles (8 kilometers), according to the Perez report. Iran has 67 such vessels, according to a chart in the report.

The Littoral Combat Ship is “ill-suited for combat operations against anything but” small, fast boats not armed with anti-ship missiles, the Perez report found.

Also, the 104-foot (32-meter) beam, or widest width, on the second LCS, a trimaran, “may be a navigational challenge in narrow waterways and tight harbors,” according to the report.

Copyright 2013 Bloomberg.

The USS Freedom (LCS-1) arrived in Singapore April 18th on its maiden overseas deployment. US Navy Photo

(Bloomberg) — The computer network on the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is vulnerable to hacking, according to findings by Navy cybersecurity specialists.

A “red team” assigned to test weaknesses in computer systems found major deficiencies last year on Lockheed Martin Corp.’s USS Freedom, said a government official familiar with the findings who asked not to be identified because the Navy report hasn’t been made public. The Freedom, the first of the new ships to be deployed, sailed to Singapore last month for eight months of testing of its manning and logistics operations.

The concern about cybersecurity adds to previous questions about the $37 billion program to build ships intended to perform missions in littoral waters, those close to shore. The estimated price to build each vessel has doubled to $440 million, and its ability to survive to fight after an attack has been questioned.

Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of weapons testing “provided Navy leadership an assessment of information assurance vulnerabilities testing revealed in LCS” and “recommended those vulnerabilities be remediated without delay,” Defense Department spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said in an e-mailed statement.

The Navy hasn’t yet responded to the testing office’s concerns, according to Elzea, who said Gilmore’s assessment was classified. She said he also will include his concerns in a classified LCS Early Fielding Report next month.

Battle Network

The Littoral Combat Ship depends for its combat capability on communicating with better-armed vessels through its “Total Ship Computing Environment,” a maritime battle network linked by computers and sensors. The Navy and the Pentagon’s weapons testing office declined to say whether the vulnerabilities would affect operations of the ship or coordination with other vessels.

The threat of cyberattacks has become an even greater concern than terrorism, James Clapper, the top U.S. intelligence official, told the House Intelligence Committee during an April 11 hearing. The Chinese army may be behind the hacking of at least 141 companies worldwide since 2006, according to a Feb. 19 report from Alexandria, Virginia-based Mandiant Corp. Chinese officials have rejected that finding.

Defense Security Chuck Hagel told a House panel last week that the potential for “silent and destructive” cyberattacks is “the greatest threat to our security.”

The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program office said in a statement that the vulnerability assessment of the Freedom has been reviewed with Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor.

Evolving Ability

“The LCS program has worked with the Navy and industry subject-matter experts to implement mitigation plans,” the office said. “As information assurance threats continue to evolve, so too will the LCS’s ability to counter them.”

Asked why the Navy didn’t delay the Freedom’s Singapore deployment, the program office said it determined the vessel “was capable of fulfilling the assigned mission.”

“As with every other ship assessment, findings are provided to program management for awareness and action where required,”Lieutenant Rick Chernitzer, a spokesman for the Navy’s Pacific surface forces, said in a second e-mailed statement.

The Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force conducted the vulnerability assessment, he said.

Four More

The Navy is requesting $1.9 billion to buy four additional Littoral Combat Ships for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, the same number purchased this year.

The program may face added scrutiny this year, starting tomorrow with a hearing on Navy ship programs convened by the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower panel. The U.S. Government Accountability Office also is working on a review that may be published in June.

The vessel “has lots of possibilities but also has a number of challenges,” Representative Randy Forbes, a Virginia Republican who heads the seapower panel, said in a phone interview today.

“I do think it is something we are going to continue to monitor, look at very carefully, but we are going to give the Navy a little bit of flexibility” to use the Singapore deployment to put the Freedom through its paces, he said.

“I would not put me down as a skeptic,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of questions.”

Mission Modules

The LCS depends on mission modules that are supposed to be swapped out depending on the duty at hand. The GAO said last month that the Navy plans to purchase 30 of a planned 52 vessels by 2018, before the first fully combat-capable modules for surface warfare, counter-mine operations and anti-submarine patrols are ready.

The modules the Navy has accepted so far “do not yet meet requirements,” GAO said.

Two versions of the Littoral Combat Ship are being built simultaneously. A steel-hulled vessel is being made in Marinette, Wisconsin, by a team led by Lockheed, and an aluminum trimaran is being built in Mobile, Alabama, by a group led by Austal Ltd.

Four of the vessels have been built, and the Navy has agreed to buy 20 more through 2015.

Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) transits the Atlantic Ocean on the ship’s 22nd and final deployment, March 19, 2012. US Navy Photo

The Navy has missed the deadline in sending in the “Annual Naval Vessel Construction Plan” to Congress, which failed to arrive in Congress along with the April 10^th budget submission. This Plan guides the construction, delivery and decommissioning of all naval vessels and is considered immensely important for fleet planners and industry alike, as it is the definitive document guiding naval force structure.

The Chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Rep. Randy Forbes, along with the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Mike McIntyre, announced that they are sending a very nice reminder to Secretary of Defense Hagel that the Navy is delinquent in providing this report to Congress.

“The Navy Department’s statutorily-required Annual Naval Vessel Construction Plan is an essential tool in understanding the Navy’s future force posture and determining whether our Combatant Commanders will receive the resources they need to protect U.S. interests. Given the accelerated consideration of this year’s defense budget, Congressman McIntyre and I urge Secretary Hagel to release the Plan prior to the Seapower Subcommittee’s April 24 hearing where we plan to discuss the Navy FY14 budget submission.”

Until it is received, it will be difficult for Congress to adequately review the Navy’s budget proposal and will almost certainly affect the issues to be discussed in the April 24, 2013 Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee Hearing.

In the past, Congress has differed with the Navy’s force structure plans. While the Navy requested to decommission older cruisers and amphibious ships in order to save money, Congress mandated that they must remain in the fleet. This year’s Plan is likely to highlight similar disagreements, though it obviously has to be delivered before Congress can analyze it.

Press release http://forbes.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=330335

Sailors attached to Forward Liason Element, USS Freedom (LCS 1), observe Freedom as it arrives in Singapore during an eight-month deployment to Southeast Asia. US Navy Photo

SINGAPORE — The US Navy said Thursday that the first littoral combat ship, USS Freedom (LCS 1), has arrived in Singapore, highlighting the next phase of her deployment to Southeast Asia.

“Freedom has met every milestone of this deployment on time and with the professionalism you would expect of US Navy Sailors,” said Cmdr. Timothy Wilke, Commanding Officer, USS Freedom. “I’m proud of Freedom’s accomplishments to date, but I’m also looking forward to putting the ship through its paces over the next several months while deployed more than 8,000 miles from homeport.”

Freedom’s maiden overseas deployment began with a departure from homeport San Diego on March 1, 2013. The first-in-class ship has since transited the Pacific Ocean, entered the 7th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR), and made port visits in Hawaii, Guam and most recently in Manila.

Next month, Freedom will participate in the upcoming International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (IMDEX) in Singapore. In the months following IMDEX, Freedom will join regional navies and other 7th Fleet units as a participant in select phases of exercises Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) and Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT). Occurring throughout Southeast Asia, both exercises provide Freedom opportunities to train extensively with comparable-sized ships.

“We plan on spending most of our time here in Southeast Asia – this will be Freedom’s neighborhood for the next eight months,” said Wilke. “We are eager to get out and about, work with other regional navies and share best practices during exercises, port visits and maritime security operations.”

Freedom will remain homeported in San Diego throughout this rotational deployment to Southeast Asia.

The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) temporarily installed aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) in San Diego, California. Photo: U.S. Navy

The U.S. Navy on Monday said that recent technological breakthroughs have led to the development of a shipboard laser capable of shooting down an enemy drone or disabling vessels.

Navy leaders announced a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. April 8th at the Sea-Air-Space exposition plans to deploy for the first time a revolutionary, solid-state laser aboard the USS Ponce in fiscal year 2014, two years ahead of schedule.

“Our directed energy initiatives, and specifically the solid-state laser, are among our highest priority science and technology programs. The solid-state laser program is central to our commitment to quickly deliver advanced capabilities to forward-deployed forces,” Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder said. “This capability provides a tremendously affordable answer to the costly problem of defending against asymmetric threats, and that kind of innovative approach is crucial in a fiscally constrained environment.”

The Navy says the at-sea demonstration in FY 14 will be part of a wider portfolio of near-term directed energy programs that promise rapid fielding, demonstration and prototyping efforts for shipboard, airborne and ground systems.

“Our conservative data tells us a shot of directed energy costs under $1,” Klunder said. “Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to fire a missile, and you can begin to see the merits of this capability.”

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Naval Sea Systems Command recently performed demonstrations of high-energy lasers aboard a moving surface combatant ship, as well as against unmanned aerial vehicles. Through the testing, researchers have been able to increase the ruggedness, power and beam quality of lasers which has more than doubled the range of the weapons.

“The future is here,” said Peter A. Morrision, program officer for ONR’s Sold-State Laser Technology Maturation Program. “The solid-state laser is a big step forward to revolutionizing modern warfare with directed energy, just as gunpowder did in the era of knives and swords.”

U.S. Navy officials consider the solid-state laser a revolutionary technology that gives the Navy an extremely affordable, multi-mission weapon with a deep magazine and unmatched precision, targeting and control functions. Because lasers run on electricity, they can be fired as long as there is power and provide a measure of safety as they don’t require carrying propellants and explosives aboard ships.

The advancing technology will give sailors the ability to control a laser weapon’s output and perform actions ranging from non-lethal disabling and deterrence, all the way up to destruction.

“We expect that in the future, a missile will not be able to simply outmaneuver a highly accurate, high-energy laser beam traveling at the speed of light,” Klunder said.

A MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV hovers over the flight deck of a US frigate in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy Photo)

(Reuters) – The Navy plans to carry out the first catapult takeoff of its new X-47B unmanned plane from an aircraft carrier next month and other shipboard tests despite mandatory budget cuts this year, according to the admiral who runs the programs.

Rear Admiral Mathias Winter, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, said Northrop Grumman Corp’s X-47B program and other unmanned aircraft programs should survive the fiscal 2013 budget cuts largely intact because they are still early in development.

But the Navy may buy fewer unmanned planes and helicopters in coming years unless Congress reverses budget cuts required over the next decade, Winter said in a recent interview at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland.

The Pentagon is already implementing $487 billion in cuts from planned spending levels over the next decade, but under a 2010 law, must cut spending by an additional $500 billion.

Top Navy leaders have identified unmanned systems, including aircraft, ground vehicles and undersea vehicles, as their No. 1 priority, and several unmanned US Navy airplanes are nearing key milestones next month. Those include the first catapult takeoff from a Navy aircraft carrier, the first landing on a carrier and the first flight of a new high-altitude spy plane.

Executives at Northrop, Boeing Co and other weapons makers are waiting anxiously to see how their programs fare in President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2014 budget proposal as well as the planning for fiscal 2015 that is just getting started now.

Winter said military commanders continued to demand unmanned planes for use on Navy ships since they can stay airborne longer, are able to fly at night and cost far less to operate.

“We’re not doing unmanned aviation just because there’s nothing else to do. There are true capability gaps that have been identified by our warfighter,” Winter said, noting that the Navy was heavily focused on making the new systems affordable.

“We will continue to see unmanned systems – not unbridled growth with multiple options, but deliberate, sustained support for operating these systems in our maritime environment,” he said, noting that unmanned planes would reduce the cost of protecting aircraft carriers, other ships and their crews.

TRITON’S FIRST FLIGHT SLATED FOR MAY

Winter said lower operating costs were a key selling point for continued work on unmanned systems, but industry investment and foreign military sales could also help in leaner times.

Winter is meeting with a senior Australian naval official this week to discuss the sale of the MQ-4C Triton, a high-altitude unmanned spy plane that is also built by Northrop. He said other countries have also expressed interest in smaller unmanned planes built by Boeing for use in maritime environments.

Triton, which is similar to the Global Hawk plane Northrop builds for the Air Force, is scheduled to have its first flight in May, with officials aiming to declare the system ready for combat in 2017. The demonstrator aircraft built for that program logged its 10,000th flight hour last week, with 96 percent of those hours in operational use, Winter said.

He said the Navy was focused on a few key programs: the X-47B, which will be followed by a competition for an unmanned carrier-based plane in 2014; the MQ-4C Triton; the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, and RQ-21A, a smaller unmanned surveillance plane being developed by Boeing for the Marine Corps.

Across-the-board budget cuts that went into effect on March 1 will reduce funding for all U.S. Navy programs by an estimated 7 percent to 9 percent in fiscal 2013, including unmanned aircraft.

But Winter said he had enough in his budget to do shipboard tests with the X-47B on the USS George H.W. Bush in Norfolk, Virginia, in May – including the first-ever catapult launch – and possibly a landing using the plane’s tailhook. Other work on the program, however, might have to be delayed.

The Navy plans to ferry the X-47B to Norfolk on a barge in mid-May, where it will be hoisted on board for some taxiing maneuvers and a catapult shot off the ship, according to Winter.

That test will be followed by several days of “touch and go” landings without the plane’s tailhook. On the fourth or fifth day, if conditions are right, he said it would land on the carrier using its integrated tailhook.

NAVY LAUDS INVESTMENT IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Winter said it was important to complete development of the unmanned systems and ensure that they could be produced, but the Navy could always increase order quantities if a crisis emerged.

The four companies already doing preliminary work on an unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike system, or UCLASS, had invested hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money to ensure that program – one of few new aircraft development programs – survived leaner government budgets, he said.

Work on the X-47B demonstrator plane would help reduce risk and lower costs on the successor UCLASS program, he added.

Meanwhile, Winter said the Navy is working on its acquisition plan and hopes to issue a request for proposals (RFP) in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, which begins on October 1, followed by a contract award in the fourth quarter.

“It’s an exciting time,” he said. “These are things that have never been done before.”

This article was written by By Andrea Shalal-Esa, (c) 2013 Thomson Reuters