Defense Technology International - May 2008 - (Page 18)

DISPATCHES GLOBAL Fire Scout RQ-8 UAV from Northrop Grumman will have multiple duties in LCS mission modules, including over-thehorizon data relay. 30-mm. Bushmaster gun mounts from General Dynamics Land Systems. Aviation assets include an MH-60R helicopter, with an electro-optical/infrared sensor turret, guns and Hellﬁre missiles, and a Fire Scout UAV with an electro-optical/infrared sensor. The mission package for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) has six vehicles: an MH-60R helicopter equipped with Raytheon’s active low-frequency sonar, dipping sonar, sonobuoys and Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes; Fire Scout UAV with electro-optical/infrared sensor; two unmanned surface vehicles (USV) supplied by General Dynamics with a Raytheon dipping sonar and a towed-array sonar from Chesapeake Science; and two remote multimission vehicles from Lockheed Martin. The two multimission vehicles will work with a multistatic, off-board active source from BAE Systems, a Lockheed Martin remote towed active source, and a multifunction towed-array and handling equipment developed by Johns Hopkins University and DRS Technologies. Good says that hull fabrication of the USVs in the ﬁrst ASW mission package was completed in March, and builder’s trials took place in Baltimore. MPCE hardware has been installed in ASW labs, and software builds are in acceptance testing. The multistatic off-board source and USV towed array were ready for tests. The MCM mission package will include an MH-60S helicopter, along with a Fire Scout UAV, a USV from Oregon Iron Works, and two remote multimission vehicles as part of Lockheed Martin’s AN/WLD-1(V)1 mine hunting system. There will also be an unmanned surface-sweep system from ITT (developed by Edo Corp., which ITT acquired this year—DTI October 2007, p. 8), and an organic air and surface influence sweep, also from ITT. Other items include Northrop Grumman’s airborne laser mine-detection system, a Raytheon airborne mine-neutralization system and three AN/AQS-20A mine-hunting sonars, and a rapid airborne mine-clearance system and coastal battleﬁeld reconnaissance and analysis system from Northrop Grumman. ■ Read Janssen Lok’s posts on DTI's weblog, Ares, updated daily: AviationWeek.com/ares AviationWeek.com/dti PACKAGED RESPONSE Fire Scout UAV plays key role in LCS mission modules JORIS JANSSEN LOK•WASHINGTON NORTHROP GRUMMAN D espite cost overruns in shipbuilding, development of surface, anti-submarine and mine warfare mission packages for the U.S. Navy’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program is moving forward. Capt. Mike Good, who is managing the effort under the program executive officer for Littoral and Mine Warfare in the Navy’s Sea Systems Command, says the ﬁrst mission package for mine countermeasures (MCM) was delivered last year, and the leading surface and anti-submarine warfare packages are expected by September. Speaking at the recent Unmanned Systems Program review, presented by the Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in Washington, Good highlighted the role unmanned aerial vehicles with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities will have in LCS mission modules. Northrop Grumman’s RQ-8 Fire Scout UAV ﬁgures in all three mission packages. Good foresees a key role for the mini-rotorcraft as an airborne communications relay with tests involving high-data-rate radios planned for summer. “There is also talk of a small torpedotype weapon that could go on the UAV,” says Good. “We’ll probably be discussing by 2012 whether to add” the weapon to the inventory. The people involved in the program will “do a lot of learning over the next 3-4 years” to determine the ﬁnal conﬁguration. LCS mission packages are more than a set of systems, says Good. They include support equipment, containers, standard interfaces, and hardware and software for the mission-package computing environment (MPCE). A crew of 15 mans each module and aviation detachment, which includes a Sikorsky H60 Seahawk helicopter and/or a VTOL UAV like the RQ-8 Fire Scout. All this comprises the mission package, which can be “rolled on or off an LCS sea frame over a weekend,” Good says. For surface warfare, the initial mission package includes a non-line-of-sight missile-launching system with four launchers from Netﬁres LLC, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. This will typically be for use against small swarming boats. There will also be two 18 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL MAY 2008 http://AviationWeek.com/ares http://AviationWeek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - May 2008 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch Learn and Live Think Again Vive la Difference En Route Out of the Box Package Deal On Watch Inside Job Programs Update The Net Back to the Future Busy Signal Mighty Mites Hull of an Idea Tough Enough Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - May 2008

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