Posted on 12/07/2003 8:21:03 AM PST by pabianice
Coalition maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft squadrons operating in the Persian Gulf under Commander Task Force (CTF) 57 recently reached 10,000 hours flight time in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). None of this time involved ASW. Rather, the missions involved supporting ground troops in Iraq and performing OIF maritime interception operations as part of the coalition's stopping illegal smuggling of oil. In the previous ten years, following the collapse of the USSR, the P-3s of CTF-57 had transitioned from spending most of their time flying counter-narcotics flights in the Caribbean to flying overland patrol in Bosnia and Kosovo. Then came September 11, 2001, and the Orions switched to duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. CTF-57 operates under Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing One (CPRW-1), formerly Commander, Patrol Wing Pacific, based ashore at Naval Support Facility Kamiseya, Japan. These recent overland missions have supported US Marine Corps and US Army troops. During a mission an infantry officer typically flies as an onboard communicator/coordinator, and, using the aircraft’s cameras and other imaging equipment, gives real-time intel to the ground forces, spotting such events as vehicles or snipers moving within a target area. Meanwhile, other P-3 crews foil oil smuggling at sea.
This is called meeting the needs of the service. Fine. Unfortunately, after essentially abandoning ASW after the collapse of the USSR, the world’s navies – the US Navy in the forefront -- find themselves ill-equipped to counter the explosive growth in the Third World fleet of stealthy, fourth generation diesel-electric subs like the U-212/214-class (Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH of Kiel and Thyssen Nordseewerke GmbH of Endenand, Germany) and the Scorpene-class (DCN of France and Izar (formerly Bazan) of Spain). Such current technology subs can stay submerged for days without need for snorkeling. Equipped with closed-oxygen diesel drives such as the French "MESMA" (Module d'Energie Sous-Marine Autonome) AIP steam-turbine system that burns ethanol and liquid oxygen to make steam to drive a turbo-electric generator, the design permits retrofitting into existing submarines by adding an extra hull section. Typical cost for a new submarine powered by MESMA is $250 million. These warships are openly for sale to almost anyone with a big enough checking account (except Taiwan, but that’s another story). For the budget-conscious – or someone simply in a hurry to raise hell with an allied navy -- a Russian P-130 or Piranha-T Small-class submarine may be purchased for a fraction of the cost of a Scorpene. While limited in crew size and range, a Piranha-T’s torpedoes and mines are quite suitable for denying coastal waters to most navies ill prepared for ASW.
Recognizing this large hole in national defense, the US Navy has just announced the creation of the Fleet ASW Command and the allocation of more money to oversee ASW. The moves are recognition by the Navy that it has lost through budget cuts and neglect the ability to effectively secure shallow waters near shore from submarines, and come as China, North Korea, Iran, and others are acquiring fourth generation SSKs. These subs are exponentially more dangerous than the Foxtrot- and Juliet- classes of diesel-electric submarines fielded by the USSR in the 1950s and 60s, which even then, gave the US Navy a run for its money...
http://www.navlog.org
(Excerpt) Read more at navlog.org ...
Cheap dieselsboats have always been a threat.
that MESMA system sounds pretty dangerous in the wrong hands.
Snorkeling is the diesles weak unberbelly.
I'll give you an example: those dumbasses think that the F-18 SuperHornet is going to effectively replace the F-14 and A-6. The F-18 is a good little short-range fighter as long as it's used for what it was designed for. But the leaders of Naval Aviation think that the Hornet can be effectively used for electronic warfare, reconnaissance, and refueling on par with the A-6 Intruder and can fulfill the interceptor/fleet-defense missions of the F-14 Tomcat. There is no way in hell that it can and, sooner or later, this deluded line of thinking is going to have tragic consequences.
So far, we've gotten away with blundering incompetence at the top and equipment that has degraded far beyong reasonable service life because we're fighting enemies who do not fight conventional wars. Nothing will change until we go into a conventional battle against somebody good like the Chinese in 15-25 years and get our asses handed to us.
Press Release Number: EPX200306253 25-Jun-03
Sonobuoy innovation earns DoD recognition
By Karen L. Jensen
Naval Aviation Science & Technology Office
NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD—A combined Navy, industry and academia team received the 2002 DoD Value Engineering Award June 18 at the Pentagon for their tactical acoustic measurement and decision aid sonobuoy system, known as TAMDA.
The project was initiated in 1998 to solve the problem of where to place tactical sonobuoys in the water, particularly in shallow-water operating areas.
“With sonobuoy costs ranging from $250 to $5,000, you could waste a lot of money if they’re not placed correctly,” said Dan Flynn, TAMDA integrated program team leader.
The Avionics Department went “shopping for technology” among completed NAVAIR Small Business Innovation Research contracts. They found some good matches.
The small companies that eventually signed on were Navmar Applied Sciences, Applied Hydro-Acoustics Research, and Phoenix Science and Technology. Each company had proved its mettle by transitioning technologies to commercialization of their product. Additional partners included Space and Naval War Systems Command, Naval Sea Systems Command and the University of Washington.
The TAMDA team eventually built a new sonobuoy using the SBIR technology along with parts from existing fleet buoys. An underwater microphone, or hydrophone, was borrowed from the AN/SSQ-53F sonobuoy, and a water column temperature sensor from the AN/SSQ-36 sonobuoy.
“The SBIR innovations were the glue that pulled everything together and allowed us to shrink the technology down into one buoy,” Flynn said. “We also made it modular so we could take things out and put other things in, always keeping in mind our maximum allowable weight of 39 pounds.”
The team tested the new sonobouy in the Gulf of Mexico in April. NAVAIR 38, a converted offshore support vessel modified to accommodate advanced research projects, was pressed into service. Trailer laboratories were transported from Patuxent River and set up in the back of the boat.
The team had to generate sound to probe the ocean bottom. In addition to the buoy’s design architecture, Navmar created sound waves by crushing Christmas balls and light bulbs in the water to probe the ocean bottom. The pressure of the ocean holds the ball intact until it drops a few hundred feet, where it breaks, creating a loud noise the sonobuoy can then measure.
Phoenix came up with a competing sound source using an electrical circuit similar to a spark plug. The spark creates a gas bubble, which when collapsed by the ocean pressure, also creates a loud noise.
Applied Hydro-Acoustic Research is developing the system that processes the buoy’s data. The design architecture consists of ingesting buoy data and merging it with historical climatologic ocean data into a spatially and temporally variant ocean model. This model can then be used by air ASW decision aid systems in a manner that is tactically relevant.
The University of Washington verified the operational concepts of the buoy, data collection, and bottom parameter calculations made on site.
“We tested the data transmission by sending it via a small satellite telephone in the sonobuoy to the university labs in Seattle,” Flynn said. “You can take these telephones anywhere, and just make a regular call to get the data from the buoy.”
The ultimate goal is to send data back to NAVOCEANO d, atabases and to the tactical environmental data server at SPAWAR.
TAMDA will provide previously unavailable data on sound waves interacting with the bottom of the ocean. Real-time measurement of ocean sound speed, ambient noise, reverberation and water depth provides critical data to an air ASW mission, particularly in shallow-water operating areas.
“These measurements are important because they allow us to optimize the placement of the sonobuoys,” Flynn said. “The primary things we need to find out are the temperature of the water, the sounds in the ocean, how sound bounces from the bottom to the surface. In the ocean, the sounds are absorbed, reflected or scattered, depending on the makeup of the bottom, whether it’s mud, sand, rock or corals.”
One TAMDA goal is to eliminate explosives in the water and the need for a P-3 aircraft to fly around and constantly collect measurement data. The new sonobuoy can be left in the ocean for unattended measurements, allowing any aircraft or ship to tap into the data as needed. This contributes to efficient net-centric operations, curbs the amount of noise in the water, and leaves the habitats of ocean mammals undisturbed.
The new sonobuoy will do the job, in a single buoy, that currently requires six buoys.
“I nominated the TAMDA team for the DoD award because their work fit the criteria of yielding value engineering savings,” Signal Processing branch head Dr. Mary Eileen Farrell said. “Not only will TAMDA reduce the number of sonobuoys that need to be deployed, but it will help with environmental impacts.”
TAMDA, now in the concept exploration phase, is on target to meet milestone B by the end of fiscal year 2005. The new technology will primarily enhance P-3 and MH-60 operations, but is a net-centric, platform-independent system that can be connected to other ASW units for immediate use.
—USN—
Photo by Dan Flynn Aboard NAVAIR 38, the NAVAIR TAMDA team harvests oceanographic parameters in the Gulf of Mexico. The team deployed in April to validate TAMDA prototype design concepts. Left to right, NAVAIR 38 boat master Mike Clem, Seaward Service, Phoenix Science & Technology scientist John Gallagher, NAVAIR engineer Eric Thiel, Advanced Avionics engineer Don Scott, and Navmar engineer Carl Calianno.
I got to see that firsthand. On our ship, spare parts and tech support dried up big time.
As you know, in my fictional series about WW III, it is the submerged threat theat the Chicomms hit and capitalize on in the opening surprise attacks against the 7th fleet with a modern, opeartional and very effectve supercavitating wepaon system.
I pray we are finally waking up.
Still, in order to strategically counter us and our carrier battle groups, the potential adversaires are going to have to get in the blue water and somehow prevent the CBG's from getting close. That's much more difficult for the diesel/electrics in terms of speed (ability to intercept) and staying power...but they are improving.
To date, no one has been able to crack that nut yet...but they are trying, and not just with the smaller diesel/electric boats...and our current policies, particularly as respects Red China, are funding their efforts.
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