ASHBURN, Va. — Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division announced June 7 it was awarded a contract by Lockheed Martin to provide its Modular Open-Systems Approach (MOSA) computers and video processing modules to upgrade the Mission Computer and Flight Management Computer (MC/FMC) on the U.S. Navy’s fleet of Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters.  

The use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)-based MOSA solutions and commercial best practices will deliver cost-effective new capabilities and support more economical and timely upgrades of the helicopter’s avionics systems. Curtiss-Wright’s selection on this upgrade program is representative of its ability to rapidly and cost-effectively modernize legacy military platforms with open-standards solutions, the company said.

The initial contract is valued at $24 million. The estimated lifetime value of the contract is $70 million. Under the multi-year contract, shipments began in December 2020. 

“We are very pleased that Lockheed Martin selected us to provide our defense-focused open standards-based COTS single board computer and video processing solutions to support the upgrade of the mission computer and flight management computer on the U.S. Navy’s MH-60R/S helicopter fleet,” said Chris Wiltsey, senior vice president and general manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions. “This agreement, which further strengthens the long and successful relationship we have with Lockheed Martin, highlights Curtiss-Wright’s ability to enhance interoperability and improve cost efficiencies with electronics systems that adhere to the DoD’s mandate for a modular open architecture approach.” 

The MH-60R/S MC/FMC upgrade will bring advanced display graphics capabilities to this important helicopter platform, providing compatibility with existing imaging and display systems and offering enhanced capabilities for future imaging sensors and high-resolution displays. The COTS modules also enable integration of Curtiss-Wright’s enhanced Trusted and Secure Computing features to ensure system resiliency and secure operation in response to cyber attacks. 

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The first DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer to be built in the Flight III configuration, the future Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), was successfully launched at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Ingalls Shipbuilding division, June 4, the Navy said in a June 7 release. 

The DDG 51 Flight III upgrade is centered on the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar and incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity plus additional associated changes to provide greatly enhanced warfighting capability to the fleet. The Flight III baseline begins with DDGs 125-126 and will continue with DDG 128 and follow-on ships. 

“Flight III ships will provide cutting edge integrated air and missile defense capability to include significantly greater detection range and tracking capacity. Launching the first Flight III ship, the future Jack H. Lucas, is another important step to delivering Flight III to the Navy,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class program manager. 
 
The DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer (DDG 51) is a multi-mission guided missile destroyer designed to operate offensively and defensively, independently, or as units of Carrier Strike Groups, Expeditionary Strike Groups, and Surface Action Groups in multi-threat environments that include air, surface and subsurface threats. These ships will respond to low intensity conflict and coastal and littoral offshore warfare scenarios, as well as open ocean conflict, providing or augmenting power projection, forward presence requirements and escort operations at sea. Flight III is the fourth flight upgrade in the 30-plus year history of the class, building on the legacy of Flight I, II and IIA ships before it. 
 
HII is currently constructing four other DDG 51 class ships, including the future Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) and Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) in the Flight IIA configuration, and the future Ted Stevens (DDG 128) and Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129) as Flight III ships. There is a total of 20 DDG 51 class ships under contract at both new construction shipyards. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has awarded a contract for the completion of a modified Pathfinder-class oceanographic research ship for the Military Sealift Command. 

The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded Halter Marine a $149 million fixed-price incentive contract modification “for the detail design and construction of one oceanographic survey ship (T-AGS 67),” according to a Defense Department contract announcement. 

Halter Marine was awarded an earlier contract in November 2018 for functional design engineering, procurement of long-lead-time material and limited advanced production of the ship. 

Six Pathfinder-class ships were delivered from 1994 to 2001 to operate in an oceanographic survey-support capacity, gathering underwater data in the deep ocean and coastal waters. A seventh, the USNS Maury, was delivered in February 2016. The Maury is 25 feet longer than its sister ships and is equipped with a moon pool for operating unmanned underwater vehicles. The USNS Sumner (T-AGS 61) was inactivated in August 2014 and transferred to the Maritime Administration. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps’ new Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) is on track, both for performance and cost, with the first two platoons of replacements for the aging Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) prioritized for duty with forward-deployed Marine Expeditionary Units, a top general told a congressional panel.

In its fiscal 2022 budget request, the Marine Corps is seeking to procure the second full-rate production lot of 92 ACVs, 20 more than in fiscal 2021. The ACV is an advanced eight-wheeled armored ship-to-shore connector craft, providing improved lethality against dismounted enemy troops and increased force protection and survivability from blasts, fragmentation and kinetic energy threats, according to budget documents.

“We’re on track for the production numbers that we anticipated seeing,” Lt. Gen. Eric M. Smith, head of Marine Corps Combat Development Command told the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces June 7. “We’ve produced the first two platoons of those vehicles,” said Smith, who is also deputy commandant of the Corps for Combat Development and Integration, adding that each platoon can carry a company of Marines. The first two of those platoons are at the Marines’ desert training base at Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif, Smith said, adding, “Their readiness is good.”

Changing from the tracked AAVs to wheeled vehicles “required a little bit of adjustment for our drivers,” Smith said, but they made the change and met their objectives for the initial operating testing capabilities. “So, we did declare initial operating capability.”

Calling last year’s Amphibious Assault Vehicle mishap that drowned eight Marines and a Sailor “100% preventable and 100% inexcusable,” Smith said the remaining AAVs won’t go in the water for training without water-tight seal inspections and accompanying safety boats.

A Marine Corps investigation into the sinking of an AAV off the coast of California on July 30, 2020, concluded in “a confluence of human and mechanical failure caused the sinking of the mishap AAV and contributed to a delayed rescue effort …”

“There’s a pretty robust checklist for everything from training to the actual seals on the vehicles to make sure that those vehicles that do enter the water — with safety boats for training — are completely viable and safe,” Smith told the House panel. 

He added that the ACV “has a completely different hull form that has fewer penetration points so that water cannot get in and accumulate,” as it did in the July 2020 AAV mishap.

ARLINGTON, Va. — An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made aviation history on June 4 with a successful air-to-air refueling of another aircraft. Boeing’s MQ-25 Demonstrator, T1, refueled a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter, a major step in the MQ-25A Stingray’s journey to become the Navy’s carrier-based aerial refueler. 

Boeing’s T1 and the F/A-18F, flown by a crew from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23, joined up and the MQ-25 passed a total of 325 gallons of fuel to the Super Hornet in two separate refueling events. 

The MQ-25 carried a Cobham-built refueling store with a drogue refueling hose, the same type currently used in the fleet by Super Hornets. The Navy plans to use the MQ-25 in the refueling role to free more Super Hornets for combat operations, for which it was designed.    

During a June 7 media roundtable, Boeing’s MQ-25 program manager, Dave Bujold, described the sequence of events for the historic flight (a video summary is here). The F/A-18 flew in formation to observe the dynamic characteristics — particularly the stability — of the MQ-25. With the safety evaluation completed, the F/A-18 closed and T1’s ground controller streamed the drogue. For about 30 seconds, the F/A-18 crew conducted a wake survey and noted the wake to be very stable and benign. While the chase plane filmed, telemetry was collected, and the F/A-18 made a “dry” connect without the transfer of fuel.

The F/A-18 backed away and then reconnected for a transfer from 300 pounds of fuel in the refueling pod. (T1 is not plumbed for transfer of fuel from the airframe, which will be a capability of the production MQ-25.) The two aircraft made another dry connect at 15,000 feet and then joined for another successful transfer of 25 pounds fuel. The fuel transfer rate was 220 gallons per minute during the 4.5-hour flight. 

Bujold noted that the F/A-18 crew commented on the quietness of the rendezvous, which with two F/A-18s is very noisy.   

“The test flight will provide important early data on airwake interactions, as well as guidance and control, Reed said in a Navy release. “The team will analyze that data to determine if any adjustments are needed and make software updates early, with no impact to the program’s test schedule.”  

“The milestone comes after 25 T1 flights, testing both aircraft and ARS aerodynamics across the flight envelope, as well as extensive simulations of aerial refueling using MQ-25 digital models,” Boeing said in a release. “MQ-25 T1 will continue flight testing prior to being shipped to Norfolk, Virginia, for deck handling trials aboard a U.S. Navy carrier later this year.”  

Capt. Chad Reed, the Navy’s MQ-25 program manager, said those deck handling tests for T1 are slated for December, depending on availability of a carrier. Without a tailhook, T1 cannot conduct landings on a carrier.”  

The seven test MQ-25s being built by Boeing will be used for multiple tests by the Navy in beginning with ground testing in the fall of 2022, including field catapult launches and arrested landings prior to flights from an aircraft carrier. Reed said testing is likely to include refueling an E-2 Hawkeye battle management aircraft in the future, including manned/unmanned teaming. 

“This is our mission, an unmanned aircraft that frees our strike fighters from the tanker role, and provides the Carrier Air Wing with greater range, flexibility and capability,” Reed said. “Seeing the MQ-25 fulfilling its primary tasking today, fueling an F/A-18, is a significant and exciting moment for the Navy and shows concrete progress toward realizing MQ-25’s capabilities for the fleet.” 

“This history-making event is a credit to our joint Boeing and Navy team that is all-in on delivering MQ-25’s critical aerial refueling capability to the fleet as soon as possible,” said Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, in the Boeing release. “Their work is the driving force behind the safe and secure integration of unmanned systems in the immediate future of defense operations.” 

“This flight lays the foundation for integration into the carrier environment, allowing for greater capability toward manned-unmanned teaming concepts,” said Rear Adm. Brian Corey, program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons. “MQ-25 will greatly increase the range and endurance of the future carrier air wing – equipping our aircraft carriers with additional assets well into the future.” 

The Navy has switched plans to a Lockheed Martin-built ground control station for the MQ-25, not just for cyber protection but to have the architecture for the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept.   

The Navy will rely on multiple communications links to control and execute missions for the MQ-25, Reed said. The list includes the Lockheed Martin Mobile User Objective Satellite for over-the-horizon control. 

Currently under production by Boeing are the first test MQ-25A and the first static test airframe. Initial operational capability for the MQ-25A is slated for 2025. 

MOBILE, Ala. – Austal USA was awarded a $3.6 million contract by the U.S. Navy for the functional design of the Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship (T-ATS) May 28, the company said in a June 7 release. This marks the first steel new construction contract for the company after breaking ground on a new steel manufacturing line in March. The line will be operational in April 2022. 

Austal will define detailed requirements to construct, test, and deliver T-ATS ships in accordance with government ship specifications. T-ATS is a 263-foot (80 meter) steel hulled multi-mission platform scheduled to replace the capabilities of both the retiring Rescue and Salvage Ship (T-ARS 50) class and Fleet Ocean Tug (T-ATF 166) class mission requirements. The ships are able to support towing, salvage, rescue, oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide area search and surveillance.  

T-ATS can also embark containerized systems including cyber, electronic warfare, and decoy and surveillance packages. The work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama. 

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Marine Corps has successfully demonstrated in flight testing a two-way connection between the AH-1Z Viper helicopter and a ground station using new Link-16 hardware and software, Bell Textron Inc. said in a June 7 release.

The company manufactures the AH-1Z Viper and Northrop Grumman Corp. has developed the Link-16 system. Link-16 is part of a defined road map of planned improvements designed to ensure the H-1 platform maintains its technological edge and combat capability throughout its service life.   

“Bell is excited to help bring this capability to the USMC H-1 community,” said Mike Deslatte, Bell H-1 vice president and program director. “The ability to participate in the modern and connected battlefield makes the aircraft more lethal and better-equipped to support Marines on the ground.”  

Link-16 enables the AH-1Z — unlike any other helicopter in the world with its fully integrated anti-air capability and AIM-9 Sidewinder — to quickly obtain and share information from its sensors with other weapons systems using its onboard digital architecture. This is accomplished through Northrop Grumman’s Link-16 package, which includes a new digital moving map, a new security architecture, and the Link-16 and Advanced Networking Wideband Waveform (ANW2) datalinks. 

“Northrop Grumman’s Link-16 system will help U.S. Marines today, and well into the future, with critical technology that facilitates coordination, collaboration, and interoperability. By enabling the display and integration of Link-16 data with the H-1 system, pilots of the AH-1Z have greater situational awareness and enhanced survivability,” said James Conroy, vice president, navigation, targeting and survivability at Northrop Grumman. “This milestone also highlights our focus on “speed to fleet,” due to the unprecedented time between demonstrating the concept and getting to first flight. Flexibility and adaptability, using next generation agile development practices, are the only ways to innovate and keep pace with changing mission needs.” 

In a collaboration between the Marine Corps’ H-1 Light/Attack Helicopter program (PMA-276), Bell, and Northrop Grumman, the team leveraged commercial best practices of Agile Development methodologies. This strategy provided an under-glass solution from concept requirements to vehicle design testing in 12 months.

Northrop Grumman’s Lead Technology Integration group rapidly architected and integrated a mission package for Link-16, including a modern digital mapping solution, for the H-1 platform while Bell’s H-1 program team provided all of the necessary vehicle analysis and modifications to incorporate the mission equipment throughout the existing integrated systems of the AH-1Z. Together, the teams are redefining what it means to rapidly field integrated solutions on existing fielded platforms to increase warfighter capabilities. 

“The H-1 has decades of battlefield experience, it has evolved to fight in numerous environments,” said Col. Vasilios Pappas, PMA-276 program manager. “The integration of Link-16 aligns with this platforms’ ability to adapt to the ever-changing threat and meet the needs of current and future warfighters.”  

The Marine Corps has flight tests planned for the AH-1Z throughout the summer, which will be followed by flight testing of Link-16 on the UH-1Y Venom. The service anticipates AH-1Z initial fleet integration with Link 16 in 2022. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Office of the Secretary of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), in partnership with the U.S. Navy, recently conducted a second long-range autonomous transit with a Ghost Fleet Overlord Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) from the Gulf Coast, passing through the Panama Canal, to the West Coast. 

The unmanned vessel, named Nomad, traveled 4,421 nautical miles, 98% of which was in autonomous mode. The first Ghost Fleet Overlord vessel, Ranger, completed a similar transit in October 2020. Both USVs passed through the Panama Canal while in manual mode. 

The Nomad transit provided an opportunity for extended testing of vessel endurance, autonomous operations, and interoperability of government command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems with vendor autonomy, hull mechanical and hull electrical systems. Remote mission command and control for the Nomad transit was conducted from an ashore Unmanned Operations Center operated by U.S. Navy Sailors from Surface Development Squadron One. 

“This is another significant milestone for SCO’s Ghost Fleet Overlord program and supports the Navy’s Unmanned Campaign Framework by adding a second Overlord vessel to the West Coast. The SCO Ghost Fleet Overlord program serves to inform Navy prototype efforts by integrating mature technologies to accelerate Service priorities and is a key piece of the build a little, test a little, and learn a lot philosophy articulated in the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework,” said SCO Director Jay Dryer. 

The NomadUSV is joining the Ranger USV to participate in fleet experimentation exercises to further mature the autonomy systems, demonstrate system reliability, and explore employment concepts for coordinated operations with manned combatants while stressing our command-and-control systems. Both vessels will continue to provide key system data, enable fleet operator feedback, and demonstrate capabilities essential to continued maturation and development of USV concepts of operation. 

The Ghost Fleet Overlord program is currently in its second phase, which began in September 2019 and focuses on the integration of government-furnished command-and-control systems and payloads and more complex and challenging naval operations experimentation. Phase II is being conducted with the same vessels and industry teams that took part in Phase I and will conclude in early 2022, at which point both Ghost Fleet Overlord vessels will transition to the Navy for further experimentation. 

The Ghost Fleet Overlord program, executed by SCO in partnership with Program Executive Office – Unmanned and Small Combatants, is playing a central role in informing the Navy’s new classes of USVs and serving as part of extensive technical risk-reduction efforts. 

“Our close partnership with SCO on the Overlord program is accelerating the technology demonstration, CONOPs [concept of operations] development, and operational command and control of unmanned surface vessels in direct alignment with the Navy’s plans,” said Capt. Pete Small, Navy program manager for USVs. 

Two additional Ghost Fleet Overlord prototype USVs are currently under construction and will be used to expand and accelerate the Navy’s experimentation and testing. 

FAIRFAX, Va. — General Dynamics Mission Systems announced June 7 it was awarded a $72.8 million contract from the U.S. Navy to retrofit five Block 0 Knifefish surface mine countermeasure unmanned underwater vehicle (SMCM UUV) systems, which comprises 10 Knifefish SMCM vehicles. The retrofit requirements will enhance Knifefish operations at deeper depths, identify more complex target environments and provide more precise localization.

Once complete, all 10 Knifefish Block 0 UUVs will be upgraded with the new requirements integrated and redelivered in the Block 1 configuration. 

Knifefish SMCM is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV intended for deployment from the Navy’s littoral combat ship and other Navy vessels of opportunity. Knifefish SMCM will reduce risk to personnel by operating within minefields as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries. 

“General Dynamics Mission Systems is honored to extend our support to the U.S. Navy with this increased capability on all five Knifefish SMCM systems,” said Carlo Zaffanella, vice president and general manager at General Dynamics Mission Systems. “We are proud to provide the Navy with advanced, state-of-the-art unmanned underwater vehicles, and we are dedicated to delivering this technology safely and quickly to our sailors.” 

MOBILE, Ala. – Austal USA hosted the christening ceremony for the future USS Canberra (LCS 30) Independence-variant littoral combat ship on June 5, the company said in a release. Canberra is the 15th LCS designed and constructed by Austal USA and the second U.S. Navy ship to be named after the Australian capital. 

“Today, just 16 years after Austal USA joined the U.S. defense industrial base, the company is hosting its 15th littoral combat ship christening – LCS 30, a ship proudly named after the capital of Australia and yet another symbol of the great ties between our two countries,” stated Austal USA Interim President Rusty Murdaugh in his address to the audience at the ceremony. 

The ship’s sponsor, Australian Senator and Foreign Minister Marise Payne, attended the ship’s keel laying ceremony in Mobile early last year, but was unable to attend today’s christening ceremony. 

Alison Petchell, the Australian Government’s Minister Counsellor Defense Materiel, christened the future USS Canberra (LCS 30). 

Canberra (LCS 30) is the 15th of 19 small surface combatants Austal USA is building for the U.S. Navy. Five are under various stages of construction and a sixth is on contract waiting to start construction. Austal USA is also constructing two Expeditionary Fast Transport ships (EPF) for the U.S. Navy with one more on contract awaiting start of construction. 

The company recently broke ground on its new steel manufacturing line to expand its shipbuilding capability to service the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard’s rising demand for steel ships.