ARLINGTON, Va. — Raytheon has demonstrated the ability to detect and identify a mine-like object and position an unmanned underwater vehicle to be in position to neutralize it, a company official said on Sept. 26. 

The Aug. 29 “detect to engage” demonstration was one event in the Navy’s ANTX (Advanced Naval Technology Exercise) 2019 held at Newport, Rhode Island. 

“We view it as a tremendous success,” Andy Wilde, director of strategy and business development for Raytheon Undersea, said in an interview with Seapower. He said it was a “great example of the great work the Navy and industry can do when we co-invest in critically important projects like this to solve very, very difficult problems.”  

Wilde cited the success as an example of a “high-velocity outcome” of a “best-of-breed” technology being rapidly prototyped and tested and able to be fielded very quickly, a process championed by former Chief of Naval Operations John M. Richardson. 

Raytheon’s AQS-20C towed sonar was pulled through the water by a surplus riverine craft acting as a surrogate for the Textron-built MCM unmanned surface vehicle (MCMUSV) that will be a component of the MCM mission package for the littoral combat ship (LCS). 

Under the concept, an MCMUSV is launched from an LCS and deploys the AQS-20C. Once a possible sea mine is detected by the AQS-20C’s synthetic aperture sonar, a Barracuda expendable semi-autonomous mine neutralization unmanned undersea vehicle is — on the same pass — launched into the water from a A-size sonobuoylauncher on the MCMUSV. 

The Barracuda deploys a float that serves as an RF datalink to the CUSV and an acoustic data link to the Barracuda. The tactical mission plan is downloaded from the LCS to the Barracuda via the CUSV. The Barracuda starts a search track and, once it acquires a mine, it maintains position at the mine. The operator on the LCS confirms the object is a mine and commands the Barracuda to detonate the mine with a charge. The MCMUSV would then continue its mission on its planned track. 

During the demonstration, the towed AQS-20C detected a mine-like object moored in Narragansett Bay. The surface craft launched a Nemo, the prototype of the Barracuda developed with the Office of Naval Research. The Nemo located the mine-like object and hovered with it, keeping station. Having transmitted imagery of the mine-like object to the control station, the Barracuda was commanded to touch the mine-like object to simulate firing a shaped charge, Wilde said. 

Wilde said the Barracuda has station-keeping technology that enables it to remain position to fire the shaped charge at the mine even in currents that cause a moored mine to sift position on its tether. 

In an Aug. 15 interview, Wilde said that unmanned systems will revolutionize mine countermeasures (MCM) that currently take weeks or months to clear minefields and put minesweepers at risk. The Navy is developing an MCM mission package for the littoral combat ship that will rely largely on unmanned systems. 

He also said the MCM mission concept could be expanded to other missions, including by use of a B-size sonobuoy launcher with other payloads. The AQS-20C sonar is now in production. Raytheon is developing the engineering developmentmodels of the Barracuda and recently completed the Navy’s preliminary designreview.  

Wilde said Raytheon is in discussions with the Navy about other missions to which the Barracuda could be applied. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The planned upgrade of the nuclear warhead on some U.S. Navy submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has been delayed for 18 months by unacceptable reliability of some components.  

Testifying Sept. 25 on Capitol Hill before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces, Charles P. Verdon, deputy administrator for defense programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), said that during stress tests to certify some electrical components of the weapons, some capacitors for the Navy’s W88 Alteration 370 warhead for the Trident D5LE SLBM and the Air Force’s B61 Mod 12 nuclear bomb did not meet the stringent reliability requirements. The capacitors were commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components.  

Verdon said a blue-ribbon panel established by NNSA formed to study the matter “advised in June 2019 that the prudent approach was to accept the delay of these programs and replace these components rather than risk component failure in future years.”    

The recommendations were accepted by NNSA at that time, Verdon said, noting that NNSA is developing a specific production schedule and initial operational capability dates are being explored. 

Verdon said the capacitor of insufficient reliability was a $5 part, whereas the replacement capacitor — being built to a new standard that did not exist at the time the original capacitors were procured — cost $75. Although the figures for program delays are not yet final, he said the delay would cost NNSA an additional $120 million to $150 million for the W88 Alt 370 and $600 million to $700 million for the B61 bomb. 

Verdon also said the additional costs could be mitigated by balancing the workload within NNSA’s modernization portfolio. He said that any increase in funding would not be needed until fiscal 2021. 

Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, the Navy’s director of strategic systems programs, also testifying before the committee, said the upgrades for the W88 Alt 370 begun in 2008 focused on procuring the arming, fuzing and firing units and replacing the warhead’s high explosives. He said the installation of the Alt 370 was delayed to a start of December 2019, “removing any schedule margin for the refurbishment effort.” 

He said the Navy and NNSA are planning for about an 18-month delay to the Alt 370 program and that the Navy is working with the ballistic-missile submarine fleet’s operational commander, U.S Strategic Command, to mitigate the effect of the delays and ensure that the nation’s strategic requirements are met on schedule. 

“We will meet the requirements as we move forward,” Wolfe said. 

Verdon said that “[a]s a root cause, we identified that our methodology for the insertion of COTS components into high-reliability, long-life nuclear warheads needs to be improved” to avoid such future delays. 

He said the NNSA “underestimated the variability between lots” in COTS-procured capacitors.  

A closed classified session was held by the subcommittee following the open hearing. 

About 3,000 servicemembers took part in the Arctic
Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise (AECE), which just concluded in Alaska.

AECE is a manifestation of the joint Navy and Marine
Corps Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE) concept, issued in
2017, which calls for the creation of Littoral Combat Forces (LCFs) of various
units to conduct specific missions.

The exercise commander was Rear Adm. Cedric Pringle,
commander of Expeditionary Strike Group Three. The LCF construct provides a
multifunction command and control force that can be ashore or embarked at sea
or both.

For AECE, the LCF headquarters was established at Joint
Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, and the operating forces were divided
into Littoral Combat Groups 1 and 2, with those commanders embarked aboard USS
Somerset (LPD 25), carrying a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force
(SP-MAGTF), and USS Comstock (LSD 45), respectively.

Speaking to reporters Sept. 23, Pringle said AECE was a
“natural evolution” of the Pacific Blitz exercise, held in March in California,
which exercised the LCF construct. But, he said, AECE was conducted in
“unfamiliar territory,” with wider range of assets than what he usually has
available to him with his expeditionary strike group and more adverse weather
conditions.

Like Pacific Blitz, the Navy-Marine Corps team was fully
integrated. But as the exercise was planned, both U.S. Air Force and Coast
Guard assets were included.

The U.S. Alaskan Command hosted the AECE command element
at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Operations were taking place
in Seward, about 125 miles away, and Adak, 1,200 miles away, as well as off the
Silver Strand at Coronado, California.

AECE included mine-clearance operations at Seward and an
air assault on the airfield at Adak to establish a site for fueling and
rearming of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.  Support at Anchorage was provided by the
Alaska National Guard. The Coast Guard embarked an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter on
USS Somerset, and an HC-130 Hercules from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak
supported AECE with search-and-rescue capability and aerial refueling,
respectively. Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Munro (WHEC-724) supported search-and-rescue
operations and securities and enforcement in Adak. The Air Force C-130 aircraft
was able to fly to Adak with a medical team aboard to quickly evacuate a Sailor
in need of a higher level of care.

The exercise provided an opportunity to use platforms in
nontraditional roles and to bring together forces that do not usually operate
together.

“We had to find a way to have unity of command and
effort,” Pringle said. “This was all new.”

A key element to expeditionary operations is logistics
and what Pringle called the “ability to push fuel to forces ashore.” AECE
included the deployment of the offshore petroleum discharge system (OPDS) and a
forward arming and refueling point (FARP).

“To be able to get here, do expeditionary operations and
test our logistics capabilities made AECE a phenomenal opportunity to exercise
muscles we don’t usually exercise,” Pringle said.

USS Comstock transported the ABLTS system from San Diego
to Seward — the first time an amphibious ship was used to transport the ABLTS —
and demonstrated the capability by pumping water from a barge to a “fuel farm”
consisting of three 20,000-gallon bladders. 
The system can support combat operations or provide humanitarian
assistance as a part of the Navy’s Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA)
mission. 

“If a natural disaster were to take out a coastal town’s
power, gas stations or drinkable water anywhere in the world, we could fill a
barge and send it to the affected region,” Pringle explained. “Systems like
ABLTS and our ability to transfer thousands of gallons of liquids like drinkable
water or fuel are critical during contingencies, crises response or
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”

Adak offered challenging and variable wind and sea
conditions. “The winds and seas dictated changes almost faster that we could
execute,” Pringle said. “One day we had winds up to 50 knots, with 15-foot
waves and a ceiling below 1,000 feet, and the next day it was clear and calm,
with 2-foot seas.”

Pringle said the equipment held up well in the harsh
surroundings. “We had one issue with a helicopter, but that actually was a good
thing, because we got to flex our maintenance capability.”

He said the Navy and Marine Corps learned a great deal
from their Air Force and Coast Guard counterparts. “The Air Force and Coast
Guard are always here. They know the environment better than we do.”

Apart from the periodic submerged Ice Exercise (ICEX) submarine transits of the Arctic Ocean, the sea services do not have a significant amount of current experience in extreme latitudes. The Navy and Marine Corps participated in the multinational exercise Trident Juncture last fall in and around Norway, and the Marines work with their Norwegian counterparts on a regular basis. But the last major exercise in Alaska was Kernel Potlach in 1987, and that was the first winter amphibious operation in the Aleutian Islands since the end of World War II.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz all visited Alaska to see AECE firsthand.

“Alaska is one of the best training venues we have,”
Spencer said while in Seward. “The location is tremendously strategic when it
comes to protecting the homeland, and training here is extremely important to
the Navy’s Arctic strategy. We need to conduct exercises like AECE to continue
pushing our joint force into the future and continue pursuing innovation within
the force.”

Vice Adm. John B. Alexander, commander of the U.S. 3rd
Fleet, also came to Alaska to see the exercise. “AECE provided our Navy and
Marine Corps team an opportunity to test our collective ability to plan,
communicate and conduct complex amphibious and expeditionary combat support
operations in a challenging austere environment,” he said. “The training and
experience we gained from AECE will help ensure that we remain a lethal and
capable fighting force and that we are able to conduct defense support of civil
authorities in the event of a crisis or disaster at home.”

While the conditions in and around Alaska were more
challenging that what might be encountered off California, Pringle admits it
could have been worse. “This is September. We understand it’s not this nice here
in winter.”

But, he said, that’s the point.

“We need to find hard venues and prove we can do it.”

SAN DIEGO — The commander of Naval Air Forces announced on Sept. 24 that Naval Aviation has achieved its secretary of defense-mandated readiness target of an 80% mission-capable rate for both its operational F/A-18 E/F “Super Hornet” and EA-18G “Growler” fleets. 

After a year of reforms across Navy squadrons, maintenance and supply depots and other key readiness-enabling commands, Super Hornet and Growler readiness each stand above 80% of primary mission aircraft inventory — 343 for Super Hornet and 95 for Growler, respectively. 

Last year, with the Navy’s mission-capable rate hovering near 50%, then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis directed the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to reach an 80% rate across their fighter and strike fighter aircraft squadrons. 

To achieve this goal, the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) implemented the Naval Sustainment System-Aviation (NSS-A). The NSS-A initiative leverages best practices from commercial industry to update and improve aspects of Naval Aviation’s maintenance practices in squadrons as well as at intermediate and depot fleet readiness centers.  

Additional reform efforts greatly improved supply chain management, engineering practices, governance activities and safety. Initially, NSS-A focused on getting the Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet healthy, but quickly grew to include the Navy’s EA-18G Growler fleet due to the similarities in the two platforms. Ultimately, the Navy and Marine Corps will apply NSS-A reforms to recover and sustain readiness and improve safety for each type, model and series of aircraft. 

According to Vice Adm. DeWolfe H. Miller III, the Navy’s “Air Boss,” after a decade of regularly maintaining between 250 and 260 mission-capable F/A-18s, the Navy is now sustaining more than 320 Super Hornets and surged to attain service goals of 341 mission-capable Super Hornet and 93 mission-capable Growler aircraft this month. 

“This has been a year of results for Naval Aviation,” Miller said. “I am incredibly proud of our Sailors, civilian teammates and industry partners. They developed and implemented the NSS and then drove readiness numbers that haven’t been seen in over a decade. Their results are incredible and their passion for improvement is inspirational.” 

“The tremendous efforts of our fleet readiness centers were vital to achieving our readiness goals,” said Vice Adm. Dean Peters, commander of Naval Air Systems Command. “I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Sailors and artisans that keep us mission-focused.” 

Rear Adm. Roy Kelley, commander of Naval Air Forces-Atlantic, pointed to the leading indicator of aviation readiness moving in the right direction: aviator flight hours. 

“This is the first year in some time that we have executed our allocation of flight hours completely,” Kelley said. “That stands as a sign of health that we have a lot of ‘up’ aircraft, and that the parts are moving. We’re getting healthy, and we’re on the right track.” 

Miller agreed, adding that achievement of the 80% goal was an important milestone, but not a completed mission. 

“To be clear, there is no finish line to the NSS effort,” he added. “We don’t get to choose when we are called to fight. Sustainment is the key. Continuously improving the reforms implemented by our military, civilian and industry teams will be critical in maintaining our advantage in this age of great power competition.”

QUANTICO, Va. — The Navy’s amphibious ships and their embarked aircraft, landing craft and Marines provide an array of power that can influence world events and reinforce U.S. interests in a region, a Navy official said, listing five roles of the forces. 

The primary purpose of an amphibious ready group (ARG) is to provide a means for a Marine Air-Ground Task Group to conduct amphibious assault, Frank DiGiovanni, deputy director of expeditionary warfare, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, last week at the Modern Day Marine expo at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. 

DiGiovanni said the second role was presence, noting that “[t]he fact that you have a three-ship ARG with a bunch of firepower on it and 2,000 Marines” tells nations in the region that the power of the United States is present, “that there is someone else here, too.” 

Third, he said, is reassurance. 

“The people in this region need to know the United States of America is on watch, and we have combat capability within our reach,” DiGiovanni said. 

Deterrence is the fourth role, one that discourages aggression from nations intent on aggression or harassment. 

The fifth is logistics. 

DiGiovanni mentioned “not only the logistics to support the Marines ashore by the ship to shore, but once that ship is empty, and the Marines are being sustained, what should we do with those ships? Do they serve a purpose to support other logistics needs, particularly in a contested environment? It’s a hypothesis we’re thinking about it.”

ST. LOUIS — Boeing and the U.S. Navy on Sept. 19 successfully completed the first test flight of the MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueler, according to a company release. 

The MQ-25 test asset, known as T1, completed the autonomous two-hour flight under the direction of Boeing test pilots operating from a ground control station at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois, where the test program is based. The aircraft completed an autonomous taxi and takeoff and then flew a pre-determined route to validate the aircraft’s basic flight functions and operations with the ground control station. 

“Seeing MQ-25 in the sky is a testament to our Boeing and Navy team working the technology, systems and processes that are helping get MQ-25 to the carrier,” Boeing MQ-25 Program Director Dave Bujold said. “This aircraft and its flight test program ensures we’re delivering the MQ-25 to the carrier fleet with the safety, reliability and capability the U.S. Navy needs to conduct its vital mission.” 

The Boeing-owned test asset is a predecessor to the engineering development model (EDM) aircraft and is being used for early learning and discovery to meet the goals of the Navy’s accelerated acquisition program. Boeing will produce four EDM MQ-25 air vehicles for the Navy under an $805 million contract awarded in August 2018. 

The MQ-25 will provide the Navy with a much-needed carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling capability. It will allow for better use of the combat strike fighters currently performing the tanking role and will extend the range of the carrier air wing. 

“Today’s flight is an exciting and significant milestone for our program and the Navy,” said Capt. Chad Reed, the Navy’s unmanned carrier aviation program manager. “The flight of this test asset two years before our first MQ-25 arrives represents the first big step in a series of early learning opportunities that are helping us progress toward delivery of a game-changing capability for the carrier air wing and strike group commanders.” 

T1 received its experimental airworthiness certificate from the FAA in September, verifying that the air vehicle meets the agency’s requirements for safe flight. Testing will continue with T1 to further early learning and discovery that advances major systems and software development.

QUANTICO, Va. — Navy officials said the service is considering installing a modern Marine Corps command and control system on large-deck amphibious assault ships. 

“The Navy is looking to purchase CAC2S [Common Aviation Command and Control System] and put those on L-class ships so that they can do some of the same things we do on L-class ships the CAC2S can pull down off an F-35. It will help build situational awareness for the SWOs [surface warfare officers] on the ship,” said Col. Kurt Schiller, director, Air Combat Element/Maritime Expeditionary Warfare Division in the Capabilities Development Directorate, speaking at a panel discussion sponsored by the Amphibious Warfare Industrial Base Coalition at the Modern Day Marine expo at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.  

CAC2S, built by General Dynamics Mission Systems, provides a complete and coordinated modernization of Marine Air Command and Control System (MACCS) equipment. 

CAC2S provides the MAGTF Aviation Combat Element with the hardware, software and facilities to effectively command, control and coordinate air operations integrated with naval, joint and/or combined C2 units. 

CAC2S is made up of standardized modular and scalable tactical facilities, hardware and software to significantly increase battlefield mobility and reduce the physical size and logistical footprint of the MACCS.  

“The F-35B brings extraordinary situational awareness capability,” Frank DiGiovanni, deputy director, Expeditionary Warfare, said during the panel discussion. “The CAC2S that the colonel was talking about brings the ground common operational picture to the ship and to the rest of the Navy.”

NORFOLK, Va. — Sailors and Marines returned to Norfolk this week after providing military capabilities supporting relief to the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs said in a release. 

The service members came from the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG); Helicopter Mine Countermeasure Squadron (HM)-14 and HM-15; and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9 and HSC-26. 

Under the direction of U.S. Northern Command, the Bataan ARG provided support to the U.S. Agency for International Development that enabled the broader effort to address the acute humanitarian needs of the Bahamian people. 

The Bataan ARG, made up of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21), Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), and Sailors and Marines of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, operated in international waters off the Bahamas. Meanwhile, four MH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters were forward-staged at Homestead Air Reserve Base in southern Florida, 25 miles south of Miami. 

“In the wake of the strongest storm to hit the Bahamas, I am proud of the hard work, dedication and professionalism of our wing,” said Capt. Shawn Bailey, Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic commander. “They rose to the occasion to help those in need.” 

The Navy and Marine Corps provided several aviation and logistics capabilities around the geographically dispersed Bahamian islands:  

• Medium-lift MH-60 Seahawk and heavy-lift CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters, along with heavy lift tilt-rotor MV-22B Ospreys, transported humanitarian supplies. 
• Navy and Marine aircraft transported dozens of military and civilian medical personnel who provided water, food, medical supplies, search-and-rescue gear, tarps and solar lights throughout the cities of Eleuthera, Freeport and Marsh Harbour. 

• The aircraft also transported USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team personnel to Marsh Harbour; United Nations Office for Coordination of Human Affairs personnel to Grand Bahamas; Urban Search and Rescue personnel to Marsh Harbour; and a U.S. Air Force Airfield Assessment Team to Marsh Harbour and Sandy Point, to evaluate the Grand Bahama International Airport in Freeport. 
• Marine Corps CH-53Es, as part of joint military support to USAID, provided ground refueling of U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. 

To enable those air operations, air traffic control Sailors aboard New York and Bataan helped monitor airspace safety for military aircraft in critical areas near Marsh Harbour.  

The Bataan, New York and Oak Hill also used their shipboard freshwater-making capability to fill pallets of water transferred by air to Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay and Moore’s Island.

SAN DIEGO — BAE Systems
has received $170.7 million in contracts from the U.S. Navy to perform
simultaneous maintenance and repair on two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile
destroyers in its shipyard here, according to a Sept. 18 company release.

The shipyard will tandem
dry-dock the USS Stethem (DDG-63) and USS Decatur (DDG-73) in October. The
synchronized two-ship docking will be a first for the company’s newest dry-dock
in San Diego. The contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring their
cumulative value to $185 million.

“The ability to simultaneously dock two
DDGs is a special capability that BAE Systems brings to our Navy customer and
comes at a critical time when additional throughput is necessary to meet
surface combatant demands and modernization requirements,” said David M. Thomas
Jr., vice president and general manager of BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair.

“Beyond the remarkable nature of this
tandem docking, it will be business as usual for our shipyard team and partners
given our significant experience working with the Arleigh Burke class.”

Positioned end to end, the Stethem and Decatur
will be lifted together inside BAE’s “Pride of California” dry-dock. Installed
in 2017, the dry-dock is 950 feet long, 160 feet wide and has a lifting
capacity of 55,000 tons — making it the largest floating dry-dock in San Diego.
The destroyers each displace about 9,000 tons and are expected to be refloated next
April.

The Stethem is the 13thship
of the Arleigh Burke class, which is the Navy’s largest class of surface
warfare combatants. Named for Master Chief Constructionman Robert Stethem, the
505-foot-long ship was commissioned in October 1995. BAE Systems will perform
hull, mechanical and engineering repairs aboard the ship. Once back in the
water, the Stethem’s Extended Docking Selected Restricted Availability (EDSRA)
is expected to be completed in October 2020.

The Decatur is the 23rd ship of the Arleigh Burke class. Named for the early 19th-century Naval hero Stephen Decatur Jr., the ship was commissioned in August 1998. BAE Systems will perform much of the same upgrade work aboard the 505-foot-long Decatur as it will perform on board the Stethem.

After undocking, the Decatur’s EDSRA work is expected to continue into October 2020. BAE Systems’ San Diego shipyard currently employs about 1,300 people and hundreds of temporary workers and subcontractors nearby the San Diego-Coronado Bridge.

ARLINGTON, Va. — As conflicts become compressed in time and more complex, with an increasing number of data sources and platforms feeding information to warfighters, it is a challenge to build and share a complete and accurate operational picture. 

To address this issue and align with the chief of naval operations’ concept for distributed maritime operations, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the U.S. Navy’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program are sponsoring the development of a cloud-computing environment called Cloud-to-Edge (CTE), according to an ONR release. 

By harnessing the power of cloud computing and big-data fusion, the CTE environment will enhance the agility and responsiveness of naval warfighters. 

The CTE environment is designed for use by Sailors and Marines across land, sea and air domains. It enables secure combat system development; automated software testing and analysis; and scalable simulation. It also improves readiness, through extensive pre-mission training, feedback and assessment, and enhances operational information-gathering and decision-making. 

The goal is to enable the Navy to make software changes (without requiring additional authorities) and assess the performance of CTE environments either on single vessels or within larger carrier strike groups and against a variety of mission scenarios. The result will be certified software, deployable by the Navy on demand, for all carrier strike groups. 

ONR Executive Director E. Anne Sandel said, “This is a great example of ONR partnering with Navy SBIR to fill a technology gap, by helping companies transition and commercialize their technologies at scale.” 

“An important step in getting the CTE environment to the fleet is ONR’s work with Navy SBIR to accelerate technology development by partnering with small businesses,” SBIR Director Bob Smith added.   

The key component of the CTE environment is the Automated Test and Re-Test (ATRT) system, which delivers software-driven capabilities to the warfighter as quickly as possible. Virginia-based company Innovative Defense Technologies (IDT) developed ATRT after receiving SBIR funding to design technology that would promote rapid integration, testing and certification of new and updated software. 

Earlier this year, the Navy successfully tested ATRT as part of the AEGIS Virtual Twin project — which involved the tactical deployment of a virtualized AEGIS Weapon System as a digital twin to the existing physical one. 

The virtual twin contains all the computer code used by the existing AEGIS Weapon System. Made up of multiple computer servers, it occupies a relatively small amount of space aboard a ship, does not interfere with the ship’s combat systems and is ideal for training and software testing. 

Several AEGIS Virtual Twin systems were demonstrated on the USS Arleigh Burke, USS Ralph Johnson and USS Thomas Hudner. During the tests aboard the Thomas Hudner, the Virtual Twin executed a successful anti-air warfare engagement (operating as the tactical system) and demonstrated the capability to test and deploy a software update in less than 24 hours. 

James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, described the tests as a pathway to revolutionize the speed at which the Navy can modernize current systems and keep pace with future threats. 

“Success stories like IDT, ATRT and CTE environment demonstrate how the Navy leverages the expertise of small businesses to enable technology adoption at the pace of innovation,” Smith said. “Companies that do business with SBIR are helping to strengthen America’s naval advantage for years to come.”