With the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) calling for the Pentagon to delay contract awards for the Ford-class CVN-79 aircraft carrier because of programmatic “shortfalls,” the U.S. Navy is defending the program to build the improved ships.
MINESWEEPER: The U.S. Navy successfully completed Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) launch handling and recovery testing at sea aboard Littoral Combat Ship USS Independence Aug. 27. The test validated design improvements in the RMMV, its recovery equipment and the ship’s twin boom extensible crane, according to the Navy. The test also demonstrated the crew’s ability to communicate with two off-board RMMVs simultaneously. The RMMV is one of the linchpins of the LCS mine countermeasures package.
Surrey NanoSystems of Newhaven, England, has developed what it calls the “world's blackest material.” Formulated primarily as a coating for optical instruments in space, the material, which derives its properties from a special carbon nanotube formulation and structure, is for applications that will benefit from its extreme light-absorption properties (more than 99%) across visible, ultraviolet and infrared (IR) spectra. This last is especially important because the structures of previous black materials were not large enough for optimal IR absorption.
The U.S. Navy is experimenting with a network of unmanned vehicles in the air, on the ocean and undersea to provide near-continuous data on atmospheric anomalies that affect radar, communications and weapons performance. The most recent experiment was during Trident Warrior 2013, a fleet exercise off the U.S. East Coast. ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from the Office of Naval Research deployed with undersea and surface robots to detect and measure fluxes and turbulence created by the interaction of air and sea, along with atmospheric “ducts” that trap energy.
Fire protection is an essential requirement in the design of military platforms. The need has increased in recent years with the growing use of combustible materials such as composites and high-power-density batteries.
Naval mine countermeasures (MCM) operations are an all-or-nothing bet: Either they are done well or ships are destroyed. “Mine warfare is either not important, or the most important thing in your life,” says U.S. Navy Rear Adm. (select) John Ailes, in charge of integrating the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) with mission-module packages. The LCS will be the Navy's front-line MCM vessel, and right now mine warfare is one of the most important concerns in Ailes's life.
Correction: The U.S. Army is not canceling the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement system (AW&ST Aug. 5/12, p. DT20). Funding for the weapon has been cut by Congress, but development is ongoing by the Army.
The Israeli defense industry is being buffeted—some might say battered—by winds of change. In this case, it is a perfect storm of budget cutbacks by many countries, including Israel, that are shrinking defense expenditures concurrently with the winding down of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Future Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) looks far different than typical U.S. Navy ships. But its capabilities are game-changing. Leveraging float-on/float-off technology and a reconfigurable mission deck, the MLP provides a seagoing pier when access to on-shore bases and support are unavailable. Platform modules support a vehicle staging area, vehicle transfer ramp, mooring fenders and three LCAC (landing craft, air-cushioned) lanes.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) may soon achieve substantially longer battery life as a result of research by students in an engineering systems design course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory. Capitalizing on the high-energy density of aluminum, the students found that dissolving the metal into gallium and then reacting it with seawater generates a level of hydrogen gas and heat that exceeds the energy storage density of lithium-ion batteries.
Battelle and two subcontractors have received a contract to develop a portable medical device that treats the blood of wounded soldiers. The goal is to prevent sepsis, a condition that results in life-threatening infections in 10% of combat wounds, and which can within 30 days kill 50% of those who go into shock from it. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of its ongoing Dialysis-Like Therapeutics (DLT) program. Battelle, of Columbus, Ohio, is working with NxStage Medical and Aethlon Medical.
Static strength testing of the airframe of Japan's ATD-X stealth-fighter technology demonstrator has begun, says the Defense Ministry's Technology Development & Research Institute. The ATD-X, which is not intended to lead directly to a combat aircraft, has been scheduled for flight testing between 2014-16. Built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the ATD-X is expected to demonstrate technologies that the ministry hopes to apply to its proposed F-3 fighter. Development would begin around 2017 for entry into service about 10 years later.
