"Equipping unmanned surface vessels with non-lethal weapons will further expand the capabilities of our Naval forces to confront an increasingly complex set of threats," Rear Adm. Scott Craig, USFF Deputy Chief of Staff for Fleet Policy, Capabilities Requirements, Concepts, and Experimentation said. "Results from this experiment will be relevant not only to the U.S. Navy, but also to other Services, coalition partners and allies."

Operating in autonomous and semi-autonomous modes, the small militarized boats are equipped to employ a directional acoustic hailer, eye dazzling laser and flash-bang munitions; each non-lethal weapon was carefully-orchestrated to respond to a set of threatening behaviors from intruder vessels.

During Trident Warrior 2011, held in July, the USVs' ability to autonomously react to vessels traveling in protected waterways were previously tested and validated.

Cmdr. Mike Frantz, USFF's Director for Fleet Experimentation, explained the importance of experimenting with real assets in an operational environment.

"The Fleet Experimentation program allows the Navy to partner with commercial and government organizations to address and obtain solutions where critical maritime capability gaps exist," said Frantz. "We each have a different piece of the solution and while laboratory experiments form the foundation of the technology development, the ability to experiment with that technology, at sea, in realistic scenarios, is crucial if you want the end result to be relevant to the Fleet Commander's need."

More than 100 successful runs were completed over the course of the week. Experiment control collected geo-positional data from the boats, surveys from fleet users and observer logs from subject matter experts. The results are expected to drive recommendations to Navy decision makers.

"No one is firing at us here in Virginia, nor are they trying to detonate any explosives near our ships, but these types of malicious scenarios drive our requirement to be prepared for the next time they do," Frantz said. "Getting this defensive capability into the hands of warfighters to counter that aggression will be a game-changer for our forces when they are operating in dangerous waterways."

Participants for this event include USFF, the Navy acquisition community, several components of Naval Sea Systems Command, commercial industries and academia. The Fleet Experimentation plan continues in June with the start of the annual Trident Warrior experimentation series. This year's Trident Warrior is multi-phased and will be integrated with several large joint and multinational exercises in the West Coast operating areas.

A tactical digital network, featuring advanced digital radios, hand-held cellular smart phones, a helicopter-mounted “cell tower in the sky” and a boarding party in the Chesapeake Bay recently completed a joint interoperability demonstration.

“This is a big deal because until recently, we’ve not been able to communicate between devices in a tactical networked environment without extensive preplanning and coordination,” said Cmdr. Chris McMahan, Naval Aviation Center for Rotorcraft Advancement demonstration coordinator. “Today’s data links are mostly point-to-point networks where ad hoc connections aren’t possible."

Participating teams displayed ad hoc data sharing on a simulated battlefield in a December exercise by using hand-held cellular smart phones to send and receive real-time video, voice and text sharing between a small-boat team on the Bay and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Surface/Aviation Interoperability Laboratory.

The participating teams included NACRA, SAIL, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and aerospace companies Northrop Grumman and Rockwell Collins.

“It’s the same idea as accessing the Internet from a smart phone or a Wi-Fi-capable notebook to share email or a video with a friend,” explained McMahan. “The Internet doesn’t care what your device is as long as it uses the right protocols. This is the same thing, only we’re doing it encrypted in a tactical environment where we have to bring our own mobile cell tower mounted on the helicopter.”

And while that might seem routine for civilian Internet users, it’s challenging in a secure tactical arena.

“We’re trying to achieve ‘platform agnosticism,’ where you don’t have to preplan participation,” McMahan added. “Much like how we’re able to access the Internet via any number of available devices and modes, we wanted to demo an encrypted tactical network where the data is important and the devices are relatively transparent.”

Specific network capabilities included Quint Networking Technology, 4G/LTE wireless networks, L band, C band and UHF radios, PRC-117G radios, Blue Force Tracker and a 3G/4G LTE transmitter mounted on one of NACRA’s testbed helicopters.

Key to the demo was DARPA’s Tactical Targeted Network Technologies -- an Internet Protocol (IP) based, high-speed, dynamic, ad hoc network hosted by the Rockwell-Collins QNT networking radios. The Naval Air Warfare Center’s SAIL acted as a ship, providing a sea-based node to the network, demonstrating the ability to access an IP-based network from the sea.

As part of the RQ-21A Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) Early Operational Capability (EOC), personnel from Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron (VMU) 2 and 3 and Insitu operators exercised the current configuration of Insitu’s Integrator for the two-hour maiden flight.

“The lessons learned from this flight and all operations that will be conducted at Twentynine Palms are invaluable,” said Lt. Col. John Allee, STUAS integrated product team co-lead at Pax River. “It will help our Marines fully understand how to operate the system when in theater.”

Insitu delivered one EOC system, which is the current configuration of the company’s Integrator, to Twentynine Palms early in January. The EOC contract option allows for up to 30 months of contractor-provided training and logistics services for the Integrator system. The team at Pax River received the second EOC system Jan. 12.

“This is a substantial achievement for the team” said Heather Bromley, STUAS IPT co-lead. “To go from contract award to an operable system in 16 months is a testament to the responsiveness of both the government and contractor personnel.”

A CONUS-based deployment for EOC allows the Navy and Marine Corps to train operators, collect additional performance data and support development for Initial Operational Capability (IOC). The government-industry team will continue to develop the RQ-21A configuration for initial and full operational capability while the EOC system is deployed with VMU-3.

RQ-21A will have payload capacity to support multi missions in a single sortie. Its sensor package will include Electro-Optic, mid-wave infrared cameras with an infrared marker and laser rangefinder.

“We are very excited to deploy an asset that has a greater performance capability with a significantly larger payload, mass, volume and power than intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services available in theater today,” said Marine Col. Jim Rector, Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical UAS program manager.

RQ-21A will eventually replace the Navy and Marine ISR services contract in which current ISR missions are conducted in Iraq, Afghanistan and shipboard. The system will provide battlefield commanders with an organic capability 24/7, for real-time, actionable intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

“The appetite for ISR has been insatiable,” Rector said. “There is an increased demand for ISR capability in theater; and with fewer boots on the ground, we need this asset more than ever.”

"We have worked with the French navy not only here, but also in Toulon, France, to ensure our landing craft and the Mistral's well deck are compatible," said Capt. Mike Ott, ACU4 commanding officer. "This exercise today is the culmination of that planning and work we did overseas."

FS Mistral typically works with displacement crafts, and not American LCACs. There are many challenges to face in the adaptation of a new craft into the well deck including how the well deck accepts the new craft; the level of water required for the different crafts; how to handle lines; along with the loading and unloading, both on board and on the beach.

"This provides the opportunity to ensure that both the French and U.S. sailors understand differences in the crafts and can adapt correctly to them, so we can execute any mission safely," said Ott. "It is critical that we are able to conduct these operations, so that at any time and place in the world we could join forces with our French allies for any operation, such as Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, with little warning and little preparation and be 100 percent combat ready in a very short time."

The two-day training evolution, held off the coast of Virginia, not only strengthens interoperability between the two navies, it serves as a rehearsal for operations slated during the upcoming Bold Alligator 2012, which begins next week.

"The biggest benefit of this operation is working together to bring military power from the sea to the land whether by air or with amphibious crafts," said Capt. Xavier Moreau, FS Mistral commanding officer. "It is impossible for one navy to do everything and be everywhere by itself. While working in coalitions, each navy brings different equipment which increases assets such as carriers, amphibious ships, frigates and aircraft.

The first day of operations focused on certifying the crew and ship to receive and operate LCACs. Second-day activities addressed outstanding certification requirements and the dress rehearsal which included numerous LCAC trips ashore from Mistral.

"The French Navy and the U.S. Navy must be able to work together using our different equipment," added Moreau. "It is very important to our navy, and we are happy to be here for this exercise."

The Navy completed the first flight of the Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) radar system, the primary sensor on the MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System.

The Dec. 16 two-hour inaugural flight was conducted on a Northrop Grumman surrogate Gulfstream aircraft at a California test site. This was the first in a series of MFAS test flights scheduled through October as the program matures. Thirty test-bed aircraft flights for early MFAS trials are planned. The tests will focus on maturing the performance of maritime surface surveillance modes of the radar

“The MFAS radar system’s ability to detect, classify and track multiple targets simultaneously will make it a highly capable sensor for the Fleet,” said Patrick Ellis, BAMS UAS mission systems lead. “The information we will be able to capture using this radar system was something we could only imagine not too long ago. Seeing the system in action provides additional proof that this asset will be invaluable to our warfighters.”

The MFAS is a full 360-degree Actively Electronically Scanned Array radar system designed to provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) coverage. It accomplishes this at long ranges in both open-ocean and regions close to shore.

“This milestone is a significant step forward for the program,” Ellis said. “The road leading to MFAS first flight included challenges, but seeing this physical proof in our preparation for the upcoming test and evaluation phase of the program brings a new boost of energy and excitement to the team.”

Initial MFAS radar testing took place in early 2011 to verify operation of the signal transmission path and to complete health and safety checks.

The MQ-4C BAMS program is on track to deliver initial operating capability to the fleet by fiscal 2015, including a scheduled first flight this year. BAMS will operate as an adjunct to the P-8A Poseidon and is a key piece of the overall replacement strategy for the P-3C Orion.

As part of the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program, the Navy and industry partner Northrop Grumman have been developing Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) technologies to refuel unmanned aircraft in flight. The team completed a series of flight tests Jan.21 in St. Augustine, Fla., as the latest step toward demonstrating unmanned AAR capability.

“The AAR segment of the program is intended to demonstrate a system that will enable the X-47B UCAS-D to safely approach and maneuver around tanker aircraft, performing both Navy and Air Force style refueling techniques,” said Capt. Jaime Engdahl, Navy UCAS program manager.

The Navy has been working closely with the Air Force Research Lab for the past decade to develop technologies and operating concepts for AAR, Engdahl said. Both services share a common goal of enabling tankers to autonomously refuel manned and unmanned aircraft in the future, he added.

The UCAS-D team began this test phase in November when a team from Northrop Grumman installed X-47B hardware and software on a Calspan Learjet surrogate aircraft. The initial ground and taxi tests culminated in the first AAR test flight Dec. 20.

The team then conducted a series of flights using the surrogate aircraft, equipped with X-47B software and hardware, and an Omega K-707 Tanker. The Learjet successfully completed multiple air-refueling test points autonomously while commanded by a ground operator.

The AAR segment of the UCAS-D program is designed to assess the initial functionality of the X-47B AAR systems and navigation performance, as well as to test the government tanker refueling interface systems. The AAR program is using similar command and control, and navigation processes being demonstrated by the UCAS team aboard the aircraft carrier.

“The next big step for the program is to demonstrate this capability with the unmanned X-47B and actually plug the aircraft autonomously,” Engdahl said. “The AAR team did an exceptional job executing flight test in St. Augustine. The team’s' ability to successfully complete these test maneuvers so early in the program is a significant learning event and reduces risk for the future."

The team plans to conduct two more surrogate test periods before demonstrating refueling techniques on the X-47B in 2014. Data from the tests will be used to assess system performance, demonstrate viability of the AAR concept and develop operational procedures to support further development of future unmanned systems.

"By adding an autonomous aerial refueling capability to unmanned aircraft, we can significantly increase their range, persistence and overall flexibility," added Engdahl, who said he is very impressed with the system’s performance. “This is a game-changer for naval aviation and is critical for our success with unmanned long range aircraft in the future.”

Personnel from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light (HSL) 60 Detachment 4 and Northrop Grumman took Fire Scout on its third at-sea deployment aboard a guided missile frigate. Typically deployed as a complement to the manned H-60 helicopter, this is the Fire Scout’s first solo mission.

"Fire Scout offers similar capabilities currently provided by the H-60," said Capt. Patrick Smith, Fire Scout program manager. "It gives the ship and the detachment greater flexibility in meeting operational needs and frees manned aircraft to support other high-demand missions."

For the next six months, two Fire Scout air vehicles will support exercises off the west coast of Africa as part of the Africa Partnership Station (APS). The international initiative was developed by U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa to improve maritime safety and security in the region as part of U.S. Africa Command's Security Cooperation program.

"I am happy our team will help build partnership capacity of our allies, and increase the level of cooperation between them to improve maritime safety and security," Smith said.

Fire Scout greatly extends and improves the fleet's ability to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Smith said. During its most recent sea-based deployment aboard USS Halyburton (FFG 40), Fire Scout gathered hundreds of hours of real-time intelligence for ship commanders as they supported counter-piracy operations and missions in Libya.

"We have pushed Fire Scout to its operational limits for altitude, range and endurance," Smith added. "The Simpson deployment gives us an opportunity to explore different operational vignettes and continue to expand Fire Scout's limits."

The Simpson deployment coincides with Fire Scout's ongoing operations in Afghanistan. Fire Scout has exceeded 2,000 hours of real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support to U.S. and allied troops in northern Afghanistan.

Keel-laying recognizes the first joining together of a ship's components. While modern shipbuilding processes allow fabrication of individual modules to begin months earlier, keel laying represents the formal beginning of a ship.

"The keel laying is a major milestone for the Montford Point and the MLP class," said Capt. Henry Stevens, strategic sealift program manager, Program Executive Office, Ships. "The MLP program is benefiting from the Navy/NASSCO team's high level of design and production-planning maturity."

The keel was authenticated by Pat Mills, wife of Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills, deputy commandant of Combat Development and Integration. In a time-honored Navy tradition, Mills welded her initials into the keel plate, symbolically verifying that the keel of USNS Montford Point had been truly and fairly laid. Lt. Gen. Mills also spoke at the ceremony.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus chose the name Montford Point to honor the approximately 20,000 African American Marine Corps recruits who trained at the North Carolina facility from 1942-1949. Their exceptional service prompted then-President Harry S. Truman to sign an executive order in 1948 ending segregation in the U.S. military services. "The courage shown by these Marines helped forge the Corps into the most formidable expeditionary force in the world," said Mabus.

Beginning construction in June 2011, MLP 1 will be a flexible, modular platform providing capability for large-scale logistics movements such as the transfer of vehicles and equipment from sea to shore. Each ship of the MLP class will possess a core capability mission set that supports a vehicle staging area, sideport ramp, large mooring fenders and up to three landing craft air cushioned vessel lanes. These ships will significantly reduce dependency on foreign ports and provide support in the absence of any port, making it especially useful during disaster response and for supporting Marines once they are ashore.

Montford Point is expected to deliver in fiscal year 2013 and be operational in fiscal year 2015.

Construction of a SunPower Corporation 13.78 megawatt solar photovoltaic power system officially got underway at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake following a mid-morning ceremony at the sprawling weapons development base.

"This is the largest solar project in the Navy," said Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installation and Environment Jackalyne Pfannenstiel. "It demonstrates tangible progress toward national energy independence and reaching the Department of the Navy's energy goals."

SunPower's Oasis Power Plant product, a fully-integrated, modular solar block consisting of 31,680 solar panels, is expected to generate more than 30 percent of NAWS China Lake's annual energy load.

"The weapons division here is the consumer, and with that consumption requirement comes responsibility," said Rear Adm. Mat Winter, commander, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division.

"This project gives us the opportunity as the major consumer of the energy to look into our own processes and practices," Winter said. "As we are more efficient in executing and continuing to do our mission it frees up resources for us to provide to our war fighter."

An array of solar panels supplies energy for necessities at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.

The PPA involves no initial out-of-pocket expenses for the Navy and will provide increased energy independence and reliable, emission-free solar power to NAWS China Lake beginning at the end of this year.

"The Navy has a longstanding record of identifying energy and water conservation opportunities across our facilities," said Rear Adm. Dixon Smith, commander, Navy Region Southwest. "We are continuing to transform our culture from one of consumption to one focused on conservation."

NAWS China Lake's solar farm is representative of the Navy's energy initiative, laid out by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in 2009, which aspires to achieve 50 percent of the Navy's shore-based energy requirements produced by alternative sources by the year 2020.

"We face a global energy challenge, which is for us a national strategic imperative that we solve," said Capt. Clifford Maurer, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest commanding officer. "There was an extraordinary level of effort that went into market research, industry partnering, preparing complicated acquisition documentation, navigating complicated regulations and incentives, and doing technical analysis."

Under the 20-year federal solar PPA, SunPower will build, operate and maintain the solar power system that uses the company's high-efficiency solar panels, and which it guarantees through a 25-year warranty. SunPower has worked with federal agencies since 1999 and has installed more than 25 megawatts of solar power systems at government facilities, including solar power plants at Navy installations in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Coronado, Calif.

"We are so honored to be here today," said Howard Wenger, president of SunPower. "It really is a testament to the commitment and leadership of many people in the Navy, and the base here in China Lake, that we are here today celebrating this very significant groundbreaking."

NAWS China Lake is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California. The installation is the Navy's largest single landholding, representing 85 percent of the Navy's land for research, development, acquisition, testing and evaluation of weapons systems. The two ranges and main site of NAWS China Lake cover more than 1.1 million acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

David Jackson, chief emerging technology officer for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), attended the ceremony on behalf of the ONI. He officially presented one of the Wave Gliders to the Undersea Warfare Research Center. The two vehicles, referred to by the Navy as sensor hosting autonomous remote crafts (SHARCs), were appropriately named Tiburon and Mako, and christened with a stream of champagne carefully poured on the crafts.

During the christening ceremony, retired Rear Adm. Jerry Ellis, director of the Undersea Warfare Research Center, offered confident predictions that the crafts would be invaluable additions to the institution. "I christen you Mako and Tiburon, may you always provide good research for the Naval Postgraduate School and may you always return to your home base."

NPS has long invested time and research into a wide range of unmanned systems, and the addition of the USVs will only help broaden the scope of the university's research. Ellis noted that Navy leadership had vowed, only days before, to make unmanned systems a main objective for fiscal year 2012.

"The chief of naval operations, the secretary of the Navy and the commandant of the Marine Corps signed a document which outlined the objectives for the Department of the Navy for fiscal year 12," Ellis said. "One of those six objectives was the following: 'Dominate in unmanned systems by integrating unmanned systems into the Department of the Navy culture, by developing unmanned systems in the air, by deploying and establishing unmanned systems on and underneath the sea and by fielding unmanned systems for ground use.'

"With the acquisition of these wave gliders today and with the opening of the Sea Web and Wave Glider Laboratory in front of me, NPS will be working toward meeting the objective of the Navy and adding to the great work that is already being done here at NPS with unmanned systems," Ellis said. "We are clearly doing what the Navy wants us to do in this area, and I think we are doing it very well."

Jackson followed Ellis' remarks with a prediction that the Wave Gliders marked the beginning of a long, fruitful relationship between ONI and NPS.

"I see this as an opportunity to renew a partnership between ONI and NPS," said Jackson. "We've had partnerships off and on before, but I really see this as an opportunity here to move forward with technologies. And not just with wave gliders, but with all different types of technology, from cyber and maritime domain ...to ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and obviously national security. And I think that we will yield great dividends in those areas by working together and pooling our resources - both in knowledge and funding."

Joe Rice, research professor of physics, joined Dr. Phil Durkee, dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, in cutting the ribbon to the new Sea Web and Wave Glider Laboratory, noting how long the program has been without lab space, and the excitement of having a place for research.

"Previously, Sea Web has developed experiments of opportunity around the world. We have done over 50 trials at sea, and that has been our laboratory," said Rice. "We're very pleased to finally have a home base here on campus. The lab will provide us some continuity in our research and development. It will support the engineering work on these wave gliders, with ready access to the iridium constellation in the sky by using this deck out here, and by having access to solar energy to power the electronics. Most importantly, having a lab here on campus will provide an opportunity for our students to be more directly involved in the work."