Advance Force News

The British Royal Navy has taken delivery of a new autonomous vessel as the service examines the use of cutting-edge unmanned craft across a range of military operations including surveillance and force protection. The new vessel, named Madfox (short for maritime demonstrator for operational experimentation), was officially handed over to the Navy's experimentation innovator NavyX, who is working toward preparing the uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for a demanding year of testing at sea."With Madfox now directly in the hands of NavyX…

Operational trials of unmanned equipment in Norway offered a glimpse of the UK Royal Navy's autonomous future. Royal Marines small boat specialists 47 Commando have been working alongside HMS Albion, the Royal Navy’s autonomous accelerator NavyX and the Office for the Chief Technology Officer to see how the kit can be put to use in real world situations.Exercise Autonomous Advance Force put unmanned boat Mast 13, heavy lift drone from Malloy, remotely-piloted air system Puma and…

The future USS Makin Island (LHD 8) successfully underwent Builder's Trials Dec. 13 in the Gulf of Mexico. The trials mark the first time this amphibious assault ship has gone to sea on its own power. "The ship performed very well during these trials," said Capt. Jeff Riedel, the amphibious ships program manager in the Navy's Program Executive Office (PEO), Ships. These trials, conducted by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB), made history in two ways. Makin Island is the first LHD to get underway on gas turbine engines and the first LHD to get underway on electric propulsion motors. Makin Island's first-of-kind hybrid gas turbine electric drive propulsion system will provide substantial fuel savings and increased operational flexibility over the life of the ship.

GE Marine Engines has received partial funding from Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss. to begin the engineering work on equipment to be used on the U.S. Navy's eighth LHD Wasp-class large-deck, multipurpose amphibious assault ship. This LHD project represents several milestones. The ship will be powered by two GE LM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines, with GE main reduction gearing (two gearboxes). This marks the first military application of GE's LM2500+ gas turbine. Currently there are 20 LM2500+ in or slated for operation worldwide on various commercial fast ferries and cruise ships, with an additional 74 units in diverse power generation applications. The LM2500+s each will have the U.S. Navy rating of 35,000 shaft horsepower for the LHD application. GE expects to finalize the U.S.

The U.S. Navy will christen Makin Island, the newest and last ship in the Wasp-class of amphibious assault ships, on Aug. 19, 2006, during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi will deliver the principal address at the ceremony. Silke Hagee, wife of Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael W. Hagee, will serve as ship's sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by the time-honored Navy tradition of the sponsor breaking the bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship. Makin Island is named for the daring raid carried out by Marine Corps Companies Alpha and Bravo, Second Raider Battalion, on Japanese-held Makin Island, in the Gilbert Islands, on Aug. 17-18, 1942.

The U.S. Navy has awarded an additional $81.3 million to Ingalls Shipbuilding, a Northrop Grumman company, for the continuation of work towards the construction of an eighth WASP (LHD 1) Class large-deck multipurpose amphibious assault ship. Seven of the ships, designed to carry some 2,000 U.S. Marines to world trouble spots, have already been delivered to the Navy by Ingalls, with six of them active in the fleet. USS IWO JIMA (LHD 7) was commissioned in Pensacola, Fla., June 30. Under the contract modification, Ingalls will purchase materials and begin initial preparations for the construction of selected assemblies and subassemblies. Actual construction of ship assemblies will begin following completion of material procurement and previously funded design work.

For years, forensic historians relied on survivor and eyewitness testimonies and, if available, material testing or intelligence reports to help gather evidence to piece together an event. In the early 1990's, seduced by computer technology, photo imagery analysis gained a tremendous uplift enabling imagery scientists to use special algorithms to enhance and sharpen images; changing the way we view the world today. History recorded that five midget submarines deployed as advance forces to attack capital ships in Pearl Harbor had failed to inflict any damage. By the use of digital photo imagery combined with forensic engineering analysis technology, the results of an analysis on a single photograph taken during the 1941 attack will change that view.