Operational Test News

Not every vessel in the U.S. Navy is built for major combat operations on the high seas. There are large numbers of boats and service craft that provide essential services to the sea services, the nation and its partners.The U.S. Navy procures about 100 small boats per year. Some of these boats are based on commercial designs, procured to a Navy developed specification that tailors the requirements to the end user needs. They are procured and managed by two Naval Sea Systems Command program offices—PMS 300 and PMS 325.Compared to warships and auxiliaries…

The U.S. Coast Guard announced it has selected Inventech Marine Solutions of Bremerton, Wash., to build the next generation of over the horizon (OTH V) cutter boats. The first delivery order for four OTH Vs was placed August 3 with a value of $1.973 million. These four OTH Vs will be used for operational test and evaluation before the program moves to full production. The 10-year contract supports delivery of up to 200 boats with a total value of approximately $103 million.Beyond the similarities of speed and weight between the OTH V and the OTH IV it is replacing…

British multinational company BAE Systems has secured a contract worth $113.5 million to supply an additional 26 amphibious combat vehicles (ACV) to the US Marine Corps (USMC).The company will supply the ACVs under the low-rate initial production (LRIP) phase of the program. The deal will now bring the total ACV order from the USMC to 116, moving the programme closer to full-rate production.The ACV is a highly mobile, survivable and adaptable platform for conducting rapid ship-to-shore operations and brings enhanced combat power to the battlefield. BAE Systems has been in low-rate production since 2018 on the personnel carrier variant in the ACV family, which is envisioned to consist of additional variants including command and control, 30mm medium caliber turret, and recovery versions.

Shipbuilder Metal Shark and the US Navy are nearing the end of the operational test and evaluation (OT&E) trial period for the Navy’s incoming standardized “40 PB” patrol boat platform.Developed as the replacement for up to 160 patrol vessels deployed worldwide with Navy Expeditionary Combat Command’s Coastal Riverine Forces (CRF), Metal Shark’s 40 Defiant design was selected in late 2017 from a field of seven competing shipbuilders.Metal Shark produced two of the 40-foot, welded-aluminum monohull pilothouse patrol boats for test and evaluation purposes…

At CMRE, it’s not just about the science. It’s about building trust and confidence in resilient systems. An interview with Dr. Catherine Warner, Director, NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation, La Spezia, ItalyTell us a little about yourself and CMRE. What does CMRE do, and how do you see your mission evolving?I came here from the Pentagon, where I was the science advisor for the director of operational test and evaluation. My experience has been working with operators on systems that they’re getting ready to field.

Naval Group performed a new launch of the F21 torpedo in the frame of the Artémis program led by the French Defence Procurement Agency (Direction Générale de l’Armement -DGA). In the medium term, the DGA aims to equip all the French Navy's submarines with this heavy torpedo. This launch was performed early May from a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). The F21 was launched under the authority of the DGA in a DGA Missiles Testing’s underwater acoustic range off the Hyères coast.

Inspired by the European program for Air Traffic Managemen, the Sea Traffic Management (STM) methodology has been developed by the Swedish Maritime Administration MonaLisa project to define a set of systems and procedures to guide and monitor maritime traffic. The STM Validation project co-financed by the European Union has made the first operational tests with the shore center manufacturers. The key to the interoperability between different systems is the robust underlying infrastructure.

Recent reporting by the ABC that “Navy's largest ships unable to join Cyclone Debbie emergency response amid engine troubles” is misleading, said TW Barrett, AO, CSC, Vice Admiral, RAN, Chief of Navy. To assert, as the ABC did in its reporting that issues with HMA Ships Canberra and Adelaide has impacted on Defence providing support to anticipated disaster relief support in North Queensland is wrong. Under the Australian Defence Force's regular planning cycle, HMAS Choules assumed duties as the on line (ready) ship to support any Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) requirements in mid-March. HMAS Choules is currently sailing for Brisbane to forward deploy and embark emergency stores to support the recovery efforts in the North Queensland region should it be required.

The USS Fort Worth, a U.S. warship that suffered damage to its combining gears in Singapore in January, will travel to San Diego under its own power for extensive repairs at a General Dynamics Corp shipyard, the U.S. Navy said Wednesday. The new coastal warship, built by Lockheed Martin Corp , will use its gas turbine engines to travel to its homeport of San Diego this summer from Singapore, where it has been deployed since December 2014, the Navy's Pacific Fleet said in a statement. The trip is expected to take about six weeks.

The Royal Australian Navy’s Amphibious Ship, HMAS Canberra, has completed a graduated operational test and trials program to achieve a key milestone towards Initial Operating Capability. The program included integration of landing craft as well as trials for both the crew, ship and aviation systems. The Navy’s S70B Seahawk, Army’s S70A Blackhawk and the joint MRH-90 Taipan helicopters have now all been evaluated for operations from the Canberra class ships. Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, AO, CSC, RAN, said the milestone meant that Canberra had successfully conducted the required training and evaluation to undertake specific Government directed operations.

VISBY, ZUMWALT, INDEPENDENCE, FREEDOM, TORNIO, SAN ANTONIO, INCHEON, SIGMA, FREMM ... ... these ships are not only capable, tested and proven warships, they are extremely complex. ZUMWALT alone carries 16 Electronic Module Enclosures that contain 235 electronics cabinets each supporting a complex Total Ship Computing Environment. “Warships represent a significant investment for any country. It follows that, regardless of whether they are being used to defend national boundaries or project power…

The Navy executed a successful flight test of the surface-to-air Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) at White Sands Missile Range Aug. 14. During flight test “Juliet,” the Navy examined the missile's ability to intercept a subsonic, low- altitude target over land. Juliet is one of 10 follow-on operational test and evaluation (FOT&E) events planned for SM-6's missile performance and demonstration. "This event demonstrated SM-6's ability to detect and engage a slow moving target in the presence of complex land clutter," said Jim Schuh, Anti-Air Warfare Missiles technical director at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, which is among the Navy's SM-6 partners. The SM-6 provides an over-the-horizon engagement capability when launched from an Aegis warship.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it detained the 579-foot motor vessel  Strategic Synergy, Tuesday, requiring the vessel to remain in Portland until numerous safety violations are corrected by the ship’s crew. The Strategic Synergy, owned by SBC Synergy PTE. LTD., intends to load grain in Portland and will depart for Ecuador after the safety violations have been met. Port State Control Officers from the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit in Portland discovered the discrepancies during a routine inspection of the newly constructed Singapore-flagged vessel. Strategic Synergy’s voyage to the United States was its maiden voyage after completing construction in China on April 23, 2014.

Today in U.S. Naval History - February 28 1844 - Explosion of Peacemaker, experimental 14 inch gun, on board USS Princeton. 1893 - Launching of USS Indiana (BB-1), first true battleship in U.S. Navy. 1959 - USS Strong rescues 13 Arab fishermen from Bahrain when their fishing boats floundered in a storm. 1980 - Blue crew of USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) launches 4 Trident I (C-4) missiles in first C-4 Operational Test. For more information about naval history, visit the Naval History and Heritage Command website at history.navy.mil.

To assist the Navy’s Commander Operational Test and Evaluation Force (COMOPTEVFOR) program with effective planning, conducting and reporting of operational test and evaluation tasks, Alion Science and Technology, a global engineering, technology and operational solutions company, has been awarded a $43 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity omnibus contract. Alion will compete for task orders to provide critical operational test and evaluation analytical support to COMOPTEVFOR. The work will range from performing acquisition system documentation reviews to developing integrated evaluation frameworks, test plans and reports across the full range of Navy programs.

In a new report, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) states that the Navy faces technical, design, and construction challenges to completing 'Gerald R. Ford' (CVN 78) that have led to significant cost increases and reduced the likelihood that a fully functional ship will be delivered on time. The Navy has achieved mixed progress to date developing CVN 78's critical technologies, such as a system intended to more effectively launch aircraft from the ship. In an effort to meet required installation dates aboard CVN 78…

The Stiletto Maritime Demonstration Program conducted its first Capability Demonstration, Jan. 14-27. The initial demonstration was hosted for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) off the Virginia coast near the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va. The Capability Demonstration provided NECC Sailors an opportunity to observe new technologies developed by industry in a realistic military maritime environment. The program also provided the 15 participating industry partners an opportunity to receive immediate end-user feedback toward increasing technology readiness levels. “Warfighting needs are rapidly changing…

USS Makin Island (LHD 8) is the last in a series of 8 amphibious assault ships of the WASP-class built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding at its Pascagoula, Miss. shipyard. Though last, it is the first in the series fitted with hybrid electric gas turbine propulsion, and recently returned to its San Diego homeport after its first deployment. “During the seven-month deployment, the ship’s hybrid-electric propulsion system saved more than four million gallons of fuel resulting in an estimated cost savings in excess of $15 million,” the Navy claims.

The Commission has awarded over €1.2 billion to 23 innovative renewable energy technology (RES) projects. The projects cover a wide range of renewable energy technologies from bioenergy (including advanced biofuels), concentrated solar power and geothermal power to wind power, ocean energy and distributed renewable management (smart grids). The projects will be hosted in 16 EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The project comprises a floating offshore 26 MW wind farm located 50 km from Marseille. Thirteen wind turbines will be installed on 13 moored floating structures which will transfer power to an onshore substation connected to the grid.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has completed core capability development of the Nationwide Automatic Identification System (AIS) and delivered it to the U.S. Coast Guard to begin formal government testing prior to deployment. Nationwide AIS will provide a more comprehensive view of vessels bound for and navigating within U.S. ports and waterways to improve efficiency, safety and security. Northrop Grumman developed the necessary shore-side communications, network and processing capability to ensure the effective exchange of AIS information. Nationwide AIS will field a network infrastructure that collects, stores, processes and disseminates AIS data.

U.S. Navy's Self Defense Test Ship successfully transits on alternative fuel blend. The U.S. Navy successfully has concluded its largest demonstration of shipboard alternative fuel use with the successful arrival of the Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS) to Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme. The SDTS is a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer ex-Paul F. Foster (EDD 964) reconfigured to provide the Navy an at-sea, remotely controlled, engineering test and evaluation platform without the risk to personnel or operational assets.

The Coast Guard on June 7 awarded four firm fixed-price production contracts to deliver the first test boats for the seven-meter Cutter Boat Over-The-Horizon-IV (CB-OTH-IV) project. The contracts were awarded to MetalCraft Marine U.S. (Clayton, NY), SAFE Boats International (Port Orchard, Wash.), Silver Ships, Inc. (Theodore, Ala.) and William E. Munson Company (Burlington, Wash). Each awardee will deliver one test boat to the Coast Guard for competitive evaluation beginning fall 2011. At the conclusion of the competition the Coast Guard will select one of the four test boats for additional production and begin operational test and evaluation activities.

1844 - Explosion of Peacemaker, experimental 14 inch gun, on board USS Princeton.   1893 - Launching of USS Indiana (BB-1), first true battleship in U.S. Navy.   1959 - USS Strong rescues 13 Arab fishermen from Bahrain when their fishing boats floundered in a storm.   1980 - Blue crew of USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) launches 4 Trident I (C-4) missiles in first C-4 Operational Test.   (Source: Navy News Service)