Changing the game: US Navy applies new approaches to

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Jane's Navy International

Changing the game: US Navy applies new approaches to submarine threats [Content preview – Subscribe to IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly for full article]

As the US Navy rebalances to the Asia-Pacific region, the fleet is modernising its anti-submarine warfare

(ASW) capability. Geoff Fein and Grace Jean explore how the service's airborne ASW assets are keeping

pace with evolving submarine threats

An MH-60R helicopter hovers with its AN/AQS-22 ALFS dipping sonar lowered in front of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis during flight operations in the Pacific. (US Navy)

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For the last decade-and-a-half, the US Navy's (USN's) P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) have been

flying missions not only over the world's oceans, but over the deserts of Iraq and the peaks and valleys of

Afghanistan. With operations in these land theatres now largely concluded, USN leaders have returned

their attention to the high seas and, in particular, to the growing threat beneath the waves.

Since the end of the Cold War, the navy's leadership has held the belief that the United States maintains

dominance in undersea warfare. However, in order to sustain the edge and to keep pace with evolving

threats, the service has been funding the recapitalisation of its ageing airborne anti-submarine warfare

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(ASW) capability. SH-60B and SH-60F helicopters, and the P-3C Orion MPAs are thus yielding to the MH-60R

Seahawk and the P-8A Poseidon, respectively.

The hunt is on

ASW is a team game in which aviation platforms - variously outfitted with acoustic, radar, electronic

surveillance, magnetic anomaly detection, electro-optical (EO) sensors, and anti-submarine weapons - have

a key role to play. In the last half century, the USN has deployed a mix of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft to

detect and localise submarine threats: for wide-area surveillance, it has relied on long-range MPAs - in the

shape of Lockheed Martin's P-3C - to find and chase down submarines; for close-in protection of the USN's

strike groups, the SH-60 has provided the fleet's organic ASW capability.

"ASW, and airborne ASW in particular, are still an extremely important and focused area for the navy," said

Captain Sean Haley, multi-mission branch head for the USN's OPNAV N98 air warfare directorate. "Our

challenge going forward is we need to take into account the emerging technologies on the [MH-60]

Romeo, and the introduction of the P-8 into the fleet. You will see the focus start to shift into how to

integrate those capabilities together to really shorten the kill chain and enhance our capabilities."

A US Navy P-3C Orion flies past the FFG 7 Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Rodney M Davis, right, and the Royal Brunei Navy Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessel KDB Darulaman in the South China Sea during a 'Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training' ('CARAT') exercise in 2014. (US Navy)

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First introduced to service in 1969, the four-engined, prop-driven P-3C has long served as the navy's

venerated submarine hunter. "A decade ago we had P-3s, and the P-3s were flying over land, doing

overland surveillance, more than anything else," Admiral Harry B Harris Jr, commander of the US Pacific

Fleet, told IHS Jane's . "We literally almost flew the wings off the P-3 because of that overland mission ....

We needed to get back to our maritime patrol roots, which is ASW."

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A crewman assigned to Patrol Squadron 30 (VP-30) removes the cartridge-actuated device from a sonobuoy on a P-3C Orion during an exercise in 2014. (US Navy)

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Despite its age, the P-3C is still benefiting from incremental improvements. For example, a limited number

of aircraft have received a Command-and-Control, Communications, and Computers for Anti-Submarine

Warfare (C4 for ASW) upgrade programme, introducing tactical data exchange via Link 16, and INMARSAT

connectivity (providing encrypted broadband services, and communications services such as chat, email,

web access, and eventually streaming full motion video). C4 for ASW achieved Initial Operating Capability

(IOC) in September 2011.

[Continued in full version…]

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The US Navy's first operational P-8A Poseidon - the first of eight aircraft of the navy's Patrol Squadron 16 (VP-16) - takes off from Jacksonville, Florida, marking its inaugural operational deployment to the Western Pacific. (US Navy)

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Poseidon adventure

In July 2014, the USN's Patrol Squadron 16 (VP-16) concluded the P-8A Poseidon's first operational

deployment. Eight P-8A aircraft returned to the squadron's home in Jacksonville, Florida from Kadena Air

Base in Japan after conducting a total of 600 sorties and 3,500 flight hours during a seven-month

deployment to the Asia-Pacific region. By the navy's account, the deployment was a successful proof-of-

concept for the P-8A.

The navy has been converting its P-3C squadrons to the P-8A at a rate of one every six months since the

transition of VP-16. "The transition continues at a rate that allows us to maintain an uninterrupted

deployed presence in Seventh Fleet," said Captain Scott Dillon, the programme manager for the navy's

Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft Program (PMA-290) at Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

A complete fleet transition is expected by 2019 in order to yield an all-Poseidon presence in four separate

deployment sites around the world. In the near term, two of the four maritime patrol squadrons on

deployment at any given time will comprise P-8s.

P-3C operators who have flown the new aircraft have commended the P-8A's capability and reliability. "In a

P-3, you've got a 1950s design aircraft, whereas we have a mid-2000 737 next generation aircraft [in the P-

8] .... It's a quantum leap," said Lieutenant Commander Bryan Hager, deputy Maritime Patrol and

Reconnaissance Aircraft requirements officer in N98. "The P-8 has a flight management centre that pretty

much does everything to make sure the plane maximises efficiency."

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P-8 Poseidon aircraft undergo system integration and checking at Boeing's Puget Sound facility near Seattle, Washington in 2011. (IHS/Gareth Jennings)

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The P-8A is also able to fly at higher altitudes than the P-3, which had a limited ceiling of 20,000-30,000 ft.

"You have a vastly different area that you can fly in once you get into the higher altitudes. Your range really

increases as far as how fast you can go," explained Lt Cdr Hager.

In addition to the higher altitude ceiling, the P-8A's 'dash speed' has increased. In the P-3 crews are limited

to 300 kt true air speed, whereas in the P-8, it is about 440 kt. Getting to the fight and getting there quickly

in the P-8 is a factor that was demonstrated effectively by VP-16 during its operational deployment.

"There's a huge difference in how quickly you can get on-station," added Lt Cdr Hager, "and the 'dash

speed' played a huge [role] in the success of their deployment."

Once on station, MPA crews are expected to prosecute long-duration missions at consoles where they

discern targets that are detected via acoustic and non-acoustic sensors. The ability to pick out important

data and indicators - 'recognition differential' - degrades over time, and is affected by the operating

environment; in the P-3's noisy cabin, crews' recognition differential tended to be low.

Adm Harris, a former P-3 naval flight officer who flew in a P-8 in 2014, said: "In the P-8 you don't have

anything like that. It's smooth, it's quiet, there's no vibration, the jet noise is low. It's a remarkably quiet

airplane. So you come off the P-8 after a long mission, and you're physically less tired. That means your

recognition differential is by definition higher, and so all other things being equal, you're going to have a

better chance of finding the thing you're looking for."

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The P-8's increased capability meant that the USN could alter MPA crew size requirements. The P-3

operates with an 11-person crew comprising three pilots, two tactical officers, two flight engineers, two

acoustic operators, one non-acoustic operator, and an in-flight technician. With a flight management

computer onboard the P-8, the navy decided the two flight engineers and in-flight technician were

obsolete. Those three positions were removed, but the navy added another non-acoustic operator, an

electronic warfare officer (EWO). "Now we have more actual warfare operators on board the plane, even

though the number has dropped to nine," said Lt Cdr Hager.

The P-8's entire mission systems architecture is built around five separate mission crew workstations

located side-by-side along the centre of the cabin, said Capt Dillon. Interconnected by a Tactical Open

Mission System (TOMS) architecture developed by Boeing, this integrates the input from a variety of

acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, and then provides that data to any of the five operators who have

selected it for display at their workstations.

US Navy personnel assigned to Patrol Squadron 16 (VP-16) show senior Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force officials a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, including its MX-20HD EO/IR turret, at the US naval air facility in Misawa, Japan. (US Navy)

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In terms of sensors, the P-8A is well-equipped, starting with the AN/APY-10 radar, a next-generation

derivative of Raytheon's APS-137 radar (already on the P-3C), and the L-3 Wescam MX-20HD EO/infrared

(EO/IR) turret (similarly evolved from the earlier MX-20, the last of the EO/IR turrets fielded on the P-3s).

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Then there is a substantially upgraded electronic support measures (ESM) system, the AN/ALQ-240, a

derivative of the system developed for the EA-18G Growler. "It is a big leap forward in terms of any ESM

we have put on a maritime patrol aircraft in the past," said Capt Dillon.

At the heart of the P-8's acoustic system are signal processors, hosted on special cards that are peripherally

connected to the data processor architecture and accessible by the aircrew from the five workstations. The

data processing system overlays data from each of the peripheral components to create a common

integrated tactical picture that gives the crew situational awareness of the entire battlespace. "All of that

data is both recorded and brought home for post-mission analysis, but can also be sent off the aircraft in-

flight via some over-the-horizon SATCOM connections and some other line-of-sight UHF, VHF, and HF

radios," said Capt Dillon.

Link 16 also provides a means of interacting with other aircraft and ships in the network whilst the P-8 is on

station, he added.


An MH-60R helicopter from Maritime Strike Squadron 77 lands on the flight deck of Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom during trials in the Pacific in 2011. (US Navy)

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Romeo calling

In 2014, Lockheed Martin delivered to the USN the 200th MH-60R Seahawk helicopter. With the planned

programme of record of 243 MH-60Rs, the SH-60B that the 'Romeo' is replacing will retire in 2016.

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"When you put a -60B and -60R next to each other you may not see a tremendous difference from the

outside, but the insides are very different and afford a very different capability between those two

platforms," said NAVAIR's Commander Matt Percy from the Multi-Mission Helicopters Program (PMA-299)

Class Desk.

As regards sonics, the AN/AQS-22 ALFS system combines the expandable array and reeling machine of the

Thales FLASH (Folding Lightweight Acoustic System for Helicopters) active dipping sonar with a COTS-based

acoustic processor (which also performs sonobuoy processing over eight channels). As well as supporting

the detection, tracking, localization, and classification of submarine threats, the AN/AQS-22 also performs

acoustic intercept, underwater communications, and environmental data acquisition.

The introduction of the ALFS system "has been a game-changing capability, particularly when you look at

what we had with the -60F and its dipping sonar capability," said Cdr Percy.

Captain Sean Haley, multi-mission branch head for N98, also praised the ALFS system, "In the B, we didn't

have a dipping sonar, and so based on weight and radius constraints we could only carry a limited number

of active sonobuoys.

"So we really had to have quite a bit of pre-mission planning to ensure that we didn't expend those buoys

too early to be able to prosecute the target, but not wait and hold them long enough to the point where

maybe we would potentially lose contact.


Same sheet of music

One of the navy's historic challenges, in conducting ASW, lies in the realm of data sharing. Conveying what

an acoustic operator on board a P-3 sees on his display to an SH-60B crew or to a surface ship's combat

information centre watch team has been a manpower-intensive, time-consuming effort that often

introduced human error into the equation. Helicopters would be dispatched to fly to an erroneous contact

point, all because the data was relayed via radio communications from person to person.

"You're almost playing that [game] of telephone tag," explained Capt Haley. "In the days of the Bravo, the

real key communications link we had was basically [a] UHF secured datalink back to the ship. That was it.

We had UHF radios and VHF etc, but basically, if we wanted to develop an RMP [recognised maritime

picture] for the strike group, we would have to push those contacts back to the ship, rely on the ship to be

able to somewhat de-conflict them with what they're seeing inside [the combat information centre], and

then disseminate them out via Link 16 or whatever other method they wanted to utilise."

With the introduction of Link 16 on board both the P-8A and the MH-60R, that data can now be piped

directly to the operators' displays instead of relayed and manually inputted into consoles.

"The man is still in the loop, but you take a large part of the interpretation [away]," explained Capt Haley.

"Now all I really have to do is make sure we've passed the right track and the right bit of data [so] we're

both looking at the same thing. Basically, you have one quarter the opportunity to input human error into

the loop vice what we were doing before."

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Perhaps more importantly, the data sharing has become instantaneous via Link 16, allowing crews to

operate off the same sheet of music. That means a P-8 can maintain a high altitude and assign MH-60Rs

under its purview to go out and prosecute contacts more quickly.

"That is really a game-changing capability compared to how we used to do it," Capt Haley said.

To help surface ships accommodate the increased volume of data being shared by the aircraft, the navy is

installing Ku-band antennas on board its warships to manage increased bandwidth capacity requirements.

"It is a more than ten-fold increase in the amount of data we can pass from the aircraft back to the ship

compared to the old Bravo days," Capt Haley noted.

In addition to the hardware, the Ku-band antennas also require software patches to enable the data to be

disseminated through the Aegis combat system.

"The beauty of all of us working together is you expand the node," said Commander Pat Jankowski, MH-

60R requirements officer for N98. "With the multi-nodal links, going up through the P-8, or over to a

surface ship, I've bridged that gap. I've reduced that kill chain time. Building the net even larger is what's

incredibly effective."


Pacing the threat

The proliferation among regional navies with quieter submarines, fitted with advanced weapon and sensor

systems, continues to be a concern. To keep up with the growing threat, the navy is investigating

technologies in tandem with industry partners and educational institutions in the hope of beating potential

adversaries to the punch, said Capt Glass. "Recognising how quickly that environment is evolving, that

really drives us to continue pushing for technology advancement."

As part of that effort, the navy has established a rapid software improvement programme for many of its

ASW systems. While upgrading technology during the life-cycle of a system is not unusual, doing so in

smaller, incremental chunks that are more palatable to budget planners is a break from the norm.

"I think what's key for the incremental build programme for the P-8 and for the software modernisation

programme … is that every year we're … trying to make those small incremental improvements which have

very little impact on training timelines or crew workload, but they keep the systems up on board with the

latest stuff that we have from the intelligence community," said Capt Haley.

Ensuring that mission systems, such as ALFS, are accessible for both rapid software updates and hardware

changes is another key factor. According to Capt Glass, the USN in 2013 made about a half-dozen changes

to 17 AN/AQS-22 systems on the US east coast under the Reliability Improvement Acceleration Program.

"We're tracking those systems individually and we're seeing those changes beginning to have an effect on

… improving the availability for the manner in which the fleet is using it," he said. "We're comparing the

number of faults, the mean flight hours between failure, [and] the number of cycles between failure to

previous systems, and we're seeing overall an improved system, and it's really just the first step in

continuing to make this system all that much more effective and available for the operator."

These changes included upgrades to the reeling machine for improved performance as the machine

interfaces with the cable to reduce the number of times a system might experience a 'mis-wrap'.

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In addition to updating airborne ASW systems, navy planners are ensuring that the aviation community has

an avenue to inject their upgrades into the surface fleet and specifically the Aegis combat system and the

AN/SQQ-89 via the Advanced Capability Build programme.

An MH-60R helicopter from Maritime Strike Squadron 71 assigned to the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis lowers its AN/AQS-22 ALFS dipping sonar in February 2013. (US Navy)

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MAC INTRODUCES NEW-GENERATION COHERENT MULTI-STATICS The Multi-static Active Coherent (MAC) system now being rolled out to the P-3C, and slated for the P-8A (with an early operational capability planned prior to fielding in Increment 2), is designed to provide an enhanced wide-area acoustic search capability by processing the multiple returns from a field of active and passive GPS-embedded sonobuoys. The MAC system replaces the USN's current Improved Extended Echo Ranging (IEER) system, which employs non-coherent sources to produce loud sounds that reflect off submarine targets. MAC uses a new coherent acoustic source buoy (SSQ-125) that enables multiple pings, optimised waveforms, and various ping durations, none of which the legacy IEER system provided. The coherent pulses (or series of pulses) provide waveform flexibility including Doppler-speed sensitive and frequency modulated-clutter suppressing capabilities. According to NAVAIR, the MAC programme will also provide updated tactical and mission software on the P-3C, an updated Mission Planning Tool, an updated Ground Replay System, updated TacMobile products, and an updated Tactical Operational Readiness Trainer. MAC will be completed in two phases: Phase 1 will provide harsh shallow water capability; and Phase 2 will provide deep water capability.

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The USN completed its initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) on P-3C aircraft in October 2013. According to the fiscal year 2013 (FY 2013) report issued by the Pentagon's Director Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), initial testing indicated that the MAC system provided the P-3C "with some limited wide-area ASW search capability in select scenarios", but added that it "does not meet the programme's requirements in some operational environments", and fell short of what the fleet identified as the capability required to protect high value units.


Richard Scott is Consultant Editor for IHS Jane's Navy International

Copyright © IHS Global Limited, 2014

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Changing the game: US Navy applies new approaches to