Winter 2017-18 The Chronicle 1 - United States Navy · 2020-01-28 · 2 The Chronicle Winter 2017-18 Photos by Joe Bullinger VCNO Moran visits SSC Atlantic Adm. Bill Moran, Vice Chief

The ChronicleWinter 2017-18 1

The Chronicle2 Winter 2017-18

Dave Bednarczyk, third from right, briefs Adm. Bill Moran, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, fourth from left, on SSC Atlantic’s Common Submarine Radio Room and Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System as SSC Atlantic and SPAWARSYSCOM leaders listen in. See story on page 2.


3 IWRP OT unveiledSSCs Atlantic and Pacific explore new opportunities using an alternative to the traditional acquisition process.

12 Additive ManufacturingSSC Atlantic employees leverage AM technology to save time and money throughout the engineering lifecycle.

26 Enabling CANES installsSSC Atlantic opened a new Network Integration and Engineering Facility (NIEF) on Naval Station Norfolk March 8.

Winter 2017-18 Vol. 24 No. 1

New cyber facilities ..........................6 The good ‘bad guys’ .........................7‘Best kept secret in the Navy’ .............9POTUS mobile comms 24/7 ..............18Life-changing mission .....................20Harnessing small business agility .......22CDCA Defense Summit ...................24Visitors .......................................33 The final word ..............................36

Commanding Officer ............Capt. Scott HellerExecutive Director .........................Chris Miller

SSC Atlantic Mission, Vision and Values

We rapidly deliver and support in-formation warfare capabilities to our Naval, Joint, National and Coalition Warfighters. We enable Warfighters to Secure America and promote global freedom.

The Chronicle is a quarterly publication designed for SSC Atlantic employees. Its purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and generate new ideas. Contents of The Chronicle are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Navy or SSC Atlantic.

P.O. Box 190022North Charleston, SC 29419-9022

Editor ...........................................Susan PiedfortCommand Photographer ................Joe Bullinger

Chronicle

On the cover

InsideInside

The

SSC Atlantic’s cyber forensics team offers unique op-erational cyber capabilities for the Navy and the nation. See story on page 20.

SSC Atlantic’s Unmanned Systems Research (SAU-SR) Range team performs a test flight as part of their mission to put autono-mous technology in the hands of warfighters. See story on page 16. Photo by Joe Bullinger.


Photos by Joe Bullinger

VCNO Moran visits SSC AtlanticAdm. Bill Moran, Vice Chief of Naval Operations

(VCNO), visited SSC Atlantic recently to see the center’s capabilities and meet its workforce.

After several morning briefs, including an overview by SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller and Executive Director Chris Miller, Moran held an All Hands

call for the entire SSC Atlantic team. The admiral began by noting that when he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1981, the Navy had a goal of 600 ships, and neared that goal with 594 ships, with roughly 95 of them forward deployed all around the world. Today’s Navy has 276 ships, and yet we still have roughly 95 of them deployed all around the world.

The reason we can do more with less, he said, is that our weapons and platforms are more sophisticated, and can now reach out and strike at great distances. “Today, we have the ability to know where the adversaries are, what they are thinking and what they are preparing to do. Our ability to do that is wrapped up in what you are doing here at SSC Atlantic, with information systems that let us observe areas of concern, orient ourselves to fight, provide information to strike groups and make decisions rapidly so we can act before the adversary,” Moran said.

“The secret sauce is not the ships, it’s the people who deliver these capabilities efficiently and effectively,” Moran continued. “What you are doing to design, develop, deliver and sustain information warfare solutions helps us get the right weapons systems to the right place at the right time,” he added. “It’s like the blood running through the arteries of our Navy. What you do is incredibly important,” the admiral told hundreds of employees assembled in the SSC Atlantic conference center and more watching via VTC.

“Technology is moving so fast in ISR, networks and cyber. You are now required to move faster than ever. You are innovating and thinking at a fast pace and partnering

SPAWARSYSCOM Commander Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, center, looks on as Adm. Bill Moran, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, right, is briefed on SSC Atlantic’s Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System.

Adm. Bill Moran makes a point during a briefing in SSC Atlantic’s Executive Conference Room.


with the right people in the commercial sector to deliver the capabilities we need,” Moran added.

“I want it faster!” is being heard from warfighters at all levels of the Department of Defense and the Navy is lead-ing across the joint community in speed to capability, the admiral said. “You are essential to that mission, and I’m proud of what you are doing here,” he said. “There is no better service than service to one’s country.”

Moran toured the Common Submarine Radio Room (CSRR) where SSC Atlantic teams procure, design and test communications systems that are common across all submarine classes and enhance submarine platform mission effectiveness while reducing acquisition and life-cycle costs. The admiral then saw the Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System (MRTS), a PC-based, network-controlled system with single-touch and multi-touch displays that simulate the exact equipment submariners use onboard the boat. It was developed at SSC Atlantic to train Sailors to use CSRR components.

Accompanying the admiral during the Charleston visit were Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, SPAWARSYSCOM Com-mander; Rear Adm. Carl P. Chebi, PEO C4I/PEO Space Systems; and John Pope, Executive Director, PEO C4I and a former commanding officer of SSC Atlantic. During morning briefs the vice chief of naval operations learned about SSC Atlantic’s human capital strategy and Technical Growth Areas that support current and future fleet capabili-

ties. In addition, Becker and Chebi briefed Moran on the SPAWAR Strategic Vision.

During a working lunch, Moran learned about several successful SSC Atlantic programs that address CNO goals, including Model-Based Systems Engineering, REDHAWK and Cryptologic Carry On Capability.

Adm. Bill Moran answers questions during an All Hands call for the entire SSC Atlantic team.

From left, SSC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne, COMSPAWARSYSCOM Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, VCNO Adm. Bill Moran, SSC Atlantic CO Capt. Scott Heller and Executive Director Chris Miller pose on the quarterdeck.


IWRP strategy unveiledSSC Atlantic and Pacific leaders recently launched an

initiative that will enable new contracting opportunities us-ing Other Transaction Authority (OTA) as an alternative to the traditional acquisition process.

During a Feb. 1 Industry Day in North Charleston they unveiled the Information War-fare Research Project (IWRP) OTA and discussed how the systems centers’ information warfare capabilities will in-crease by encouraging non-traditional industry partners and academia to participate in Defense Department acquisi-tion.

Congress broadened DoD’s authority to use OTAs as part of the 2016 Defense authorization bill. This flexible, streamlined acquisition tool offers oppor-tunities for research, devel-

opment and prototyping of underlying technologies that advance capabilities in the areas of cyberwarfare, cloud computing, data science and analytic technologies, model-based systems engineering, on-demand manufacturing and

embedded systems in the “In-ternet of Things (IoT).”

Under the OTA construct, a third-party firm or institution will manage a consortium of traditional and non-traditional Defense contractors who can prototype work in the specified technology areas. Consortium members would then compete for individual projects by sub-mitting proposals in response to SPAWAR’s technology needs. SPAWAR plans to spend ap-proximately $100 million in the effort. Awards for specific projects could begin as soon as fall 2018.

Streamlining acquisition with non-traditional partnersSSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller welcomes attendees to the Feb. 1 Industry Day.

SSC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne explains the purpose and desired outcomes of the IWRP OTA initiative.



At the Industry Day, SSC Atlantic and Pacific leaders focused on 14 technology areas that advance naval informa-tion warfare capabilities and how the consortium can support research, development and prototyping. Through briefs and a question and answer session, they gave prospective of-ferors an understanding of the OTA strategy and technical scope areas.

SSC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne stressed the IWRP OTA value as an enabler of rapid research and prototyping and increased access to innovative com-mercial solutions. “This is a new way of doing business for us and we are very excited about it,” said Deligne, who used the vehicle in his previous position as Executive Director of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).

“IWRP OTA will enable research with industry in the information warfare domain and allow us to take research ideas rapidly through prototype and production,” Deligne said. “This mechanism is faster and more attuned to getting something quickly that we want today, as opposed to the tra-ditional Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR),” he added.

“While speed is a critical element, reaching beyond the traditional DoD industrial base further into the commercial sector to capture new, innovative solutions is also a key element of the IWRP,” said Deligne.

Executive Director Chris Miller told more than 200 at-tendees at the Industry Day that their feedback will be critical as SSC Atlantic embarks on this unique opportunity. “We are truly doing something different and unique here,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot about setting up an OTA from other organizations, but we will need your input. We will definitely be in a receive mode as we go through this.” Miller pointed out the IWRP OTA strategy aligns with clear signals from the Chief of Naval Operations to expand and strengthen our network of partners, and with SSC Atlantic’s strategic goal of accelerating and streamlining capability delivery.

As part of the Naval Research and Development Estab-lishment (NR&DE), Miller noted that SSC Atlantic is already engaged with the Office of Naval Research and other Navy systems commands. NR&DE is comprised of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and supporting technical per-sonnel who conduct Navy research, development, test and evaluation. NR&DE encompasses the technical resources required to explore, develop and field future naval warfight-ing capabilities, such as laboratories, test facilities and test ranges. Since SSC Atlantic and SSC Pacific have a presence at Navy installations around the world, OTAs will enable the SPAWAR enterprise to use the national consortium approach with a global area of influence.

All questions and answers from the Industry Day are posted to SPAWAR E-Commerce under the OTA PA in the SSC Atlantic Market Survey section (https://e-commerce.sscno.nmci.navy.mil/). All Industry Day presentation mate-rial will be available to prospective offerors via the same E-Commerce section. Prospective offerors are encouraged subscribe to the solicitation (PA) on SPAWAR E-Commerce.

SSC Atlantic’s Naples, Italy based-employees had the opportunity to visit and tour Sixth Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) homeported in Gaeta, Italy Feb. 28.

USS Mount Whitney recently completed a six-month overhaul at Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Croatia during which SSC Atlantic employees and industry partners performed C4I upgrades that will extend the life of the 1970s-era command ship to 2039.

Any opportunity for engineers and scientists to visit a Navy ship always results in a greater understanding of how shipboard systems are employed by Sailors and how they might be improved.

While the SSC Atlantic employees enjoyed the ship visit and tour, USS Mount Whitney crewmen in the radio room were also very happy they were on board. As the SPAWARriors were touring the ship’s radio room, the crew was having communication equipment issues. Ricky Perry was able to stop, help troubleshoot the issue and resolved the problem for them.

Naples employees visitUSS Mount Whitney

From left, SSC Atlantic’s Matt Johnson, Guillermo Leiva, Steve Edgar, Marilene Guardia-Baker, Ricky Perry, Mary Fellows, Richard Baker, Monica Norman and Brigman Kinard pose in front of Sixth Fleet flag-ship USS Mount Whitney.

Photo provided


New facilities increase cyber capabilitiesSSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller and

Executive Director Chris Miller celebrated the opening of two new facilities on Joint Base Charleston - Naval Weapons Station in October for teams providing cutting edge cyber-security capabilities to prevent and mitigate cyber attacks for the Navy and the nation.

Heller and Miller cut the ribbon to SSC Atlantic’s Cyber Forensics and Data Recovery Laboratory, the Navy’s only accredited digital media Criminal Forensics Investigations lab, and the first lab in the Navy to earn this prestigious international accreditation. The cyber specialists working in this building provide advanced incident response and malware analysis support and data recovery, with capabili-ties that include physical rebuilds and submerged hard drive recovery. Customers include Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Department of Justice and the Marine Corps.

A ribbon was also cut on a second facility that houses the operations center for SSC Atlantic’s Cyber Red Team, one of only two Cyber Red Teams in the Navy. SSC Atlantic’s Red Team was certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) and accredited by U.S. Strategic Command to conduct local, remote and wireless systems assessments and conduct persis-

tence and user-driven attack missions across the Department of Defense (DoD) Information Network. This capability is one of only nine in the entire DoD.

The Red Team improves enterprise information assurance by demonstrating the impacts of successful attacks and by showing what works for defenders in an operational environ-ment. This team has provided adversarial assessment support to Program Executive Office Defense Health Management Agency, Defense Health Management Systems, Defense Medical Information Exchange and the Marine Corps.

“Cutting the ribbon on these two facilities marks an-other major milestone in our mission to deliver information warfare solutions and provide cutting-edge cybersecurity technical capabilities,” Heller said.

“With these two new buildings, we take a giant step for-ward in maximizing mission assurance for our nation and for our critical warfighting components,” he added. “The invest-ment, the skills of the workforce, the technical knowledge and the location are all important, and these new facilities represent a down payment on our highest priority technical growth area, cybersecurity,” the captain said.

From left, SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller; Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Gehling of the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction office; SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller and Gilbert Huff, SPAWAR Program Manager for the project, cut the ribbon on the new buildings.

Photo by Joe Bullinger


Red Team: the good ‘bad guys’To protect cyber systems from hackers, you have to think

like hackers.That’s all in a day’s work for SSC Atlantic’s Red Team,

an expert team of good “bad guys” who conduct adversarial assessments on DoD and other networks to find vulnerabili-ties before the real bad guys get a chance to.

SSC Atlantic’s Red Team, certified by the National Se-curity Agency and accredited by the United States Cyber Command, is one of nine certified DoD Red Teams and one of only two in the Navy. The SPAWAR Red Team assesses DoD Cyber Security Service Providers, provides adversarial/aggressor support to DoD cyber exercises and supports cyber developmental and operational testing to DoD acquisition programs with IT components. Their customers include the Defense Health Agency, Defense Contract Management Agency, U.S. Marine Corps, United States Special Opera-tions Command, PEO DHMS and PMW 205.

The Red Team’s real-world attack simulations are de-signed to assess and significantly improve the effective-ness of an entire information security program, including those controlling weapons systems, platforms, sensors and networks. “The thinking is, if you simulate bad guys and

put network defenders and system owners under controlled stress in a controlled environment, you get a better sense of how they will perform,” said Jason Jurand, director of SSC Atlantic’s Red Team.

“If you wait long enough, the real-world adversaries will tell you what’s wrong with your system, usually at the worst time,” he said. “Our first rule is ‘do no harm.’ Our adver-saries don’t have that rule.” The Red Team better positions customers to deal with these vulnerabilities on their terms rather than the adversary’s terms.

The Red Team’s functional capabilities were developed when SSC Atlantic’s Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP) was created and certified. The CSSP’s mission is to protect, detect, respond and sustain IT systems, and as part of the “protect” service the Red Team assesses the defense capabilities of CSSPs across the DoD Information Network (DoDIN).

SSC Atlantic’s Red Team size adjusts to respond to demand, but usually has at least 10 government employees and eight contractors. They are technically skilled with backgrounds in computer science, computer engineering,


Continued on next page

SSC Atlantic’s Red Team members conduct adversarial assessments on DoD and other networks to find vulnerabilities before the bad guys do.


Red Teamsoftware development, test and evaluation, networking and system administration. A knowledge of how things work — and an understanding of how to degrade, disrupt or deny a customer’s cyber environment while actually doing no harm — requires a deep technical background, according to Jurand. “From a temperament point of view, you have to be naturally curious and think unconventionally. Red Team people are tinkerers,” he said, “with maybe a little bit of a dark side.”

SSC Atlantic’s Red Team is certified to perform a variety of assessments across the DoDIN, including local assess-ments, where they are invited in by a customer and work col-laboratively and cooperatively to help identify and mitigate known vulnerabilities — and often to discover new ones.

They also perform remote assessments, which are more covert in nature. The Red Team tries to gain access to the customer’s net-work without the knowledge of the customer’s CSSP or “Blue Team.” Persistence missions involve the Red Team staying in the network as the customer’s Blue Team is ac-tively pursuing it. “They are trying to pry us out of network, and we are trying to burrow in and stay in,” Jurand said.

The Red Team assesses wireless security, which ranges from systems as innocuous as a home Wi-Fi to anything in the RF spectrum, such as shipboard or aircraft wireless systems.

The Red Team is very effective with user-driven attacks, which Jurand describes as complicated but usually the most successful. “Most cyber attacks are user driven, where you manipulate the user into doing something that gets them in trouble,” Jurand said. “For a Red Team, it’s the easiest to get at and yields the most reliable results. We rarely have a phishing campaign that isn’t successful,” he said.

“Insider threats are real. It’s not just about getting past the guy at front gate or tailgating into a building; it’s user attacks and social engineering,” Jurand explained. Cyber-security deficiencies found by the Red Team fall into the categories of people, processes and technology, with people being most common. “And even though everyone gets cy-bersecurity training every year, invariably we’ll find some kind of shortcoming,” he added.

Something as simple as going into a hospital or military health clinic can pose cybersecurity challenges that can actually risk lives. Those going in for outpatient appoint-ments or visiting patients admitted to a hospital may want to use their phones or tablets on the facility’s Wi-Fi. In a worst-case scenario these devices could pose a threat to IT systems that connect patients to life-saving equipment. To

combat this threat, SSC Atlantic’s Health Systems Secu-rity Engineering IPT, headed by Cal Stephens, provides full scope network/cyber security services to the Defense Health Agency (DHA), including network protection suite design and development, accreditation, deployment and operations fused with USCYBERCOM-accredited Tier 2 CSSP services.

“Cal was part of developing a secure intranet for DHA, engineering the design, deploying it, doing network opera-tions and sustainment of that infrastructure, and we were serving in an information assurance capacity,” Jurand said. This series of events provided SSC Atlantic a unique op-erational cyber perspective within the Navy. Given their capability, it made sense for SSC Atlantic to provide CSSP and Red Team services for other customers. The CSSP team was originally certified by DISA and accredited by USSTRATCOM in 2010.

“A CSSP team is looking for stuff that is unusual,” Jurand said, looking through assessment data to find what he describes as a “horrifying collection of success event audit records” that may indi-cate compromise. Why is someone logged in at 2 a.m. on Christmas morning? Why is an administrator surfing the Internet and download-ing data to the server? Are detec-tions being made the way they are expected even when there are no

failure or deny event audit records?Today, SSC Atlantic’s Red Team is more and more in

demand. “Once we got certified, the phone started ringing off hook and it hasn’t stopped since,” Jurand said. “It has really led to a great capability for SSC Atlantic.

“There is so much complexity in cybersecurity threats; new ones pop up every day. We make folks take training and we do checkups to try to keep networks and systems healthy, but invariably, when Red Teams do assessments we always find shortcomings,” Jurand said.

While the Red Team’s mission is to help and protect customers, they are not always welcomed with open arms. “People are often taken out of their comfort zones or feel violated when the Red Team shows up,” he said. “That’s a healthy reaction to have,” he said, since some people think they could get fired or that the network is actually being compromised.

“We are not the bad guys, we are trying to teach them about threats and how to mitigate them,” Jurand said. “Red Team operations really represent an investment in a customer’s cybersecurity infrastructure and in the people who use it. We are teaching them to be more aware of their vulnerabilities.

“In the end they realize that a real adversary would prob-ably teach the same, but on much worse terms.”

- Susan Piedfort, Chronicle Editor

Continued from previous page

“Insider threats are real. It’s not just about getting past the guy at front gate or tailgating

into a building; it’s user attacks and social engineering,”

— Jason Jurand


‘Best kept secret in the Navy’Critical data that could prove a suspect is defrauding

the government is located on a hard drive that has been submerged in water.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agents need access to information on a suspect’s cellphone, which was intentionally destroyed.

Two challenges, one solution: SSC Atlantic’s Digital Media Criminal Forensics Investigations (CFIX) Laboratory. The CFIX Lab is the Navy’s first and only lab of its kind to earn the prestigious ASCLD/LAB-International accredita-tion from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Direc-tors/Laboratory Accreditation Board, which is now under the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB).

With its mission to help the Navy and other federal agen-cies recover data and solve criminal cases, the CFIX team offers unique operational cyber forensics capabilities for the Navy and the nation. Their customers include NCIS, the Department of Justice, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security and the Marine Corps.

In addition to the CFIX Lab capabilities, SSC Atlantic’s cyber forensics team performs data recovery, responds to cyber forensics incidents, performs malware analysis and reverse engineering of malware and helps protect the Navy’s network infrastructure.

The Data Recovery Laboratory has physical rebuilding and submerged hard drive recovery capabilities. The team performs Redundant Array of Independent Disks recon-

struction, mobile device data extraction, chip-off, Joint Test Action Group and bad sector recovery. They can also perform advanced memory analysis, extract hidden data with steganography and other processes, analyze firmware, and recover data from solid state drives and Flash Media.

SSC Atlantic’s cyber forensics capability started in 2008 with one machine and two people – Robin Corkill, now cyber forensics competency lead, and Bill Littleton, cyber forensics integrated product team lead. From these meager beginnings the team has grown to 15 computer engineers, computer scientists, forensics analysts and IT specialists, more equipment, a new building on the SSC Atlantic campus, and greatly increased capabilities. The demand for the work they do has increased over the past 10 years and continues to grow as customers learn of SSC Atlantic’s cyber forensics capabilities.

More DoD and Navy emphasis on cybersecurity, incident response and data recovery has led to the growth and rec-ognition of the team, according to Corkill. “We can grow as needed to respond to our caseload,” he said, adding that the data recovery lab averages more than 100 hard drive recoveries a year for SSC Atlantic employees, and has served multiple DoD organizations with a more than 95 percent success rate.

Two members of the team have master’s degrees in digital forensic science, six others have master’s in computer sci-

SSC Atlantic cyber forensics capabilities growJason Staker conducts a cyber forensics examination. Photos by Joe Bullinger



ence, cyber or math, and many have advanced certifications. All told there are more than 20 certifications, some in spe-cialized areas like smart phones and mobile apps, Windows, Mac, Linux or memory forensics, and even vehicle forensics.

“We also do lots of research, and go to advanced schools to stay current on data recovery, malware analysis and digi-tal forensics criminal lab processes,” added Littleton. The research they do while solving casework often spawns into new research areas with different artifacts.

“With technology growing exponentially, there is constant learning,” Corkill added.

When not helping to solve crimes, recovering data and responding to cyber incidents, the team provides cyber train-ing to SSC Atlantic and other commands on how to prevent breaches, minimize system failure and prevent catastrophic loss of data. Cyber defense tracks in response, forensics, intrusion and detection show how to prepare for attacks and how to respond to an incident and secure evidence. They also show how criminals get access, hide data on a system and cover their tracks.

“The fact that we are an all-government team, all SCI-cleared, with strict standards on how we handle data helps us maintain trust with our DoD customers and other agencies,” Corkill said. “Our Air Force, Navy and other DoD custom-ers have specifically mentioned the value of working with all-government team,” he added. The SSC Atlantic team’s technical and analytical expertise, problem solving and out-of-the-box-thinking are also often lauded. Both local and federal law enforcement agencies have consistently provided

Above, Sage Glidewell, right, looks on as Alisha Slebodnik, left, examines the internals of a hard disk drive. At bottom, Slebodnik examines the head stack from a hard disk drive.

Cyber forensicsContinued from previous page


positive feedback about the CFIX laboratory capabilities, commenting on the team’s efficiency, depth of information provided, and the outstanding quality of the final product.

That praise is the result of a team effort, Corkill empha-sized. Having a drive to dig deeper and look at a problem from a number of angles, to use an analytical approach and follow the “cyber bread crumbs” makes for a sharp and ef-fective cyber forensics team.

“It’s easy to wake up every day and be excited about what we’re doing here,” Corkill said. “You never know what you might be facing. Digging deeper, finding information, solv-ing a problem … it’s always a challenge,” he added.

“That’s probably why most of us on the team enjoy par-ticipating in STEM outreach events such as the Palmetto Cy-ber Defense Challenge (PCDC) and Cyber Summer Camps,” Littleton said. “It stretches us to be creative and generate scenarios, then analyze and develop solutions for them.”

The lab’s outreach activities not only increase interest and proficiency in the cyber forensics domain for the next generation, but their hugely successful Cyber Summer Camp is being used as a model by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The team’s outreach has also attracted students who want to work alongside Corkill and Littleton as career cyber forensics professionals. Sage Glidewell was a PCDC and cyber camp participant, then a mentor, and now an intern with Corkill’s team as she pursues a degree in computer

science at the College of Charleston. Two interns who will be hired this summer were hand-picked by Corkill and Littleton through SSC Atlantic’s involvement in the Office of Naval Research’s cybersecurity outreach with Histori-cally Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). “They are computer science and cybersecurity majors with a focus on forensics,” Littleton said, “and we are excited about what they will bring to the team.”

“What we offer DoD and other federal agencies is a full service and advanced digital forensics capability that has matured over the past 10 years into a cutting-edge answer to the most critical cyber defense needs of today. Our customer feedback is that our quality is unmatched,” Corkill said.

“World-class data recovery, advanced digital forensics, a top quality criminal media forensics laboratory, a highly skilled malware analysis and incident response team argu-ably provide one of the most advanced overall cyber fo-rensics capabilities in the DoD,” he said. “Customers often identify us as the ‘Best kept secret in the Navy,’ ” he added.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller praised the team as a valuable asset to the Navy’s cyber defense capabilities. “We all know too well that the threat is real. The urgency to answer these threats is real,” he said. “I’m excited and proud that we have been able to apply the intellect, energy and ideas found here at SSC Atlantic in new and exciting ways to respond to these ever-evolving threats.”


SSC Atlantic’s Jason Staker conducts a forensic triage of a prepaid cellular phone device through a Faraday enclosure.


SSC Atlantic leverages 3D printing

Traditional vs. additive manufacturing Traditional production processes use subtractive manu-

facturing: a chunk of raw material (metal, plastic, etc.) is milled using lathes and other equipment to extract pieces, leaving the final product. It often results in substantial ma-terial waste.

AM builds a product from scratch, in layers, based on a CAD drawing with precise product specifications. The 3D printer build plates are heated so the product adheres to it, and the raw material (generally one of various types of plastic filament) is heated and flows through tubing where it is compressed and extruded in liquefied form through a nozzle. It is then distributed onto the printer bed in a fine layer and the nozzle oscillates across the build bed continu-ously until the product is complete. Depending on require-ments, some plastic materials create rigid products, while others are flexible.

Because all products are tacky when completed, they must cool until they harden. Therefore, designs for some 3D printed objects contain built-in support posts to lift part of the object and support it during cooling. The posts are removed when the product hardens and the connection points are sanded.

By Diane OwensSSC Atlantic Public Affairs

A research and development (R&D) scientist at SSC Atlantic wanted to create a compact, energy-harvesting sup-port component not available commercially. He designed the component in computer-aided design (CAD) software and, in a single day, used additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing) to build a prototype of the product at minimal cost. After determining the form, fit and function of the initial prototype needed a few adjustments, he modified the original design and built a second component that met exact requirements.

On board a submarine, a keyboard video mouse switch had a high failure rate due to a substandard button design. Two sets of four buttons continuously broke under daily use on this submarine and in every common submarine radio room in the fleet. To resolve the issue, SSC Atlantic personnel reverse engineered the buttons and built them with a strengthened design using additive manufacturing (AM). After fit testing, they contracted with an outside vendor to manufacture the buttons in a large quantity using a heavy-duty polymer. Depot employees then repaired the faulty units and the enhanced buttons were installed to meet fleet requirements.

These are just a few of the ways SSC Atlantic employees leverage AM technology to save time and money throughout the engineering lifecycle from research and development through maintenance and sustainment. This innovative technique provides optimum support to the fleet by put-ting the best information warfare solutions in the hands of warfighters.

SSC Atlantic engineers and scientists use AM to enhance and sustain warfighter capabilities afloat and ashore. They design and create prototypes for new components and for replacement parts and enhance and modify existing products.

Employees continue to hone their skills by designing unique solutions to resolve critical issues that affect Sailors and those that occur during project work for numerous Navy agencies.

“Additive manufacturing further enables SSC Atlantic to improve cost, schedule and performance in delivering and sustaining solutions to the warfighter in an environment where change is constant,” said SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller. “It fundamentally changes how we think about manufacturing, enabling us to be more respon-sive and meet our commitments.”

Scientists use Additive Manufacturing

for naval warfare applications

SSC Atlantic Electronics Engineer Peyton Cavaroc in-spects a component produced with a 3D printer.



Solid 3D products result from numerous passes of layers of material continuously dispersed across the designated area on the build bed. Infilled 3D-printed products have various patterns printed inside, such as honeycombs or triangles. Infill is created by printing a layer of plastic, then inserting a layer of air. Alternating layers of plastic and air result in open spaces in various patterns. The percentage of infill af-fects product weight, strength and print time; infill can also be used for decorative purposes. Generally, the higher the percentage of infill, the stronger the product is.

Handles, knobs and other appendages can be included in the basic design, eliminating the need to build them separately and connect them after the product is complete.

Although AM can take hours, or even a week, to build a product, it is much faster than researching commercial product availability, creating and submitting contracting documents, soliciting bids, selecting a vendor, sending specs to a manufacturer and waiting for the product to arrive. It is also immensely cheaper.Modifications and rework

If products created using traditional manufacturing are not exactly the right form, fit and function, the design must be altered and updated drawings and contracting modification documents are sent to the manufacturer, who must create a new product or modify the existing product. The process may need to be repeated several times before the product is fully functional, and each modification costs time and money.

AM allows for design modification, editing of software drawings and on-site building of modified products at a tremendously lower cost and in less time. New products and

replacement parts, often re-engineered to eliminate flaws, increase robustness and reduce the number of connecting pieces, are generally created from low-cost durable plastics. Other materials, such as steel, titanium, bronze, brass, silver, gold, aluminum, wax, metal-infused plastic and rubberized plastic, can also be used as needed. Research and development

SSC Atlantic’s science and technology (S&T) profes-sionals continuously strive to develop innovative products to support the warfighter and meet customer requirements. Using AM technology, a prototype of the product can be built once the design is conceptualized and tested to ensure it meets all constraints. Additional runs allow the design to be refined and improved.

In addition to producing an energy harvesting support component, S&T employees also developed an idea for a spherical-shaped intelligence and surveillance product. They designed the product in two interconnecting pieces, built it in a 3D printer and placed an embedded system with sensors inside. Providing a prototype to military sponsors is immeasurably more effective than presenting a white paper.Pre-production

AM has also enhanced capabilities in the pre-production phase, which starts with identifying a need for a product and generally ends with creation of a prototype.

SSC Atlantic pre-production employees designed and built an AM prototype of a rack required by a customer to hold an intercom component. Numerous design iterations

SSC Atlantic employee Josh Heller, left, reviews computer-aided design (CAD) software created for additive manu-facturing, while Ryan Wilhite verifies the printer is properly calibrated.




were built due to changing requirements and the final ver-sion of the rack was installed to verify form and fit. Product specifications were sent to a vendor and the racks were pro-duced in large quantities, saving a considerable amount of time and money on prototyping. This flexibility would not have been possible with traditional manufacturing methods due to metal fabrication lead times.

When employees integrate command, control, commu-nication, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnais-sance (C4ISR) equipment in military land vehicles, it often involves designing mounting solutions to hold sensitive equipment in place. The team was tasked with designing a bracket to secure cryptographic equipment in a vehicle. However, crypto equipment has security sensibilities and can only be used in a secure lab or signed out for use under secure conditions.

The team’s solution was to use AM to design and build a full-sized plastic replica of the crypto equipment exterior and to design and build the bracket to hold it. They were able to test form and fit, make necessary modifications and complete the project without delay in an open environment.

In other situations, the team must design mounting so-lutions for commercial off-the-shelf products that are not available due to vendor back orders. The team requests a CAD model of the product from the vendor to determine the size, weight, connection layout and mounting interface patterns. They can then build a full-sized replica to design and build the mount required before the product arrives.

Pre-production employees built and use a system inte-grated lab (SIL) to analyze and test system equipment for

the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Because components have exposed electrical contacts, the team used AM to design and build a 3D safety cover to protect technicians and opera-tors from electrical shocks when reaching around the SIL components. This proved to be an inexpensive solution to a potentially dangerous situation. Production

During the production stage, when raw materials are transformed into a product, SSC Atlantic employees were tasked to design and create a protective case for a specific personal computer. The original case contained 13 intercon-necting pieces. The team created a 3D scale model of a case from rugged plastic and designed a hooked Plexiglas top and bottom for it. After the customer approved it, they created a full-sized model built with only two pieces, instead of 13, for approximately $30.

On another occasion, employees needed to improve an existing metal cable support bracket attached to the back of a piece of submarine equipment. The cables continuously sagged and caught on a nearby alert panel, disconnecting the power or damaging the intricate cable assembly. An en-hanced design was drawn on a napkin in 30 minutes, input into CAD software in an hour, printed on rugged plastic in a 3D printer in 48 minutes, and fitted and tested with the equipment in 20 minutes. The resulting product confirmed the solution and led to revisions to the metal bracket.Maintenance and sustainment

SSC Atlantic operates a maintenance depot where em-ployees repair current and obsolete circuit boards and equip-

Above, SSC Atlantic employee Hunter Smith compares a 3D printed part with the CAD design. At right, SSC Atlantic employee Lucas Powell removes a finished part from a 3D printer.

Continued from previous pageAdditive Manufacturing


ment used by the fleet and other Navy entities. Maintaining and sustaining equipment entails a considerable amount of reverse engineering. Because repair and maintenance work often uncovers product flaws, AM technology is extremely helpful in duplicating and modifying products to enhance function. Employees can hand scan an object to generate continuous images or scan it on a rotating bed, which creates a software design for that item.

As part of one project, depot employees were charged to replicate a failed power supply on an obsolete product with components covered in tacky plastic. To buy a comparable new product required a minimum purchase of 10 items at $2,000 each. Rather than incur a $20,000 expense, they painstakingly peeled the plastic potting away with tweezers, redesigned the object and printed new parts on a 3D printer. They replaced more than 100 components in the product and the modified power supply has never failed.

By combining the expertise of its workforce and AM capabilities, SSC Atlantic continues to move to the next level of repair and redesign needed to keep Navy systems functioning. Employees are creating rapid prototypes of innovative new products, duplicating existing products inexpensively and enhancing existing design quickly and easily. By building lighter, cheaper and more effective parts to replace those that are no longer commercially available, SSC Atlantic is putting information warfare solutions in the hands of warfighters quickly, creatively and cost effectively.

Enables rapid prototypingDuring the research and development (R&D) phase,

scientists invent products and use AM to create pro-totypes that result in creative, practical solutions. AM technology makes the follow-through for “thinking outside the box” a reality and enables rapid prototyping. Saves time, reduces costs

It eliminates a month or more of standard contracting processes required to determine whether commercial off-the-shelf items are available, identify manufactur-ers, solicit bids, select the vendor, etc. It also eliminates the (often high) cost of buying single items from ven-dors, if the products are available.Compensates for solutions not commercially avail-able.

Many products required for solutions are not avail-able to purchase commercially. AM provides the ability to create in-house prototypes. Allows iterative modifications

If the product doesn’t perform or fit exactly as required, the design can be modified and a new AM product created. This may be repeated again and again until the form, fit and function are perfect.Enables customized sizing

Cases, covers and other containers designed to hold or organize cables and other materials installed on Navy vessels are often available commercially only in a larger size than required. AM provides the ability to create customized products that are the exact fit. Because space is at a premium on ships and submarines, the ability to create containers the exact size needed – and no larger – is a real advantage.Reduces weight

Products produced from plastic are much lighter than those made from metal or heavier materials. While size is an important element of shipboard or backpack-carried products, weight is also critical. Enables scale models

AM prototypes can be created to scale or reduced in scale for convenience and to achieve material cost savings. Reduces dependence on vendors who sell or manu-facture required standard or custom products

For more information contact Steve Lariviere at (843) 218-4140.

AM use in the engineering cycleat SSC Atlantic

SSC Atlantic employee Paul Lataille fit tests network cable adapters in a 3D printed rack-mount patch panel.


Leading the Navy in autonomyBy Maison Piedfort

SSC Atlantic Public AffairsOperating a drone, more technically

known as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), safely in the air is no easy feat — but it takes even more planning and ground support to operate a swarm of 30 UAVs.

That’s what a team of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) at SSC Atlantic, led by Brad Knaus, is tasked with. Since its inception in 2010, the SSC Atlantic Unmanned Systems Research (SAU-SR) Range team has worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to get autonomous technology in the hands of warfight-ers. Most recently, that autonomy has taken the shape of a fleet of dozens of remote-controlled drones.

“We’re exploring the capabilities of unmanned systems and the potential threats to the warfighter,” said Knaus when asked to describe his team’s core mission. But exactly what are unmanned systems, what does “swarm-ing” entail and how can they thwart

foreign threats to the warfighter? Unmanned aerial, ground and un-

derwater vehicles have been used for intelligence, surveillance, and recon-naissance (ISR) missions for more than a decade, but not without a hu-man operator at the helm, guiding the vehicle’s every move from the control room. UAVs are particularly useful for giving troops “an eye in the sky” and delivering payloads. Until recently, per-forming tasks like these with a single drone required an operator.

What makes the SAUSR Range team’s work different is there is no need for a one-to-one drone-to-operator ratio: there are dozens, or a “swarm,” of them per pilot, and that pilot’s primary role is backup support.

“For the last two years we’ve fo-cused a lot on the swarming aspect of drones, so we’re trying to see how a single operator can operate multiple UAVs simultaneously and what sort of strategic benefits that can bring the warfighter versus the standard one per-son per asset model,” said D.J. Tyree,

Above, SSC Atlantic’s Josh Carter installs the flight computer on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Below, left, Chad Sullivan places a UAV into a protective storage rack.



software developer for the team. Tyree likes to explain drone swarms

in the context of basketball: “Imagine you’re playing one on five. What can you do when you’re one guy, one asset, going up against five, or 50, or 100? You’ve got to increase your number of assets without increasing manpower. That’s where swarming comes in.”

Swarming capability means getting a flock of drones up into the air that can act autonomously and as a team to carry out a preprogrammed mission — but with one or two pilots instead of 50. It’s a feat that requires a highly-skilled, multifaceted team of engineers and scientists: Brad Knaus, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) SME; D.J. Tyree, software developer; Josh Carter, software developer; and Chad Sullivan, mechanical engineer. Together they’re working hard to keep the Navy on the forefront of drone swarm technology.

Knaus called enemy drone swarm-ing one of the biggest emerging threats to the warfighter before pointing out the potential for a homeland threat as well, which is why SSC Atlantic staying on the forefront of drone swarm technol-ogy is so crucial. “By exploring that threat, I think we can all get a better understanding of how to combat it. It’s the next frontier for the warfighter,” said Knaus.

There are tactical advantages to using unmanned drone swarms. It’s more cost-effective, especially when compared to some popular UAV mod-els that cost upwards of $25,000 per asset for just the hardware. It’s much cheaper and more logistically agile to use a lighter-weight drone system flexible enough for rapid prototyping.

“As these drones become more and more commercially available, the costs are going to be driven down,” said Carter. “So instead of spending $100,000 on one UAV to send up for surveillance information, you can send up drones that cost a few hundred dol-lars and get the same information.”

Scalability is another big advan-tage in using unmanned systems over manned ones. Scaling up the number of assets in the air — without having

to increase the number of bodies on the ground — keeps risk to the warfighter low. And SSC Atlantic is uniquely ca-pable of doing the research that’ll drive down costs and improve scalability.

Carter pointed out that, while DAR-PA originally played a key role in kicking off the drone swarm project, SSC Atlantic has given them the sup-port they need to continue innovating and working to get this technology in the hands of the warfighter. Internal funding through the Navy Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) fund-ing program is what has made the de-velopment of this technology possible. “We’re a good facilitator for special projects like this because you need the unique capabilities we have here,” Carter said. It’s capabilities like these that help SSC Atlantic hone in on its focus on autonomy and cybersecurity.

“Autonomy is 85 percent of this. And cybersecurity with this technology presents a whole new challenge: we must learn how to secure these sys-tems from the Red Team,” said Knaus, referring to SSC Atlantic’s team of “hackers” who aim to infiltrate security systems to uncover problem areas.

The team’s work currently focuses on integrating a heterogeneous swarm of UASs into the USMC Tactical Train-

ing Exercise Control Group (TTECG) Integrated Training Exercises (ITX). During these quarterly exercises, Knaus and the team are exposing Operational Forces (OPFOR) to the capabilities and threats that a swarm of UASs can present to the warfighter.

According to Tyree, building rela-tionships directly with the warfighter has been indispensable in his team’s quest to build the best, most user-friendly swarm of drones. “The ITX events are their last stop before being

Above, from left, Brad Knaus, Richard Kelly, Josh Carter, Chad Sullivan and D.J. Tyree prepare a “swarm” of UAVs for a practice mission at the SSC Atlantic Unmanned Systems Research (SAUSR) Range. Below, Knaus makes final adjustments on a UAV.

Continued on page 29

Photo by Tom Glaab


SSC Atlantic is integrating White House Communications Agency (WHCA) vehicles with Command, Control, Com-munications and Computers (C4) equipment that enables communications and other capabilities that have not existed heretofore for the WHCA.

The effort is similar to SSC Atlantic’s Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle integration program, which saw the integration of more than 30,000 vehicles with lifesaving electronics equipment. This project, though on a smaller scale of 17 vehicles, is equally important to the safety of the chief executive and others working in the White House.

SSC Atlantic’s WHCA Mobile Communications Vehicle (MCV) Project team from the Force Protection Solutions Division’s Presidential/Joint Systems and Applications IPT celebrated the Oct. 13 ribbon cutting on Roadrunner Gen 2, the next-generation and newest addition to the Presidential Mobile Communications Fleet.

The ceremony at WHCA Headquarters, Joint Base Ana-costia-Bolling, Maryland, was the culmination of the SSC Atlantic team’s six-year effort to lead the design, engineering and implementation of the communications architecture suite

and C4 platform integration for MCV, the primary commu-nications hub of the Presidential motorcade.

SPAWARSYSCOM Commander Rear Adm. C.D. Becker was on hand for the ribbon cutting, along with SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller and Shore C2ISR and Integration Department Head Jacqueline Goff.

The next-generation MCV utilizes the latest technology to provide instantaneous voice and five-minute record com-munications to the President worldwide. MCV ensures the President has the ability to communicate anywhere, anytime, by any means in the world.

The cutting-edge computing, integrated network, radio communications, and unified voice communications technol-ogy and capabilities the new MCV provides are essential to the President, to national security and to WHCA.

Teamwork and dedication were the foundation for the successful delivery of MCV #1 and ongoing engineering efforts for the remaining 16 vehicles, which are scheduled to be completed by June 2018.

Team members were committed to designing and engi-neering a state-of-the-art communications platform. They

SPAWAR officials on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new MCV are. from left, WHCA MCV Project team members Michael Babich, Steven Koch, Charles “Chuck” Pendergast, Peter Mulvey, Steven Burchette, 52500 Competency Manager David Hatcher, Force Protection Solutions Division Head Ed Layo, Shore C2ISR and Integra-tion Department Head Jacqueline Goff, WHCA MCV Project team Lead Jessica Barron, SPAWAR Commander Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, WHCA MCV Project team member Ian Gulipardo-Thompson, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller, WHCA MCV Project team members Ryan Price, Dr. David Kappel and Jeffery “Scotty” Hoover.

POTUS comms anywhere, anytimeNext-generation MCV delivered


employed rigorous engineering and project management discipline to meet approximately 670 WHCA requirements and over 200 engineering changes following the initial de-livery of a prototype vehicle.

Despite numerous challenges and the complexities of the project, the team executed well-planned acquisition and risk mitigation strategies, conducted the effort as an Acquisition Category (ACAT) III-like program, and established trust and productive relationships with numerous external entities to achieve a successful, cross-functional collaborative environ-ment. The team’s efforts resulted in the on-schedule delivery of a modular, flexible communications platform and vehicle that met or exceeded the requirements set by WHCA.

In addition to WHCA MCV Project Lead Jessica Barron and Dr. David Kappel, the WHCA MCV Project team’s Cus-tomer Advocate and Lead Technical Advisor, the government members of the WHCA MCV Project team are Steven E. Burchette, Chief Engineer (55250); Ryan S. Price, COR and Lead Systems Engineer (52510); Michael T. Babich, Fleet Manager/Vehicle Platform SME (52510); Charles “Chuck” A. Pendergast, Quality Assurance Lead (47220); Jennifer N. Jones, Logistics Lead (43330); Steven A. Koch, Network Engineer (55150); Jeffery “Scotty” S. Hoover, Mechanical Engineer/Configuration Manager (52510); Ian F. Gulipardo-Thompson, Electrical Engineer/Testing Team Lead (52510); and Peter J. Mulvey, Electrical Engineer 52510).

WHCA MCV Project team members pose for an official photo with the MCV in Charleston last August.

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller chats with Electronics Technician 1st Class Roberto Acevedo, mobile communications technician for MCV #1, during the ceremony Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Maryland.



Hubbard’s life-changing missionFor most people, a trip to the Caribbean is a chance to

enjoy beautiful island scenery and exotic cuisine, to forget about their worries and create memories that will last a life-time. For SSC Atlantic’s Anone Hubbard, a 30-day mission to St. Croix after Hurricanes Irma and Maria offered none of the usual creature comforts, but it was still an experience he’ll never forget.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria both hit the U.S. Virgin Is-lands in September 2017 as rare Category 5 storms. When the state of Mississippi was tasked with sending National Guard personnel to St. Croix and St. Thomas for hurricane relief, Hubbard was called up.

An employee relations specialist at SSC Atlantic, the Mendenhall, Mississippi native and Tougaloo College gradu-ate served six years as a reservist, with active duty tours in Germany, Kosovo, Iraq and Kuwait. Now a National Guards-man with the Mississippi Army National Guard’s 1st 185th Aviation Battalion, he has risen to the rank of captain (0-3).

When they got the call, Hubbard and his 11 soldiers joined the 298th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and along with 100 other soldiers boarded an Air Force C-130 in Sa-vannah, Georgia for the four-hour flight to St. Croix. They arrived on the island at night ... in total darkness. “There was no power and no street lights,” Hubbard said. “We could not see much, and what we could see was destroyed.”

They slept on cots that night, and the next day the scope of the devastation on the island set in for Hubbard and his team. “Trees, light poles, traffic signals and power lines were down everywhere, blocking many of the roads. Many of the buildings had no roofs or windows at all, but just about every building had some extent of roof or window damage,” Hubbard said. The only structures that still had roofs intact

were those that had been built to higher standards after Hur-ricane Hugo, he added.

While much needed supplies like food, water and tarps to cover homes were coming into the island by air and sea, distribution of these items to the people who needed them was problematic since many roads were impassable and most vehicles had been damaged. So Hubbard and his team concentrated on logistical support, manning a staging base for supplies that came off aircraft and ships, then tracking those supplies, loading them on Army vehicles, taking them to distribution points and handing them out to the islanders.

“We were giving out MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), bottled water, tarps and other supplies. It was really hot and muggy, and it was still raining a lot. Every new rainfall flooded roads and the mosquitoes were out of control,” Hubbard said. “Given all that, I was really amazed by the people. They were just so thankful. They had no clean water; they had to use bottled water for cooking, drinking and bathing. It could be a family of five or six, and all they could get was a case of water, but they were just so thankful,” he added.

Hubbard and his team worked 14-hour days, leaving ev-ery morning when it was dark and returning at night when it was dark. Besides delivering supplies they repaired vehicles, flying in parts and entire engines to the island from Missis-sippi. “We had the manpower and expertise to do those kind of repairs,” Hubbard said, adding that they also left behind standard Army equipment that anyone could operate, like forklifts, generators and vehicles.

They worked with the Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) and Virgin Islands National Guard. Communication was a major

Above, National Guard Capt. Anone Hubbard briefs his troops before deploying to St. Croix. At right, Hubbard at SSC Atlantic’s Bldg. 3147.


Photo provided


issue since cell phone towers were out. AT&T sent 30 genera-tors to the island to power the towers. Retired San Antonio Spur Tim Duncan, who was born on St. Croix, brought in truckloads of supplies, food and water. Hubbard said it was gratifying to see the different agencies and personalities working together and to be a part of that team.

He experienced some culture shock as well. Besides hav-ing chickens, pigs and other farm animals running around everywhere, Hubbard learned that “island time” is a real thing. “They are definitely not in a hurry to get anywhere,” he said. “Their thinking is, whatever it is that’s going on, it will still be going on when they get there.” Another differ-ence was that they drive on the “wrong” side of the road, by American mainland standards, which Hubbard said made left turns very interesting. The beauty of the island and its crystal clear waters was still breathtaking despite the wide-spread devastation. The food was wonderful, he said, with lots of small mom and pop restaurants. His favorite was a spot called The Chicken Shack, which was indeed a shack, but with amazing food. “I will never forget that place,” Hubbard said.

But what affected him most, Hubbard said, was the people. “There was all of this destruction and misfortune, and it just seemed to bring out the best in them,” he said of the islanders. “They were just so resilient and so apprecia-tive. They never came across as depressed or feeling sorry for themselves or frantic about the situation. It was just like, ‘We’ll rebuild.’ They were so grateful for our help. We would give them water, and they would thank us with tears in their eyes and say, ‘Come eat with us.’

“The way they treated each other, the way they took care of each other, it was really great to see. People who lost ev-erything would be helping their neighbors. Money, power, success … they want to work and to have those things, but they are not selfish. You would see more of that attitude on the island. It’s just different,” he added. And, Hubbard said, it made him see things in a totally different way.

As an employee relations specialist at SSC Atlantic’s Charleston campus, he is in “the people business.” He helps manage relationships between employees and supervisors, ensuring the work environment is positive. “That’s what I love about HR and employee relations: it’s a ‘people first’ business. It’s about protecting the investment that the gov-ernment has made in each employee, and removing barriers between supervisors and employees. When you can do that, you feel like you really made a difference,” he said.

His experience in the Virgin Islands gave him newfound insights about people and making a difference. Hubbard wishes everyone could have the experience he had in St. Croix. “I didn’t know these people, but I could see that they were suffering. It gives you a different perspective that is very powerful. When you experience that, you can’t help but start rearranging what’s important to you,” he said. “It makes you different.”


Above, the historic square in the city of Fredericksted was severely damaged when Hurricane Maria hit St. Croix. Below, residents navigate around downed telephone poles and trees after the storm.

Destruction on St. Croix after Hurricanes Maria and Irma.

CNN.com photo

abcnews.com photo

Foxnews.com photo


Agility, innovation, efficiency

By Maison PiedfortSSC Atlantic Public Affairs

It takes flexibility, innovation and efficiency to put the best information warfare products in the hands of warfight-ers. Small business partnerships play a big role in meeting these needs at SSC Atlantic.

This is what drives SSC Atlantic’s Office of Small Busi-ness Programs (OSBP) to meet, and usually exceed, a goal of awarding at least 32 percent of all total eligible obligated dollars on prime contracts to small business concerns each year.

According to Robin Rourk, deputy director, OSBP SSC Atlantic, small business partnerships play a crucial role in staying agile enough to support the warfighter mission.

“Typically our small business partners are more inno-vative and flexible, and are more focused on meeting our warfighter mission,” Rourk said. “Helping the warfighter – that’s their passion.”

SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller agrees. “Small business partnerships are key in our mission to stay on the forefront of delivering the best [command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] solutions to our nation’s warfighters,” said Miller.

The purpose of the small business program is to set aside certain acquisitions exclusively for small business participation to permit a fair opportunity to compete for government contract dollars. Under the Small Business Act, the Department of Defense (DoD) has statutory targets, and acquisition agencies like SSC Atlantic have proposed targets for a percentage of all eligible obligated dollars on prime contracts awarded to small business concerns.

SSC Atlantic’s OSBP achieves these targets by cultivating relationships through clear and transparent communication with small businesses looking to win government contracts. SSC Atlantic also facilitates networking and training through their quarterly Small Business and Industry Outreach Initia-tive (SBIOI) Symposiums in Charleston, South Carolina.

“The first thing I say to small business at these gatherings is, ‘We can’t do it without you!’ These are great opportuni-ties for industry to network with other small businesses in a neutral, non-competitive environment,” said Miller.

What makes SSC Atlantic so adept at meeting their out-reach goals and facilitating small business growth? Rourk attributes much of the OSBP’s success to the robustness of its outreach events. “Our quarterly small business outreach is specific to SSC Atlantic and specific to contract opportuni-ties. We host monthly industry luncheons with local nonprof-its. We have quarterly technical exchanges, which include a panel discussion and one-on-one sessions,” said Rourk.

Ida Lirette is the Associate Deputy Director of OSBP SSC Atlantic, supporting small business efforts in New Orleans. “The OSBP in New Orleans also meets on demand with small businesses in the Gulf Coast region to counsel them on how to do business with SSC Atlantic and where we post all our information,” Rourk added.

These outreach programs and the wealth of information they provide are no doubt major contributing factors in the OSBP exceeding its small business award targets for the past five years. The percentage of total available contract dollars awarded to small business continues to increase: 35 percent in 2015, 38 percent in 2016 and 41 percent in 2017. Still, for the small business, navigating through the government acquisition process can present roadblocks.

“A lot of small businesses will come to me and say, ‘I don’t have any past performance, I don’t have any experi-ence.’ They feel like they can really make a difference, yet they don’t know how to get started because past performance is a factor for winning contracts,” Rourk said.

When asked how she advises small businesses to work

SSC Atlantic harnesses the power of small business to enable the warfighter

SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller discusses recent center achievements during a CDCA quarterly Small Business and Industry Outreach Initiative (SBIOI) Symposium.



around this challenge, Rourk says her number one recom-mendation is to get in touch with an experienced company and work with them as a subcontractor. “We encourage them to attend a quarterly outreach event and network with a company that understands our model. For those new en-trants, we encourage them to build relationships through a subcontract,” she said.

Another way to stand out as a young small business ca-pable of taking on government contracts is to hone in on a niche. It’s small, specialized firms like these that help SSC Atlantic succeed in its technical growth areas like cyber, cloud computing and data science analytics. Rourk recounts one of the OSBP’s biggest success stories, a woman-owned, small, disadvantaged business that became a niche-based manufac-turer specializing in supporting our Marine Corps division.

“They were awarded an 8(a) contract through the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program. This contract en-abled them to grow over the years and obtain other DoD contracts. It’s rewarding to watch that growth,” said Rourk. Mutually beneficial relationships like these are key for en-abling SSC Atlantic to provide better information warfare solutions to the warfighter.

SPAWAR Systems Command (SPAWARSYSCOM) won the DoD’s Verdure Award for its efforts to promote small businesses in fiscal year 2015. The Verdure Award is a part of the DoD’s Vanguard Awards Program, which recognizes the exemplary contributions of small business professionals or members of acquisition teams that influence small business

participation in defense procurement. SPAWARSYSCOM’s OSBP was also awarded the Department of the Navy Sec-retary’s Cup in 2017 for its contributions to the Navy’s small business mission.

But an award-winning small business program is not possible without executive support. Rourk attributes the OSBP’s success in hitting small business targets to leader-ship buy-in.

“With the commanding officer and executive and deputy executive directors emphasizing our mission internally and externally, publishing articles, speaking at quarterly events and luncheons, and supporting the Contracts Industry Coun-cil, it’s clear we have leadership’s full support,” she said. “And it’s this leadership support that sets us up to succeed.”

Miller’s support is highly visible at all SSC Atlantic sites through his appearances at outreach events or his blog posts on the benefits of working with small business.

“At end of the day, we are looking for partnerships that help us promote and recognize innovative ideas and translate them into information warfare solutions for our warfighters. What we need from industry is what small business gives us: agility, efficiency and innovation,” Miller said. “Together, we form an amazing team.”

For industry representatives interested in partnering with SSC Atlantic, a current, detailed contracts listing is posted at http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Atlantic/Pages/Home.aspx. SSC Atlantic’s E-Commerce portal can be found at https://e-commerce.sscno.nmci.navy.mil.

Deputy Director for SSC Atlantic’s Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) Robin Rourk (2nd from left), chats with attendees at a recent Charleston Defense Contractors Association-sponsored quarterly Small Business and Industry Outreach Initiative (SBIOI) Symposium. Small business partnerships play a crucial role in SSC Atlantic’s agile and innovative support of warfighter missions.



SSC Atlantic is focused on collaborating with industry to deliver information warfare capabilities to the fleet with increased speed and effectiveness. At the 11th annual Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA) De-fense Summit, held Dec. 5 through 8 in Charleston, SSC At-lantic and SPAWARSYSCOM leaders highlighted initiatives

that are meeting these goals.

Keynote ad-dresses, panels, technical track discussions and exhibits featured SSC Atlant ic employees and center programs involving C4I, cyber forensics, cybersecuri ty and system de-velopment, soft-ware def ined networks and

transitioning sci-ence and technol-

11th annual CDCA Summitogy investments to the battlefield for Marines.

The CDCA Defense Summit’s theme was “Powered by Technology, Energized with Community,” highlighting the collaborative spirit and networking opportunities of the de-fense/contractor community. The summit agenda included flag officers and senior civilian leaders from the National Security Agency, U.S. Marine Corps, Hewlett Packard Enter-prises, U.S. Secret Service, Microsoft Services, The Citadel, Medical University of S.C., and Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS).

SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller welcomed the more than 1,200 attendees on the first day of the conference and showed a short video highlighting the center’s accomplishments during 2017, including 1,297 C4ISR installations, 5,930 casualty reports (equipment need-ing repair), 77,745 incident tickets, 6,130 contract actions, 1.6B contract dollars obligated, 94 robotics teams sponsored, 44,500 student contacts and more than 17,000 volunteer hours expended by SSC Atlantic employees.

SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller was a key-note speaker later that morning, discussing the accelerated pace of technology and the strategic transition point our na-tion now faces. “After more than a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are beginning to reset our military to focus on the threats and opportunities that will define our future,”

SSC Atlantic Deputy Executive Director Bill Deligne kicks off the Small Business and Industry Outreach Initiative.

Collaborating to streamline capabilities

CDCA Defense Summit attendees gather around the SSC Atlantic exhibit for networking opportunities and to learn more about center capabilities.


Miller said. “Meanwhile our adversaries have been adopt-ing and modernizing for the future operating environment.”

In addition to building key technical capabilities at SSC Atlantic and partnering with industry, Miller said there is a need to focus on the speed of decision making, and making speed a key performance parameter in center operations.

Miller said that artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data represent the next big revolution. Using the example of Stan-ford University computer scientists who created an algorithm that processes visual data to diagnose melanoma, Miller said AI is the next big game changer in the C4ISR realm. Government and industry collaboration will be required to develop warfighting applications in this area, he added.

In a presentation Dec. 7, the commander of SPAWAR Systems Command, Rear Adm. Christian “Boris” Becker, discussed where SPAWAR is headed in the next decade and the critical role industry partners will continue to play. While SPAWAR’s vision remains as valid as it was three years ago, within the context of the strategic landscape, there is an urgent need to counter the threat of diverse adversaries who are rapidly evolving new capabilities, he said.

“Our vision stresses urgency, streamlining and capabili-ties that are designed to be easily upgradable and always

current,” the admiral said, adding that SPAWAR’s industry partnerships offer value for the warfighter and taxpayer, leveraging the strength of large business capacity and small business agility and innovation. “We need to think like one team to get this right,” Becker said.

On the last day of the conference, SSC Atlantic’s Con-tracting Department representatives were on hand for the CDCA’s 46th Small Business and Industry Outreach Initia-tive (SBIOI). Bill Deligne, Deputy Executive Director of SSC Atlantic, kicked off the SBIOI with an update on key priorities and initiatives within the command.

Steve Harnig, SSC Atlantic Contract Competency Lead, and members of his team provided updates on contract metrics and opportunities. He also presented contract-related workshops on doing business with SPAWAR, small business strategies, proposal evaluation processes and other informa-tion useful to prospective industry partners.

Above, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Hell-er welcomes summit attendees. Above right, Chris Miller delivers a keynote address on the first day of the summit. Below right, SPAWARSYSCOM Commander Rear Adm. Christian Becker discusses SPAWAR in the next decade.



By Jerry SekerakSSC Atlantic Public Affairs

SSC Atlantic opened a new Network Integration and Engineering Facility (NIEF) Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) Pre-Installation, Test-ing and Checkout (PITCO) Laboratory on Naval Station Norfolk March 8.

This facility will strengthen the Navy’s efforts as it continues to build Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Intelligence (C4I) capabilities afloat and ashore.

The NIEF is the new home of SSC Atlantic’s primary CANES pre-installation and application integration. CANES is the Program of Record (POR) system fielded on U.S. Navy ships, submarines and shore sites.

These systems give the warfighter a single system with multiple enclaves (NIPR, SIPR, Secret Releasable and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI)) in a scalable network system capable of intra-ship and off-ship Internet Protocol (IP)-based capability.

This capability includes network services such as email and web-browsing, as well as hosting multiple unclassi-fied and classified administrative, supply and warfighting capabilities.

The facility provides full capability, power and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) to conduct four simultaneous CANES initial pre-installation tasks, with capacity to simultaneously build up to two Force Level

Network Integration & Engineering Facility

and two Unit Level systems totaling more than 200 racks, including all associated peripheral provisioning.

The NIEF is uniquely flexible, with power bus bars that can be reconfigured to support different mixes of Force Level, Unit Level, and Tech Refresh configurations. The design supports hardware Post-Production Modifications with workspace, software pre-load, Application Integration (AI), and the 440/3phase power requirement for CANES Hardware 1.2.

NIEF Atlantic consists of four laboratories in Building V-53, significantly increasing CANES integration and engi-neering capacity from the previous commercial facility. This increases capacity for initial system builds and tech refresh, and supports the FY-18-21 fielding plan.

The NIEF Atlantic PITCO team performs all logistics, Government Acceptance Testing, Post-Production Modi-fications, and initial hardware and software configurations on bare metal systems delivered from vendors building CANES ship sets from the Technical Data Packages (TDPs). The team’s initial pre-installation effort is vital to ensure maximum activities are conducted at the shore site prior to shipboard installation. This environment provides an op-portunity for applications to be preloaded in a stable shore environment that significantly reduces the time required for shipboard installation.

PITCO provides direct feedback, redlines and improve-ments to CANES engineering which allows timely fixes to

Enabling CANES installations

From left, Mike Hunt, SYN-CON project manager; Dr. Robert King, NIEF-Atlan-tic Technical Lead; Na-than Conner, SSC Atlantic Hampton Roads Facilities Engineer; Scott Turner, SYNCON vice president; Richard Jeske, SYNCON superintendent; and Wal-ter “Bo” Abbott, SYNCON superintendent pose for a group photo inside the new Network Integration and Engineering Facil-ity (NIEF) Pre-installation, Testing and Checkout (PIT-CO) Laboratory after the ribbon cutting March 8.


SSC Atlantic STEM Outreach Director Shanda Johnson was presented the prestigious South Carolina Order of the Silver Crescent Award, which recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the life and well-being of South Carolina and its people.

Johnson built SSC Atlantic’s STEM outreach pro-gram from the ground up beginning in 2009. She has grown the program to include more than 300 volun-teer SSC Atlantic employees who have reached out to more than 55,000 students in elementary, middle and high schools and magnet/progressive schools in the Charleston, Berkeley, Colleton and Dorchester 2 districts.

More than 90 FIRST LEGO robotics teams exist in area schools and are interesting students in STEM at a young age. Johnson also emphasizes cybersecu-rity in SSC Atlantic’s Outreach Program and helped to establish week-long, hands-on, interactive cyber camps at all three SSC Atlantic locations, educat-ing more than 200 students annually. SSC Atlantic’s Charleston location also hosts the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition, an intense cyber network “attack and defend” competition. For the past five years, this two-day weekend event has impacted more than 200 high school and college students each year. Additional activities include forensic challenges, curriculum de-velopment, IT Shadow Day, student/teacher shadow opportunities, career fairs, DimensionU, math and science nights and speaking engagements.


Johnson awarded S.C.Order of Silver Crescent

SSC Atlantic’s Shanda Johnson shows off the Order of the Silver Crescent Award presented to her by SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller, as she is surrounded by her family and friends.


be applied to a specific baseline prior to shipboard installa-tion. In addition, the team provides hardware and software technicians to conduct the on-ship system Technical Refresh.

NIEF Atlantic is the cornerstone of a comprehensive facil-ity and resource strategy that fully supports the increase in quantity and complexity of installs and the maintainability of CANES systems. Collocated with the majority of the Atlantic Fleet ships and submarines and the Regional Maintenance Center (RMC), NIEF Atlantic increases daily interaction with Fleet and Maintenance activities.

Sailors have the ability to participate in the pre-instal-lation and configurations of their CANES ship set at this facility. This reinforces formalized training and gives hands-on access to their new system with direct access to subject matter experts while they build and configure the multiple racks and enclaves.

“This CANES pre-installation and application facility that will help us get vital information warfare capabilities in the hands of warfighters … faster, more efficiently and more effectively,” said SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller. “Many people played key roles in bring-ing us to this moment, allowing us to leverage our technical expertise and capabilities,” he added.

From left, Jack Knight, PMW-160 CANES Deployment Asst. Program Manager; Capt. Scott Heller, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer; Charlie Adams, C4I/Fleet Readi-ness Director; and Capt. Kurt Rothenhaus, PMW-160, cut the ribbon to officially open the new NIEF Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Systems (CANES) Pre-installation, Testing and Checkout (PITCO) Laboratory on Naval Station Norfolk.

Photos by Jerry Sekerak


S

As an outreach champion, Johnson has spearheaded programs which provide opportunities to minority, disadvan-taged and underserved community students, such as Girls Day Out, hosted in Charleston for five years and recently ex-panded to Hampton Roads and New Orleans. This program has touched and influenced more than 500 rising eighth and ninth grade girls and their parents, encouraging, influencing and educating them on STEM careers.

Johnson collaborated with colleges, universities, lo-cal businesses and the mayor’s office to sponsor a “My Brother’s Keeper” weekend summer camp, and worked with community leaders and the mayor’s office to stand up a “My Brother’s Keeper Coalition” in Charleston. Johnson ensures SSC Atlantic takes advantage of the Navy’s Science

Order of the Silver Crescent Engineering Apprentice Program (SEAP), Naval Research Enterprise Intern Program NREIP and Summer Faculty Research Program (SFRP), ensuring selectees are from diverse backgrounds and that students gain exposure and experience in STEM careers.

Johnson’s devotion to increasing technical opportunities for students is both a personal and professional endeavor. SSC Atlantic and the Navy have already gained a return of their investment by hiring New Professionals who were previous participants in the STEM Outreach Program.

“Her accomplishments in this role have had a tremendous impact in the state, in the local community and on the future workforce of SSC Atlantic and our nation,” said SSC Atlan-tic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller when nominating Johnson for the award. “She is making a difference where a difference is needed,” he added.

Continued from previous page

SSC Atlantic’s Dana Tommasini, a Code 52100 supervisor in the Re-quirements and System of Systems Engineering Competency, has been selected a 2018 Forty Under 40 winner by the Charleston Regional Business Journal (CRBJ).

Since 1996, Forty Under 40 has recognized men and women under 40 years of age who stand out pro-fessionally and through community involvement. Tommasini and the 39 other selectees will be recognized in the April 16, 2018 issue of CRBJ, and at an event May 17 at Alhambra Hall in Mount Pleasant.

Tommasini is the second person at SSC Atlantic to be recognized by Forty Under 40; Executive Director Chris Miller was honored in 2011.

Tommasini supervises 23 employees and supports 18 different teams at SSC Atlantic. She was selected SSC Atlantic Supervisor of the Year in 2016, and is also chairperson of the SSC Atlantic’s Leadership Council consisting of 600 of the center’s leaders.

SSC Atlantic relies on a System of Systems Engi-neering (SoSE) and integration methodology to provide information warfare capabilities to warfighters, and this includes the planning, analyzing and integrating of dif-ferent systems to provide a capability greater than the sum of its parts. Tommasini has contributed greatly to this strategy, playing an active role in developing the

Requirements & SoSE Engineering competency within SSC Atlantic. Tommasini has worked with senior leadership to develop SoSE objec-tives for the command.

She also supports the Charleston 40 Days for Life Campaign and is a VIP Lifesaver at the American Red Cross. She is an active member of her church (Cathedral St. John the Baptist), volunteered her time to support the ReStart Conference at Seacoast Church, and sponsors a child in Mexico via the Child Fund organization.

At SSC Atlantic she is an active recruiter and member of the Job Fair Tactical Action Team, Women of the Workforce (WoW) and Model

Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Community. She actively participated in nine different Systems Engineer-ing Spotlight events, providing expert feedback into a myriad of engineering and leadership topics.

A 2001 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Tom-masini served as a nuclear Surface Warfare Officer, deploying on guided missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) and nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and qualifying as a Nuclear Engineering Officer in 2006. She obtained her master’s degree in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University in 2008.

Tommasini

Tommasini earns Forty Under 40 honor


Swarmtechnologydeployed,” said Tyree. “So it’s our job to show them what’s possible with a UAV, what to expect when they’re see-ing it in the field and what benefits it could provide them in theater.”

“Marines love it,” Knaus added. “They say it’s some of the best training they’ve had.” The team will immedi-ately be able to use what they learned working in the field with Marines on further innovation in heterogeneous swarms of unmanned systems.

“We’re getting out ahead of the game, and we’re grateful we have the tools and opportunities we need to do that,” said Knaus. Lead time between prototypes has certainly decreased since the project first kicked off two years ago, before their work space at the SAUSR range was built. “We used to work out of a trailer. We’ve come a long way since then,” Knaus said. “It just goes to show that DARPA and SSC Atlantic are invested in us.”

There’s still work to be done when it comes to minimizing the logistical work it takes before even getting a swarm of a dozen or more UAVs off the ground. “Current technology is a net re-duction of force: if you want one drone in the air, it may take 10 people on the ground supporting it,” said Sullivan. “What we’re trying to do with swarm-ing is achieve a net multiplication of force where you need less people than you have assets in the air.”

That’s what Knaus and his team continue to work on now: minimiz-ing human risk while maximizing the usefulness of swarm technology. Knaus calls this the “50,000-foot view” of the team’s mission. “The more safely and efficiently we can get these autono-mous drones up in the air, the safer our warfighters will be on the ground.”

Continued from page 17

At right, the SAUSR team watches from the ground during a recent UAV test flight.


Let the games begin!The 2017-2018 academic year FIRST

LEGO League is now underway across Charleston, Berkeley, Colleton and Dorches-ter 2 districts.

The FIRST LEGO League challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers, and with the help of SSC Atlantic volunteers and men-tors, to build, program and test an autonomous robot from LEGO materials.

At the robotics competitions the kids compete against other teams as their robots maneuver through an obstacle course.

The objective is to make children and youngsters enthusiastic about science and technology and to encourage them to solve complex tasks in a creative way.

The teams also choose and solve a real-world problem each season. For this year’s theme of hydrodynamics, the students learned all about water — how it is found, transported, used or disposed of — and presented a report on their findings.Cane Bay Middle School students react as their LEGO robot goes through

the obstacle course.

SSC Atlantic’s Karen Cooke talks to parents and kids about the upcoming robotics season during a special kick-off program held at the Charleston Aquarium October 3.


Clockwise from left, students rejoice at their obstacle course suc-cess during a robotics competition at Sum-merville High School. At a recent River Oaks Middle School competi-tion, a student makes final adjustments be-fore starting the course. Tensions are high as a Robo-Knights robot performs. Parents and family members record the action.




STEM Fest hassomething for allOne little girl learns about rocks and minerals, left, whilc another has a hair raising experience learn-ing about electricity, below, at the Charleston STEM Festival. A celebration of Science, Technology, En-gineering and Math (STEM) in the Lowcountry, the fifth annual festival was held Feb. 3 with SPAWAR-riors from SSC Atlantic’s STEM Outreach manning a booth and enjoying the festivities. The Brittlebank Park event provides opportunities for engagement and exchange between children, teens, families and local STEM professionals. More than 80 exhibitors, activities, live performances, interactive demonstra-tions and family-oriented STEM entertainment were featured at the festival.


Visitors

Rear Adm. Mark Whitney, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Direc-tor of Fleet Maintenance chats with SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller in the Executive Conference Room during the admiral’s Feb. 6 visit to Charleston. After a command overview by Heller, the admiral learned about proactive sustain-ment initiatives at the center, took part in an EDO round table discussion and toured the Multi Reconfigurable Training Sys-tem. He also learned about SSC Atlantic initiatives to improve C4I installation design and how engineers are using additive manufacturing in installation and sustainment.

SSC Atlantic Executive Director Chris Miller, left, responds to a question as, from left, SPAWARSYS-COM Executive Director Pat Sullivan, SPAWARSYSCOM Commander Rear Adm. C.D. Becker, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller and SSC Pacific Commanding Officer Capt. Mel Yokoyama confer Dec. 4 during the Joint Systems Center Review.

SPAWAR leadership meets

FFC Fleet Maintenance Director Whitney visits



Visitors

Goose Creek mayor visits SSC AtlanticMichael J. Heitzler, mayor of the city of Goose Creek, South Carolina, visited SSC Atlantic recently as part of an orientation to Joint Base Charleston tenant commands. Above, SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Hell-er and Heitzler chat during a visit to the Multi-Disciplinary

Research Center. Below, Heller welcomes the mayor at the SSC Atlantic quarterdeck. Also accompanying the mayor from Joint Base Charelston was Col. Jeff Nelson, USAF, Commander, 628th ABW, second from right; and Navy Capt. Ed Hudson, Deputy Commander, 628 ABW, right.


Visitors

Wo o d l a n d H i g h School students from Dorchester, South Carol ina, take a break for a photo op in Bldg. 187 during their Dec. 13 visit to SSC Atlantic. The Wolverines toured various labs on the campus and learned how informat ion warfare solutions are engineered for warf-ighter use.

Coast Guard Capt. Mark Gordon, commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard cutter Hamilton (WMSL 753), left, chats with SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Scott Heller during a Nov. 1 visit by Gordon and members of his crew. Also taking part in the discussion was John White, SSC Atlantic’s Coast Guard IPT lead, second from left.

WoodlandWolverineswelcomed

Coast Guard crew visits Photos by Joe Bullinger


The Final Word

What’s happening in your world that you’d like to see in The Chronicle? The power of your experiences is even greater when you take the time to share them! We look forward to reading about the great work you are doing as part of the SSC Atlantic team.

If you have a story or story idea that you’d like to see published here, send it to [email protected] or call the editor anytime at (843) 218-4973, DSN 588-4973.

The Chronicle is ac-cessible on the Internet on SPAWAR’s official U.S. Navy website at http://www.

Check out The Chronicle online; send in your storypublic.navy.mil/spawar/Atlantic/Press/Pages/default.aspx. Check out The Chronicle on the Intranet at https://blog.spawar.navy.mil/chronicle/.

Check out SSC Atlantic news on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. If you wish to become a SPAWAR

Facebook fan, visit http://www.face-book.com/spaceandnavalwar-

faresystemscommand. See us on Twitter http://twitter.com/

SPAWARHQ, You Tube www.youtube.com/teamspawar and Flickr www. flickr.com/

teamspawar.

Ready, Aim...

On their final outing before graduating Oct. 20, Mid-Career Leadership Class (MCLP) 17-1 members visited Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) Parris Island, where they got a taste of Marine recruit training, learned about values-based and ethical leadership, and had a chance to do some “target” practice.

At the Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer, members of the MCLP 17-1 cohort got a chance to shoot compressed-air-modified M-16 A2 service rifles at computer-generated bad guys in a real world scenario.

Other group outings included the Charleston County Parks and Recreation “Challenge” course, where the group made its way through the obstacle course and learned about teamwork, a shipboard tour of Norfolk Naval Station, where they learned about SSC Atlantic’s relevance to the fleet.

This six module, six-month MCLP course provides developmental and learning resources for competitively selected employees with high leadership potential. Participants develop skills outlined in the SPAWAR Atlantic Competency Development Model (CDM) and the DoD Civilian Leader Development Framework and Continuum.

Core program content is built on scientific and research-based exemplary leadership practices which address trust, communication, values and team building. A variety of traditional and non-traditional learning methods are em-ployed, including interactive lectures, guest speakers, guided


discussions and activity-based experiential learning, written and oral presentation assignments, self-directed learning, computer-based training and shadowing.

For more information contact Dave Hillman at 843-218-2240.


We are now soliciting submissions from SSC Atlantic employees for next issue’s contest.

Send your best shot to [email protected] or [email protected].

Hit us with your best shot

And the winner is...

The Chronicle Photo ContestThank you to all who submitted!


An SSC Atlantic scientist inspects an energy harvesting powered transceiver node. Additive manufacturing allows for rapid prototyping of

various case designs used to house the device as it develops over many different iterations.

Documents

Winter 2017-18 The Chronicle 1 - United States Navy · 2020-01-28 · 2 The Chronicle Winter 2017-18 Photos by Joe Bullinger VCNO Moran visits SSC Atlantic Adm. Bill Moran, Vice Chief