The Navy's Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C^sup 4^I), supported by Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems, this spring completed operational evaluation for a common submarine radio room (CSRR) on board the guided-missile submarine Ohio (SSGN-726) and the ballistic-missile boat West Virginia (SSBN-736). The CSRR is intended to provide commonality benefits including reduced development costs and flexibility for upgrades and technology enhancements for all Navy submarine classes.
The West Virginia evaluation, carried out during February and March, included an eight-day at-sea period in the Jacksonville, Florida, operating area. The Ohio tests started in January and were completed in May. The Ohio is one of four former SSBNs-the others are the Michigan, Florida, and Georgia (SSGNs-727 through -729)-to be modified as SSGNs.
The Navy in early 1995 established the need for an upgraded external communications system with high commonality to all submarine classes. Three years later, General Dynamics Electric Boat was awarded a Navy contract for work on the attack submarines Virginia (SSN-774) and Seawolf (SSN21) that included a common radio room design developed by Lockheed Martin. The C^sup 4^I PEO approved the design for installation on board the Los Angeles (SSN-688)-class attack submarines and the Ohio-class SSBNs.
John Uittenborgaard, technical director for common radio rooms at Lockheed Martin, says the Navy first sought to develop the radio architecture for the Virginia class to achieve common benefits as well as limit the number of equipment racks to nine, compared to 13 required on the Los Angeles class. The common radio room also reduces from three to one the number of required operators. Uittenborgaard adds that the common radio room initiative "is really a systems-level program, encompassing the systems architecture and engineering required, as well as the automation software and the mechanical packaging needed-this systems-level thinking provides commonality and cost savings."
He points out that the company-developed communications automation software controls all the radio components and provides the interface to the single operator, allowing the automated inputs to control all radio room functions. The automation software, he says, runs on the UYQ-70 Navy shipboard-standard workstation, based on commercially developed processor technology and fielded widely aboard Navy submarines and surface ships. Because the software is a Java-based application, it can run on any computer operating system.
Wendy Underwood, director of communications and networking for Lockheed Martin's MS2 business unit, says the company has adopted the common radio room architecture for the Navy's surface warfare community through integration on board the littoral combat ship Freedom (LCS-1), for which Lockheed Martin MS2 is prime contractor. The CSRR baselines for the sub classes and Freedom are 76 percent common, she says.
Underwood noted that the use of a common baseline has enabled the Navy and the company to easily insert technology enhancements to the CSRR automation control software. A recent block upgrade for the Seawolf class, for example, resulted in some 600 upgrades that had been identified for LCS being applied to the subs.
Sea trials for the Freedom with the CSRR installed are planned for mid-2008. The operational evaluation of the Virginia-class configuration is scheduled at about the same time. The CSRR architecture, Underwood says, also could be adopted for other Navy surface-ship classes.
Currently, the radio systems installed on board the submarines already fitted with CSRR are based on the design of the digital modular radio, or, a Navy-developed radio system that will be replaced by the AMF JTRS (airborne, maritime, and fixed-station joint tactical radio). Lockheed Martin officials say that the company has adopted the CSRR design for its candidate in the joint service competition to build the new radio system. Contract award for the new radio program, managed by a joint Air Force-Navy oversight/management team, is scheduled for November.
Mr. Walsh is a veteran reporter of Navy-Marine Corps news and former senior editor of Sea Power magazine.