During the first phase of blue/green work-ups, the amphibious ready group (ARG) conducts extensive shipboard operations. Daytime operations familiarize crews with ARG ships; dozens of surface craft and aircraft make approaches to and departures from the well and flight decks. Deck landing qualifications build proficiency for aircrews from the Marine air combat element, Army and Air Force units, and the Navy helicopter detachment. Operators of various Navy and Marine Corps surface craft learn to navigate the well deck and become familiar with its peculiarities. As night falls, crews don night vision devices (NVDs). There is no moon and an overcast obscures the little available starlight. It is a low-light-level night, meaning that illumination is less than .0022 lux.
Because the ships have the latest technology in compatible night vision lighting systems and filters, the crews know that the ships' light sources will not interfere with their NVDs, causing degradation—known as "blooming effect" and "whiteout"—to an already limited field of vision. Outfitted spaces include flight and well decks, primary flight controls, flight deck controls, well deck controls, bridges, and lights and equipment in catwalks and islands. The ARG ships are certified NVD Level I, the highest degree of NVD compatibility. Except for navigation lights required by international rules of the road, none of their lighting systems will interfere with the NVDs used by aircrews, flight deck personnel, surface craft operators, and those on duty in the well deck and on the bridge.
Unfortunately, the foregoing scenario is wishful thinking. No ship in the fleet can make such a claim. Most ships have the traditional red, amber, and white lights for nighttime illumination. Today, a ship preparing for NVD operations would lower light intensities to levels imperceptible to the naked eye, put black tape over panel lights that cannot be extinguished, secure other lights and equipment (although ships' crews would rather not), and assign watches to enforce NVD lighting rules.
Night vision devices are extremely sensitive to visible light. A red indicator light on a piece of shipboard equipment might be visible to them from several hundred yards away. Lights that must stay on require NVD users to tolerate blooming effects and whiteout, and force ship personnel to develop work-around measures. In most cases, makeshift light covers, rolls of tape, and cardboard placards shield incompatible light sources. These manpower-intensive practices are cumbersome and probably unsafe.
Thus, after three decades of NVD use, ships still struggle with antiquated lighting systems when conducting NVD operations. Even the new San Antonio (LPD-17)-class amphibious ship has traditional lighting for night operations. It is time to include NVD compatibility in shipboard lighting designs.
The Need
Night vision device lighting systems fall into three broad categories. Compatible systems are those meeting all criteria of an engineering standard. Light emitted from compatible sources does not interfere with NVDs; users might not even be aware of the light's presence. Friendly lighting systems do not meet all engineering-standard criteria. Some light might be visible to the NVD user, but friendly light sources do not interfere with NVD operations or impair users. Incompatible lighting systems might not meet any criteria of an engineering standard and they interfere with NVD users. Red, amber, and white lights are prime examples of incompatible sources that degrade NVD vision and must be shielded or extinguished during NVD operations.
Aircraft have a military standard (MILSTD) for NVD-compatible lighting systems.2 Aircraft manufacturers use this engineering standard when designing cockpits. It led to fully compatible and integrated NVD cockpits in the F/A-18, MH-60S, SH-60R, and MV-22. Regrettably, there are no similar standards for shipboard lighting systems. Red, amber, and white lights remain the primary means of illuminating shipboard spaces at night.
Designing NVD-compatible lighting systems for ships is a huge engineering challenge. In an aircraft, cockpit light sources are fixed distances from the operator, light wattage and intensities are low, and aircrews use only one type of NVD. This static environment presents a less formidable design challenge. Unlike aircraft, ships have wide variations in lighting parameters. Engineers must consider large coverage areas, higher wattages and intensities, and greater distances from light sources to users. And there are many types of NVDs—i.e., flight deck personnel use an older generation than do aircrews. Because newer NVDs "see" lower light intensities than older devices, it is difficult to set shipboard light levels properly. Adjusting light intensities to satisfy one NVD user may render the devices of other personnel useless. The pilot of an aircraft on final approach may see visual landing aids clearly with NVDs, but the landing signalman, using an older device, may have few or no visual cues. On board other surface combatants, it is common to find as many as seven types of NVDs, each having unique levels of light sensitivity.
In addition, designers must consider non-NVD (unaided) users when developing shipboard NVD lighting systems. Aircraft refueling crews do not use NVDs when refueling aircraft at night, but need to see the fueling equipment and aircraft. Bridge personnel normally stand watch without NVDs and need some illumination to view charts and equipment. Chock and chain runners, aircraft maintenance personnel, well deck support personnel, and roving watches are other examples of unaided personnel who need illumination to work in NVD conditions. Light sources for unaided personnel must permit them to perform their tasks safely without interfering with NVD users. For these reasons, a completely NVD-compatible ship is difficult to design. However, an NVD-friendly ship is both possible and necessary.
Current Programs
In early 2000, both surface type commanders and the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, endorsed the updated missions need statement (MNS) for shipboard NVD lighting compatibility. It describes and justifies the need for compatible shipboard lighting based on the Defense Planning Guidance, and also covers NVDcompatible lighting requirements for aircrews, flight deck personnel, surface craft operators, and well deck support personnel. The MNS has been accepted and validated by the Chief of Naval Operations' staff (OpNav).
The Naval Air Systems Command began retrofitting primary flight control spaces (PriFly) of LHA- and LHD-class amphibious ships with a partially compatible lighting system. After a thorough ship inspection, technicians install NVD lighting kits in PriFly. Because there is no shipboard lighting MILSTD, each retrofit is unique; the matrix of lighting and equipment modifications varies from ship to ship. Although not completely compatible, the retrofits offer a friendly environment to the air officer and other PriFly personnel and allow use of NVDs without significant interference from nearby panel and equipment lights. Other spaces being considered for retrofit are flight deck control, debark control, and the bridge—although funding is not available now.
Air-capable ships, such as destroyers and LSDs, have received service changes making them partially NVD friendly. These modifications place NVD-compatible filters on the flight deck overhead floodlights and the deck surface lights along the flight deck perimeter. Line-up lights, other visual landing aids, and nearby equipment lights are not included; nor are lights in adjacent spaces, such as the helicopter recovery, assist, secure, and traverse control stations and the helicopter hangar. These changes are not perfect, but they permit aircrews and flight deck personnel to operate safely in a partially NVD-friendly environment.
Proposals
To continue the fleet's NVD evolution, programmatic changes must be made that will lay the foundation for future shipboard lighting system design and construction:
- Shipboard Lighting Standard. The most important step the Navy can take is to create a MILSTD for shipboard lighting systems. It should establish basic lighting parameters for shipboard lighting systems similar to the aircraft lighting MILSTD. While this standard need not achieve full compatibility with all aided and unaided users, it should be an acceptable lighting baseline for making ships NVD friendly.
- OpNav NVD Sponsor. Assign responsibility for NVD lighting program management and provide requisite funding levels. The need for NVD-compatible lighting affects many operating units, each having its own resource sponsor. Compatible lighting is crucial to mission performance; however, no single resource sponsor can afford to fund NVD lighting research, development, and installation adequately.
- Mission Need Statement. Future operational requirement documents (ORDs) should include elements of the NVD MNS. The use of NVDs is well documented and ORD drafters must recognize that traditional red, amber, and white lighting systems are unacceptable in NVD conditions. Shipboard equipment destined for use at night should be required to undergo NVD compatibility checks.
- Ship Lighting Retrofits. Expand the program to other spaces where NVD users work or where lighting interferes with the NVD environment. Such retrofits will provide an acceptable lighting environment for shipboard personnel and will become increasingly unnecessary as shipbuilders integrate NVD-compatible lighting systems into designs.
- Consolidate NVD Types. Minimize the types of NVDs used by the fleet. Designing lighting systems to meet optical parameters for all systems presents overwhelming problems. Reducing the number of NVD types will decrease the difficulties of developing lighting systems to meet the illumination requirements of everyone. Older devices should be phased out as soon as possible, and—wherever feasible—support personnel should be equipped with NVDs that have similar sensitivity specifications to those devices used by aircrews and surface craft operators.
Nearly all night operations involve significant NVD use. To continue installing outdated lighting systems on ships ignores the reality of operating efficiently and safely in the dark. There are many options available for achieving an NVD-friendly shipboard environment throughout the fleet. The Navy's systems commands have the expertise, technology, and experience to resolve compatibility issues. The Navy-Marine Corps team deserves much higher levels of support and funding for night vision device programs.
Commander Coyle is the chief staff officer for Commander, Helicopter Tactical Wing, U.S. Atlantic Fleet.