U.S. Navy
Naval Aviation programs continued apace in the latter half of 2016 and into the beginning of 2017. Several cornerstone programs, such as the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and F-35B/C variants of the Joint Strike Fighter, made significant gains while moving toward initial operating capability. Other platforms and weapons, including the MH-60R/S Seahawk, EA-18G Growler, CMV-22B Osprey, AGM-88E advanced antiradiation guided missile, and AGM-158C long-range antisurface missile, continue to make incremental gains and improvements.
Last year’s review of Naval Aviation and Weapons highlighted the emergence of Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA), a system of systems that weaves together a network of platforms through the incorporation of advanced data links. Several significant milestones were met during the past year that continue to refine technical and procedural best practices for extended range cooperative targeting between air and surface platforms. One such example occurred in September, when a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B served as an elevated sensor to detect a long-range target and passed the targeting information to a ground station using Aegis Weapon System Baseline 9, which then employed a Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) to successfully intercept the target. In addition, the NIFC-CA construct also enables surface platforms to use high-quality off-board targeting data to strike other surface platforms, providing significantly expanded offensive capabilities when operating in a contested environment. Continued adherence to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson’s “high velocity learning” line of effort will ensure that NIFC-CA provides warfighters with an agile and adaptable capability well into the future.
Live-Virtual-Constructive Training
This year’s highlight is the continued implementation of the Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) road map. As the moniker implies, three major lines of effort are under way to significantly improve high-end training opportunities while reducing costs:
• Live training is a time-honored tradition and represents the status quo for naval aviation. Live training provides the most realistic scenarios, using operational equipment with fleet aviators at the controls. Several downsides exist, however, as greater employment ranges for weapon systems strain available range space and the use of fleet aircraft eats into valuable platform lifespan.
• Virtual training is the use of simulators controlled by fleet operators. Improvements to simulator fidelity and quality during the past decade have enabled more realistic training. Just 15 years ago, simulators were best used as trainers for “procedural compliance,” such as executing basic instrument flight maneuvers or emergency procedure drills. Today, improved graphics, computing power, and networking enable fleet aviators to link independent simulators to practice realistic multi-plane aerial intercepts and ground attacks.
• Newest to the scene is constructive training, the third leg of the LVC triad. Constructive training uses digital, synthetic entities to test aviators. These synthetic “injects” can be fully autonomous or be manipulated by highly trained adversary subject-matter experts, depending on scenario requirements and learning objectives.
As implied earlier, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps spend a significant amount each year to provide adversary or “red” air assets—aircraft, Sailors and Marines, flight hours, and fuel—to support required training. The LVC training aligns this into a single evolution using an “inject-to-live” approach that enables incredible training opportunities where aircrew can fight beyond their available resources. Two crews can take to the skies in F/A-18F Super Hornets while two virtual wingmen sit in simulators. The lines are transparent, as the crews in the actual aircraft “see” the simulated trainers as a part of their own flight, and the same applies to adversary aircraft and equipment.
This enables a more immersive training environment, where aircrews can react to simulated information as if actually facing it in flight: the radar-warning receiver reacts to simulated surface-to-air missile sites, the chaff and flares actually dispensed in flight can decoy a simulated missile actively tracking the fighters, and the wingmen “flying” in simulators on the ground have situational awareness to all of the above.
In short, what is in actuality only a flight of two F/A-18Fs can train and fight as if in a much larger, and much more complicated, air-to-surface battle, fighting their way through simulated front-line adversaries to strike a practice target before egressing back to the carrier strike group. This capability already is resident in today’s H10 operational flight program software load and will include even better integration with the upcoming H12 software load. Other platforms, such as the F-35B/C and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, also will be able to participate in this LVC environment, enabling aircrew to practice advanced tactics while minimizing costs, saving fuel, and preserving the life of airframes.
Despite the continued advances in simulation technologies, actual platforms and hardware are required to ensure the men and women of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are able to take the fight to the enemy where it matters, when it matters. The following is an update on platforms and weapons from the previous year.
Aircraft Carriers
Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78): A follow on to the Nimitz (CVN-68)-class, the Gerald R. Ford represents the first new carrier class to take to the seas in more than four decades. In fact, by the time this publication goes to press the CVN-78 will have accomplished both builder’s trials (a chance for the shipyard to test the vessel) and acceptance trials (when the U.S. Navy tests and accepts the ship). The Gerald R. Ford is expected to be commissioned later this summer in a pierside ceremony at Norfolk Naval Station.
Improvements from the Nimitz-class include a larger flight deck, a repositioned and smaller island, a new A1B reactor generating three times the power of the Nimitz-class’s A4W plant, an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS), and redesigned advanced arresting gear. Technological improvements in the Gerald R. Ford-class are expected to achieve a $4 billion reduction in operating costs over the course of each aircraft carrier’s lifetime, as compared to the Nimitz-class.
In 2014, problems were identified with the advanced arresting gear, resulting from premature failure of the water twister used to absorb and dissipate the energy from an aircraft catching the arresting wire across the flight deck. The water twister was redesigned, and the first aircraft arrestment featuring the new construction was successfully completed with a land-based version at Lakehurst in March 2016. Changes to the water twister on board Gerald R. Ford will occur after the ship is delivered to the Navy.
Despite its first-of-a-kind status, the electromagnetic launch system has fared better, with the first successful tests occurring in May 2015. Since then, EMALS has launched the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F/A-18E Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye from the test site in Lakehurst, albeit without the fully loaded configurations expected in combat. Another concern is the mean cycles between critical failure (MCBCF) metric, which is currently below required performance. EMALS testing will continue in 2017.
The Gerald R. Ford also incorporates two more first-in-class capabilities: the dual band radar originally built for the Zumwalt (DDG-1000)-class of guided-missile destroyers, and electrically driven advanced weapons elevators. Both technologies will require additional testing throughout 2017.
The Gerald R. Ford’s keel was laid in November 2009, the last portion of structure was installed in May 2013, and the ship was christened in November 2013. As of April 2017, construction was 99-percent complete. Delivery to the U.S. Navy was expected on April 28, with commissioning planned later this summer.
John F. Kennedy (CVN-79): Fabrication on the John F. Kennedy began in 2011, the keel was laid in August 2015, and the first phase of a two-phase delivery currently is scheduled for June 2022. The second phase of delivery, during which key combat systems will be installed to limit obsolescence, will be conducted through 2025. Based on the high cost of the dual band radar system resulting from truncation of the Zumwalt-class, the John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) will be the first aircraft carrier to use the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), saving the carrier program $180 million in the process. Currently in development, the radar will replace the SPS-48 and SPS-49 radars used by the Nimitz-class carriers. Overall, the John F. Kennedy is expected to cost approximately $1.5 billion less than the Gerald R. Ford.
Strike/Interdiction Aircraft
F-35 Lightning II: The F-35 program continued to mature rapidly throughout the year. Demonstrating the anticipated longevity required of the fifth-generation fighter, the Joint Program Office announced in early 2016 that production of the F-35 would continue through 2038 and planned operations would be extended an additional six years, from 2064 to 2070.
Underpinning the capability of the F-35’s advanced systems—everything from the AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) and AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array radar to the sensor fusion and battlespace management capabilities—is its onboard computer and software. Spanning more than eight million lines of code, four times as many as the F-22 Raptor, the current Block 3i software provides nearly 90 percent of the software required for full warfighting capability. Block 3F software will enable full warfighting capabilities and has been delayed until mid-2018. Of note, low rate initial production F-35s will require a technology refresh to use the forthcoming Block 4 software release.
The first operational F-35 deployment occurred in January 2017, when Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121’s F-35B aircraft traveled to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni, Japan. (Of note, Japan is planning to acquire 42 F-35As.) The U.S. Marine Corps intends to buy a total of 353 F-35B and 67 F-35C variants to replace the aging AV-8B Harrier and F/A-18D Hornet.
F-35C carrier-based variant: Refinements continue in the F-35C, including modifications to improve the ride quality of the aircraft during catapult launches and changes to the helmet to provide better low light capability and reduced jitter necessary for operations in the nighttime carrier environment.
Current plans include an August 2018 initial operational capability. The second F-35 Fleet Replacement Squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125) at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, recently was reestablished and received its aircraft earlier this year. Overall, the Navy plans to buy 260 “C” variants.
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: First deployed in 1999, the Super Hornet continues to receive software updates to improve its overall capabilities. H12E, the latest software upgrade, entered operational testing this past October and provides extensive air-to-air and air-to-surface improvements. A new capability called “Magic Carpet” also will accompany the planned 2017 fleet delivery of the H12E software load. Magic Carpet is the most significant change to carrier aviation in decades, providing the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G with updated heads up display symbology and new flight control laws similar to the F-35C designed to simplify aircraft carrier approaches and landings. Magic Carpet successfully completed 181 passes to the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) in 2015. Evaluation will continue until its 2017 release, bringing a cutting edge update to a 17-year-old airframe.
The long-awaited AIM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) was launched successfully for the first time from a Super Hornet on 3 April. LRASM is a precision-guided, antiship standoff missile designed to meet the need for a long-range weapon in an antiaccess/area-denial environment. Expected to have precise target discrimination, LRASM will be able to independently target a specific ship within a task group without off-board intelligence, surveillance, or reconnaissance (ISR) information. LRASM is expected to reach initial operating capability in 2019.
The AIM-120D Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), fielded in 2015, continues to receive software updates, providing significant improvements in range, probability of kill, and protection against jamming. A two-way data link, GPS-aided inertial navigation, larger no-escape envelope, and an improved high off-boresight mode are improvements that the AIM-120D provides over its predecessor, the AIM-120C.
Electronic Attack
EA-18G Growler: An airborne electronic attack platform designed to suppress an enemy’s electromagnetic systems and sensors while operating in a high threat environment, the Growler also received the H10E update in 2016, providing Joint Tactical Terminal Receiver (JTT-R) as well as enhanced combat identification and expanded jamming capabilities. The JTT-R, in development since 2009, incorporates an ultra-high frequency receiver and is designed to provide near real-time, over-the-horizon situational awareness information—such as target and blue force tracker locations—via satellite communications.
The Next Generation Jammer, developed by Raytheon, also continues to mature toward a planned 2021 initial operating capability (IOC). The Next Generation Jammer uses an active electronically scanned array radar and an advanced deception techniques generator to combine electronic warfare, communications, radar, cyber, and signals intelligence capabilities into an externally carried podded system. The preliminary design review, a critical step forward, was completed in November 2015.
The U.S. and Australian Departments of Defense are also cooperating to improve the AN/ALQ-227 communications countermeasures avionics, designed to geo-locate and jam enemy communications. Like the Next Generation Jammer, the AN/ALQ-227 improvements are planned to reach IOC in 2021.
Early Warning
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: A replacement for the venerable E-2C, the E-2D incorporates numerous improvements into an already proven carrier-based platform. The Advanced Hawkeye features a new avionics suite, including an AN/APY-9 active electronically scanned radar with mechanical rotation, new radio systems, mission computer, integrated satellite communications, flight management systems, improved engines, and a glass cockpit. The AN/APY-9, in particular, significantly enhances the E-2’s early warning capabilities with its ability to see smaller targets at greater ranges in more environments than the E-2C radar it is replacing.
The Advanced Hawkeye is a key enabler for NIFC-CA, serving as a central node to relay information between airborne platforms and surface ships, significantly expanding radar line-of-sight and weapon-employment capabilities. This concept was demonstrated when an E-2D used its radar to provide over-the-horizon targeting information to a shore-launched SM-6 Standard Missile that intercepted an overland cruise missile. The Advanced Hawkeye’s NIFC-CA capabilities will rely on the Tactical Targeting Networking Technology (TTNT), a new data link designed to increase bandwidth and range significantly.
The first operational E-2D squadron, the “Tigertails” of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 125 (VAW-125), joined Carrier Air Wing Five this winter as part of the permanently forward-deployed naval force at MCAS Iwakuni in 2017. The “Bluetails” of VAW-121 were the second squadron to transition to the E-2D. In total, the U.S. Navy plans to purchase 75 E-2Ds by 2027.
Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance
P-8A Poseidon: Designed as a replacement for the P-3C Orion, the first production P-8A Poseidon antisubmarine aircraft was delivered to the U.S. Navy in March 2012. The P-8A is primarily an antisubmarine platform but also has intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors. With a versatile internal weapons bay and external hard point capability, the P-8A can carry bombs, torpedoes, depth charges, and air-to-surface missiles.
Significant milestones achieved in the past year include the successful live-fire testing of the ATM-84 Harpoon, a version of the weapon that incorporates a telemetry package in place of a warhead, providing precise flyout information. The testing was conducted by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) during a detachment to Point Magu, California.
The P-8A also expanded its sphere of influence, deploying to the Mediterranean where it helped track a Russian Oscar II-class submarine at the end of 2016. Routine deployments continue to the Asia-Pacific, typically with one P-3C and one P-8A squadron working in tandem. P-8As have conducted freedom of navigation flights near China’s manmade islands in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy is planning a total buy of 117.
Rotory Wing Aircraft
MH-60R/S: The U.S. Navy’s primary rotary wing platform is the multi-mission MH-60 Seahawk. As the backbone of the Navy’s rotary wing fleet, the MH-60 routinely deploys as a component of the carrier air wing and independently with individual ships of the surface combatant force. Two variants of this platform are widely used throughout the fleet: the MH-60R, primarily used for antisubmarine and antisurface warfare, and the MH-60S, which provides logistics, search and rescue, and Naval Special Warfare capabilities. Although based on two different airframes, both helicopters share 85 percent of their components to reduce costs.
The MH-60R was developed as a follow-on to two venerable helicopters, combining the forward-looking infrared and electronic support measure capabilities of the SH-60B with the dipping sonar from the SH-60F into a single platform. It is the carrier air wing’s only indigenous antisubmarine warfare platform. Originally introduced in 2006, the SH-60R is still in production with 280 airframes planned for purchase through fiscal year 2018.
The MH-60S variant is versatile, able to carry eight AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, a 20-mm chain gun, and a digital rocket launcher that can employ the recently introduced Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System, or “APKWS.” This system converts an unguided 2.75 inch rocket into a laser-guided munition, significantly improving the probability of mission effectiveness. The MH-60S’s versatility enables it to fulfill multiple roles, and the MH-60S is planned to be the foundation of the littoral combat ship’s mine countermeasures package. Introduced in 2002, 275 total MH-60Ss were produced for the U.S. Navy. Production ceased in 2016.
Tiltrotor Aircraft
CMV-22B: Chosen to replace the C-2 Greyhound for carrier onboard delivery missions, the U.S. Navy intends to procure 44 Bell-Boeing tilt-rotor CMV-22Bs in 2018 for delivery in 2020. Leveraging heavily off the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 that carries Marines into battle, the CMV-22B will include an extended-range fuel system (increasing the range of the MV-22 from 860 to 1,150 nautical miles), a high-frequency radio for long-range communications, and a public address system.
One possibility for the newly redesignated CMV-22B is to shuttle the F-35 engine’s power module, the largest and weightiest part of the F135 engine, to and from the aircraft carrier or amphibious ship. This role was demonstrated in May 2015 when an F135 power module was carried to the USS Wasp (LHD-1) during sea trials.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
MQ-8C Fire Scout: The Northrop Grumman MQ-8C combines the proven ISR architecture of the MQ-8B with the extended range, payload, and cargo-hauling capacity of the Bell 407 helicopter, delivering twice the endurance and three times the payload capacity of the MQ-8B. A fully autonomous, four-bladed helicopter, the MQ-8C provides expanded situational awareness capabilities to compatible surface combatants through the Navy’s Mission Control System. Ship-based testing of the MQ-8C is scheduled to begin this year.
MQ-25A Stingray: The newly designated MQ-25A will leverage heavily from the proof of concept flights performed by the X-47B, which successfully demonstrated the ability to launch and recover autonomously from an aircraft carrier, as well as divert to a shore-based airfield. The MQ-25A program is intended to provide an unmanned refueling capability for carrier air wings, increasing the striking range of embarked aircraft while reducing flight time and fatigue for F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. Four companies—Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman—have been contracted for proposals.
MQ-4C Triton: The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C unmanned air vehicle recently received a software update that provides traffic alert and collision avoidance as well as improvements to the AN/ZPY-3 Multi-Function Active Sensor, a 360-degree active electronically scanned array radar designed for maritime surveillance.
The MQ-4C Triton performed its first flight in May 2013 from Palmdale, California. Since that time, the MQ-4C has continued flight and operational testing, to include conducting orbits in the 5th Fleet area of operations. The aircraft completed an operational assessment in February, clearing the way for low rate initial production and an early operational capability deployment in 2018. The Navy plans to purchase 68 Tritons.
Commander Snodgrass is an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot who commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 195. He currently is serving as executive assistant to Commander, Naval Air Forces Atlantic, and has been chosen to be the speech writer for Secretary of Defense James Mattis.