News From Washington
Raytheon to Lead System Integration for Navy's Surface Combatant Ship
Raytheon Co. has been awarded a cost plus award fee contract to be the system integrator for the DD (X), the US Navy's next-generation surface combatant ship. The contract is expected to total $1.36 B over the next three years. Raytheon is a partner on the industry "Gold Team" that was selected by the Navy to design, develop, build and conduct at-sea tests of engineering development models (EDMs) and then apply the results of the testing to a comprehensive DD (X) ship system design. The "Gold Team" is being led by Northrop-Grumman Ship System.
"This is a very important win for Raytheon in an area that provides great potential growth for our company," said Daniel P. Burham, Raytheon Company's chairman of the board and chief executive officer. "I am very proud of our team and our solution to meet our customer's needs. We look forward to working with Northrop-Grumman and the US Navy to make this program a major contributor to the defense of our nation."
"This contract provides Raytheon with a unique opportunity to build on its longstanding relationship with the US Navy and join forces with Northrop-Grumman to create a transformational system to harness the full power of 21st century network and systems technology," said William H. Swanson, president of Raytheon's Electronics Systems business. "By integrating all of the ship's sensors and weapons into a single, cohesive combat system, Raytheon and Northrop-Grumman will be able to provide the DD (X) with reliable and effective land attack and maritime dominance capabilities that meet the stringent signature goals and are interoperable with joint forces."
As the system integrator, Raytheon will be responsible for DD (X) total system engineering, software development and combat system. In addition, the company will build and test a dual frequency radar suite, an integrated solid-state communication system, an integrated anti- submarine and mine warfare system, a vertical launching system and a multi-mission total system-computing environment.
"Our focus is to execute a cutting-edge ship and mission systems design for the DD (X) that will revolutionize naval warfare," said Jack Cronin, Raytheon's vice president responsible for its DD (X) program. "And by working closely with other industry partners, including members of the "Blue Team" that competed for the program, we intend to design a warship that will use stealth, integrated command and control, and new sensor technologies to deliver precise and accurate munitions, to evade enemy defenses and to bring its crew home safely.
Software engineering and integration for the program will be performed at the company's facility in Tewksbury, MA. Development of the new ship's combat system will be performed in Portsmouth, RI. The command and control system will be designed and built in Marlboro, MA, Ft. Wayne, IN, and St. Petersburg, FL. Radar development will be conducted at Sudbury, MA. Other companies partnering with Raytheon on systems integration include the Boeing Co., Sun Microsystems and United Defense. Government partners include the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI.
US GPS Industry Council Comments on FCC First Report on Ultra-wideband Technology
The US GPS Industry Council issued a statement in response to the release of the FCC's First Report and Order to allow for the introduction of Ultra-wideband Transmission Systems.
The council is pleased the FCC responded to the desire for equipment compatibility and interoperability expressed by GPS users. In comments to the FCC, a broad range of GPS user industries expressed deep concern about UWB interference to GPS receivers resulting from the incompatible overlay of UWB devices on the entire GPS frequency band. This First Report and Order identifies spectrum for UWB operations and provides limits on out of band emissions which allow many UWB applications to be implemented, while ensuring that millions of GPS users can continue to depend on the vital safety of life services made possible through the use of the global positioning system.
The council applauds the Commission's frankness that "based on the limited information on the record and our lack of operation experience with UWB devices, we believe it best to proceed with an abundance of caution in establishing emission limits." The Commission recognizes, in fact, that the rules announced in the First Report and Order are conservative precisely because so little is known or understood about how UWB networks will impact existing services. Many of the services UWB will overlay include safety of life services in heretofore "restrictive bands." It is vital for the nation that this experimental sharing is proven to work and is well understood before putting at risk the vast majority of existing radio communications services which operate below the 3.1 GHz limit specified in the First Report and Order.
The council is disturbed, however, that the FCC is not allowing sufficient time to gain operational experience with the UWB devices. If, in the three years of this proceeding, the FCC was not able to amass sufficient information and understanding of the nature of UWB transmissions to propose actual rules of operation before it issued the Report and Order, how much more will it know in six months to a year to allow a complete review of the impact of these new rules on existing services? Especially since the Report and Order already contemplates UWB high speed transmissions suitable for broadband access to networks-operating as an overlay on existing services. Six months or even one year is not sufficient time for UWB devices and communications networks to be fully deployed and ubiquitously available to enable a true measurement of their impact on existing services. The council instead urges the Commission to allow sufficient time to pass for UWB devices to build to a critical mass that would allow for meaningful testing and measurements of the impact of UWB on existing services.
US Air Force Begins Training Over TRW-developed Network of Simulators
The US Air Force has successfully completed its first training missions over the Distributed Mission Training (DMT) network, an architecture developed by TRW Inc. that ties together high resolution flight simulators over a high speed fiber-optic network. Through this network, pilots and reconnaissance operators at Air Force bases hundreds of miles apart are now able to rehearse missions together in a computer-generated environment. The current DMT network links together four Boeing F-15 simulators in mission training centers and four threat stations at both Eglin and Langley Air Force bases in Florida and Virginia, respectively, 14 PLEXSYS Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) training consoles at Tinker Air Force base in Oklahoma, and TRW's Network Operations Center in Orlando.
The first baseline-training mission was conducted on Dec. 18, 2001 between AWACS operators at Tinker and F-15C pilots at Eglin. The second was conducted Feb. 7, 2002 between F-15C at Langley and AWACS operators at Tinker.
For the next phase of network expansion, TRW will integrate four Lockheed-Martin F-16 simulators and four threat stations at the mission-training center currently under development at Shaw Air Force base in South Carolina. Integration of these simulators into the DMT network is scheduled for completion later this year.
Real-time, secure transfer of simulator data over the DMT network is accomplished by employing a combination of technologies including encryption, switched virtual circuits and ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), which minimize the delay time, or latency, for data transferred between simulators. Minimizing latency allows maneuvers made by pilots, such as a sudden turn or a barrel roll, to be immediately displayed on another simulator hundreds of miles away, thereby providing a more realistic training environment and ensuring a "fair fight" among all participants.