Network-Centric ASW System Keeps Sub In Battle Group's Loop |
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From The Naval Submarine League |
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By Randy Woods San
Diego A
network-centric anti-submarine warfare system deployed here during last
month's Exercise Kernel Blitz Experimentation (KB(X)) successfully
allowed battle group officials to track and communicate with the
Jefferson City (SSN-759) submarine in near real time. As
part of the experimentation's Fleet Battle Experiment India (FBE-I), the
Jefferson City operated off the coast of southern San Diego in
what the Navy Department calls "Sea Web," a combination of
sensors in the water that detect
the boat's progress with magnetometers. A magnetometer measures the
intensity of a magnetic field and the presence of ferrous or magnetic
materials. As
the sub passed through the web, the sensors passed data along an
underwater communications grid, up through a buoy, and over to
Fleet Combat Training Center, Pacific. The detections then were
forwarded into the Global Command and Control System, allowing any user
of the system to detect the vessel's movements in near real time. Officials
said the "Sea Web" can be distributed from a surface ship, submarine or aircraft. Paul
Schmidt, deputy director of FCTCPAC's ASW program during FBE-I, told
dignitaries and reporters June 25 that detection occurred between 75 and
85 percent of the time. In
addition, the underwater communication grid allowed the sub to relay
messages almost instantaneously when below periscope depth,
Schmidt said. This feature enjoyed a 95 percent success rate, he added. Schmidt was opptimistic about the potential uses of such communication technologies. We were able to work through not only that detection process, but essentially coordinating the engagements using this opportunity of operating at speed and depth to now have the submarine and its organic sensors stay in the game with the rest of the battle group and provide its detection information -- bearings that it would have from its sonar system -- and pass that along in real time and essentially coordinate the engagement." |