LWAD Project

Client:
Office of Naval Research Code 321
875 N. Randolph St, Suite 1425
Arlington, VA 22203-1995
POC: Dr. David Johnson (703-696-0807)

Project:
Experiment and Demonstration Planning and Execution for Littoral Warfare Advanced Development (LWAD).

Dates:
1996 to 2008

Objective:
The LWAD project (CNO Project TEIN K1525) is a Littoral ASW (LASW) Future Naval Capability (FNC) effort to provide a comprehensive scientific, operational and logistic umbrella for experimentation and demonstration of LASW FNC technologies. Consolidation of at-sea activities brings expertise in coordination, fleet liaison, and logistics, while affording economies of scale and optimizes the use of scarce Fleet assets. The LWAD mission is to robustly conduct at-sea experiments and to demonstrate technologies to ensure transition to acquisition programs and to provide opportunities for other Science and Technologies/Research and Development Littoral ASW related projects. MAI has played a critical role in planning, execution, logistics, and environmental compliance for over 25 LWAD experiments and demonstrations since the project's inception in 1996.

Core Competencies Required:
The MAI team takes pride in its past performance and unique approach to ONR's at-sea experiments and demonstrations. The key to MAI's approach is the recognition of the need for a dedicated and experienced group of engineers and scientists to concentrate on the planning, logistics, execution and evaluation while allowing scientists and engineers of the experiment/demonstration technology to concentrate on their technology. All too often, senior members of the experiment/demonstration technology team must split their attention between the planning details for the at-sea activities and the needs of their project. This results in the technology project team climbing a steep learning curve of at-sea experimentation. MAI has mastered this learning curve in numerous at-sea experiments and demonstrations since 1988. Using the MAI approach, experienced MAI personnel form a team with the technology project and facilitate the planning and execution of the at-sea experiment or demonstration.

Our Specific competencies include:

• Operational Test and Evaluation
• Ocean Acoustic Modeling
• Ocean Acoustics and Modeling
• Undersea Warfare
• Marine and Systems Engineering
• Fleet Operations, Planning, and Schedules
• Ongoing Science and Technology Initiatives
• Logistics
• Team Dynamics
• Maritime and Industrial Safety
• Environmental Compliance

Approach:
MAI's approach to at-sea experimentation support relies on a team of highly qualified and experienced personnel. ­

The Demonstration/Experiment Director is experienced in all aspects of at-sea system demonstrations and evaluations; experiment preparation; Fleet operations; current Fleet systems, and ongoing research and development and acquisition programs. While at sea, the Demonstration/Experiment Director acts as ONR's direct representative in assuring the safe and successful completion of the experiment or demonstration.

Assisting the Demonstration/Experiment Director is an Operations Coordinator.   This individual works with Fleet to obtain Naval assets required for the experiment or demonstration and prepares the plan. In performing this task, the Operations Coordinator works closely with individual project teams to insure that their objectives are thoroughly addressed in the demonstration/experiment plan and that all assets meet their requirements.

A Logistics Coordinator is responsible for securing the required commercial platforms and resources needed to conduct the demonstration/experiment (commercial charter vessels; communications, oceanographic, and navigation equipment; deck machinery; etc.). The Logistics Coordinator also organizes and oversees the shipping of material to the selected site, arranges for necessary port services, and oversees the installation of equipment on research vessels (including the approval for installation of equipment on Navy ships and aircraft).

A Marine Mammal Mitigation Coordinator is responsible to the Demonstration/ Experiment Director for supporting analysis, writing, and execution of the marine mammal conservation documentation.

Finally, during the at-sea experiment or demonstration, experienced personnel perform as Unit Coordinators on every platform. These Unit Coordinators report directly to the Demonstration/Experiment Director and are responsible for execution of the plan on their assigned asset.

Results:
MAI has successfully planned and executed numerous major LWAD experiments and demonstrations over the last several years.

MAI was the lead planning, logistics, and execution agency for the LWAD 05-1 at-sea experiment conducted in the East China Sea the spring of 2005.   During this experiment, we were instrumental in integrating the Office of Naval Research Littoral ASW Multistatics Program (LAMP), the Chief of Naval Operations/PEW ISW Task Force ASW Demo 2-B (TFASW 2B), and the Naval Air Systems Command's Coherent Source (CS) program into one highly successful experiment.

Participants in LWAD 05-1 included:

• Office of Naval Research,
• PEO ISW,
• Allied submarines,
• U.S. and Japanese surface combatants with embarked ASW helicopters,
• U.S. and Japanese Maritime Patrol aircraft,
• Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins University,
• SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego,
• Naval Air Warfare Center,
• Naval Undersea Warfare Center,
• Naval Facilities and Engineering Service Center, and
• 6 commercially chartered research vessels
• M/V Shin Sei Maru
• M/V Shin Chou Maru
• M/V Hirokai
• M/V Aso Maru #8
• M/V Shin Ryu Maru
• M/V Koyo Maru

LWAD 05-1 was the first fully integrated TFASW/LWAD experiment.   MAI coordinated with all of the agencies involved and developed a comprehensive experiment plan that ensured that each project's objectives were thoroughly addressed. MAI oversaw the shipment of 110 tons of equipment to and from the Naha Military Port in Okinawa, Japan and directed the installation of this equipment on 6 civilian research vessels in only four days. 

At sea, MAI personnel performed as Experiment Director, and as individual vessel unit coordinators. This highly successful experiment resulted in 936 hours of recorded contact data including:

• 250 ASW detections by Fleet Surface Units.
• 372 hours of contact data by US Air ASW assets
• 70 contacts processed on autonomous prototype receivers

In the spring of 2006, MAI successfully planned and executed LWAD 05-2. This demonstration was the final demonstration of the LASW FNC technology Deployable Autonomous Distributed System (DADS) Project. Assets supporting LWAD 05-2 included the Scripps Institutution of Oceanography research vessel, R/V Gordon Sproul, an allied diesel electric submarine, and U.S. Navy ASW helicopters. LWAD 05-2 took place in March of 2006 in the Southern California Operating Area (SOCAL) off San Diego, California.

Planning for LWAD 06-1 culminated in the execution of another major at-sea experiment in the Philippine Sea in 2006. Assets supporting LWAD 06-1 included a civilian charter research vessel, the Koyo Maru, a submarine, and US Navy Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA). 

The LWAD 06-1 supported several projects including:  

• ONR Deep Water Active Deployable Systems (DWADS)
• ONR Littoral ASW Multistatics Program (LAMP)
• NAVAIR (PMA-264) Deep Extended Echo Ranging (DEER) Project
• University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory Acoustic Sea Glider
  

In 2007, MAI returned to the East China Sea for LWAD 07-1, the LAMP Final Demonstration. Participants included:

• Office of Naval Research,
• Allied submarines,
• U.S. surface combatants with embarked ASW helicopters,
• U.S. and Japanese Maritime Patrol aircraft,
• Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins University,
• SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego,
• Naval Air Warfare Center,
• Naval Facilities and Engineering Service Center, and
• 4 commercially chartered research vessels
• M/V Kaisyo
• M/V Shin Yu Maru
• M/V Fuji-San Maru
• M/V Choyo

The Chief of Naval Research formally recognized MAI’s role in this highly successful demonstration noting that it represented “the first successful real-time demonstration of a highly automated ASW distributed networked sensor system in a relevant operational environment against a representative target”