![]() ![]() For example, instead of an optical periscope using a series of prisms and mirrors, the Virginia sports an electronic periscope, a photonics mast with color, infrared, and high-definition black-and-white cameras. The all-electric design incorporates significant changes for how information is acquired, fused and shared aboard the ship as well as with other theater assets. Navy officials accomplished the refresh without replacing the entire module or making any structural changes to either submarine. The second ship in the series has newer technology in its command-and-control module, and once testing is finished, the advanced hardware will be removed from the second ship and installed on the lead vessel for when it does go to sea. That ease of update already has been demonstrated on the lead ship, which General Dynamics will not deliver until May 2004. The ship design enables us to isolate those components so shock levels can be met and acoustic performance maintained, which is a significant advancement for the submarine force." "There are certain areas of the ship where ruggedized equipment is required because they can't be insulated enough, but the combat system is primarily COTS," Lennon continues. So we can quickly refresh the electronics," Lennon says. ![]() "The combat system providers then come in with drawer-level components and plug them into our shipboard architecture, so if you want to do a technology insertion or upgrade, you just take out the old drawers and put in new ones, rather than cutting out the old cabinets and bringing in new ones. The Virginia has a structurally integrated enclosure (SIE), with standard commercial rack space for electronics, which includes power and cooling. Instead, the entire Virginia combat system is based on commercial electronics, he says. "which means it could have been obsolete by delivery," Lennon says. In previous programs the combat system providers brought in their own hardware - down to the cabinets - and installed them at the shipyard for delivery with the ship. The first submarine designed for battlespace dominance across the broad spectrum of littoral and open-water missions, the Virginia can move to remote locations at sustained high speeds, can provide persistent covert surveillance capability, and features an open-system architecture design that supports reconfiguration for long-term future capabilities growth, Lennon says. The submarine's communications system will allow for an undersea autonomous communications link with unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), will reduce the time necessary to provide crucial data to combatant commanders, and will substantially improve the undersea portion of the common tactical picture, Tracy says. The external communications system of the Virginia will support high data throughput to reduce operator workload, and will support the global command and communications (C2) system (ForceNet) - a high-bandwidth backbone to integrate a common picture to the battle group, Tracy says. It no longer requires major modifications to do significant reconfiguration - just put in the new module." The Virginia communications suite "is like the whole sub built to be scalable, sustainable, and accommodate changes with future integration of technology. Michael Tracy, director of the Submarine Warfare Division on the staff of the chief of naval operations in the Pentagon, says the key to the expanded capability of the reconfigured SSGNs and the new Virginia is their advanced communications capability. "We then buy components off the shelf with very little customization or militarization," he says. While the Virginia's software applications are customized for the military, the vessel's software operating systems are standard commercial. The Virginia's open architecture relies on a standard protocol for system interaction all the subsystem developers agreed to abide by this protocol, Lennon says. The Seawolf-class attack submarine, pictured above, is among the lead platforms that are ushering in a new era of submarine electronics and subsystems. "The COTS electronics, in terms of capabilities for processing and speed, far outweigh any previous class military versions." "The primary enabler, so far as the combat systems are concerned, is the growth in processor speed and capability," says Will Lennon, Virginia program manager at prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn. To accomplish that, they incorporate a variety of new communications and other advanced electronics equipment, drawing heavily on commercial developments. The new all-electric modular Virginia-class fast-attack submarines (SSN 774) and the reconfigured guided-missile boats (SSGN, converted from SSBN) are designed for shallow-water and special operations. Navy submarines represents a significant advance in technology and an equally significant change in mission and capability. ![]()
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