Despite its age, I think a lot can be learned from this experiment about the operation of a mothership. I am especially interested to know if the Navy decides that LCS is less than the ideal size for a mothership as some have suggested.Originally Posted by kato
The AFSB has an entirely different requirement set from a LCS.
It will host and deploy:
- 4 large helicopters
- 2 CB90 (RCB) and 4 12m RHIBs (SURC)
- 2 7m RHIBs and 4 RIBs (Mk5 Zodiac)
The LCS is not intended to act as a mothership in such a way, never was. The above requirement is more an emulation of what European Navies are building with Absalon and F125.
What? LCS absolutely is a mothership. The entire point of LCS is all the empty space inside. Its just a mothership that has been sold with different roles in mind. Mission modules vs. spec ops. Same idea, different terminology. What I want to know is, does the shoe fit the ship with the bigger insides better?
Perhaps the old LPD (Ponce) can also act as a tender to Cyclones or perhaps to LCS ships?
Its not a new idea. I don't think they called them an "Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB)" in the mid-1960s, but... In 1966-68, Operation Game Warden, at various times, used USS Belle Grove (LSD-2), USS Comstock (LSD-19), USS Tortuga (LSD-26), USS Floyd County (LST-762), USS Jennings County (LST-846), USS Garrett County (LST-786), USS Harnett County (LST-821), USS Hunterdon County (LST-838), and USS Jennings County (LST-846), as floating forward support bases for UH-1Bs, PBRs, and MSBs.
And for a few more recent examples...
Here are three links to some interesting info on Operation Game Warden.
The excerpt below, from the first link, provides a good intro.
http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/c...070608001a.pdf
http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/c...070608001b.pdf
http://www.virtual.vietnam.ttu.edu/c...070608001c.pdf
Game Warden was established in December 1965 as a joint U.S. Navy / VNN operation
to deny enemy movement and resupply on the major rivers of the Mekong Delta and the
RSSZ. The rivers in the upper Delta in SVN are the Mekong and the Bassac. In the lower
Delta, the Mekong splits into 3 smaller branches; in the RSSZ, the Long Tau River was
the major shipping channel to Saigon.
Game Warden assets included shallow-draft river patrol boats (PBRs), armed UH-1B
helicopters, and, in the RSSZ, minesweeping boats (MSBs). PBRs and helicopters were
based ashore or on bases afloat. Three of the afloat bases were tank landing ships (LSTs)
stationed on the 3 major rivers of the lower Delta. PBRs operating from an LST or one
of the other afloat bases were much more flexible in meeting the threat than were those
operating from shore bases.
Game Warden river patrols enforced SVN curfews, interdicted some VC logistical
and tactical movements, and succeeded in influencing some of the Delta population in
formerly VC-controlled areas to support the SVN government. In the RSSZ, MSBs swept
mines along the main shipping channels and prevented the VC from closing off these vital
Links to Saigon.
In 2008, USS ASHLAND (LSD 48) served as the Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) for security of Al Basra and the Khawr Al Amaya oil terminals.
In 2004 the USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) was in the Persian Gulf serving as an Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) to nearby oil platforms and support ships, providing security and logistics support.
Also in 2004, likewise the USS Comstock (LSD-45):
USS Comstock Assumes Role as Afloat Forward Staging Base
By Lt. j.g. Douglas Waller, USS Comstock Public Affairs
Story Number: NNS040803-02 Release Date: 8/3/2004 10:20:00 AM
USS Comstock Assumes Role as Afloat Forward Staging Base
ABOARD USS COMSTOCK (NNS) -- USS Comstock (LSD 45) assumed duties as Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) in the Northern Arabian Gulf (NAG) July 20.
In its first week on station, Comstock successfully demonstrated the ability to conduct multiple missions simultaneously in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Comstock’s role as AFSB is to support the Sailors providing security for Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT) and Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT) in the NAG. This support includes three hot meals a day, to include fresh fruit and water delivered by small boats to the Navy Mobile Security Force Detachment 21 (MSF Det. 21).
In addition, Comstock also delivers: news clippings, incoming emails, and collects and distributes outgoing emails written by service members on the oil terminals. Comstock’s crew also conducts various maintenance repairs to the oil terminals in order to improve the safety and quality of life for Sailors and employees alike.
Living on the oil platforms is an arduous assignment, with temperatures well over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit. To provide rest and relaxation from the intense climate and demanding security mission, Comstock hosts several MSF Sailors daily to provide accommodations such as haircuts, shopping in the ship’s store, opportunities to call home, and, most of all, an air-conditioned space to watch television and get a good night’s sleep.
Comstock’s role as AFSB also includes the unconventional mission of delivering fuel to coalition ships operating in the NAG. Upon arrival on station, Comstock delivered fuel to three separate ships, marking the first time Comstock has acted as a delivery ship in an underway replenishment.
"The tools the ship has for amphibious operations fit well into other roles suited for our current operations,” said Cmdr. John J. Braunschweig, Comstock’s commanding officer. “There is not a single Marine on Comstock today, yet every piece of equipment on deck is being used to conduct our current mission. The flexibility of our crew and the equipment is amazing. I always said ‘Gators Rule.’ Now I actually believe it!"
Although Comstock is the only ship serving as the AFSB, she is part of Task Force 58, a larger group of coalition ships conducting maritime security operations in the NAG, including the USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3) Expeditionary Strike Group.
Comstock assists in the maritime security mission by querying and boarding vessels that wish to gain access either to the oil terminals or to Iraqi ports. Comstock’s Visit, Board, Search and Seizure teams board these vessels and conduct security sweeps of their cargo and crew.
In addition to the above missions, Comstock continues to conduct Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) operations with the embarked Assault Craft Unit 5 Det. Comstock also hosts Iraqi Coastal Defense Force officers each week, to teach them about U.S. Navy operations.
"Never in my 19 years of service have I done something that has had this much bang for the buck,” said Braunschweig.
Comstock deployed May 27 from San Diego along with Belleau Wood and USS Denver (LPD 9) as a part of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 3. ESG 3 also includes USS Hopper (DDG 70), USS Preble (DDG 88), USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and USS Charlotte (SSN 766). ESG 3 is commanded by Marine Brig. Gen. Joseph Medina, the first Marine to command a naval strike group.
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I think the bigger underlying story is related to answering the question of why they are not using any of the five commissioned San Antonio class (LPD-17) ships to do this rather than refitting a 40 year old ship that was otherwise currently going into a scheduled three month long inactivation process followed by deactivation.
According to the story below, they needed to waive normal procurement rules because any delay presented a “national security risk.”
If its such a big hurry, why not place an existing working prototype of their DJC2-MV (Deployable Joint Command and Control system - Maritime Variant) in any one of the five commissioned San Antonio class LPDs, along with the boats, helicopters, men, etc., and get the job done?
...if any of one the five commissioned San Antonio class LPDs can be trusted to reliably sail under its own power beyond the breakwater.
DJC2-Maritime%20Variant.pdf
Link to a brief magazine story about DJC2-MV.
Link to the Washington Post news story that includes excerpted section below, the story that was already linked further up the thread.
<snip>
Defense officials said the Ponce will serve as a stopgap measure until the Navy can build a new Afloat Forward Staging Base from scratch. In budget documents released Thursday, the Pentagon said it would fund that project starting next year.
The floating base also could be suited to the coast of Somalia, a failed state that is home to an al-Qaeda affiliate and gangs of pirates. A mothership there would give SEALs or other commandos more flexibility in missions such as Wednesday’s rescue of a pair of American and Danish hostages who had been held for months by Somali pirates.
The term “mothership” is also commonly used to describe a vessel used by Somali pirates. After hijacking a large container or cargo vessel, pirate crews often turn it into a floating base to extend the range of their skiffs or speedboats far into the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and Persian Gulf.
U.S. military officials declined to say what prompted them to give the Ponce a sudden new lease on life. But contract and bidding documents underscore the urgency of the project.
One no-bid contract for engineering work states that the military was waiving normal procurement rules because any delay presented a “national security risk.” Other contract bids are due Feb. 3. The Navy wants the conversion work to begin 10 days later on the Ponce, which is docked in Virginia Beach.
Last edited by JRT; 30 Jan 12, at 22:58.
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That may be the real reason there. That program is scandalous....if any of one the five commissioned San Antonio class LPDs can be trusted to reliably sail under its own power beyond the breakwater.
Thanks for the articles about the LSDs, thats new information to me.
If it was me, I'd use one of the 2 LSD's that are scheduled to be deactivated prematurely per the Pentagon budget cuts instead of keeping an ancient Austin running. At least the LSD's are 15ish years newer(or more depending on the actual ships selected) and they are Diesel powered, which would be easier to deal with instead of keeping that old Steam Plant running.
Its good to see that the Navy is again proceeding with efforts toward those.
Raytheon Awarded Naval Power System Contract
10 million system will power future weapons
Jan. 30, 2012
PRNewswire
TEWKSBURY, Mass. -- Raytheon Company has been awarded a $10 million contract from Naval Sea Systems Command to develop a pulsed power system that will enable projectiles to reach great distances without the use of an explosive charge or rocket motor.
The contract for the preliminary design of a Pulse Forming Network (PFN) is part of a larger effort by the U.S. Navy to develop a multimission weapon system for use on naval warships to defend and attack with pinpoint accuracy.
Under the contract, Raytheon will provide the research and development of an advanced Integrated Power Systems power load module that may be used for PFNs to power future lasers, railguns or radars.
"This new system will dramatically change how our Navy defends itself and engages enemies while at sea," said Joe Biondi, vice president of Advanced Technology for Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. "We have the expertise to design and build a solution that provides our warfighters with a decisive advantage over a multitude of current and emerging threats."
The PFN is a large power system providing the electromagnetic energy for the railgun projectile, which will travel up to 220 miles in less than six minutes and exit the atmosphere before hitting its target at a velocity of 5,000 feet per second.
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Raytheon is not the only player in the GaN foundry club, but they have been exhibiting some successes in the relatively new GaN semi-conductors, useful for higher power radar, maybe also useful for fast switches for rail guns.
Raytheon’s GaN Technology Advances Radar
February 16, 2011
Raytheon’s [RTN] gallium nitride (GaN) technology advances are ready to bring radars to the next level, a
company official said.
“Compared to gallium arsenide, the semiconductor workhorse of the industry for almost 20 years now, GaN
offers cost, value, weight and power advantages,” Colin Whelan, Advanced Technology, Raytheon Integrated Defense
Systems, said in a recent briefing. “Gallium Nitride can produce five or 10 times the power in the same size that
gallium arsenide can do.”
For the military that requires the highest possible performance while keeping systems affordable, the technology
could potentially be a game changer--offering a way to reduce costs by getting the same performance from a smaller
radar or keeping the same size radar and achieving more performance. In some cases there would be reductions in the
logistics tail as well.
Since the early 1990s, Raytheon has invested its own funds to explore and advance GaN technology. The
company has also received funds from government entities such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
through its wideband gap semiconductor program to advance the technology.
Since Raytheon builds radars that run the gamut from very large to very small and all have transmit/
receive modules in common, it kept its eye on GaN development even as it matured the current gallium arsenide
technology.
GaN development has paid off in the commercial world in areas such as Blu-ray DVD players and in LEDs.
At the radar system level--assuming GaN produces about five times the power of gallium arsenide, Whelan
said, a search radar “with GaN with five times the power we can see 50 percent further out with other changes to the
radar.”
Also, if the same performance in a radar was required, inserting gallium nitride could reduce the size of that
radar by 50 percent.
“That offers tremendous cost savings and also allows us to fit radar into space we previously couldn’t,” he said.
In 2009, Raytheon released the process into production and is able to insert the wafers into systems. Today, Raytheon
has a four-inch GaN process in place in house producing the wafers. “We have all the process, design tools and models
in place to build these circuits, to predict their performance even before we build them,” Whelan said.
The company has also demonstrated monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) operating at gigahertz
frequencies. “We’ve done that for very high power very efficiently across a broad frequency range as low as one
gigahertz all the way up to nearly 100 gigahertz,” he said.
Whelan said in particular for electronic warfare GaN offers a unique advantage that is to develop high-power
and high efficiency over a very wide bandwidth. That’s been something very challenging in the world of gallium
arsenide and gallium nitride allows up to really readily do that.
Raytheon has also demonstrated the needed reliability to insert the technology into radar systems, modules
and arrays.
The company development focus was to increase the size and maturity of the technology.
“Every time we increased the size of the wafer by one inch we doubled the amount of surface area we get out
of that wafer,” Whelan said. “We essentially halve the cost of the circuit every time we make the transition from two
inch- to three inch- to four inch-wafer.
While gallium arsenide is still a useful technology and will remain in use for some time, Raytheon is looking at
the next generation of GaN technology for use at even higher frequencies than the range of radar and communications
systems it can now advance.
New Semiconductor Readied for Mass Production
June 2011
To detect and track fast-moving threats, military radars need to transmit radio signals at high frequencies. The workhorse material that enables the amplification of those signals may yield its crown to a new semiconductor that promises leaps in power capability and performance.
Researchers have been developing gallium nitride semiconductors for nearly two decades. When grown on silicon carbide substrates, the gallium nitride transistors can operate at higher power than the gallium arsenide circuits currently found in a number of U.S. weapons, including phased-array radars aboard platforms ranging from fighter jets to ground-based missile defense systems.
Gallium arsenide chips today are embedded inside the radars’ transmit and receive modules. Several semiconductor chips per module help to boost RF signals that are radiated from the antenna, bounced off targets and terrain and then received by the system and filtered through low-noise amplifiers for processing.
“Gallium nitride gives us that flexibility of not only dramatically improving the performance of power output, but also simultaneously allowing us to shrink the sizes of the components, which allows us to reduce the cost of the system,” said Colin Whelan, technical director of advanced technology at Raytheon Co.’s Integrated Defense Systems.
Raytheon in 2000 began investing in the technology, which had gained material quality improvements in part from the use of gallium nitride in green, blue, violet and white light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. Scientists fabricated gallium nitride semiconductor wafers in increasingly larger sizes, from 2-inch diameter silicon carbide substrates to 4-inch wafers to match the existing gallium arsenide material standard. Raytheon in 2009 established a process for fabricating the 4-inch gallium nitride wafers at its Andover, Mass., foundry, where it has been producing gallium arsenide chips for about 20 years. Engineers there are now building gallium nitride wafers and incorporating them into modules for defense applications.
“We have all the process design tools and the statistical models in place to build these circuits and predict performance even before we build,” said Whelan.
Gallium nitride is a semiconductor that has a “wide band gap,” meaning that it can operate at high voltage to generate power. It produces five times the power of gallium arsenide. If it replaced gallium arsenide devices in existing radars, the chip would give troops the ability to search the horizon for threats more quickly and to track objects about 50 times farther away. If the size of the radar were a more pressing issue than its performance, using gallium nitride chips would shrink the system by 50 percent while maintaining the performance characteristics.
“That offers tremendous cost savings and also allows us to fit radars into spaces where we previously couldn’t,” Whelan said. If the technology were used in an electronic warfare context, the high-power amplifier could cover a wide frequency range, he added.
Because the gallium nitride chips have high thermal conductivity, they efficiently convert the direct-current power into radio frequency power. Residual heat generated from amplifying the RF signals can be removed with ease.
“Ultimately you need to physically remove the heat either by air cooling or using a coolant flow through a metal base, but the gallium nitride material itself, and the substrate it sits on, spreads the heat,” making the cooling process more efficient, Whelan explained.
Scientists are working on versions of gallium nitride that will operate at higher frequencies.
“We have gallium nitride in full-scale production to support really everything through 30 Gigahertz. Then we have a higher performance version that will reach into even higher frequencies, and that’s marching down to high levels of maturity, too,” said Whelan.
Extending the gallium nitride chips into millimeter-wave frequencies so far has achieved successful demonstrations in monolithic microwave integrated circuits operating at 35 Gigahertz and at 95 Gigahertz. Researchers are readying the fabrication process for mass production.
In the meantime, the company is focused on demonstrating the necessary reliability of the microwave gallium nitride technology in radar systems. Engineers have shown the semiconductor’s ability to achieve a 30-year lifetime of 1 million hours operating at 28 volts and 150 degrees Celsius. They also have demonstrated that the technology can withstand high temperatures of 300 to 400 degrees Celsius.
The use of gallium nitride in the commercial world is gaining ground. An ability to emit and absorb light at very short wavelengths has popularized gallium nitride’s use as the blue lasers found in Blu-ray players. The lasers can densely pack information onto discs.
The telecommunications industry, too, is eyeing gallium nitride semiconductors as a potential candidate for use in cell phone towers that receive and transmit signals from portable electronic devices.
Raytheon GaN modules excel during testing
Sep 21, 2011
The company’s air and missile defence radar modules incorporating gallium nitride are fully scalable, enabling radars to be sized according to the mission.
Raytheon’s transmit/receive modules for the U.S. Navy's Air and Missile Defence Radar (AMDR) program have passed a significant developmental testing milestone.
The firm’s GaN modules have exceeded navy-specified requirements for extended, measured performance, demonstrating no degradation after more than 1,000 hours of testing.
Currently working Phase II of the AMDR program, Raytheon is developing a technology demonstrator for the system's S-band radar and radar suite controller. During the radio frequency operating life testing, the modules demonstrated consistent power output across multiple channels. The more than 1,000-hour Radio Frequency Operating Life test was a self-imposed early milestone for Raytheon.
"The threats that AMDR is designed to counter require leap-ahead technology that Raytheon is ready to deliver," said Raytheon Integrated Defence Systems' Kevin Peppe, vice president of Seapower Capability Systems. "We are seeing our gallium nitride modules exceed the program's performance requirements, which ensures that the navy will get the capability and reliability they need for this sophisticated radar system at an affordable cost."
AMDR provides capabilities for the navy including Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. It fills a critical gap in the joint forces' integrated air and missile defence capability, enabling highly effective missile defences to be deployed in a flexible manner wherever needed. The radar suite consists of an S-band radar, X-band radar and radar suite controller.
The system is fully scalable, enabling the radar to be sized according to mission need and to be installed on ships of varying size as necessary to meet the Navy's current and future mission requirements. The radar's digital beam forming capability enables it to perform multiple simultaneous missions, a critical feature that makes the system affordable and operationally effective for the Navy.
Raytheon's skill and experience working with large-scale active phased-array radars spans the frequency spectrum from UHF to X/Ku-band and dates back to the Cobra Judy and Upgraded Early Warning Radar programs, continuing today with the advanced Dual Band Radar, AN/TPY-2 and Cobra Judy Replacement programs. The knowledge and experience gained from these programs will ensure that the AMDR S- and X-band radars operate in coordination across a variety of operational environments.
The company has a long heritage of developing and producing some of the world's most capable air and missile defence radars, which positions it well for the AMDR competition. Additionally, Raytheon has produced more than 1.8 million AESA (active electronically scanned array) T/R modules to date and has decades of experience working with adaptive beam forming technologies. Raytheon is also a leading provider of high-performance GaN technology.
Last edited by JRT; 31 Jan 12, at 21:04.
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It seems they want to use it for a lily pad for MH-53E Sea Dragons pulling Mk 105 sleds.
USS Ponce Isn’t Persian Gulf SEAL ‘Mothership,’ Admiral Says
By Tony Capaccio
31, 2012 18:07 EST
Bloomberg
The Navy isn’t deploying a “mothership” in the Persian Gulf for SEALs and other special operations forces, contrary to reports by a number of news organizations, the service’s top fleet-readiness commander said.
Instead, the Navy is contracting for upgrades to improve the capabilities of the 42-year-old USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship that was to be decommissioned, the official said.
The Ponce is “not going over there as an alternate command ship; it’s not going over there as a special operating force ‘Death-star Galactica’ coming through the Gulf,” Fleet Forces Command commander Admiral John Harvey said at a meeting with reporters today. “It’s going over there as” an interim staging base until a newer vessel can be purchased.
Fox News, CBS News and the Washington Post were among news organizations that said the vessel was being converted for commando use. Those assessments were inaccurate, Harvey said.
Some reporters read Military Sealift Command procurement documents last week and drew the wrong conclusions from certain specifications and the timing of the successful U.S. special operations rescue of two hostages, an American and a Dane, on Jan. 25 in Somalia, Harvey said.
“The topic was a hot one, and people read these” documents “we generate very closely. I think they put two and two together and got 22,” Harvey said.
The U.S. already has numerous air and naval facilities in the Persian Gulf that can handle special operations forces and their boats, aircraft, surveillance platforms and other equipment, said another defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because special operations are classified.
Concentrating Warriors
It would make little sense to concentrate a number of the nation’s most elite warriors on a boat in the Persian Gulf where they would be vulnerable to a variety of Iranian attacks and would require other vessels, missiles and aircraft to protect an aging ship, the official said.
Instead, the revamped Ponce is envisioned as a “lilypad” for counter-mine Sikorsky MH-53 helicopters and patrol craft, Harvey said, a requirement that’s been in place since at least 2009.
“There were things we could do that could made it amenable” for some spaces “to be used by special operating forces, but it is not an SOF support platform,” he said.
Marine General James Mattis, the U.S. Central Command Commander, reiterated this year the need for such an “afloat forward-staging base,” and once the Ponce became available “it offered an opportunity,” Harvey said.
Mooring Small Vessels
Navy procurement documents list as one specification the capability to moor some small vessels often used by SEALS, such as MK-5 Zodiacs and small riverine craft.
Bid documents call for converting the Ponce by June 1 into a support base for U.S. Navy 5th Fleet minesweeping vessels and helicopters or small patrol craft in the Persian Gulf, Harvey said.
Contractors interested in bidding on the Ponce upgrade must respond by Feb. 3, said Military Sealift Command spokesman Timothy Boulay. “There is no firm date of award,” he said in an e-mail. The work’s value is still to be determined, he said.
“My goal is to have it ready to sail on the 1st of June,” Harvey said.
The stories about the Ponce appeared on the same day that the Wall Street Journal said the U.S. is upgrading its most powerful bomb to better penetrate deeply buried Iranian nuclear sites, quoting Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as acknowledging the new weapon’s shortcomings.
Bomb Improvements
Four congressional defense committee are reviewing a Jan. 20 Pentagon request to shift $81.6 million to improve the 30,000-pound Boeing Co. (BA) Massive Ordnance Penetrator from less important programs.
The one-paragraph explanation requests funds to “fix issues identified in testing, including tail fin modifications and integrating a second fuse, enhance weapon capabilities, build test targets and conduct live weapon testing.”
The bomb “can be used in a variety of scenarios, and they haven’t been developed with any one country or mission in mind,” said Pentagon spokesman George Little.
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"and patrol craft"
Cyclones?
JRT, right on. Nice clarification there. The lily pad for MH-53E leads me to think that this is aimed more at the Straights of Hormuz than the Somali coast as I had originally thought.
Surfgun, I bet it is the Cyclones, they are out of Bahrain these days IIRC, and from what I read the Navy is finding them very useful.
My wild-guess would be some sort of a mixed squadron of Cyclone class coastal patrol ships and SeaArk 34 foot Dauntless patrol boats, in addition to the helicopters and Avenger class mine countermeasures ships.
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US Coast Guard has a few ships in the Gulf, too.
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