Month: June 2022

Source: United States Navy

Under Secretary of the Navy Erik K. Raven, highlighted the Montana’s capabilities and the importance of its crew in maintaining undersea dominance for the fleet.

“When USS Montana joins that fleet, she will add next generation of stealth, surveillance, and special warfare capabilities to our Joint Force, and extend our integrated deterrence capabilities,” said Raven. “This powerful boat and her crew will protect our sea lanes, strengthen our maritime dominance, and contribute to strengthening our relationships with our allies and partners.”

Raven continued to highlight the hard work and dedication needed by the shipyard, crew and all others involved to bring Montana to life.|

“We’re here because of the detailed focus of every engineer, technician, builder and Sailor who had a hand in this platform,” said Raven. “USS Montana is proof of what our civilian, contractor and military teams can accomplish together.”

Adm. Frank Caldwell, director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, shared Raven’s sentiment on the importance of the Submarine Force in safeguarding our National Security.

“Today we enjoy a powerful advantage in the undersea realm,” said Caldwell. “Where our competitors seek to challenge the Unites States in all domains, it is a national imperative that we maintain that advantage.”

Caldwell went on to speak on the capabilities Montana and its crew will bring to the Submarine Force.

“From this day forth you and the Montana team will carry the immense burden of defending our freedoms across the globe,” said Caldwell. “Be ready to answer that call – as ‘vigilantes of the deep’.”

Sally Jewell, former Secretary of the United States Department of Interior, is the ship sponsor. During Saturday’s commissioning event, Ms. Jewell gave the crew the traditional order to “man our ship and bring her to life,” after which Montana’s Sailors ceremonially ran aboard the submarine.

“With awe I have witnessed the USS Montana come to life through hardworking shipbuilders, capable submariners and supportive families—all operating through a global pandemic—to ready her for service to our nation and allies,” said Jewell. “I’m proud of the impact the USS Montana will have in furthering freedom around the world, and confident she will live up to the spirit of adventure and resilience of her namesake state.”

The future USS Montana (SSN 794) honors the Treasure State. It will be the second commissioned warship bearing the name. The first USS Montana (ACR-13), an armored cruiser, was also built at Newport News Shipbuilding and commissioned July 1908. It served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, landed Marines during unrest in Haiti in 1914 and escorted convoys during World War I. It was decommissioned in 1921.

Montana was previously christened in a traditional ceremony at Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on Sept. 12, 2020.

Montana is the third of the Block IV Virginia-class submarines to be delivered.

Block IV Virginia-class submarines incorporate design changes focused on reduced total ownership cost. By making these smaller-scale design changes to increase the component-level lifecycle of the submarine, the Navy will increase the periodicity between depot maintenance availabilities and increase the number of deployments.

Blocks I-III Virginia-class submarines are planned to undergo four depot maintenance availabilities and conduct 14 deployments. Block IV design changes are intended to reduce planned availabilities by one to three, and increase deployments to 15.

Fast-attack submarines are multi-mission platforms enabling five of the six Navy maritime strategy core capabilities – sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security and deterrence. They are designed to excel in anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship warfare, strike warfare, special operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, irregular warfare and mine warfare. Fast-attack submarines project power ashore with special operations forces and Tomahawk cruise missiles in the prevention or preparation of regional crises.

The Submarine Force executes the Department of the Navy’s mission in and from the undersea domain. In addition to lending added capacity to naval forces, the Submarine Force, in particular, is expected to leverage those special advantages that come with undersea concealment to permit operational, deterrent and combat effects that the Navy and the nation could not otherwise achieve.

The Submarine Force and supporting organizations constitute the primary undersea arm of the Navy. Submarines and their crews remain the tip of the undersea spear.

Source: United States Navy

Quantum networks, an emerging research frontier, will one day offer the ability to distribute and share quantum information securely among quantum computers, clusters of quantum sensors and related devices at regional and national distances. They can also be used to distribute ultra-precise time signals, as well as other applications yet to be invented or fully explored.
 
“These agencies with world-class research capabilities will work to advance quantum network capabilities and leadership,” Gerald Borsuk, Ph.D., DC-QNet Executive Director said. “Quantum networks will be essential to modern secure communications and to computing enhancements in the 21st Century.”
 
The six agencies are:
 

• U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory
• U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
• U.S. Naval Observatory
• National Institute of Standards and Technology
• National Security Agency/Central Security Services Directorate of Research
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration

 
There are currently two out-of-region affiliates to this Consortium:
 

• U.S. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific
• U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory

 
The exploitation of quantum entangled particles (including photons) to transmit information in the form of qubits, the basic unit of information in quantum technologies, is at the heart of quantum networks.
 
Quantum entanglement is a unique quantum mechanical property of atomic and subatomic particles, where classical physics fails to describe observed phenomena accurately. It describes a relationship between particles whereby the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even though they are physically separated from each other.
 
DC-QNet researchers are also studying other quantum behaviors and capabilities such as transduction, or the process of converting qubits from one form into another. To fully harness these capabilities for quantum networking will require state-of-the-art measurement science, or metrology.
 
The DC-QNet testbed will perform entanglement distribution of qubits at multi-kilometer distances over a well-characterized and controlled quantum network. Efforts include:
 

1. Development of high fidelity quantum memory nodes, single-photon devices, network metrology, qubit platforms, transduction and frequency conversion, synchronization, and continued research and development into enabling science and technology
2. Developing the network infrastructure to connect the six metropolitan agencies
3. Research and development into the transfer of quantum entanglement between nodes
4. Emulation, modeling and simulation of the network
5. Research and development into the classical management and control, routing, monitoring and metrology and associated software of the quantum network.

 
The DC-QNet governance comprises an Executive Director and an Executive Steering Committee, along with principal investigators from among the agencies taking the lead on the various technical goals. Among the programmatic goals of the consortium are:
 

1. A trusted Quantum Network Testbed for the U.S. Government and the U.S. Department of Defense
2. Contributions to network synchronization by official U.S. government timekeepers
3. A focus on the metrology required to operate a quantum network

For more information on DC-QNet, contact Dr. Gerald M. Borsuk, NRL and DC-QNet Executive Director

 
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
 
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil