Month: May 2023

Source: United States Navy

Multiple submarines under Submarine Force Atlantic’s (SUBLANT) organizational structure participated in Exercise Agile Player 2023 (AP23).

AP23 is a training exercise to assess warfighting readiness and build capacity for the joint force. Submarines from Norfolk, Virginia; Kings Bay, Georgia; Groton, Connecticut and Port Everglades, Florida deployed on short notice to demonstrate the capability, flexibility and lethality of the Submarine Force.

“Our Submarine Force warriors are the most lethal force in the world and exercises like Agile Player ensure they continue to be prepared to respond to any range of missions they may encounter in support of national security,” said Vice Adm. William Houston, Commander, Submarine Forces. “The exercise also provides our Force the opportunity to improve our current doctrine, test new capabilities, and evolve our tactics to ensure the Navy’s undersea superiority over strategic competitors.”

AP23 increases the ability of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platforms to respond rapidly in any high-intensity environment from both coasts with increased vigor and effectiveness.

“The Submarine Force continually holds exercises to ensure the undersea forces are ready to safely and efficiently conduct global combat operations on short notice,” said SUBLANT’s Director for Plans, Policy and International Engagement, Capt. Daniel Packer. “While our Sailors remain the foundation of our Force, they are equipped with and operate systems which are unmatched in their effectiveness, lethality and flexibility. These capabilities combined with our Sailors’ knowledge from years of training and experience creates a Force that is incomparable and essential to deterring conflict.”

The Submarine Force continually holds exercises to ensure the undersea forces are ready to safely and efficiently conduct global combat operations on short notice.

AP23 highlights the Submarine Force’s ability to remain at a high state of readiness necessary to deliver a full range of undersea lethal effects when assigned global tasking in support of national security.

Submarine Forces execute the Department of the Navy’s mission in and from the undersea domain. In addition to lending added capacity to naval forces, Submarine Forces, in particular, are 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.

Submarine Forces 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

Capt. Christopher Bryant, commanding officer, CIWT, provided an overview of the Information Warfare training CIWT is responsible for at its four primary training commands and distributed learning sites. Cmdr. Peter Manzoli, commanding officer, IWTC Corry Station, was also on hand and discussed his command’s mission, courses offered, and diverse Information Warfare community student population.

Throughout the discussion Hermosilla voiced keen interest in CIWT’s resource sponsorship and requirements relationships. Bryant explained the resource sponsorship role of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare (N2N6), but also the critical roles that Naval Information Forces, the National Agencies, and Information Warfare community leaders play in providing the requirements that charts the direction of training the Information Warfare community.

To describe the technical innovations CIWT training is headed, CIWT staff members, Cmdr. Josh Dennis and Cmdr. Gil Baughn discussed changes being made by CIWT to transition curriculum into virtual delivery platforms to increase reality, sophistication, and accessibility of training as well as making curriculum Ready, Relevant Learning-compliant.

Cmdr. Dennis highlighted the cloud-based Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program that takes place in the Training Virtual Environment (TVE), and the Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System (MRTS) 3D® which is being used to develop training applications for the Surface Ship Radio Room that will be incorporated into IT and Information Professional (IP) officer courses.

Cmdr. Baughn explained the current and planned expansion of Cyber Mission Force (CMF) training occurring within the CIWT domain, placing emphasis of the development of the Navy’s Maritime Cyber Officer designator which will see CIWT host the Navy’s first Computer Network Operations Qualifications Course (CNOQC) in July 2023. Bryant then highlighted that CIWT had been able to develop classroom-delivered cyber training courses executed within the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE), two to three years ahead of schedule. PCTE is a cloud-based platform designed to deliver realistic cyber simulations at the individual, team, and force level, currently adopted by all four services and the U.S. Cyber Command.

Bryant also asked Hermosilla for his assistance in getting ground broken for the planned, high-end CMF training facility planned for Corry Station in 2027, saying, “it keeps being pushed to the right. We need that to stop rolling, and we need to get ground broken.”

The visit concluded with Manzoli providing a tour of IWTC Corry Station training facilities where Hermosilla was able to observe one of the MRTS 3D® labs used by cryptologic technician technical students to learn how to maintain the AN/SLQ-32(v)6, the principal Electronic Warfare system used on Navy surface ships. As Hermosilla watched Cryptologic Technician Technical 1st Class Brooks Wartgow maneuver through the touchscreen training system, he commented that the MRTS 3D® technology should be used on a wide-scale throughout the fleet to maximize training opportunities on all types of different systems.

With four schoolhouse commands, two detachments, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan, Center for Information Warfare Training trains over 26,000 students every year, delivering trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services. Center for Information Warfare Training also offers more than 200 courses for cryptologic technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians, and officers in the information warfare community.

Source: United States Navy

With an eye on the future growth of Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) and its potential to positively impact the area’s economy, more than 30 economic development leaders from across North Carolina toured the depot May 11.

Hosted by the Eastern North Carolina (ENC) Tech Bridge at FRCE, the visiting members of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina learned more about the Tech Bridge and its mission to bridge the gap between the Navy and nontraditional partners like small businesses, academia and nonprofits. During a brief tour of FRCE, they also had the opportunity to get a firsthand look at the depot’s military aircraft maintenance operations.

FRCE Executive Director Mark Meno provided the group with an overview of FRCE’s history and transformation from a World War II-era aviation repair depot with just a few dozen employees to an organization with more than 4,000 employees who provides touch labor, logistics support and engineering services at the depot’s five detachments and to forward-deployed units throughout the world.

“FRC East is more a capability than a location,” Meno said. “Our skilled labor is what sets us apart, and we can send teams of artisans, logisticians and engineers out to locations around the world. When the Fleet can’t come to us for service, we can take the service to the Fleet. We’re able to provide the world-class service our warfighters depend on, no matter when or where they need us.”

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina focuses on recruiting new businesses to the state and supporting the needs of existing businesses, along with connecting exporters to global customers and helping small business owners. ENC Tech Bridge Director Jamaine Clemmons said the visit provided the perfect venue to familiarize these economic development advocates with the important role FRCE plays in the local economy, and the prospects the ENC Tech Bridge presents for growth and advancement.

“We’re excited to network with economic development leaders within North Carolina and introduce them to FRC East and the ENC Tech Bridge,” Clemmons said. “This was a great opportunity to discuss the Tech Bridge’s core initiatives and lay the groundwork for future partnerships as we continue to foster innovation and collaboration in our region, in order to meets the needs of the Fleet across the globe.”

The ENC Tech Bridge works to build an ecosystem of innovation to support the Navy and Marine Corps with a focus on several areas of consideration, including manufacturing and repair technologies; advanced manufacturing; big data, data analytics and visualization; technical insertion; augmented and mixed reality; automation and robotics; and soft and wicked problem solving. The ENC Tech Bridge operates in conjunction with a partnership between Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) and Craven County.

As part of a NavalX network, 18 Tech Bridges aim to bridge the gap between the Navy and emerging entities like startups, small businesses, academia, nonprofits and private capital that aren’t traditionally part of the Navy’s development and acquisition process. The Tech Bridge framework allows the Navy to collaborate with nontraditional partners and accelerate the innovation timeline in ways that traditional acquisition methods do not. This structure eases the collaboration process and allows the Navy to leverage the speed and efficiency improvements these nontraditional partners have experienced in recent years, ultimately putting assets in the hands of the nation’s warfighters significantly faster, at a more economical rate.

FRCE is North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.    

Source: United States Navy

The BTS has disturbed the ecological balance of Guam since the 1950s, when the species first arrived stowed away in shipping materials. On the island, the tree snakes prey on various small animals including lizards, birds, and bats.

“They are opportunistic feeders,” said Megan Parker, a natural resources specialist with JRM. “Since they were introduced, there has been a cascading effect. They eat the birds; fewer birds means more pests and diseases and then there are no native birds to spread native seeds – that’s another big impact.”

Aside from birds, the snakes prey on other small animals including lizards and bats. The ripple effects have been significant.

Marc Hall, the JRM conservation programs supervisor explained, “Brown Tree Snakes are probably the biggest limiting factor to the recovery of listed vertebrates [on Guam] – bats and birds. There are many factors that contribute to the recovery of those species, but the Brown Tree Snakes seems to be causing the majority of the problem.”

JRM has been involved in efforts to address the invasive species for years. Partnerships between the Department of Defense and the Guam Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allow for interdiction and mitigation.

Since 1994, interdiction programs have included traps on airfields fences and inspections conducted by specially trained Brown Tree Snake detection dogs. The long-running programs ensure snakes do not stow away on military equipment or shipping containers leaving the island.

“It’s a very successful program,” Hall said. “The basic model continues to be productive. The last live snake to have escaped Guam was back in 2006 in a munitions container that ended up in Oklahoma.”

Mitigation efforts have also been unfolding with success. In 2011, 135 acres of jungle on Andersen Air Force Base were designated as a Habitat Management Unit (HMU) for ecological study.

Leanne Obra, the JRM Brown Tree Snake program manager, explained that the HMU started as a ‘multi-species barrier enclosure’, or fenced area designed to keep out invasive snakes, pigs, and deer. The barrier helps control the area for environmental study on the snake population. The fencing surrounding the site has been rendered snake-proof via a large protruding bump on the fence line four feet above the ground.

“The snakes can’t climb over it because the bump requires them to put about two-thirds of their body weight upside down, and their tails can’t support that,” Obra explained.

The HMU has been a haven for scientific study on forest recovery and a measuring stick for the ecological health of the island. Because the snake population within the HMU can be closely observed for signs of environmental impact, the area is perfect for conducting routine bait drops in the battle against the invasive snakes.

The bait drop is an essential part of Brown Tree Snake mitigation. A multi-day helicopter drop occurs every 90 days and is coordinated with the USDA. The mitigation is conducted using a UH-6 helicopter custom fitted with an automated bait dispenser for the operation. The helicopter makes several passes over the HMU while the automated dispenser drops Tylenol-laced bait into the trees. The bait presents itself as an easy snack for the arboreal Brown Tree Snake, but the snakes have proteins in their blood that cannot function after ingesting Tylenol.

Over the past five years, the Brown Tree Snake Program has dropped 46,200 baits in the HMU, and the effect is noticeable. The environmental experts managing the area notice that it’s harder and harder to find the snake species within the HMU, and signs point to a dwindling population.

“We continue to coordinate with our partners, operations personnel, and administrators to not only prevent the spread of Brown Tree Snake from Guam but to suppress and control Brown Tree Snake numbers to reduce their impact on the island of Guam and to restore the island’s ecosystems,” Obra said.

Source: United States Navy

The naming is to honor and immortalize the history and community of healthcare professionals that make up Naval Support Activity Bethesda, who have saved and rehabilitated the lives of service members, veterans, civilians, their families, and even Presidents of the United States. 

“For most in the armed services, the name ‘Bethesda’ is connected to the world-class medical center for healing that has served a countless number of service members since 1942,” Del Toro said. “The real strength of our Navy and Marine Corps are our people, and if they are willing to sacrifice all for service, they deserve the best medical care available. This ship will honor the medical staff, who compassionately dedicate their time and expertise to take care of our service members. Bearing the name Bethesda will continue the legacy of life saving and medical innovation.”

 

Former Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913-1920) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt envisioned a Navy Medical Center and in 1937 Congress appropriated funds for construction of a new Naval Medical Center, with ground breaking on the site June 29, 1939, bringing to life what became the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) and National Institutes of Health to Bethesda. Today, Naval Support Activity Bethesda is home to tenant commands such as Naval Medical Leader and Professional Development Command, Naval Medical Research Center, Navy Medical Support Command, Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command, and the Navy Dosimetry Center. In 2011, due to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision, Bethesda National Naval Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center consolidated into the current Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, located on the grounds of the former National Military Medical Center, Bethesda.

Secretary Del Toro has also invited the 63rd Governor of Maryland Wes Moore’s spouse, Dawn Moore to be the ship’s sponsor. Mrs. Moore has ties to the military as a former military spouse and is also an advocate for Marylanders living with a disability. 

“This first-in-class ship will be state-of-the-art and the Navy’s first medical ship in 35 years,” said Del Toro. “This ship, designed with more expeditious and direct access to diagnostic, specialty and hospital care, will allow for increased capabilities and health care. Just as the hospital at NSA Bethesda has served as a beacon of hope to those who entered its doorways, USNS Bethesda (EMS 1) will serve as a beacon to those in need around the world.”

The Bethesda-class expeditionary medical ships are designed as a dedicated medical ship that optimizes hospital-level medical care in support of distributed maritime operations (DMO). The EMS will feature a shallow draft enabling greater reach and allowing direct access to shallow austere ports, while also providing a flight deck that accommodates military helicopters. This design provides a full range of medical capabilities including triage/critical care, three operating rooms, medical laboratory, radiological capability, blood bank, dental, mental health, OB/GYN and primary care, rapid stabilization and follow-on evacuation of multiple casualties and combat search and rescue including recovery at sea. The primary mission of the EMS as a high-speed forward deployed medical ship is to provide rapid responsive sea-based and near-shore hospital level critical care, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, non-combatant evacuation operations and special operations. The EMS is designed to respond and provide care at a more rapid pace than their predecessors, USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, sailing at speeds of at least 30 knots with a range of 5,500 nautical miles at 24 knots.