Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United States Navy

Commissioned in December 1995, the nation’s seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier entered RCOH in May 2021, under a $3 billion contract with NNS. The overhaul is now more than 65 percent complete and tracking for redelivery in October 2026.

Aircraft carriers enter refueling complex overhauls at the mid-point of their 50-plus-year lifespan, incorporating upgrades to propulsion equipment, infrastructure and electronic systems. After NNS flooded the dry dock with more than 100 million gallons of water, the ship moved to the shipyard’s outfitting berth, where shipyard workers and crew will complete the installation and testing of major components and combat support systems.

Rear Adm. Casey J. Moton, Commander, Program Executive Office Aircraft Carriers, recognized the important milestone, adding that the next phase of the ship’s overhaul will deliver impressive new technologies to support the Navy’s warfighters, enabling John C. Stennis to meet operational taskings during another 25-plus years of service.
“When John C. Stennis redelivers, she’ll be the most technologically advanced Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the Navy,” Moton said. “She’ll bring to the fleet the highest level of capability across all mission sets.”

Moton also acknowledged that the shipyard and Navy team have been navigating several challenges and working under an extended redelivery schedule due both to mandatory growth work following ship condition assessments, as well as industrial base challenges.

“The Navy-Industry team is dealing with the lingering effects of a post-COVID industrial base—one that includes a reduced or unstable capability and capacity along with challenges in workforce recruitment, retention and proficiency. However, the bottom line is that fleet operators need us to deliver these capital assets to our warfighters ready for tasking, so we are working on a daily basis with our industry partners and within the Navy to accelerate problem solving and to speed production on the deck plates—all focused on delivering readiness. I am proud of our entire team for achieving this important production milestone towards redelivering USS John C. Stennis to the fleet.”

Capt. Mark Johnson, manager of the PEO Aircraft Carriers In-Service Aircraft Carrier Program Office, said that the Navy-Industry team is leveraging lessons learned from the Navy’s previous RCOHs, especially on USS George Washington (CVN 73), which was redelivered in May 2023.

“Recognizing the changing workforce demographics coming out of the COVID pandemic, the combined Navy/Shipbuilder team has taken measurable steps to improve the level of support to the mechanic or sailor actually performing work on the ship by leveraging new digital management tools and processes,” said Johnson.

More than 25 million total man-hours of work will go into John C. Stennis’ RCOH, with crews refitting and installing a new square and tapered mast, accommodating state-of-the-art defense and communications systems, updates to the ship’s shafts, refurbished propellers, and modernized aircraft launch and recovery equipment.

“RCOH construction enhances nearly every space and system on the carrier, beyond the most critical requirement to defuel and refuel the ship’s two nuclear reactors and to repair and upgrade the propulsion plant,” Johnson said. “We work on every part of the ship, from the hull, screws and rudders to more than 600 tanks; thousands of valves, pumps and piping components; electrical cables and ventilation; as well as combat and aviation support systems. It’s demanding, complex work that challenges every member of the planning team, shipyard crews and ship’s force.”

During the upcoming outfitting and testing phase, shipbuilders will complete the overhaul and installation of the ship’s major components and test its electronics, combat and propulsion systems. This period will also focus on improving the ship’s living areas and the general quality of life for the sailors, including crew living spaces, galleys and mess decks.

From Program Executive Office Aircraft Carriers Public Affairs. 
 

Source: United States Navy

NAWCAD installed a division of four Air Force F-22 Raptor cockpits into the Navy’s premier simulation test and training facility alongside its division of eight F-35 Lightning II cockpits in January.

“When America is engaged in conflict, the DOD will bring joint capability to bear from every service across all domains,” said NAWCAD Commander Rear Adm. John Dougherty IV. “We’ve replicated this ability in the Joint Simulation Environment, a force multiplier helping aviators deter aggression and—if necessary—prevail in conflict.”

The new addition of fifth-generation fighter simulators brings Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and allied partners into the hyper-realistic digital range that consists of cockpits, domed simulators with 4K projectors and aircraft software to enable pilots to fly wartime scenarios in a near-exact virtual environment. Tactical groups training in NAWCAD’s JSE fly more sorties over one week than they do over a year on open-air ranges.

“Open-air ranges are extremely constrained with safety limitations that prevent warfighters from training like they’d fight,” said NAWCAD JSE Director Blaine Summers. “The JSE is where fifth-gen fighters train to hone their tactics and fight like their lives depend on it.”

Developed by Navy engineers and industry partners, NAWCAD’s JSE is a powerful training and test facility designed to adapt and grow, utilizing hardware and software from actual DOD aircraft, weapons and other defense systems. The JSE has all the equipment and experts needed to keep the facility running smoothly from its cockpits, to its software and simulators, to its mission debriefing rooms where pilots get feedback on their performance during training.

In this highly realistic digital range, aviators experience the consequences of their mistakes, including mission failure, loss of systems and even loss of life. The JSE enables pilots to learn those hard lessons, immediately adjust, fly again and continue the learning process to become a highly capable tactical aviator.

The JSE was initially designed to support F-35 Lightning’s operational testing as there was no way to safely and adequately represent real-world conflict on an open-air range. Today, the DOD is scaling the Navy’s technology for additional digital range facilities supporting programs like F-35, F-22 and E-2D. In addition, the DOD has made training in the JSE a formal part of the Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program—commonly known as TOPGUN.

Over the next year, NAWCAD will incorporate additional test and training cockpits including the F/A-18 Hornet, EA-18 Growler and E-2 platforms to train fighters for future flight lines. The warfare center will also deploy its second training system onboard a Navy carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).

From the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division public affairs. 
 

Source: United States Navy

From late February through early April, the 45-day international field campaign CAESAR, short for Cold-Air outbreak Experiment in the Sub-Arctic Region, focused on cold-air outbreaks that occur as cold Arctic air flows-out over warmer open waters between northern Norway and the Arctic ice edge.

Cold-air outbreaks, or CAOs—one of the most extreme meteorological air mass transformations on Earth—can occur when cold Arctic air flows over frozen land masses or sea ice to over much warmer open ocean waters resulting in the formation of convective boundary layers that produce hazardous winds and seas, and spawn small-scale, intense “polar lows.”

“Despite the profound impact that CAOs have on atmospheric and oceanic circulations in the Arctic, as well as the important implications for Navy operations, surprisingly little is known about the nature of intense surface flux impacts on the atmosphere and ocean boundary-layer structure,” Doyle said. “The nature of the air-sea-ice interaction and cloud processes in CAOs are rapid with abrupt transitions, which have been a roadblock to process understanding and model predictions.”

CAOs pose challenges to Navy operations because of the severe environmental conditions and the rapid changes in the atmosphere and ocean boundary layer properties that impact electromagnetic and acoustic propagation characteristics. The CAESAR mission seeks to investigate the marine atmospheric boundary layer characteristics and shallow, precipitating clouds that form during CAOs, as well as the mesoscale circulations that lead to polar low developments.

“Under favorable conditions the air-sea interaction intensifies, triggering shallow and vigorous convective cells that produce hazardous winds and seas, and under some conditions lead to the genesis of small-scale, intense polar lows,” Doyle said. “Conventional theories and model parameterizations in Arctic CAOs have been lacking this vital data and CAESAR will provide a detailed characterization that will form the basis for NRL boundary layer and coupled modeling studies.”

Based in Kiruna, Sweden, the CAESAR team will utilize the National Science Foundation (NSF)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) center’s C-130 Hercules aircraft, with in situ and remote sensors and dropsondes for sampling the Arctic air mass—from the CAO origin at the ice edge through the transformation—as the boundary layer gets modified downstream. The C-130 suite of instruments also include airborne radar, LiDAR, and aerosol and cloud precipitation probes activated during CAO events.

CAESAR will also make use of Norwegian ground-based radars and instruments located on Norway’s Bear Island.

Written by Daniel Parry, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. 

Source: United States Navy

One of the best benefits is the ability for service members to receive care seamlessly at any military medical treatment facility (MTF) run by the Navy, Air Force, or Army. Another benefit of consolidating the services is the ability to integrate and cross-level resources, which saves money and maintains a sustainable armed forces military medical system. At a recent U.S. Armed Forces Japan (USFJ) medical summit in Yokota, Japan, Admiral John C. Aquilino emphasized getting small and quick wins. It is often quite easy to get caught up in a large-scale operations and focus all your effort there, waiting for all the necessary pieces to fall into place, and that takes time. Going after quick wins can motivate and allow for immediate progress. The other key concept of this story is the power of relationships. The tenacity and perseverance of USNHO’s EMS Director set the proverbial wheels in motion for a quick win.

U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa is always striving to enhance the patient experience. One way to do this is to improve their emergency services capabilities and part of that plan includes several additional ambulances. Rather than waiting for the ordering process to take place, Capt. Kathleen Cooperman organized a small task force to look for ideas to form a bridging solution until the new ambulances are procured. A team of subject matter experts (SME) including LCDR Studer (NMRTC Okinawa EMS Director), Chief Ulysses Taormina (MCIPAC Regional Fire Chief), and LT Richardson (NMRTC Okinawa Deputy Comptroller) strategically partnered with Brian Allgood Army Hospital, Marine Corps Installation Pacific (MCIPAC), and the 3D Marine Expeditionary Force and (III MEF) to secure three ambulances for immediate use to increase access to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) on Okinawa.

The procurement of ambulances jointly improves the capabilities of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and DHA in transporting our most vulnerable and critically ill infant patients. As NMRTC Okinawa hosts the only Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), it’s imperative to have these ambulances to transport infants in isolettes, safely. An isolette is a clear plastic enclosed crib that maintains a warm environment for a new baby and isolates them from germs. Ambulances have historically been challenging to appropriate due to a myriad of factors. The three ambulances procured offset a substantial cost and allow for greater maneuverability in modernizing our ambulance fleet. This collaboration demonstrates our commitment to our patients, jointness, optimization, and resource stewardship for all involved.

The U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Okinawa (USNMRTCO) supports the Defense Health Agency’s U.S. Naval Hospital, Okinawa (USNHO) as the largest OCONUS Navy Medicine medical treatment facility and stands at the ready to respond to contingency operations to support the INDOPACOM region. It is a critical regional asset for direct care delivery, regional referrals, and medical contingency operations. The staff of USNHO understands their vital role as pre-positioned, forward-deployed naval forces within the first island chain, aligned and in support of the joint military commands and operations.

Trey Savitz, Public Affairs Officer
U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan
Comm: 011-81-971-7024
DSN: (315) 646-7024

Story originally posted on DVIDS: U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa Coordinated with Sister Services to Move Life-Saving Equipment Across Air, Land and Sea in Support of Emergency Services in Okinawa, Japan