It's Official: U.S. Aircraft Carrier George Washington Is Getting the F-35
And that is a really big deal.
Laser Scanner Helps RCOH
HII carrier shipbuilders were able to help save the Navy millions and better prepare for the RCOH by virtue of the use of a high-tech laser scanner method of assessing the ship prior to the upgrades.
“Efficient up front work enabled savings of millions dollars.We used laser-scanned images which we then included in work instructions to clearly highlight which parts needed to be ripped out. It is essentially a laser scanner set up at a reference point in space with a rotating digital camera. Unlike the old mechanical way of doing things, the laser can pick data points and take a picture that is easily captured for future use,” Miner explained.
A few dozen people with laser-scanner technology can now perform work previously done by larger groups of people, he added.
Prior to a ship's scheduled RCOH, everything on the ship must be accounted for and inventoried to be placed in storage or transferred to a floating accommodation facility.
“We looked at what needs to be repaired, fixed or replaced. This used to be done with hand drawings but now we use laser scanning,” Miner said.
One of the larger-scale operations ship crew members take part in is the Shipboard Coordinated Offload and Outfitting Plan, or SCOOP. This involves unloading the ship's equipment, furniture and tools not welded, wired or piped into place, Navy statements said.
According to a recent Navy report, the SCOOP process for the USS George Washington was completed 25 percent earlier than scheduled. (Navy Report HERE)
"Everything had to be out of the way," Cmdr. James Mosman, the ship's chief engineer, said in a Navy report. "Clearing all of the workspaces on the ship just mitigated the possibility of any delays, thus setting us up for success going in. With not only evolutions like SCOOP, but getting ready in general, we (George Washington's crew and ship's force) had to be a team."
CANES Network Upgrade
The Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services will become the new ship-wide network, which will include a new video distribution and surveillance systems, and the mast and the SPN-49 radar tower will be cut off and replaced with a modern design, Navy officials said.
CANES is a next-generation integrated combat communications, radio and computer network designed to seamlessly network ships, submarines, shore locations and other tactical nodes in a maritime environment.
The Navy is taking technical steps to upgrade, expand and cyber harden CANES as a way to keep pace with the fast pace of technological change and emerging threats.
CANES is being installed on carriers, amphibious assault ships, destroyers and submarines, and the service has completed 50 CANES systems and has 12 more in production, Navy developers said. Also, the Navy is in the early phases of considering the technology for its Littoral Combat Ships.
Nodes on CANES communicate use an automated digital networking system, or ADNS, which allows the system to connect with Satcom assets using multiband terminals.
CANES is able to gather and securely transmit data from various domains and enclaves, including secret and unclassified networks, Navy officials told Scout Warrior.
Developers say increasing cybersecurity, mission scope and overall resiliency on the CANES networks depends on using a common engineering approach with routers, Satcom networks, servers and computing functions.
The Navy plan is to allow ship networks to optimize functions in a high-risk or contested combat scenario by configuring them to quickly integrate new patches and changes to defend the network.
This first appeared in Scout Warrior here.
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