By Geoff Fein
At the same time that the USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) was undergoing her Aegis combat system modernization, the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was receiving an open architecture tech refresh that included an upgrade to Raytheon‘s [RTN] Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS), according to a company official.
“[The OA tech refresh] essentially included an upgrade to the combat system, the SSDS Mk 2 combat system, to adhere to the standard that PEO IWS had published called the Open Architecture Computing Environment Standards,” Tom Laliberty, director integrated combat systems, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems seapower capability systems, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
“We refreshed the computing suite and ultimately fixed some known issues while we were in there updating software,” he added. “From a pure warfighting perspective, there were no new sensors or missiles integrated. It’s looking more at updating the core technology on [the Nimitz].”
The Nimitz‘s tech refresh for SSDS, Mk 2 combat system upgrade was completed Dec. 16, 2008, and the carrier wrapped up Combat System Ships Qualification Trials May 29, 2009. The Nimitz has since returned to service, according to the Navy.
Rear Adm. Terry Benedict, program executive officer integrated warfare systems (PEO IWS), was in San Diego early in April and spent a morning with the Nimitz‘s combat systems officer as well as the general combat systems staff. He said the crew were very happy with the way testing had gone with SSDS.
“We already did our missile shots off the Nimitz. She did RAM (rolling airframe missile) and ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile) CSSQT off of there,” he added. “SSDS is very, very stable and proceeding right down the path (Defense Daily, May 19).”
The ESSM engineering tests were conducted off the California coast near San Nicholas Island and Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme. The tests, conducted May 27, included two single missile scenarios, and the first fleet firings of the new production configuration of ESSM from the new open architecture variant of SSDS.
“ESSM is a kinematic upgrade to the RIM-7P Sea Sparrow Missile and provides self-defense fire power against faster, lower, smaller, more maneuverable anti-ship cruise missiles,” Mike Ryan, NSWC Port Hueneme missile test director, said in June (Defense Daily, June 8). The tests demonstrated that the SSDS and the newly-configured ESSM are properly integrated to engage anti-ship missile threat-representative targets. The tests also validated the new guidance improvement configuration of ESSM, which will increase guidance performance against air and surface threats, increasing the probability of target kill and depth of defense, according to the Navy.
Laliberty said the CSSQT was extremely successful from a schedule, cost, and technical performance perspective, in terms of the way the entire tech refresh went for the Nimitz.
“The upgrade primarily brings that tech refresh…new computers and an OA software suite that should, down the line, make it much easier to do software upgrades,” he added.
One of the things Raytheon is doing with SSDS will be to install it on the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).
“That’s where SSDS, and the combat systems in general, are really getting a major upgrade from a warfare perspective,” Laliberty said. “That comes primarily with the introduction of the dual band radar (DBR), which is being developed on the Zumwalt-class destroyer program.
“You get DBR, which has a much better performance in a high clutter environment. It can support more missiles in the air so you can engage a significant number of more targets,” he added.
And the uplink capability of DBR will result in improved control of the missile, Laliberty said.
Additionally, Raytheon is planning on installing its SSDS Mk 2 upgrade on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) when those carriers go through their tech refresh cycles, he added.
The Navy’s LPD-class of amphibious ships will also get the upgraded SSDS, Laliberty noted, as well as LHA-6, the USS Makin Island.
Raytheon is also working on something Laliberty called the RAM Block II upgrade.
“It will have a longer range, better maneuverability, based on enhancements to the rocket motor and improved RF (radio frequency) sensors. It should have better performance against some emerging threats,” Laliberty said. “That will go on LPD-24 (future USS Arlington). We have a lot of similar kinds of opportunities like that.”
However, Laliberty noted that SSDS upgrades in those out years comes down ultimately to what the program sponsor is going to be able to fund.
He does, however, see the opportunity to backfit the RAM Block II, as well as the SSDS Mk 2, upgrade to the entire fleet of San Antonio (LPD-17)-class amphibs.
“I think what you’ll see as those ships come up for tech refreshes is that once we have incorporated any changes to software that have to be incorporated with RAM or any other weapon or sensor change… that that capability is available…to any ship that is going to come in for tech refresh at a much lower cost,” Laliberty said.
Raytheon has developed the SSDS single source software library, Laliberty said. New capabilities introduced into the library are easily deployable to any new ship or any ship undergoing a tech refresh, he added. “Then it just comes down to, does the Navy want to spend the money to upgrade specific sensors or new weapons….”
The SSDS single source library is produced by Raytheon and paid for by the Navy, Laliberty said.
Another advantage of the library is the ability to remedy and quickly release software upgrades, he added.
“If we find a defect in the software, an issue we need to resolve, we fix it once then we have the ability to deploy it to all the ships that have that particular feature of software,” Laliberty said.
Raytheon is also taking a look at SSDS and what role it could play in the Navy’s plans for the Future Surface Combatant (FSC), he added.
“I am part of an organization called Seapower Capability Systems and that’s sort of the primary producer of those sort of systems for the Navy out of Raytheon,” Laliberty said. “We are actively looking at FSC.”
Besides developing SSDS, Raytheon also produces the Total Ship Computing Environment for the DDG-1000 class, he noted. “So we have the mature system, SSDS, already deployed in the fleet…out there. And we have this new cutting edge technology from Zumwalt. It gives us a lot to bring to bear on the problems like FSC,” Laliberty said.