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Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Independent Test and Evaluation

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Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Independent Test and Evaluation Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Independent Test and Evaluation William P. Ervin, J. Patrick Madden, and George W. Pollitt he Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has a long history of contributing to unmanned undersea or underwater vehicle (UUV) programs sponsored by several Navy acquisition program offices. Those contributions span the systems engineering realm, including leadership of independent test and evaluation for prototypes and systems fielded for military use. One of the most endur- ing relationships has been with Program Manager Naval Sea Systems Command (Expedi- tionary Missions) (PMS-408) for its acquisition of UUVs applied to mine countermeasures (MCM) missions. Since 2002, APL has served as the independent test and evaluation agent for the Mk 18 UUV family of systems. The fielding of key components of the Mk 18 UUV family of systems was accelerated as part of an Office of the Secretary of Defense “Fast- Lane” program to meet an operational need in theater. As a result, Commander Fifth Fleet now has an improved operational MCM capability, including advanced sensors. OVERVIEW In December 2011, the Office of the Secretary of the UOES period was to develop mine countermeasures Defense approved a Fast-Lane initiative to provide (MCM) concepts of operations (CONOPS) for inte- Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish unmanned underwater vehicle gration with other MCM platforms in theater and to (UUV) systems and associated sensors and upgrades receive operator feedback that could be used to improve to Commander Fifth Fleet (C5F) on an accelerated the design. A second wave of Mk 18 Mod 2 UUVs basis. Seven months later, in July 2012, wave 1 of the arrived in theater in February 2013. The third wave Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish UUVs arrived in the C5F area of arrived in October 2013 and included more UUVs and responsibility to begin search, classify, and map missions ancillary equipment. Advanced sensors and command as part of a phased incremental-capability rapid-fielding and control technologies were demonstrated in theater plan that included an extended user operational evalu- in November 2013. After undergoing operational test- ation system (UOES) period in theater. The purpose of ing in February and April 2014, respectively, they were 752 JOHNS HOPKINS APL TECHNICAL DIGEST, VOLUME 32, NUMBER 5 (2014) provided as operational capabilities. The rapid delivery Acquisition Category (ACAT) IV in terms of program- of these capabilities to meet the commander’s opera- matic expenditures] incrementally developed, tested, tional need was made possible by several factors, includ- and fielded leading-edge unmanned vehicle and com- ing the following: mand and control technologies using both military and • A technologically mature system design when the civilian crewing philosophies. As the Navy transitions Fast-Lane initiative was approved to increased reliance on unmanned systems, as well as to the operational integration of unmanned and manned • Strong program office leadership of a multi- systems in the underwater domain, future acquisition organizational integrated product team (IPT) programs might consider adopting aspects of this pro- • Strict adherence to identified measurable and test- gram’s organization, development, testing, and fielding able user requirements practices to help navigate the acquisition pipeline. • Outstanding testing and feedback support from operational units BACKGROUND • A competitive manufacturer selection process APL has a long history contributing to UUV pro- grams sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research • A “build a little, test a little, field a little” develop- Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), ment process and several Navy acquisition program offices. Those • Responsive in-service engineering agent (ISEA) critical contributions span the systems engineering support realm, including leadership of independent test and evaluation for prototypes and systems fielded for military The Mk 18 Mod 2 systems in theater are being oper- use. One of those contributions was to assist in the prep- ated by civilian contractor crews led by a government aration of The Navy UUV Master Plan in 2000, which civilian. The crews and their leadership are under the was updated in 20042 and identified nine high-priority administrative and operational command of the C5F UUV missions: Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and MCM task force commanders, respectively. The civilian crews in • Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance the C5F area of responsibility will be replaced by mili- • Mine countermeasures tary crews. Advances in unmanned ground vehicles have • Anti-submarine warfare reduced human casualty risk during EOD operations in • Inspection/identification Afghanistan and Iraq. Investment in UUV technolo- gies is considered particularly important for the mari- • Oceanography time environment because UUVs can “get the man out of the minefield” for some, if not all, required missions. • Communication/navigation network nodes The Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish UUV program is one of the • Payload delivery acquisition community’s initiatives to meet the fleet mission need to conduct EOD MCM operations more • Information operations safely, efficiently, and effectively against a wide spec- • Time-critical strike trum of current and anticipated threats in a variety of operational environments. UUVs of various sizes, with To perform these missions, The Navy UUV Master increasing levels of autonomy, sensor capability, and pay- Plan characterized vehicle systems into four general load composition, comprise a rapidly expanding part of classes: the “toolbox” available to address underwater domain • Man-portable vehicle class: Vehicles of approxi - mission requirements. mately 25–100 lb displacement with 10–20 hours of The Mk 18 Mod 2 was preceded by other systems mission endurance; no specific hull shape identified used for hydrographic surveys and harbor defense and by the militarized remote environmental measuring units • Lightweight vehicle class: 12.75-in.-diameter (REMUS), which were used in 2003 as part of the clear- vehicles of approximately 500 lb displacement, ance of Umm Qasr, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. 20–40 hours endurance, with payloads of 6–12 times According to Captain Michael Tillotson, Commander, the size of a man-portable vehicle Naval Special Operations Task Force 56 during Opera- tion Iraqi Freedom, “If we didn’t have UUVs, you could • Heavyweight vehicle class: 21-in.-diameter vehicles, multiply the time to clear the [Umm] Qasr area by two- up to 3000 lb displacement, 40–80 hours endurance, and-a-half, an additional 20 days.”1 In less than 15 years, with 2 times payload capacity of lightweight vehicle this relatively small acquisition program [less than class, suitable for launch from submarines JOHNS HOPKINS APL TECHNICAL DIGEST, VOLUME 32, NUMBER 5 (2014) 753 W. P. ERVIN, J. P. MADDEN, AND G. W. POLLITT Year was reached between PMS-408 1990 2000 2010 and COMOPTEVFOR, APL REMUS technology (NOAA, ONR, WHOI) was tasked to take over the role REMUS production (Hydroid, Inc.) of independent test and evalua- Mk 14 Mod 0 SAHRV (NSW) tion agent (IT&EA) for follow- Sculpin preliminary capability (PMS-408) on non-ACAT small UUV Mk 18 Mod 1 Swordsh (PMS-408) programs. Since 2002, APL has Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingsh (PMS-408) served as the IT&EA for the orig- Fast-Lane initiative (OSD) inal very shallow water (VSW) Mk 18 improvements (ONR, PMS-408) UUV program, the Bottom UUV Localization System, and Figure 1. UUV acquisition time line. NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- the Mk 18 FoS program. Figure 1 tion; NSW, Naval Special Warfare Program Office; PMS-408, Program Manager Naval Sea Sys- provides a chronology of system tems Command (Expeditionary Missions); OSD, Office of the Secretary of Defense; SAHRV, development that culminated in semi-autonomous hydrographic reconnaissance vehicle. the initiation of the Mk 18 FoS program of record. Design changes and improve- • Large vehicle class: Vehicles with approximately ments made to the SAHRV and Sculpin, as a result of 10 long tons displacement and suitable for launch user feedback, enabled a running start for the Mk 18 from surface ships (e.g., littoral combat ship) and FoS. Figure 2 shows the relative sizes of the Mk 18 Mod 1 submarines man-portable and Mk 18 Mod 2 lightweight vehicles. The Mk 18 Mod 1 vehicles are designed to be The lightweight vehicle-class Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish launched and recovered by operators in small boats such UUV is a larger, extended-range version of the Mk 18 as the 4.7-m combat rubber raiding craft (CRRC) or 7-m Mod 1 Swordfish man-portable search, classify, and map system currently deployed in several operational theaters. In accordance with Secretary of the Navy Instruction 5000.2E,3 both systems were developed as Abbreviated Acquisition Programs (AAPs) under the sponsorship of OPNAV N957 and guidance of PMS-408 using an informal IPT organization from requirements development through system development, developmen- tal testing, user evaluation, and operational fielding. The Mk 18 family of systems (FoS) is based on REMUS vehicles built by Hydroid, Inc., a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime. The Mk 18 Mod 1 and Mod 2 vehicles are REMUS 100 and REMUS 600 vehicles, respectively, where the number denotes the rated depth of the vehicle in meters. REMUS UUV technologies originated in the early Figure 2. Mk 18 Mod 1 and Mod 2 UUVs. (Image courtesy of 1990s at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Space and Naval
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