distributed maritime operations

Distributed Maritime Operations - Distributed Maritime Operations: A Resilient Force Structure Enabled by JADC2. The Marine Corps' Ground/Airborne Mission-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) and Surface Electronic Warfare Enhancement Program (SEVIP) Block 3 enable DMO.

Currently being tested on the ground, the SEVIP Block 3 is an electromagnetic energy weapon that can disable enemy anti-ship missiles in flight.

Distributed Maritime Operations

The recent diplomatic announcement that the US and UK will work with Australia to help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines has generated sensational headlines, but the bigger story is what prompted the deal in the first place: the continued, rapid growth of China's naval power and threat which it represents to US allies and interests, especially in the Western Pacific region.

File:distributed Maritime Operations And Unmanned Systems Tactical Employment (ia Distributedmarit1094559587).pdf

In the past few years, there have been several encounters between US and Chinese warships in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The most recent incident occurred last May, when China accused the US Navy of illegally violating its territorial sovereignty in what the US considers international waters.

Beijing's increasingly assertive behavior in the area supports what experts say is now the world's largest navy by number of ships. In addition, China has armed its naval forces with increasingly capable anti-ship missiles.

In response to these and other maritime threats, including from perennial adversaries Russia and Iran, the US Navy has adopted a warfare concept known as Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO). In general, DMO marks a shift away from increasingly vulnerable large platforms operating as a group and towards a widely dispersed but highly networked fleet of mostly smaller aircraft and intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance air platforms, manned and unmanned, closely integrated with a wide range of sensors and weapon systems for maximum domain awareness, survivability and lethality.

DMO is closely related to the DoD-wide Joint Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concept, which aims to connect sensors across the military services into a unified network, says Tom Vers, director of mission strategy and solutions at Northrop Grumman. Naval/Land Systems and Sensors Division.

Cross Decking And Distributed Maritime Operations

"There is a subtle difference between DMO and JADC2," Wears said. “Distributed maritime operations is a concept for fleet operations. But it is supported by Project Overmatch, which is the Navy's instantiation of JADC2-like targets."

Each of the services has input into JADC2 based on the services' unique needs and capabilities, Vers said, noting the convergence of Army, Air Force ABMS (Advanced Battle Management System) and Navy design competition. "At the end of the day, all three of those separate approaches have to be tied together in this JADC2 architecture."

DMO and Project Overmatch represent the Navy's response to advances in network and sensor technologies and the evolving threat environment, Vers said. The latter includes the proliferation of sophisticated weapons such as hypersonic missiles and long-range sensors that can put traditional U.S. battlegroups at risk, he said.

The Navy is not alone in its move to more distributed architectures to improve resiliency. The recently formed US space agency, for example, is investing in large constellations of tightly coupled satellites for critical missions such as missile surveillance and communications, a paradigm shift caused by the vulnerability of the larger platforms the Pentagon has relied on for decades.

Littoral Operations In A Contested Environment

"There are advantages in not concentrating forces and spreading out the structure so that there is a much wider range of sensors to monitor the area," Vers said, referring to the DMO philosophy.

The shipbuilding plan released by the Biden administration in June as part of its 2022 budget request marked a shift from previous plans for a 355-ship Navy to a smaller but more distributed fleet architecture with a mix of manned and unmanned vehicles. The plan specifically calls for 321 to 372 manned ships and 77 to 140 large unmanned vehicles.

“The Navy and the Ministry of Defense have been working since 2019 to develop a successor to the 355-ship target. It is expected that the new goal

Introduce a new, more distributed fleet architecture that includes fewer larger ships, more smaller ships and a new third tier of large unmanned vehicles," according to a September Congressional Research Service (CRS) report titled "Naval Shipbuilding Force Structure and Plans: Background and Issues for Congress.

Pdf] Prolonged Stabilization During A Mass Casualty Incident At Sea In The Era Of Distributed Maritime Operations.

Destroyers, and large amphibious and supply ships, balanced by a number of smaller ships such as frigates, corvettes, smaller amphibious and supply ships, and perhaps even smaller aircraft carriers. The new third tier of surface ships would be roughly the size of corvettes or large patrol aircraft that would be either lightly manned, optionally manned or unmanned, as well as large unmanned underwater vehicles.

Today, however, the service must support DMO and Project Overmatch with existing capabilities, Wears said.

"The short-term challenge is to figure out how we can take what we have right now and develop it to the extent that we can, and in a short period of time begin to provide the fleet with a JADC2-like capability," Vers said. "This will gradually build and mature." More platforms will be introduced into the structure and new types of communication systems and networks will be deployed over time. At the end of the day, they all connect in this JADC2-type architecture.

With platforms and sensors deployed in all domains, from the seabed to space, Northrop Grumman is well positioned to support the transition, Wears added.

Military Cyber Spying

"We are uniquely positioned to listen to the Navy's operational needs and help them understand potential solutions to meet those needs by bringing together platforms and sensors that may or may not traditionally support naval missions, but we've shown that when put together, they can get it right , " he said.

Indeed, Northrop Grumman is a major supplier of U.S. warships, aircraft and manned and unmanned satellites, as well as the sensors and communications payloads these platforms carry. The company's two near-term offerings specific to DMO and Project Overmatch are the US Ground/Airborne Mission-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) program and the Surface Electronic Warfare Enhancement Program (SEVIP) Block 3.

System, explained Mike Meaney, vice president, Land and Maritime Sensors for Northrop Grumman. "Instead of having five completely different families of radars and the support that goes with each one, it's one set of hardware with software applications to switch between different Marine Corps missions."

The active electronically scanned array (AESA), G/ATOR, quickly identifies airborne objects, including missiles and even artillery shells, and determines where they are aimed, Mini said. It can also identify where the missiles are coming from, allowing friendly forces to counter the threat before a second round is fired, he said.

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"It's a flexible system and fundamentally software-defined, which allows us to extend it to new and different missions in simple ways. It can also communicate with different weapon systems and sensors operating in different domains."

In September, the US House of Representatives approved a defense bill authorizing spending of $645.4 million for G/ATOR in 2022, more than double the $297.4 million the Pentagon had requested. The full Senate has yet to vote on its version of the bill, which is drafted to coincide with the G/ATOR funding increase approved by the House.

The G/ATOR program consolidates the missions of five different Marine Corps radar families into one system.

Northrop Grumman recently delivered the 15th G/ATOR system to the Marine Corps, ending the initial low-rate production phase of the program. The team also recently delivered the first complete production G/ATOR system and expects continued deliveries through 2024, the company said.

Delivering The Carrier Air Wing In Distributed Maritime Operations

Meanwhile, ground testing is underway on the SEVIP Block 3, an electromagnetic energy weapon that can disable enemy anti-ship missiles in mid-flight. "Electronic attack systems like the Block 3 provide the ship's commander and crew with an unlimited supply of non-kinetic rounds to shoot down these anti-ship missiles," Mini said.

In June, Northrop Grumman announced that it had delivered the first SEVIP Block 3 engineering and development model to the Navy for testing at Wallops Island, VIR. The first two limited-rate production units are scheduled for delivery before the end of 2021 and will be placed on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for sea trials.

"The ability to engage multiple non-kinetic targets simultaneously keeps kinetic weapons in the ship's missile bay for offensive purposes, rather than defending the ship against anti-ship missiles," Meaney said. "Ships are limited in how many kinetic weapons they can carry, so this is a force multiplier in many different ways for the Navy."

Like G/ATOR, SEVIP Block 3 is a software-defined system that can be easily configured for other radio frequency missions, including electronic attack, signals intelligence, communications and basic radar functions. While the Navy did not specifically require these features, they provide the kind of flexibility that fits into modern warfare concepts such as DMO and JADC2, Meaney said.

Distributed Maritime Operations: Making Ships, Subs, And Platforms Nodes On A Network

In an interview with Breaking Defense in June, Brian Clark, a former Navy commander and electronic warfare expert at the Hudson Institute, said he hopes the Navy will eventually take advantage of the multi-functionality of the SEVIP Block 3. "The AESA digital array that it uses can allow it to be jammer, receiver, radar or radio,” he said.

This will enable SEVIP block 3 on board

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