GPS World, March 2016

DEFENSEUPDATE Submersible System Passes Test An RQ 21A Blackjack in flight during testing aboard USS Mesa Verde in 2015 U S Navy photo MARCH 2016 WWW GPSWORLD COM GPS WORLD 47 T he U S Navy tested it s newly developed Common Control System CCS with a submersible unmanned vehicle during a series of underwater missions at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport in Puget Sound Washington The CCS successfully demonstrated its capability to provide command and control to a surrogate Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle LDUUV CCS is a software architecture with a common framework user interface and components that can be integrated on a variety of unmanned systems It will provide common vehicle management mission planning and mission management capabilities for naval unmanned systems During the test s held Dec 7 11 operators from Submarine Development Squadron 5 Detachment UUV used CCS to plan and execute several surveillance and intelligence preparation missions The CCS sent pre planned missions via radio link to the LDUUVs autonomous controller and displayed vehicle status information to operators during the test The vehicle was able to maneuver to the target areas and collect imagery These tests proved that operators could use CCS from a single global operations center to plan command and monitor UUVs on missions located anywhere in the world said Capt Ralph Lee who oversees the Navys CCS program at Patuxent River Maryland Teams from the Navys Strike Planning and Execut ion and Unmanned Maritime Systems program office Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Pacific John Hopkins and Pennsylvania State universities worked together to design develop and test the software before executing the live demonstration in December A surrogate LDUUV is submerged for a test to demonstrate the capability of the Navys Common Control System U S Navy photo Blackjack on for Navy Marine Ops T he Navy and Marine C o r p s R Q 2 1 A Blackjack unmanned aircraft system received the official green light for operation Jan 13 marking a major milestone for the program The program has achieved Initial Operational Capability IOC announced Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Aviation Lt Gen Jon Davis IOC confirms that the first Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron is sufficiently manned trained and ready to deploy with the RQ 21A system for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance In December 2015 builder Insitu delivered the first system which will support the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Camp Legeune North Carolina The Marines will make their first shipboard deployment with the system this summer A Blackjack system has five air vehicles two ground control systems and launch and recovery support equipment At eight feet long and with a wingspan of 16 feet the air vehicles open architecture configuration is designed to seamlessly integrate sensor payloads with an endurance of 10 12 hours Because it doesnt require a runway for launch and recovery the Blackjack system makes it possible to deploy a multi intelligencecapable UAS with minimal footprint from ships