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Submarine News Daily has been renamed Undersea Enterprise News Daily to reinforce the principles of the Undersea Enterprise established by Commander Naval Submarine Forces (CSF). CSF, as head of the USE, sets the strategy, priorities, requirements and overarching direction for suppliers, resource sponsors and producers to ensure a quality product for the enterprise customers. |
by William Kenn, Submarine Learning Center Public Affairs, 3 January 2006
Jason Sherman, InsideDefense.com, January 4, 2006
Michael Bruno, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, January 5, 2006
Incentive Plan To Pay Workers $500
By Anthony Cronin, New London Day, 5 Jan 06
By Susan Mansfeild, The Scotsman, 5 Jan 06
PRNewswire-FirstCall, 4 January 2006
Yonhap English News, 4 January 2006
by William Kenny. Submarine Learning Center Public Affairs, 3 January 2006
GROTON, CT- LT Howard Craig, Deputy Director of Naval Submarine School’s Force Modernization Team, has been selected by the editors of US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine as one of the MODERN-DAY TECHNOLOGY LEADERS for 2006.
The Modern-Day Technology Leaders—women and men who shape the future of engineering, science, and technology—will be recognized at a leadership luncheon on Friday, February 17, 2006 during the 20th Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Conference, a gathering of Black technical professionals.
The winners will be profiled in the official conference publication, US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine.
Craig, who entered the Navy as an enlisted sonar technician and was later selected for commissioning through the Navy’s Enlisted Commissioning Program, clearly remembers his reaction when told of his selection.
“My first reaction was basically one of disbelief. The listing of this year’s selectees was impressive, both for personal achievement as well as in terms of the organizations and companies for whom they work. If you are indeed ‘known by the company you keep’, then the Society of Engineers, who organize this award, have a great deal of regard for the Navy, which makes my selection that much more of an honor.”
US Black Engineer & IT magazine, which recognizes companies that support a diverse work force, has served as the beacon of support for minority technical professionals and the executives who hire and promote them.
The awards give recognition to African-Americans whose innovations impact entire industries. Thousands gather in Baltimore annually, at the height of Black History Month, to learn about and celebrate the newest pioneers driving American industry.
“The Navy is actually a Fortune 100 company in terms of budget and impact,” Craig points out, adding, “and I think this is a great career for anyone looking to do, ‘something in Engineering’.
I went to Nuclear Engineering, but there’s a whole gambit of choices for any young person.
And the Navy is invaluable in providing you with a variety of experiences, which another Fortune 500 company may not let you in the door at that pay grade or with that level of responsibility.
“In the United States Military in general, and in the Navy particularly, you have as much responsibility as you can handle with an opportunity for more as you continue.
Quite frankly, the opportunities are boundless.
When I began as an enlisted sonar technician, I did this because I wanted to gain knowledge of submarine underwater communications and navigation systems.
But as time went along, I discovered I could do other things aboard a submarine, which, in turn, led me to other career choices, which, again, expanded my opportunities and led to more choices. I don’t think there’s anything a person can’t do in the United States Armed Forces.”
Participating in the BEYA Conference provides an excellent opportunity for corporations to retain talent and for individuals to learn and network among the country’s best and brightest.
Seminars and workshops present new information on a variety of topics affecting Black technology professionals, such as career advancement, diversity programs, and specialized industry updates. The career fair links qualified engineers, scientists, business professionals, and students with employers both regional and national.
For Craig, his current assignment has been very rewarding, but the reward comes with a price.
“The challenges as part of the Force Modernization Team are very tough. Basically, you’ll find yourself behind the power curve very fast if you are not on the cutting edge with what the technology leaders at General Dynamics or Lockheed Martin (or whomever has the contract for a particular tool or technique you are working on) are doing.
As a result, when I first got here in 2004, I found myself being the dumbest person in the room. So I had to do a LOT of studying, a lot of after-hours time in the lab pushing the buttons so I could figure out the capabilities of a system myself before I would be able to talk to the boats and Sailors on the waterfront and tell them ‘this is the way I think you should employ System X.’
“I’m really enjoying my assignment because, let’s face it, everyone enjoys learning things that are new and in this job, that never ends.”
As for the future, Craig observes “‘If you’re not planning, other people will do it for you,’ as one of my old XO’s used to say.
“Later this year I’ll be a student in the Submarine Officer Advanced Course, SOAC, here at Submarine School. I’d hope to come down to the waterfront after that as a Navigator or Weapons Officer.
After that that, in terms of assignments in Groton, I’d be privileged to be able to serve aboard a submarine as a Department Head or go to a Squadron or to Submarine Group Two as a staff member, always staying current on technology and tactics for the next generation of submariners.”
Jason Sherman, InsideDefense.com, January 4, 2006
The U.S. military and the Tanzanian People's Defense Force share a unique link, one that Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, the Pentagon's No. 2 officer, recently deemed important enough to bring to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's attention.
Rumsfeld, in turn, deemed Giambastiani’s observations worthy of passing on to all of his senior service and Pentagon leaders in a closely held Jan. 3 “snowflake” memo.
So what could the world’s richest, most powerful, high-tech military share with the considerably more modest East African nation’s armed forces?
Both nations earmarked 3.8 percent of their gross domestic product for defense in 2004 -- the United States spent $455 billion, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), while Tanzania spent $20 million, according to the CIA World Fact Book.
Giambastiani passed on those figures in a Nov. 21 memo to Rumsfeld, pointing out that while the press often says the United States spends more than “the next ‘X’ countries combined” when discussing defense spending, another way of looking at things is to say that the United States is in 29th place -- tied with Tanzania -- on a list of countries’ defense spending as a percentage of GDP.
The Navy admiral penned his missive after reviewing the most recent IISS “Military Balance” report -- an annual assessment published in October of military spending around the world.
Rumsfeld’s snowflake memo calls the comparisons “instructive,” and he attached both Giambastiani’s memo and two charts compiled by IISS.
But, he adds, “Apparently, the U.S. spends more per year than the next 15 countries combined. It is useful to keep this in mind.”
Both types of comparisons carry political ramifications, said an influential defense budget analyst who works for the federal government and asked to not be identified because she is not authorized to speak to journalists without permission.
“The subtext [of Giambastiani's memo] is, ‘Yes, U.S. defense spending is much higher than other countries’, but is it a burden on the economy? No,’” said the budget analyst.
Another federal spending analyst said that those who argue defense spending is excessive can point to total expenditures; others who believe more should be spent on defense can point to military spending as a percentage of gross domestic product.
“Not surprisingly, conservatives tend to use one figure and liberals tend to use the other figure, and you can guess which figure is which,” said Steven Kosiak, a defense budget expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.
Still, Kosiak questioned the utility of such comparisons for Pentagon policy makers.
“Most decisions on force structure and weapons modernization programs are not driven by how much other nations are spending, but rather whether you think you need the systems to support your missions,” Kosiak said. “I don’t think it’s an unusable piece of information. But in practical terms, how much does it help you? I think it’s probably of limited value.”
Michael Bruno, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, January 5, 2006
Donald Winter, a former Northrop Grumman Corp. executive, was sworn in as U.S. Navy secretary on Jan. 3,
beginning a one-year hiatus from shipbuilding decisions involving one of the Navy's top two shipbuilders, according to a deal reached with senators.
In his new position, Winter leads the Navy and Marine Corps and is responsible for almost 900,000 people and an annual budget of more than $125 billion (DAILY, Jan. 4).
However, to satisfy conflict-of-interest concerns within the Senate Armed Services Committee, the former president of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems pledged last fall to adhere to a governmental ethics policy requiring a one-year absence from issues in which a nominee has a "covered relationship" with a defense contractor (DAILY, Oct. 7, 2005). That period was to start upon taking office, meaning Winter has recused himself until next year.
Still, many contentious shipbuilding issues saw some degree of conclusion last year. The Navy is expected by this spring to release a final long-term shipbuilding plan that is expected to outline a 313-ship battle fleet by 2035 (DAILY, Dec. 22, 2005).
Meanwhile, the DD(X) destroyer program, perhaps the Navy's most criticized shipbuilding proposal during the 2005 budget cycle, has survived near-term defense budget making. The ship is to be made alternatively by Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics Corp. - the two major U.S. naval shipbuilders - at least initially.
Nevertheless, a major challenge for Winter will be underpinning the U.S. shipbuilding base as it adjusts to lowered expectations. And lawmakers from shipbuilding states such as Mississippi and Maine are expected to push Winter over federal spending for their local industries.
Incentive Plan To Pay Workers $500
By Anthony Cronin, New London Day, 5 Jan 06
Electric Boat said Wednesday that it would distribute $500 checks next week to nearly all of its workers as part of a companywide incentive plan.
The shipyard, which employs about 11,400 at operations in Connecticut, Rhode Island and elsewhere, said the $500 checks were the result of employees successfully meeting the 2005 goals for its “Earned Hours” program, which it established five years ago to give workers a financial stake in the submarine builder's overall performance.
“The company's financial performance last year reflected the effort and dedication of our employees,” said EB President John Casey. He said that EB workers “again will receive a tangible reward for their hard work and commitment to our customer and product.”
EB had established a base of 19 million hours of work, which was attained over the past year. A “stretch” goal of reaching 19.5 million hours was not reached this past year. The “earned hours” designation recognizes the value, in hours, of contracts that are in progress at the shipyard. Nearly all EB workers, including union and management, will receive the incentive checks, except for its top executive officers.
The company sets an “earned hours” goal each year based on the projected workload. EB employs about 8,500 in Groton and another 2,000 at its Quonset Point, R.I., shipyard, as well as a small core of workers at satellite offices elsewhere.
Casey said that 2005 was a challenging year and that this year “will be even more so.”
Last month, EB announced that it would reduce its overall work force this year by as many as 2,400 workers because of a drop-off in design-related work as well as the loss of future maintenance and repair work on submarines. The Navy is transferring that work to Navy-owned yards, such as the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.
Currently, EB produces the equivalent of one Virginia-class submarine a year as part of its teaming relationship with the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard in Virginia. Both Connecticut's and Rhode Island's congressional delegations are pushing to eventually include funding in the federal budget for the production of two submarines a year by EB and Newport News.
“I deeply appreciate everything you've done to keep our company successful,” Casey told workers in an employee bulletin distributed Wednesday. “With everyone's contribution to the overall effort, we closed 2005 on a positive note.”
By Susan Mansfeild, The Scotsman, 5 Jan 06
STUART Gold heard the news on the radio at 7am. A Russian mini-submarine, the Priz AS-28, was trapped in the North Pacific with seven men on board. Their oxygen was running out, and Russia was appealing for foreign help to rescue them.
Gold, from Swanston near Edinburgh, was on his way to work. He had no idea that in a few hours he would be travelling to Russia, as part of a mission by the UK Submarine Rescue Service, in a race against time to free the trapped submariners before their oxygen supply ran out.
The story of August's nailbiting rescue - which recovered the trapped sub and its crew safely with only hours to spare - will be retold tonight in a fascinating TV drama-documentary, Submarine Rescue (BBC1, 9pm). It reveals dramatically how a series of hitches nearly put the entire operation in jeopardy.
The BBC Scotland team gained exclusive access to the Priz in a Russian naval base, though their filming was closely watched by the FSB (the successors to the KGB), and they arranged for Stuart Gold and naval commander Ian Riches, head of the Submarine Rescue Service, to travel to Russia to meet the men they rescued for the first time.
For Gold, the dramatic story began with a very ordinary Friday morning. He arrived at work at Renfrew-based James Fisher Rumic, the company subcontracted by the Ministry of Defence to operate and maintain Scorpio 45, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on constant standby for submarine rescue. However, he did not expect to be called upon, as US teams were closer to the trapped vessel.
"There was a bit of a crack in the tea room, people saying, 'You'll be off to Russia, then,' and I said, 'Don't be stupid, that will never happen,'" he says. But Riches had already opened negotiations with the Russians. By mid-morning, Gold was ordered to mobilise his team.
Edinburgh-based engineer Charlie Sillett headed for the meeting point at Prestwick Airport, picking up Gold's passport on the way. By the evening, they were bound for Petropavlovsk, on the remote Kamchatka peninsula, in a specially commandeered military plane. "Two hours out of Petropavlovsk, we found out we were in front of the American rescue team by about three hours. That was the point when we realised we were actually going to do something."
Time was ticking away for the crew of the trapped sub, but the rescue mission had been hit by a series of perilous delays. First, there was no specialist loading equipment. Second, in a scene reminiscent of a Cold War spy movie, the Russian officer on duty at the local naval base refused to admit them. "I timed it," says Gold, "We sat there for 20 minutes waiting to get in. As far as he was concerned, he had his Kalashnikov AK-47, and we weren't getting in to his dock."
It was only when they had set sail for the stricken vessel, lying 50 miles out, that they were fully briefed on the submarine's situation. It had become trapped 625ft down while working on the vast system of sub-sea antennae built by the Russians during the Cold War. Gold says: "I think that was the point when we knew, by hook or by crook, we'd get these guys back.
"We didn't really think much about the people inside the sub until the Russian captain who was with us told us he knew three of them personally. That really brought it home to us." When they reached the spot and began the rescue, the crew had an estimated 11 hours of oxygen left, and had begun to write farewell letters to their families.
But there were further problems to come. Three-quarters of the way through the five-hour operation to cut the sub free, the ROV developed technical problems and had to be brought back to the surface for a speedy repair.
Then, when the sub was all but free, disagreement arose between the British and the Russians about the cutting of the last and trickiest cable.
In the end, the sub was ordered to blow its ballast tank and the crew on the rescue boat faced an agonising wait until it broke the surface of the water. Gold says: "When it came to the surface it was incredible, a total feeling of relief, then sheer joy.
"It wasn't until I phoned my partner later that night that it all came home to me and I could hardly speak, I was so emotional. It dawned on me then that what we had done was an incredible piece of work, to have those seven people brought back to the surface. I think we all gave a huge sigh of relief."
It's not hard to see why the rescue operation would make compelling television, but it required delicate negotiations with the Russian military to obtain permission to film the freed submarine and interview the survivors and their families. Producer and director Andrew Thompson, of BBC Scotland, says: "We were in a slightly odd situation, because the Russians were extremely grateful for the international rescue teams, but at the same time they felt very bad that the submarine had got into such difficulties, and they had been unable to sort it out themselves."
In the end, the way was smoothed by the team's formidable "fixer" in Moscow, and a Russian colonel from the defence ministry's press office. Thompson says: "When we flew out to Petropavlovsk, we were in the back of the plane drinking vodka with this colonel - he doesn't speak a word of English, I speak virtually no Russian - thinking this was just lunacy."
However, the team was able to get exclusive access to the Russian naval base where the recovered sub was stationed, albeit under the close eye of the Russian secret police. "We had the FSB man looking down the viewfinder to make sure we weren't filming anything we shouldn't," Thompson says.
He also says that when Gold and Commander Riches met the rescued submariners and their families was "one of the most exciting filming days of my life".
It was a landmark for Gold, too: "The highlight of the trip was when Captain Valery Lepetyuha's younger son, who was about 13 or 14, said to me in impeccable English, 'Thank you for saving my father's life'. There was a big lump in my throat then."
PRNewswire-FirstCall, 4 January 2006
MANASSAS, Va. -- Lockheed Martin received a contract from Navantia to work with Navantia and other Spanish industrial leaders to develop the advanced combat system for the Spanish Armada's new S-80A diesel submarines.
"This new submarine program will establish Spain as a premier developer of modern diesel electric submarine technology," said Charles A. Cantello, vice president of Sensors & Advanced Programs for Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems & Sensors. "Lockheed Martin's open systems architecture model provides flexibility for content while maximizing Spanish industrial participation in the combat system development and integration."
Lockheed Martin has decades of experience working with the U.S. and international navies to provide high-performance, affordable and supportable combat systems for nuclear and diesel electric submarines. Its combat system approach focuses on an open systems architecture that leverages commercial technology proven on the U.S. Navy's Virginia, Seawolf and Los Angeles class submarines. Lockheed Martin's proven open architecture approach enables navies to easily upgrade systems with new commercial technology and capabilities for enhanced performance and greatly reduced cost over the life of the platform.
For the S-80A submarines, Lockheed Martin will support a Spanish industry design and develop the core combat system as a technology partner using experience gained over the last 40 years from combat systems design and development work for the U.S. Navy's submarine force.
Yonhap English News, 4 January 2006
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military plans to develop and build three 3,500-ton submarines between 2010-2022, military sources said on Wednesday.
The project is expected to cost 3.7 trillion won (US$3.5 billion), they said.
The sources said that the military is already developing three 1,800-ton submarines which it hopes will be commissioned as early as 2008.
The revelation of the long-term blueprint coincides with the launch of the county's new military procurement agency, the "Defense Acquisition Program Administration."
The agency is intended to raise the efficiency and transparency of military procurement practices by consolidating eight organizations related to procurement and technology development that were dispersed among the Defense Ministry, Army, Navy, and Air Force, officials said.
"It is true that we are studying developing new-generation submarines, but nuclear-powered ones are not an option being considered," the agency's spokesman said.
He was responding to a media report that the country's military was working on developing nuclear-powered submarines.
There is no reason to develop nuclear submarines, which would violate the 1991 joint declaration by South and North Korea for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsul, as diesel-electric submarines can perform the same role, he added.