THE US military is preparing plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, backed by a submarine-launched ballistic missile strike, a leading British newspaper reported yesterday.

Gulf Times, 13 Feb 06

Reducing manpower is a ‘key driver’

ONR Developing Better Sensors, Fuel Cells for Unmanned Vehicles

By Zachary M. Peterson, Inside the Navy, 13 Feb 06

Victims' Families Remember Sub Collision

CBSnew.com, 10 Feb 06

Contests drive FAU students to redevelop human-powered submarine

By Patty Pensa, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, February 12, 2006

MND dismisses report that U.S. drove up the price on submarines

Taipei Times, 12 Feb 06

Could al-Qaida take over Pakistan?

Terrorists would inherit nuclear arsenal, delivery system

Worldnetdaily.com, 13 Feb 06

Kalam reviews naval fleet, calls for more powerful submarines

Newkerala.com, 12 Feb 06

Scorpene deal casts shadow over PFR

Times of India, 12 Feb 06

Submarine arm a professionally skilled force : Kalam

The Hindu, 13 Feb 06

Mullen Says $2 Billion Virginia Class Price A Must For Two-Subs Goal

By Dave Ahearn Defense Today, 13 Feb 06

If General Dynamics Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. wish to see the Navy begin buying two submarines a year, they first must cut the total price of each boat to $2 billion or less, Adm. Michael Mullen, chief of naval operations, said.

If they don't, they won't see Navy orders for submarines doubled, he warned.

And this doesn't apply just to submarines, he continued. Rather, the hard requirement for cost reductions applies to all ships as well. However, Mullen said the Navy is will see if it can help the two submarine builders move toward that goal.

Out of the $2.4 billion to $2.7 billion current total cost of each boat, about $1 billion is in government-supplied items such as nuclear reactors.

Speaking to defense journalists following a Capitol Hill luncheon of the Defense Forum Foundation, Mullen said that senior Navy officers at this time are examining how the government might reduce the costs of some items going into each submarine.

That would help ease the challenge for General Dynamics unit Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman unit Newport News shipbuilding of cutting the price tag on each submarine by as much as one-fourth. (Each yard produces half of each sub, and then the halves are joined.)

While up to 25 percent-off sales may be attainable for retailers, they are a stretch for any defense contractor supplying the Pentagon with a major weapons platform.

Mullen was asked by Defense Today whether it would be sufficient for GD and Northrop to go part way toward the $2 billion-a-boat goal, and the Navy then would begin buying two submarines a year, with the expectation that the increased volume of production would permit the contractors to cut the cost the rest of the way to $2 billion.

The answer is no.

Mullen said this should be no surprise to the two companies. "My position on this has been steady since we put this plan together," he said. "I'm committed to getting there [to buying two boats annually] if we can get it down to two" billion dollars.

But be warned: "If we can't get it down to two, we won't go there" to ordering two subs a year. "And it's not just about submarines," he said. "It's about all the ships that we're building."

Mullen said he isn't unfairly placing the entire burden of cost cuts on the contractors. Rather, he is taking his own advice and seeking ways to cut costs of the government supplied items going into each sub.

"I will scrutinize that as I will the rest" of the total cost of each boat, he said, just as the Navy is scrutinizing each contractor-supplied element of each boat for potential cost-savings opportunities.

"The requirement to take government expense out of her is equally important," he said.

"Senior...uniformed...officers on the government side are looking at doing exactly as you described," he said. "How much we can get out [of the total cost] I don't know. That's something I'll spend a fair amount of time this year doing."

Ships: Numbers Versus Capability

On another point, Mullen commented on the years-long debate where some say Navy ships being built now are more capable, and therefore fewer of them will suffice, versus those who say a ship can occupy only one space at a time and numbers count. Those in the second camp also note that the Navy fleet already has plunged to 281 ships and submarines now, from a peak of almost 600 in the 1980s.

Mullen's view? They're both right, to an extent.

On the one hand, "absolutely," capabilities are a significant consideration, and as well, the Navy is wringing far more use out of each ship thanks to streamlined maintenance procedures and double-crewing each vessel.

While he didn't mention it specifically, precision munitions, better operating procedures and other advances also mean each ship is able to perform combat missions longer and better.

"Clearly, the capability of what we have" in the fleet "is critical," he said. "We don't need a 600-ship Navy right now" to address the threats facing the United States.

"We have almost as many ships underway in a 281-ship Navy as we did in an almost-600- ship Navy."

By investing in better vessels and operating procedures, he said, "we can respond much better than we could just a few years ago."

Okay, fine, that's one part of the situation. But: there's another critical point that comes to bear.

"That said, at some point you must have a number of ships in order to generate the capabilities," and the Navy today does not have a sufficient number of ships to meet that criterion, Mullen said.

In assembling his long-range shipbuilding plan that he sent to Congress this week, Mullen said he began with an assessment of the capabilities of each ship, and the fleet generally. Then, he said, the study determined what number of each type of ship and submarine the fleet required to project the correct capabilities in sufficient quantity.

And that is how, he said, the plan concluded that the current fleet is too small, and should be built up to 313 vessels.

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D.C. Notes: Navy Fighting Terrorism Under Water

Lance Gay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12 FEB 06

WASHINGTON -- The demise of the Cold War threatened to beach the U.S. Navy's prized fleet of nuclear submarines, but the admirals are now mapping ambitious plans to refit the underwater Navy for clandestine operations in the global war on terrorism.

The new idea: fleets of submarines carrying newly created U.S. Marine special-operation units, which can be covertly landed at hot spots around the world, and have their beachheads backed up with submarine-launched cruise missiles. To find the money for the program, the admirals intend early retirement for the USS John F. Kennedy carrier. That would then mean an 11-carrier Navy.

The admirals are dyspeptic about the fleet's diminished role in the fighting in landlocked Afghanistan and Iraq, and fear the service is heading for hard times unless new roles are found for Navy ships.

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DOT&E Report Finds Issues With SSGN Ohio-Class Mission And Support Systems

By Geoff Fein, Defense Daily, 13 Feb 06

A Pentagon report found that the SSGN Ohio-class conversion program has numerous minor issues with strike mission and support systems that contribute to an overall high- risk evaluation.

However, both the Navy and the Pentagon agreed that the SSGN Ohio-class conversion has no major deficiencies.

"Many of the support system deficiencies are related to modernization programs associated with the submarine's electronics system," the Director, Operational, Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) FY 2005 annual report, states.

"These programs generally are minor programs (Acquisition Category II, III, or IV) and have a poor history of adequate operational test," the report noted.

The reports points to Lockheed Martin's [LMT] Acoustic Rapid Commercial Off-the- Shelf Insertion (A-RCI) Sonar as one example. In a separate assessment of A-RCI, DOT&E raised issues about the Navy not completing operational testing of A-RCI.

"The Navy continues to deploy submarines with A-RCI systems that are not adequately operationally tested and evaluated," the report said. "Currently more than 30 submarines have A-RCI versions installed. When these submarines deploy, the A-RCI APB is, in essence, fielded."

Additionally, DOT&E said that while the High Frequency Mine Sonar capability in APB-03 shows improvement in some mission areas the system "continues to have reliability and suitability deficiencies."

In fact, system reliability has not improved significantly since the APB operational evaluation (OPEVAL) in 2003, and it continues to be a concern, the report said.

"Newly installed A-RCI systems typically require six to 12 months of frequent contractor repairs and changes to ensure longevity. Reliability should increase once all legacy components are replaced by commercial-offthe- shelf components," according to the report.

The Ohio is one of four former ballistic missile submarines being converted by the Navy and General Dynamics [GD] to strike platforms. The Ohio was just delivered to the Navy after successfully completing sea trials in December 2005. The USS Florida (SSGN-728) will begin strike testing in the Gulf of Mexico in 2007, followed by the USS Michigan (SSGN-727), and the USS Georgia (SSGN-729).

The four SSGNs will have two high data rate (HDR) antennas and an advanced software based radio room to manage it all. The SSGNs are going to be fitted with the common submarine radio room (CSRR). SSGNs will also have the universal modular mast (UMM) that allows the crew to swap out different antennas quicker depending on the mission. The missile tubes will also be used to launch Tomahawk missiles. Of the 24 tubes, 22 will be packed with seven missiles each. With an arsenal of 154 Tomahawks, an SSGN will have about 80 percent the Tomahawk strike capability of a Carrier Strike Group (Defense Daily, Dec. 23).

According to the DOT&E report, the Tomahawk missile Capsule Closure Assembly (CCA) redesign poses a moderate technical risk and could impact schedule.

"The initial newly designed CCA failed contractor tests. The redesigned CCA has started contractor testing but is behind schedule," according to the report.

The Navy will conduct operational testing of the redesigned CCA from an attack submarine in 2006.

Integration of conversion test plans and the test schedule for modernization systems such as the sonar, combat systems, and radio room is a concern, the report said.

"The performance of the modernization system can significantly affect the ability of the SSGN to demonstrate satisfactory performance in the new SSGN mission areas," according to the report. "Deficiencies in modernization program performance risk delaying the SSGN operational test or degrading SSGN mission performance."

The DOT&E report, released last month, also raised concerns about new threats to the SSGNs as a result of changes in the sub's operational profile from an open ocean strategic mission to a littoral mission.

The report recommends the Navy improve coordination between the SSGN conversion program and submarine modernization programs. "Additionally, the Navy's operational testing of submarine modernization programs requires improvement."

"Navy operational testing of submarine modernization programs is often inadequate, behind schedule, or not accomplished. The operational test of the SSGN, in each mission area, is designed to be an end-to-end test. SSGN mission area performance is dependent upon the performance of submarine modernization systems contributing to the mission area," according to the report.

DOT&E also recommends the Navy's SSGN Test and Evaluation Integrated Process Team should meet on a regular basis to complete planning for operational evaluation.

"These meetings are important for discussing completed test results and for adjusting future test plans and schedules."

The Navy should also complete development of the SSGN Concept of Operations, the report added.

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Anti-Terror Fight Takes To The Seas

Northcom & Norad: Eyes In The Future

Denver Post, 12 Feb 06

Peterson Air Force Base - A federal agent working with port authorities in South Asia sounded the warning: A cargo container had tripped sensors that detect possible chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The container was gliding west through the Mediterranean Sea on a ship bound for New York.

Here, at the military's homeland defense headquarters in Colorado Springs, surveillance crews melded that tip with radar and satellite data. Surrounded by wall-sized screens, the high-tech trackers located the ship and followed it across the Atlantic Ocean.

About 200 miles off the East Coast, Coast Guard forces intercepted and boarded the freighter and searched the cargo containers until they knew all of them were safe.

Military officials wouldn't say more about this classified incident that occurred in November, but the way it was handled begins to reveal how secretive military forces in Colorado - the center for airspace surveillance through the Cold War - increasingly target the high seas to reduce what commanders see as a major vulnerability.

This is part of broadening military activity driven by U.S. Northern Command, or Northcom, to confront a wider array of security threats that are as varied as computer hackers and suicide bombers.

Northcom commanders contend terrorists will try to hijack ships and use them to smuggle people and weapons, or turn the vessels into giant floating bombs.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently granted new authority to Navy Adm. Timothy Keating - commander of both Northcom and the U.S.- Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD - to call up aircraft carriers, submarines and other sea craft for maritime operations to deter and disrupt enemies and collect intelligence.

High-seas surveillance soon will expand, deploying new fleets of unmanned aerial drones and blimps with infrared capabilities over oceans, Keating said in an interview. The new defense budget devotes billions of dollars to developing this technology and integrating it into daily operations over the next few years.

Blimps and drones will give pinpoint visual detail on ships, Keating said. Blimps equipped with cameras and possibly radar, will hover 70,000 feet above areas of interest while drones eavesdrop in close. Abnormal behavior, such as vessels traveling outside regular shipping lanes, would trigger increased surveillance.

"Our job is to deter and prevent any and all attacks on the United States, whatever the means. We have thousands of miles of coastline. ... We have radar that can track an airplane. ... For us to do our mission, we felt we needed to ramp up maritime domain awareness," Keating said.

For nearly 50 years, NORAD's early warning operations - run from deep inside Cheyenne Mountain, southwest of Colorado Springs - focused on airspace, watching for incoming nuclear missiles and warplanes. Today, NORAD crews still scan airspace imagery, much of it sent from Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora. They scramble fighter jets several times a week in response to possible threats, such as a private plane flying near Air Force One.

A reorientation spurred by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks drives the broadening air, land and sea approach.

Northcom surveillance crews, working in a new operations center at Peterson Air Force Base, scan growing amounts of airspace, maritime and other data integrated with intelligence from spy agencies, the FBI and others.

Officials from those agencies work at Northcom headquarters.

Fusing this data to track ships and land threats - such as suspected suicide bombers – is essential to protecting Americans, said Anthony Cordesman, a veteran defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

"Your worst-case threats don't yet exist. You have to deal with all kinds of low-level activity and possibilities," Cordesman said.

"To even begin to create the capability (of effective homeland defense), you have to make a fundamental change to cover land borders, ports, seas, coasts and the air. If you miss any of those, you don't have homeland defense."

Each year, some 7,500 foreign- flag ships make 51,000 calls at U.S. ports. They deliver millions of cargo containers that move by rail and truck across the nation. Since Sept. 11, 2001, security officials have been wrestling with the possibility that enemies could use ships to smuggle weapons and people.

To help counter the potential threat, federal agents have been deployed at 44 ports worldwide. Customs officials also use a computerized targeting system to review shipping manifests, identifying potentially dangerous containers for inspection.

Now, military forces are getting more involved supporting these efforts by tracking and intercepting ships. Last year, U.S. naval forces boarded more than 2,000 vessels, according to congressional testimony by Pentagon officials.

By posting agents in foreign ports, "you get the smell and the flavor" of a port, but agents can be tricked, said Navy Cmdr. Robert Nestlerode, a former nuclear submarine chief now working at Northcom. Terrorists on ships also can elude surveillance by turning off transponder beacons, he said.

Maritime specialists at Northcom said that in October 2001, Italian police seized a Canada bound ship from Egypt at an Italian port. Aboard, they found an Egyptian man hiding in a cargo container equipped with a bed, toilet, cell and satellite telephones, Canadian passports, airplane tickets and an airline mechanic's certificate valid for airports in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Italian authorities released the Egyptian on bail, then he disappeared. The massive volume of shipping makes inspecting every cargo container impossible, "and we don't want to stop 95 percent of ships on the ocean," said Navy Cmdr. Richard Farrell of Northcom's future operations division.

Yet, "we can't afford to have a 9/11 in the maritime domain," Farrell said. "We're looking at all avenues to make those containers visible. ... A lot of our next steps are classified. We're trying to be a little more anticipatory."

The scope of these operations is global, looking increasingly beyond coastal waters to vital shipping routes, such as the Red Sea, where piracy is on the rise. Even nuclear submarines, built to deter an attack by the Soviet Union, may be rolled into homeland defense.

A few years ago, U.S. forces - including a sub - trailed a North Korean ship off Yemen, near Osama bin Laden's ancestral homelands. Eavesdropping U.S. crews heard every sneeze. When Spanish forces raided the ship, they found Scud missiles.

"A submarine can approach in a very clandestine manner and track (a ship) if need be," Keating said. If Northcom crews observe a ship "behaving erratically" with cargo that isn't on a manifest, "or it has been alongside another ship that we don't trust," calling in a nuclear powered attack submarine might make sense, he said.

All would assist, he added, in the overriding goal of "being able to respond with increasing rapidity as far away from our shores as possible."

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Ohio Returns to Service After Conversion to Cruise-Missile Submarine

By Jason Ma, Inside the Navy, 13 Feb 06

The Navy brought the Ohio (SSGN-726) back into service last week after its conversion from a submarine that launches nuclear ballistic missiles to a platform that launches conventional cruise missiles and transports special operations forces.

In Bangor, WA, Feb. 7, the Navy marked the occasion in a return-to-service ceremony, according to a Navy statement. The conversion process lasted just over three years, Rear Adm. William Hilarides, program executive officer for submarines, said in the statement.

“Now Ohio will conduct missions that will have a direct impact on the on-going global war on terrorism and, because of its payload capacity, Ohio and the other three SSGNs will free up Navy assets in the near future,” he said.

The Navy is also converting the Michigan (SSGN-727), Florida (SSGN-728) and the Georgia (SSGN-729) from ballistic-missile subs to cruise missile subs. As an SSGN, the subs can carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 66 special operations forces.

In addition, the SSGNs will dedicate two former missile tubes as lock-in/lock-out chambers for swimmers. The subs also will be fitted with two dry deck shelters, two Advanced SEAL Delivery System miniature subs, or one of each on the lock-in/lock-out chambers. The other 22 ballistic-missile tubes will each be able to hold up to seven Tomahawk missiles or specially designed stowage containers for special-operations equipment.

The SSGNs also will be fitted with two high data-rate antennas; improved intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities; and the new Common Submarine Radio Room, which will enable SSGNs to host a Joint Task Force command element.

“We have wasted no time in turning these proven submarines into platforms that we need today,” said Capt. David Norris, SSGN program manager.

Florida will have its return-to-service ceremony on May 25 in Mayport, FL. The Michigan and Georgia are on schedule to re-enter the fleet in December 2006 and September 2007 respectively.

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With Pride, an Extreme Makeover for USS Ohio

By Heidi Evans, Kitsap Sun, 11 Feb 06

I spent my day Tues-day at a coming-out party for a submarine that just finished an extreme makeover.

I was honored to attend the Return to Service Ceremony for USS Ohio. After more than 20 years as a ballistic missile submarine, it is being returned to the fleet as a guided missile submarine.

Just picture the boat undergoing one of those crazy surgical makeovers, ala "The Swan." Its no-longer-needed insides and outsides were removed, and they were replaced with new ones. Now it will live a new life in a new body. It’s a simplistic explanation, but a vivid one.

Or to explain it another way, the submarine’s blow-up-the-world nukes are being replaced with more tactical Tomahawk missiles and the ability to deliver Navy SEALs or other special forces. It even contains a communications center to coordinate the special operations missions.

The switch solves two problems for the Navy. First it allows them to find a new use for four submarines that had another 20 years of life left, but were headed to the scrap yard. Under the requirements of the START II treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, four of this country’s 18 SSBN submarines had to be taken out of service - at least in their nuke-delivering configuration. By removing the nuclear weapons systems and replacing them, they can continue to work. I like to think of it as the ultimate in big recycling projects.

Second, the makeover allowed the Navy to quickly create a tactical weapon in the complicated new world of military warfare where the enemy doesn’t fly a flag. After only five years of planning and construction, the boat has already completed sea trials and is expected to return to full duty in 2007. For the military, that’s light-speed response to new circumstances.

As you can imagine, welcoming this boat back to service required quite a party. The Bangor waterfront overflowed with bigwigs. Among the dignitaries - elected and military - was Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the nation’s second highest-ranking military officer.

He wasn’t the only admiral. There were more guys with scrambled eggs in that crowd than a Denny’s on Sunday. ("Scrambled eggs" is a slang term for the gold braid used to decorate the hats, or covers, of high-ranking military officers.)

In my eyes, the biggest highlight was the presence of Annie Glenn, wife of former astronaut and senator John Glenn. She christened the boat in 1979 and returned to be its sponsor again.

Annie Glenn is the ultimate military wife. Every time I send my husband to sea, I take great comfort knowing that statistically he is safer below the sea than he is driving to work. Annie Glenn had no such comfort. She cast her husband into space, relying on hundreds of engineers to keep him safe in a pioneering time of new technology.

Compounding her bravery, she has struggled with severe stuttering all her life. While under the intense public spotlight of the early space program, she refused to meet with the president due to her problem. After intensive therapy in 1973, she has gone on to take an active role in public life, frequently speaking to large groups as she did on Tuesday.

The spry 85-year-old called for the ship to "come to life." At her command, the crew raised and lowered the periscope and antennae, blew the horn and lowered some missile hatches. All this after a 19-gun salute likely scattered the pesky seals from the Bangor piers for at least an hour.

There was no moment in the ceremony more heart-tugging than the hug Annie Glenn gave Cmdr. Michael Cockey, the sub’s commanding officer, after she presented him with a USS Ohio patch her husband carried on his last jaunt into space. She was so proud to be there - again asked to sponsor this reconfigured boat - that she spent much of the ceremony’s end in tears.

As the wife of a crew member, I reveled in the pomp and glory of the moment. I was so proud to be married to someone who helped make this rebirth possible. After months of tolerating this makeover and its crazy, shifting, long, annoying schedule, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It was nice to know the Navy was so proud of its latest asset.

I also was struck by the dozens of civilians on hand, representing hundreds of others, who also have worked hard for that day. Add to that the incredible aid of the local Navy support organizations that hosted events and presented the crew members with stunning commemorative plaques. It was obvious that residents of this entire county, and many others all over this country, put overwhelming effort into this program.

Be proud, Kitsap. There’s a new lady on the waterfront and she’s a real swan.

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Trying To Sink The Mini-Sub

By John M. Donnelly, CQ Weekly, February 13, 2006

In 1994, the Pentagon hired Westinghouse Oceanic and Naval Systems in Annapolis, Md., to develop and build miniature submarines that could be used by teams of Navy commandos to sneak onto foreign shores.

Nearly a dozen years have passed. The Westinghouse unit has been sold to Northrop Grumman Corp., though it remains in Annapolis. The United States is involved in two shooting wars in the Middle East and a broader struggle against terrorism. And the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command, after investing more than a half-billion dollars in the mini-submarine program for its Navy SEALs, has just one vessel - and that one does not work very well.

In November, a month after a suspicious noise developed in the submarine’s propeller shaft during sea trials off Hawaii, the Defense Department canceled further purchases until the prototype is perfected. No one is sure how long that might take or what it might cost.

The submarine “continues to experience component failures that result in operational failures,” Pentagon testing director David W. Duma told Congress in a report last month. The causes, he said, include “assembly problems, improperly manufactured components [and] insufficient factory testing.”

This all should have come as no surprise. Practically every year since 1994, congressional defense committees and government auditors have warned that the mini-submarine had problems. And some lawmakers have argued that other companies - those in their state - should be given a shot at reviving it.

“Let’s stop here. Let’s rebid this thing,” said Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican from Connecticut, where the Electric Boat Co. builds submarines. Simmons, a former CIA officer who ran special operations teams, takes a grim view of Northrop Grumman’s vessel. “It’s a $1 billion box to bury SEALs in,” he said. “I wouldn’t want my son in it.”

But once begun, far more often than not defense weapons programs take on a life of their own no matter what their troubles. The Special Operations Command wants its Advanced SEAL Delivery System, and it has been encouraged and protected by senior lawmakers from Maryland, where the vessel is built, and Hawaii, where it is to be based.

“Once the camel’s nose is under the tent, it becomes part of the pork process, and members push it through the system,” said Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate Budget Committee aide and now an analyst with the nonpartisan Center for Defense Information. “Performance is not a consideration in members’ advocacy of the program,” he said.

A Better Ride

Navy SEALs now ride to work on rubber Zodiac boats or underwater sleds, a wet and often cold and exhausting trip. The Special Operations Command wants to replace at least some of this wear and tear with mini-submarines. Most details are classified, but the vessel is about 65 feet long with a beam of 7 feet - slightly longer than and roughly the same shape as a semi-trailer - and a displacement of about 60 tons. It is driven by electric motors and has no conning tower. Lying flush with the surface of a shallow bay or estuary, able to anchor while submerged, the submarine is designed to be all but invisible. The SEAL team - it can carry more than five, in addition to a two-person crew - enter and exit through an air lock in the belly. At sea, the vessel rides in a cradle on the afterdeck of a full-sized submarine.

But from the beginning, the boat has had design and developmental problems.

The original battery, touted by the Navy as a commercial, off the shelf acquisition, had to be replaced because it did not last long enough. The replacement battery has not been proven, experts say. Pentagon weapons testers have found that other commercially available items have not worked well either. In 2003, nearly a decade into the program, the Government Accountability Office reported that 13 of the submarine’s 16 most important requirements had not been met, including goals for speed, depth, quietness and the ability to survive attack.

For years, the sub’s propeller made too much noise for its stealthy missions, the auditors said. The Pentagon testers’ latest report said that trials show the sub is now hard to detect. But if the vessel is attacked, the report said, “results of modeling indicate there are problems with hull-mounted components and crew protection.”

The climax for the ship’s troubles came last fall. On its way back to port from exercises in October, the sub started making odd noises caused by an abnormal movement of the propeller that Pentagon experts said was due to manufacturing flaws and that led to a design review. The next month, the Navy issued a report summarizing numerous “system failures” exposed by the testing, including in several parts of the “life support system.” And by the end of November, the Special Operations Command had decided the Northrop design was too risky to commit to and chose to shift some of the money they had planned to spend on procuring more boats to fixing problems on the first one.

Confidence in the Craft

Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson, deputy chief of Special Operations, said at the time that “given the importance of the mission and the need to ensure the safety of our personnel,” his command and the Navy “must be completely confident in the reliability of the craft before committing to build additional hulls to a specific design.”

Defense committees in the House and Senate have paid attention to the program’s failings, at times withholding some appropriations, though never all of the funding.

In its report on the fiscal 2004 defense authorization law, the Senate Armed Services Committee told the Navy that if it planned to continue with the program, it should open it to competition again. “For the past four years, the committee has expressed increasing concern about the cost of this system and the significant performance shortfalls the program continues to exhibit,” the committee wrote.

The warnings became so frequent that lawmakers seemed to grow weary of writing them, using the same language and updating the preface: “For the past five years. . . . For the past six years . . .”

“It shouldn’t take 10 to 12 years to put into place a top-priority system that our special forces needed yesterday,” said Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, the second-ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. “We ought to be inviting competition.”

The contractor, for its part, sees nothing wrong with its submarine. Spokeswoman Debbi McCallam said that since the prototype was delivered to Special Operations in 2000, Northrop Grumman “has a very good record of meeting schedule and operating within cost.” The boat, she said, “has consistently performed well.”

Special Operations, which is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base on the west coast of Florida, declined to discuss the program. But that military command has enormous influence with Congress in a time of terrorism threats and counterinsurgency. Its budget has doubled since 2001. Congressional aides say it is hard for lawmakers to turn down requests for the Navy SEALs or the Army’s super-secret Delta Force, no matter how troubled a program such as the mini-sub might become.

Special Operations

Special Operations “is the main reason this thing is still alive,” said a senior aide to a lawmaker on one of the Defense committees.

Another reason is the self-perpetuation of government programs. Once enough money has been devoted to a project, that in itself becomes a justification for continuing it.

“You have to look at how much money the government has put in,” the Navy’s acquisition chief, John Young, said at a November hearing when asked about rebidding the submarine. “Those are very hard decisions: Whether . . . a few dollars gets you across the finish line or whether you’re going to keep having problems.”

Then there are the submarine’s congressional patrons, such as Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat and a member of both the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Intelligence Committee. She has issued news releases touting her support for the program, which she says provides more than 200 jobs and $100 million annually to the Annapolis area. She says that since 2000 she has “fought to secure more than $50 million in additional funding” for the program.

Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, the top Democrat on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has boasted his success in obtaining millions of dollars for facilities to support them, including the Hawaii Advanced Undersea Vehicle Test and Training Environment in Kauai. An aide says he has been instrumental in obtaining the funding for the sub and related facilities.

Northrop Grumman’s influence has also been expanding through its acquisitions. Not only did it acquire the Westinghouse subsidiary that is developing the mini-sub, it also bought Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., which is a major employer in Virginia, the home of John W. Warner, the Republican chairman of Senate Armed Services.

Meanwhile, the Navy is moving full speed ahead with development work on the mini-sub. President Bush’s fiscal 2007 budget requests another $45 million for the program.

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Navy, Marine Corps seek $127.3 billion

CNO Vows to Cut Cost of Ships, But May Trim Aviation Accounts Too

By Christopher J. Castelli, Jason Ma, and Zachary M. Peterson, Inside the Navy, 13 Feb 06

Asked to explain why the Navy is forecasting a significant increase in shipbuilding funding in the coming years, admirals last week said the department’s overall budget topline will increase, the cost of new ships will be reduced and aviation procurement accounts could be trimmed to find cash for ship construction.

The Pentagon’s fiscal year 2007 budget request seeks $127.3 billion for the Navy Department, including $16.8 billion for the Marine Corps, according to budget documents released Feb. 6. Compared to the FY-06 budget enacted by Congress, the proposed plan would increase the department’s budget by $4.9 billion ($4.1 billion for the Navy and $800 million for the Marine Corps).

For anyone familiar with the draft long-term ship construction plan that has been available on InsideDefense.com for weeks, last Monday’s Navy press briefing on the budget offered no surprises in shipbuilding. In FY-07, the plan would buy one Virginia-class attack submarine, two Littoral Combat Ships, one LHA-6 amphibious assault ship and one T-AKE cargo ship, while putting a down payment on the first two DD(X) destroyers.

Each of the first two DD(X)s will have its funding split between FY-07 and FY-08 in order to permit the concurrent construction of these destroyers at two different shipyards: General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine and Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, MS.

The T-AOE(X) program has been eliminated, as Inside the Navy reported last year.

The final version of the Navy’s shipbuilding plan was released last week. Like the draft report, it aims to increase the size of the Navy to about 313 ships in the coming years. In a discussion with reporters Feb. 7, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen said he is most concerned with increasing the size of the fleet and controlling costs.

“If we don’t control the costs, I won’t be able to turn up,” Mullen said regarding the size of the fleet. “We might go up for a year or two, but we will continue to go down.”

Some analysts have criticized the Navy’s long-term shipbuilding plans, arguing they may be based on unrealistic funding projections.

At a press briefing Feb. 6, Rear Adm. Stan Bozin, director of the Navy’s budget office, asserted the plan is realistic. He noted the department expects its budget topline to increase in the FY-07 to FY-11 period (from $127.3 billion in FY-07 to $135.2 billion in FY-08, $143.7 billion in FY-09, $148.1 billion in FY-10 and $151.6 billion in FY-11).

In what seemed to be a contradiction, Mullen told reporters, “I don’t anticipate a lot more money coming into the topline.” Spokeswoman Lt. Tamara Lawrence later said Mullen meant he does not expect the Navy’s topline to increase significantly beyond FY-11.

Asked where the additional funding from shipbuilding will come from, Mullen replied, “Well, it will come from the Navy.” The department has worked hard in the last four to five years to do things much more effectively and efficiently, he said. Some of the additional shipbuilding funding will be garnered this way, he said. In addition, the Navy will look to cut other kinds of procurement accounts, including aviation, Mullen indicated.

“The other place that you would go with that is the remainder of the procurement account,” he said. “So I’ve got to look at that very carefully in order to fund what I believe is required for the shipbuilding account for the future.”

In the coming years, the Navy plans to buy a large number of expensive aircraft, including Joint Strike Fighters and V-22 Ospreys. Asked whether he intends to “rob” the aviation account to pay for shipbuilding, Mullen replied, “I wouldn’t use the term rob.” That drew laughter from the reporters.

“I mean as anybody in a senior position [knows], we’ve got to balance all this,” Mullen continued. “As indicated, having spent the first several months working through the shipbuilding piece, I’m now starting to work my way through the aviation piece, and it’s going to take us time to do that. Essentially, that’ll be what we do for the ’08 budget is to look at that.”

Except for the death of the Ariel Common Sensor program, naval aviation procurement plans have not changed much in the FY-07 budget compared to the previous plan, according to documents released by the Navy last week.

For the Navy and Marine Corps’ Joint Strike Fighter programs, the department projects buying a total of eight aircraft in FY-08 (two fewer than previously planned), 32 in FY-09, 36 in FY-10 and 33 in FY-11.

For the MH-60S helicopter program, the Navy plans to buy 18 aircraft in FY-07 (not the previously planned 26), 20 in FY-08 (rather than 26), and 26 annually from FY-09 to FY-11.

In FY-08, the quantity of H-1 Marine Corps helicopters has been cut from 21 to 19.

In the category of Marine Corps ground programs, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program’s low-rate production begins in FY-07 with 15 vehicles, according to the latest budget request. The plan projects 17 in FY-08, 26 in FY-09, 42 in FY-10 and 100 in FY-11. That procurement profile is virtually identical to last year’s projections, which included 108 vehicles in FY-11.

The Marine Corps wants to buy 851 humvees in FY-07, 596 in FY-08, 1,211 in FY-09, 1,143 in FY-10 and 1,095 in FY-11. These numbers are in several cases quite smaller than projections derived a year ago. That is because defense supplemental funding boosted Marine Corps humvee purchases to 2,763 vehicles in FY-06, which reduced the need to buy humvees in subsequent years.

The Marine Corps would discontinue purchases of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, buying six in FY-07 instead of the 19 projected for FY-07 in the previous budget request. The service would buy 34 Lightweight 155 mm Howitzers in FY-07 and 47 in FY-08, with none planned after that. No more purchases of the Assault Breacher Vehicle are planned, though the service previously planned to buy eight in FY-07, according to budget documents.

The FY-07 budget request funds the Light Armored Vehicle product improvement program to maintain that capability through FY-15, Bozin, the Navy Department’s budget director, told reporters Feb. 6.

Marine Corps end strength is 179,366 today, though the Navy Department expects that will increase to 181,000 by the end of this fiscal year. The new Marine Special Operations Command is expected to include 2,600 personnel. Considering the current level of operations and the demands on the Marine Corps, Bozin said money for the additional end strength would come from the upcoming supplemental defense budget.

For ship-launched and air-launched munitions, the Navy’s FY-07 budget request remained aligned with last year’s estimates, with the exception of decreases in Tactical Tomahawk, Laser Guided Bomb, AIM-9X and Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) procurement plans.

Previously the department planned to buy 3,150 LGBs in FY-07, but the new budget cuts that number to 2,272. Previous plans to buy 213 AIM-9X missiles in FY-07 were reduced to 174 missiles. The FY-07 budget would buy 350 Tactical Tomahawks, which is 22 fewer than previously planned. In FY-07, the Navy also wants to buy 397 JSOWs, three fewer than previously planned.

Procurement plans in FY-07 for the Trident II, Standard Missile, Rolling Airframe Missile, Joint Direct Attack Munition and Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile programs did not change compared with previous plans.

In the outyears, the Navy increased procurement quantities for the Trident II and JSOW programs, but decreased procurement quantities for the AIM-9X, Tactical Tomahawk and Laser Guided Bomb programs.

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Submarine Workers Submerged In Uncertainty

General dynamics official says industry faces significant crisis

Anthony Cronin, New London Day, 12 Feb 06

The head of General Dynamics' Marine Systems group says this nation's skilled submarine workers are being jeopardized by the low volume of production and the lack of any new future submarine designs.

Michael W. Toner, the executive vice president of Marine Systems for the Falls Church, Va.-based defense contractor, authored one of the cover stories for the February edition of “Proceedings” magazine and said work will soon start dropping sharply at Electric Boat in Groton, jeopardizing the shipyard's desire to have a “critical mass” of some 2,200 to 2,500 submarine designers. The story was titled “Shipbuilding: An Industry in Crisis.”

Toner, a former EB shipyard president, said the nation's submarine industry “is not an industry where skills are easily transportable, where people change jobs every few years.”

“Today, for the first time since the USS Nautilus ... the Navy does not have a new submarine design program on the books, and work will start falling off sharply at Electric Boat soon,” he wrote.

The Marine Systems group includes the Electric Boat shipyard as well as Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., or NASSCO, in San Diego. “Proceedings” is the independent monthly magazine of the U.S. Naval Institute, an Annapolis, Md.-based not-for-profit professional society that offers an independent forum for national defense issues.

EB has already announced that it will trim its overall work force of about 11,500 this year by between 1,900 and 2,400 because of a lack of future submarine design work and an expected drop-off in submarine maintenance and repair.

“The strength of our industry lies in our people and the engineering, design, production and ship technology skills they bring to bear in delivering these warships,” Toner said.

Toner called for a Navy-industry summit to reach agreement on an acquisition strategy that is “fiscally responsible, retains the industrial base and charts a viable execution strategy.” EB currently produces the equivalent of one Virginia-class submarine a year as part of its teaming arrangement with Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia. The Navy plans to bump up production in fiscal year 2012 to two submarines annually, although Connecticut proponents of the shipyard want to move that date up to fiscal 2009.

Toner also advocated alternative financing for the warships, including advance appropriations, multiyear procurements, incremental procurement, split funding and lead-ship procurement out of research and development budgets. The current Virginia-class submarine carries a price tag of about $2.4 billion, although the Navy is advocating a price of $2 billion a boat.

The General Dynamics executive said he cannot remember another time in his shipbuilding career of more than four decades when so many first-of-a-class ships were in the works, including the Virginia-class submarine, the DD(X) next-generation naval destroyer and the Littoral Combat Ship for close-to-shore operations.

“When you try to incorporate cutting-edge technology, the risk can drive the cost up sharply,” Toner wrote. “A more affordable strategy might be to integrate into the first ship those things that are not easily backfitted, and delay anything that can be added later.”

Toner also said the submarine industrial base needs to address the volatility that now exists, often making programs bounce back and forth. He said the building plan for the Virginia class, for instance, has changed a dozen times in 10 years, “each time postponing an increase of production from one to two a year.”

Toner warned that this nation must reinvigorate its once-booming commercial shipbuilding industry. He said the commercial side of the business needs market incentives because some of the “best practices” emanating from the commercial side of the business can help drive down the cost of Navy ships.

Toner said the Navy will always need a balanced fleet encompassing aircraft carriers, surface combatant ships, submarines and auxiliary and support craft.

“We need to do all we can to fund and preserve an industrial base that can efficiently and cost effectively produce the ships that are so vital to our national security,” he wrote. “Once a major naval shipbuilding yard closes, once the skilled work force has scattered, reconstitution of this national treasure will be too costly, if it is possible at all.”

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Sub to undergo $175M modernization

Work on the USS Toledo is Northrop Grumman's largest sub maintenance contract in years. Will that kind of work keep coming?

By Peter Dujardin, Daily Press, 12 Feb 06

NEWPORT NEWS -- The contract Northrop Grumman Newport News won last week for work on the USS Toledo is the largest submarine maintenance job the shipyard has received in at least 20 years.

The $175 million modernization contract, which will employ up to 900 workers at the busiest point of the boat's 13-month yard visit, is far bigger than the three other sub repair deals the shipyard has gotten since it embarked on a major effort to get back into the business three years ago.

Comes the key question: Will the Toledo work represent the last big hurrah for the yard's recent sub maintenance surge, or is it a hint of more such jobs to come?

The Newport News shipyard hopes it's the latter, aiming to perform well on the contract and thereby convince the Navy to keep sending such work to the Peninsula.

"We truly believe that having the right skills and the right facility available will be beneficial to the Navy, as well as to the company, over the long haul," said Irwin F. Edenzon, the shipyard's vice president of technology development and fleet support.

But there's one catch.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chief of Naval operations, said last year that after 2008, all submarine maintenance work is set to be performed at Navy-owned shipyards, such as Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, not private yards such as Newport News and General Dynamics Electric Boat.

That decision came soon after the Base Realignment and Closure commission decided to keep a Navy yard in Maine open against the Navy's wishes. With declining sub repair work expected, the Navy yards can handle the work, Mullen said.

"The public shipyards will once again have the capacity to perform all scheduled maintenance," he said in a letter to New England's congressional delegation last fall.

But Edenzon pointed out that what seems clear today could shift tomorrow, and he wasn't ready to concede that Newport News will have to leave the sub repair business in 2008 or soon after.

"I would tell you that the Navy is going to have a lot of work to do over the next number of years, and things change," he said. "I still think there is a very good opportunity for Newport News to support the Navy's maintenance activities."

Changes on the world scene, for example, could lead to changes in submarine deployment schedules that could alter ship-repair schedules and necessitate the yard's involvement, Edenzon said.

The Toledo, a Los Angeles-class boat that was built in Newport News and began service 11 years ago, will arrive at the shipyard in September.

The job will last 13 months, including 10 months out of the water in a dry-dock. In addition to normal maintenance work, the Toledo job also includes a heavy modernization component, Edenzon said.

"We'll be working closely with the Navy to incorporate their lessons learned and best practices as we plan and execute this work," he said.

Northrop Grumman Newport News won the Toledo contract over General Dynamics Electric Boat, a Groton, Conn., company that's now in the middle of a wide-scale downsizing that's blamed at least in part on declining submarine repair work.

The Toledo work is the fourth submarine maintenance job Newport News has received since 2003. The yard has performed two repair jobs on the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul and one on the USS Hyman G. Rickover.

Those roughly six-month contracts have employed about 200 people. The yard is also getting ready to perform similar maintenance work on the USS Oklahoma City.

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US ‘Plans’ Blitz in Iran Nuclear Sites

THE US military is preparing plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, backed by a submarine-launched ballistic missile strike, a leading British newspaper reported yesterday.

Gulf Times, 13 Feb 06

The news came as Iran warned that it could leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would theoretically put it in the same position as Israel - which is not required to open its nuclear facilities to inspection.

A US attack would be a “last resort” to try to thwart the development of an atom bomb by the Iranians, the Sunday Telegraph said.

Pentagon planners are urgently drawing-up lists of targets and working out the logistics of a strike, the newspaper quoted a top official as saying.

They planners are working directly under the office of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was one of the main advocates of attacking Iraq to remove and “disarm” Saddam Hussain.

“This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment,” the newspaper quoted a senior Pentagon adviser. “This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months.”

The US, in line with its normal practice, has refused to rule out military action if negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme, which it says is purely for civilian use, break down. However its leading ally, Britain, has already indicated that it believes attacking Iran could have disastrous consequences and might fail to cripple Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Iranians are understood to have put key nuclear facilities deep underground to protect them from an attack such as the one that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak reactor in the 1980s.

However, the US is reportedly concerned by a steady flow of disclosures about Iran’s secret nuclear operations and the tough anti-Israeli rhetoric of recently elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The Pentagon’s strategy for an attack would probably involve aerial bombardment by long-distance B2 bombers, each armed with up to 20 tonnes of precision weapons including the latest bunker-busting bombs, the Telegraph said. They would fly from bases in Missouri with mid-air refuelling.

Conventional ballistic missiles could also be fired from Trident submarines, if they are rearmed with non-nuclear weapons in time. The Bush administration has announced that it was to refit them with conventional arms within two years.

A week ago Iran was reported to the United Nations Security Council by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for carrying out banned nuclear activities. Tehran responded by saying it would proceed with full-scale enrichment of its uranium.

The enrichment procedure can produce power station grade uranium which is enriched by 3%, or can be carried on until it produces 95% enriched, weapons-grade uranium. According to one expert, Iran has sufficient centrifuges to produce enough uranium for about two nuclear bombs a year.

However, construction of nuclear bombs is difficult and most experts believe it would take the Iranians eight to 10 years to produce a weapon.

The White House has repeatedly said it wants a diplomatic solution to the dispute, but President George W Bush said earlier this month that Iran’s nuclear ambitions “will not be tolerated”.

US Senator John McCain, the Republican front-runner to succeed Bush as his party’s presidential candidate in 2008, has advocated military strikes as a last resort. He said recently: “There is only only one thing worse than the United States exercising a military option and that is a nuclear-armed Iran.”

Iran is committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but could review its position depending on the outcome of the next meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the foreign ministry said in Tehran yesterday.

“We are still committed to the NPT. We have always been committed to this international agreement, but we cannot accept it being used for political ends,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

Meanwhile, a team of inspectors from the atomic agency has arrived in Iran to supervise the resumption of “nuclear research activities”, another senior official said.

Former US vice president and defeated presidential hopeful Al Gore yesterday lashed out at Iran’s government, denouncing it as a threat “for the future of the world”.

In an address to the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia, Gore said the “corrupt leadership” combined with President Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israeli outbursts should raise alarm bells all over the world, including the Arab world and the Gulf region.

“There should be more voices in the region saying this leadership is dangerous for the future of the world,” said Gore, who was President George W Bush’s rival in the 2000 presidential election.

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Reducing manpower is a ‘key driver’

ONR Developing Better Sensors, Fuel Cells for Unmanned Vehicles

By Zachary M. Peterson, Inside the Navy, 13 Feb 06

The assistant chief of the Office of Naval Research discussed better sensors, fuel cells and reductions in manpower as ways to make unmanned vehicles more efficient in a presentation last week.

Having 12 to 15 people for a whole system of unmanned vehicles aboard a ship, rather than several people for each unmanned vehicle, is a “key driver” for ONR’s unmanned sea system projects, Capt. Dennis Sorensen said at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s unmanned systems program review in Washington Feb. 9.

Sorensen said initiatives to develop technology such as high capability sensors for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); autonomous multi-vehicle cooperation and control; automated image understanding; and new propulsion technology as ways to help reduce manpower requirements for unmanned vehicles and gain greater efficiency.

High capability sensors for small UAVs need to be able to operate in inclement weather and should not require electric power, Sorensen said.

For unmanned vehicles in urban areas, automated image understanding becomes even more important with increases in the number of sensors on the vehicle, he noted.

Right now, Sorensen said “only a fraction of tactical imagery in Iraq is screened.”

ONR is using fish as a model to develop an autonomous underwater vehicle with deformable fins. This vehicle will have low-speed maneuver and quiet propulsion for increased stealthiness, Sorensen said. He added this concept is similar to those for UAVs, which are being designed to look like birds.

Overall it is important that unmanned vehicles can communicate with each other, Sorensen noted. Citing the example of mine detection technologies, Sorensen said autonomous multi-vehicle cooperation helps the vehicles work together more efficiently and effectively without additional manpower.

Another priority for ONR is the development of alternative sources of power for unmanned vehicles. Fuel cells of compressed hydrogen or hydride could hold a considerable “potential for the future,” Sorensen said.

Noting the success of former ONR unmanned vehicle programs like Dragon Eye, Silver Fox, Remus and Gladiator, which either have transitioned, or are in the process of transitioning, into acquisition programs, Sorensen said he thinks more ONR programs will transition into service-sponsored programs in the future.

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Victims' Families Remember Sub Collision

CBSnew.com, 10 Feb 06

The families of three people killed when a Navy submarine collided with a Japanese fishing boat five years ago gathered at a park overlooking the Pacific and draped lei at a memorial honoring the nine victims.

Loved ones bowed their heads for a moment of silence at 1:43 p.m. Thursday, the same time the USS Greeneville hit the Ehime Maru on Feb. 9, 2001.

"It's been five years, but it feels like it was yesterday," Takako Segawa, the daughter of the boat's radio operator, said at a brief ceremony at the Ehime Maru Memorial at Kakaako Waterfront Park. "I feel like maybe he's just at sea and he'll come home."

The victims' families tossed flower petals and chocolate into the ocean in an offering to Takeshi Mizuguchi, the only one of the nine whose body was not found.

"My son never came home, so I want to be as close to him as possible," said Tatsuyoshi Mizuguchi, who has visited Hawaii 15 times since the collision that happened about 13 miles off Oahu.

Mizuguchi's 17-year-old son, Takeshi, had boarded the Ehime Maru along with 34 other students and instructors from Uwajima Fisheries High School for a training mission on how to fish.

A Navy investigation concluded the Greeneville hit the Ehime Maru after the submarine's captain failed to properly use sonar and periscopes to look for nearby ships before surfacing.

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Contests drive FAU students to redevelop human-powered submarine

By Patty Pensa, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, February 12, 2006

Delray Beach · Considering two people are supposed to fit inside, the 12-foot-long, 2-foot-wide submarine seems snug by all measures.

Even more so when two air tanks are strapped inside. A metal bar divides space between the pilot on the bottom and the stroker, who pedals, on top.

Surprisingly, the fit can be quite comfortable. And the ride, while invigorating and challenging, can be relaxing as well, say those who navigate the vessel.

This is Florida Atlantic University's human-powered submarine, a feat in ocean engineering that has earned international recognition but still causes passersby to pause.

What exactly is a human-powered submarine?

"To tell you the truth, I had never heard of it, either," said Scott Gibbs, an ocean engineering major who was part the team that won second place at the International Submarine Races in Maryland in July.

The maroon sub, built sometime in the 1990s, uses the stroker's energy to provide thrust while the pilot navigates. On Saturday, the course was about 55 yards out in the choppy Atlantic Ocean off Delray Beach. The team stayed out almost four hours on test runs 12 feet down. The international competition takes them down to 20 feet below the surface.

For most of the FAU team, it was their first spin in the ocean.

"I'm not worried," said Jason Fraser, 22, of Sunrise.

Besides, the rest of the team hovers underwater near the sub as the two inside practice launching, steering and speed, which can be up to 5 knots, or 5.8 mph. The team also recently practiced in the university's pool.

"It's pretty tight and there's not a lot of visibility," said Fraser, who joined the team a month ago. "I suppose if you're claustrophobic, it would be difficult."

FAU's Human-Powered Submarine Team has something of a segmented history. It disbanded in 1998 after the international competition moved from Fort Lauderdale to Maryland.

About three years ago, a group of ocean engineering students decided to renovate the sub, spending $3,000 of club money to sand the fiberglass, refoam the interior and upgrade mechanical features, said Gerard Kaufman, team business manager.

The team won 2nd place overall and 3rd-fastest last year. Fourteen other teams competed, including two from Canada and one from the Netherlands.

Most of last year's team has left, but freshmen and sophomores are filling the vacancies. New members are attracted by the chance to put into practice what they're studying. The thrill of diving and the fun of powering the vessel are added attractions.

"The whole idea of designing a vessel like a sub in my first year of college really interested me," said Matt Young, 19, of Boca Raton.

The team wants to build its own sub eventually -- a one-person vessel like those used by most other university teams -- but the cost is estimated at $20,000. Last year's team came up with a design and the new team plans to test it with models and tweak the design as needed.

With the current sub, Young said, he was surprised to see to find how roomy it was his first time in.

"I just happen to be the right size," said Young, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 135 pounds. "I'm skinny enough to fit between the tanks."

Compared to other human-powered subs, FAU's is quite wide, said David Darwent, 22. The team is hoping to enter a competition in California this summer before the 2007 international competition in Maryland.

But money is a factor. The team has $8,000 from the university for regular club funds and is seeking corporate sponsors and donations from alumni, said Kaufman, the business manager.

"This is a way to get practical experience," Kaufman said of the team, which is composed mostly of ocean engineering majors. "It's also just a way to have a good time."

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MND dismisses report that U.S. drove up the price on submarines

Taipei Times, 12 Feb 06

Ministry of National Defense spokesman Liu Chih-chien yesterday dismissed a report in the latest issue of Jane's Defence Weekly which said that the US intentionally drove up the price for submarines so that Taiwan will back down from buying the weapons. The report said the US navy charged an unreasonably high price for the submarines it decided to sell to Taiwan because it knew that the legislature would never pass such an exorbitant budget to purchase them. Liu said the report was groundless as the US has a standard formula for calculating the weapons it sells to other countries. "It is impossible that the US would charge Taiwan a price much higher than it does to other countries, as doing so would hurt its credibility," Liu said.

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Could al-Qaida take over Pakistan?

Terrorists would inherit nuclear arsenal, delivery system

Worldnetdaily.com, 13 Feb 06

Could al-Qaida ever take over Pakistan?

That is the nightmare scenario considered in the latest issue of Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND.

Asia Times and the Times of India both report today the Taliban and al-Qaida have already taken "virtual control" of the entire North Waziristan province of Pakistan and "declared" the establishment of an "Islamic state" in the area, gaining a major base for their operations against the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden may be the most popular figure in the nation.

Just one man's life is preventing Laden or his allies from getting their hands not on nuclear weapons, which they already have, but a large nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver it anywhere in the world, G2 Bulletin reports.

His name is Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan.

If fair-and-square elections were held today in Pakistan, and bin Laden or someone like him were allowed to compete, there is little doubt the populace would be with such a leader, according to G2 Bulletin sources.

But they haven't had fair-and-square elections in Pakistan for some time - and President Bush, who promotes "democracy" as the antidote to terror, better hope they don't have one soon.

Pakistan not only has at least 40 nuclear warheads, according to most accounts, but it has some of the most sophisticated and feared delivery systems in the world.

Perhaps the biggest worry is the trio of French-built Agosta 90B stealth submarines, each capable of carrying 16 cruise missiles with nuclear payloads.

The Pakistani military is very proud of its subs - and well they should be. They are at the top of the class for French submarines. They were designed by the French company DCN, which, as incredible as it may sound, has licensed Pakistan to produce more at a commercial base.

The project was completed despite a suicide bomb attack with killed 11 of the project's French engineers in front of their Karachi hotel in May 2002. The deal had to be approved by the US government because the plane contains U.S. parts.

While the specs for the Agosta 90B subs say it is equipped to fire Exocet missiles and torpedoes, at a press briefing following the annual naval exercise Seaspark-2001, Rear Admiral Mohammad Afzal Tahir, the deputy chief of naval staff for operations, announced that the Pakistan navy was considering equipping its submarines with nuclear missiles. He suggested the Agosta 90B submarine, with its air independent propulsion system, can deliver nuclear weapons.

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Kalam reviews naval fleet, calls for more powerful submarines

Newkerala.com, 12 Feb 06

Visakhapatnam: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Sunday reviewed the Indian Navy's fleet off this port city in Andhra Pradesh and urged the force to frame a long-term plan to mount cruise missiles on its submarines.

Nearly 60 warships, including submarines, and over 40 aircraft took part in the fleet review, an event held nine times since 1953. For the first time, the review was held on India's eastern coast - the previous events were held off Mumbai on the western coast.

The review is an honour accorded to each president, the supreme commander of the armed forces, once during his tenure.

Delivering an address from the warship INS Sukanya, which was designated the presidential yacht for the review, Kalam said the display of maritime prowess had assured the nation of its maritime security.

"It indicates India's power, maritime power, sea power. I am happy that the Indian Navy is a powerful force in our nation and is defending the country and at the same time spreading peace because the sea connects many nations," he said.

After being accorded a 21-gun salute and inspecting a ceremonial guard of honour on land, Kalam embarked on the Sukanya. As he stood on its deck, the Sukanya made its way past rows of ships in the review anchorage in the waters off R.K. Beach here.

As the presidential yacht passed, Kalam was greeted with cheers of "jai" by the crews of the ships, who lined the upper decks, clad in ceremonial white uniforms.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the three services chiefs - Admiral Arun Prakash, Gen. J.J. Singh and Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi - accompanied Kalam. Andhra Pradesh Governor Rameshwar Thakur, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and central Minister of State for Mines T. Subbirami Reddy also travelled on the presidential yacht.

A mobile column of nine smaller warships and two submarines then made its way past the Sukanya. The review culminated with a flypast featuring 40 naval aircraft.

Tens of thousands of Visakhapatnam residents and tourists lined the R.K. beach to watch the review.

Later, in his address, Kalam noted the INS Rajput had become the first ship to be armed with the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia.

He said future classes of submarines should be made capable of carrying the BrahMos and other vertically launched missiles.

Noting that the Indian Navy operated under water, on the sea's surface and in the skies, Kalam called on the force to make greater use of space-based assets like satellites. The navy should use the OCEANSAT recently launched by India for surveillance and for harnessing ocean resources and assessing the environment, he said.

The navy's work with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had built up its capabilities for ship design and model testing. This would help the country to become self-sufficient in producing sophisticated defence equipment, he said.

Some of the Indian Navy's most powerful ships took part in the review, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, Delhi-class destroyers, Talwar-class missile frigates and Godavari-class frigates.

Besides the navy's vessels, a limited number of Coast Guard ships and merchant vessels also participated in the review. The sail training ship INS Tarangini, which recently circumnavigated the globe, was a special attraction at the event.

The aircraft that took part in the flypast included Sea Harrier jets and Seaking and Kamov helicopters.

Kalam Saturday arrived at Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of the Indian Navy's Eastern Command and the base for its submarine fleet.

The fleet review is a long-standing tradition observed by major navies. It is a ceremonial event where the president witnesses the navy's strength and reaffirms his faith in its ability to safeguard the nation's maritime interests.

The navy decided to stage the review at Visakhapatnam this year "to showcase the growing strategic and economic importance of the eastern coast".

Kalam referred to the importance of the eastern coast in his address, saying: "The growing economic and strategic positionin