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Press Release Number:  EHD200506081 08-Jun-05

New live-fire scoring system demonstrated to allies

By PMA-205 and NAVAIR Public Affairs.
Representatives of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)’s Training Systems Program Office, PMA205, and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)’s Warfare Center Indian Head recently traveled to New Zealand to demonstrate the Integrated Maritime Portable Acoustic Scoring and Simulation (IMPASS) system to the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

This new system was developed by PMA-205 to allow U.S. Navy Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS) gun teams to conduct live-fire mission training with the Mk 45 gun system without the use of a land based range. IMPASS operates completely independent of all ship systems, is easily adaptable, and supports other range activities such as developmental munitions scoring and bomb drop scoring for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.

Each IMPASS system consists of a series of underwater acoustic sensors, which are built into floating buoys. These sensors are dispersed in a pattern in open water where they listen for the sounds of the guns projectile hitting the water following each gunshot. The buoys are designed to determine the direction from the buoy where the sound originated and then they triangulate the location of the impact with an accuracy of approximately ten meters. Global-Positioning Satellites (GPS) provide precise positioning data of the buoys and firing platform. Once detected, the impact data is transmitted to a system controller unit located on the support ship for tracking and display.

The IMPASS system can be used in the open ocean and eliminates the transit to a fixed land range, saving steaming time and greatly reducing the cost of training. For NSFS, a warship deploys the buoys and Expeditionary Warfare Training Group (EWTG) personnel then score the training exercise on-board providing an immediate assessment of the gunnery crew’s effectiveness.

For the system demonstration, NAVAIR and NAVSEA arranged with the RNZN to provide a support ship and two warships, HMNZS Te Mana and HMNZS Te Kaha, to conduct a naval gunfire exercise. The support ship deployed the five acoustic sensing buoys, and a base station was installed on the Te Mana. The Te Kaha operated without any IMPASS equipment.

While the U.S. Navy qualifies just one ship at a time, the RNZN desired to qualify multiple ships simultaneously and without the use of any IMPASS equipment on the firing platform. “The RNZN preferred complete separation between the trainers and the gun team,” said Mark Berntsen, Ocean Systems Engineer, PMA-205. “A support ship was used to deploy the buoy field, and calls for fire came from the IMPASS team operating on a separate warship from the firing platform, which provided the training realism their Navy desired." In addition, the RNZN wanted to demonstrate that IMPASS could be operated exactly like a land range where a ship shows up on the gun line, fires and leaves.

The morning of the demonstration, the IMPASS team, aboard the Te Mana, called in gunfire to the Te Mana gun team, who completed several firing sessions. That afternoon, Te Kaha conducted its firing sessions into the buoy field. The Te Kaha successfully completed its gunfire sessions using only the Spot Net to interface with the IMPASS team aboard the Te Mana. "Once again, IMPASS proved a highly valuable training tool for NSFS operations,” said Chris Hamann, Project Engineer, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head, Md. “Conducting gunfire via a remote platform was a big departure from standard operating procedure for us, but the system's flexibility really impressed the RNZN officers."

All of the five-inch rounds fired from both ships landed inside the buoy field and the system provided a log for each shot, suitable for scoring. Completing all their objectives for the demonstration, the RNZN was able to fully appreciate the systems value. "Really, one of the best parts of IMPASS is the completely independent verification we provide of the ship's gun system. When an operator has a problem at his console, we can tell immediately based on the gun team's response over the Spot Net,” said Lt. Cmdr. Scott Finlayson, Ocean Systems Program Manager, PMA-205. “As the U.S. Navy has learned, it really forces the gun team to think through their processes."

NAVAIR is awaiting a decision from the Royal New Zealand Navy to activate a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case for purchase of the system.

An observer from Australia was onboard the Te Mana to evaluate the system for the Royal Australian Navy. Currently the Royal Australian Navy is in the process of requesting a demonstration using their warships.


Photo cutline: Front row left to right:
Paul Gilkison, Air Affairs, Lt. Cmdr. Scott Finlayson, Resource Sponsor, Ian Atkinson, RAN, Weapon Systems Analyst, Chris Hamann, Project Manager, Lt. Cmdr. Wayne Hamilton, RAN, OPSO.

Back row left to right:
Lt. Cmdr. David Fairweather, RNZN, CWE Mark Berntsen, Steve Smith, Lt. Cmdr. Mat Williams, RNZN, OIC MOET Joe Padgett