2003 Assessment of the Office of Naval Research's Marine Corps Science and Technology Program (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3 Core Thrusts
3 Core Thrusts
Pages 49-82
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From page 49... ...
Core Thrusts Findings and Recommendations The Core Thrusts part of the MCS&T program was generally of high quality, and all the thrusts seemed to address topics of interest to the Marine Corps. However, although many of the projects reviewed were technically aggressive, several such as the tactical unmanned ground vehicle appeared to the committee to be focused on near-term transition-dominated goals that do not correspond to 49
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From page 50... ...
The committee also notes that the overall Core Thrusts did not appear to represent a structured response to significant shortfalls in Ship-to-Objective Maneuver (STOM) or Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare (EMW)
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From page 51... ...
Code 353 should transition the reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting vehicle project and the tactical unmanned ground vehicle project out of the Maneuver thrust as planned, but should continue support of initiatives in hybrid-electric and unmanned vehicles. MAGTF Expeditionary Family of Fighting Vehicles Lightweight Materials (6.2)
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From page 52... ...
Recommendation. Code 353 should ensure that the vehicle-testing phase of the lightweight materials project involves the field-testing of vehicles equipped with final armor materials.
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The primary performance objectives for this phase of the RST-V project include demonstration of increased fuel economy and range relative to earlier versions of the RST-V and of the ability to sustain 20 miles of silent (battery or fuel cell) movement.
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From page 54... ...
Code 353 should continue to support the tactical unmanned ground vehicle project as planned, and coordination with the DOD Joint Robotics program should be maintained. FIREPOWER THRUST Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare relies heavily on long-range, accurate, and responsive naval surface firepower support (NSFS)
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From page 55... ...
Ground-based, indirect firepower is irreplaceable when forces are joined Firepower Thrust Overall Findings and Recommendations Although many of the individual projects under way in the Firepower thrust seem to be pursuing worthwhile objectives, the relationship between these projects and Marine Corps warfighting concepts such as EMW and STOM was unclear. Given the importance of NSFS and ground-based indirect fire, the committee finds it strange that no Firepower thrust projects support weapons to fulfill this need (for example, projects on improved propellants, guidance systems, or munitions with increased range and/or .
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From page 56... ...
It proved valuable in fire missions and situational awareness." One criticism of the existing firepower enhancement system was that it took 4 minutes for the Far Target Locator to align.5 Code 353 is pursuing two projects to further improve the MlA1 fire control components: (1) electronic image stabilization via improved image signal processing for second-generation thermal imaging systems and (2)
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From page 57... ...
2000. 2000 Assessment of the Office of Naval Research's Marine Corps Science and Technology Program, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
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From page 58... ...
The MCS&T program's non-lethal weapons efforts are coordinated with the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate and with ONR Code 341, the Medical Science and Technology Division. In view of the relatively limited valid medical data on the effects of stun guns, collaboration with ONR's Medical Science and Technology Division becomes very important.
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From page 59... ...
Code 353 should ensure that the infantry reconnaissance round project's development goals support Marine Corps warfighting strategy and needs. If they do, Code 353 should continue the project as planned.
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From page 60... ...
Micromechanical Flying Insect The proposed approach in the micromechanical flying insect project is to incorporate the results of a successful ONR/DARPA Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI)
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From page 61... ...
· A comprehensive study to develop techniques for mitigating the impact of the high false alarm rate that is likely with a mechanical flying insect array. Hypervelocity Gun Projectiles The objective of the work on hypervelocity gun projectiles is to develop an improved projectile to maximize penetration and defeat reactive armor.
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From page 62... ...
9David C Heberlein, Institute for Defense Analyses, Technical Advisor, Expeditionary Warfare Operations Technology Division, Office of Naval Research, "ONR Code 353 Naval Science Board Review, Mine Countermeasures (MCM)
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From page 63... ...
Thrust," slide 8, presentation to the committee on May 14, 2003. 13The MCS&T Mine Countermeasures thrust and other programs with MCM content that were reviewed by the committee are spread across 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 investments as follows: · 6.1 basic research Environmental issues for seismic mine detection False indicators in acoustic/seismic land mine detection Seismic detection of buried land mines Acoustic detection of buried land mines Impulse or ultrawideband radar research · 6.2 and 6.3 core thrusts Advanced mine detector .
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From page 64... ...
Heberlein, Institute for Defense Analyses, Technical Advisor, Expeditionary Warfare Operations Technology Division, Office of Naval Research, "ONR Code 353 Naval Science Board Review, Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Thrust," slide 45, presentation to the committee on May 14, 2003.
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From page 65... ...
The advanced signature duplicator project is of interest to both the Army and the Marine Corps for operation of ground vehicles through potentially mined terrain. Recommendation.
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From page 66... ...
Code 353 should coordinate with the Expeditionary Logistics component of the Littoral Combat and Power Projection FNC regarding implications of Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare for Marine Corps logistics. Recommendation.
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From page 67... ...
The committee agrees that development of lightweight power sources is a valid Marine Corps need in line with EMW mission characteristics. The current program is midway through its funding cycle, having achieved initial testing of the turbine and compressor.
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From page 68... ...
Findings and Recommendations. The initial FY03 goal of the microchannel methanol fuel cell project is to demonstrate the planned characteristics by combining previously developed fuel cell stacks and methanol fuel processors with off-the-shelf components into a working 100-W system.
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From page 69... ...
The rapidly deployable nonstandard composite bridging project is exploring an alternative to enable quick fabrication of bridging components on-site as a new means to solve unique bridging challenges. The current project involves developing and documenting design, manufacturing, and repair procedures for nonstandard, modular military bridges composed of lightweight, low-cost composite materials.
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From page 70... ...
The committee believes that the Marine Corps participation in development of the expeditionary unit water purification system is consistent with expeditionary warfare needs. The demonstration system target capacity of 100,000 gallons per day should provide a strategiclevel capability.
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Given the scanty funds available for MCS&T, it is proper that these resources be focused in those areas that have the greatest potential benefit for the Marine Corps. Human Performance, Training, and Education ThrustOverall Findings and Recommendations In reviewing current Code 353 investments in R&D for training and education, the committee noted the investment of significant resources in virtual reality and simulations and in portability.
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From page 72... ...
Projects Reviewed The projects in the Human Performance, Training, and Education thrust fall into four categories: · Tactical decision-making technology and simulations, · Training instrumentation and situational awareness, · Synthetic environments, and · Augmented cognition. Tactical Decision-Making Technology (6.2)
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From page 73... ...
Code 353 should continue the work on tactical decision-making technology and the USMC family of tactical decision simulations while monitoring the many similar efforts by the Army at the Naval Postgraduate School and the Institute for Creative Technologies and should consider seeking synergistic interactions to meet Marine Corps needs. Recommendation.
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From page 74... ...
Code 353 should fund a third party (such as a university, the Army Research Laboratory, or the Naval Air Systems Command) to conduct objective evaluations of the systems being developed under the synthetic environment technology and synthetic environments projects.
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From page 75... ...
Technology associated with the development of new capabilities to support C4ISR is of paramount importance to realizing the goals of tactical expeditionary warfare. C4ISR Thrust Overall Findings and Recommendation ONR's MCS&T C4ISR thrust has directed its limited 6.2 and 6.3 resources to (1)
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From page 76... ...
Especially in the domain of C4ISR, a small investment in a critical area, coupled with other Service and Department of Defense investments, could produce significant results for the Marine Corps. The projects reviewed are grouped into the following three functional categories and are discussed below in the order shown: · Communications Conformal antennas Mobile network management Wearable antenna Joint Tactical Radio System Ultrawideband radio assessment · Command and Control Magnetic random access memory Marine Corps C3 S&T testbed · ISR Mobile direction finding Conformal Antennas (6.2)
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From page 77... ...
The committee also found that although one of the objectives was to provide flexible, reasonablecost, low-observable apertures for ground vehicles, there was no mention of any effort to study cost trade-offs among the back-plane materials and/or antenna designs that are being considered.
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From page 78... ...
If wearable antenna projects are to be pursued, Code 353 should investigate alternative antenna configurations that reduce or eliminate potential human safety issues. Joint Tactical Radio System (6.2 and 6.3)
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From page 79... ...
Military utility should be demonstrated first through the use of UWB radio system and propagation models and then in selected field experiments involving military operations in urban terrain and other settings, including background signal environments. Consideration should also be given to an analysis of mobile applications of UWB radios.
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From page 80... ...
The 3-year magnetic random access memory project seeks to integrate current chip manufacturing techniques to enable volume production of MRAM chips. Leveraging past ONR basic and applied research, it aims to develop and field a set of complete 80-kb MRAM data storage chips.
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From page 81... ...
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Mobile Direction Finding (6.2 and 6.3) The goal of the recently completed/transferred mobile direction finding project was to develop hardware and software for mobile direction-finding operations.
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From page 82... ...
It was not clear which antennas or mobile platforms were used in this project, which terrain models were being considered, or what the total system looked like. The Army also has a vital interest in mobile direction finding, but Code 353 indicated that relevant Army work was not being monitored.
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