Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.
LCVP/LCM manual
Crewmate Arjan Wiskerke post a link to an interesting site from the US Navy. Enjoy
Link
Cammetts Customer Feedback
Cammetts is looking for feed back from you on an upcoming release for the 1/35 S-100. Let them know what you think.
Poll
Lake Superior Marine Museum Association
Today’s website is the El Cazador Museum. The El Cazador Museum in Grand Bay, Alabama tells the story of the 1784 shipwreck of the El Cazador in the Gulf of Mexico. Among the artifacts on display is a unique breech loading cannon, a rare find for any shipwreck, the ship's bell, bronze sword handles as well as many specimens from the mint shipment of silver coins, also known as pieces of eight. Enjoy.
Website
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1807 - HMS Leopard attacks USS Chesapeake.
1865 - Confederate raider Shenandoah fires last shot of Civil War in Bering Strait.
1884 - Navy relief expedition under Cmdr. Winfield S. Schley rescues Lt. A.W. Greely, USA, and six others from Ellesmere Island, where they were marooned for three years on Arctic island.
1898 - Adm. Sampson begins amphibious landing near Santiago, Cuba.
Raytheon Receives $217 Million for Volume Search Radar for Zumwalt and CVN 78
Source: Raytheon Company
TEWKSBURY, Mass. --- Raytheon Company was awarded a $217 million U.S. Navy contract for two Volume Search Radar (VSR) arrays for the Zumwalt-class destroyer program and the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
"This contract demonstrates the Navy's continuing confidence in the maturity of this radar technology and the capability of the industry team to deliver the Zumwalt-class radar suite and combat system," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' (IDS) Michael Sosin, Zumwalt program manager and vice president of Integrated Warfare Systems.
The Navy's Dual Band Radar combines the benefits of S-band and X-band radar capabilities to provide superior performance in a wide range of environments, while its innovative open architecture software design allows automatic operation with minimal human intervention. The S-band VSR radar arrays, built by Lockheed Martin, are integrated with Raytheon's SPY-3 X-band Multi-Function Radar to form the advanced DBR, which is currently undergoing testing at the Navy's Engineering Test Center, Wallops Island, Va.
Under the contract, Raytheon will procure long-lead materials for the VSR and will manufacture, test and deliver the radar system for the CVN 78 to support carrier air operations. The contract includes an option to produce a second VSR unit for the Zumwalt-class destroyer program.
Work will be performed at Raytheon's Surveillance and Sensor Center, Sudbury, Mass., and Lockheed Martin, Moorestown, N.J.
Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in Global Capabilities Integration, providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.
Russian destroyer to take part in drills with NATO warships
Source: en.rian.ru
The Severomorsk destroyer from Russia's Northern Fleet will participate in FRUKUS 2009 international naval exercises in the northern Atlantic on June 22-26, the fleet's press service said Wednesday.
The annual exercises traditionally involve France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
"The Severomorsk destroyer left the fleet's main base today and headed to the French coast to take part in the FRUKUS 2009 international naval exercises on June 22-26," the pres service said.
Severomorsk is an Udaloy-class missile destroyer armed with anti-ship missiles, 30-mm and 100-mm guns, and two Ka-27 Helix helicopters.
The French Tourville frigate, the U.S. Klakring missile frigate and the British York destroyer will also take part in the drills aimed to practice interoperability in anti-piracy operations in coastal waters.
Previously called RUKUS, the exercises were launched in 1988 as a vehicle for dialogue between the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States. The exercise name was changed to FRUKUS in 2003, when France formally joined the group.
Following the drills, the Russian warship will pay friendly visits to the French port of Cherbourg and the Irish capital, Dublin.
Boeing Team Delivers 1st Block II Super Hornet Flight Trainers to US Navy
Source: Boeing Co.
ST. LOUIS --- Boeing and teammate L-3 have delivered four Block II F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Tactical Operation Flight Trainers (TOFT) to the U.S. Navy and declared them “Ready for Training.” Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Va., has two of the trainers, and two are located at NAS Lemoore, Calif.
“These are the first Block II TOFTs, the new generation of trainers,” said Steven Dent, F/A-18 Training Systems manager for Boeing. “The Boeing/L-3 team is able to offer a high level of aircraft concurrency with these new devices.”
The newly installed Block II TOFTs reflect the upgrades made to Block II F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, including advanced sensors, avionics and the APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, which Boeing has been delivering to the Navy since 2005. The team completed installation and on-site testing of the TOFTs earlier this month. The current contract calls for six more trainers, in total, to be delivered to NAS Oceana and Lemoore. Boeing expects to deliver the next two trainers in March 2010. A potential follow-on contract calls for up to four additional trainers.
“The Navy final evaluation went very well,” said Rick Mason, training system project manager for the Naval Air Warfare Center’s Training Systems Division in Orlando, Fla. “The Boeing/L-3 on-site team was very productive and got us that much closer to the finish line.”
The TOFTs, which L-3 assembles, integrates and tests at its facility in Arlington, Texas, are composed of an instructor/operator station, which establishes the scenarios and training missions, and both forward and aft crew stations, each with its own visual system. One brief/debrief station serves every two TOFTs. The Boeing/L-3 team is using three Block II TOFTs in Arlington to test software and architectural upgrades for future trainer development.
Photo of the Day
An SH-60F Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the "Black Knights" of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 4, prepares to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).
Gator
