Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt on this Halloween Eve! Here’s the news for the day.
Navy Conducts First Successful Structural Test Firing for LCS Gun
Source: US Navy
DAHLGREN, Va. --- The first Littoral Combat Ship Surface Warfare (SUW) Gun Mission Module structural test firing on USS Freedom (LCS 1) was successfully conducted Sept. 22-25.
During this same period, Dahlgren engineers worked closely with the Sailors in Freedom's SUW Detachment to complete a Gun Mission Module End-to-End test event. Both tests were conducted during at-sea operations off of the Virginia coast.
The structural test firing validated both the Gun Mission Module and the ship's ability to withstand the intense stresses caused by repeated firing of the 30mm gun system. The End-to-End test validated the ability to coordinate gun targeting with LCS seaframe combat system.
Sailors assigned to the LCS Class Squadron's SUW Mission Package Detachment operated and maintained the 30mm gun modules during the test period. The SUW Mission Package detachment Sailors conducted SUW gun missions; validated operational and maintenance procedures; and collected technical performance measure data.
Different mission modules comprise the LCS mission packages, which are a combined set of remote sensors, precision weapons, software components and off-board vehicles packaged in a modular fashion to easily and quickly swap in and out of the LCS. Each mission package provides warfighting capabilities for a focused mission area. The SUW Mission Package is specifically designed to defeat fast in-shore attack craft.
Another major component of the SUW Mission Package, the NLOS-LS medium range surface to surface missile module, is scheduled to begin at-sea testing in 2012.
NSWC Dahlgren Division, a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), is the technical direction agent for the SUW Mission Package. Program Executive Officer Littoral and Mine Warfare (PEO LMW) is an affiliated PEO of the NAVSEA. PEO LMW designs, delivers and maintains the systems, equipment and weapons needed by the warfighter to dominate the littoral battle space and provide the warfighter assured access.
ThyssenKrupp Sells Its Hamburg Shipyards to Abu Dhabi
Source: Deutsche Welle German radio
Germany's largest industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp is selling 80 percent of its historical Blohm + Voss shipyard to the Arabic shipbuilding group Abu Dhabi MAR.
The global financial crisis continues to have damaging consequences for German industry. The Abu Dhabi MAR Group is to buy 80 percent of three major ThyssenKrupp subsidiaries - Blohm + Voss Shipyards, Blohm + Voss Repair and Blohm + Voss Industries. A new joint venture will be created for the manufacture of frigates, corvettes and patrol boats, of which Abu Dhabi MAR and ThyssenKrupp will each own 50 percent.
This is the second major sale that ThyssenKrupp has been forced into in the past few weeks, following the sale of the majority of its Nordseewerke coastal shipyard to the wind energy company Siag Schaaf.
ThyssenKrupp shipyard director Christoph Atzpodien was upbeat about the sale. "The partnership with the Abu Dhabi MAR Group represents a solid foundation for the future of the shipyard," he told reporters. "It makes it possible for us to win new customers and guarantee long-term employment at the Hamburg location."
Divided responsibilities
According to ThyssenKrupp, Abu Dhabi MAR is one of the leading ship-builders in the Gulf Region, with 2,000 employees worldwide. The three Blohm + Voss companies Abu Dhabi MAR is buying into employ a total of around 1,700 people.
The division of responsibility in the partial takeover dictates that ThyssenKrupp will retain control of contracts with the German Navy and its NATO partners. Abu Dhabi MAR will oversee projects in the Middle East and North Africa, and will control the manufacture of mega-yachts and ship parts.
German shipbuilding is experiencing its worst crisis in decades. A dip in commissions and a rise in cancelled contracts have forced five shipyards into insolvency within a year. ThyssenKrupp has already halted the manufacture of several yachts and container ships.
But other German industrial companies fear that the deal means ThyssenKrupp is effectively surrendering its civilian shipbuilding business.
"We see it as a big risk for their employees," the spokesman for IG Metall union in Hamburg, Eckard Scholz, said. "From now on, any shortfall in the demand for military ships won't be made up for with civilian contracts."
Scharnhorst & Gneisenau
AToday’s website is the Scharnhorst & Gneisenau. Enjoy.
This Day in U.S. Naval History
1775 - Congress authorizes four vessels for the defense of the United Colonies.
1799 - William Balch becomes the Navy's first commissioned chaplain.
1990 - Two Sailors are killed when a steam line ruptures in the boiler room of USS Iwo Jima (LPH 2) in the Persian Gulf.
Photo of the Day
Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Carigo A. Rula, directs a Marine Corps CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopter from the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) during landing qualifications.
Gator
