Controlling Chaos
By AMY L. WITTMAN, Editor in Chief
SEAPOWER
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE
NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES
Volume 54, Number 10, October 2011
The deck of a carrier is as dynamic as it is dangerous. Managing various aviation assets
and associated equipment, identifying and
assessing potential
hazards and risks,
and then implementing controls to manage those risks are
critical to mission success.
Effective, safe flight deck operations result from skill and timing,
yet the manpower-intensive movement of complex aviation systems is
orchestrated by rudimentary manual means. That is about to change.
The Navy is poised to introduce
another element — unmanned systems — into what to the untrained
eye looks like controlled chaos, and
must find a way to mitigate new
risks associated with this plan.
manned Carrier-
Launched Airborne
Surveillance and
Strike (UCLASS)
drone concept into
reality. In “Drone of
All Trades” (page 26),
Special Correspon-
dent Daniel P. Taylor
looks at the chal-
lenges of designing
such a multipurpose
unmanned system for carrier opera-
tions. The real challenge, says
UCLASS program manager Charlie
Nava, “lies in the combination of per-
sistent ISR with carrier suitability.”
In “High-Tech Flight Deck” (page
18), which kicks off this month’s
special report on Air Warfare &
Flight Operations, Special Corres-
pondent Otto Kreisher notes that the
Navy has partnered with academia
and industry to develop technologies
to make deck operations more effi-
cient, improve situational awareness
for flight deck managers and help
guide unmanned aircraft to precision
landings on a moving deck. De-
veloping advanced planning tools
will help “deal with a lot of uncer-
tainty,” says Office of Naval Research
program officer Marc Steinberg.
From the deck of a guided-missile
frigate, one unmanned system’s performance flew in the face of a harsh
predeployment review. Kreisher, in
his report “Making Its Mark” (page
32), points out that early reliability
problems with the MQ-8B Fire Scout
did not follow the rotary-wing
unmanned air system into service
aboard USS Halyburton nor during
ongoing operations in Afghanistan.
Also in the special report, Managing Editor Richard R. Burgess, in
“Hitting the Weakest Point” (page
22), reports that the Navy is working
to refine its precision strike capabilities, notably with a fully network-enabled standoff weapon that can hit
a moving maritime target.
While the Navy engages industry
to prepare flight deck operations for
the inclusion of unmanned aircraft,
industry teams are vying for the
chance to turn the service’s Un-
Burgess also offers a recap of
some of the “Force Multipliers”
discussed at a recent Association of
Unmanned Vehicle Systems Inter-
national conference in a reporter’s
notebook (page 32).
PUBLISHER
Daniel B. Branch Jr.
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Dale A. Lumme
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Amy L. Wittman
awittman@navyleague.org
DEPUTY EDITOR
Peter E. Atkinson
patkinson@navyleague.org
MANAGING EDITOR
Richard R. Burgess
rburgess@navyleague.org
ASSISTANT EDITOR
John C. Marcario
jmarcario@navyleague.org
DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING SALES
Charles A. Hull
charlesahullbus@msn.com
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS
Kerri Carpenter
kcarpenter@navyleague.org
SEAPOWER CORRESPONDENTS
Patricia Kime
Megan Scully
PHOTOGRAPHER
Lisa Nipp
PROOFREADER
Jean B. Reynolds
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
Amy Billingham and Rob Black
Pensaré Design Group
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