Stephen Armstrong

Deputy Program Executive Officer-Maritime

Undersea Mobility Systems

DDS

Swimmer
Transport Device
(STD)
5 nm
2 hrs
2 Pax

SEAL Delivery
Vehicle (SDV)
Classified Range
Classified
Endurance
Classified Pax

Advanced SEAL Delivery System

(ASDS)
Classified Range
Classified Endurance
2 Pilots, Class Pax
Conceptu
al

Shallow Water Combat

Submersible (SWCS)

Conceptu
al

Joint Multi-Mission
Submersible (JMMS)

Dry Deck Shelter (DDS)

Host Submarine
SSN/SSGN
Unlimited range
90+days
36+ Pax

Surface Mobility Systems

Naval Special
Warfare Rigid
Inflatable Boat (NSW
RIB)
200 nm
3 Crew, 8 Pax
Combat Rubber
Raiding Craft
(CRRC)
<60 nm
4-6 Pax

MK V Special
Operations Craft
(MK V SOC)
600 nm
5 Crew, 16 Pax

Conceptual

- Amphibious Ships
- Maritime Support Vessel
- Joint High Speed Vessel
- Littoral Combat Ship
30+ Pax

Combatant Craft
Medium-Mk-1
Special Operations Craft Riverine
(SOCR)
195 nm
4 Crew, 8 Pax

Technology Areas of Interest

Undersea Vehicle Energy Storage Systems

Advanced Surface Craft Power Systems

Combat Swimmer Thermal Protection Systems

Lightweight, Small Volume, CO2 Removal Technology for Underwater

Breathing Apparatus and Undersea Platforms

Lightweight, Submersible, Multi-Fuel Outboard Engine

Secure Wireless Intercom System

High Speed Communications

Low-Cost Dry Submersible Hull, Mechanical & Electrical Technology

Dynamic Ride Impact Mitigation

Undersea Vehicle Energy Storage Systems

Current Status:
Undersea vehicles require energy storage systems which
are significantly higher density (e.g., energy/volume and
energy/weight) than those currently available.
Silver-Zinc and Lithium-Ion batteries provide 90 to 1,300
Kilo-Watt Hours (kWh) of electrical energy (approximately
0.30 kWh/liter and 0.12 kWh/kilogram displacement
(including the pressure proof housing).

Undersea Vehicle Energy Storage Systems

Where We Want to Be:
Store and deliver 1.5 kWh/liter and/or 0.6 kWh/kilogram of
electrical energy.

Advanced Surface Craft Power Systems

Current Status:
SOF combatant craft require advanced power systems that
provide significantly better power/weight ratios (e.g.,
maximum hp/lb) at top speed and significantly better fuel
efficiency (e.g., (lb/hp-h)) at the most efficient speed (cruise
speed).
Current craft engines have a power/weight ratio of
approximately 0.38 hp/lb at maximum speed and a specific
fuel consumption of 0.35 lb/hp-h at cruise speed.

Advanced Surface Craft Power Systems

Where We Want to Be:
Power/weight ratio of 1.0 hp/lb and/or a fuel efficiency of 0.1
lb/hp-h at cruise speed.

Combat Swimmer Thermal Protection

Current Status:
Combat swimmers require thermal protection from cold
and warm ambient water temperatures.
Current diving suits utilize materials such as Thinsulate or
Polartec as an insulation material to provide protection for
short periods of immersion, or electrical resistive systems.

Combat Swimmer Thermal Protection

Where We Want to Be:
Thermal protection in ambient water temperatures
anywhere between 2oC and 35oC for a minimum duration
of 12 hours. Maintain divers dexterity and core
temperature at 37oC.
Provide protection for divers extremities and core, such
that the diver will not have a reduced off-gassing in the
extremities due to decreased blood flow.

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Lightweight, Small Volume CO2 Removal

Technology
Current Status:
Existing underwater breathing apparatus (UBA) systems
(Mk 25 and Mk 16) have an absorbent volume between 2.9
and 4.0 liters.

The ratio of CO2 volume absorbed to absorbent volume

(VRCO2) at 21oC for each of these systems is VRCO2=120.
As the temperature decreases, present systems remove
less CO2.

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Lightweight, Small Volume CO2 Removal

Technology
Where We Want to Be:
CO2 removal technologies that can meet or approach a
performance objective of 240 VRCO2 over a temperature
range of 2oC to 35oC and demonstrates equivalent or
decreased breathing resistance as current systems.

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Lightweight, Submersible Multi-Fuel Outboard

Engine
Current Status:
Combat swimmers currently use lightweight, submersible
30 hp Improved Military Amphibious Reconnaissance
System (IMARS) gasoline outboard engines.
The IMARS is projected to become obsolete due to parts
unavailability
DoD has directed the phase out of gasoline fueled engines
from all shipboard operations to improve shipboard safety
and simplify logistics

Currently fielded 55 hp multi-fuel engine weighs 250 lbs,

which is too heavy for some missions.

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Lightweight, Submersible Multi-Fuel Outboard

Engine
Where We Want to Be:
SOF has a requirement for a 30 hp multi-fuel engine that
will:
Operate on JP5, JP8, kerosene, and as an emergency fuel,
marine diesel.
Weigh no more than 150 lbs.
Fit through a 30-inch diameter circular hatch.
Be capable of being submerged to a minimum depth of 66
feet seawater for a period of 18 hours, then brought to the
surface and started within 10 minutes.

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Secure Wireless Intercom System

Current status:
AN/VIC-3 wired intercom
Constrains Crew mobility by restrictive length of intercom cables
Trip hazards and cable damage caused by SWCC and embarked SOF operator
movement, an inherent wired intercom weakness
Temporary loss of communications caused by crew members disconnecting
from one station to move to another station, creating situations when the
craft Officer in Charge was unable to provide timely direction to crew during
tactical operations

Each crew member currently carries AN/PRC-148 MBITR hand held

radio
Type-1 encrypted, half duplex, no access to boat radios

Numerous manufacturers of Wireless Intercom systems, but none at

the present time is capable of meeting the performance parameters

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Secure Wireless Intercom System

Where we want to be:

NSA approved Type-1 encrypted full duplex Wireless
Intercom
Provide crew access to existing boat radios with no
EMI/EMC issues
User worn transceiver as small as possible,
battery life > 12 hours
Water immersion at one meter for 12 hours and IP67 rated

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High Speed Communication

Current status:
Mobility craft have low to medium HF/VHF/UHF speed
communications that provide data rates on the order of 64
Kbps.
These systems restrict ability to receive and distribute
timely, robust, situational awareness information to and
from other theater participants.
Existing high data rate satcom antennas are too big or too
expensive to be used on combatant craft.

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High Speed Communication

Where we want to be:
Equip craft with IP-67 rated, low-mass (<100 Lbs), lowprofile (<10 in height), low-cost (<$100K), high data-rate
Ku-band SATCOM communications capability that provides
zenith to near-horizon coverage achieving data rates up to
1.5 Mbps downlink and 512 Kbps uplink while the craft is onthe-move.

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Low-Cost Dry Submersible Hull, Mechanical &

Electrical (HM&E) Technology

Current status:

SOF Combatant Submersibles (CS) consist of low-cost wet swimmer

delivery vehicles and a large dry submersible. Dry submersible
design and construction must meet stringent underwater vehicle and
hyperbaric system safety standards overseen by independent
certification/classification agencies (e.g. NAVSEA, ABS).
Wet vehicle performance is inherently limited by the human factors
limits associated with diving.
Current dry submersible is the ASDS, with a design and construction cost
of $200-400M, approaching that of a warship. A significant portion of
that cost is in construction of the HM&E sub-systems.

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Low-Cost Dry Submersible Hull, Mechanical &

Electrical (HM&E) Technology
Where we want to be:
SOF is interested in dry submersible HM&E technologies
that can be certified/classified and can meet or approach a
unit construction cost of $20M.
Transportable in ISO Container
ABS Classed Diver Lock-Out Submersible
100 NMI Range @ >5 knots
5 Fully Equipped Personnel

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Dynamic Ride Impact Mitigation

Current status:
Current craft have rigid hull form with passive, shockabsorptive seats with damping characteristics that are
platform specific, location and occupant agnostic, and
generally fail to ameliorate injurious shock accumulations
over time.
Current systems provide a daily equivalent static
compression dose, normalized to an 8-hour day (Sed8) rating
of no better than 4.7 MPa per ISO 2631-5:2004.

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Dynamic Ride Impact Mitigation

Where we want to be:
Hull forms and / or seating systems / combinations that
significantly mitigates both short and long-term shock
effects on all occupants in all sea-state conditions and
speeds, achieving a Sed8 value of less than 3.8MPa.

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