MH-60 Seahawk / MQ-8 Fire Scout interoperability

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedAs part of a Naval Postgraduate School's capstone project in Systems Engineering, a project team from Cohort 311-0911 performed a Systems Engineering analysis. This Project focused on defining alternatives for enhanced Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW) mission effectiveness through increased interoperability and integration for the Fire Scout Unmanned Air Vehicle and Seahawk helicopter. Specifically, the Project explored the available trade space for enhancing communications back to the ship for analysis and decision-making. Modeling and Simulation (MandS) was used to assess the impact of enhanced communication on specific Key performance Parameters (KPPs) and Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) associated with the ASUW mission. Once the trade space was defined, alternatives were analyzed and a recommendation provided that supports near-, mid-, and long-term mission enhancement

A study of the measures of effectiveness for the JMSDF Aegis destroyer in a littoral, air defense environment

Maritime operations in a littoral area demand a fundamental change in the future defense build-up of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF). The anti-air warfare (AAW) capability of the JMSDF in the littoral area, especially against very low altitude anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), should be improved. To achieve the required future air defense lethality, the JMSDF must optimize the resource allocation within a limited budget. Therefore, it is important to understand the essential elements of air defense lethality by the JMSDF Aegis destroyer in order to improve their operational effectiveness. In this study, a measure of effectiveness (MOE) for Aegis lethality against an ASCM attack is defined as 'a denial area at an acceptable risk.' Using this MOE, spread sheet lethality models based on Aegis weapons characteristics, target detection range, reaction time, and ASCM speed, are developed and used to study several alternative improvements to Aegis.http://archive.org/details/astudyofmeasures109457459Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force author

The 1989 long-range program plan

The President's National Space Policy of 1988 reaffirms that space activities serve a variety of vital national goals and objectives, including the strengthening of U.S. scientific, technological, political, economic, and international leadership. The new policy stresses that civil space activities contribute significantly to enhancing America's world leadership. Goals and objectives must be defined and redefined, and each advance toward a given objective must be viewed as a potential building block for future programs. This important evolutionary process for research and development is reflected, describing NASA's program planning for FY89 and later years. This plan outlines the direction of NASA's future activities by discussing goals, objectives, current programs, and plans for the future. The 1989 plan is consistent with national policy for both space and aeronautics, and with the FY89 budget that the President submitted to Congress in February 1988

Environmental impact assessment of the operation of conventional helicopters at mission level

Helicopters play a unique role in modern aviation providing a varied range of benefits to society and satisfying the need for fast mobility, particularly in metropolitan areas. However, environmental concerns associated with the operation of rotorcraft have increased due to envisaged growth of air traffic. Even though helicopter operations represent a small percentage of the total greenhouse gas emissions resulting from all human activities, helicopters are categorised as a main source of local air pollution around airports and urban areas. New rotorcraft designs, innovative aero engines and all-electrical systems are being developed in order to diminish the impact that aviation has on the global and local environment. However, advanced rotorcraft designs and breakthrough technologies might take decades to be in service. Additionally, there is a large number of polluting rotorcraft that are in use and must be progressively replaced. Therefore, in the near-term, improvements to minimise air quality degradation (around airports and metropolitan areas) may be possible from better use of existing rotorcraft by focusing on trajectory and mission profile management. In this research project, a parametric study was carried out in order to assess the environmental impact, in terms of fuel burn and emissions, that the operation of light single-engine helicopters causes under different flight conditions. The results of this assessment were used as a basis to carry out a single and multi-objective optimisation for minimum fuel consumption and air pollutant emissions. Oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons were considered as trade-off parameters. In order to achieve this, a multidisciplinary assessment framework, intended to generate outputs for estimating the fuel burn and emissions during the operation of conventional helicopters, was developed. Simulink® Design Optimization™ software was incorporated into the framework in order to enhance the benefits of this tool.A baseline mission profile was proposed in order to validate the potential of mission profile management. Different case studies were carried out changing flight parameters at every segment of the baseline mission. The single and multi-objective optimisation proved that favourable reductions in fuel burn may be attainable at the expense of a slight increase of NOX emissions during the entire mission. If reductions of more than 3% in block fuel burn are to be achievable in the short term for a single helicopter, savings for air transport companies are expected to be significant if mission profile management is considered for a whole fleet of helicopters