Distance support in-service engineering for the high energy laser

The U.S. Navy anticipates moving to a shipboard high-energy laser program of record in the fiscal year 2018 and achieving an initial operational capability by 2020. The design of a distance support capability within the high-energy laser system was expected to assist the Navy in reaching this goal. This capstone project explored the current Navy architecture for distance support and applied system engineering methodologies to develop a conceptual distance support framework with application to the high-energy laser system. A model and simulation of distance support functions were developed and used to analyze the feasibility in terms of performance, cost, and risk. Results of this capstone study showed that the implementation of distance support for the high-energy laser system is feasible and would reduce the total ownership cost over the life of the program. Furthermore, the capstone shows that moving toward the team’s recommended distance support framework will address current gaps in the Navy distance support architecture and will provide a methodology tailored to modern enterprise naval systems.http://archive.org/details/distancesupporti1094545248Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Increasing the kill effectiveness of High Energy Laser (HEL) Combat System

A kill assessment system built into a High Energy Laser (HEL) Combat System will provide the U.S. Navy with a method to efficiently engage threats with an HEL effector, improve the weapon scheduling function, and help manage ship’s limited power resources. Near real-time Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) and Dwell Time determinations make up the new kill assessment system, which is simply called the BDA System. This system is a critical force-multiplier for ship survivability by limiting all HEL-target engagements to the minimum dwell time required for threat mitigation, while providing a mission kill interface to the Combat System for a calculated decision point to either re-engage the same threat or engage the next assigned target. This new BDA system concept for a shipboard HEL Combat System was analyzed in order to verify an expected increase in overall system efficiency and performance. The minimum desired increase of threat engagement efficiency was set at 25%. The proof of concept model developed for this project shows that adding a BDA system function to the HEL Combat System causes the system to exceed this threshold of efficiency.http://archive.org/details/increasingkillef1094545247Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Comprehensive system-based architecture for an integrated high energy laser test bed

This study focuses on developing a conceptual architecture and a set of requirements for testing and evaluating High Energy Laser (HEL) weapon systems and atmospheric characterization tools in a maritime environment. A systems approach was taken, which started with the development of specific requirements. These stakeholder-derived requirements were then translated into capabilities that the test bed must have. A Model-Based System Engineering approach was used to develop physical, functional, and allocated models of the HEL test bed and all its components. An Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) was then performed among multiple test bed variants to determine how well each variant accomplished the desires of the stakeholders from a cost, schedule, and performance perspective. Finally, a systems integration plan was developed to successfully combine subsystems and components involved to ensure that their synthesis adequately met the system’s high-level requirement and function. The essential elements for developing a fully capable HEL test bed have been identified in this study. Based on the derived criteria and AoA that was performed, it appears that the best solution for the Navy at this point would be to centralize all HEL testing in one single location.http://archive.org/details/comprehensivesys1094545246Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited