Overview
Emerging new systems requirements for theater warfare have challenged today's U.S. Navy to fight
in a seamless battle force environment that consists of Navy ships and aircraft, Joint U.S. Armed Services, and coalition forces. With rapidly advancing combat/battle management command, control, communications, and computers (BMC4) systems technology comes new challenges - how to enable the correct exchange of tactical data among dissimilar combat systems so that a common and correct tactical picture is maintained throughout the deployed forces. We can no longer afford to wait to solve these interoperability problems after combat systems have been delivered to the fleet but rather must solve them ashore in a controlled and repeatable test environment well before a combat system ever goes to sea.
In 1998, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) stood up the Navy's Distributed Engineering Plant (DEP) to identify and resolve combat/BMC4 system interoperability problems prior to deploying new and upgraded systems to sea. Enabled by today's newest networking technology, the DEP links the Navy's shore-based combat systems/C4/hardware test sites, which are located in geographically disparate facilities across the nation, into a virtual shore-based environment that allows for the testing of different combat management system architectures or provide system level testing of local systems or dispersed systems early in the development cycle. By inserting "ground truth" system simulation and stimulation data and then observing how the combat systems exchange and display tactical data, engineers are now able to precisely identify and solve interoperability problems ashore well before those systems enter the operating forces.
Current Testing Capabilities
The DEP is the Navy's premier interoperability testing tool. Testing in the DEP supports the following:
- Force Level testing
- Evaluates Tactical Data Link operations
- Link 11, Link 16, satellite Tactical Data Information Links (TADIL) J and A, Joint Range Extension
- Multi-TADIL / multi-platform
- Evaluates Combat Management System interoperability upgrades
- Advanced Combat Direction System (ACDS)
- Aegis Baselines 5.3 and up
- Aegis BMD Variants
- Ships Self Defense Systems (SSDS)
- NAVAIR E2C/D, FA-18C/D/E/F, MH60R/B
- Capabilities and limitations document development
- DEP first in-depth look for fleet capabilities and limitations development
- Strike group capability development, new systems development testing, and prototype development
- Cooperative Engagement Capability, Aegis, and Tactical Control Network
- Strike group certification and problem resolution
- Near-term and long-term problem resolution
- Strike group performance requirements development and metrics
- Battle force interoperability requirements
- Strike group performance measurement and prediction
- Scenarios, systems, dispositions, force modeling
- New system requirements development and acquisition
- Problem identification, problem diagnosis, and system solutions
Future Developments
The DEP network test architecture can now support a wide range of NAVSEA, Coalition and Joint Forces test requirements. The "road ahead" for the DEP leads to becoming the premier test tool for enabling a force systems engineering architecture.
Future plans call for expanding the DEP test network to include new test sites for the Production Integration Lab (PIF) located at the Washington Navy Yards, Engineering & End-to-End (E2C) at SPAWAR-PAC, and other required sites to provide distributed CANES and CVN-78 architecture/Development testing. The peering of the DEP Network to the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE), which will allow the DEP to test with US Ships pier side. The DEP environment is continually upgrading and improving upon DEP's existing capability, capacity, and fidelity to better support the SYSCOMS in their requirements for certification and developmental testing and to better facilitate acquisition of new systems.
While anti-air warfare (AAW) is the focus of the DEP, it is anticipated that its expansion will enable testing in other warfare mission areas as well as advanced tactics development, validation, and testing. Discussions are now underway with a host of coalition navy forces to establish DEP test sites for foreign navy integration.
The DEP Network Today
The DEP network today consists of 14 different test sites located throughout
the United States, accurately replicating the warfighting capability of an
afloat battle force. The DEP network includes the following:
- Aegis guided missile cruisers (CGs), guided missile destroyers (DDGs), and
Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) Mk 2
- Aegis Facility, Surface Combat Systems Center, Wallops Island, Virginia
- Aegis CGs/DDGs
- Aegis Training and Readiness Center, Dahlgren, Virginia
- Integrated Warfare Systems Laboratory, NSWCDD, Dahlgren, Virginia
- Multipurpose aircraft carriers (CVs), multipurpose aircraft carriers
(nuclear propulsion) (CVNs), general-purpose amphibious assault ships (LHAs),
multipurpose amphibious assault ships (LHDs)
- Combat Direction Systems Activity, Dam Neck, Virginia
- E-2C/D
- Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland
- DEP Operations Center
- Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD)
- CV/CVN, LHA/LHD, SSDS Mk 2
- Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division; Integrated Combat Systems Test Facility, Dahlgren, Virginia
- F-18 C/D/E/F
- Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Man Flight Simulator, Patuxent River, Maryland
- MH-60B
- Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Surface Aviation Interoperability Lab, Patuxent River, Maryland
- MH-60R
- Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Man Flight Simulator, Patuxent River, Maryland
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