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`Firing Point Procedures, Sierra One, ADCAP torpedo, Tube 2,' barks Lieutenant Brian Roth, Officer of the Deck on the USS OKLAHOMA CITY (SSN-723). He's driven the ship to the optimum firing position against a live target on the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) range in the Bahamas. LTjg Wade Cole, the Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD), directs final adjustments and announces, `Solution Ready.' `Ship Ready,' Roth confirms, properly continuing the litany prior to the torpedo launch. `Weapon Ready!' returns FT3(SS) Mike Brodbeck. Satisfied all is well, Roth orders `Shoot on generated bearing.' `Set. . . standby. . . shoot.'
This is a familiar scene for many submariners, but today on OKLAHOMA CITY, there's a difference. The submarine is not launching an exercise torpedo, nor is its crew practicing only on the ship's on-board test equipment. OKLAHOMA CITY is plugged into a digital network established by engineers and scientists at the NUWC Division Newport that permits real-time connectivity among submerged submarines on the AUTEC range and test facilities on the beach in the Bahamas and Newport, Rhode Island. Oklahoma City, submerged in the Bahamas, has just launched a `virtual torpedo,' which runs inside the 'mind' of a computer - and whose guidance hardware is on a test stand - at NUWC's Weapons Analysis Facility (WAF) in Newport. After launch, the torpedo's simulated location and corresponding wire-- guidance telemetry data are transmitted across the network between the WAF at Newport and the OKLAHOMA CITY. The still submerged OKLAHOMA CITY 'sees' the torpedo in realtime, thus allowing the generation of wire guidance commands on board to compensate for target evasion.
OKLAHOMA CITY's first test shot demonstrated the full capability of this system. Roth's shot on Cole's solution was slightly off, but the team properly analyzed the torpedo run after launching, and FT Brodbeck inserted steering commands to turn the weapon around, and acquire and hit the target. Roth's watchsection successfully launched two more `virtual torpedoes,' thus completing the first test period. LT Brent Rodgers had the conn for the second series. His watchsection, guided by his JOOD, LTjg Chris Hoehn, performed superbly, successfully launching five more virtual torpedoes, including a 'Snapshot' - a rapid torpedo firing in response to a close-aboard 'enemy' contact.
BRINGING MODELING...