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By Geoff Fein
As the Navy pursues development of new aircraft launch and recovery systems for its next generation of carriers, the service is also developing a new information management system to keep track of aircraft on the flight deck, according to a service official.
The Aviation Data Management and Control Systems (ADMACS) is a "tactical, real-time data management system that provides connectivity throughout the air department and other ship divisions and embarked staffs that manage Aircraft Launch & Recovery operations on [aircraft carriers]," according to the Navy.
"Eventually when we deploy ADMACS Block 3 in 2014, we will have automated tracking of aircraft on the flight deck," Capt. Randy Mahr, program manager for aircraft launch and recovery equipment, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
'Right now it's a government developed system and we are having a competitive procurement for the components," Mahr said. "I am in the process of getting that acquisition strategy documentation sent up for approval."
Mahr said the request for proposals has not been issued, but he does expect the acquisition strategy to be approved over the summer.
ADMACS will take information from an aircraft, once it is identified on the flight deck by flight number, and relay it to the ship's tactical, navigational, and meteorological command, control, communication, computer, sensors, and intelligence (C4SI) networks, according to the Navy.
It will eliminate the need for someone to move aircraft around a plexiglass mock-up of the flight deck, Mahr noted.
This is the first time in 50 years that the Navy is...