More than 600 new light emitting diode (LED) lighting fixtures were installed on USS Chafee (DDG 90) during the ship’s recently completed availability, providing the ship with longer-lasting lights that use less electric power than the replaced incandescent and fluorescent light fixtures.
The new fixtures have a minimum 50,000-hour lifespan compared to the 1,000-hour incandescent globes and 7,500-hour fluorescents. The ship is expected to save more than $50,000 per year using the new lights.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Chafee is deploying in support of operations in the western Pacific region under Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mark Logico)
“The longer lifespan also results in a huge amount of savings in regards to maintenance,” said Ben Hatch, electrical engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division – Ship Systems Engineering Station in Philadelphia, who oversaw the installation. “LEDs last 50 times longer than the incandescent meaning the lights only need to be replaced every six years compared to what was every other month.” (more…)
by Master Sgt. Emily Beightol-Deyerle
167th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, West Virginia Air National Guard
Develop one aircrew mask that can be used on over 100 different air frames. That is the challenge for researchers assigned to the Joint Service Aircrew Mask-Fixed Wing Program.
In early December, JSAM-FW researchers visited the 167th Airlift Wing, a West Virginia Air National Guard unit here, to evaluate the JSAM’s ability to integrate to the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. Nicole Fletcher, an Army chemist and JSAM-FW systems engineer, said the mission was to “nail down configurations so that they can start working on logistics and test plans.”
Erin Kennedy, a chemical engineer for the Army and the Joint Service Aircrew Mask-Fixed Wing Research Team test and evaluation lead, gets feedback from Tech. Sgt. Michael Lindamood during a field evaluation of the mask at the West Virginia Air National Guard in Martinsburg, W.Va., Dec. 7, 2011. The Department of Defense research team had aircrew in each of the flying positions don the mask and accompanying gear and perform their duties on a C-5 Galaxy aircraft. (Air National Guard photo/Master Sgt. Emily Beightol-Deyerle)
Kevin O’Neal, a combat developer with the Air Force Air Combat Command, said the team hoped to hammer out a universal communications configuration for the mask and determine which hoses can be used for the breathing system.
The 167th Aircrew Flight Equipment section hosted the JSAM-FW team as it worked with 167th Airlift Squadron aircrew members in each of the flying positions. Pilots, loadmasters and flight engineers donned the mask and accompanying equipment. They then performed various functions of their duty mission. Afterward, each Airman completed a questionnaire, providing feedback to the JSAM-FW team.
Maj. Jeff Musser, a pilot with the 167th Airlift Wing, volunteered to participate in the assessment. He said the mask was definitely better than what aircrews are currently issued.
“It’s less cumbersome,” Musser said. “There’s increased visibility, and it’s easier to breathe through.”
(more…)
Doc Bender on top of the Ziggurat of Ur in Southern Iraq, in February 2009. (Photo: DCOE)
Dr. James Bender is a former Army psychologist who deployed to Iraq as the brigade psychologist for the 1st Cavalry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Hood, Texas. During his deployment, he traveled through Southern Iraq, from Basra to Baghdad. He writes a monthly post for the DCoE Blog on psychological health concerns related to deployment and being in the military.
Around the holidays, especially heading into the new year, people tend to reflect on what they’ve accomplished and make resolutions to improve themselves or achieve certain goals. Many people set goals related to physical fitness: lose 10 pounds, bench press 300 pounds, or max out their physical fitness test. These are great goals that are worth pursuing, but what about goals related to improving your mental health? There are things you can do to improve your memory, mood and generally get psychologically fit.
A clear mind can positively affect many parts of your life—both in the military and in civilian life. The following tips can help you achieve your goals of developing a healthier mental state next year: (more…)
James Bond would be jealous.
A weapon prototype developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) successfully hit two high-speed boat targets during recent testing in Point Mugu, Calif.
“It’s a fire-and-forget weapon,” said Ken Heeke, the ONR program officer for the Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS). “No longer do you have to continue to monitor the target after you’ve fired the weapon. You can move on to the next threat with the assurance that the rocket will hit the target.”
ONR researchers produced LCITS, a suite of low-cost technologies that modify existing helicopter-borne rockets into precision-guided weapons. By adding an infrared imaging guidance section to 2.75-inch Hydra-70 rockets, the researchers are providing naval aviators with a new lethal capability.
Unlike laser-guided weapons that require operators to select and monitor a target from launch to detonation, LCITS gives unguided rockets the ability to compute and home in on targets automatically after launch. (more…)
By Dr. John Ohab, Naval Research Laboratory Public Affairs
In the video below, Comet Lovejoy races through a several-million degree solar corona as it passes the Sun on December 15th, 2011 (EST). The comet defied the expectations of many experts by not only surviving its solar plunge but re-emerging as strong and bright as before.
This image was taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and shows comet Lovejoy heading in toward the sun. (Credit: SOHO/LASCO image courtesy NASA/ESA/NRL)
“It’s absolutely astounding,” says Karl Battams, computational scientist at U.S Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). “I did not think the comet’s icy core was big enough to survive plunging through the several million degree solar corona for close to an hour, but Comet Lovejoy is still with us.”
Imagery was gathered in the 171 Angstrom wavelength from the NRL’s Sun-Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI)/EUVI-A instruments, which are a part of the NASA Solar Terrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission. STEREO consists of two space-based observatories – one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind. With this new pair of viewpoints, scientists are able to see the structure and evolution of solar storms as they blast from the Sun and move out through space.
U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams
Scientists have successfully transitioned fundamental research in autonomy to undersea gliders, demonstrating in recent sea tests how the new software, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), can help robots become smarter at surveying large swaths of ocean.
“Using the new algorithms, the vehicle has a greater ability to make its own decisions without requiring a human in the loop,” said Marc Steinberg, program officer for ONR’s Adaptive Networks for Threat and Intrusion Detection or Termination (ANTIDOTE), a multi-disciplinary university research program.
With plans to deploy squadrons of air, surface and undersea robotic vehicles later this decade, the Department of the Navy is investing in basic research programs to improve autonomous system capabilities.
“Advancing autonomy for unmanned systems allows you the ability to do things that wouldn’t be practical otherwise because we don’t have enough warfighters or communication today,” said Steinberg, who works in ONR’s Naval Air Warfare and Weapons Department. “If you incorporate some intelligence on the vehicles that can solve complex mission problems, then we can enable wholly new capabilities that can be achieved with limited numbers of people and communications in complicated, dynamic environments.”
This is the fifth and final post of our Leaving Iraq series, detailing the logistics involved in ending military operations in Iraq.
Vehicles streamed by, neon blurs of yellow and red. Cars, vans, and 18-wheelers alike honked their “hellos” to the group of paratroopers walking along the dark edge of the highway. Their footfalls came quickly in an attempt to warm their feet, numbed from the cold, until they fell in cadence with the morning Call to Prayer blaring over loudspeakers.
Armored vehicles convoy past as a military policeman assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, who takes a knee along a road outside Camp Taji, Iraq, during a dismounted patrol Dec. 2, 2011. Photo by Sgt. Kissta Feldner
It was barely 5 a.m. and these troopers were already on the streets, their mission to check the route for roadside bombs and ensure the security of the road for U.S. convoys passing through from Baghdad. This was the day Camp Victory was to transition to Iraqi control.
These were not infantry Soldiers, but a group of military police paratroopers who have grown familiar with the area they patrol every day.
The MPs assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, had been conducting daily missions in the area since moving to Camp Taji from Al-Asad Air Base in early October.
“We’re the only platoon that’s rolled out every day since we’ve been here,” said Pfc. Tyler Laflamme, an MP.
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