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 ships 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...

Many observers in NATO and European Union (EU) countries hold that Russia is attempting to challenge the increasing Western influence in Central and Eastern Europe and reassert itself as a regional and global superpower. The 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine provide evidence in support of this theory. Twelve Central and Eastern European nations have nonetheless joined NATO since 1999, and others have pledged their membership aspirations. This fact alone suggests that a general fear of Russian aggression persists among Central and Eastern European nations, and that...

Joint robot-human operations potentially increase the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of the tasks they perform. The utilization of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) as a robotic diver's assistant demands joint, dynamic operations involving precise physical interactions between an AUV, human divers, and the environment, which, in turn, requires a robust, accurate control system. A robot acting as a dive assistant would perform tasks such as tool carrying, worksite illumination, or other general assistance jobs that a "dive buddy" might perform. Such precise control of the AUV...

This book analyzes how effective the Marine Corps Tiered Evaluation System is at measuring future success, more specifically, in the form of promotions, career longevity, physical fitness level and performance evaluation averages. The analysis observes first term re-enlistees from each quality tier through their future service to observe promotions, career longevity, physical fitness level and performance evaluation averages. The analysis utilizes ordinary least squares regression and linear probability models to analyze success measure outcomes. The outcomes are compared across various tier...

This book will show, through historical analogy, that the official Navy position is correct. That is, that large aircraft carriers, capable of destroying the Soviet fleet in home waters, provide the most effective aid to the ground campaign in Europe. Specifically, this book will use as an example the contributions sea power made to a major land war to show that aggressive strikes against an enemy fleet will bring about more favorable results to the land campaign than would an escort navy. This does not deny, however, that the Navy should also have an escort capability. On the contrary,...

The current surface mine countermeasures (MCM) fleet is aging, yet there are no viable systems to replace it. The U.S. Navy requires an improved minehunting platform, and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) can meet that need. In order to attain enough UUVs and operators to make these missions successful, the United States must rely on the participation of allies to provide these assets. This study assesses the key decision factors in mine clearance operations using UUVs of differing capabilities. It uses a discrete-event simulation to model the performance of UUVs in a large-scale MCM...

This book examined the effect a variety of induced velocity shears had on salt finger formation. Two harmonic, single frequency velocity profiles were utilized under varied shear strength and angular frequency. The third multi-frequency experiment employed a stochastic shear wave field. This model used frequencies that conformed to the GM spectral model for internal waves with an initial random phase distribution, modeling an environment representative of typical oceanic conditions. These shear profiles were incorporated in a double diffusion numerical model. The model resolved the formation...

This book develops pre-processing algorithms and a mixed integer programming model that solves the route selection and asset-to-mission assignment problem in the presence of threat air-defense systems. Our model and algorithms reduce the planning timeline and coordination burden by handling the heavy computational aspects of the planning process. It takes as input current aircraft, target, and threat information and produces asset-to-mission pairing recommendations that accomplish the mission while providing routes and coordination to reduce the risk from threats by avoiding surface-to-air...

The use of vital sign data is a fundamental diagnostic process that is ubiquitous in the delivery of healthcare in military medicine. This process, while providing invaluable information for planning patient treatment, has historically come with administrative challenges in transcription and remote monitoring. New advancements in sensors technologies operating in tactical networks provide a unique opportunity to meet these challenges. This book expands upon previous Naval Postgraduate School CENETIX laboratory research into battlefield medicine by providing a qualitative analysis of COTS...

Integrated Modular Avionics, or IMA, has been a notable trend in aircraft avionics for the past two decades, promising significant size, weight, and power-consumption (SWAP) gains, radically increased sensors fusion, and streamlined support costs. Despite the demonstrated success of IMA systems in commercial airliners such as the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787, military rotorcraft in the service of the United States Joint services have yet to benefit significantly from this technology. At long last, that may be about to change. The Future Vertical Lift Family of Systems (FVL) initiative was...