LPD17

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• LPD-17 LHA(R)
• LPD-17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport
  Dock Ship and
• LHA(R) Amphibious Assault Ship

by Donald G. Geller, Jr. NAVAIR Shipboard
Weapons Integration Team (SWIT)
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Qualifications

• DP-0346-03 (GS-13) Logistics Management
  Specialist and a member of the NAVAIR
  Shipboard Weapons Integration
  Team (SWIT)
• NAVAIR Weapons Lead for LPD-17 and LHA(R)
• Central Technical Authority (CTA) for the LHA(R)
  Weapons Equipment List (WEL)
• Member of the Navys Weapon Systems Explosive
  Safety Review Board (WSESRB)

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Overview from an Aviation Ordnance Perspective

• LPD-17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport
  Dock Ship

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LPD-17 Overview

• Mission Systems
• Vehicles/Cargo (Net)
• Three Vehicles Decks (2323 sq m)
• Two Cargo/Ammo Magazines (708 cu m)
• Cargo Fuel, JP-5 (1190 cu m)
• Cargo Fuel, MOGAS (38 cu m)
• Two LCACs
• Medical
• 2 Operating Rooms
• 24 Person Hospital Ward
• 100 Casualty Overflow Capacity

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LPD-17 Overview

• Aviation Facilities
• Hangar O Level Maintenance Facilities for
• 1 CH-53E
• 2 CH-46s
• 1 MV-22
• 3 UH/AH-1s
• Landing
• 2 CH-53s
• 4 UH/AH-1s
• 4 CH-46s
• 2 MV-22s
• 1 AV-8B

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Aviation Ordnance Facilities

• Ready Service Magazine Located on the inboard
  side of the starboard main passageway
• Used for
• Missile breakout (canning un-canning)
• Rocket assembly
• AECM build-up
• Ready service stowage of aviation ordnance
• Flight Deck
• 4 Bomb jettison ramps
• 2 Weapons staging areas

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Aviation Ready Service Magazine
Aviation Facilities - Hangar
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Aviation Ordnance Issues

• Ready Service Magazine
• Physical size will constrain
• Weapons assembly/breakout (canning un-canning)
• Rocket assembly
• Ready service stowage of aviation ordnance
• AECM build-up
• AECM Facilities
• Not in compliance with OP-4
• Missing overboard disposal chute
• Cannot stow assembled dispensers in Ready Service
  Magazine when other assembly/breakout operations
  are being performed

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Aviation Ordnance Issues

• AWSE/OHE
• Inadequate stowage for
• AWSE
• OHE
• Emergency Ordnance Handling (EOH) Capability
• Required whenever a cargo/ammo magazine is
  serviced by only one elevator
• LPD-17 EOH capability not yet demonstrated

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Aviation Ordnance Issues

• From a Naval perspective
• Aviation ordnance capabilities on LPD-17 class
  are
• Requirement of the big-deck amphibious ship
  (LHA/LHD)
• No Aviation Ordnance expertise exists in ships
  company manning
• Aviation ordnance personnel and AWSE are
  cross-decked from LHA/LHD when required
• Switch to Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG)
  philosophy will impact ships ability to sustain
  extensive aviation ordnance requirements
  especially during independent steaming operations

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LPD-17 Overview
ShipsSan Antonio (LPD 17) New Orleans (LPD
18)Mesa Verde (LPD 19) Green Bay (LPD 20)New
York (LPD 21)
General Characteristics, San Antonio
class Builders Northrop Grumman Ships Systems,
with Raytheon Systems Corporation and Intergraph
Corporation. Power plant four sequentially
turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick Diesels, two
shafts, 41,600 shaft horsepowerLength 684 feet
(208.5 meters)Beam 105 feet (31.9
meters)Displacement Approximately 24,900 tons
(25,300 metric tons) full loadSpeed in excess
of 22 knots (24.2 mph, 38.7 kph)Aircraft Launch
or land two CH53E Super Stallion helicopters or
up to four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, MV-22
Osprey tilt rotor aircraft, AH-1 or UH-1
helicoptersArmament Two Bushmaster II 30 mm
Close in Guns, fore and aft two Rolling Airframe
Missile launchers, fore and aft.Landing
Craft/Assault Vehicles Two LCACs or one LCU
and 14 Advanced Amphibious Assault
Vehicles.CrewShip's Company 361 (28 officers,
333 enlisted)Embarked Landing Force 699 (66
officers, 633 enlisted) surge capacity to 800
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Overview from an Aviation Ordnance Perspective

• LHA(R) Amphibious Assault Ship

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LHA(R)

• Designed to support USMC tenets of
• Operational Maneuver From the Sea (OMFTS)
• Ship to Objective Maneuver (STOM)

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LHA(R) A/V (Aviation Variant)

• LHA(R) Flight 0 was selected as a result of
  SECNAV directed design pause. The new design is
  also known as the Aviation Variant and is
  evolving!
• LHA(R) Aviation Variant
• Whats in (or back in)
• New design same footprint size as existing LHD
  class ships
• Expanded Hangar w/ 2 High Hat areas
• Cargo/Ammo Magazines now contained within an
  Armored Box similar to CVN design for ships
  survivability purposes
• AWSE Work Center stowage space
• OHE stowage
• Upper Vehicle stowage (was out but came back)

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LHA(R) A/V (Aviation Variant)

• Whats out
• Larger hull
• Former LHA(R) Plug Plus Variant was 77 ft longer
  10 ft wider
• Well Deck is gone
• Lower Vehicle Deck is gone
• LCACs

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Mission Scenarios Based on New ACE

• Mission Scenario 1
• 12 MV-22, 12 F-35B, 2 MH-60S or
• Mission Scenario 2
• 28 MV-22, 2 MH-60S or
• Mission Scenario 3
• 23 F-35B, 2 MH-60S
• Mission Scenario 4 (Mixed ACE)
• 4 CH-53E, 2 MH-60S, 6 MV-22, 12 F-35B
• Mission Scenario 5 (Mixed ACE)
• 6 CH-53E, 2 MH-60S, 6 MV-22, 10 F-35B
• Mission Scenario 6 (Mixed ACE)
• 2 MH-60S, 9 MV-22, 14 F-35B

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Cargo/Ammo Magazine Capacity

• LHA(R) weight cube for 10 days of air
  operations estimated to be approximately 150 of
  current stowage considerations.
• Note warfighting requirement is 15 days of
  ammunition
• Operational shift in warfighting duration. New
  requirement is
• 6 surge days (vice current 3 days of surge
  operations)
• 9 days of sustained operations (vice current 12
  days of sustainment)
• Up to 30 days sustained operations
• Net Volume
• Threshold 110K cu ft
• Objective 125K cu ft

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Missions Types

• LHA(R) Mission Scenarios
• Air Interdiction (AI)
• Close Air Support (CAS)
• Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD)
• Armed Reconnaissance (RECCE)
• Offensive/Defensive Counter Air (O/DCA)
• Air Interdiction (AI) - Precision Weapons
• 3 meters or less Circular Error Probability
  (CEP) including GBU, small smart bombs (GPS/IR)
  certain air-to-ground missiles. Accurate
  weapon CEP is 3-10 meters (JSOW JDAM)

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Missions Types

• Close Air Support (CAS) - Precision Weapons
  Unguided Weapons
• CEP equal to or greater than 10 meters
• Includes GP (MK-80/BLU Series) bombs, cluster
  munitions, airborne rockets and guns.
• Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD)
  Precision accurate weapons
• Harm
• JSOW Baseline

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Missions Types

• Armed Reconnaissance (RECCE)
• Precision weapons, unguided weapons and guns
• Offensive/Defensive Counter Air (O/DCA)
  Precision weapons only
• Air intercept missiles
• Guns

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Weapon Staging Area

• Weapon Staging Area (Bomb Farm)
• Current LHD has 350 SQFT
• Requirement should be two events worth of air
  weapons
• Need space for tie downs and returned weapons
• Space lost for Jettison Ramp
• F-35 will use large missiles (AGM-88)
• GBU-10 is 9 SQFT larger than GBU-16 (AV-8B
  biggest)
• LHA(R) and the F-35 will need a minimum of 1,500
  SQFT

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Ships Force

• Weapons Department grows from
• Baseline 69 AOs based on 10 hour flight
  schedule
• New 182 AOs based on 20 hour flight schedule
• Each major magazine requires a crew
• Bomb Assembly Team
• Missile Assembly Team
• CMBRE Team
• Rocket Assembly Team
• Weapon Staging Area Teams (minimum 2)
• Elevator Operators
• Ordnance Control
• AIMD Support (AAE/AWSE/OHE/Guns)

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WEL Requirements

• Weapons Equipment List (WEL) stowage
  requirement, based on the new ACE is
• 50 Precision Weapons
• 30 Accurate Weapons
• 20 Unguided Weapons

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Air Launched Weapons

• Unguided Bombs
• 2.75 and 5.00 Airborne Rockets
• GBU-12/16/10
• GBU-24
• GBU-31/35/38
• AECM
• Aircraft CADs/AEPS

• AGM-154A Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)
• Gun Ammunition
• (20MM, 25MM, .50 Caliber, 7.62MM)
• AIM-9M/AIM-9X SIDEWINDER
• AIM-120 AMRAAM
• AGM-114 HELLFIRE

Legacy
Future

• AGM-154B and AGM-154C JSOW
• AGM-158 JASSM
• AGM-TBD Joint Common Missile
• GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb
• Advance Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS)
• Wind Correctable Munition Dispenser
• AECM (chaff, flares, decoys, etc.)
• AGM-TBD Advance Anti-Radiation GM

• Cluster Munitions
• GATOR and ROCKEYE
• Fire Bombs
• Airborne Rockets
• AGM-65 (MAVERICK)
• AGM-88 (HARM)

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Support Equipment

• Aircraft Armament Equipment (AAE)
• Bomb Racks
• Missile Launchers
• Ordnance Handling Equipment (OHE)
• Transporters
• Adapters
• Cradles
• Armament Weapon Support Equipment (AWSE) for ship
  and shore use FARPs
• Trailers
• Cradles
• Adapters

WEL-31 821 CUFT 6.2 S/T WEL-33 1,013 CUFT
7.6 S/T
WEL 1,390 CUFT 22.9 S/T
WPN RPT 630 CUFT 2.6 S/T WEL
1,282 CUFT 10.2 S/T
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SUMMARY

• Doctrine dictates the need for an appropriately
  sized aviation ordnance Weapon Staging Area
• Lethality and capability of JSF and AH-1Z
• Nearly double sortie/weapons capability over
  current aircraft (AV-8B/AH-1W)
• Brings larger suite of weapons and enhanced
  weapons capability to the war fighter
• Afloat strike capability of MEU is enhanced
• Supported by a fully manned weapons department

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SUMMARY (continued)

• The only limitation is a cyclic weapons
  assembly/delivery process
• Fleet must have a weapons through-put capability
  that compliments sortie rate requirements

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What is Needed A Way Ahead

• Solidify a set of aircraft mixes
• MEU/ARG or ESG ship
• Amphibious Task Force ship
• Special MAGTF ship
• Develop a list of Class V materiel requirements
  for each ship mission (above)
• Develop a Weapons and Equipment List (WEL) to
  support Class V materiel requirements
• HQMC and MCCDC
• Review, Verify and Validate requirements
• Submit as part of Ship Design requirements

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BACKUP SLIDES
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Current 31 Aircraft MEU ACE
Operational Duration 3 Surge Days 12 Days of
Sustained Operations
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Future Similar ACE 31 Aircraft 15 Operational
Days 3 Surge Days 12 Days of Sustained Operations
Future Possible ACE 33 Aircraft 15 Operational
Days 3 Surge Days 12 Days of Sustained Operations
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Assistant Secretary of the Navy Proposed ACE Mix
for LHA(R) Flight 0 Operational Duration 6
Surge Days 9 Days of Sustained Operations
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MCCDC Studies and Analysis Proposed ACE Mix
for LHA(R) Flight 0 Operational Duration 6
Surge Days 9 Days of Sustained Operations
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Air Launched Weapons (Continued)

• CUFT S/T
• Load Analysis 40,287 718
• Weapons Report 35,452 627
• Current ACE 32,536 465
• Future ACE 1 35,741 654
• Future ACE 2 40,212 725
• Future ACE 3 62,869 1,290
• Future ACE 4 2,000 20
• Future ACE 5 107,872 2,209
• Future ACE 6 34,352 902
• Future ACE 7 40,019 1,058
• Future ACE 8 43,946 1,166
• Space and Weight Requirements are approximate

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Air Launched Weapons (Continued)
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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Requirements defined in
• OP-4 Rev 7, Para 3-11.8
• NAVAIR 00-80T-106, Para 6.8.2
• Weapons outside designated magazines increases
  the danger to the ship should a fire or explosion
  occur

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• The larger the quantity of weapons in a weapons
  staging area, the greater the risk to the ship!
• To minimize that risk
• only the quantity of weapons required to sustain
  operations shall be transferred to the hangar or
  the flight deck
• airborne weapons shall be positioned in such
  areas as to be readily available to afford
  adequate time for safe aircraft loading

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Staging areas for assembled or unassembled
  weapons shall be restricted to areas that
• are directly supported by jettison ramps on the
  flight deck or within 50 ft of jettison location
  on the hangar deck/sponson areas or supported by
  an operable weapons elevator below the hangar
  deck
• have at least two clear routes for emergency
  movement that are maintained clear of obstructions

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• are covered by a water/deluge system, operable
  sprinkler system, or protected by dedicated
  manned fire hoses
• are located at least 10 feet from aircraft
  fueling stations and 20 feet from lox facilities,
  converters, and carts
• are continually manned by qualified and certified
  personnel for rapid jettison

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• NAVAIR 00-80T-106 (LHA/LHD NATOPS)
• The following locations are authorized for
  Weapons Staging Areas
• Flight Deck, Hangar Deck, Sponson (if they meet
  the requirements of Page 6-9, Paragraph 6.8.2)
• Handling/Assembly Areas outside of Magazines may
  be supported by operable elevators in lieu of
  jettison facilities

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Maximum weapon density in staging areas shall be
  limited to
• Flight Deck Weapons required for the next two
  events (includes weapons loaded, in process of
  loading or staging)
• Hangar Deck and Sponsons Weapons required for
  one event

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Maximum weapon density in staging areas
  (continued) shall be limited to
• Handling Areas Weapons required for immediate
  strike up or strike down
• Assembly Areas Weapons required to sustain
  operations

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Staging areas shall be used for ready service
  only, not protracted stowage nor extending the
  total weapon stowage capacity of the ship
• All weapons shall be on MHE or AWSE

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Properly equipped EOD and a ships weapons
  representative shall be stationed accessibly to
  provide technical assistance to the Aircraft
  Handling Officer in weapons and disposal

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• Weapons cook-off data shall be conspicuously
  posted in plain view of the Aircraft Handling
  Officer
• With exception of actual loading evolutions,
  weapons on skids/trucks shall be positioned fore
  and aft and continuously manned

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WEAPONS STAGING AREA

• LHA(R) program must comply with OP-4 Ammunition
  Afloat and LHA/LHD NATOPS or
• Analyze and quantify the risk (hazard
  probability/hazard severity) and present that
  analysis to the Weapon Systems and Explosive
  Safety Review Board (WSESRB) for approval and/or
  concurrence
• Eliminate or mitigate all hazards to their lowest
  levels
• Note Cannot use procedures to mitigate a hazard
  to the lowest level
• All risk must be accepted at the appropriate
  level

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