Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance - Spawar

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INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE
distress calls and to provide command and control
capabilities for USCG assets operating in regions
near the coast. The Rescue 21 system is a multiyear,
$1.5 billion project to modernize and expand
the capabilities of the current, 1970s-era system.
Table 1 compares capabilities of the Rescue 21
system to those of the existing system.
The SSC San Diego USCG Support Team has supported
the Rescue 21 program since its inception.
Team members have performed multiple analyses,
developed technical and project documentation,
and performed technology demonstrations
TABLE 1. Rescue 21 improvements.
Capabilities
Monitor Distress Calls Continuous Uninterrupted
Channel 16 VHF-FM Guard
Channel 70 VHF-FM DSC
Communications Coverage
Direction Finding
Alert Response Assets
Automatic Asset Tracking
Data Communications
Coordinate Response
Public Safety Interoperability
Activities
Full Coverage for Protected
Communications
Automatic Marine Broadcasts
Geographic Display
Number of Simultaneous
Communication Channels
Archiving/Recording
Operational Availability
Recoverability
FIGURE 3. Rescue 21 site locations.
Existing System
NO
NO
> 80 Gaps
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
1
Voice
Unknown
No Systematic Plan
required to achieve key acquisition program decision points. Successful
accomplishments include development of acquisition approach analyses,
cost-performance trade-off analyses, life-cycle cost analysis, test plans
and procedures, sensor and communications technology assessments,
communications coverage analyses, the system performance specification,
and the statement of work for system acquisition. The SSC San Diego
team supported source selection, including development of evaluation
criteria and standards, and team members participated as source selection
board members. Subsequently, they monitored and evaluated the contractor’s
work and technical documentation during the program’s exploratory
development phase. The SSC San Diego USCG Support Team is also the
Operational Test and Evaluation agent for the Rescue 21 system when it
is initially delivered in the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 04 and is
responsible for inspection and certification of production installations in
the Pacific region in FY 04 to FY 06. A significant achievement of the
USCG Support Team was a successful Advanced Concept Technology
Demonstration (ACTD) of Radio Direction Finding (RDF) and Digital
Selective Calling (DSC) for the USCG and the later transition of the system
to operational use by USCG Activities San Diego. Figure 4 shows
the architecture of the RDF/DSC ACTD.
Rescue 21
YES
YES
98% Area Coverage
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
6
Voice/Data
99.50%
24 hrs for Critical Functions