NMFS Biological Opinion on U.S. Navy training ... - Govsupport.us

FINAL PROGRAMMATIC BIOLOGICAL OPINION ON U.S. NAVY ACTIVITIES IN THE HAWAII RANGE COMPLEX 2008-2013
gunnery and bombardment exercises within the Barking Sands Tactical Underwater Range. On land, terrain features,
constructed props, or tank hulks are used as targets. Air crews conduct STWEX in conjunction with ground or
airborne forward air controllers.
As currently proposed, STWEX assets include helicopters or 2 to 10 fixed wing aircraft with air-to-surface missiles,
anti-radiation missiles (electromagnetic radiation source seeking missiles), high-speed radiation missiles
(electromagnetic radiation producing missiles that simulate radar and radio transmitters), or bombs (live and inert),
rockets, or precision-guided munitions. Targets include excess ship hulks, and simulated electronic targets at the
Barking Sands Tactical Underwater Range and Barking Sands Underwater Range Expansion Ranges operated by
PMRF. The Barking Sands Tactical Underwater Range and Barking Sands Underwater Range Expansion Ranges
consist of passive bottom-mounted hydrophones, which receive signals from pingers mounted internally on the
exercise rounds and submarines. The underwater tracking system detects the water impacts and directs the data to
the Naval Gunfire Scoring System.
STWEX, and CASEX exercises are conducted within Oahu Restricted Airspace R-3107 (at Kaula only inerts would be
employed) and Warning Area W-187 (at Kaula only inerts would be employed) and PMRF Warning Area, and the
Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawai’i. These exercise typically last about 4 hours; although strike warfare exercises
might last from 4 to 35 hours.
Gunnery exercises which are designed to provide gunnery practice for surface vessel and aircraft crews against both
stationary and moving targets. Gunnery training events involve the use of highly automated guns against surface
(land, excess vessel hulks, and simulators) or aerial targets. Crews respond to threats from air attack and surfaceskimming
missiles that require extremely fast reaction times and a heavy volume of fire. Ships fire inert exercise
rounds, and aircraft fire inert exercise rounds and drop inert exercise bombs at stationary targets on Kaula and at the
computer-generated island located within Barking Sands Underwater Range Expansion (PMRF Warning Area W-
188).
Exercise events typically involve 1 to 10 surface vessels, observation helicopters, SEPTARs, ISTTs, orange buoys,
towed aerial targets, excess ship hulks, jet aerial targets, and the Barking Sands Underwater Range Expansion. Shipdeployed
and air-deployed weapons systems are used, including 20-millimeter to 5-inch guns.
These exercises would be conducted within PMRF Warning Areas W-186 and W-188, Oahu Warning Areas W-187
(Kaula), W-194, and Restricted Airspace R-3107 (Kaula). Events during these exercises take up to 100 hours.
Sinking exercises (SINKEX) which are designed to train ship and aircraft crews in delivering live and inert ordnance
on a real target. Each SINKEX uses an excess vessel hulk as a target that is eventually sunk during the course of the
exercise. Any exercise that normally uses a surface target, such as an ASMEX, can be a part of the SINKEX. The hulk
ship is towed to a designated location where various platforms would use multiple types of weapons to fire shots at
the hulk. Platforms can consist of air, surface, and subsurface elements. Weapons can include missiles, precision and
non-precision bombs, gunfire and torpedoes. If none of the shots result in the hulk sinking, either a submarine shot
or placed explosive charges would be used to sink the ship. Charges ranging from 45 to 90 kilograms (100 to 200
pounds), depending on the size of the ship, would be placed on or in the hulk.
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