RDT&E Ship & Aircraft Support

Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Aircraft Support: This continuing project funds costs associated with the preventive and corrective maintenance of fixed and rotary wing aircraft which directly support test and evaluation of aircraft and associated weapon systems and sensors. Testing aboard dedicated RDT&E aircraft reduces the number of fleet units required to support test and evaluation of aviation programs. This project unit funds airframe Standard Depot Level Maintenance (SDLM), the Integrated Maintenance Concept and Planned Depot Maintenance, major in-service repairs, emergent repairs and aircraft engine periodic maintenance and overhauls and aircraft material condition and field inspections. Also included in this project unit, are the costs of Aviation Depot Level Repairables (AVDLR), which are spare and replacement parts for components that fail during the conduct of readiness flight operations, aircrew training and proficiency flight hours, and must be replaced to support follow-on flight operations. This project unit also funds Aircraft Structure Periodic Assessments (ASPA), Individual Material Readiness List (IMRL) tools and support equipment, Aviation Climate Assessment Survey System (ACASS) and other projects and peripheral equipment associated with the maintenance of flight readiness for RDT&E aircraft. JUSTIFICATION FOR BUDGET ACTIVITY: This program is funded under RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST and EVALUATION MANAGEMENT SUPPORT because it supports efforts directed toward sustaining or modernizing equipment required for general research, development, test and evaluation.

Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Aircraft Flight Hours: This non-acquisition project supports direct flight hour costs, which include aviation fuel and a portion of the costs of Aviation Depot Level Repairables (AVDLR) associated with NAVAIR test pilot proficiency flights, including organizational and intermediate maintenance, associated consumables, including petroleum, oil, lubricants, and spare and replacement parts for components that fail. Annual test pilot flight hours, as delineated in OPNAVINST 3710.7, are satisfied through a combination of program funded test flights, which vary year to year based on program schedules; flights funded through this project unit ensure a baseline level of pilot readiness. These flight hours ensure test pilots remain proficient in assigned type / model / series aircraft in which they are qualified (approximately 3 hours per month) during lulls in program test schedules to ensure proficient test pilots are available to safely support aviation program testing. Readiness hours are designed to provide aircrew with a minimum of 11 flight hours per month, for a total of 133 hours annually. Flight hours support ferry flights to Fleet Readiness Centers for planned depot maintenance, post maintenance, acceptance test flights, aircrew training and test pilot proficiency when test program demand is low, in direct support of Research and Development Programs at Naval Air Systems Command, and Office of Naval Research flight activities. JUSTIFICATION FOR BUDGET ACTIVITY: This program is funded under RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST and EVALUATION MANAGEMENT SUPPORT because it supports efforts directed toward maintaining test pilot readiness in direct support of general research, development, test and evaluation.

The Testing & Evaluation (T&E) Enterprise merges common ship, element, and system requirements into the fewest number of test events while leveraging planned Combat System Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT) to accomplish Developmental Testing (DT) and Operational Testing (OT) requirements. All tests on the SDTS require the sharing of infrastructure, missile range allocations, execution time, and underway time to eliminate duplicative testing. T&E Enterprise provides end-to-end mission Operational Testing in a realistic operational environment, capitalizing on Probability of Raid Annihilation Modeling and Simulation (M&S) data validated with results of Operational and Live Fire Testing, and ensuring a consistent approach across ship classes. Applicability of all test events is beneficial across multiple ship classes with the same variation under test. Currently executing Test & Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP 1910) in support of Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) Baseline 12 and SPY-6(V)2/3 Platforms. TEMP 1910 merges common ship, element, and system requirements into the fewer test events. Enterprise Cost elements: a) Enterprise Testing and Planning. Includes the contractor and government costs to administer the Enterprise, collect and distribute data from live events, maintain Cybersecurity certifications, and financial management. b) Self-Defense Test Ship (SDTS) Combat Systems. Includes preventive maintenance and repairs of major combat system elements. c) Enterprise Testbed (ETB). Requires integration of OT-quality digital representations of shipboard combat system performance including infrastructure, distributed secure network, and common environmental services for DT/OT. d) SDTS Integrated Testing (IT). SDTS testing requirements outlined in TEMP 1910 in support of SSDS Baseline 12 and SPY-6(V)2/3 Platforms.

The Threat Engineering program assesses the current and future threat environment and works in coordination with the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) to develop, produce, and evolve digital threat engineering models in support of test and evaluation (T&E) requirements. NAVSEA requires comprehensive, validated threat modeling and simulation (M&S) products to dynamically and responsively interact with surface ship air defense systems and subsystems to allow for a performance evaluation in an operationally realistic environment. These threat M&S products, called Acquisition Threat Engineering Products (ATEP), must contain the details, features, and components necessary to react with the Blue air defense systems as the actual threats will with, deployed air defense systems to provide a comprehensive, high-confidence evaluation of Blue system capabilities. The successful and rigorous end-to-end evaluation of surface ship combat systems, to include the component systems, are required before capability and ship baselines can be delivered to the warfighter. ATEPs are valid T&E assets that satisfy Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) and Operational Test & Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR) requirements in both Modeling and Simulation (M&S) testbed and at-sea configurations. ATEPs satisfy OPTEVFOR's threat model requirement for fidelity commensurate with the Blue-force system representations and contain intel-derived lethality/vulnerability data, physics-based six degrees-of-freedom models, reactive seekers and guidance, and other engineering data. ATEPs are necessary to evaluate mandatory ship Key Performance Parameters (KPP), including operational effectiveness and suitability. ATEPs reduce Navy operational testing (OT) costs by enabling portions of OT to be conducted via M&S, increasing requirements coverage and avoiding the costs of targets and weapons that would ordinarily be required to conduct OT solely via live fire events. As each threat system is unique, the ATEP representation of each must include the features of specific threats, such as electronic countermeasures (ECM), active countermeasures, communications links, electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM).

This project provides for labor and engineering support, preventive and corrective maintenance of mission critical Hull, Mechanical and Electrical (HM&E) and remote-control system maintenance aboard the Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS) in support of the Navy RDT&E of ship self-defense systems. Testing aboard this ship provides the capability to safely test self-defense weapon systems within their minimum range and reduces the number of fleet units required to support RDT&E efforts. Funds are used to purchase consumable supplies and repair parts, conduct routine preventive and emergent corrective maintenance and engineering support services and the necessary personnel to support at-sea operations.