Navy to close last facility in U.K. by May

[unhappycamper]

Navy to close last facility in U.K. by May
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, January 17, 2009

The U.S. Navy will close its last remaining facility in the United Kingdom by May, officials said this week.

The "disestablishment" of the Joint Maritime Facility at RAF St. Mawgan in southwest England is expected to save the Navy $9 million annually, according to U.S. European Command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker.

The facility, which will be returned to the British government, employs 300 U.S. sailors, 45 British troops and 100 civilian personnel from both governments, Barker said.

Known as the JMF, the command is part of the Navy’s Integrated Underseas Surveillance System. The program detects, tracks and reports information on submarines and oceanographic and geological occurrences and includes two other sites at Dam Neck, Va., and Whidbey Island, Wash.

The England operation — staffed by U.S. and British naval forces since its inception in 1995 — will move to Dam Neck, according to Lt. j.g. Elizabeth A. Sokolowich, spokeswoman for the Integrated Underseas Surveillance System.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60070

[Ghost Dog]

1. Comms & Surveillance Station returning to MoD use, exlusively, then.

The "direct link between United Kingdom and United States maritime forces and their Headquarters in the United Kingdom and overseas" function will presumably now come under UK MoD command?

Joint Maritime Facility (JMF) St. Mawgan UK

Joint Maritime Facility (JMF) - a huge underground US/UK Navy "listening" bunker, which has been responsible for tracking submarines and surface ships out in the North Atlantic ocean. The JMF is sometimes also referred to as the Terminal Exchange Building (TEB). Another interesting address entry for that post code is "US Navy Weapons Facility", whose position is marked at the base's high security entrance on the south side of the runways. http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/31820/ , http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan-turnbull/secret4.htm

The Joint Maritime Facility (JMF) was commissioned 18 August 1995. Located onboard the Royal Air Force (RAF) Station St. Mawgan in Cornwall, England, JMF is a jointly staffed IUSS command with personnel assigned from the United States Navy, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force. JMF is unique in that it is a massive semi-hardened, partially-buried/partially-earthened, reinforced concrete structure capable of completely self-sufficient operations using dedicated supplies. The primary role of the Joint Maritime Facility is to provide a direct link between United Kingdom and United States maritime forces and their Headquarters in the United Kingdom and overseas. The command supports ASW Command and Tactical Forces by detecting, tracking, and timely reporting of information concerning submarines, oceanographic, and geologic information. Although JMF is our newest facility to be added to the legacy of IUSS, the professionalism and dedication of all personnel onboard has quickly established it as amongst the best and most capable ASW sites in the world. *Data certified UNCLASSIFIED by DoD/DoN and IUSS Authorities http://www.cus.navy.mil/jmf.htm

Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS)

The Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) is comprised of fixed, mobile, and deployable acoustic arrays that provide vital tactical cueing to ASW forces. IUSS provides the Navy with its primary means of submarine detection both nuclear and diesel.

With the advent of submarine warfare and it's impact on Allied forces and supply lines in WWII, the need for timely detection of undersea threats was made a high priority in Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). As technology of the time progressed, it was recognized that shore-based monitoring stations were the answer to the problem since they could be made basically impervious to destruction, foul weather, and ambient self-generated noise. Since the early 1950s the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have been under the vigilence of the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS), with long acoustic sensors (hydrophones) installed across the ocean bottom at key locations.

With the development of quieter submarines and counter-tactics to evade SOSUS, newer technologies have been implemented over the years to "keep up with the threat". Faster processors, higher capacity storage devices, and "cleaner code" has enabled the advancement of the art of locating undersea threats. Currently, the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) uses all of these advancements in the Fixed Surveillance System (FSS), Fixed Distributed System (FDS), and the Advanced Deployable System (ADS).

The program has undergone a major transition from emphasis on maintaining a large dispersed surveillance force keyed to detection and tracking of Soviet submarines to a much smaller force that is effective against modern diesel and nuclear submarines in regional/littoral or broad ocean areas of interest. Work stations, enhanced signal processing, and modern communication technologies enable remote array monitoring, which reduces manpower costs and improves efficiency.

Under operational command of the U.S. Navy's Commander Undersea Surveillance (CUS) IUSS shore systems are staffed and operated by uniformed U.S. Navy personnel. System life cycle and engineering support is provided by carreer civil servants (NISE East Code 341) and contractor personnel located at the IUSS Operations Support Center (IOSC). http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/iuss.htm

NSWC Dam Neck Va. USA

NSWC Dam Neck's Mission: Arm warfighters with innovative capabilities by delivering force-level integrated and interoperable engineering solutions, mission critical and associated testing and training technologies which meet the requirements of the maritime, joint, special warfare and information operations domains.

NSWC Dam Neck's Vision: A world-class engineering command providing technical leadership and innovative solutions for system architectures and training capabilities, and system integration and interoperability.

Who We Are: NSWC Dam Neck exists to understand the technical dimensions of command and control problems in the maritime, joint, coalition and interagency environment, to know who can solve these problems, to know if responsible solutions have been provided, and to provide solutions when practicable. NSWC Dam Neck is a systems-oriented organization with a tradition of affordable products and services. As a Naval Surface Warfare Center Field Activity, NSWC Dam Neck’s Value Creation processes are Project Management and Technical Capabilities Management. Specifically, we develop and sustain core competencies in Systems Engineering and Integration; System-of-Systems Engineering and Architectures; Planning and Execution for Test, Training and Experimentation; and Operational and Technology Assessment. NSWC Dam Neck applies these core competencies to meet the needs of a breadth of National and International customers to deliver:
· Joint Command and Control Systems Integration and Architecture Development
· Force Level Warfare Systems Engineering and Integration
· Force Level Warfare Systems Interoperability Engineering
· Integrated Training Systems
· Special Warfare Maritime Mobility, Mission Systems, & Mission Support Equipment
· Surface Combat Control Systems. Engineering, Integration, Modernization & Software Support
· Radar Sensor Distribution Systems
· Measured Response Systems
http://www.navseadn.navy.mil/CDSADamNeckAboutUs.htm