USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)

Comment

Comment by Kirk Brooks on February 19, 2010 at 2:08pm

You gotta just envy the hell out of our kids. This is so cool and with Holly learning the flight deck she must be all kinds of excited about this.

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on February 19, 2010 at 2:03pm

X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Taking Shape On Board Lincoln

By Lt. Cmdr. William Marks, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs

USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, At Sea (NNS) -- Personnel from the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) program team and industry partner Northrop Grumman Corporation are underway with USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) to test the integration of existing ship systems with new systems that will support the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D).

This effort will reduce program risk and is one of many steps toward the X-47B's first carrier arrested landing or "trap."

The X-47B will be the first unmanned jet aircraft to take off and land aboard an aircraft carrier. With a 62ft wingspan and length of 38ft, the X-47B is about 87 percent the size of the F/A-18C aircraft currently operating aboard Navy aircraft carriers.

The UCAS-D effort is focused on developing and demonstrating an aircraft carrier (CV) suitable, low observable (LO) unmanned air system in support of persistent, penetrating surveillance, and penetrating strike capabilities in high threat areas. The effort will evolve technologies required to conduct launch, recovery, and carrier controlled airspace (CCA) operations and autonomous air refueling (AAR) of an LO platform. By FY13, the Navy plans to achieve UCAS CV demonstration; achieve hybrid probe & drogue (USN style) and boom/receptacle (USAF style) AAR demonstration; and evaluate and identify technologies supporting future naval capability requirements.

Mark Pilling, a former naval flight officer with operational unmanned aircraft experience, is the team's mission operator. He and his team are charged with verifying mission operator software between the ship and aircraft.

"This is the first step in the X-47B's integration into the carrier's systems," said Pilling.

The team is testing X-47B software integration by using a King Air turbo prop "surrogate" aircraft taking off and landing from shore. As the aircraft approaches the carrier, it performs the same types of procedures as manned aircraft. However, since the X-47B is unmanned, digital messages from shipboard controllers will be used to control the aircraft instead of verbal instructions. In response to the digital command and control messages, the plane's software confirms, complies and sends a "wilco" signal back to the controllers and mission operator.

"Over the last two at sea periods on Lincoln, we have integrated into a number of the ship systems, from PriFly, to CATCC, to the LSO platform," said Pilling.

Janice Stolzy, the Northrop Grumman project lead, is on board to verify that the prototype equipment works in a real-time operational environment. Stolzy said successful UCAS-D system testing on Lincoln will set the stage for additional developmental testing later this year, including testing the software integration using an F/A-18 surrogate aircraft to more closely emulate the X-47B's flight path.

John Zander, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) lead test engineer, said a prime benefit of a UCAS concept is to reduce the risk to human pilots.

"This is an important milestone for the Navy and we're making great strides on board Lincoln," said Zander.

Additional UCAS-D development activities are underway at multiple NAVAIR and Northrop Grumman sites throughout the United States. First flight of the X-47B is expected later this year.

Comment by Kirk Brooks on February 15, 2010 at 8:40pm

Just got a txt from Holly, they must be back in Everett. Sounds like all went well with the sea trials and she's still testing on her various quals. Go Abe!

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on February 3, 2010 at 8:51pm

Kirk--- how is Holly doing with the underways and quals? Getting serious this underway with air wing quals!!!!!

Comment by Kirk Brooks on January 19, 2010 at 2:55pm

Paul, I got a text from Holly last night. They're in now.

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on January 19, 2010 at 12:24pm

Lincoln Air Department Prepares for Upcoming Certification

Story Number: NNS100116-26 Release Date: 1/16/2010 4:50:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Jerine Lee, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs

USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, At Sea (NNS) -- Although sea trials began aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Jan. 13, the ship's Air Department Sailors are already training to pass flight deck certifications.

Lincoln Air Department personnel are focused on successfully passing an upcoming three-day evaluation which will challenge Sailors in all aspects of flight deck operations.

Beginning mid-February, evaluators from Commander, Naval Air Forces will examine Lincoln's air department and the embarked air wing through a standardized script of flight and hangar deck evolutions, the Flight Deck Certification.

Successful Flight Deck Certification ensures Lincoln's Air Department can conduct flight operations for flying days lasting more than 12 hours. This will also certify Lincoln's Jet Propellant (JP)-5 fuel system to accept, store, purify and distribute more than 3.2 million gallons of jet fuel.

"We have to pass 50 launch and recovery evolutions, including refueling, parking and moving aircraft to be successful in the flight deck certification," said Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) Chief Petty Officer Chris Klopfer, the ship's flight deck leading chief petty officer.

Training and preparation for the flight deck certification began months ago during Lincoln's Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). The air department conducted flight deck drills monthly on the now decommissioned USS Ranger (CV 61).

To receive further training, Lincoln airmen were sent to additional schools as well as embarking underway aircraft carriers such as the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68), receiving training on self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs), stretcher bearing, portable fire extinguishers and firefighting exercises.

"The biggest concern was that we've been in the shipyard for nine months so people's skills were rusty. And we've had a high crew turnover, so we had to get the new guys qualified," said Klopfer. "We had to get our team back together and back in the game."

In addition to the flight deck certification, the air department has been busy since June preparing for the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). Multiple tiger teams were formed within the department to focus on INSURV preparation.

"We have spent months inspecting and logging discrepancies of all our spaces and equipment for the upcoming INSURV visit," said Cmdr. Bradley T. Jensen, Lincoln's air officer. "While training extensively in Material, Maintenance, Management (3M) and damage control areas, we have raised the overall awareness and knowledge level of every individual so we can demonstrate to the inspectors we have the ability to safely and efficiently operate our ship."

With all the qualifications, drills and exercises, the air department is optimistic for their upcoming trials.

"We have the skills, training and the most professional, talented community of carrier experts," said Jensen. "The key to establishing that reputation comes from working as a team and continuously striving for perfection. Our air department does a great job assuring that mindset is exercised everyday whether in the fuel rooms, on the hangar bay or the flight deck."

For more news from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn72/.

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on January 19, 2010 at 10:48am

Lincoln Completes Shipyard Availability Early after Successful Sea Trials

Story Number: NNS100116-24 Release Date: 1/16/2010 4:46:00 PM 0

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kat Corona, USS Abraham Lincoln Public Affairs

ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, At Sea (NNS) -- After getting underway Jan. 13 for the first time in nine months, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) completed its maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (IMF) ahead of schedule after successfully completing sea trials.

Over the Planned Incremental Availability (PIA), Lincoln underwent several upgrades, alterations and installments, culminating in thousands of man hours and millions of dollars in critical work that will ensure the ship is ready for her next two deployments.

According to Abe's Chief Engineer Cmdr. Bradford Bittle, of Des Moines, Iowa, Abe's first underway for sea trials served as the final exam for PIA to ensure everything worked properly.

Success of the $350-million overhaul can be attributed to the combined effort of Lincoln's Sailors, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and IMF, the Naval Supervising Authority, and Todd Pacific Shipyard; the multi ship, multi option private sector partner on the job.

Some of the bigger projects undertaken included a complete modification of hangar bay one, replacing all four of the ship's propellers, remodeling the media department and training spaces with advanced technology, upgrading the ship's computer systems, and modernizing the entire flight deck.

"A lot of work went into this yard period so that Lincoln could withstand two deployments before needing the next yard period," said Bittle.

Lincoln's longest modification this PIA was a remodel of the existing 02 level mezzanine in hangar bay one, which now provides a single platform, the Universal Aviation Mission Pod Ready Service (AMPRS) to accommodate the new H-60R/S Seahawk helicopters.
This modification removed five obsolete EA-6B Prowler Legacy Test Bench Installations, the ALQ-99 Weapons Repairable Assembly racks, and the entire existing mezzanine deck.

The installations, including a new deck with a grid of 7,000 deck anchor holes, will accommodate the storage of avionics equipment needed for the H-60R/S Lincoln will house when Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 is embarked.

"Before we had the AMPRS, ALQ-99 Weapons Repairable Assemblies were repaired in two separate work centers and then stored in the old mezzanine," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Cesar Astorga, Lincoln's Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department's avionics officer. "Now, they can all be repaired in one work center and stored in the AMPRS, which makes the process of serving the air wing more efficient."

Lincoln also upgraded to a new local area network (LAN), providing Sailors network reliability and user capacity unmatched on an aircraft carrier, along with new computers that connect faster and improve multi-tasking capabilities. The ship is the first aircraft carrier to be fully Common Access Card (CAC) enforced for user logins.

The new LAN replaces 1980s-style hardware to a much more efficient configuration using blade servers. Should a server fail, the blade server will allow Lincoln's Automated Data Processing (ADP) division to get it back up and running in a matter of minutes, where as it used to take between two to three hours.

Aside from reliability, approximately 1,215 users are able to log in to Lincoln's network making e-mail and Internet more accessible for Sailors on board.

Bittle said at the height of the maintenance period, there were more than 2,000 shipyard workers and contractors on board, completing a combined 320,000 man-days of work. Lincoln's crew also contributed 54,000 man-days in getting Lincoln back to full capability, in addition to simultaneously completing thousands of days of training.

Bittle said the ship's force set high expectations and met them during PIA, and that helped Lincoln and civilian contractors reach their goal.

"Our expectations were on-time delivery and 100% ready to fight, and we met those goals with flying colors," he said.

Much of the success of the shipyard period can be attributed to diligent planning, which began in 2008 during and upon return from an overseas deployment.

"The chief's mess and Lincoln Sailors created a good maintenance plan before hand, and when it came time to execute they were ready," Bittle said. "They did a great job planning all the work, and it made my job easier."

Bittle said because the ship accurately planned what work needed to be done, it was able to appropriately choose the teams of Sailors needed to complete the work on time.

According to Bittle, there were 11 teams of Sailors, called Tiger Teams, who worked various jobs on Lincoln to get the ship through PIA. Teams included a deck team, who tiled more than 120 decks; the habitability team, which overhauled 30 berthings and 11 heads; the paint team, which painted more than a tenth of the ship; and the cable team, who found and removed 130 potentially dangerous dead-end cables.

Other notable statistics from the nine month shipyard period, in addition to finishing on early, include a 50% reduction in alcohol-related incidents and a 25% reduction in safety mishaps compared to the last PIA.

"The ship is in much better material condition now than it was before we were in the yards," said Bittle. "Now we can begin to exercise all our training teams, watch standers, engineering and weapons systems so we can integrate into a full Strike Group."

For more information about USS Abraham Lincoln visit our Web page at www.navy.mil/local/cvn72, or find us on Facebook by searching for "USS Abraham Lincoln."

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on January 18, 2010 at 7:36pm

I'm not sure Kirk...Kat didn't let me know, but I'm guessing soon. Have you heard from Holly and how she likes the motion? Kat sent this in an e-mail yesterday:

So we've been out at sea for a few days and it's almost nice. We've been in
pretty rough seas so the ship has been rocking like crazy. It's nice because
it helps me sleep at night. It's like being a big baby in a giant steel womb.
Just rockin and rollin.

Yeah....my kids are odd........LOL

Comment by Kirk Brooks on January 18, 2010 at 2:15pm

Excellent photo, thanks for posting. Holly's been champing at the bit to get to work so hopefully I'll hear from her soon. Any idea when they'll be back in?

Comment by Paul on January 17, 2010 at 8:43pm

My daughter is currently going thru "CS" A-school and was notified of her orders to the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Should be there in the next month or so. She is excited and ready to go. All in good time.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 65
• 66
• 67
• 68
• 69
• …
• 71
• Next ›
• Page