Integrated Surveillance System

Mission — Integrated Surveillance System source

The Deployable Surveillance Systems (DSS) project (0344), complementing the Fixed Surveillance System (FSS) and Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), provides flexible and responsive wide area surveillance to the Theater Anti-Submarine Warfare (TASW) commanders worldwide. DSS will operate as adjunct systems to meet the established FSS and SURTASS missions and to meet additional missions as articulated in the OPNAV Top Level Requirements document and follow-on Course of Action Analysis (COAA) and as dictated by TASW commanders evolving and emergent operational requirements. DSS is comprised of the following systems: Deep Water Passive (DWP), Deep Water Active (DWA), and Mobile Passive Active System (MPAS). Informed by TASW Offset operations and the tailored requirements process, the DSS Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Fielding. Program will focus initially on the DWP increment and associated spiral development updates. Spiral developments to meet the evolving submarine threat will leverage on-going Navy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and small business research efforts including processing and sensor technology. Follow-on increments will be focused on DWA and MPAS, of which MPAS is currently outside the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP). FY26 includes funds for DWA that will provide a rapidly deployable sustained surveillance capability in response to emergent Fleet Undersea Warfare (USW) coverage gaps to include mitigating array outages or platform shortages. The FY 2026 cost of the DSS Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is $12.362 million, including RDT&E and procurement of prototype units. The Department will certify FYDP funding in a future budget submission. The Deployable Surveillance Systems (DSS) project (C384), this project funds further development and prototyping of a candidate for a potential future follow-on DWP program. Project 0766 provides for Integrated Undersea Surveillance Systems (IUSS) Research and Development Projects under the Maritime Surveillance Systems (MSS) Program Office (PEO UWS PMS 485). IUSS provides the Navy with its primary means of submarine detection, both nuclear and diesel. A portion of project 0766 Fixed Surveillance System (FSS) is classified, with details available at a higher classification level. The IUSS Research and Development project (0766) funds Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Passive and SURTASS Low Frequency Active (LFA) developments. SURTASS provides the mobile, tactical arm of the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System, providing long range detection and cueing for tactical weapons platforms or other vessels of interest. SURTASS LFA provides an active adjunct capability for IUSS passive and tactical sensors to assist in countering the quieter diesel and nuclear threats of the 2000s and beyond. The LFA tasks are directed at detection of slow quiet threats in harsh littoral waters. Development and improvement continues on the common IUSS processor based on NAVSEA's Acoustic Rapid Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Insertion (ARCI) program with a cyclical tech refresh of hardware and software in conjunction with the submarine Advanced Processor Build (APB) process. The IUSS Integrated Common Processor (ICP) has the capability to process and display data from all fixed and mobile underwater systems. The IUSS ICP is used for all new system installations and replaces the legacy systems as they reach end of life and require upgrading. Additionally, SURTASS consolidated on the TB-29A Twin-line array, a variant of the Submarine TB-29A Long line array. This reduced the number of array variants employed by SURTASS from 3 to 1, and enabled development and logistics cost savings by leveraging off the submarine TB-29A program. SURTASS-E provides a SURTASS passive capability packaged into ISO-Vans for mobilization on Vessels of Opportunity (VOOs). It was developed as a CNO Rapid Prototyping, Experimentation, and Demonstration (RPED) program to provide a SURTASS variant that addresses emergent Theater ASW Commander requirements for SURTASS capability. The Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Team Trainer (STT) provides SURTASS crews with high fidelity synthetic and live playback training capabilities to support Home Port Training Periods (HPTP) and Pre-Deployment Certification Periods (PDCP). Project 1768 T-ARC(X) is a candidate replacement program for U.S. Navy's only organic undersea cable laying and repair ship, USNS ZEUS (T-ARC 7), which is approaching the end of her extended service life. The ship's main mission is to deploy, repair, and retrieve undersea cables and equipment, with a secondary mission of conducting acoustic, hydrographic and bathymetric surveys.

Mission — Deployable Surveillance Systems source

The Deployable Surveillance Systems (DSS) project (0344), complementing the Fixed Surveillance System (FSS) and Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), provides flexible and responsive wide area surveillance to the Theater Undersea Warfare (TUSW) commanders worldwide. DSS will operate as adjunct systems to meet the established FSS and SURTASS missions and to meet additional missions as articulated in the OPNAV Top Level Requirements documents and follow-on Course of Action Analysis (COAA) and as dictated by TUSW commanders evolving and emergent operational requirements. DSS is comprised of the following systems: Deep Water Passive (DWP) and Deep Water Active (DWA). Informed by TUSW Offset operations and the tailored requirements process, the DSS Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Fielding Program focused initially on the DWP increment and associated spiral development updates. Spiral developments to meet the evolving submarine threat will leverage on-going Navy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and small business research efforts including processing and sensor technology. The follow-on increment is on DWA where FY23-26 includes funds that will provide a rapidly deployable sustained surveillance capability in response to emergent Fleet Undersea Warfare (USW) coverage gaps to include mitigating array outages or platform shortages. FY24 funding will be used to refurbish and update DWA clusters procured in previous years and conduct a fleet demonstration. FY24 funded efforts will be used to (1) prepare the rationale for using a MTA Program for a future DWA program; (2) conduct Fleet demonstrations to validate Top-Level Requirements; and (3) identify full DWA MTA funding requirements. FY25 initiated funding for the DWA MTA Rapid Prototyping Program. FY26 continues funding for DWA MTA Rapid Prototyping Program. The FY 2026 cost of the Deployable Surveillance Systems Middle Tier of Acquisition effort is $12.362 million, including RDT&E and procurement of prototype units. The Department will certify FYDP funding in a future budget submission.

Mission — IUSS Detect/Classif System source

A. This project includes efforts for SURTASS, Expeditionary SURTASS (SURTASS-E), Theater Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW) Offset Initiative, and Fixed Surveillance System (FSS). The SURTASS project comprises the mobile, tactical arm of the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS), providing long range detection and cueing for tactical weapons platforms against both diesel and nuclear powered submarines. SURTASS also provides the undersea surveillance necessary to support regional conflicts and sea-lane protection. SURTASS has experienced recent passive and active success against diesel submarines operating in shallow water. SURTASS is leveraging existing developments and reducing costs by using Non-Developmental Items and commercial hardware, supporting common Navy Undersea Warfare processing and towed array developments, and increasing operator efficiency through computer-aided detection and classification processing. SURTASS development efforts include Low Frequency Active (LFA)/Compact Low Frequency Active (CLFA) improvements, common IUSS processing, twin-line array development and processing, improved detection and classification/passive automation to counter quieter threats, additional signal processing, integrated active and passive operations, improved Battle Group support, and improved information processing. LFA provides an active adjunct capability for IUSS passive and tactical sensors to counter the quieter diesel and nuclear threats of the 1990s and beyond. The LFA tasks are directed at detection of slow, quiet threats in harsh littoral waters. Improvements include TL-29A/LFA integration enhancements, advanced waveforms for littoral/shallow water operations including Doppler sensitive waveforms, and processing algorithms to reduce clutter and reverberation false alarms in shallow water. The Integrated Common Processor (ICP) is a derivative of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Submarine Acoustic Rapid Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Insertion (ARCI) program and is being augmented for IUSS requirements. Together, the LFA/CLFA improvements, TL-29A, and the ICP support the SURTASS Active Improvement Program. Functional improvements to ICP are delivered to the Fleet in software "builds" while hardware improvements are delivered through the Tech Insertion (TI) process. Software improvements are delivered via the DevSecOps process. Each software update will introduce new capabilities into SURTASS systems. SURTASS participates in the process by contributing algorithms for consideration, supplying peer group members for review of candidate algorithms, participating in test evolutions, and incorporating improved algorithms into operational systems. The TI process, modeled after the NAVSEA Submarine Undersea Warfare (USW) hardware improvement program, delivers processing technology improvements to platforms on roughly a 4-6 year cycle. Hardware upgrades for active and passive arrays and communications systems will also be provided during TI upgrades, but not on a regular planned development cycle as for the processing upgrades. SURTASS-E provides a SURTASS passive capability packaged into ISO-Vans for mobilization on Vessels of Opportunity (VOOs). It was developed as a CNO Rapid Prototyping, Experimentation, and Demonstration (RPED) program to provide a SURTASS variant that addresses emergent Theater ASW Commander requirements for SURTASS capability. The Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Team Trainer (STT) provides SURTASS crews with high fidelity synthetic and live playback training capabilities to support Home Port Training Periods (HPTP) and Pre-Deployment Certification Periods (PDCP). B. PEO UWS is involved with the development and maintenance of various IUSS systems. These systems include Fixed Distributed systems (FDS), Fixed Distributed Systems-Commercial (FDS-C), and SURTASS. The existing system architectures, signal processing, contact management, and reporting requirements will be evaluated as well as the requirements for future systems. The cyclical development of the ICP will take advantage of automation advancement, array technology improvements, along with IUSS, submarine, and surface USW system commonality to address these requirements. The FSS portion of 0766 is classified with details available at a higher classification level.

Mission — Ship Plan Development and Design source

T-Auxiliary, Repair, Cable (T-ARC) is a candidate replacement program for U.S. Navy's only organic undersea cable laying and repair ship, USNS ZEUS (T-ARC 7), which is approaching the end of her extended service life. The ship's main mission is to deploy, repair, and retrieve undersea cables and equipment, with a secondary mission of towing projectors.

Mission — Congressional Adds source

The Deployable Surveillance Systems (DSS) project (C384), complementing the Fixed Surveillance System (FSS) and Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS), provides flexible and responsive wide area surveillance to the Theater Undersea Warfare (TUSW) commanders worldwide. DSS operates as adjunct systems to meet the established FSS and SURTASS missions and to meet additional missions as articulated in the OPNAV Top Level Requirements documents and follow-on Course of Action Analysis (COAA) and as dictated by TUSW commanders evolving and emergent operational requirements. DSS is comprised of the following systems: Deep Water Passive (DWP) and Deep Water Active (DWA). This project funds further development and prototyping of a candidate for a potential future follow-on DWP program.

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (1)