Future maritime platforms will need to provide a seamless delivery of military effect, where highly integrated systems all contribute to the mission. In the specific case of marine engineering this has been termed: “from fuel tank to target”. The modern submarine is a potent example of this level of integration, considered by some to be the most sophisticated and highly integrated military system ever produced it provides a holistic response to threats.
But historically surface warships have developed from a different perspective. With their more general-purpose role, they have tended to carry combat systems that act almost outside the realm of the platform in order to respond to the ever changing threats. But now electrification of platform and propulsion systems is continuing ever more quickly and as a result greater integration and system interdependence is not just inevitable but absolutely essential if the surface warships’ vital roles in maritime warfare are to continue. Surface ships must now be designed in the same way as submarines have been; that is: from a perspective of total integration so that it is not just from fuel tank to target but from every other asset to target in concert.
Building on the successes of Engine as a Weapon 2004 and 2006 the symposium planned for 24 June 2009 aims to further identify and explore the challenges of marrying future combat systems and maritime platforms to provide the completely integrated fighting organism. In so doing it will provide a unique opportunity to raise awareness and understanding in the combat and marine systems communities of each others responses to a background of continual advances in naval design relating to Future Surface Combatants, Submarines and autonomous maritime vehicles. Drawing on recent designs, development programmes and operational experiences, the symposium will challenge the power-processing divide and explore the need for reliable, high quality electrical power and effective thermal management.
The maritime sector is not facing these challenges alone as related developments are ongoing within the Air and Land environments. This symposium will therefore seek to draw upon the experience and solutions encountered in the design of aircraft and land vehicles.
Papers are invited from industry, academia and government departments, covering the context for future combat systems and high energy weapons and sensors, the opportunities provided by advanced marine systems and the integration challenges faced. The symposium will seek combat system, platform system and system integration perspectives with the following themes:
Complex system integration:
Moving from analogue to digital, opening of systems and potential combat system re-segmentation, migration strategies and wider enterprise issues, future proofing, open systems, AC vs DC, efficiency, power quality, heat management.
Future combat systems:
Future weapons and sensors, electric guns, directed energy weapons, high energy sensors, legislation, pulse forming networks, electro-magnetic launch.
Future platform systems:
Power system reliability, robustness, power quality, pulse forming networks, cooling technologies, earthing, future fuels, autonomy, recoverability, persistence, ships and submarines, AUV/UAV/UCAV, land vehicles, signatures. |
