U.S. NAVY MARK 86 MOD 3 DIGITAL GUN FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM

[Music] [Music] e [Music] the United States Navy is now equipping fighting units of the fleet with one of the first digitally controlled gunfire Control Systems Mark 86 among the most advanced automated systems in the fleet the mark 86 uses realtime Target data to control the 5 in 54 caliber lightweight gun mount Mark 45 against surface Shore and air targets the number of guns and the particular version of the gunfire control system is determined by the ship's configuration and mission of the three models of the gunfire control system being deployed we'll concentrate on Mark 86 mod 3 we'll describe the system and its functions briefly and then take you through short operational sequences to give you a better feel for the system you'll be learning about the gunfire control system Mark 86 mod 3 details of the installation will vary but in the DGM 36 for example Mark 86 includes these equipment groups externally above deck equipment of the sensor group includes two antennas one for a a surface radar spq 9 in a protective radome the other for the air trck radar SPG 60 and two television cameras of the remote Optical sighting system internally the display group includes the control officer console referred to as cooc and two gun control consoles called gcc's located in the weapons control area radar electron of the sensor group and the equipments of the data processing group are distributed in three equipment rooms Mark 45 gun mounts are four and a controlled by the mark 86 the Air Track radar must be designated or pointed toward specific targets so that they can be acquired and tracked designation can be internal when detection is by the system's own surface search radar or by its remote Optical sighting system more usually designation comes from external sources such as ship's Radars or man target designation transmitter and control unit positions called tdts and cus tdts and cus are linked directly to Mark 86 data conversion equipment all other external designations are processed by the Navy tactical data system and linked to the mark 886 by computer toomp interface we're mainly concerned with the gunfire control system so let's now look at its equipments in more detail beginning with the sensors the surface search radar SP q9 is the basis of the mark 86 track while scan or twws capability and is used for surface and Shore targets and air targets at low altitude scan rate is 60 RPM or one revolution a second in addition to the antenna the surface radar includes a transmitter and a receiver unit a frequency converter unit and a video processor unit tracking during air ACC engagements is carried out by the Air Track radar sg60 a pulse Doppler monopulse tracking radar whose antenna also mounts one of the remote Optical sighting system TV cameras Associated units include the transmitter receiver the antenna control and a signal data converter in addition to the TV camera on the air trck antenna the remote Optical sighting system includes another TV Camera mounted on its own pedestal with full compensation for ship's motion provided by a gimbal trunion the display group includes the control officer console characterized by the PPI display and two gun control consoles at left and right incorporating TV video and bcan displays the sensor and display groups are supported by the data group which includes a high-speed general purpose stored programmed computer an input output console with hard copy printout capability and units supporting data processing functions such as signal conversion and translation in all the gunfire control system Mark 886 mod 3 consists of 23 operational units plus one spare storage cabinet it all exists to provide automatic digital control over the rapid fire 5 in 54 caliber Mark 45 gunmount the gunfire control system can operate in five tactical and two non-tactical modes tactical modes include surface radar air action grid tdt and Optical non-tactical modes include navigation and test let's choose one of the Tactical modes and follow it through in detail the surface radar mode the cooc operator energizes the mark 886 system bringing the SP q9 radar up to the radiate level he detects a Target checks it out with cicc he's ordered to engage he does this by selecting an available track while scan channel to acquire the target he depresses the acquisition clear switch to acquisition this produces a hook symbol on the display manipulating the track ball he positions the symbol over the Target and using the ball enter push button he enters Target coordinates into the computer the computer commands first an acquisition then a maneuver and finally a track gate around the target as the target is tracked its coordinates are entered automatically into the computer and are continuously updated for use in the ballistic solution this data is also used to position a remote Optical site to the Target area for visual monitoring to monitor the track the operator switches the target data readout to twws channel 1 this brings up target range bearing course and speed the operator assigns the target to one of the gun control consoles number one in this case by moving its assignment switch to twws channel 1 he also checks indicators showing gun mount status gun standby is lighted to determine proper gun assignment he presses and holds the Arc of Fire switch this brings up a display of the firing sectors for forward and AF guns the gun that includes the Target in its sector is the one assigned by pressing the gun assign normal switch Mount 51 in this case to follow what happens when the gun control console is assigned let's first assume that the GCC operator has his part of the system up and ready to go one of his standard duties is to Enter Mission data at a time determined by ship's Doctrine to enter wind direction for example first presses the wind direction push button and checks the target readout display for the direction currently stored in the computer if it does not match the actual Direction he first clears the data display and then he uses the keyboard to enter the correct wind direction as indicated by meteorology reports by depressing the enter push button the data is then stored in the computer memory by depressing the retrieve push button he confirms that the new value is stored in computer memory by similar means he enters ballistic and ammunition factors of consequence to the ballistic solution for the approaching Mission picking up on the surface radar mode problem we were following gun control console displays are dark and the operator has no control capabil ility until the COC operator makes his assignment this immediately activates the GCC console this brings up surface search radar Target video and he confirms that the target is centered in the track gate he also checks his Target data readouts for Target parameters and observes the gun mount assigned the cooc operator now is advised that GCC is ready to continue the mission he depresses GCC One enable in effect giving that console the capability to take control of the assigned weapon the GCC operator sees this indication at his console as single load and continuous load go red the GCC operator verifies that the ballistic solution indicator is green indicating the computer has completed its firing problem computations and Gun Orders are ready he now changes director control to Green in effect slaving the assigned gun mount to computer commanded Gun Orders the gun slews to the commanded train and elevation when the mount is automatically following computer commands gun sync goes green the operator selects single load and ready to fire goes green meaning the gun mount is set for the fire mission the operator hits Salvo War warning all Personnel of impending gun firing then presses the foot fire switch while ship's Doctrine might call for a salvo of several rounds before entering a spot correction we're using a single round to show what happens at the GCC console Mark 86 continues to track the target during the rounds time of flight and 5 seconds before impact an impact warning indicator comes on so that the operator knows when to watch for the fall of the shot marked by the shell flash radar return assuming around falling wide by 20 Ms the operator marks the impact position to correct the gun order by that amount the operator presses the spot button and uses the joystick to relocate a video spot from the center of the display to the marked shell Splash position he enters the correction into the computer by pressing stick enter the spot returns to the center and Gun Orders have been corrected accordingly as confirmed by the spot corrected indicator with gun indicators showing the mount is synchronized and ready the operator selects continuous load and again fires this time the target return disappears the operator presses Target kill to inform ntds via the computer that the target has been destroyed and sounds the ceasefire to complete the mission there are times in problems like the one we've just seen when two or more targets are included in the bcan tracking gate the system can't automatically select which is the target of Interest so the situation calls for AED track the operator first goes to track Coast meaning that automatic tracking is discontinued he then selects aided track activating the joystick he uses the joystick to move the spot to the Target of interest and uses stick enter to enter those coordinates into the computer this places a maneuver gate around the selected Target pushing stick enter again closes it down to the track gate refining the area containing the target to 120 y by 26 M this clearly defines the target of interest to the system and when track Coast is released the computer resumes automatic tracking to deal with targets Aloft the mark 86 provides the air action mode tracking is by the air trck radar SPG 60 Under Computer control the radar is directed either by the self-d designators of the mark 86 including the surface search radar spq 9 the remote Optical site on the airrack radar or when this radar is operating in the automatic search mode producing a horizon scan or it must be directed by external designators such as the target designation transmitters and control units or ntds using inputs from ship's Radars and other units of the fleet let's assume designation by ntds the operator at the the control officer console makes the console assignment by switching the gcc2 assign to air action and designator select to ntds at gcc2 console the operator enables automatic acquisition and track by the SPG 60 radar by placing both asouth and elevation in automatic he also selects the com filter display which shows acquisition range Gates the tracking radar is now computer controlled and its functions are wholly automated at Target acquisition and then at track the acquisition and the track indicators light up automatically because SPG 60 is a pulse Doppler monopulse radar the operator listens to Doppler audio to monitor the quality of the track if a zero Doppler condition is experienced the operator has controls available to assist the track using the fixed Target lock on method this complements the automatic Coast mode or manually selected forc track post as soon as the ballistic solution indicator lights he fires as before we've watched Mark 886 inaction in surface radar and air action modes so now let's go on to the modes related to gunfire support using the three sub modes of the grid mode dead reckon Beacon and navigational reference in the dead reckon sub mode the computer controls the solution based on pre-planned position inputs let's assume a Target on the beach visible both to the ship and to an observer who has radio contact with the ship cic Advanced planning using Universal transverse Mercator or other charts has pinpointed the Target The Observer and the point where the ship will be when the mission is scheduled to begin the coordinates may all be entered into the computer in advance of the mission as Mission time approaches the cooc operator places a GCC console in the grid mode using the GCC assign control and selecting grid dead reckon while the cooc operator monitors the GCC operator sets up for the mission to observe the target visually the operator places the remote Optical site in automatic mode so it is controlled by the computer the operator then enters meteorological ballistic and ammunition data using the keyboard as before and using data supplied by cic through the COC operator he enters factors related to predicting own ship position the target coordinates and the bearing from The Observer to the Target upon arriving at the predicted own ship coordinates the operator presses dead reckon from that moment on own ship position is continuously derived and automatically updated by the computer using the ship's electromechanical log and Gyro as inputs cooc assigns a gun mount and the g CC operator completes the firing sequence if the first round is not on target The Observer calls in a spot correction as he sees it from his vantage point and the mark 86 computer automatically translates this to the ship's point of view to produce the corrected gun order using the information supplied by The Observer on the beach the GCC operator enters Corrections in deflection range or elevation as required to complete the mission successfully the situation is somewhat different in the beacon sub mode the surface search radar is used to interrogate and track a beacon transponder at known coordinates with previously inserted Target data the computer determines own ship position and from that the ballistic solution then the firing sequence is completed in the navigational reference mode the procedure is nearly identical except that the beacon is replaced by a landmark whose coordinates are known it is then tracked by the surface search radar and the mission is completed as in the beacon mode there are two remaining tactical modes tdt and Optical in the tdt mode the target designation transmitter with its control unit is interfaced directly to the mark 886 the operator tracks visually and transmits Target bearing and elevation the control unit operator sets in estimated range using these inputs the ballistic solution is computed in the optical mode the remote Optical sites 1 and two used frequently to support other modes can also operate independently the operator uses the joystick to scan when he detects a Target he Zooms in for a closeup centers the target depresses the site angle enter push button and makes necessary keyboard entries while keeping the Target Center Mark 86 can also be used in non-tactical modes in the navigation mode the system uses the high accuracy of the surface search radar to detect navigational features and provide accurate range and bearing readouts in in the test mode nine independent test programs can be called up to check overall system level functions of the mark 86 system any one of these programs designed to verify performance can be selected at any time it takes a while to explain each of the operating modes of the gunfire control system Mark 86 the Striking thing is that once a mission has been assigned it takes only seconds to complete what's more in the real life tactical situation multiple missions Pile in simultaneously surface air action gunfire support each gun control console being assigned a new Mission the instant it's completed the previous assignment rapid action interaction and reaction by experienced operators interfacing with the completely automated digitally controlled gunfire control system Mark 8 8 6 assur that this nation will get the protection we are all being trained to [Music] provide for