NSWC Crane Lends Support to Deployed John F. Kennedy

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane recently teamed with Fleet Technical Support Center, Atlantic (FTSCLANT) and the staff at Commander Air Force, Atlantic Fleet (AIRLANT) to provide critical support to USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) while forward deployed in the Arabian Gulf. During air operations in theater, the carrier experienced reduced performance from the AN/SPS-48E system, caused by damage to the bottom six arrays and comb strip. Greg Erdmann from NSWC Crane's microwave technologies department joined a FTSCLANT technician and headed to Bahrain to perform repairs aboard Kennedy. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a simple repair. However, because of an increased operational tempo, air operations couldn't be suspended. The two technicians needed to find a way to work around the situation and bring the SPS-48E radar back to full mission operability. After a brief visual survey, they determined that the six damaged antenna arrays and accompanying comb strip section needing replacement could be hoisted by rope to and from the antenna where they could perform the replacement one piece at a time. With the assistance of FTSCLANT and ship's company, the damaged arrays were disassembled on the flight deck. The load assemblies and phase blocks were then removed from the damaged arrays and assembled in the new arrays for installation on the antenna. Although initial estimates projected six to eight hours of down time for repair, the task was successfully completed in three hours, thanks to the combined efforts from everyone involved. This repair effort is just one of the many ways NSWC Crane, and Naval Sea Systems Command are supporting the Fleet and keeping our ships in the fight. Source: NAVSEA News Wire