In Acquiring Radar System, Air Force Makes Corrosion Requirements Well Known to Industry

http://corrdefense.nace.org/corrdefense_Spring2014/feature1.asp[4/11/2014 9:13:57 AM]

Senior Airman Justin Wagner performs a periodic maintenanceinspection on a TPS-75 air surveillance radar in 2007 atKirkuk Air Base, Iraq. The system allowed air battle managerslocated at Balad Air Base, Iraq, to remotely see aircraft flyingin northern Iraq. Photo by Bradley A. Lail, U.S. Air Force.

In Acquiring Radar System, Air Force Makes CorrosionRequirements Well Known to IndustryEffort Involves Good Communication Among Program Office, Corrosion Advisory Team, and Competing ContractorsBy Cynthia Greenwood

The U.S. Air Force is in the process of acquiring a new ground-based radar system that can detect, identify, and track hostile aircraft and missileswithin conflict zones. 3DELRR, which stands for Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar System, is set to replace the current TPS-75system, which is more than 30 years old.

3DELRR is a ground-based system that operates by sending out a signal, and based on feedback, identifies aerial targets at long range. The systemfeeds this information to command-and-control, allowing them to take action.

In general, because aerial targets are getting harder to detect, 3DELRR will help the Air Force meet anarray of hostile threats in the field, which include manned and unmanned airborne objects, as well asradar jammers and cyberspace threats, said Kevin Ray, 3DELRR’s chief engineer and senior technicalauthority. “Unlike the Gallium Arsenide technology that most field-based radars currently use,3DELRR will be equipped with Gallium Nitride technology, which allows for improved resolution atlong ranges to identify aerial threats.”

“In addition,” Ray added, “3DELRR employs an active electronically scanned array design, whichallows for the use of multiple beams and scanning frequencies to both detect airborne objects andhelp prevent against interference.”

3DELRR can be easily transported via ground vehicle, aircraft, rail cars, and ships, and deployed tosupport a wide range of expeditionary operations, explained experts in the 3DELRR Program Office,headquartered at Hanscom Air Force Base near Bedford, Massachusetts.

The Challenges to Procuring a Long-Lasting System

The current TPS-75 radar system, originally designed to last 20 years, is becoming more expensive tomaintain. As replacement systems like 3DELRR are acquired, the defense acquisition community is increasingly challenged to procure assets that willlast as long as possible. In order to extend the life cycle of new systems and reduce maintenance costs, individual program offices must find ways toincorporate corrosion prevention materials and processes into their design and manufacturing specifications.

Making corrosion-related decisions about materials and parts is not easy to do in the early procurement stages. “When it comes to incorporatingcorrosion prevention and control measures into the design for new systems, the greatest challenge comes from the fact that with a new system like3DELRR, all we have to work with is a concept of a radar,“ said Capt. Leah Weis, systems engineering team member in the 3DELRR Program Office.“Even though there is data that describes how different materials behave when in contact with each other, we won’t know how the integrated materialsand parts will react with each other in the real environment until the system is built and tested.”

The best that the 3DELRR systems engineering team can do, Capt. Weis noted, is to use lessons learned from other programs and consider availabledata in order to predict what will happen.

As 3DELRR technology was being developed, “extensive research and data from the field was incorporated into 3DELRR sustainment planning andrequirements to ensure the new system focused not only on using new technology, but on reducing the life-cycle maintenance costs throughout itsprojected 20-year service life,” noted Ray. Ray anticipates that the new system will have less maintenance downtime than the TPS-75 system andgreater operational availability.

3DELRR Program Benefits from Effective Corrosion Prevention Planning

According to the Department of Defense Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office, the 3DELRR Program Office has developed a corrosion prevention andcontrol program that is uniquely effective.

3DELRR’s Corrosion Program stresses early collaboration and reach-back among the Program Office, experts comprising the Corrosion PreventionAdvisory Team, and the contractors competing for the final contract award. The 3DELRR Program Office has also designed and developed an internal,automated Corrosion Readiness Assessment tool to aid in the evaluation of the final contractor’s corrosion control program maturity.

In developing a corrosion prevention and control (CPC) program, 3DELRR Program Office expertshave emphasized the importance of collaboration between the government and the contractor. TheCPC program goals that involve both entities “include identifying, mitigating, and preventing 3DELRRcorrosion to reduce system operational downtime and life-cycle maintenance costs. For success theCPC program depends on early collaboration and reach-back; process automation for corrosionmaturity assessment, and continuous process improvement,” states a CPC program overviewprepared by 3DELRR’s systems engineering team.

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In Acquiring Radar System, Air Force Makes Corrosion Requirements Well Known to Industry

http://corrdefense.nace.org/corrdefense_Spring2014/feature1.asp[4/11/2014 9:13:57 AM]

Senior Airmen Timothy Marks and Christopher Newton test adisplay unit on a TPS-75 air surveillance radar in 2007 atKirkuk Regional Air Base, Iraq. The Air Force plans to replacethe 30-year-old TPS-75 radar with the 3DELRR system that iscurrently being designed and procured. Photo by Bradley A.Lail, U.S. Air Force.

Pictured is a notional non-proprietary design for the3DELRR system. Courtesy of Air Force 3DELRR ProgramOffice.

"In our experience with this Program Office, the 3DELRR Corrosion Prevention and Control Plan isfirmly in place, paving the way for this office to balance new technology with requirements foreffective long-term sustainment,” said Daniel J. Dunmire, director of the DoD Corrosion Policy andOversight Office.

As part of its mission to increase the longevity of U.S. military assets, the Corrosion Office consultswith various program offices to encourage them to strengthen their corrosion prevention and controlrequirements in the design stage of new systems. “We believe that the 3DELRR Program Office is in agreat position to succeed in their effort to procure a radar system that incorporates a program foroptimum corrosion prevention and control,” said Michael Carpenter, policy analyst at the DoDCorrosion Office and leader of the Corrosion Policies, Planning, and Procedures WIPT (Working

Integrated Product Team). “The Program Office explicitly stated their CPC goals within the request for proposal, and they laid in a managerial structureto execute what they put into the RFP. In making their requirements known to industry very early, the Program Office has laid the foundation for theirsuccess in acquiring a long-lasting radar system.”

General Corrosion-Related Provisions for 3DELRR’s System Design

Corrosion planning started in the program’s Technology Development phase and included a review of radar data similar to 3DELRR, as well as currentTPS-75 radar field data, to identify specific areas with historically high-risk corrosion problems. The 3DELRR Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team willbe actively involved in monitoring and reviewing test data reports and analyses for potential corrosion problem areas throughout the radar developmentand life cycle.

Being mindful of general corrosion-related provisions that have been incorporated into the 3DELRR Corrosion Plan, the Corrosion Prevention AdvisoryTeam plans to review contractor documents to make sure they are considering necessary design considerations that would ensure a longer life cyclefor the new system.

In general, the Corrosion Prevention and Control Plan addresses how all radars encounter issues with sand and precipitation over time. Blowing sandand dust erodes surfaces and can settle into open areas and crevices, causing damage to joints, filters, and parts that rotate and open. “Withprecipitation, humidity, and condensation, moisture can collect in areas and create a corrosive solution when exposed to other particles in the air likesalt, for instance,” Capt. Weis explained.

The Corrosion Prevention and Control Plan also discusses the need for personnel to be trained inhow to use materials properly while cleaning the radar system so surfaces won’t be damaged, Capt.Weis said. “We discussed design considerations to minimize moisture intrusion and debris collectionin the radar. With cables, you want to run them downward and away from the connectors so that youdon’t have water building up and running down them. Or if you have some sort of compartment, youwant to provide low point drains and avoid closed, inaccessible areas that a maintainer can’t get intoand clean.”

The new radar system’s requirements designate a system that can withstand certain operationalenvironments and factors encountered during transport and storage. System’s vulnerabilities duringshipment and storage were addressed early in the design phase, Capt. Weis said. According to therequirements, the 3DELRR can be transported via aircraft, ground vehicle, ship, and helicopter.

“During transport, vibrations and shock can damage protective coatings and surfaces on the radarand accelerate the corrosion process,” Capt. Weis explained. “For 3DELRR there are designaccommodations that were written into the requirements to account for this sort of scenario. Withinour requirements document we incorporate vibration and shock profiles associated with differentmodes of transport. Once the system is built the CPAT [Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team] will look into making sure technical manuals and ordersadequately address the procedures for packing radar parts and assemblies to prevent corrosion deterioration and physical damage during shipment.”

“The contractor [selected to complete the 3DELRR design and begin manufacture] must build a system that considers these aspects to ensure theradar operates without damage.”

Addressing the DoD-Wide Mandate to Eliminate Hexavalent Chromium

The Corrosion Prevention and Control Plan captures all corrosion prevention requirements from the Technical Requirements Document and Statementof Work. While preventing and controlling corrosion on 3DELRR systems remains the primary focus area, the 3DELRR corrosion plan also balances theneed to safely protect the environment and the operator and maintainer through the restriction of hexavalent chromium.

The RFP includes the DoD-wide mandate to minimize the use of hexavalent chromium in new systems as a contract clause. “In the 3DELRR CorrosionPrevention and Control Plan we reference hexavalent chromium to touch on the need to protect not only the system, but also the user andenvironment,” Capt. Weis said.

Another area of interest in the 3DELRR corrosion plan is the air ambient cooling system, program officials noted. Although identified as a beneficialnew technology for 3DELRR, the air-cooling system itself may be susceptible to galvanic corrosion and microbiologically influenced corrosion if debrisor condensation builds up in the unit. The Program Office reviewed air cooling system designs from the Technology Development Phase contractors toensure they met corrosion-related requirements.

3DELRR Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team—Stressing Early Collaboration and Follow-Through

In Acquiring Radar System, Air Force Makes Corrosion Requirements Well Known to Industry

http://corrdefense.nace.org/corrdefense_Spring2014/feature1.asp[4/11/2014 9:13:57 AM]

In order to focus effectively on new technology for 3DELRR while reducing sustainment costs, the Program Office sought the input of numerousdisciplines and organizations. The 3DELRR Corrosion Program overview states: “The 3DELRR Corrosion Prevention and Control Plan details thegovernment’s life-cycle corrosion protection and control strategy of ensuring that manufacturers minimize corrosion in the 3DELRR system design andmanufacture, and that the maintainers are equipped with the skills necessary to implement corrosion prevention processes and procedures on fieldedradar systems.”

A Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team jointly developed the corrosion plan for 3DELRR. The team comprised engineering and logistics subject matterexperts from the Office of the Secretary of Defense Corrosion Council; the Air Force Corrosion Prevention and Control Office; the Ogden Air LogisticsCenter, Utah; Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts; United States Marine Corps; MITRE Corporation; and other Air Force Program Offices.

Many members of the 3DELRR Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team are engineers with more than 20 years of experience in developing and usingradars, and maintaining them in the field, said Capt. Weis. As members of this team, these engineers had an opportunity to review all three preliminarydesigns and provide feedback to the Program Office to ensure that the design captured corrosion-related considerations in the design requirements.

Most importantly from the standpoint of the Corrosion Office, the 3DELRR corrosion experts are providing input to the contractors. According to Capt.Weis, “We had open communication between the Program Office, the Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team, and the contractors, making sure thateveryone understands the concern from the users’ standpoint.”

According to the corrosion program overview provided by the Program Office, the Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team will incrementally improvecorrosion readiness measures as the 3DELRR program matures, based on the final design, lessons learned from other programs, and newdevelopments in corrosion-related research. The team plans to refine the Corrosion Prevention and Control Plan during the Engineering andManufacturing Development phase after the Critical Design Review to include the following corrosion-related sections:

0. Environmental Corrosion Analysis (chemical, natural, storage, and transit).a. Stress Corrosion (static fabrication stress, and variable operating stress).b. Shape and Design Analysis (analysis of joints, flanges, crevices, deposits, pits, and containers).c. Materials Compatibility Analysis (analysis of metal-on-metal, metal-on-non-metal, and quality check of materials).d. Fluid Dynamics (flowing fluids, parts moving in fluids, two and three-phase flow, entrained solids, and pulsing and vibration analysis).e. Temperature (oxidation, scales and tarnishes, heat-transfer, dew points, and condensation).f. Control (cathodic protection, coatings, surface cleaning, inhibitors, maintenance planning, and maintenance logging).

In summary, the Corrosion Prevention Advisory Team met regularly, developed the underpinning for assessment automation, and created baselineanalysis files for life cycle trending in corrosion maturity. “Early planning in the 3DELRR acquisition life cycle ensured the radar system design willincorporate corrosion prevention-related requirements to ease the impact to field resources and maintenance costs associated with corrosion control,”Capt. Weis said.

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Editor’s Note: On November 15, 2013, the Air Force released its proposal request to contractors participating in the Engineering and Manufacturing DevelopmentPhase of the 3DELRR program. Competition was limited to Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. Proposals were due by December 20, 2013. The3DELRR Program Office is planning to award a contract by the summer of 2014. The 3DELRR system is scheduled to be fully operational by 2026, and initialoperational capability is slated to occur in 2020.

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