NAVAL CARRIER BATTLE GROUP MISSION REQUIREMENTS FREQUENTLY RESULTS IN THEIR FORWARD DEPLOYMENT UNDER POTENTIALLY HOSTILE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT EXPOSES THEM TO THE CRUISE MISSILE THREAT FROM BOTH AIR AND SUBMARINE LAUNCHED WEAPONS.

NAVAL CARRIER BATTLE GROUP MISSION REQUIREMENTS FREQUENTLY RESULTS IN THEIR FORWARD DEPLOYMENT UNDER POTENTIALLY HOSTILE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT EXPOSES THEM TO THE CRUISE MISSILE THREAT FROM BOTH AIR AND SUBMARINE LAUNCHED WEAPONS. DEVELOPMENT OF A RADAR BUOY CAPABILITY, "SONOBUOY LIKE" PACKAGED AND DEPLOYABLE THAT INTEGRATES WITH A SHIPBOARD BASED DATA PROCESSING/COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM, WILL PROVIDE THE POTENTIALFOR PERIMETER DEFENSE SURVEILLANCE AGAINST CRUISE MISSILES THAT MAY APPEAR AT AN AZIMUTH. THIS STUDY WILL EXAMINE SIX DIFFERENT RADAR BUOY CONFIGURATION AND PROCESSING CONCEPTS TO IDENTIFY THE OPTIMUM CANDIDATE SYSTEM FOR SUBSEQUENT PHASE II PROTOTYPE EVALUATION. THE ANALYSIS WILL INCLUDE A CONCEPTUAL RADAR SYSTEM FORMULATION AND DESIGNWITH THEORETICAL/ANALYTICAL FEASIBILITY ESTIMATES PLUS IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL EXPERIMENTS/TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT REQUIRED FOR CONCEPT VALIDATION. INCLUDED IN THIS RADAR BUOY/SHIPBASED PROCESSOR CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT WILL BE AN EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL RADAR BUOY/SHIPBASED SYSTEM CONFIGURATION CONCEPTS, IDENTIFICATION/RESOLUTION OF KEY TECHNICAL ISSUES, AND SPECIFICATION OF AN ENGINEERING TEST MODEL AND "PROOF OF CONCEPT" EXPERIMENT PLAN. THE PROPOSED PHASE I TECHNICAL ANALYSIS SHALL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR SUBSEQUENT PROGRAM PHASES INVOLVING SYSTEM PROTOTYPE FABRICATION AND FIELD TEST EVALUATION.