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ACQUISITION
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 5 May 2017

CG-9 NEWS AND NEWSMAKERS

Chief Warrant Officer Robert "Bobby" Sunderland, technical lead for Minotaur integration (CG-931), demonstrates Minotaurs data fusion and graphics
processing capabilities on one of the sensor operator stations, or PODs, on the HC-144B Ocean Sentry Minotaur prototype medium range surveillance
aircraft April 13, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Loretta Haring.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE HC-144B Minotaur

Coast Guard Establishes OPC Project
4 5
Resident Office
Prototype Prepares
DHS Recognizes Small Business
for Delivery
Excellence in the Coast Guard By Lara Southgate (CG-925)

6 Traditional and Modern Technology

Red Hulls - Engineering With CG-LIMS 7 Converge to Sustain Eagle
The Coast Guard is preparing the HC-144B
Minotaur prototype for delivery this summer,
bringing with it improved detection and tracking
9 C-27J Program Develops Logistics Base CG-9 Leads Organization of 2017 Take
Through Contracts
11 Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
capabilities and a more operator- and maintenance-
friendly design.
C4ISR Program Members Volunteer
13 Portal Tip 14 in Community
Minotaur is a form of mission system software
architecture originally developed by the Navy that
has been adapted to meet Coast Guard mission
15 CG-9 Faces needs. It is used across multiple Department of
Defense and Department of Homeland Security
platforms, allowing for improved interoperability.
The service has two aircraft with a version of
Minotaur installed: one HC-130J Super Hercules
long range surveillance aircraft, planned for delivery
to Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in

Mission execution begins here.

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RED HULLS
Engineering With CG-LIMS A series that follows the Coast
Guards C4ISR Program
as it researches, acquires
and integrates the C4ISR
equipment for the services
new polar icebreakers

CG-LIMS provides a single centralized database with all of the technical documentation for the services cutters,
aircraft and boats. Users can search for a specific cutter or aircraft, for an entire vessel class or for a specific
piece of equipment. U.S. Coast Guard graphic.

By Steven Magnusen (CG-925)

Inside a polar icebreaker is a complicated system of wiring, sensors, computers,

displays, transmitters, power supplies and myriad sorts of other equipment.
Engineers use a mountain of technical documents, drawings, equipment
manuals and other records to find the information they need to navigate all
of that hardware. Brian Swiger, lead engineer for the Command, Control,
Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
(C4ISR) Program, uses the Coast Guard Logistics Information Management
System (CG-LIMS) to help him climb that mountain.

The Coast Guard is developing CG-LIMS primarily as a maintenance and

logistics management program for the services cutters, aircraft and boats
once they are in service. However, CG-LIMS has been an invaluable source
of knowledge for Swiger as he helps plan requirements for the Coast Guards
newest icebreakers. We learn everything we can about other cutters and
translate that into requirements for new ones, he said.

The depth of the information available is impressive. These are really powerful
drawings, Swiger explained. Everything you need to know to run the ship
is in there. A user could look up specifications on the weather satellite
systems, diagrams of deck drainage, spare parts requirements, logistics plans,
maintenance procedures even the instructions for how to wash and store the
crews cold weather suits. If you want to find a technical publication for the
deep fryer, it might be in CG-LIMS, Swiger quipped.

Most recently, Swiger used CG-LIMS to help plan for the installation of sensors
on Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star that will help the C4ISR Program better
understand the effects of vibration on an icebreaker. While the cutter was
undergoing repairs as part of its annual drydock and maintenance availability,
Swiger and his team inspected the ship and decided where to place the sensors.
The CG-LIMS database includes documentation for every system
on a cutter and even has user manuals for individual pieces of
equipment within those systems.

To prepare, Swiger went through the technical documents for Polar Star and Mission execution begins here.

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RED HULLS Continued from Page 6
used them to create computer-aided design drawings for each of the icebreakers six
decks, including the power access points that could be used to connect the sensors to the
ships systems and deck penetrations to feed cabling. We brought these drawings and
were able to mark where the sensor will be, where the power source is and where we need
to feed cable to connect them, he explained.

Swiger has also used CG-LIMS to determine the best ways to use
the available space on an icebreaker. The Global Maritime Distress
and Safety System (GMDSS) which includes a variety of radio
equipment, computer screens, fax machines, satellite terminals and
other electronics takes up a large amount of space. On the national
security cutter (NSC), the large cabinet that contained the GMDSS
kept crews from moving easily through the bridge. Swiger has been
using the technical drawings for the GMDSS console on Coast
Guard Cutter Healy to help him ensure that the equipment is in a
better location on the new icebreakers.

Research in CG-LIMS has also helped write recommendations for

interior communications systems on a polar icebreaker. In 2016, the
C4ISR Program completed a project to install leaky coax cable on
most of the services cutters and purchased new handheld radios that
The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) console on Coast
could be used with the crews firefighting gear. Normal coaxial cable
Guard Cutter Healy is a relatively large system. On many other cutters, the
is shielded to keep the signal from escaping along the line, while GMDSS is divided between several consoles and spread throughout the
leaky coax cable has holes in the shielding that allow it to act as a bridge to save space. U.S. Coast Guard photo.
long antenna. Running the cable along the length of a ship provides
better radio reception throughout the vessel.

We looked up the drawings for the NSC to help us design the system for icebreakers,
Swiger explained. The NSC has redundant leaky coax cables, so if one fails, the other
takes over. That fail-safe was an important starting point for developing a new system.

CG-LIMS has helped Swiger manage his overall workload as well. Because CG-LIMS
is integrated with SharePoint, more tools are available for document control than in
previous systems. We have rules for how to get new documents approved, and CG-LIMS
gives you an updated status for those, he said. Its more user friendly and accessible, and
anything you could want to know about a cutter is in here. I love CG-LIMS!

Traditional and Modern Technology Converge

to Sustain Eagle
By Justine McDonald (CG-925)

Renovating the 81-year-old Coast Guard Cutter Eagle requires innovative solutions,
blending both traditional practices and modern techniques to maintain the vessels
original construction and configuration.

Eagle is the Coast Guard Academys training barque and the only sailing vessel in the
services fleet. Originally built in Germany in 1936, the U.S. claimed the ship as a war
prize at the end of World War II and commissioned the vessel as Eagle in 1946. The
ship is a unique piece of maritime history that provides Coast Guard personnel with
experiences and lessons unmatched by any other vessel in the Coast Guard.

There is no substitute for nautical skills gained aboard the Eagle, said Cmdr. Frank
Pierce, medium endurance cutter product line manager at the Surface Forces Logistics
Center (SFLC). Modern-day ship handling and maintenance are centered on complex
automated monitoring and support systems, which fail to provide the basic training Mission execution begins here.
aboard ships. The idea of masts, rigging, weight-handling and communications are all
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