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NEWS | April 19, 2022

NSWC Crane employee recognized for Maritime Electromagnetic Warfare leadership

By Sarah K. Miller, NSWC Crane Corporate Communications

A Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) employee was awarded the Department of the Navy (DoN) Meritorious Civilian Service Award (MCSA), which is the third highest award a Navy civilian can receive.

Doug Crowe, the Maritime Electromagnetic Warfare Systems Division Manager (retired) received the MCSA for his “exemplary leadership” in this role from March 2019 through March 2022.

Crowe says this award represents the great work from the NSWC Crane team to meet the needs of Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) in the Navy.

“The team consists of Maritime EW Systems Division, our partners in contracts, as well as the EW Science and Technology (S&T) Division,” says Crowe. “We always stand ready to support the Fleet at all times. We have people available to the Fleet 24/7.”

Figure 1: Photograph of Doug CroweCrowe started at NSWC Crane in 1983 and has worked in leadership roles across its mission areas. He says Crane has provided him with many learning opportunities.

“NSWC Crane is a fantastic organization providing many critical technical systems to meet current and future needs of the warfighter,” says Crowe. “Our culture and people here are just wonderful. It also provides a very challenging environment and challenges you to grow. You’ll see the difference you’re making and that’s exciting.”

The award citation states his “exemplary leadership and mission focus enabled the Fleet Introduction and Implementation of the new Surface Electronic Warfare (EW) Improvement Program AN/SLQ-32(V)6 and AN/SLQ-32(V)7 systems. [He] helped ensure the rapid integration of emerging technologies in Anti-ship Missile Defense and EW Situational Awareness. [He] provided vital game-changing capabilities for non-kinetic electronic support and electronic attack options to the fleet.”

Since the early 2000s, there was an effort to update the need to monitor and control the Electromagnetic Environment (EME), including modernizing the AN/SLQ-32(V) system. The Navy Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) was established as an acquisition program with the intent to incrementally update the Electronic Support (ES) and Electronic Attack Fleet capabilities through a block upgrade program.

The first Block upgrade provided enhanced EW capabilities to ship combat systems including improved anti-ship missile defense, counter targeting, and counter surveillance. The second Block provides enhanced ES capability, through an upgraded ES antenna, ES receiver, and an open combat system interface for the AN/SLQ-32. The third Block upgrade will provide Electronic Attack (EA) capability improvements, and Block 4 is an upgrade planned in the future to upgrade electro-optic and infrared capabilities to the AN/SLQ-32 (V) system.

The AN/SLQ-32, commonly referred to as “Slick 32”, is situational awareness technology that is onboard more than two hundred ships all over the world. Versions 1 through 5 of the “Slick-32” are considered ‘legacy’ technology. Crowe says upgrading to Versions 6 and 7 was a challenging process, with the NSWC Crane team being heavily involved. Learn more about NSWC Crane’s support to the AN/SLQ-32 system hereFigure 2: Doug Crowe receiving his MCSA from CAPT McKay in ceremony

“Both were monumental efforts,” says Crowe. “There are still more than 100 systems in the Fleet that are legacy systems, and our team works to ensure they are fully mission capable before deployment. The team services the legacy and new versions, providing onboard technical assistance and 24/7 distance support.”

The award citation continues: “[He] led the Fleet Support Branch to provide Distance Support to the fleet with over 9,000 phone calls, chats, and emails; 13 On-board Technical Assists; 15 installation System Operation Verification Tests; and five Science and Technology At Sea Test Events resulting in a cost avoidance of 13 million dollars.”

The five Science and Technology At Sea Test Events refers to the Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) initiative. LVC is a form of modeling and simulation (M&S) testing for military systems.

“The LVC program allows us to simulate updates virtually instead of having ships and airplanes conduct ‘live’ testing at sea,” says Crowe. “This has been an effort for five or six years and is still ongoing. This initiative has provided us with millions in cost savings.”

To learn more about LVC, follow this link.

Crowe says the efforts of the NSWC Crane EW team has allowed significant capability to the Fleet.

“The team has provided huge technology that is important to the Fleet in the EW realm. They made the Fleet more capable in EW. It gives me pride being part of a very passionate, hard-working team. This award recognizes the team and all the hard work that they did.”

About NSWC Crane

NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today's Warfighter.

Join Our Team! NAVSEA employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce - from students and entry level employees to experienced professionals and individuals with disabilities. We support today's sophisticated Navy and Marine Corps ships, aircraft, weapon systems and computer systems. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts to ensure the U.S. Navy can protect and defend America. Please connect with NSWC Crane Recruiting at this site - https://navsea.recsolu.com/external/form/jmR6cUhZKZ_qD5QUqyMk8w or email us at crane_recruiting@navy.mil