US Navy CSEDS Site "Cruiser in a Cornfield"

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
We have discussed at length the various mockup facilities that the PLAN has built. I thought I should document a similar US facility, the Vice Admiral James H. Doyle Combat Systems Engineering Development Site (CSEDS).

Also to let SD members know what types of things they do at these sites.

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Jeff Head Flickr site said:
The Vice Admiral James H. Doyle Combat Systems Engineering Development Site (CSEDS) is a US Navy AEGIS system testing facility located near Moorestown, New Jersey, that was built in 1976. It is also known as the USS Rancocas. Clearly not a commissioned vessel, it is however staffed by US Navy personnel assisted by contractors, particularly from Lockheed Martin and other subcontractors, such as CSC Corporation, Mission Solutions Engineering, and Northrop Grumman.

The US Navy tests and operates the AEGIS radar and weapons systems in the CSEDS in a highly classified operation. All aspects of the design are tested here (including the location and placement of various sensors), and then incorporated into the Arleigh Burke class destroyers as required. The Navy conducts this operation in partnership with Lockheed Martin, the principle designer of the AEGIS system which began decades ago for addition to the U.S. fleet.

Originally built in 1959 by RCA to house a 15-story, 140-foot-wide, snow-white radar dome. The radar station operated by the Air Force as a prototype of a ballistic-missile early warning system. The “golf ball” housed an 84-foot-wide antenna. The housing could protect the antenna from winds up to 180 m.p.h. and temperatures of 65 degrees below zero. In 1976 the installation was rebuilt to test the AEGIS system.

Because the facility is plainly visible from Interstate 295 and the New Jersey Turnpike, it has turned into a popular landmark in the area for both local residents and those traveling along the highways. As a result, over the years it has also acquired the nickname of "Cruiser in a Cornfield."

Some notable occurrences since 2000 include:

In 2000, after the terror attack on the USS Cole, the AN/SPY-1 antenna array that was damaged in the attack was refurbished here and installed on CSEDS.

In 2008, engineers here were asked to develop a rapid system upgrade to allow the AEGIS cruiser, USS Lake Erie, a US Navy Ticonderoga class AEGIS cruiser, to intercept an errant U.S. satellite carrying toxic fuel, and destroy it so as to keep it from crash landing on Earth. In less than two months, a successful upgrade was developed and installed on the USS Lake Erie, and the satellite was intercepted by a missile fired from her and destroyed.

In March 2015, the need for continual upgrades and expansion led to a new $32 million dollar, 72,000 square foot expansion, with an adjoining building at the back of the facility. It was designed specifically to help keep the US Navy’s “Aegis” Combat Systems more up to date with emerging defense system technologies.

This addition also allows the US Navy to double from nine to eighteen the number of simulated combat information centers the center can house, representing Navy cruisers and destroyers at sea.

Capt. Scott Carlson, the on-site commander (and who cut the ribbon accepting the facility), said that the idea was to make sure the sensors, software, and equipment at the Vice Admiral James H. Doyle Combat Systems Engineering Development Site can stand up to real-world conditions.

“It’s really important for us that we can also do the due diligence of testing that’s required before we hand these systems off to our nation’s sailors,” he said.

Inside the new facility's combat centers naval officers oversee 32 to 35 sailors stationed at the facility where they test the same Aegis systems that will be on board the ships to which they either are, or will be assigned. The same type of testing has been occurring in the original building, and will continue. Engineers at the facilities also continue to develop and test newer Aegis systems to combat aircraft and missiles.

As a part of the expansion, a new 12,000 square foot deckhouse will be installed on top of its third floor. This will be a new ship superstructure to simulate new and future AEGIS vessels and it will be equipped with two new operational radar units.

Captain Scott, in referencing the new, to be added superstructure, said:

"We need the expansion to continue doing the mission we have been doing for 40 years. With global threats increasing every day...we are working on solutions to these threats."

There are approximately 4,000 employees housed at the site and the nearby SPY-1 testing facility in Moorestown.


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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
A couple of things.

1) Notice what look like a rotating ring around the superstructure on the original building. I wonder?

2) You can see the new superstructure under construction on the new addition. I imagine the AMDR will be added to that new superstructure.
 

Janiz

Senior Member
Sorry, what I wrote is already in the article which I haven't read earlier. Please mods, delete this post.
 
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