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lizing passive fiber-optic sonar arrays and support equipment delivered by Northrop Grumman's Navigation and Space Sen- sors Division, coupled with commercial-off-the-shelf equip- ment provided by Northrop Grumman's Sperry Marine busi- ness unit in Charlottesville, Va.

The equipment provided by Sperry Marine included the marine radar, shipboard identification system and the digital electronic charting system that provided the integrated harbor picture.

The Northrop Grumman team completed a threat analysis for the port and determined the most effective locations to place the underwater array. The array installation was performed with the assistance of the Naval Facilities Engineering Support

Center and the team's ocean engineering subcontractor, Sound and Sea Technology, Inc. of Edmonds, Wash. and Ventura,

Calif.

The next step in maturation of the technology involves opti- mizing the fiber-optic sonar arrays for the harbor environment, integrating additional sensors into the system, and demonstrat- ing the enhanced integrated harbor picture that results from these improvements. "The fiber optic acoustic arrays used for Centurion are a rev- olutionary new technology developed by our Navigation and

Space Sensors Division," said Alexis Livanos, vice president and general manager of the division. "The arrays provide a rugged, low-cost and easy-to-install port monitoring solution when combined with the other Centurion system components."

Performance benefits of this technology include unsurpassed detection, identification and tracking capability for the harbor

News

Circle 204 on Reader Service Card 8 • MarineNews • January, 2005

More Money for Civil Works Budget

Waterways Council, Inc. expressed its appreciation to Congress which, in the recently completed lame duck session, passed an omnibus spending package which allocates $4.7 billion in FY 2005 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' civil works program. The bill includes $331.5 million for the Inland Waterways

Users Board's priority navigation projects - a $61 million increase over last year's appropriations and $64.6 million over the President's FY 2005 request for these projects. Specifically, the Omnibus Bill appropriated funds to the follow- ing critical infrastructure projects on the inland waterways system: Inner Harbor ($14.5 million); Kentucky Lock ($32.5 million); Lower Mon 2,3 &4 ($35.5 mil- lion); Marmet ($75 million); McAlpine ($68.5 million); Olmsted ($69 million);

Chickamauga ($17 million); and major rehabilitation on L&D 11 ($1.5 million);

L&D 19 ($4.8 million) and L&D 24 ($8.8 million). Despite last minute House-

Senate negotiations, a final agreement on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) failed to reach agreement in the lame duck session, a disappointment to the waterways industry. Even though

WRDA did not pass this year, the omnibus measure contains $355,000 to continue the Upper Missis- sippi-Illinois Waterways navigation study and another $13.5 million in planning funds to start pre-con- struction engineering and design. "We are grateful for Congress' growing understanding and recogni- tion of the critical value of our inland navigation system to our Nation's continued prosperity. As fund- ing for the Army Corps of Engineers continues to increase to allow for the maintenance of the inland waterways' navigation infrastructure, we as a Nation ultimately benefit," said R. Barry Palmer, Presi- dent/CEO of Waterways Council, Inc. "We are, however, disappointed that the WRDA bill failed to pass this session and we will re-double our efforts to see its future passage," he continued.

The waterways industry transports more than 800 million tons of commodities such as coal, which supplies 50 percent of the nation's electricity, and grain (more than 60 percent of U.S. grain is bound for export). This industry also serves as a critical, integral component of the manufacturing, distribu- tion and industrial economy of the U.S. and our ability to compete in world markets.

Barry Palmer

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