The US Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA) engineers have successfully demonstrated the new mission package automated inventory information system (MPAIIS) for the US Navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) mission package.
During the testing, conducted at LCS mission package support facility, MPAIIS demonstrated its capability.
Designed to provide asset tracking, inventory control and configuration management, the MPAIIS system uses radio frequency technology to perform fast and accurate inventories of mission package equipment containers.
The initial MPAIIS demonstration included support containers for the AQS-20 minehunting sonar system and the remote minehunting system (RMS) for mission package.
Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) unmanned systems technology branch project lead, Robert Gibson, said the time savings will assist the mission package support facility (MPSF) in meeting turnaround times required for LCS support.
"From 16 person hours for the ‘Q-20’ support container and 76 person hours for the RMS container, to less than 15 minutes total," Gibson said.
The NSWC PCD team also provided user training to MPSF personnel, following completion of system demonstration.
The tester used MPAIIS to conduct an inventory on the Q-20 support container in less than five minutes, and with minimal training.
More than 500 unique items have been successfully inventoried and entered into the MPAIIS database using passive radio frequency identification (pRFID) tags.
LCS West Coast Operations (PEO LCS PMS 505) principle assistant programme manager, Andrew Payor, said the Panama City demonstrated the concept for mission module tools and parts tracking.
"As we work to fully implement this capability for LCS the improvements to inventory accuracy and reduction in the time to conduct inventories will have a positive impact on our support of the LCS Fleet," Payor said.
The MPAIIS can reduce time need to ready and deploy mission package support containers.
Image: US Navy’s LCS ship, USS Freedom underway at sea. Photo: courtesy of James R. Evans.
