The desire of the US Navy to
increase the speed of strike down and strike up while decreasing manpower
aboard ships necessitates more than just efficient stowage of weapons and
components in magazines and holds―it requires improved efficiency in moving
materiel to and from those locations as well. To meet this need,
Agile Systems� NAVSTORS design has evolved into a system-of-systems that
includes four basic elements:
The Standard
Payload Interface (SPI) for all legacy
payloads,
The Naval
Stowage & Retrieval System (NAVSTORS)
an Automated Stowage and Retrieval System (ASRS) within magazines/holds,
The
Omni-directional Guided Vehicle (OGV) for transport of payloads
aboard ship,
The
Top-Lift Fixture (TLF) for movement of loads between ships during
CONREP or via cranes between ship and pier.
The Office of Naval Research
has funded prototypes of the SPI and TLF. These prototypes were
successfully tested at the NSWCCD Ship Systems Engineering Station in
Philadelphia.
