MADMS team onboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) in San Diego for a ship trip and fleet working group with the Marine Aviation Data Management System that digitally integrates operational systems, such as weapons, combat cargo, surface operations, shipboard planning, flight operations, and flight deck management.
NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, Patuxent River, MD.: The Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) Program Office (PMA-251) Information Systems team is revolutionizing Navy and Marine Corps’ shipboard data management with the Marine Aviation Data Management System (MADMS).
After several years of fleet feedback, design changes and adjustments, MADMS emerged a complete, integrated shipboard information system. It’s designed to digitally integrate operational systems, such as weapons, combat cargo, surface operations, shipboard planning, flight operations, and flight deck management.
“It’s exciting to see such an adaptable tool make its way to our warfighters,” said Capt. Mike Kline, PMA-251 Program Manager. “With today’s rapidly changing global threat environment, our teams are working diligently to give the warfighters the capabilities they need now and in the future.”
Since 1995, the carrier fleet has relied on the Aviation Data Management and Control System (ADMACS), which is designed for tactical data management, to connect air departments to ship divisions and ALRE operations. Challenged to modernize the solution and deliver similar capability to L-class ships, PMA-251 went back to the drawing board and considered potential for the fleet at large.
“The team looked for ways to use MADMS to bring improved, ADMACS-style capability to the Marine Expeditionary Unit utilizing the latest technologies and an Agile development process to keep it continually up to date,” said Pat Shupe, Information Systems Enterprise Level II Integrated Program Lead.
They started with the Marine Corps’ requirement to overhaul ADMACS-style capabilities for L-class ships, which support Marine Corps air and amphibious operations, as well as requirements to optimize the amphibious force’s combat effectiveness.
MADMS established a Development Security & Operations Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery software development pipeline. This innovative environment allowed multiple contractors to work simultaneously and paved the way for many efficiencies. By using Scaled Agile Framework to design and scale, the team focused on integrating existing data sources into one quality display. Their iterative development model also permits developers to quickly deploy features to fleet test groups. This development and test strategy will fulfill the Marine Corps’ requirements while also enabling accelerated development and continuous cyber accreditation.
Over the last year, the team successfully demonstrated MADMS prototypes to fleet working group from the weapons community, flight deck operations management, integrated air and surface planning and other stakeholders. They also visited ships to confirm space requirements and validate operational needs, diligently incorporating all feedback.
The final MADMS product modernizes shipboard data management and offers fleet users near real-time situational awareness while creating efficiencies decreasing potential for human error.
Currently deployed expeditionary units are restricted by technologically obsolete and inefficient data management information systems, which increase potential for human error and reduce the unit’s effectiveness. They are limited to traditional planning boards utilizing Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint Slides.
“Our warfighters are gaining the tool they truly need to support air and surface operations on amphibious assault ships, and potentially other ship types in the future,” said Kline.
The PMA-251 MADMS team is working through final steps to get the system to the fleet. They will distribute a Market Survey Simulation (MSS) through the Consolidated Afloat Networks (CANES) in Fiscal Year 2025 to garner fleet feedback. The MSS will field as a software-only prototype application on CANES.
In 2026, the fleet is scheduled to receive MADMS ‘Capability Drop 1,’ which will increase functionality and include the entire Amphibious Ready Group / Marine Corps Expeditionary Unit. After that, annual increments of new functionality will field, as the PMA-251 team addresses fleet feedback and enhances cybersecurity.
MADMS team onboard USS Tripoli (LHA 7) in San Diego for a ship trip and fleet working group with the Marine Aviation Data Management System that digitally integrates operational systems, such as weapons, combat cargo, surface operations, shipboard planning, flight operations, and flight deck management.
