Original Date: 05/23/1994
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Keyport is the principal Navy activity for developing and maintaining unique, highly instrumented, accurate, and quiet underwater ranges, both shallow and deep water, for advanced torpedo test and evaluation and technology advancement in targets and countermeasures. Its goal is to provide the best value, full spectrum range test and evaluation services for all undersea warfare customers.

Keyport is the manager of the Northwest Range System, San Clemente Island Underwater Range, and the Hawaiian Island Underwater Range. It is the Naval Sea Systems Command Technical Management Assignment Design Agent, Technical Design Agent, and In-Service Engineering Agent for the Northwest Tracking Range System, Northwest Range System Tracking Pingers, and Stationary Test and Evaluation Range Targets. It is also the In-Service Engineering Agent for Fleet Mk 72 and Mk 84 Pingers, Shipboard Tracking Equipment, Pinger and Shipboard Tracking Support and Equipment, and Mk 28 and Mk 30 Fleet Targets. Keyport provides the Naval Sea Systems Command Technical Management Support for Weapons Noise Measurement and Analysis and assists the Naval Sea Systems Command in conducting certifications, maintaining the database and Naval Sea Systems Command standards. In addition, it provides range support resources and operates Intermediate Maintenance Activities in southern California and Hawaii.

The Northwest Range sites, consisting of Nanoose, Quinault, Dabob, and the Keyport Range Information Display Center (RIDC), provide over 100 square miles of littoral and mid-depth underwater tracking areas, including in-shore shallow water sites. It also has extensive surface and air tracking capabilities. Keyport is also the leader in underwater weapon recovery systems with a capability to recover weapons 5000 feet below the surface and up to 30 feet below the sea floor. In FY92, $114 M worth of hardware was recovered.

An Operation Efficiency Review Team was established with Canadian participation for an 18-month period to reduce the costs of range operation. The results achieved were a 10% reduction in overtime by applying incentives for customers to conduct tests during normal work hours, and an overall range operational cost reduction of 17%. The review team made 62 recommendations for resolving high priority issues, with projected savings from the changes recommended to exceed $600,000 per year.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.