Ship maintenance still far from the information age.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

Loading bombs on Navy jets aboard aircraft carriers and moving them to the flight deck is so labor intensive that a typical resupply job requires on average 400 sailors.

Automation technologies apparently have not helped the Navy in this arena, noted Rear Adm. Dennis M. Dwyer, program executive officer for aircraft carriers. "We haven't made a lot of progress in this since World War II," he said.

It's no secret that the fastest way to cut the cost of operating ships is to downsize the workforce. On aircraft carriers, 50 percent of the expense is tied to people costs, Dwyer explained during a technology conference sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

He told the audience of contractors and scientists that his office needs technologies that reduce the "total ownership cost" of carriers. Such money-saving technologies ideally would automate the arduous tasks of loading ammunition on aircraft and moving heavy equipment, said Dwyer. "Loading bombs and getting them to the flight deck takes 400 people every time we move ordnance to the flight deck."

Dwyer also is interested in products that can combat corrosion and improve coatings for non-skid surfaces.

Corrosion is a maintenance nightmare aboard carriers. Each of the Navy's 12 carriers has 14 million square feet of deck and surface that require anti-corrosion protection, as well as hundreds of tanks. "Last year, we spent $230 million battling corrosion in tanks," said Dwyer. "I need coatings that stand up to the environment and last a long time, so I don't have to reapply coatings on tanks."

Applying non-skid...