When the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group conducts anti-submarine warfare training off Hawai'i this month, the Navy will be playing a tense cat-and-mouse game not only with submarines, but also with a more slippery opponent — marine mammals.

It's not that the Navy dislikes whales and dolphins, but after being slapped with a series of lawsuits over the potential harm caused by active sonar "pings," the service has to be more wary of the sea creatures.

Increasingly, that requirement has come via federal court order. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, thinks there might be another way.

The House Armed Services Committee last week approved $67.45 million in funding for defense projects in Hawai'i, including $8.5 million for further research, development and installation of marine mammal detection systems on Navy aircraft.

"I'm very pleased to be able to kind of take the lead on this so we can get out of the courtroom, and into the area of trying to resolve the issues once and for all," Abercrombie said. "This is one of the most serious and contentious issues in the military today."

BAE Systems in Hawai'i has been involved in the development of an airborne survey system that "automatically and harmlessly" detects the presence, location, and movement of marine mammals, according to Abercrombie's office.

The project adapts work done for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense to the needs of the U.S. Navy, and integrates it with sensor technology developed by BAE Systems in Hawai'i.

Abercrombie said it's "still a bit theoretical" and still in the realm of research and development.

Of the $8.5 million approved in committee last week, BAE Systems would receive $6 million for the "Marine Mammal Awareness, Alert and Response Systems" project.

The other $2.5 million would go to Guide Star Engineering for something called the "In-buoy Signal Processor."

Abercrombie's office said that project seeks to alter the sonobuoys that the Navy already drops from aircraft so they detect marine mammals as well as enemy subs.

Among requirements ordered by a federal judge in Honolulu in February were "safety zones," including the need for the Navy to power down active sonar by 6 decibels when a marine mammal is spotted within 1,500 meters of a sonar-emitting vessel.

The sonar power must be stepped down the closer the animal is, and within 500 meters, all sonar transmission must cease.

U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a statement afterward that the restrictions "could seriously impact our ability to train effectively."

At least 26 species of marine mammals frequent Hawai'i waters.

The use of midfrequency Navy sonar was determined to be a "plausible, if not likely" contributing factor to the mass stranding of up to 200 melon-headed whales in Hanalei Bay during Rim of the Pacific naval exercises in 2004.

IN BRIEF

INTRANET UPGRADE IN THE WORKS

The Navy is looking to upgrade its Navy Marine Corps Intranet, an existing $10 billion effort billed as the largest intranet in the world, with the possibility that new capabilities initially could be deployed in Hawai'i.

Among those upgrades will be greater security.

"There are networks of people around the world, even in governments that we, the United States, would consider rather friendly, that have factions within them that spend their entire working day trying to tap into our computer systems," said John S. Thackrah, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.

Thackrah was in Hawai'i for the centennial anniversary of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

The outsourcing contract the Navy signed with Electronic Data Systems Corp. expires in 2010. More than 700,000 sailors, Marines, and civilians rely on NMCI for computer needs.

Thackrah said in an interview that the Next Generation Enterprise Network will be an upgrade and extension of the NMCI capabilities.

A big focus of the next system will be addressing security threats, which Thackrah said are increasing. Some attacks on defense contractors have been publicized.

"But what Joe Public doesn't know is that those kind of things are going on all the time," Thackrah said.

EDS has an operations center on Ford Island. The Navy has three "network operations centers" — one in Hawai'i, one in San Diego and the third in Norfolk, Va.

With at least five major Navy and Marine Corps commands in relatively close proximity on O'ahu, the argument has been made for Hawai'i to host some of the new network capabilities.

"We build it out here, (and) they end up becoming the seed corn for deploying that around the world at all of our other hubs and sites," Thackrah said.

Thackrah said the Navy spends $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year on its network systems, and "that isn't going to go down when you add capacity."

KITTY HAWK OFF TO WASHINGTON STATE

The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, will be homeported at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., effective July 15, the Navy said.

Kitty Hawk will leave Yokosuka in late May to turn over duties as the Navy's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier to the USS George Washington.

A partial crew swap-out will take place in Pearl Harbor in June. The two carriers will be berthed on opposite sides of Hotel pier, visible from the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center.

Kitty Hawk will then sail to San Diego for a three-week stop before sailing on to Bremerton, where the ship will eventually be decommissioned.

The George Washington is expected to take part in Rimpac 2008 exercises off Hawai'i at the end of June, the Navy said.

A previous item in this column stating that the Kitty Hawk would take part in Rimpac was incorrect, the Navy said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.