Current law and presidential policy established 355 ships, including 12 carriers and 66 submarines, as the U.S. Navy force goal. Since few mission categories have support of law, budgets should reflect this priority. They have not. In fact, the fiscal 2020 defense budget proposed reducing carriers by not refueling the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman. Opposition was so strong that the president reversed the plan. The […]
U.S. Navy
23 posts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is on the brink of what could be a major shift in how it operates, but first the service’s top officer wants a plan to both field technologies that have been lagging for years and develop a path forward to add new unmanned tech to the mainstream fleet. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday took on his latest role in […]
WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Navy pushes forward with developing its large unmanned surface vessel, envisioned as a kind of external missile magazine that will tag along with larger manned surface combatants, a growing consensus is forming that the service needs to get its requirements and systems right before making a big investment. Congress has, for the second year in a row, slowed the development of […]
WASHINGTON — The Army, in conjunction with the Navy, is planning to conduct three flight tests of its hypersonic glide body in 2021, an ambitious schedule to initially fielding the weapon in fiscal 2023, according to Lt. Gen. Neil Thurgood, who is in charge of the Army’s rapid development of hypersonics, directed energy and space capabilities. The Army and Navy had a successful first flight test […]
The Russian National Defense Control Center claimed that Su-27 fighter jets of the Southern Military District’s air defense quick reaction alert forces intercepted a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft over the Black Sea. The Russian airspace control systems detected an air target over the neutral waters of the Black Sea on July 24, 2020, the Center said. “A Su-27 fighter of the Southern Military District’s air […]
Unmanned maritime systems are increasingly allowing military and commercial users alike to go farther and deeper than ever before. Initially proven by the military for their dependability and reliability, they are now also disrupting the commercial sector and enabling applications from mapping to surveillance to port security. In recognition of the many benefits UMS stand to offer, the president’s budget for fiscal 2021 requested strong support […]
The workers who were laid off belong to Machinists’ Local S7, not the production workers who are on strike, Machinists Local S6, according to a memo from Dirk Lesko, the company’s president. The memo said the production slowdown is causing work to dry up for other workers in the shipyard. “The first functions impacted by this are surveyors and trade inspectors,” he wrote Tuesday. More than […]
The Navy intends to acquire up to 30 new light amphibious warships, or LAW, to support new Marine Corps requirements. The vessels are needed to meet the challenges of “evolving threats in the global maritime environment,” according to the Navy program office, and are tied to the new operational concepts of Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations and Distributed Maritime Operations as well as the Marine Corps’ Force […]
BATH, Maine — More than 4,000 workers went on strike against one of the U.S. Navy’s largest shipbuilders Monday after rejecting a three-year contract. It was the first strike by production workers at Bath Iron Works in 20 years. Pickets formed at midnight when the old contract expired in a dispute that focused on subcontracting, work rules. and seniority over wages and benefits. Bath Iron Works […]
The Senate Armed Services Committee has finally given the green light to purchase two new missile subs. This is great news. One can only hope that now the defense-industrial base can actually get it done. There is reason for concern. Much has been written about how few major defense contractors are left on the playing field. Where once robust competition occurred, now there is little to […]
BATH, Maine — The largest union at U.S. Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron Works begins voting Friday on a contract proposal that was unanimously rejected by its negotiating committee, raising the possibility of the first strike in 20 years. Shipbuilders from Machinists Union Local S6 would see a 9 percent pay raise over three years under the proposal, but they’re digging in over what they view as […]
SEATTLE — For decades, the U.S. Navy’s leading supplier of high-strength steel for submarines provided subpar metal because one of the company’s longtime employees falsified lab results — putting sailors at greater risk in the event of collisions or other impacts, federal prosecutors said in court filings Monday. The supplier, Kansas City-based Bradken Inc., paid $10.9 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the Justice […]
To counter expected adversary anti-access/area denial strategies, U.S. naval forces will face significant challenges resupplying dispersed units under emerging distributed operations concepts, particularly in the large geographical distances of the Western Pacific. Future Marine littoral regiments, for example, will require layers of manned and unmanned vessels capable of moving personnel and materiel in decentralized operations to complicate enemy decision-making and targeting. Naval leaders have made clear […]
One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson enacted a law that would become known as the Jones Act. Its purpose was to help the U.S. shipping industry recover after World War I. Yet few could have predicted how vital it would become to our national security and economic prosperity a full century later — especially during a pandemic. The Jones Act requires that all vessels […]
The Navy is developing a family of unmanned surface vessels that are intended to increase its offensive punch for less money. Source link
The U.S. military is banking on unmanned surface and subsurface vessels to boost its capacity in the face of a tsunami of Chinese naval spending. But before it can field the systems, it must answer… Source link
The U.S. Navy is facing growing asymmetric threats, not least of which is from China, and more specifically its anti-access/area denial strategy. Source link
The Navy has been flirting with the idea of smaller carriers. What’s the advantage and the objective here? Source link
James Hair was home alone in his modest three-story house in Hollis, a section of Queens in New York City, when the phone rang. He got up to answer, moving a bit more gingerly than he once did. Age had stolen his agility and time had taken the spring from his step. Slowed by a triple bypass, Hair, just shy of his sixty-seventh birthday, was no […]
Without deliberate action, the U.S. shipbuilding industry will become increasingly fragile. Source link
The U.S. Navy is back in the Arctic Circle after being gone for 30 years, reentering a region where questions of international law are becoming increasingly high stakes. Source link
The U.S. Navy’s frigate award is a great start toward the future fleet, but the service must assess the best mix of ships for future warfare. Source link
We should not wait until American lives are in peril before we take action against mine warfare. Source link