Huntington Ingalls Industries proposed Flight II LPD-17 ship class. Huntington Ingalls Industries Photo
Congress included $240 million for a 12th San Antonio-class amphibious warship (LPD-17), as part of the last minute, late March budget deal that funded the Pentagon for Fiscal Year 2013.
However the Navy didn’t ask for the money for what would be LPD-28, leaving open questions for the future of a class that was supposed to stop at 11 ships. Read More
Syrian protestors asking for a no-fly zone in 2011. European Pressphoto Agency
With the human toll mounting, the United States getting more involved in training, aid, and arms transfers, and continued calls for intervention, U.S. policymakers are grappling with the administration’s relatively non-interventionist stance on Syria. U.S. concerns about the increasing power of jihadist groups within rebel ranks, the possibility of loose chemical weapons, and the overarching desire to shorten the conflict remain. How has the course of events changed the logic of a no-fly zone, or intervention to secure chemical weapons? Read More
US Army MH-60 from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment taking off from USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) during a training mission in 2011. US Naval Institute Photo
By June, the U.S. Army will open positions to women in its most elite Special Operations helicopter unit as part of a Pentagon push to include more than 6,000 women in previously closed jobs in the Army and U.S. Marine Corps, according to documents obtained by USNI News. Read More
The following is an April, 11 2013 notification to Congress from the Pentagon from Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jessica Wright. The notifications outlines more than 6,000 positionsin the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, including postions with 160th “Night Stalkers,” Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), U.S. Marine Corps Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies (ANGLICO) and positions in Army Brigade Combat Teams. Read More
The following are the prepared testimonies from Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and USMC Commandant Gen. James Amos for the April, 16 2013 House Armed Services Committee’s hearing on the Department of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget. Read More
US Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous responds to assist the Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico on Feb. 11, 2013. US Coast Guard Photo
Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise ship operator, plans to payback the U.S. government for costs incurred from rescues of two of its ships, company officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
The canceled Distinguished Warfare Medal annouced in February at the Pentagon. DoD Photo
The Pentagon is cancelling a controversial medal designed to recognize contributions of unmanned aerial vehicle pilots and cyber troops, according to a Monday memorandum signed by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel obtained by USNI News. Read More
The Defense Intelligence Agency has “moderate confidence,” North Korea has progressed enough to arm a missile with an atomic warhead, according to a passage of the unnamed DIA report read during a Thursday House Armed Services Committee meeting by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.
However, according to missile experts from IHS Jane’s and the Department of Defense, the threat from a North Korean nuclear missile is low. Read More
Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) returns to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash. in 2012. US Navy Photo
Ohio-Class Replacement nuclear ballistic missile submarine “is the right ship to operate in 2080” with construction scheduled to begin in 2021, the director of the Navy’s undersea warfare division told attendees during a panel discussion of future nuclear deterrence at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition 2013 at National Harbor, Md. Read More
Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy discusses the Navy portion of the Department of Defense fiscal year 2011 budget. US Navy Photo
The Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps are continuing funding future capability with a budget that places emphasis on introduction of new weapon systems like the Littoral Combat Ship and the F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 budget submission from the Department of the Navy.
The $155.8 billion request is split between $45.4 billion for military personnel, $43.5 billion for procurement for ships, aircraft, weapons and Marine Corps spending, $16 billion for research and development and $2.3 billion for infrastructure. Read More