About Sam LaGrone and Dave Majumdar

Sam LaGrone is the editor of USNI News. Dave Majumdar is a longtime defense writer.


Recent Posts By the Author


Latest UCLASS Concept Emphasizes Maritime Roles

Latest UCLASS Concept Emphasizes Maritime Roles

An artist's concept of General Atomic's Sea Avenger UCLASS bid taken from a display monitor. US Naval Institute Photo

An artist’s concept of General Atomic’s Sea Avenger UCLASS bid taken from a display monitor. US Naval Institute Photo

The Navy seems to have shifted its concept for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) for a third time in as many years part of the most confusing and misunderstood aviation acquisition programs in the last decade. Read More

Fire Breaks Out on F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, Pilot Safe

Fire Breaks Out on F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, Pilot Safe

 F-35A Lightning II while another Air Force joint strike fighter waits to be refueled at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. US Air Force Photo

F-35A Lightning II while another Air Force joint strike fighter waits to be refueled at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. US Air Force Photo

This post was updated to include a statement from Lockheed Martin.

A Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was severely damaged — possibly destroyed — in a Monday morning fire on the runway at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., USNI News learned.

Read More

Reduced Growler Buy Could Force Boeing to Restructure Production Line

Reduced Growler Buy Could Force Boeing to Restructure Production Line

EA-18G Growler assigned to the Electronic Attack Squadron 141 (VAQ) flies over the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG-85) on Sept. 3, 2012

EA-18G Growler assigned to the Electronic Attack Squadron 141 (VAQ) flies over the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG-85) on Sept. 3, 2012

PENTAGON — The U.S. Navy and Boeing will have to hash out a new plan to continue producing the EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack aircraft if the Congress does not provide enough money to buy 22 of the planes. Read More

House Committee Seeks to Stall UCLASS Program Pending New Pentagon Unmanned Aviation Study

House Committee Seeks to Stall UCLASS Program Pending New Pentagon Unmanned Aviation Study

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator sits on an aircraft elevator of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 6.

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator sits on an aircraft elevator of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 6.

The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) seeks to put on hold the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft program and directs the Pentagon to fund a study for a future carrier-borne unmanned strike aircraft, according to language in the HASC’s Seapower and Projections Forces Committee’s mark of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill. Read More

UCLASS Timeline

UCLASS Timeline

The following is a brief history of the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program compiled by USNI News.

What's in the Navy's $10 billion Unfunded List

What’s in the Navy’s $10 billion Unfunded List

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft conduct a test flight in 2009. The Navy included one more E-2D in its unfunded priorities list submitted to Congress this week. US Navy Photo

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft conduct a test flight in 2009. The Navy included one more E-2D in its unfunded priorities list submitted to Congress this week. US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy’s $10.023 billion unfunded priorities list for fiscal year 2015 — submitted to Congress on April 1 — seems to further the service’s aims to defeat an adversary in a high-end air war. Read More

2013 Prowler Crash That Killed Three Found to Be Result of 'Pilot Error'

2013 Prowler Crash That Killed Three Found to Be Result of ‘Pilot Error’

The scene following the March, 11 crash of a EA-6B Prowler outside of Harrington, Wash. taken by Stan Dammel, manager of the nearby Odessa Municipal Airport.

The scene following the March, 11 crash of a EA-6B Prowler outside of Harrington, Wash. taken by Stan Dammel, manager of the nearby Odessa Municipal Airport.

A U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Manual Investigation (JAGMAN) into the March 11, 2013, crash of a VAQ-129 Grumman EA-6B Prowler that killed three sailors in rural Washington has found that the accident was the result of pilot error. Read More

New Budget Preserves Navy High End Combat Power

New Budget Preserves Navy High End Combat Power

USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) left,the guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) on Feb. 19, 2014. US Navy Photo

USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) left,the guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) on Feb. 19, 2014. US Navy Photo

The Navy preserved development of future combat power over the next five years in its Fiscal Year 2015 $148 billion budget submission to Congress released in briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday.

The procurement documents — released on Tuesday — emphasize weapon systems over the Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) that will fit into future Navy constructs, like the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air—or NIFC-CA (pronounced: nif-kah) designed to prosecute high-end air wars in the 2020s as well as next generation surface ship weapons. Read More