An F-35B Lightning II aircraft takes off from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) in 2013. A former senior Navy official told USNI News its stealth protection could be pierced by new Chinese and Russian radars. US Navy Photo
A growing trend in Russian and Chinese radar could make U.S. stealth fighters easier to see and — more importantly — easier to target for potential adversaries, a former senior U.S. Navy official told USNI News. Read More
The following is the July white paper, Unrestricted Line Officer Promotions: Best and Fully Qualified? by Capt. Robert Tortora, USN. Read More
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy electronic surveillance ship Beijixing (pennant number 851). A ship of this class is currently off the coast of Oahu, monitoring RIMPAC 2014.
China slipped an uninvited guest into the world’s largest naval exercise. Read More
Artist’s conception of a Northrop Grumman X-47B.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Defense (SAC-D) supports the U.S. Navy request for $403 million to continue the development of the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft — with conditions. Read More
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
F/A-18E lands on aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73). US Navy Photo
Senate defense appropriators set aside billions for Navy coffers in its version of the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2015 spending plan, giving service leaders the green light to move ahead on key maritime and aviation priorities. Read More
Gen. James Amos
The Commandant of the Marine Corps described the June engine fire of an F-35 that caused the fleet’s grounding until Tuesday morning as probably a “one-off” incident. Read More
F-35A Lightning IIs from the 58th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Wing, Eglin AFB, Fla., perform an aerial refueling mission May 14, 2013, off the coast of northwest Florida. US Air Force Photo
This post was updated to include additional Tuesday afternoon comments from Rear Adm. John Kirby.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleet has been cleared to fly within a restricted flight envelope after the jets were grounded following a June 23 fire that severely damaged an aircraft on take-off. Read More
USS Truxtun (DDG-103) on July 9, 2014. US Navy Photo
The looming hit to the shipbuilding budget from the Navy’s plan to build 12 new nuclear ballistic missile submarines resulted in the cancellation of a fourth flight of Arleigh Burke destroyers (DDG-51) as well as the controversial plan to layup 11 Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers (CG-47), the navy’s chief shipbuilder told a congressional panel in a recent hearing on cruiser and destroyer modification. Read More
X-47B conducts its first night flight April 10 over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. on April, 10 2014. US Navy Photo
The Navy is pushing back a planned request for proposal (RfP) for its carrier-based unmanned aerial strike and surveillance aircraft pending a review of a controversial set of requirements by the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), defense officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
