The following is the May 24, 2021 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Ship Names: Background for Congress. Read More
Category Archives: Education Legislation
CNO, Commandant: Services Have A Good Idea of How They’ll Fight, If Congress Helps Them With the Right Spending Plans
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyrell Lewis, a student in the Detachment Hawaii Enhanced Squad Leader Course, aims a dummy rocket launcher at the rocket station, one of twelve stations in the initial performance assessment portion of the course, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, April 8, 2021. The course is an experimental proof of concept, with the intent of modernizing training and providing squad leaders with new capabilities. US Marine Corps photo.
The chief of naval operations and commandant of the Marine Corps say they are increasingly clear on how they’d want to fight a peer adversary, what attributes would make their forces successful and what platforms they need to equip that force. Now, they just need help from Congress turning that into a budget everyone can agree upon, they say. Read More
Wittman: Navy Needs Money in its Budget for Modernization, But Not From Cutting Cruisers
Guided-missile cruiser USS Hué City (CG-66) was inducted into the Cruiser Modernization program on Oct. 3, 2019. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to clarify that Rep. Rob Wittman would like to see a defense budget of $757 billion, which equals the Fiscal Year 2021 enacted budget plus inflation. In his spoken remarks, he mistakenly said $753 billion.
The Navy is facing pressure to find savings within its own budget to pay for investments in future technologies like unmanned vehicles and hypersonic and directed energy weapons – but those savings shouldn’t come from the early decommissioning of cruisers and amphibious ships, a key lawmaker said today. Read More
Interview: Elaine Luria Says Navy Needs to Build ‘Battle Force 2025’ Instead of Divesting to Prepare for a 2045 Fight
Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG-61) transits the Mediterranean Sea on March 24, 2021. US Navy Photo
The vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee does not support the Navy’s “divest to invest” strategy of ridding the fleet of aging and expensive-to-maintain ships and systems to free up money for the development of unmanned platforms and other new technology, saying the sea service needs to focus on getting ready for a near-term battle instead of looking too far out into the future. Read More
HASC: Congress Let DoD Buy Too Many F-35 Fighters But Not Enough F-35 Spares, Sustainment
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 2nd Class Cosme Zamora, from Compton, Calif., assigned to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6), signals an F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on the ship’s flight deck on Jan. 21, 2021. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee has little appetite for buying any F-35 Joint Strike Fighter planes beyond the official Biden administration request – in contrast to the past seven years, when Congress has added a whopping 97 planes beyond the president’s budget request – as a result of low readiness rates and ongoing maintenance and supply challenges. Read More
Navy Developing Land-Based Unmanned Vehicle Testing Sites as Early Design Work Continues
Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV) prototype Sea Hunter pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Oct. 31, 2018. US Navy Photo
The Navy is making arrangements for land-based testing of its Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel prototype and eyeing similar plans for its Large USV, as the sea service tries to get Congress on board with its plans to rapidly field unmanned vehicles in all domains to create a hybrid manned-unmanned force. Read More
Electric Boat Awarded $2.4 Billion for 2nd FY 2021 Virginia-class Attack Boat
Rendering of Block V Virginia-class submarine with Virginia Payload Module. General Dynamics Electric Boat Image
The Navy today awarded a construction contract for a second Virginia-class attack submarine this fiscal year, which the Trump administration had cut from its FY 2021 budget request and the House Armed Services Committee fought to have included in the final spending and defense bills. Read More
Lawmakers Question Who Will Shepherd Navy’s Future Unmanned Fleet
Maintainers from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) analyze diagnostics from the MQ-8C Fire Scout on the flight deck of the Independence variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) on June 21, 2018. US Navy photo.
When the Navy moved from a conventionally powered fleet to a nuclear one, Adm. Hyman Rickover oversaw the transitions for decades, remaining in uniform until the age of 82 as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” to ensure the sea service adopted the new technology in a precise and controlled way. Read More
Navy, Marines Unveil How They Will Buy and Operate Future Pilotless Aircraft and Crewless Ships
Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class Samantha Stluka, left, and Aviation Electrician 2nd Class Wyatt Cutchen, both assigned to the “Wildcards” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, perform maintenance on a MQ-8B unmanned helicopter on the flight deck of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), May 14, 2020. US Navy photo.
The sea services see themselves moving toward a future where they are just as likely to perform a mission with an unmanned platform as a manned one, based on the specifics of the mission and what assets are available. A third of the Navy’s fleet and half of Marine Corps aviation could be unmanned under this hybrid vision the two services are pursuing, which they argue in a new Department of the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework is necessary to stay ahead of adversary capabilities without breaking the bank. Read More
Panel: Pentagon Needs High-Level Attention on AI, Digital Workforce to Keep Up With China
Operations Specialist 3rd Class Zachary Ezekiel, assigned to the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61), identifies air contacts in the combat information center (CIC) on March 21, 2016. Monterey is underway conducting Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in preparation for a future deployment. US Navy photo.
Pentagon leaders need to set clear digital readiness performance goals this year as a first step in revamping the requirements process so the United States can maintain its military technological advantage, the vice chairman of a national panel on artificial intelligence said Friday. Read More
