Category Archives: Education Legislation

House, Senate Defense Bills Differ In Approach to Indo-Pacific Security, But Stress Region's Importance

House, Senate Defense Bills Differ In Approach to Indo-Pacific Security, But Stress Region’s Importance

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training ships JS Kashima (TV 3508), left, and JS Shimayuki (TV 3513), right, sail alongside the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) during an exercise, June 23, 2020. Gabrielle Giffords, part of Destroyer Squadron Seven, is on a rotational deployment, operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force. US Navy photo.

The House and the Senate agree they need to prioritize the Indo-Pacific region in their annual defense policy and spending bills. They don’t quite agree on how far to go in doing that, but an overriding sense that they need to start somewhere this year will likely get them to the creation of a Indo-Pacific fund to counter China, akin to the European Deterrence Initiative created in 2014 to push back against Russia. Read More

House Defense Bill Pushes Hypersonic Weapons for Zumwalt Destroyers, Slows LUSV Procurement

House Defense Bill Pushes Hypersonic Weapons for Zumwalt Destroyers, Slows LUSV Procurement

Sailors man the rails aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) as the ship pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on April 2, 2019. US Navy Photo

The House Armed Services Committee may force the Navy to begin integrating hypersonic weapons onto the Zumwalt class of destroyers, something the sea service has talked about but not prioritized in its budget. Read More

Delayed by Pandemic, Marines Send Smaller Force to Darwin to Test New Marine Warfighting Concepts with Aussies

Delayed by Pandemic, Marines Send Smaller Force to Darwin to Test New Marine Warfighting Concepts with Aussies

U.S. Marines with Marine Rotational Force – Darwin receive COVID-19 test at Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin in NT, Australia on June 18, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo

This year’s deployment to Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory, hasn’t gone as initially planned. Travel restrictions and quarantining requirements due to the novel coronavirus drove the Marine Corps to send a smaller, 1,200-member force for the rotational deployment program, now in its ninth year. That’s less than half the size that deployed in 2019, the first time Marine Rotational Force-Darwin reached its 2,500-personnel maximum. Read More

Senate FY 21 Authorization Bill Buys 7 Ships, Adds Oversight on Future Unmanned Air and Surface Ships

Senate FY 21 Authorization Bill Buys 7 Ships, Adds Oversight on Future Unmanned Air and Surface Ships

USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) departs Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula shipyard to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing on Feb. 3, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Senate Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act keeps shipbuilding in line with the Navy’s budget request from February but adds additional oversight to the service’s plans for unmanned ships and unmanned aviation, committee staffers told reporters on Thursday. Read More

CDC, Navy COVID-19 Study on TR Finds 1 in 5 Asymptomatic; Loss of Taste, Smell Most Common Symptom

CDC, Navy COVID-19 Study on TR Finds 1 in 5 Asymptomatic; Loss of Taste, Smell Most Common Symptom

Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 2nd Class Jesse Hawkins, from Chicago, right, assigned to the ‘Liberty Bells’ of Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 115, fits U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Bill Merz, commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, for an oxygen mask aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) June 9, 2020. US Navy Photo

A new U.S. study of the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) found that one in five sailors infected with the virus were asymptomatic, while the loss of smell and taste were the most common symptoms of the disease. Read More

Navy Lacks ‘Clear Theory of Victory’ Needed to Build New Fleet, Experts Tell House Panel

Navy Lacks ‘Clear Theory of Victory’ Needed to Build New Fleet, Experts Tell House Panel

An MH-60S Sea Hawk assigned to the Eightballers of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8 flies next to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) while they transit the Pacific Ocean, Feb. 15, 2020. US Navy photo.

The Navy and the Department of Defense haven’t finished their homework needed to inform how the Navy builds its future fleet, a panel of naval experts told a House panel on Thursday. Read More

Beyond Mercy: Navy's COVID-19 Hospital Ship Missions and the Future of Medicine at Sea

Beyond Mercy: Navy’s COVID-19 Hospital Ship Missions and the Future of Medicine at Sea

USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrives in San Diego on May 15, 2020. US Navy Photo

This post has been updated to correct the spelling of CNA analyst Joshua Tallis’ last name.

Public excitement and relief greeted the March arrival of the Navy’s hospital ships in Los Angeles and New York City for their COVID-19 relief mission. But the excitement faded as the ships treated fewer than expected COVID-19 patients and left for their homeports with muted fanfare. Read More

Marines Issue New Doctrine Prioritizing Learning

Marines Issue New Doctrine Prioritizing Learning

Recruits of Hotel Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, and Oscar Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, answer a question during the final written test Nov. 9, 2015, on Parris Island, S.C. The test randomizes 100 questions on subjects varying from core values to Marine Corps history and combat care. US Marine Corps photo.

The Marine Corps wants to take learning more seriously, both encouraging the individual warfighter to take on a “personal mission” to read and study more and pushing learning institutions to revamp how they train and teach to have a more lasting impact, the commanding general of Training and Education Command (TECOM) told reporters. Read More

Pentagon Evaluation of Fleet Response to COVID-19 Follows Congressional Request for Investigation

Pentagon Evaluation of Fleet Response to COVID-19 Follows Congressional Request for Investigation

Sailors practice fire hose handling techniques in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on May 8, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Pentagon is conducting an evaluation in how the Navy has developed procedures to keep COVID-19 off ships in parallel, but independent of, the service’s own investigation into the outbreak on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), officials confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday. Read More