Category Archives: News & Analysis

OSD Comptroller Says U.S. Shipyards Can’t Build 3 Destroyers a Year

OSD Comptroller Says U.S. Shipyards Can’t Build 3 Destroyers a Year

Arleigh Burke destroyers Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123) and the Legend-class cutter Calhoun (WMSL-759) at Ingalls Shipbuilding on Aug. 4, 2022. USNI News Photo

This story has been updated to include a statement from a spokesperson for Bath Iron Works.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy is keeping a two-ship-per-year cadence for its destroyer line because that’s a realistic goal for industry to work toward, according to the Pentagon’s top budget officer. Read More

U.S. Begins Air Base Rehab in Philippines as Part of Basing Agreement

U.S. Begins Air Base Rehab in Philippines as Part of Basing Agreement

U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron prepare an F-22A Raptor assigned to the 525th Fighter Squadron for departure from Clark Air Base, Philippines, March 14, 2023. US Air Force Photo

MANILA – The United States and the Philippines started rehabilitating the runway of the Basa Air Base in Pampanga on the island of Luzon, one of the five original Philippine military sites identified to host rotating American troops and their equipment under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). Read More

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: March 20, 2023

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: March 20, 2023

USNI News Graphic

These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of March 20, 2023, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship. Read More

Pentagon: Red Hill Defueling on Track, Joint Task Force Starting Environmental Assessment

Pentagon: Red Hill Defueling on Track, Joint Task Force Starting Environmental Assessment

Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Pearl Harbor employees uses tools to relocate contaminated soil onto a wheelbarrow as part of NAVFAC Public Works Department and Joint Task Force-Red Hill’s (JTF-RH) hazard material spill recovery operation at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (RHBFSF) in Halawa, Hawaii, Dec. 1, 2022. US Army Photo

This story has been updated to clarify that the Joint Task Force is responsible for defueling the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility. 

The Joint Task Force – Red Hill is on target to meet the July 2024 deadline to defuel the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in Hawaii, the Department of Defense said Thursday. Read More

Japan Faces Readiness Hurdle As it Modernizes Military, Former Defense Chief Says

Japan Faces Readiness Hurdle As it Modernizes Military, Former Defense Chief Says

A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force CH-47 Chinook, lands on the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) during a bilateral simulated casualty pick up in the Philippine Sea, March 10, 2023. U.S. Marine Corps Photo

Japan’s toughest hurdle, as it launches an unprecedented military modernization program and doubles defense spending, is the operational readiness of its air, naval and land forces, a former chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces said Thursday. Read More