Category Archives: Surface Forces

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Feb. 6, 2023

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Feb. 6, 2023

USNI News Graphic

This post has been updated to correct that USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is not underway. These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Feb. 6, 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

3 Navy Warships, FBI Now Hunting for Wreckage of Chinese Spy Balloon off South Carolina

3 Navy Warships, FBI Now Hunting for Wreckage of Chinese Spy Balloon off South Carolina

Video stills of the Chinese Spy Balloon after it was hit with an AIM-9X anti-air missile fired from a F-22 Raptor on Feb. 4, 2023.

A trio of Navy warships, service divers and the FBI are on the hunt for the wreckage of a high-altitude Chinese spy balloon that was shot down on Saturday by an Air Force F-22 Raptor off the coast of South Carolina, Defense Department officials told reporters Saturday. Read More

U.S. Destroyer Operating Near the Black Sea for First Time Since Russia Invaded Ukraine

U.S. Destroyer Operating Near the Black Sea for First Time Since Russia Invaded Ukraine

USS Nitze (DDG-94) at anchor near the entrance to the Bosporus Strait on Feb. 3, 2023. Photo by Yörük Işık‏ used with permission

USS Nitze (DDG-94) stopped on the edge of the Bosphorus Strait, on its way to make a port call in Turkey, USNI News understands. It’s the closest a U.S. warship has been to the Ukraine-Russia war since it started nearly a year ago. Read More

U.S., Philippines Add Four More Sites to EDCA Military Basing Agreement  

U.S., Philippines Add Four More Sites to EDCA Military Basing Agreement  

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is welcomed to the Philippine Department of National Defense in Manila, Feb. 2, 2023. DoD Photo

MANILA – The United States and the Philippines have designated four additional bases for U.S. troops to operate from as both countries agreed to accelerate the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that will house American troops and their equipment in Philippine military camps located in strategic areas of the country. Read More

DARPA Awards Contracts for Long-Range ‘Liberty Lifter’ Flying Boat Design

DARPA Awards Contracts for Long-Range ‘Liberty Lifter’ Flying Boat Design

Artist concept of General Atomics bid for DARPA’s Liberty Lifter Program

This post has been updated with additional contract information.

The Pentagon’s emerging technologies research arm awarded two aviation companies contracts to develop seaplanes that would fly less than 100 feet off the ground and carry 90 tons of cargo more than 6,500 nautical miles, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday. Read More