The following is the June 30, 2021 Congressional Research Service report Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
Category Archives: Surface Forces
More NATO Ships Enter Black Sea While Tensions With Russia Simmer
ITS Fasan, SNMG2 flagship cross under Istanbul strait on July 1, 2021. NATO Photo
The flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 entered the Black Sea on Thursday with two more alliance warships set to join the Sea Breeze exercises that started earlier this week, NATO announced. Read More
Report to Congress on Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter
The following is the July 1, 2021 Congressional Research Service report, Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter (Polar Icebreaker) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
CNO Gilday: Tight Budgets Require Balance Between Readiness, Modernization
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday tours Bath Iron Works with Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King on May 10, 2021. US Navy Photo
While the Navy is focused on readiness to prevent the pitfalls of an overworked and untrained force, it must also manage the need for modernization with maintaining the current fleet, the service’s top officer said today. Read More
PACFLEET CO: Numbered Navy Fleets Don’t Need to be Tied to Geography
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, addresses the crew of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) following the completion of their maintenance availability on June 29, 2021. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy’s numbered fleets are by tradition tied to a specific geographical region, but that doesn’t mean commanders in California can’t command ships in the Western Pacific or any other part of the world, the new U.S. Pacific Fleet commander said on Wednesday. Read More
USS Theodore Roosevelt Heading to Bremerton After Back-to-Back Deployments
Two F/A-18 Super Hornets, assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11, launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on April 29, 2021. US Navy Photo
Aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is changing homeports from San Diego, Calif., to Bremerton, Wash., for an overdue dry-dock maintenance period after back-to-back deployments to the Western Pacific, U.S. Pacific Fleet announced on Tuesday. Read More
INDO-PACOM Used Ground-based Aegis Combat System Prototype to Target Missile Threats, Surface Targets
Overview of Valiant Shield 2020 experiment that paired a ground-based Aegis combat system with Army units. Lockheed Martin Image
Last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command quietly packed the combat system from a guided-missile destroyer into about the size of a footlocker, took it ashore and hooked it up to an Army artillery unit, an Air Force command node and an F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter. Read More
CYBERCOM: Navy-Marine Integration Must Extend Across the Cyber Realm to Protect Weapons Systems, Data
Gen. Paul Nakasone testifying before Congress in 2019. U.S. Cyber Command Photo
The Navy and Marine Corps must be prepared to handle cyber attacks like the recent attack embedded in routine software updates on thousands of government and business networks, said the nation’s top cybersecurity official. Read More
House Bill Cuts Money for Navy Nuke Cruise Missile, Saves 3 LCS from Decommissioning
Three littoral combat ships in various stages of construction at Marinette, Wisconsin during July 2015. The Navy is seeking to decommission USS Detroit (LCS-7), at right, and USS Little Rock (LCS-9), in the background. The ships were commissioned only in 2016 and 2017, respectively. USS Milwaukee (LCS-5), commissioned in 2015, is to remain in service. Christopher P. Cavas Photo used with permission
House appropriators are cutting development money for the Navy’s ship-launched nuclear cruise missile, preventing the service from decommissioning three Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships and adding funds for a second destroyer, according to the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee’s draft of the Fiscal Year 2022 defense spending bill issued today. Read More
Six Littoral Combat Ships to Deploy by Year’s End as Navy Continues to Refine Operations
USS Charleston (LCS-18) arrives for a contactless port visit ahead of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Sri Lanka on June 23, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy will have six Littoral Combat Ships deployed by the end of the year – a record for the program, several Navy officials have confirmed to USNI News. Read More
