U.S. 6th Fleet Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti renders honors as she passes through sideboys during the 6th Fleet change of command ceremony at Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy on July 1, 2020. US Navy Photo
After less than two months on the job, the head of the Navy’s warfighting development office has been nominated for a new role on the Joint Staff, USNI News has learned. Read More
An MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) idles on a runway at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam after arriving for a deployment as part of an early operational capability (EOC) test. US Navy Photo
The Navy is crafting common unmanned system enablers like autonomy, network standards and control stations that would fall outside individual program offices, allowing program managers to focus on range, stealth or other features that make a particular unmanned vehicle unique.
Read More
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) docks pier side in the port of Duqm, Oman in 2014. US Navy Photo
After seven months, U.S. aircraft carriers have resumed making port calls in Oman, U.S. 5th Fleet officials confirmed to USNI News on Thursday. Read More
Chinese sailors. Xinhua Photo
China surpassed every American security planners’ expectations in its successful building and deploying of the world’s largest maritime fleet in just 20 years, a leading naval strategist said Wednesday. The question now is what Beijing’s military and paramilitary forces will look like in the future. Read More
HMS Queen Elizabeth R08 arriving back in Portsmouth July 2, 2020 after a period at sea conducting Operational Sea Training. UK Royal Navy Photo
U.K.’s new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) has departed Portsmouth, England for a short cruise ahead of training drills with U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters, the Royal Navy announced on Wednesday. Read More
Sailors assigned to Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1 (UUVRON 1), mobilized with Undersea Rescue Command (URC), perform maintenance on a Bluefin-12D, an unmanned underwater vehicle, on board the Norwegian construction support vessel Skandi Patagonia on Nov. 25, 2017. URC is mobilized to support the Argentine government’s search and rescue efforts for the Argentine Navy diesel-electric submarine A.R.A San Juan (S 42). US Navy photo.
Development squadrons working with unmanned underwater and surface vehicles are moving out quickly to develop concepts of operations and human-machine interfaces, even as they’re still using prototypes ahead of the delivery of fleet USVs and UUVs, officials said this week. Read More
As the Navy develops its first operational unmanned systems, the service is advocating for new standards that will help develop a reliable network to manage and control the systems and their data. Read More
The following is the Sept. 8, 2020 Congressional Research Service Report, Navy Large Unmanned Surface and Undersea Vehicles: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
A Ghost Fleet Overlord test vessel takes part in a capstone demonstration during the conclusion of Phase I of the program in September. Two existing commercial fast supply vessels were converted into unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for Overlord testing, which will play a vital role in informing the Navy’s new classes of USVs. US Navy photo.
Several Navy program officials and resource sponsors today outlined how they’ll spend the next couple years giving Congress enough confidence in unmanned surface and underwater vehicles to allow the service to move from prototyping into programs of record. Read More
Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle. Textron photo.
Early next year, U.S. Pacific Fleet will assemble the unmanned systems the Navy has deployed to the Indo-Pacific for an exercise to serve as an early marker on integrating unmanned platforms into the Navy. Read More
