Sailors assigned to Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 5 prepare to unload Humvees from a landing craft, air cushion (LCAC) during amphibious assault training as part of exercise Dawn Blitz in June 2013. US Navy photo.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy’s renewed focus on innovation will help the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab find ready and willing participants to both host and shape its live-force experiments, the lab’s commanding general told USNI News. Read More
The following is the April 14, 2015 memo announcing new policy on disinterring and identifying missing service members. Read More
An F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighter conducts a touch and go landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to include a comment from Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.).
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will be “almost certainly will be, the last manned strike fighter aircraft the Department of the Navy will ever buy or fly,” signaling key assumptions in the Navy’s aviation future as the service prepares to develop follow-ons to the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Read More
An MV-22 Osprey assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163, Reinforced, approaches the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5) to transport an AV-8B Harrier jet engine to the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) during a replenishment-at-sea in October 2014. US Navy photo.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy has stood up an Auxiliary Platforms and Payloads Council at the Pentagon to look at “new, innovative methods to fulfill the missions” the Navy and Marine Corps struggle to efficiently meet with current platforms, director of expeditionary warfare Maj. Gen. Robert Walsh said Tuesday. Read More
A landing craft air cushion (LCAC) assigned to Amphibious Craft Unit (ACU) 4 approaches shore to perform a beach landing on Oct. 25, 2013. US Navy PhotoLCAC
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Navy is further extending the life of Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCACs) that have already gone through their Service Life Extension Programs (SLEPs), with the oldest craft set for retirement this year and the replacement not ready for its first delivery until 2017. Read More
A Ch-46E Sea Knight with Marine Medium Helicopter Training Squadron 164 with a MV-22 Osprey. US Naval Institute Photo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — It’s perhaps a most fitting tribute: The first active-duty Marine Corps operational squadron to get the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter became the last one to fly it and officially transition to its replacement, the MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor. Read More
The following is the April 9, 2015 Better Buying Power 3.0 memo and outline, signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L)Frank Kendall. Read More
USS Porter (DDG-78) fires its MK 45 5-inch lightweight gun during a weapons training exercise on April 3, 2015. US Navy Photo
PENTAGON — The Navy is still interested in pursuing guided rounds for naval guns on its surface fleet but waiting for the technology to get cheaper before moving forward, the director of surface warfare said Wednesday in a press briefing with reporters. Read More
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) transits the Strait of Gibraltar on March 31, 2015, as part of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. US Navy photo.
Navy leadership is continuing to push for its preferred guided missile cruiser modernization plan — which would put 11 of the 22 CGs in reduced operating status until the other 11 near retirement — despite Congress rejecting the plan during last year’s budget negotiations.
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Two Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornets assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323) fly a mission during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010. Two planes from the same squadron made an emergency landing in Taiwan on Wednesday. US Navy Photo
China issued the U.S. a warning not to interfere with its relationship with Taiwan following the Wednesday emergency landing of two Marine strike fighters in Taiwan. Read More
