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

INDOPACOM: China Has Not Responded to U.S. Attempts to Establish Communication

INDOPACOM: China Has Not Responded to U.S. Attempts to Establish Communication

Adm. John C. Aquilino, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, listens to a brief during the USINDOPACOM Commander’s Summit in Hawaii on Dec. 13, 2022. U.S. Navy Photo

China has not responded to any of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s requests to establish direct communication channels between its commander and the commanders of China’s main military commands, Adm. John Aquilino said Thursday. Read More

Congress Notified of Potential $895M Tomahawk Sale to Australia

Congress Notified of Potential $895M Tomahawk Sale to Australia

A tomahawk cruise missile launches from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG-86) for a live-fire exercise during Valiant Shield 2018 on Sept. 18, 2018. US Navy Photo

This story has been updated to include comments from Australia’s Minister for Defense Industry Pat Conroy.

The State Department authorized the potential sale of Tomahawk missiles to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced today. Read More

Army and Navy Cancelled March Hypersonic Test Due to Battery Failure

Army and Navy Cancelled March Hypersonic Test Due to Battery Failure

A common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) launches from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii, at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, March 19, 2020, during a Department of Defense flight experiment. US Navy photo.

The Army and Navy scrubbed their latest hypersonic test flight due to a battery failure during a pre-launch check, the Navy’s top officer for strategic programs said Friday. Read More

Navy and Marine Corps Debate Amphibious Ship Costs as Clash Over LPD-17 Flight II Line Continues

Navy and Marine Corps Debate Amphibious Ship Costs as Clash Over LPD-17 Flight II Line Continues

The future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) departed Huntington Ingalls Shipyard to conduct Acceptance Trials in the Gulf of Mexico. US Navy Photo

This story has been updated to include additional information about ship cost numbers from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy halted its pursuit of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock line because of the program’s growing costs and delays in the shipyard, the service’s top officer said Wednesday. Read More