A sailor welds during the ongoing maintinance availability for carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on June 26, 2014. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated following Pentagon and Navy press briefings on the FY 2018 budget.
THE PENTAGON – The Department of the Navy’s $180-billion budget request sets out to improve overall readiness of the Navy and the Marine Corps while making only modest asks for new aircraft and ships. Read More
Lockheed Martin MQ-25A bid. Lockheed Martin Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s latest revised list of requirements for its carrier-based unmanned aerial tanker will likely push all four competitors to redesign their bids, the head of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Work division said on Tuesday. Read More
X-47B Salty Dog 501 flies over USS Theodore Roosevelt on Aug. 17, 2014. US Naval Institute Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Striking the balance between a tanker and a surveillance aircraft is an area of concern for Navy aviation planners and industry as they craft what will be the service’s first operational, carrier unmanned aerial vehicle, commander of Naval Air Forces said on Thursday. Read More
X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) launches from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in 2013. US Navy Photo
After months of deliberation, the name and designation of the Navy’s first carrier unmanned aerial vehicle are now official: MQ-25A Stingray, service officials told USNI News this week. Read More
Aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) sits pier side in the early morning light at Newport News Shipbuilding in 2014. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services authorizes $20.6 billion in spending for Navy shipbuilding programs, prohibits the inactivation of cruisers as part of the Navy’s proposed phased modernization plan, and calls for the Navy to build aircraft carriers in four-year periods instead of five, according to its version of the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, released today. Read More
An artist’s concept of a proposed unmanned carrier vehicle design. Lockheed Martin Image
ARLINGTON, Va. — To meet the Navy’s new set of requirements for its unmanned MQ-XX Stingray carrier tanker, the service should consider a design that could expand into a stealthy, high-end strike platform, the head of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works told reporters on Tuesday. Read More
Northrop Grumman’s X-47B is loaded Monday onboard the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) for a planned May, 14 2013 catapult launch. US Navy Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navy wants to continue to tweak what it will call the Stingray — its first carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle. Read More
An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator sits on an aircraft elevator of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on May 6, 2013. US Navy Photo
The Navy wants to change the Pentagon imposed designation of its RAQ-25 carrier-based unmanned aerial tanker with its own nom-de-drone – Stingray. Read More
A Raytheon SM-6 launched from an Aegis guided missile destroyer. US Navy Photo
The Navy fared well during late-in-the-game Fiscal Year 2017 budget negotiations with the Defense Department, despite a widespread initial concern about cuts to the Littoral Combat Ship/Frigate program, Navy leadership told USNI News. Read More
X-47B conducts its first night flight April 10 over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. on April, 10 2014. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO — The head of Naval Air Systems Command said the effort to build the Navy’s first unmanned aerial vehicle to operate with the carrier air wing would be a leaner process than what was planned for the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program. Read More
