USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) arrives at Newport News Shipbuilding for its 44-month refueling complex overhaul (RCOH) on March 28, 2013. HII Photo
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) has arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding facility to begin its mid-life refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH), Naval Sea Systems Command officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
Sailors’ vehicles are parked on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) on March, 13 2013. US Navy Photo
When in doubt about grave questions, reach for the classics. What would the likes of Alfred Thayer Mahan or Julian Corbett say about the fate of the big-deck aircraft carrier or nuclear carrier (CVN)? I suspect their ghosts would voice skepticism. Read More
From the March Congressional Budget Office report on Pentagon spending cuts: In 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) faces an 11 percent reduction (after adjusting for inflation) in its base budget from the amount it received in 2012. (The base budget funds the department’s normal activi- ties but excludes overseas military operations like those in Afghanistan.) Under current law, the department’s bud- gets will increase by a cumulative total of 2 percent more than inflation between 2013 and 2021, still well below its funding in 2012 in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. Those limits are mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which capped annual funding for defense and nondefense agencies during that period. Read More
From the March 14, 2013 Congressional Research Service report:
The Navy’s FY2013 budget submission calls for procuring nine Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) class destroyers in FY2013-FY2017, in annual quantities of 2-1-2-2-2. The five DDG-51s scheduled for procurement in FY2013-FY2015, and one of the two scheduled for procurement in FY2016, are to be of the current Flight IIA design. The Navy wants to begin procuring a new version of the DDG-51 design, called the Flight III design, starting with the second of the two ships scheduled for procurement in FY2016. The two DDG-51s scheduled for procurement in FY2017 are also to be of the Flight III design. The Flight III design is to feature a new and more capable radar called the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR). The Navy for FY2013 is requesting congressional approval to use a multiyear procurement (MYP) arrangement for the nine DDG-51s scheduled for procurement in FY2013-FY2017. Read More
USS Miami (SSN-755) on March, 15 2012 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy submarine damaged by an arsonist in Kittery, Maine will be repaired, said Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter on Monday. Read More
USS Miami (SSN-755) on March, 15 2012 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. US Navy Photo
The Navy may not repair a nuclear attack submarine damaged in May by an act of arson, according to the Associated Press. Read More
Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Detroit and Station St. Clair Shores, Mich., conduct joint ice-rescue training on Lake St. Clair, Feb. 12, 2013. US Coast Guard Photo
The Coast Guard plans to reduce surface and air operations by 21 percent and defer depot level maintenance due to budget cuts, according to a February draft memo obtained by USNI News. Read More
A member of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard plays “Taps” during a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery on March, 8. US Navy Photo
Staff at Arlington National Cemetery will avoid furloughs this fiscal year reducing fears the cemetery would extend wait times for burials, Army National Military Cemeteries Executive Director Kathryn Condon told Congress on Wednesday. Read More
Marine Cpl. Jorge Salazar at Naval Medical Center San Diego’s (NMCSD) Wounded Warrior Battalion-West detachment, speaks to Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command, Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward in January.
Wounded Warrior programs and TRICARE beneficiaries are at risk due to the ongoing budget uncertainty, the Pentagon’s top health official told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday.
“How we sustain our robust capability to provide mental health care to our service members and families” for the rest of this fiscal year is an unanswered question, Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said. Read More
Shipbuilding and related programs that could experience execution problems under a year-long CR include the CVN-78 aircraft carrier program, the CVN Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) program, the DDG-51 program, the DDG-1000 program, an amphibious assault ship (LHA) funded in a prior year, and the Moored Training Ship, according to the Congressional Research Service March, 1 shipbuilding report. Read More
