USS George Washington (CVN-73) and its strike group in 2013. The House voted to refuel the carrier rather than decommission the ship. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee this week passed a bill that gave the Navy and Marine Corps virtually everything they wanted in their procurement accounts – plus an additional $5.9 billion in a separate account – creating a Reagan-era defense bill for their Senate counterparts to accept or reject. Read More
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher C. Bogdan (right), the Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, and U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, Deputy Commandant Aviation on May 20, 2015. US Marine Corps Photo
The F-35’s logistics information system’s inability to integrate engine data with other vital information about the aircraft is causing a two-month delay in the Air Force reaching its initial operating capability and forcing Marines to use “lots of time-consuming work-arounds” to keep their F-35 Lightning II’s flying. Read More
A Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, performs a conventional take-off on Dec. 11, 2015. US Marine Corps Photo
The Marine Corps has not been affected by a software glitch that left the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters with radar resets and other software stability issues, the Marines’ top aviator told the Senate last week. Read More
Aviation Structural Mechanic (Equipment) 2nd Class M. V. Volosko, assigned to the Pukin Dogs of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 143, places a canopy brace on an F/A-18E Super Hornet in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) on June 17, 2015. US Navy photo.
The Navy may get a boost in readiness through additional military construction to support aviation readiness and shipyard workforce growth, if provisions in the House Armed Services Committee’s 2017 defense bill pass, but the Marine Corps would not get any aviation readiness dollars above what the service requested in its February budget submission. Read More
An F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter on Nov. 3, 2014. The Navy included eight of the aircraft and 12 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in its FY 2016 Unfunded Priorities List to Congress. US Navy Photo
The Navy has increased its projected annual use of the F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter, adding in 60 hours per plane per year as the service refines its training plans. Read More
Oshkosh Defense L-ATV which won the competition for the JLTV for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Oshkosh Photo
The Marine Corps used its limited funding in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request to protect the Amphibious Combat Vehicle and the Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar acquisition programs, taking cuts instead in the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program that was already going to be somewhat delayed by a protest over the contract award, the head of the service told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Bounty Hunters of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2 lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) as the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18) transits alongside in April 2012. US Navy photo.
CAPITOL HILL – The commandant of the Marine Corps and the chief of naval operations have been discussing how to design a more effective naval campaign that leverages both the carrier strike group and the amphibious ready group to fight a near-peer competitor, Commandant Gen. Robert Neller told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2015. Read More
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2015. Read More
An EA-18G Growler, assigned to the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron 130, launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) on Jan 13, 2014. US Navy Photo
The House and Senate appropriations committees released a final Fiscal Year 2016 spending plan that meets the new requirements of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 and funds the Defense Department at $572.8 billion in base and Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) funding. Read More
