An F/A-18F Super Hornet attached to the Gladiators of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106 launches from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) during flight operations on March 29, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy has to move quicker in its development and fielding of a sixth-generation fighter, the service’s top uniformed officer said Tuesday. Read More
Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Joshua Espinoza, from Houston, welds a bulkhead on a weather deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in Portsmouth, Va., on Aug. 7, 2020. US Navy Photo
As it works to improve sustainment efforts across its platforms and infrastructure, the Navy has formed new working groups to problem solve the issues contributing to its maintenance and sustainment woes. Read More
An E-2D Advanced Hawkeye with VAW-126 is refueled in the air. US Navy Photo
The Navy is bringing an aerial refueling capability to its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye command and control fleet, with the first operational squadron certifying its pilots to refuel with Air Force tankers. Read More
Lt. Joshua Chester, a Navy pilot from Lorton, Virginia, poses in front of an F/A-18E Super Hornet, assigned to the “Sunliners” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81 on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in the Atlantic Ocean. US Navy Photo
The Navy now understands what has been causing physiological events in aviators – which spiked so sharply in 2017 that flight instructors refused to get into their jets to train new student pilots – with a recently completed root cause analysis pointing to a complex relationship between aircrew, their flight gear and their aircraft. Read More
An F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the ‘Black Knights’ of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 154, launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on Dec. 12, 2019. US Navy Photo
An F/A-18F Super Hornet operating off USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) crashed in the Philippine Sea on Thursday, a Navy official confirmed to USNI News. Read More
USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) departs Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula shipyard to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing on Feb. 3, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Senate Armed Services Committee version of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act keeps shipbuilding in line with the Navy’s budget request from February but adds additional oversight to the service’s plans for unmanned ships and unmanned aviation, committee staffers told reporters on Thursday. Read More
An undated photo of the Super Hornet that crashed on July 31, 2019 into the Rainbow Canyon at the Death Valley National Park. US Navy Photo
An experienced pilot’s split-second lapse in judgment is the likely cause of a 2019 F/A-18E Super Hornet crash in Death Valley National Park, Calif., the Navy concluded in a command investigation obtained by USNI News. Read More
Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller III, commander of Naval Air Forces, addresses T-34C Turbo Mentor aircraft maintainers and midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy at Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) before taking a flight with Lt. Jason “JB” Ely of Strike Fighter Squadron 122 (VFA-122) on Aug. 6, 2019. US Navy photo.
This post is the first in a two-part series on the naval aviation community’s effort to build better readiness and how that is changing the future of naval aviation.
This post has been updated to note that the readiness push resulted in 90 more mission capable Super Hornets in March and 340 more aircraft overall compared to the same time last year.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – “I love data, it’s just awesome.”
When Commander of Naval Air Forces (CNAF) Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller took command in January 2018, years of tight budgets had robbed the naval aviation community of maintenance and spare parts funds, leaving some squadrons with just enough flyable aircraft to keep their pilots qualified but not enough to do any kind of sophisticated training. Read More
Seaman Sakyra Baker stands aft lookout as an F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 lands on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) on Feb. 21, 2019. US Navy Photo
CAPITOL HILL – The Navy’s request to end the F/A-18E-F Super Hornet production line after 2021 instead of signing another multiyear production contract was not to save money, but rather to allow manufacturer Boeing to convert the production line from building new planes to overhauling old ones at a rate of 40 per year. Read More
FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) deploying on Jan. 21, 2020 from Toulon, France. French Navy Photo
The French Navy (Marine Nationale) Carrier Strike Group set sail yesterday for a long operational deployment named, “Foch.” Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort set course to the Eastern Mediterranean before sailing for the Northern Atlantic area. Read More
