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Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer
This post has been updated to include additional statements from the Navy and from Sen. Jim Inhofe.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy Secretary has committed that the service and its industry partners will have working weapons elevators on aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) by the end of the summer – and the secretary’s job is now on the line over that issue. Read More
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2018. This story is part of USNI News year-end series. Read More
F/A-18F Pilot LCDR Jamie R. Struck the makes first carrier arrested landing using AAG system aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) off the Virginia coast. US Navy Photo
CAPITOL HILL – The Navy’s acquisition chief said the weapons elevators on USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) will be built and installed by the time the ship comes out of its ongoing post-shakedown availability, but he may launch an independent review team to look at the long-term sustainability and reliability of the elevators. Read More
USS Virginia (SSN-774) under construction at the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in 2003. Electric Boat Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy is spending money on shipbuilding, but the industrial base is feeling pressure to upgrade its equipment and invest in training workers to land lucrative contracts.
USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19) being placed into the dry-dock on May 1, 2018. US Navy Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navy will release a 30-year ship repair and modernization plan alongside its 30-year shipbuilding plan next spring, to help the maintenance industry plan its workforce and infrastructure investments with the same confidence that yards on the new-construction side can, the Navy’s acquisition chief said today. Read More
A crane moves the lower stern into place on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. on June 22, 2017. HII Photo
The Senate Armed Services Committee is looking for more information from the Navy before it will support buying additional ships in Fiscal Year 2019, which its House counterparts wholeheartedly endorsed doing. Read More
An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Blue Hawks” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 78 participates in a change of command ceremony near the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on Jan. 15, 2018. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee added to its annual defense bill provisions allowing the military to buy more F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters if the program could achieve sufficient cost-savings, addressing the health and future of the MH-60R anti-submarine warfare helicopter, encouraging the Navy to continue buying aircraft carriers every three years, and more. Read More
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2017.
The following is part of a series. Please also see Top Stories: International Acquisition, Navy Operations, Marine Corps Operations, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Acquisition, International Operations and New Administration.
2017 began with the promise of planning for a larger fleet: at the end of 2016, the Navy announced a 355-ship requirement, and the incoming Trump Administration expressed its support for a larger military and a heftier Navy. Few concrete steps were taken this year, though, to begin a buildup – though many programs that will be pivotal to the 355-ship fleet of the future reached significant programmatic milestones in 2017.
Newport News Shipbuilding cut a 35-ton steel plate to kick off advance construction of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN 80) on Aug. 24, 2017. Ship’s sponsors and U.S. Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles (left) and Katie Ledecky (center), along with Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin (right), signed the steel that will become part of Enterprise’s foundation. Newport News Shipbuilding photo.
The upcoming contract award for the future aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80) will be part of a Defense Department pilot program to award major contracts faster, and Navy leadership is eyeing it as an opportunity to save money by buying two carriers instead of one. Read More
The House Armed Services Committee passed its annual defense bill on Thursday after a 14-hour markup, sending the bill to the full House of Representatives with no major changes to its recommended procurement profile.
Though few amendments that passed directly affect Navy and Marine Corps programs, several that failed or were withdrawn sparked serious debates about how the Navy ought to address pressing issues of the day: hypoxia concerns in the Navy’s fighter fleet, how to transition from the Littoral Combat Ship, industry’s ability to upgrade to the Flight III guided-missile destroyer design and more. Read More
