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
Sailors assigned to amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) conduct maintenance during a ship’s restricted availability (SRA) period in Sasebo on April 14, 2016. US Navy photo.
A mid-year review of Navy operations and maintenance funding found a $848-million shortfall, forcing the Navy to restrict flying hours, defer five ship maintenance availabilities until Fiscal Year 2017, defer continuous maintenance work for two amphibious ready groups and a carrier strike group – and nearly suspend work at the service’s largest regional maintenance center. Read More
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter speaks with reporters at theU.S. Air Force Academy after touring the campus in Colorado Springs, Colo., May 12, 2016. DoD Photo
This post has been updated with a statement from the Senate Armed Services Committee.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the House version of the Defense Authorization bill to shift money from emergency war spending to the base budget is gimmickry that is “gambling with warfighting money at a time of war.” Read More
Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) launching at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard on Dec. 12, 2015. HII Photo
An ongoing force structure assessment and the goals of the next presidential administration will likely give the service’s latest long-range shipbuilding plan an unusually short shelf life. Read More
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
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
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
The following is the April 12, 2016 Congressional Research Service report, Defense: FY2017 Budget Request, Authorization, and Appropriations. 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
