Two U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets from Strike Fighter Squadron 31 fly a combat patrol over Afghanistan on Dec. 15, 2008. US Air Force Photo
The House Appropriations defense subcommittee is considering a bill today that would provide $584.2 billion in defense base budget spending and would give the Navy additional ships and aircraft beyond its request. Read More
House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) traveled to Europe in mid-April with several members of Congress to visit troops stationed overseas and to meet with our allies in the region. Among other stops, he met with Maj. Gen. Niel Nelson, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, right. Photo courtesy Thornberry’s official Facebook page.
The House’s 2018 defense bill is likely to go far beyond the Pentagon’s spending request, with House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) telling reporters he wants to see a $640-billion top line for the base budget that would largely include items in the services’ unfunded priorities lists. Read More
An artist’s conception of a Raytheon’s SPY-6 radar on a Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer . Raytheon Image
The Navy wants to buy guided-missile destroyers and attack submarines in bulk but has plans to upgrade the designs of both after the purchase, causing some concern among lawmakers that the design changes could hurt the programs’ stable cost and schedule. Read More
Austal USA frigate design. Austal USA image
The Navy has slowed its frigate procurement timeline, looking at awarding a detail design and construction contract in Fiscal Year 2020 to allow more time to understand what it needs the ship to do and how it might affordably meet those requirements. Read More
Tom Boucher, second from right, program manager for the Electromagnetic Railgun at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), talks to Rear Adm. David Hahn, chief of naval research, during a visit to the railgun facility onboard Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division on Jan. 12, 2017. US Navy photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers are happy with the Navy’s progress developing unmanned systems and directed energy weapons but would like to see more effort operationalizing and fielding these technologies, the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee said this week. Read More
Newport News Shipbuilding placed a 900-ton superlift into dry dock, continuing construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Nearly 90 lifts have been placed in the dock and joined together since the ship’s keel was laid in August 2015. Newport News Shipbuilding photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee believes the Navy can reach a 355-ship fleet in the 25- to 30-year timeframe, given industrial base capacity and expected funding levels. Read More
The guided-missile submarine USS Ohio (SSGN 726) arrives at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on April 4, 2017, to begin a major maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. US Navy photo.
The Fiscal Year 2017 compromise spending bill has “shortfalls” in ship maintenance funding, but the House Armed Services Committee will look to increase funding for maintenance and modernization availabilities in 2018, two top committee members said today. Read More
Sailors aboard the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) stand topside as the submarine returns home to Guam on Dec. 8, 2016. Oklahoma City, one of four forward-deployed submarines homeported in Apra Harbor, returned to Guam this morning after an eight-month maintenance period known as Docking Selected Restricted Availability. US Navy Photo
U.S. Pacific Command operations were the focus of House and Senate armed services committee hearings this week, and PACOM commander Adm. Harry Harris’ testimony may have provided a glimpse at what he’d like to see in the Fiscal Year 2018 and beyond budget requests. Read More
Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) launching at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard on Dec. 12, 2015. HII Photo
The Navy would have to spend $102 billion annually build, operate and maintain a 355-ship fleet over the next 30 years, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office issued on Monday. Read More
The following is an April 24, 2017, Congressional Budget Office report, “Costs of Building a 355-Ship Navy.” Read More
