USS Tripoli (LHA-7) arrives at its new homeport at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2020. US Navy Photo
This story has been updated to include more information about the amphibious warship the HASC bill authorizes.
The House Armed Services Committee early Thursday approved its annual defense policy bill and boosted the Navy’s shipbuilding account and authorizing 13 battleforce ships. Read More
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) launching at Ingalls Shipbuilding on June 5, 2021. HII Photo
This story has been updated to include more information about the amphibious warship included in the amendment put forth by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.).
The House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday adopted an amendment that would authorize four additional battleforce ships for the Navy and increase the overall Defense Department topline by $23.9 billion. Read More
Three U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornets operating from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) patrol over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on June 8, 2020. US Navy Photo
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is preserving money to develop a new surface-launched nuclear cruise missile, and is adding 12 Super Hornets and a second guided-missile destroyer to the Navy’s shipbuilding plan, according to a copy of the chairman’s mark for the Fiscal Year 2022 budget obtained by USNI News on Wednesday. Read More
An Oshkosh-built Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires vehicle with a Naval Strike Missile attached during a November 2020 test at Point Mugu, Calif. US Navy Photo
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Key to the Navy and Marine Corps future battle plans in the Western Pacific are populating ships and expeditionary ground units with anti-ship missiles. Read More
Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) launches a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) during Exercise Pacific Griffin on Oct. 1, 2019. US Navy Photo
The Chinese military sees the Littoral Combat Ship armed with anti-ship missiles as a key element of a U.S. distributed maritime force in the Western Pacific, according to a translation of a 2020 Chinese government research paper on the U.S. Navy’s distributed lethality concept reviewed by USNI News. Read More
Sailors assigned to Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron (MSRON) 11 sail through San Diego Bay aboard 34-foot Sea Ark patrol boat as part of sea trials during Maritime Expeditionary Security Group (MESG) 1’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) on July 20, 2021. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee readiness subcommittee wants to make sure the independent report on the health of the Navy’s fleet continues in perpetuity.
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An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 (HSC 21) lands on the flight deck of the independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS-16) on July 5, 2021. US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR — The Navy is making Littoral Combat Ship deployments in the Indo-Pacific region more flexible and unpredictable, allowing the service to respond to impromptu engagement opportunities and ensuring the LCS are not tied to any fixed location for too long, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said during a media conference call on Wednesday in conjunction with his official visit to Singapore. Read More
USS Charleston (LCS-18) arrives for a contactless port visit ahead of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Sri Lanka on June 23, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy will have six Littoral Combat Ships deployed by the end of the year – a record for the program, several Navy officials have confirmed to USNI News. Read More
Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 2nd Class Trenton B. Coble, from Edgewood, Texas, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21, guides an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter during a vertical replenishment exercise aboard Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16). US Navy Photo
KUALA LUMPUR – Two Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships – USS Tulsa (LCS-16) and USS Charleston (LCS-18) – are currently on their first deployments to the Indo-Pacific region, with Charleston recently conducting a refueling stop in Singapore at Changi Naval Base and Tulsa operating in the Philippine Sea. Read More
The Independence-variant littoral combat ships USS Montgomery (LCS 8) and USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) operate in the South China Sea, accompanied by an MH-60S Sea Hawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, Jan. 28, 2020. US Navy photo
The Navy is now pushing the Littoral Combat Ships out into the Pacific in force after more than a decade of stops and starts and studies. Read More
