Ingalls Shipbuilding in May 2019. HII Photo
After coming through 2020 with record sales and growing its unmanned systems portfolio through acquisitions and partnerships, Huntington Ingalls Industries plans to use that momentum in 2021 to integrate its different business lines to help its customers tackle more complex challenges, the company president said today. Read More
An MH-60S Sea Hawk, assigned to the “Eightballers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8, flies next to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) while they transit the Pacific Ocean Feb. 15, 2020. Operating as an Expeditionary Strike Force, the Navy-Marine Corps team integrates carrier strike group combat power with the flexible capability of an expeditionary strike group to provide the fleet commander with a capable, credible combat force that can be deployed anywhere in the world. US Navy photo.
The Navy’s engineering community has already started conducting light carrier design and engineering studies, even as the Navy and the joint force still consider whether they’d even want to invest in a CVL to supplement supercarriers to bring more distributed capability to the fleet for less cost. Read More
Attack boat Vermont (SSN-792) float-off on March 29, 2019. General Dynamics Electric Boats Photo
This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.
2020 may be among the most consequential years for Navy acquisition in recent memory, with the service making big moves in support of its Distributed Maritime Operations operating concept. Read More
Defense Secretary Mark Esper tours the avenger class minesweeper USS Devastator, docked at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on Oct. 28, 2020. DoD Photo
At the beginning of the year, the Navy and Marine Corps sent a new fleet plan to Pentagon leaders that called for relying on smaller ships and unmanned vessels to meet future missions and defeat future adversaries. The Pentagon rejected the plan.
Nine-months later, Pentagon leaders reached the same conclusion: the Navy needed to be more distributed and weighted towards small combatants and unmanned craft.
What did that additional effort really get the sea services? Not much, according to some officials involved in both processes.
