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Lockheed Martin MQ-25A Concept. Lockheed Martin Image
Lockheed Martin unveiled its concept for the Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial tanker in a series of images provided to USNI News on Monday by the company. Read More
Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross at the White House on March 22, 2018. Image via CNN
THE PENTAGON — The Trump Administration announced tariffs and other restrictions on China’s high-tech industry Thursday. The implicit message is the actions intend to guard the U.S. military’s technological advantage in a 21st Century battlespace.
USS Billings (LCS-15) launches sideways into the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin in 2017. Lockheed Martin Photo
CAPITOL HILL — Navy leaders are committed to buying a single Littoral Combat Ship in Fiscal Year 2019 despite increasing concern the rate would put shipbuilders at a disadvantage in the upcoming frigate competition. Read More
Littoral Combat Ship Tulsa (LCS-16) is heading back to Austal USA after launching from the drydock at BAE Ship Systems. She’s passing Austal’s vessel completion yard where USNS Yuma (EPF 8), future USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) and future USS Omaha (LCS 12) are docked in 2016. Austal USA Photo
The Navy’s plan to buy just one Littoral Combat Ship in Fiscal Year 2019 has the two LCS shipbuilders uneasy, just a year before the program is set to transition to a guided-missile frigate and downselect to a single contractor. Read More
Seaman Lance Gilinksy stands lookout watch on the fantail of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) while an F-35C Lightning II, from the “Rough Raiders” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 125 approaches on Dec. 8, 2017. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. — The F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter production is ramping-up, but the Pentagon’s official in charge of the program warns the current $94 million to $120 million cost per jet is still too high and could become unaffordable if more savings can’t be squeezed out of the manufacturing process.
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Artist’s Concept of the General Atomics MQ-25 Stingray. GA Image used with permission
The Navy’s pilotless carrier-based air tanker bidders are beginning to announce development partners.
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 PENTAGON – The Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial tanker project, previously described as a rapid acquisition program for the department, is now not set to be integrated into the air wing until 2026, officials said on Monday.
Launching of Virginia-class submarine Indiana. HII Photo
Large military contractors are indicating they’re now ready to invest in their facilities and manufacturing capacity despite so much uncertainty around the Pentagon’s spending levels this current year and into Fiscal Year 2019. 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 2017: Navy Acquisition, Navy Operations, Marine Corps Operations, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Acquisition, International Operations and New Administration.
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.
