he MK46 Mod 1 weapon system fires a round during a live-fire qualification exercise aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD-18). US NAvy Photo
The Navy has replaced two 57mm guns planned on the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer designed to fight off swarm boat attacks with a smaller pair of 30mm guns, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) told USNI News on Monday. Read More
Sailors from the amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) and Navy divers assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 11, Mobile Diving and Salvage Company 11-7, participate in the second underway recovery test for the NASA Orion Program on Aug. 3, 2014. US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy and NASA are currently conducting a second round of at sea testing on board USS Anchorage (LPD-23) to learn how to recover NASA’s newest manned spacecraft, service officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) approaches fleet replenishment oiler USNS Pecos (T-AO-197). US Navy Photo
The Navy is intent on squeezing every dollar it can out of its next generation amphibious warship program ahead of finalized set of requirements due next year, the Navy’s chief shipbuilder told a congressional panel on Friday. Read More
Gen. John Dunford in 2012. DoD Photo
Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Pentagon’s pick to lead the Marine Corps, told Congress on Thursday he backs a congressional plan to add a 12th San Antonio-class amphibious warship to the fleet to the planned class of 11. Read More
USS New York (LPD-21) in 2012. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s second look at the requirements and design of its next amphibious warship is walking the line between capability and affordability, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command told reporters Thursday at NAVSEA’s temporary headquarters. Read More
The following is the May 12, 2014 Congressional Research Service report,
Navy LX(R) Amphibious Ship Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
USS San Antonio (LPD 17) prepares to moor in Norfolk, Va. in 2013. US Navy Photo
In the 1960s our nation was fixated with President John F. Kennedy’s vision to have a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The country was wholly supportive of his goal. With bipartisan support from Congress, the government approved the funding for NASA that was needed and the nation’s “best and brightest” engineers and scientists flocked to the space industry. Millions of Americans were glued to their television sets in July 1969 and cheered when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and the words of Astronaut Neil Armstrong will always be remembered as he made that first step on the lunar surface: “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” Read More
An infantry Marine with 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, walks across a field during a security patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Feb. 20, 2014. US Marine Corps Photo
The Marine Corps is preparing for its new normal with a force of 175,000, that plans to operate under the constraints of sequestration, the assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, told a key Senate subcommittee on Wednesday. Read More
USS Makin Island (LHD-8), alongside the dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD-45), right, and the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD-22) on March 14, 2014. US Navy Photo
A constellation of twenty former U.S. Marine Corps generals — including a former commandant —wrote Congress to “highlight concerns,” on the health of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious forces and are throwing their support behind extending the San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship hull form beyond the Navy’s current plan of 11 ships.
Sailors assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) recover an Orion capsule into the well deck of Arlington. US Navy Photo
The Navy and NASA conducted tests this week in Norfolk, Va. to prove that a San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship could be used to recover the space agency’s next bid for manned space flight, NASA officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
