Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday meets with Sailors during his visit to Naval Expeditionary Intelligence Command. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The chief of naval operations defended the Navy’s force-generation model, saying that it could be tweaked to change the balance of deployed forces versus those ready to surge if needed – but the 36-month maintenance, training and deployment cycle fundamentally works. Read More
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper delivers a speech to students and faculty of the U.S. Naval War College on Aug. 27, 2019. US Navy Photo
Release of the Navy’s long-range shipbuilding plan and service’s plan to grow to at least 355 ships is on indefinite hold on orders from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, USNI News has learned. Read More
The Honorable Thomas Modly, acting Secretary of the Navy, talks with Capt. John J. Cummings, USS Gerald R. Ford'(CVN 78) commanding officer, in the ship’s pilothouse. Modly embarked Ford after the ship successfully completed Aircraft Compatibility Testing to discuss Ford’s progress and to see the ship operate at sea. US Navy photo.
The Navy’s plans to get to 355 manned ships by 2030 will rely on new classes of ships that don’t exist yet – including new kinds of amphibious and supply ships as well as “lightly manned” ships – the acting Navy secretary told USNI News. Read More
Gen. David H. Berger addresses an audience of senior enlisted Marines and Sailors about Force Design at the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Symposium in Quantico, Va. on Oct. 17, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger previewed a shift in focus for the Marine Corps soon after taking over the job this summer, with his Commandant’s Planning Guidance. Now, he’s previewing what that shift will mean for the gear the Marines use and how they spend their money, writing in an essay in War on the Rocks that the service is over-invested in gear to support traditional land wars and under-invested in naval expeditionary capabilities. Read More
THE PENTAGON – The Navy completed its second full-scope audit amid an effort to reform its business practices to support the National Defense Strategy and great power competition. Read More
Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) pulls along pierside in Naval Base San Diego, Dec. 7, 2018. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO – The Navy is striving to field “revolutionary combat capability” in new ships and through mid-life modernizations, but it can do so while keeping risk low by focusing on new weapons and systems rather than radical new hull designs, the program executive officer for ships said. Read More
Members of a Chinese military honor guard march during a welcome ceremony. DoD photo
A new Chinese defense ministry policy paper counters the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy by casting the U.S. as an aggressive and destabilizing force in Asia. Read More
Mark T. Esper answers questions from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., July 16, 2019. US Army Photo
This post was updated with additional information from the Pentagon.
Army Secretary Mark Esper has been confirmed to serve as the next secretary of defense in a 90-8 vote in the Senate on Tuesday. He was sworn in during an Oval Office ceremony on Tuesday evening. Read More
U.S. Marine Corps AAV-P7/A1 assault amphibious vehicles assigned to Combat Assault Company, 3rd Marine Regiment, unload service members during an amphibious landing demonstration as part of Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise at Pyramid Rock Beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii July 29, 2018. US Marine Corps photo.
New Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger outlined his largely naval priorities for the Marine Corps, and he’s willing to shed some key tenets of the Marines’ amphibious force planning in recent years – including the demand for 38 amphibious warships to support a 2 Marine Expeditionary Brigade-sized forcible entry force. Read More
U.S. Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark T. Esper enters the room before his confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., July 16, 2019. Esper was nominated for Secretary of Defense by President Donald J. Trump on July 15, 2019. (DoD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith)
CAPITOL HILL – Maintaining a technological edge, improving the lives of military families and continuing to present potential adversaries with an assured strong U.S. response to hostile acts would be among Secretary of the Army Mark Esper’s priorities if the Senate approves his nomination to lead the Department of Defense.
