Tag Archives: northrop grumman

FY 2017 Budget: Tight Navy Budget in Line With Pentagon Drive for High End Warfighting Power But Brings Increased Risk

FY 2017 Budget: Tight Navy Budget in Line With Pentagon Drive for High End Warfighting Power But Brings Increased Risk

Sailors man the phone and distance line aboard the Arleigh Burke-Class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG-57) on Nov. 7, 2014. US Navy Photo

Sailors man the phone and distance line aboard the Arleigh Burke-Class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG-57) on Nov. 7, 2014. US Navy Photo

This is the final version of this post.

PENTAGON — The Department of the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2017 lower-than-expected budget submission follows closely with an overall Department of Defense drive to build higher end warfighting capabilities — but at a cost, according to budget documents released on Tuesday. Read More

Pentagon to Navy: Convert UCLASS Program Into Unmanned Aerial Tanker, Accelerate F-35 Development, Buy More Super Hornets

Pentagon to Navy: Convert UCLASS Program Into Unmanned Aerial Tanker, Accelerate F-35 Development, Buy More Super Hornets

X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo

X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) effort is being retooled as primarily a carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling platform — one of several Pentagon directed naval aviation mandates in the service’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget submission. Read More

Planned Japanese Self Defense Force Aircraft Buys, Destroyer Upgrades Could Tie Into U.S. Navy's Networked Battle Force

Planned Japanese Self Defense Force Aircraft Buys, Destroyer Upgrades Could Tie Into U.S. Navy’s Networked Battle Force

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) guided-missile defense destroyer JDS Atago (DDG-177) maneuvers with other JMDSF and U.S. Navy ships belonging to the USS George Washington carrier strike group in 2011. US Navy Photo

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) guided-missile defense destroyer JDS Atago (DDG-177) maneuvers with other JMDSF and U.S. Navy ships belonging to the USS George Washington carrier strike group in 2011. US Navy Photo

Changes in Japan’s defense posture, pending aircraft buys from the U.S. and planned combat system modification to Japanese ships will give the Japanese Self Defense Force (JSDF) the practical and political ability to fight as a part of the U.S. Navy’s new networked carrier strike group concept — which would expand the lethal power and range of both forces, USNI News has learned. Read More

NAVAIR To Begin Negotiating MQ-4C Triton LRIP 2 Contract and Advance Procurement

NAVAIR To Begin Negotiating MQ-4C Triton LRIP 2 Contract and Advance Procurement

Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system completed its first flight May 22, 2013, from the company's manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. Northrop Grumman Photo

Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system completed its first flight May 22, 2013, from the company’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. Northrop Grumman Photo

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced it will begin negotiations on a second low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle. Read More

SECNAV Mabus: X-47B Tests Should Continue Without Giving UCLASS Advantage to Northrop Grumman

SECNAV Mabus: X-47B Tests Should Continue Without Giving UCLASS Advantage to Northrop Grumman

X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo

X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said he would like to see the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program move forward soon, and he’d like to continue testing the X-47B Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program in the mean time without giving an advantage to builder Northrop Grumman. Read More

SASC Markup Adds $725 Million for 2 New Carrier UAV Prototypes, More X-47B Testing

SASC Markup Adds $725 Million for 2 New Carrier UAV Prototypes, More X-47B Testing

Northrop Grumman X-47B Salty Dog 502 during carrier tests in 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

Northrop Grumman X-47B Salty Dog 502 during carrier tests in 2014. US Naval Institute Photo

The Senate Armed Services Committee — concerned with the Navy’s direction for its planned unmanned carrier aircraft program — wants the Pentagon to oversee development of two new carrier capable prototype unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and restart testing of the service’s two Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) in a combined $725 million effort, according to a summary of the SASC’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization bill released Thursday evening. Read More