Japan increasingly finds itself amid an unsettling security environment. The growing capabilities of the Chinese and Russian militaries coincide with intensified air and naval activity against the backdrop of unresolved territorial disputes. On the Korean Peninsula, the erratic regime of Kim Jong-un alarms its neighbors with provocative rhetoric and missile tests. And in Bangladesh and Indonesia, violent Islamic extremism extends its reach with ISIS-supported attacks. Read More
The following is Federal Procurement Data System report on the top 100 U.S. contractors in FY 2015 ranked by contract dollar amounts. Read More
Sailors aboard the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) prepare to launch an MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system on Aug. 15, 2015. US Navy photo.
The Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado (LCS-4) is now outfitted with the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle and with Raytheon’s newly upgraded Fire Scout ground control system, ahead of an upcoming Coronado maiden deployment to Singapore. Read More
USS Porter (DDG-78) conducts a structural test firing of SeaRAM in Spain on Feb. 28, 2016, as the first Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer with a SeaRAM installation. US Navy photo.
The Navy successfully launched the Raytheon SeaRAM Anti-Ship Missile Defense System from an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer for the first time ever on March 4, a final step in rapidly fielding a self-defense capability on the Mediterranean-based USS Porter (DDG-78) through an unconventional acquisition process. Read More
USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) launches a Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) during a live-fire test of the ship’s aegis weapons system on June 19, 2014. US Navy Photo
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error a previous version of this post had the incorrect hull number for the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones. The ship is designated DDG-53 — not DDG-32. The designation DDG-32 was assigned to the decommissioned Forrest Sherman-class destroyer also named John Paul Jones.
The former frigate USS Reuben James (FFG-57) was sunk in January during a test of the Navy’s new anti-surface warfare (ASuW) variant of the Raytheon Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), company officials told USNI News on Monday. Read More
A Raytheon SM-6 launched from an Aegis guided missile destroyer. US Navy Photo
The Navy fared well during late-in-the-game Fiscal Year 2017 budget negotiations with the Defense Department, despite a widespread initial concern about cuts to the Littoral Combat Ship/Frigate program, Navy leadership told USNI News. Read More
USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile as seen from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on Sept. 23, 2014. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO – Any U.S. Navy ship or submarine capable of firing a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) could be armed with an 1000-nautical mile anti-ship cruise missile in less than a decade, service officials told USNI News on Wednesday during the West 2016 conference. Read More
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
THAAD Missile Battery. Missile Defense Agency Photo
PENTAGON — Following the Sunday launch of a North Korean ballistic missile that propelled a satellite into low earth orbit, a Department of Defense spokesman confirmed the U.S. and South Korea are entering talks to deploy a new mobile ballistic missile defense (BMD) system to the peninsula. Read More
Launch of a SM-6. US Navy Photo
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter confirmed the Navy was developing a modification to the Raytheon Standard Missile 6 that will give the service a supersonic anti-ship weapon to reach a target more than 200 nautical miles away. Read More
