An artist’s conception of a Raytheon’s SPY-6 radar on a Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer . Raytheon Image
The Navy wants to buy guided-missile destroyers and attack submarines in bulk but has plans to upgrade the designs of both after the purchase, causing some concern among lawmakers that the design changes could hurt the programs’ stable cost and schedule. Read More
Austal USA frigate design. Austal USA image
The Navy has slowed its frigate procurement timeline, looking at awarding a detail design and construction contract in Fiscal Year 2020 to allow more time to understand what it needs the ship to do and how it might affordably meet those requirements. Read More
Tom Boucher, second from right, program manager for the Electromagnetic Railgun at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), talks to Rear Adm. David Hahn, chief of naval research, during a visit to the railgun facility onboard Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division on Jan. 12, 2017. US Navy photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers are happy with the Navy’s progress developing unmanned systems and directed energy weapons but would like to see more effort operationalizing and fielding these technologies, the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee said this week. Read More
Newport News Shipbuilding placed a 900-ton superlift into dry dock, continuing construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Nearly 90 lifts have been placed in the dock and joined together since the ship’s keel was laid in August 2015. Newport News Shipbuilding photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee believes the Navy can reach a 355-ship fleet in the 25- to 30-year timeframe, given industrial base capacity and expected funding levels. Read More
The guided-missile submarine USS Ohio (SSGN 726) arrives at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on April 4, 2017, to begin a major maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. US Navy photo.
The Fiscal Year 2017 compromise spending bill has “shortfalls” in ship maintenance funding, but the House Armed Services Committee will look to increase funding for maintenance and modernization availabilities in 2018, two top committee members said today. Read More
The Virginia-class attack submarine North Dakota (SSN-784) is rolled out of an indoor shipyard facility at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn. US Navy Photo
If a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, then the drive towards a larger Navy starts with last year’s updated Force Structure Assessment – the shipbuilding plan of the future. Read More
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.)
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Two key lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee are optimistic Congress can avoid a continuing resolution for the remainder of the year despite only having four legislative days to figure out how to do so. Read More
The following are a collection of letters to the White House and Office of Management and Budget director from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and a group of 23 Senators led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) protesting the proposed $1.3 billion cut to the U.S. Coast Guard in OMB’s proposed FY 2018 draft budget. Read More
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tests its Sea Hunter unmanned vehicle — the technology demonstration vessel it designed, developed and built through its anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel program, or ACTUV — in Portland, Ore., prior to an April 7 commissioning ceremony. DARPA photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — If the Navy wants to pursue the key tenets of three recently completed Future Fleet Architecture studies – a distributed and networked fleet that relies on unmanned vehicles and electromagnetic warfare tools to survive and win in a highly contested environment – it will need to quickly invest in technologies that allow U.S. forces to complete a targeting faster and stop the enemy from doing so at all, lead participants from the three studies told lawmakers. Read More
An undated artist’s rendering of the planned Columbia-class submarine. Naval Sea Systems Command Image
The Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program passed its Milestone B decision review and can move into detail design, an official told USNI News. Read More
