Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) launching at Ingalls Shipbuilding on June 5, 2021. HII Photo
The House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee’s mark of the annual defense policy bill authorizes a second destroyer in the Navy’s shipbuilding budget and paves the way for the service to retire several aging guided-missile cruisers. Read More
USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118) at Bath Iron Works
THE PENTAGON – The Senate Armed Services Committee Fiscal Year 2022 authorization bill adds an additional destroyer, a Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport and five more F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters for the Navy, according to a summary of the markup issued on Thursday by the SASC. Read More
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivers remarks at the Joint Force Command Norfolk Full Operational Capability ceremony. Joint Force Command Norfolk declared Full Operational Capability during a ceremony on board USS Kearsarge on July 15, 2021. US Navy Photo
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said this week that the United States and NATO are “right in the middle” of a technological revolution – from ubiquitous surveillance to fielding long-range precision munitions – that will fundamentally change “how we fight.” Read More
The following is the July 9, 2021 Congressional Research Service report, Hypersonic Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
U.S. forces host a range day with the Danab Brigade in Somalia, May 9, 2021. US Air Force Photo
After leaving Somalia in December, U.S. forces are “commuting to work” from other parts of Africa and Europe to combat the rising terrorist threat in Somalia and across the region. Read More
Three littoral combat ships in various stages of construction at Marinette, Wisconsin during July 2015. The Navy is seeking to decommission USS Detroit (LCS-7), at right, and USS Little Rock (LCS-9), in the background. The ships were commissioned only in 2016 and 2017, respectively. USS Milwaukee (LCS-5), commissioned in 2015, is to remain in service. Christopher P. Cavas Photo used with permission
House appropriators are cutting development money for the Navy’s ship-launched nuclear cruise missile, preventing the service from decommissioning three Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships and adding funds for a second destroyer, according to the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee’s draft of the Fiscal Year 2022 defense spending bill issued today. Read More
USS Wayne E Meyer (DDG 108) departs Apra Harbor, Naval Base Guam after a planned port visit in 2018
. US Navy Photo
The U.S. will likely need to deploy a hybrid system to defend Guam due to its difficult terrain and the variety of missile threats it faces, the head of the Missile Defense Agency said this week. Read More
A target missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai, Hawaii during Flight Test Standard Missile-45. The USS JOHN FINN (DDG-113) detected and tracked the target missile with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar using the Aegis Baseline 9.C2 weapon system. Upon acquiring and tracking the target, the ship launched an SM-3 Block IIA guided missile which intercepted the target. Missile Defense Agency photo
This post has been updated to clarify comments from Gen. Glen VanHerck in Wednesday’s hearing.
The head of the Missile Defense Agency warned the House that a continuing resolution will leave gaps in testing and work on test ranges will “come to an all-stop” until the president signs a new budget into law, MDA director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said on Tuesday. Read More
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) sails behind the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57), March 3, 2021. US Navy photo.
This post has been updated to correct the spelling of the first name of the director of the Missile Defense Agency, Vice Adm. Jon Hill.
U.S. aircraft carriers are already facing risks from hypersonic weapons that are now entering the inventory of American adversaries and the Navy has developed early defenses for the threat, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said last week before the Senate. Read More
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG-104) transits alongside the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) on Jan. 19, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s modest shipbuilding request as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget shows the Pentagon has “walked away from the 500-ship Navy,” a senior defense analyst said Tuesday. Read More
