The future John P. Murtha (LPD-26). Huntington Ingalls Industries photo.
Certainly commonality is not the final and only answer to cost savings. Given the current national defense priorities and a request by the President of $583 billion for defense in Fiscal Year 2017, most would surmise that, if properly prioritized and managed, the budget would be sufficient to support the majority of defense requirements. Read More
Amphibious warship John P. Murtha takes to the water on Oct. 30, 2014. HII Photo
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post said the late John P. Murtha was a senator from Pennsylvania. He was in fact a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania’s 12th district from 1974 until his death in 2010. USNI News regrets the error.
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has launched the tenth San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship on Thursday. Read More
Gen. John Dunford in 2012. DoD Photo
Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Pentagon’s pick to lead the Marine Corps, told Congress on Thursday he backs a congressional plan to add a 12th San Antonio-class amphibious warship to the fleet to the planned class of 11. Read More
USS New York (LPD-21) in 2012. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s second look at the requirements and design of its next amphibious warship is walking the line between capability and affordability, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command told reporters Thursday at NAVSEA’s temporary headquarters. Read More
The following is the May 12, 2014 Congressional Research Service report,
Navy LX(R) Amphibious Ship Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
USS San Antonio (LPD 17) prepares to moor in Norfolk, Va. in 2013. US Navy Photo
In the 1960s our nation was fixated with President John F. Kennedy’s vision to have a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The country was wholly supportive of his goal. With bipartisan support from Congress, the government approved the funding for NASA that was needed and the nation’s “best and brightest” engineers and scientists flocked to the space industry. Millions of Americans were glued to their television sets in July 1969 and cheered when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and the words of Astronaut Neil Armstrong will always be remembered as he made that first step on the lunar surface: “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” Read More
USS Makin Island (LHD-8), alongside the dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD-45), right, and the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD-22) on March 14, 2014. US Navy Photo
A constellation of twenty former U.S. Marine Corps generals — including a former commandant —wrote Congress to “highlight concerns,” on the health of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious forces and are throwing their support behind extending the San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship hull form beyond the Navy’s current plan of 11 ships.
Sailors assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) recover an Orion capsule into the well deck of Arlington. US Navy Photo
Amphibious warship USS San Diego (LPD-22) left Naval Station San Diego, Calif. on Tuesday for an open ocean recovery test of NASA’s planned new Orion space capsule. Read More
USS Denver (LPD-9) in August, 2013, US Navy Photo
The U.S. Navy is in the process of switching out a number of warships forward deployed to Japan with newer vessels. The latest ships to be replaced are USS Denver (LPD-9), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock ship, and the mine countermeasure ships USS Avenger (MCM-1) and USS Defender (MCM-2), the Navy announced this week. Read More
Sailors assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) recover an Orion capsule into the well deck of Arlington. US Navy Photo
The Navy and NASA conducted tests this week in Norfolk, Va. to prove that a San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship could be used to recover the space agency’s next bid for manned space flight, NASA officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
