A unit for the future aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) rests on the assembly platen at Newport News Shipbuilding on March 5, 2014. US Navy Photo
Lawmakers are considering lowering the congressional cost cap for the second Ford-class aircraft carrier, John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), to a dollar figure the Navy says it cannot commit to. Read More
An undated artist’s rendering of the Ohio Replacement. Naval Sea Systems Command Image
The Senate Armed Services Committee poured nearly $1.7 billion into the Navy’s shipbuilding budget for Fiscal Year 2016 beyond the service’s request, in the hopes of starting to pay for later-year needs now before the Ohio Replacement Program bill hits, a committee aide told USNI News. Read More
The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS-2) deploys a remote multi-mission vehicle (RMMV) while testing the ship’s mine countermeasures mission package (MCM) off the southern California coast in August 2013. Austal USA photo.
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to cut funding for the Littoral Combat Ship’s (LCS) mine countermeasures (MCM) mission package until the program can prove it meets all requirements in its initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) this summer. Read More
U.S. Marines with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa board an MV-22 Osprey during an alert force drill on Moron Air Base, Spain, March 13, 2015. US Marine Corps photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As much as the Marine Corps wants to increase its deployment-to-dwell ratio from the current 1:2 to the more sustainable 1:3, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. John Paxton said that some high-demand units are operating on an even tighter schedule. Read More
Marines aboard an amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) exit the well deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) on Aug. 24, 2014. These vehicles, some of them 40 years old, are still in the fleet today until the new ACVs can be procured. US Navy Photo
The competitors for the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) increment 1.1 are focusing on the eventual increment 1.2 capabilities – with increased swim capability and more seats – making it more likely that the two will merge together, top service officials have said this week. Read More
USS George Washington (CVN-73) and its strike group in 2013. US Navy Photo
Navy leadership hopes to have a surge force of three Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) and three Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG) by 2020 to respond to major contingencies, compared to today’s one CSG and one ARG – but those plans depend on Congress fully funding the Navy’s implementation of the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (O-FRP), Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday. Read More
Marines and sailors with Marine Expeditionary Brigade – Afghanistan load onto a KC-130 aircraft on the Camp Bastion flightline on Oct. 27, 2014. US Marine Corps Photo
Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday stressed to the senior American officer in Afghanistan that the administration must understand “wars do not end just because politicians say so” and that he needs to have the option to adjust the withdrawal timetable of coalition forces to retain the progress made over the past 13 years against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Read More
Undated photo of ISIS fighters.
Former senior U.S. military leaders outlined the threat that violent Islamist extremists pose and put it into a larger global security context at a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on global threats. Read More
