An Active Denial System from the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate is staged before conducting a counter personnel demo during Weapons and Tactics Instructor course (WTI) 2-17 at Site 50, Wellton, Ariz. on April 4, 2017. US Marine Corps Photo
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The Pentagon’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate is hoping to reframe the talk about non-lethal weapons amid a push by the Defense Department to boost lethality for high-end warfare. Read More
U.S. Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 set up at a forward arming and refueling point (FARP) as a CH-53E from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361 flies overhead during Arctic Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise (AECE) in Adak, Alaska on Sept. 18, 2019. US Marine Corps Photo
This post has been updated to include additional comments from U.S. 3rd Fleet.
The Navy and Marine Corps recently used a new Littoral Combat Force concept to command and control units spread over 2.2 million square miles of land and sea, in the latest demonstration of what a future operation near and on the shore might look like. Read More
Type-31 frigate design concept. Babcock Image
The following post has been updated to correct the cost of the Type-31 program. The U.K. plans to pay $1.6 billion for all five hulls, not $1.6 billion for each hull.
LONDON — The victory of the Babcock/Thales Arrowhead 140 design in Britain’s bargain-basement Type 31 frigate competition will give the Royal Navy a heavyweight fighter in the maritime security arena. Read More
(From top left, clockwise) Lt. Col. Kevin R. Herrmann, Maj. James M. Brophy, Staff Sgt. Maximo A. Flores, Cpl. Daniel E. Baker and Cpl. William C. Ross
The Marine Corps found that pilot error, inadequate oversight of training and operations and an unprofessional command climate contributed to the Dec. 6 crash of an F/A-18D Hornet and a KC-130J Super Hercules aircraft that killed six Marines and injured one. Read More
Boeing MQ-25A Stingray takes its first flight on Sept. 19, 2019. Boeing Photo
The prototype for the Navy’s first unmanned aerial refueler made its first test flight from an airfield in Illinois, Boeing announced on Thursday. Read More
Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate Claus Moser communicates with sailors in the forecastle of the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD-8) while off-loading the starboard anchor chain in 2017. US Navy Photo
SAN DIEGO, Calif – The Navy has a large backlog of surface ship maintenance it is trying to dig out of; that’s not new. And while the sea service and ship repair industry are making some progress in cutting back on administrative and other burdens that slow down maintenance availabilities, the contractors here in San Diego are so backed up that the Navy has received zero bids for several recent maintenance availabilities. Read More
U.S. Marines with Task Force Koa Moana (TF KM) conducts a night live fire exercise during the TF KM Mission Rehearsal Exercise at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. on July 19, 2018. US Marine Corps Photo
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – Two months after new Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger released his commandant’s planning guidance, the Marines charged with plotting how the service will operate in the future showed a glimpse into how the new guidance is shaping their work. Read More
Attack boat Vermont (SSN-792) float-off on March 29, 2019. General Dynamics Electric Boats Photo
GROTON, Conn. – General Dynamics Electric Boat broke ground on a Columbia-class submarine assembly facility at its Groton yard on Friday, kicking off one of the final facilities improvement projects the company needs ahead of a massive increase in submarine construction work in the coming decades. Read More
An artist’s rendering of VT Halter Marine’s winning bid for the U.S. Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter. VT Halter Marine image used with permission
WASHINGTON, D.C. – By building a heavy icebreaker designed to both withstand the frigid waters and accommodate major maintenance needs, the Coast Guard hopes to avoid the catastrophic failures that have hamstrung the service’s polar missions for a nearly a decade. Read More
A Marine with Echo Company, Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, posts security during a simulated airfield seizure after a long-range raid from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) at Ie Shima Training Facility, Okinawa, Japan, Aug. 12, 2019. US Marine Corps photo.
The U.S. Marine Corps has been refining a pair of related concepts, Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) and the overarching Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment, for the past couple years. Read More
