Friday, May 31, 2024
Lee Hudson was Inside the Navy's managing editor until June 2018. She has covered Navy and Marine Corps issues since 2011, reporting at the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, aboard ships and military facilities around the U.S. Previously she worked as a staff reporter at The Daily Review in Morgan City, LA, covering local government and crime. Lee graduated with a B.A. in Mass Communication and Marketing from Loyola University New Orleans.
All three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive weapons development program in the Pentagon's history, are expected to reach initial operational capability by February 2019, according to a joint service report submitted to Congress today.
The Navy announced today it is delaying the contract award for the multibillion dollar Next-Generation Enterprise Network transport and enterprise services because the service has re-entered into discussions with bidders.
Two Southeast Asian countries are interested in a modular ship concept -- similar to the Littoral Combat Ship -- Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert said following a recent trip to Singapore.
The Navy's newest unmanned aircraft platform, the MQ-4C Triton, completed its first flight today at Palmdale, CA, which marks the start of testing that will validate the system for future fleet operations, according to the service.
A House subcommittee is recommending raising the cost cap on the Navy's Ford-class aircraft carrier by $1.2 billion, pushing the total cost of the project to $12.9 billion, according to a draft of the subcommittee's fiscal year 2014 defense authorization mark released today.
The Marine Corps will take a $300 million hit in fiscal year 2014 if sequestration cuts are applied, with $250 million coming from procurement dollars and about $50 million from research and development funding, according to the Navy's acquisition chief.
The Navy completed its first ever, carrier-based catapult launch of an unmanned aerial system from the George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) off the coast of Virginia today.
The Common Missile Compartment, a piece of the Ohio-class replacement submarine program that is a joint effort between the United States and the United Kingdom, has not been impacted by the recent continuing resolution nor sequestration cuts in fiscal year 2013, the Navy said last week.
The Marine Corps helicopter squadron responsible for carrying the president has received its first MV-22 Osprey at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA, according to a service statement.
As the drawdown of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan increases, the Marine Corps is using the K-MAX cargo unmanned air vehicle system as it begins breaking down forward operating bases throughout the country, a move that is reducing risk for Marines on the ground, according to a service official.
Despite budget constraints, the Marine Corps must upgrade its amphibious assault vehicles and its humvees after roughly a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Thomas Dee, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for expeditionary warfare and logistics management.
A Marine Corps special-purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force, which previously was focused on supporting security cooperation activities, has been expanded to support to crisis response for U.S. Africa Command, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos said today. The unit, which began deploying today, will be based at Morón Air Base in Spain.
The Marine Corps has slashed $160.9 million of procurement funding in its fiscal year 2014 budget request for the Light Armored Vehicle due to a one-year delay in the start of production of the anti-tank modernization program and the survivability upgrade program, according to a service spokesman.
As the Marine Corps places greater emphasis on the Pacific region under the Obama administration's new national security strategy, maintaining a cargo unmanned aerial system capability will be vital to the service in a ship-to-shore or sea-based forces role, Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, I Marine Expeditionary Force Forward commanding general, said today.
The Navy will ask Congress to approve a multibillion-dollar reprogramming request in the next few weeks to pay for operations and maintenance accounts depleted through sequestration cuts levied in fiscal year 2013, Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, the Navy's deputy assistant secretary of the budget, said today while unveiling the fiscal year 2014 budget.
Lockheed Martin recently completed human factors testing and amphibious operations testing of its prototype for the Marine Corps Marine Personnel Carrier program, according to Patrick Shepherd, Lockheed's Havoc program manager.
U.S. Cyber Command is establishing cyber mission teams to support each military service and other combatant command missions and will "soon" be able to operate on their own, according to the command's top official.
If the Navy is forced to make across-the-board budget cuts under sequestration, it will be "extremely difficult" for the service to buy two Virginia-class submarines per year while it builds an Ohio-class replacement submarine, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said today.
A Virginia congressman is looking to industry to rally members of Congress to revitalize the Navy so that it becomes the most futuristic, lethal, efficient and effective fighting force even during a period of budget uncertainty.
Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall told the National Defense Industrial Association yesterday that due to sequestration kicking in the Defense Department will likely be buying less equipment and signing fewer service contracts through the end of fiscal year 2013.