Thursday, October 30, 2025
Abby Shepherd is a Navy reporter. Before joining Inside Defense in November 2023, she was an intern with Politico's E&E News and a city government reporter with the Eudora Times in Kansas. She graduated from the University of Kansas in May 2023, with degrees in journalism and political science.
After hundreds of Red Sea attacks on Navy and commercial vessels over the past few months, there's a need for a steady supply of munitions like the Standard Missile-3, which Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told lawmakers today the service needs more of.
The Navy's and Marine Corps' sealift capacity is not where it needs to be, lawmakers told service officials Tuesday at a House Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing, which largely revolved around availability delays, recapitalization plans and potential solutions to construction backlogs.
The Navy plans to establish a new unmanned surface vessel squadron -- a new organization that will focus on tactics, techniques and procedures and the concept of operations for small USVs, according to a Navy official.
The Navy's Joint Prototyping and Experimentation Maritime Program plans to test the ability of sensors to detect unmanned vessels later this year and is requesting industry input on this type of technology, according to a request for information posted Monday.
The Navy wants to delay the addition of an advanced degaussing system on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and install it on the next generation of destroyers -- a move it says would provide the service flexibility to balance warfighting capabilities with the expense and schedule constraints of future destroyer procurement.
The amphibious transport dock Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) was delivered to the Navy Thursday, according to HII and Naval Sea Systems Command announcements.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Navy is consistently delivering heavyweight torpedoes despite there being a "long road" to reach that point, a Navy official told an industry audience at Monday's Sea Air Space conference.
The establishment of a Naval Air Warfare Rapid Capabilities Office is still under way, after being included in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
Opening the door to repairs on U.S. Navy ships in foreign countries is one way to ease pressure on domestic shipyards -- an idea that will be included in the service's fiscal year 2025 legislative proposals, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said today.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier John C. Stennis (CVN-74) has finished the dry dock portion of its refueling and complex overhaul, HII announced Monday.
For the first time in two years, military officials from the United States and China met Wednesday and Thursday in Waikiki, HI to engage under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement -- a practice in place since 1998 meant to safeguard operational safety in the air and sea and reduce clashes between the two militaries.
Supply chain issues are largely to blame for the potential 18-to-26-month delay facing the future Ford-class aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), HII CEO and President Chris Kastner said today.
A defense start-up wants to successfully display High-Power Microwave technology that can potentially disrupt drones, similar to those launched recently by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
The Navy successfully conducted a Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile flight test with four missiles in flight simultaneously, according to a Lockheed Martin news release issued Wednesday.
The Navy now has additional access to Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler technical data, allowing the service to support full sustainment of the aircraft.
Amid supply chain issues, the Navy is seeking industry solutions to mitigate risk for battery development and modernize the manufacturing of critical battery materials.
The Navy remains focused on developing and adopting unmanned technology as it can expand the reach and lethality of conventionally manned platforms, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said Wednesday.
Energetics manufacturing is set to increase at Allegany Ballistics Laboratory’s Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant, thanks to a $178 million contract awarded to Northrop Grumman by Naval Sea Systems Command.
The Navy is seeking to rapidly field Middle Tier Acquisition for short endurance, small, unmanned surface vessel technology and is asking for industry input.
Funding to bolster communication systems for a Navy class of aircraft meant to survive nuclear warfare received a large push in the service's recently released fiscal year 2025 budget request, anticipating the program will move into the engineering and manufacturing development phase. (UPDATED)