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.
An amendment adopted during Tuesday night's House Armed Services Committee mark-up of the fiscal year 2026 defense policy bill would provide an additional $1 billion for the Navy's Virginia-class submarine program -- a huge boost that follows concerns from lawmakers on dwindling shipbuilding spending.
A solution to GPS denial may lie in quantum sensing, a technique recently used by the Royal Australian Navy in trials with Q-CTRL, an Australian quantum technology company.
The Navy is planning to initiate a low-cost, new-start hypersonic weapon program in fiscal year 2026, outlining details in budget justification books released weeks ago -- a move that follows a request for information made to industry members earlier this year.
With a topline of nearly $925 billion, the Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled its draft fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill that would prioritize Navy advancement in several areas, including unmanned technology.
The Navy has broken ground on a new subsea and seabed warfare facility to encourage further research, development, testing and evaluation of autonomous unmanned systems -- a move that follows increased focus from the service on unmanned technology in general.
House authorizers are seeking to rapidly diversify the pool of alternative manufacturers of Standard Missile-6 components -- including Mk-72 and Mk-104 rocket motors -- and are asking the Navy to expand efforts in missile production and sustainment.
The House Armed Services Committee's draft fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill would implement restrictions on the construction of the Navy's new Modular Attack Surface Craft, as the program emerges as a joint solution between medium and large unmanned surface vessels.
The delivery of the T-AGOS 25 anti-submarine warfare ship has been delayed by four years, according to the Navy's fiscal year 2026 budget request, which outlines various design challenges for the program.
The House Armed Services Committee's draft fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill would approve the procurement of two Ford-class aircraft carriers and allow for the use of incremental funding, while uncertainty surrounds the program’s future as the Navy seeks to remain competitive with China.
Raytheon's Barracuda Mine Neutralization System has been tested in its first untethered, semi-autonomous operation, the company announced Tuesday.
As the Navy prepares to combine medium and large unmanned surface vessel efforts into one program, fresh details have emerged in the service's fiscal year 2026 budget request, which details research and development plans for the new Modular Attack Surface Craft program.
Following delays and software defects, full-rate production has been approved for the F/A-18 E/F Infrared Search and Track system, according to a Navy spokesperson, with an acquisition decision memorandum scheduled to be signed this summer.
The Office of Naval Research is seeking proposals for the rapid design, build and testing of the Ocean Explorer Large Underwater Vehicle, an "ultra-large" autonomous undersea vehicle capable of conducting lengthy, ocean-scale missions and carrying a large modular payload.
A new Defense Department inspector general's report finds that the Navy has not been able to sufficiently recapitalize its surge sealift fleet and faces challenges in filling these gaps due to high costs and legal restrictions.
Aided by the first overseas deployment of two new weapon systems, the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment recently completed a deployment that included three bilateral exercises focused on the Indo-Pacific.
Several Navy programs continue to face delays and setbacks, including a key unmanned underwater vehicle platform which now may never transition to a program of record, according to a report released today by the Government Accountability Office.
The Pentagon is requesting $62.9 billion for Navy and Marine Corps procurement in fiscal year 2026, betting big that Congress can pass a partisan reconciliation package containing an additional $32.3 billion in procurement dollars that will be needed to avoid significant cuts to priority shipbuilding programs.
A draft fiscal year 2026 spending bill released today by the House Appropriations defense subcommittee would bolster funding for the Navy’s F/A-XX next-generation aircraft program by nearly a billion dollars while further reducing funding for the troubled Constellation-class frigate.
Though technology and artificial intelligence adoption can be particularly difficult for the Navy -- due to ships being away at sea, difficulty obtaining data rights and a lack of connection between computer programs -- there are solutions and plans in place to counter these problems, according to a Navy official.
Amid a "reorganization" of the White House shipbuilding office -- following Michael Waltz's abrupt departure as head of the National Security Council -- shipbuilder HII is maintaining a steady relationship with the group and interacting with its members regularly, according to CEO Chris Kastner.