Thursday, April 18, 2024
Despite concerns about a fleet declining in numbers, Navy Under Secretary Robert Work said at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium last week that the Navy is in far better shape than it was during the late 1980s, contrary to perceptions that such a period was the true golden age for the service.
The F-35 joint program office has grounded its fleet of F-35B short-takeoff, vertical-landing (STOVL) variants of the Joint Strike Fighter as a precautionary measure after discovering a problem with the propulsion "fueldraulic" line in one of the aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
The Navy is in the midst of planning how the service would deal with both a year-long continuing resolution and sequestration, a looming threat that would irrevocably harm the service should it happen, top service officials said today at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium in Arlington, VA.
Continuing resolutions that cap spending at prior-year levels create a "fundamental problem" for Navy ship maintenance officials who are forced each year to change plans and lay off skilled technicians, creating gaps that can't be filled when a bill is finally passed, a top Navy official said today.
After the Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator program wraps up a two-week trial aboard an aircraft carrier this spring, Northrop Grumman hopes more visits to carriers are in the cards before the program finishes up in the coming years, according to a company official.
The Navy is looking at a range of solutions to funding the expensive SSBN(X) Ohio-class replacement program in the coming years -- including the possibility of buying other ships earlier to free up funds later on, according to the service's resources chief.
Months after the crew of the frigate Simpson (FFG-56) were forced to drop an unresponsive MQ-8B Fire Scout into the ocean, the crew of the next frigate to deploy the Fire Scout experienced less serious -- but time-consuming -- problems with the unmanned aircraft, the ship's commanding officer told reporters today.
The Defense Department has announced plans to brief industry next month on the new multibillion-dollar Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program and meet with individual companies to discuss the forthcoming aircraft competition.
The Navy is ill-equipped to handle a year-long continuing resolution -- especially if combined with sequestration, according to the service's chief of resources.
The Navy faces several technological hurdles as it seeks to develop a usable electromagnetic railgun and won't be able to field one until the mid-2020s even after cutting the power requirements in half, according to a recent report submitted to Congress by Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley.
The Navy will issue a draft request for proposals for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Strike and Surveillance aircraft "soon," with a full RFP to come out sometime in 2013, a service official said last week.
The significant differences between the designs of the two variants of the Littoral Combat Ship likely will prompt the Navy to use them in different roles and missions for at least the near future, a top service official said today.
A new tailhook design for the carrier variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will undergo testing early next year at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in New Jersey, Tom Burbage, head of Lockheed Martin's F-35 program, said last week.
The Navy will revise its maritime strategy to reflect the reality of future threats, develop concepts for future amphibious operations and undertake a project to educate the force on doctrine and operational concepts, the chief of naval operations said in a new report released this week.
A Marine Corps pilot flew a short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter today in an aerial refueling demonstration.
Far from being a defunct idea, the "1,000-ship navy" championed by former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen is "alive and well" thanks in part to the service's shift in focus to the Asia-Pacific, the current CNO said today.
The V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft's unique abilities will make it an ideal fit in the Asia-Pacific region conducting humanitarian operations, a major shift from its combat focus in Iraq and Afghanistan, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos said last week.
Concerned about the prospect of combatants firing rockets at the Navy's new afloat forward staging base in the Arabian Gulf, the service is asking industry for help in protecting the Ponce (LPD-15) and could award a contract as early as this week.
The Defense Department's plans to lock in multiyear procurement contracts for the Army's CH-47H helicopter, the Navy's DDG-51 destroyer and the Marine Corps' V-22 Osprey aircraft are up in the air as Congress mulls legislation to fund the government through March.
The Navy hopes to release a request for proposals by the end of this year for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System, an unmanned surface vehicle that will serve as a key part of Increment 3 of the Littoral Combat Ship's mine countermeasures mission package, according to a spokeswoman.