Thursday, April 25, 2024
Key Issues Optical clocks Prototype funding SPAFORGEN
Justin Doubleday was managing editor of Inside the Pentagon until June 2021, where he focused on defense-wide topics including budgets, acquisition policy, combatant commands, missile defense and cyber. He has also worked for ITP sister publications Inside the Army and Inside the Navy. Justin previously reported for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2013.
A recently declassified report prepared by government auditors recommends Congress restrict funding on the Navy's buy of Littoral Combat Ships in fiscal year 2016 until it submits several reports on the program, a move congressional authorizers ultimately took up in recent legislation.
Amid vows by lawmakers representing shipyards in Alabama and Wisconsin to battle Defense Secretary Ash Carter's decision to truncate the Littoral Combat Ship program, congressional sources say the reduced buy could raise the cost of a single LCS by as much as $100 million.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has directed the Navy to cut its planned purchase of 52 Littoral Combat Ships to 40, telling the service to instead put its resources toward 31 additional Joint Strike Fighters, maintaining or expanding munitions production and upgrading 10 more guided-missile destroyers to the latest combat design.
The fiscal year 2016 omnibus spending bill includes funding to accelerate the Navy's amphibious ship replacement by two years and adds $300 million for the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike system.
The Navy is planning to establish basic ordering agreements with companies to protect the service's aircraft and airborne weapons from cyberattacks.
The Navy is due this month to receive input from fleet commanders on gaps they see in their unmanned systems capabilities, according to a top service official.
Top naval shipbuilding officials say common systems are important for controlling lifecycle costs and more quickly introducing weapons upgrades, but also caution that pushing for commonality does not make sense in every acquisition.
The Navy is in the early stages of networking F-35 Joint Strike Fighter radar data into the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air system, according to a program official.
The Navy is working on a long-term plan for investing in combat systems, a document which will act as an addendum to the service's 30-year shipbuilding plan.
The Littoral Combat Ship Fort Worth's ongoing deployment in the Western Pacific has given LCS sailors and commanders the first chance to discover and confront problems presented by the new ship's unique operating and manning concepts.
Naval researchers have kick-started an initiative to pursue technologies that can be retrofitted onto the service's existing weapons platforms and industrial control systems to make them more resilient against cyber attacks.
The Navy is planning to break up a short-term contract it had pegged for Littoral Combat Ship mission module production, integration services and sustainment into two separate awards, according to a recent notice.
The Navy is still reviewing its options for carrying out a top officer's directive to deploy over-the-horizon missile systems aboard all forward deploying Littoral Combat Ships starting next year.
Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall approved Navy plans to release a request for proposals for the next phase of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System Increment 1A program, clearing the way for the service to award the contract to system developer Raytheon next year.
A new CSBA report concludes that Navy plans for shipbuilding and maintenance cycles will likely result in reduced U.S. naval presence around the world.
Efforts to shape the future frigate's requirements have highlighted a debate between the secretary of the Navy and top uniformed officials over whether the service needs more capable warships or more vessels in general, according to naval analysts watching the program.
The Navy will release a request for proposals for development of the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle “very soon,” with the service working to finalize the document before the end of the calendar year, according to a program official.
PORTSMOUTH, VA -- Officials at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory made recommendations to senior leadership last month on gaps the service faces as it begins to build the fiscal year 2018 budget plan, according to the head of the lab.
NORFOLK, VA -- While an independent review board analyzes the Navy's Remote Minehunting System, a second team comprised of program officers, testers and contractors is also examining the system to see where improvements could be made, according to a service official.
The Marine Corps' CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter has achieved its first flight after months of delays, manufacturer Sikorsky announced Tuesday.