Thursday, April 17, 2025
Key Issues Tariff impact Taiwan conflict Fighters for Selfridge
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Marine Corps is now planning to launch its initial CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter deployment in calendar year 2026, program manager Col. Kate Fleeger said today, marking a delay of roughly a year compared to the 2025 deployment date previously listed by the service.
Contractor BAE Systems has received a $79 million contract modification to produce three production-representative test vehicles for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle Recovery variant, according to a Pentagon announcement.
With the Navy's highest-ranking officials set to appear before Congress this week for their first fiscal year 2025 budget hearing, lawmakers are weighing the implications of a new shipbuilding review that identified months-long delays across critical acquisition programs.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Lockheed Martin and Intel subsidiary Altera have been contracted by the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering to develop an electronic defense capability that could eventually be equipped on the Navy’s MH-60R helicopter fleet, according to a Monday announcement published ahead of the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Drone company Saildrone today announced a new partnership with Thales Australia to equip autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles with a towed-array sonar payload to support anti-submarine warfare missions.
The Navy can't "buy its way out" of the problems facing key acquisitions programs, a senior official said today, though the service is still determining exactly what it can do to alleviate widespread delays across high-priority submarine and ship acquisition programs.
Delivery of the lead Columbia-class submarine is now expected to occur at least a year later than initially planned, while Virginia-class submarines are more than two years behind their contracted schedule, according to a Navy shipbuilding review that identifies significant schedule challenges across the service's ship and submarine portfolio.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith today released a "Fragmentary Order" document, intended to provide interim direction for the force ahead of an official Commandant's Planning Guidance, that reaffirms the service's force design modernization trajectory.
After delivering an initial prototype in December, Boeing plans to turn over the remaining five Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles to the Navy before the end of 2025, according to company executives and service budget documents.
The Navy submitted a $3.7 billion list of "unfunded priorities" to Congress today, including $403 million in additional funding for the submarine industrial base workforce and supplier development as its top item, according to a document obtained by Inside Defense.
The Navy is pumping the brakes on the development and fielding of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel, reducing the fiscal year 2025 funding request for LUSV research and development by approximately $74 million while postponing planned procurement of the lead vessel by two years, budget documents state.
Congress' final fiscal year 2024 appropriations package directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive review of the Virginia-class submarine program, citing concern over cost and schedule performance for both Virginia- and Columbia-class submarine production.
Contractors BAE Systems and ASC Pty Ltd have been selected to build the future class of SSN-AUKUS submarines under the trilateral security agreement between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, according to a March 21 Pentagon announcement.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command plans to test a developing battle management system connecting "sensors and shooters" across the joint force during a major exercise later this year, in a demonstration that could provide a roadmap for the Pentagon's Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative.
A day after submitting an $11 billion unfunded priority list to Congress, the outgoing chief of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command recommended additional appropriations beyond the Pentagon's fiscal year 2025 budget request to bolster Guam missile defense and support "blind, see, kill" capabilities.
The Navy has submitted a new 30-year shipbuilding plan to Congress, presenting a roadmap to grow the fleet through increased spending, while also providing an alternative, budget-constrained path that would maintain a more modest force size for the coming three decades.
The Marine Corps has sent Congress nearly $2.4 billion in "unfunded priorities" in a list topped by several quality-of-life investments that also includes over $1.2 billion for force design efforts and $492 million for military construction projects.
The Marine Corps is trimming its Amphibious Combat Vehicle procurement plans for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, reducing acquisition quantities by 48 vehicles across the two years due to spending caps under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, inflation and a higher-than-expected vendor proposal.
The Navy's fiscal year 2025 budget request looks to enter into a multiyear procurement contract for CH-53K helicopter engines in a five-year deal expected to save approximately $125 million, according to budget documents.
The lead ship in the Constellation-class frigate program, FFG-62, is now expected to deliver in December 2027, according to the Navy's fiscal year 2025 budget documents, a 15-month delay compared to the September 2026 date listed in the prior year's budget.