Nick Wilson

Nick Wilson is a Navy reporter. Before joining Inside Defense in August 2022, he was an intern with Marketplace and a reporter with the Daily Mining Gazette in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He is a graduate of Boston College.

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Archived Articles
Daily News | June 14, 2024

The Senate Armed Services Committee supports the purchase of a second Virginia-class submarine and a third Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in fiscal year 2025 while restricting funding for two of the Navy’s surface ship programs, according to an executive summary of the committee’s defense authorization bill.

The Insider | June 13, 2024

The Navy has learned a lot in the eight months since it began intercepting missiles in the Red Sea, but the service is only able to leverage a fraction of the sensor data its warships are collecting due to limitations in shipboard data storage.

Daily News | June 12, 2024

House appropriators' decision to fund only one Virginia-class submarine while slashing procurement in two surface ship programs was driven by concern over production delays and design maturity issues within the programs, according to a draft House Appropriations Committee report on its fiscal year 2025 defense spending bill obtained by Inside Defense.

Daily News | June 12, 2024

Anduril Industries has secured a $19 million Navy contract to design, build and test solid-rocket motors for the Standard Missile-6 in an award that closely follows the company's announcement of a new $75 million investment plan intended to dramatically increase rocket motor output at its McHenry, MS facility.

Daily News | June 11, 2024

A large defense labor union is calling on Congress to fund two Virginia-class submarines in its fiscal year 2025 spending legislation in a June 4 letter addressed to the leadership of the House Appropriations Committee, which is set to mark up its version of the bill Thursday.

Daily News | June 10, 2024

The Navy has awarded RTX a $678 million option for SPY-6 radar production, covering the procurement of seven additional AN/SPY-6(V) units and bringing the total contract value up to 38 of the radars.

Daily News | June 4, 2024

A draft defense spending bill released today by House appropriators would fund only four battle force ships and only one Virginia-class submarine in fiscal year 2025, marking a significant break from both the Navy's budget request and from House authorizers' defense policy bill.

Daily News | May 31, 2024

The Marine Corps is testing the waters to see if any additional vendors can produce a remotely operated turret system for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle 30mm cannon variant, according to a sources-sought notice published today.

Daily News | May 30, 2024

The Marine Corps is preparing for an initial "fly-off" test that will evaluate two drone prototypes competing for a future program of record that will field a medium-size uncrewed aircraft system to deliver supplies to forward-deployed forces.

The Insider | May 29, 2024

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is moving ahead with an effort to develop small, ship-launched drones, clearing six companies to advance their designs into a 10-month maturation phase, according to a May 22 agency announcement.

Daily News | May 29, 2024

A new report from government auditors points to a lack of design stability, stemming from critical mismanagement by the Navy, as the key factor responsible for years of delays now expected for the $22 billion Constellation-class frigate program.

The Insider | May 24, 2024

The Navy has awarded shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine a $1 billion contract option to build the fifth and sixth vessels in the Constellation-class frigate program, according to a Pentagon announcement.

Daily News | May 23, 2024

The House proposal to zero out fiscal year 2025 procurement funding for the Constellation-class frigate program would have occurred even if lawmakers were not looking to free up funds for a second Virginia-class submarine, a senior Armed Services Committee member said today.

Daily News | May 22, 2024

An amendment to the House defense policy bill, passed in committee today, would require the Navy to complete 100% of a new shipbuilding program's design before beginning construction of the first vessel.

The Insider | May 21, 2024

The Navy stood up a new unmanned surface vessel squadron last week that will oversee a fleet of small uncrewed vessels called Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC), according to a May 17 service announcement.

The Insider | May 16, 2024

House authorizers are supporting a legislative request from the Navy that would give the sea service multiyear procurement authority to buy CH-53K heavy lift helicopters and their T408 engines.

Daily News | May 16, 2024

The Navy is standing up a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile program office, though the service requested no funding for the initiative in fiscal year 2025, and some lawmakers and naval officials remain skeptical of its use case.

Daily News | May 15, 2024

The Navy needs to "up our game in understanding how to build ships," a senior service official said today, citing efforts to expand the use of modern design tools and hire more naval architects and marine engineers.

Daily News | May 14, 2024

A bipartisan group of 15 senators sent a letter to appropriations committee leadership calling for the full restoration of funding for two Virginia-class submarines in fiscal year 2025.

Daily News | May 14, 2024

House authorizers want an operational 're-arm-at-sea' capability within three years of the fiscal year 2025 defense policy bill's enactment, and are calling on the Navy to deliver a concrete strategy for developing and fielding the system on this timeline.

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