Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Key Issues Stratotankers F-35 'kill switch' Pandur SHORAD
The Marine Corps has selected Teledyne FLIR, Anduril Industries and AeroVironment to develop and deliver Organic Precision Fires-Light (OPF-L) -- a loitering munitions system intended to provide infantry Marines with a beyond-line-of-sight, precision-strike capability.
The Navy is asking Congress for the authority to enter into a block-buy contract during fiscal years 2025 or 2026 for up to 37 CH-53K helicopter airframes, according to a legislative proposal submitted by the Defense Department on Friday.
Procuring a fleet of 18 Landing Ship Mediums will cost $340 to $430 million per ship in fiscal year 2024 dollars, according to a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate, which indicates acquisition costs will be two to three times greater than the Navy’s own estimates.
The Navy’s Science and Technology Advisory Board will convene at the end of April to deliver classified recommendations to service leaders on ways for the Navy and Marine Corps to quickly integrate disruptive technologies, a Thursday announcement states.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Navy aims to increase the number of parts produced through metallic additive manufacturing and equipped on submarines from "a couple" today to "near 100" by year's end, Executive Director of Strategic Submarines Matt Sermon said at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- The Navy does indeed have a plan to remedy shipbuilding challenges, the service's top official said today, providing the first public indication that there is a strategy to tamp down widespread delays identified across its most critical ship and submarine programs.
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- A long-endurance autonomous vessel currently under development with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is slated to transition to the Navy in 2025 following an initial round of testing, according to Capt. Scot Searles, program manager for unmanned maritime systems.
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.