Inside the Navy highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Navy:

1. The Navy's new maritime strategy, seeking to align with the National Defense Strategy, details how the service can prepare for "great power competition" with the Russian and Chinese navies and lays out time lines for future major acquisitions to support the strategy.

Full story: New maritime strategy lays out future major acquisition time lines

2. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will step down from his position early next year, telling President Trump in a resignation letter sent last week that he should have a Pentagon chief whose views "are better aligned" with his.

Full story: Mattis to step down, acknowledges he and Trump aren't aligned on key issues

3. The Navy is on track to achieve 341 mission-capable F/A-18 fighter jets by October 2019, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer recently confirmed.

Full story: Spencer: Navy on track for 341 mission-capable Super Hornets by October 2019

4. The Navy's top officer has set 2025 as the the official target for fielding a sea-based, offensive hypersonic strike conventional weapon, giving the service about six years to adopt technologies -- including the hypersonic glide body developed as part of the Conventional Prompt Strike program -- for use in the U.S. military's submarine fleet.

Full story: Navy sets 2025 target for deploying conventional hypersonic strike weapon