Inside the Navy highlights

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

1. A new plan signed out earlier this month by Navy leadership identifies shortfalls in the Littoral Combat Ship's capabilities and details efforts to close those gaps in the coming years.

Full story: Navy lays out LCS science and technology plan

2. The submarine industrial base will have to expand in order to simultaneously build Ohio-class replacement ballistic missile submarines and Virginia-class attack submarines with a payload module.

Full story: Stackley: Sub industry will have to expand facilities for increased workload

3. The Navy last month organized a new task force to study the interoperability between the service's various platforms, weapons and sensor systems, according to an official involved in the effort.

Full story: Navy commissions task force to examine interoperability between platforms

4. The Office of Naval Research is seeking outside help to develop an automated ship capable of refueling and transferring data from unmanned surface vessels at sea, according to a recent Broad Agency Announcement.

Full story: Navy researchers want 'mother ship' for refueling unmanned vessels