ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg received its first 154-foot fast response cutter on May 1. 

Coast Guard Cutter Pablo Valent, a Sentinel-class vessel, will arrive at its new homeport where the crew will begin training to become certified in law enforcement and rescue operations. Pablo Valent is scheduled to be officially commissioned on May 11. 

Pablo Valent will operate throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys. There are 12 other FRCs in Florida, which operate throughout the Caribbean Sea. 

FRC’s are multi-mission ships designed to conduct drug and migrant interdictions; ports, waterways and coastal security operations; fisheries and environmental protection patrols; national defense missions; and search and rescue. 

Each cutter is designed for a crew of 24, has a range of 2,500 miles and is equipped for patrols up to five days. The FRCs are part of the Coast Guard’s overall fleet modernization initiative. 

FRCs feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment as well as over-the-horizon response boat deployment capability and improved habitability for the crew. The ships can reach speeds of 28 knots and are equipped to coordinate operations with partner agencies and long-range Coast Guard assets such as the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutters. 

MCLEAN, Va. — HII has been awarded two tactical training systems contracts by the Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake, the company said May 2.  

The first contract, for aircrew electronic warfare tactical training, is a multiple-award, indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery contract with a total ceiling value of $249 million. The second contract, for tactical integrated threat/target training systems, is also a multiple-award, IDIQ contract with a total ceiling value of $92 million. Both contracts have a five-year continuous ordering period. 

Under these contracts, HII will have the opportunity to bid on task orders to provide research, development, engineering, sustainment, upgrades, integration, testing and cybersecurity for the U.S. Navy’s tactical and electronic warfare threat systems and tactical threat systems. 

“For more than 20 years, HII has been dedicated to the Navy’s training missions, providing expertise in live, virtual, constructive cutting-edge software, modeling and simulation, engineering, systems integration, networking and virtual technology, as well as large-scale operations and maintenance,” said Glenn Goodman, president of LVC Solutions business group within HII’s Mission Technologies division. “It is imperative our nation’s training environments provide real world mission rehearsal support for our warfighters, and we look forward to continuing to provide the Navy with world class support to the mission.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The recent surge of several guided-missile destroyers from the U.S East Coast to the North Atlantic Ocean and Baltic and North Seas was a successful demonstration of the flexibility of geographic command relationships and of the value with of the Optimized Fleet Response Plan, the commander of the U.S. Navy’s 2nd Fleet said.

Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer, commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, told reporters April 29 about the surge deployment of the destroyers under the operational control of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 22 support operations for the European Command and “to reaffirm our commitment to our NATO allies and partners.

“This historic task marked the first time since our re-establishment [in 2018] that U.S. 2nd Fleet provided command and control for forces operating in Europe, outside of an exercise,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer said his fleet showed the ability to “surge forces to provide the defense of Europe and to reassure our allies and partners of our commitment to the defense of the NATO alliance.”

The admiral declined to comment on whether the surge deployment from January to April 2022 was related to the Russian build-up and subsequent invasion of Ukraine.

The surging ships were the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS The Sullivans (DDG 68), USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) the USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), and the USS Mitscher (DDG 57). Also attached was the command-and-control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), which normally serves as the flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.

Dwyer said the surged DDGs were within the OFRP cycle, with each ship trained and certified.

“Some [DDGs] were at the beginning of their operational deployment cycle; some had just returned from an operational deployment and were in that sustained period which allowed me to use their certified and ready ships to meet mission,” he said. “Once we train and certify naval forces, we can deploy them right away as scheduled, or we can hold that readiness and deploy them later at time of need, or when they get back from a deployment and they are still trained, certified and ready in that sustainment phase if crisis occurs or need occurs. We can then deploy them and continue to leverage that training [and] certification and readiness. This shows that this OFRP cycle — the way it is built — allows us to move naval forces to the point of need and at the time of need with incredible agility.”

The fleet embarked DESRON 22 staff on one of the DDGs to act as the forward command element reporting back to the 2nd Fleet’s maritime operations center in Norfolk. When the USS Mount Whitney was assigned to the 2nd Fleet for the operation, the fleet was able to “use it to command and control forces in the North Atlantic with DESRON 22 embarked.” Dwyer said.

Operational Flexibility

The admiral stressed the operational flexibility of the number fleets to operate in different combatant commander areas of responsibility.

“Numbered fleet commanders are operational-level headquarters that can command and control naval forces at the point of need unconstrained by lines on a map,” he said. “This operation that we conducted showed that the 2nd fleet — [with the Western Atlantic up to the North Pole] — at time of need can surge forward to support a four-star naval headquarters with my maritime operations center commanding and controlling ships that are outside my normal area of responsibility.”

Dwyer said this operation was the first time the concept — with 2nd Fleet and 6th Fleet both supporting Naval Forces Europe — was put into practice.

“We showed and proved that unique, agile, mobile capability of a numbered fleet headquarters supporting another four-star naval headquarters, he said.

In an April 28 release, the 2nd Fleet said the ships operated with maritime forces from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s top officer said his thinking about integrating unmanned systems into the fleet has been changed by the observations of the service’s recent experimentation during fleet exercises. 

“We are learning so fast in fielding these capabilities out to the fleet or potentially fielding them quickly inside the FYDP [Future Years Defense Plan] we may be able to close capability gaps with small, expendable unmanned [systems] off of any platform rather than thinking we have to build a larger [platform],” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday, speaking April 28 in a Maritime Security Dialogue event on the future of the U.S. Navy conducted by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and sponsored by HII. 

Gilday said by the time the DDG(X) program is underway “we will be in a better place with LUSV [large unmanned surface vehicle]. I don’t know if we’ll have an unmanned medium [USV] or not. The stuff that [U.S. 5th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Brad] Cooper is doing with CTF-59 and using small, unmanned [systems] on the sea and in the air to sense the environment and make sense of it in order to yield a common operational picture for allies and partners as well as the 5th Fleet headquarters has changed my thinking on the direction of unmanned. … I’m not saying that we don’t need an MUSV [medium USV]; I’m saying it will cause us to consider numbers and what potential payloads they’re going to have.” 

Gilday said unmanned systems have “so much potential, coupled with AI [artificial intelligence] software integration that it’s difficult to put a definitive number on the numbers we’re going to have in the air, on the sea, and under the sea. I like the way we’re going with the unmanned task force that has tied together acquisition specialists, requirements folks, scientists from the Navy research labs, and also the fleet with CTF-59 in terms of real-time exercising, experimenting, and developing CONOPS [concepts of operations]. It’s been a powerful awakening experience for us. Also, industry and foreign partners have dived in on this thing.” 

Gilday said the Navy’s four experimental large and medium USVs — two Project Overlord vessels and the Sea Hunter MUSV and Sea Hawk USV — have accrued 41,000 nautical miles of autonomous travel so far.  

“In terms of the mastery of COLREGS [Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea] and vessel avoidance, we think we’re in a really good place with that,” he said. “To send an unmanned [vessel] out into the ocean, with a mission, to expect that unmanned to come back and salute and say, ‘mission complete,’ is a different problem set. That’s something that we’re working on, but, quite frankly, that’s going to be a journey for us.” 

Gilday said USVs may need to be “minimally manned for a while. I’d like to get to a place with large USVs where we can deploy them with strike groups and ARGs [amphibious ready groups] in the 2027-2028 time frame. A lot of the work we’re doing right now with the Unmanned Task Force and CTF-59 hopefully will buy down technical risk, make us an informed customer with respect to what we’re going to buy — both in engineering plant and a command-and-control framework — so that we can begin to deploy those things and do the same things we’re doing with CTF-59 to earn stuff out there as we’re using these LUSVs and perhaps medium USVs. I don’t want to wake up in 15 years and say, we bought the wrong kind of LUSV with the wrong engineering plant. … We’re trying to prove ourselves in an evolutionary, deliberate, informed kind of way.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy proposes to shift two P-8A Poseidon patrol (VP) squadrons from the active component to the reserve component in 2026, budget documents show. 

The Navy’s 2023 budget highlights book published this month shows a proposal to shift two VP squadrons — one from each coast — to the Navy Reserve. The Navy currently fields 12 P-8A-equipped fleet VP squadrons, six each at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, and NAS Jacksonville, Florida. In addition, the Navy Air Reserve operates two P-3C Orion-equipped VP squadrons, one each at Jacksonville and Whidbey Island. These two squadrons are planned for transition to the P-8A in the next few years, which, if the above conversion occurs, eventually would give the reserve component four P-8A VP squadrons.  

The two current reserve VP squadrons, VP-62 at Jacksonville and VP-69 at Whidbey Island, frequently augment the active component force for operations and exercises. 

“This force structure change supports the move to integrate the reserve component more towards a ‘total force’ solution in meeting steady state demands,” the budget highlights book says. 

The Navy estimates the shift would result in savings of $55.5 million over the Future Years Defense Plan. 

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — HII announced April 28 that Virginia-class attack submarine New Jersey (SSN 796) recently was launched into the James River at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. 

The 7,800-ton submarine, which had been in a floating dry dock since being transferred from a construction facility in March, was submerged and moved by tugboats to the shipyard’s submarine pier for final outfitting, testing and crew certification. 

“Achieving this construction milestone is a very rewarding event to our shipbuilding team,” said Jason Ward, Newport News’ vice president of Virginia-class submarine construction. “Our shipbuilders and suppliers have dedicated years of hard work to this critical capability that will maintain our customer’s undersea superiority. We now look forward to executing our waterborne test program, and working toward sea trials so we can deliver to the Navy.” 

Through the teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat, approximately 10,000 shipbuilders, as well as suppliers from 50 states, have participated in New Jersey’s construction since the work began in 2016. New Jersey is approximately 92% complete. 

Virginia-class submarines, a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines, are built for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral missions to replace the Navy’s Los Angeles-class submarines as they are retired. Virginia-class submarines incorporate dozens of new technologies and innovations that increase firepower, maneuverability and stealth to significantly enhance their warfighting capabilities. These submarines are capable of supporting multiple mission areas and can operate at speeds of more than 25 knots for months at a time. 

PHILIPPINE SEA — The Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Jackson (LCS 6) completed underway return to flight operations of the Navy’s unmanned helicopter, the MQ-8C Fire Scout, in the Philippine Sea on April 20, commander Destroyer Squadron 7 public affairs said April 27. 
 
The flights at sea were a conclusion of MQ-8 operational testing to return to routine flights on littoral combat ships deployed to the Indo-Pacific. The MQ-8C, assigned to the “Wildcards” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, attached to Jackson, operated simultaneously with the squadron’s MH-60S Seahawk helicopter. 
 
The completion of the return to flight operations will allow the MQ-8C to continue to operate concurrently with other ships and airborne assets as operations require. In recent weeks, the “Blackjacks” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21 also completed return to flight operations for their MQ-8B Fire Scout variants, assigned to USS Tulsa (LCS 16) and USS Charleston (LCS 18) on deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. 
 
“It’s great to be flying the MQ-8C again, especially for an extended period with our MH-60S,” said Lt. Cmdr. Richard Mooney, head of HSC-23 detachment attached to Jackson. “Coordinated manned-unmanned operations like these provide numerous advantages to our surface combatants.” 
 
MQ-8B and C Fire Scout variants are designed for suitably equipped ship-based and land-based autonomous systems. MQ-8B and C Fire Scout combined with MH-60S extend Naval Aviation’s capability to support maritime operations providing integrated, over-the-horizon intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting, and combat logistics support. 
 
Fire Scout operations are a whole-ship effort, requiring effective coordination between the aviation and surface entities aboard. 
 
“I am extremely proud of our crew and the HSC-23 detachment for their planning and execution in getting the MQ-8C in the air,” said Cmdr. Brian Bungay, commanding officer of the USS Jackson. “We’re excited to build on this success and continue to increase the LCS’s war-fighting capability.” 
 
Attached to DESRON 7, USS Jackson is on a rotational deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the region, and to work alongside allied and partner navies to provide maritime security and stability, key pillars of a free and open Indo-Pacific. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is planning to use a “rheostat” approach to adjust the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter Service Life Modernization (SLM) program to mitigate the strike fighter shortfall in the fleet, a senior service official said. 

The SLM is a sustainment program designed to increase the service life of Block II F/A-18E/Fs. The initial SLM phase extended the service life from 6,000 flight hours to 7,000 flight hours. The program beginning in 2023 will increase the service life to 10,000 flight hours. The line also will be used to upgrade many Block II aircraft to the Block III configuration.  

During an April 27 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, the chairman, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey), said in his opening remarks that “two years ago the strike fighter shortfall would have lasted until 2030. However, last year the Navy told us that the strike fighter shortfall would be resolved to zero in 2025, primarily due to the solid justification for terminating the new F/A-18 Super Hornet line.” 

Norcross said he was skeptical of this year’s analysis of the F-35C production rate and the “lackluster” F/A-18E/F SLM program and the “non-rapid development of the Navy’s Next-Generation Air Dominance [program].”  

He said the Congress authorized the procurement of 12 F/A-18/E Super Hornets in the 2022 budget as “risk mitigation,” aircraft the Navy said that it did not want. The Navy also did not request any Super Hornets in the 2023 budget proposal.  

He said the Navy’s strike fighter shortfall “will not be resolved until six years later [from 2025] in 2031 because of further unplanned reduction in F-35 purchases, reduced aircraft inductions into the F/A-18 [SLM] program.” 

Frederick “Jay” Stefany, performing the duties of assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, told the subcommittee that said the SLM program had been “stabilized.” 

Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, director, Air Warfare Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said the Navy has drilled down on the issues with the SLM and has begun to turn around the cost of the program. 

“In the past year we’ve seen a 30% percent cost reduction in our Phase One 7,500-hour SLM deliveries due to the implementation of best practices with pre-SLM grooming, engineering reutilization and overall touch-flavor learning and efficiencies,” he said.  

“We expect continued cost savings as SLM matures and we are executing our planned transition to full-kit, 10,000-hour SLM inductions if fiscal ’23,” Loiselle said. “Full-kit inductions will provide full Block III capability identical to new production aircraft at one third of the cost, giving us 4,000 additional flying hours, or enough to fly for 13 additional years. 

“Right now, our SLM plan is our rheostat that we’re using to control availability in the out years, depending on schedules and future budgets that are unknown at this point in time,” he said. “Right now, I do not plan to do SLM on the entirety of my Block II force and I do not plan to do it on my Block I force. If there are changes in the future that require additional capabilities [and] I need more Block III aircraft, then I have the ability to dial up that rheostat on SLM and be able to do that for a longer period of time and to potentially use the FRCs [Fleet Readiness Centers] to increase capacity for SLM beyond the currently planned 35 per year.”   

Loiselle said two Block I Super Hornets were put through SLM but based on the results the Navy decided not to proceed with SLM of Block I aircraft “unless there is some requirement to do so in the future.”  

Loiselle said the turn-around time of an SLM will be 15 months. 

Boeing currently is building Block III Super Hornets to the Navy. At the current production rate, the production is expected to run to the first quarter of fiscal 2026, Loiselle said. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is proposing to retire its only expeditionary helicopter squadron dedicated to support of special operations forces with the service’s 2023 budget request. 

Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 85 (HSC-85), a reserve squadron based at Naval Air Station North Island, California, is equipped with MH-60S Seahawk helicopters to support “Naval Special Warfare forces and other special operations forces training and readiness,” according to the Department of the Navy’s 2023 budget highlights book. 

The drawdown of HSC-85 would begin in 2023 with reduction in manpower and flying hour reductions would begin in 2024. Unless the MH-60S aircraft are needed elsewhere in the fleet, the aircraft would be placed in storage. The Navy estimates the program savings would amount to $312.5 million over the Future Years Defense Plan.  

HSC-85 originally was established as Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 85 (HS-85) in 1970 at NAS Alameda, California, and equipped with the SH-3A Sea King helicopter, later upgrading to the SH-3D and SH-3H versions. The squadron moved to NAS North Island in 1993 and in October 1994 was redesignated Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 85 (HC-85), shifting to the roles of search and rescue, logistics and range support. 

The squadron was redesignated HSC-85 in February 2006 and equipped with MH-60S helicopters. In 2011, special operations support became its primary role, and it was equipped with an older version of the Seahawk, the HH-60H. The Navy planned in 2016 to deactivate HSC-85 and its East Coast counterpart, HSC-84, but HSC-85 survived. The squadron in 2018 upgraded to the Block III version of the MH-60S. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced April 26 that the president has made the following nominations: 

Navy Vice Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti for appointment to the grade of admiral, and assignment as vice chief of naval operations, Washington, D.C. Franchetti is currently serving as director for Strategy, Plans and Policy, J5, Joint Staff; and senior member, U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Military Staff, Washington, D.C.  

Navy Vice Adm. Stephen T. Koehler for reappointment to the grade of vice admiral, and assignment as director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy, J-5, Joint Staff; and for appointment as senior member of the Military Staff Committee of the United Nations, Washington, D.C. Koehler is currently serving as commander, 3rd Fleet, San Diego.  

Navy Rear Adm. Sara A. Joyner for appointment to the grade of vice admiral, and assignment as director, Force Structure, Resources and Assessment, J-8, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C. Joyner is currently serving as chief of legislative affairs, Washington, D.C.  

Navy Rear Adm. Craig A. Clapperton for appointment to the grade of vice admiral, and assignment as commander, Fleet Cyber Command; and commander, 10th Fleet, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. Clapperton is currently serving as commander, Combined Joint Task Force, Cyber, 10th Fleet, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.  

Navy Rear Adm. (Select) Richard J. Cheeseman Jr. for appointment to the grade of vice admiral, and assignment as deputy chief of naval operations for personnel, manpower, and training, N1, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; and chief of naval personnel, Washington, D.C. Cheeseman most recently served as commander, Carrier Strike Group 10.