ARLINGTON, Va. — Information gleaned from the iPhones of a Saudi gunman who killed three Sailors and wounded eight others at a Florida naval base last December links him to an al-Qaida affiliate, FBI and Justice Department officials disclosed on May 18.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced that the FBI had recently succeeded in unlocking the phones of 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani of the Royal Saudi Air Force, who was killed by security officers during the Dec. 6, 2019, rampage at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, where he was an aviation cadet.

‘’The phones contained important, previously unknown information that definitively established Alshamrani’s significant ties to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP], not only before the attack, but before he even arrived in the United States,” said Barr, adding “the FBI now has a clearer understanding of Alshamrani’s associations and activities in the years, months and days leading up to the attack.”

Investigators received court authorization to search the contents of Alshamrani’s iPhones the day after the 2019 attack. But they were unable to unlock the phones’ security features and approached Apple Inc., manufacturer of the iPhone, for assistance in early January. However, the technology company declined to assist, officials said, and it took FBI technicians months to access the phones’ contents, which ended up showing that Alshamrani and his AQAP associates communicated using apps that featured end-to-end encryption to evade law enforcement.

Additional information stored in the phones revealed Alshamrani had been radicalized by 2015, had connected and associated with AQAP operatives and joined the Royal Saudi Air Force to carry out a “special operation.” In the months before the attack, Alshamrani had specific conversations with overseas AQAP associates about plans and tactics. The FBI maintained he was communicating with AQAP right before the attack and conferred with his associates up until the night before the December shootings.

Ensign Joshua Watson, Airman Mohammed Haitham and Airman Cameron Walters were killed in the attack and eight others were severely wounded. Alshamrani was armed with a locally obtained 9 mm Glock handgun.

The incident prompted the Pentagon to order a stop to all International Military Student (IMS) training at U.S. installations and directed a review of all vetting and security procedures. Defense Secretary Mark Esper later approved an extensive list of recommendations and directed immediate implementation across all the military services.

The added background checks and new physical security procedures included restrictions on IMS possession and use of firearms and ammunition. New control measures also limited IMS access to military installations and U.S. government facilities and set new standards for training and education on detecting and reporting insider threats.

Barr said Saudi Arabia “gave complete and total support for our counter-terrorism investigation and ordered all Saudi trainees to fully cooperate. There was no evidence of assistance or pre-knowledge of the attack by other members of the Saudi military training in the United States, officials said.

SAN DIEGO — Naval Air Systems Command has awarded General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems a contract for engineering and logistics sustainment of Gerald R. Ford-class Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) systems, the company announced May 18. 

General Atomics will provide engineering, technical, configuration management and program support for EMALS and AAG systems installed aboard Ford-class aircraft carriers. 

“We are proud to continue our working relationship with the Navy and extend our support for these critical technologies as the program advances into a new phase,” said Scott Forney, president of General Atomics. 

“This contract signals the program is now moving from the design and development phase and into concurrent production and sustainment phase, providing sustaining engineering, material and maintenance support for all Ford-class aircraft carriers. Our in-depth knowledge, expertise and commitment to providing a full range of lifecycle support services will ensure these systems meet or exceed mission requirements for as long as these first-of-kind launch and recovery systems remain in service to the fleet.” 

At-sea test periods are ongoing for the first carrier of the class, the USS Gerald R. Ford. In February, EMALS and AAG were cleared for shipboard launch and recovery of all currently deployed naval aircraft types aboard the Ford. 

More than 2,300 successful day and night aircraft launches and recoveries using EMALS and AAG onboard have been completed. In addition, the Ford has finished flight-deck certification, aircraft compatibility testing and fleet replacement squadron training exercises for pilots to earn their qualifications on specific aircraft. EMALS and AAG continue to perform and execute according to specifications with the objective of reaching the sortie generation rates required for combat readiness. 

General Atomics is delivering EMALS and AAG for the future USS John F. Kennedy and USS Enterprise. Significant cost savings are being realized through multiple ship production contracts, which minimize gaps in production while maximizing planning, scheduling and delivery to support all three Ford-class carriers.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S Navy has issued request for information (RFI) to the defense industry, looking at options for a new training jet that could possibly complement or replace the current Boeing T-45C Goshawk starting in 2028. 

The RFI, posted May 14, is exploring options for a version of an existing design that would be land-based but also capable of field carrier landing practice and touch-and-go landings on an aircraft carrier but not arrested landings or catapult launches. 

The T-45 is fully carrier capable and has been in service since the mid-1990s. All existing Goshawks are T-45C configurations. A new trainer to supplement the T-45C could reduce the number of landings for the T-45C, extending its remaining service life. However, the RFI says the T-45 system “is anticipated to be re-capitalized by replacement, during the 2028 timeframe” or sooner.  

The Navy’s requirements include a two-pilot cockpit with ejection seats; a helmet-mounted or heads-up display; an angle-of-attack indexer; two weapon pylons for Mk76 practice bombs and pods of 2.75-inch rockets; and a precision-landing system; and an automatic ground collision avoidance system. 

The new aircraft must be able to simulate mission systems including radar, electro-optical/infrared sensors, electronic attack sensors, radar warning receivers and weapons employment in the air-to-air or air-to-ground modes.  

The Navy wants the new aircraft to have a service life of 14,000 flight hours and 43,200 landings. Each aircraft would be required to fly 400 hours per year and conduct 1,200 FCLPs and 45 carrier touch-and-goes per year.  

The new aircraft must be capable of flying in all types of weather, day or night. 

Ground-based training systems, including simulators, also are part of the RFI provisions. Reponses to the RFI are due to the Navy by July 13. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt has arrived at its new homeport, Naval Station Rota, Spain, the U.S. 6th Fleet said in a May 18 release. 

The destroyer arrived May 16 after participating in a regional patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. The ship departed its previous homeport, Naval Station Mayport, Florida, on March 21. 

“The Roosevelt is replacing USS Carney in the first of several scheduled homeport shifts to occur in support of the U.S. Navy’s long-range plan to gradually rotate the four Rota-based destroyers,” the release said. 

The Roosevelt will join USS Ross, a Flight I destroyer, USS Donald Cook, and USS Porter, a Flight II DDG, as part of the Forward-Deployed Naval Force-Europe in the 6th Fleet. The four ships perform ballistic-missile defense patrols in the Mediterranean among other missions for the fleet. 

The Roosevelt is a Flight IIA DDG that brings the Aegis Baseline 9/Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 5.1 Advanced Capability Build upgrade to the Aegis Combat System. 

The system “integrates its weapons and sensors to include Cooperative Engagement Capability; Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile; Mk15 Close-In Weapons System Block 1B; and the Mk41 Vertical Launching System, capable of supporting Standard Missile (SM) 3 and newer variants. These capabilities vastly increase the sea-based BMD force structure and contribute to NATO’s robust integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) architecture,” the release said. 

Another arrival with the Roosevelt were two embarked MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from Detachment 7 of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 48.   

“Having the MH-60R on board provides Roosevelt with an organic asset that enhances situational awareness in the areas of [anti-submarine warfare] and [surface warfare],” Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin T. Harris, air operations officer of HSM-48 Detachment 7, said in the release. “Additionally, the MH-60R provides the ship an [organic] asset capable of performing [search and rescue], logistics support and a variety of other missions without having to rely on outside entities.” 

“Roosevelt and her crew add increased lethality with the Navy’s most advanced sensors, weapons, and communication systems, to include our embarked MH-60R [helicopter] teams,” said Cmdr. Matthew Molmer, commanding officer of the Roosevelt. “Our ability to integrate with 6th Fleet, joint players in Europe, and the nation’s allies and partners adds capabilities that we are just beginning to leverage.” 

The Navy plans to station a full MH-60R squadron in Rota by the time the three remaining Flight I/II DDGs are replaced. 

“Roosevelt has already proven she is a great asset to 6th Fleet, enhancing the capabilities of our Forward Deployed Naval Forces-Europe Aegis destroyers in Rota, Spain,” said Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, commander of the 6th Fleet. “Her arrival, hosted by our long-standing ally, Spain, enhances our combined commitment to a stable and secure Europe and further reinforces our ironclad commitment to our allies and partners.”

SUWANEE, Ga. — Meggitt Training Systems has been awarded a $2.6 million contract for additional BlueFire wireless virtual weapons to be used by the U.S. Marine Corps on its Indoor Simulated Marksmanship Trainer (ISMT), also delivered by the company as a program of record, the company said in a May 14 release. 

BlueFire M9 pistols, M4 rifles and M27 infantry automatic rifles will be used at several Marine Corps bases throughout the U.S. Deliveries to Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany will begin within the next 90 days and should be completed by December. 

“This order for additional BlueFire weapons demonstrates the value they and ISMT deliver in terms of virtual firearms training for Marines who must be ready to deploy anywhere at any time,” said Andrea Czop, Meggitt’s vice president of strategy, sales and marketing. 

Meggitt was originally awarded the $32 million, five-year contract in 2014, delivering and installing 490 systems at locations worldwide. As a certified program of record, ISMT trains new and experienced Marines in marksmanship, collective scenarios and judgmental video scenarios. Each mode provides critical training based on the skill level of the individual or unit. 

BlueFire weapons use commercial wireless technology to communicate with ISMT and other FATS-based virtual training systems, giving the same control as tethered weapons, but with full range of movement. 

These patented weapon simulators can be used in conjunction with other tethered weapon simulators without modification. For enhanced, more realistic visuals, Meggitt’s BlueFire weapon simulators feature a 3-D marksmanship training environment. The after-action review allows engagement and shot assessment in a 3-D virtual environment, while providing detailed trainee diagnostics for skill reinforcement or correction.

ARLINGTON, Va. — A major factor in the power of special operations forces (SOF) — stealth — is becoming increasingly threatened by advances in sensors and other capabilities of adversaries and needs to be protected by additional measures, SOF leaders said.   

Speaking May 13 in a component commanders roundtable at the Virtual Special Operations Forces Industrial Conference, Rear Adm. Collin Green, commander, Navy Special Warfare Command, and Maj. Gen. Daniel Yoo, commander, Marine Corps Special Operations Command — the Raiders, said that ways need to be found to reduce the signature of their SEALs and Raiders while they are operating in the field. 

The capabilities of adversaries, including terrorists and insurgents, is becoming increasingly sophisticated as they adopt the increasingly smaller but highly capable technologies once the province of major militaries. 

For example, some adversaries have been using small unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with optical and infrared sensors to make it increasingly difficult for SEALs and Raiders to remain covert during clandestine operations.  

Green said that his command has a resource strategy with lines of effort to strengthen the SEALs and special boat units as they focus on sustaining a competitive advantage in the maritime domain: “signature reduction, lethality and survivability of our maritime combatant craft” as well as “developing and expanding our undersea capability” now underway with the new Mk11 SEAL Delivery Vehicle and Dry Combat Submersible. 

Yoo noted the emerging technology on low observables, digital material and uniforms, but said that “true full-spectrum signature reduction” is needed “in the information environment that we’re going to fight in. 

“Being able to stay in the shadows and having freedom of movement for our people on the ground or platforms in the air … or using cyber tools to move around freely, to be able to have full-spectrum signature management, that’s an area that everybody is shooting around the target but haven’t developed where you have some kind of assurance that you are going to be able to do that.”

NORFOLK, Va. — The “Greyhawks” of Airborne Command & Control Squadron (VAW) 120 successfully conducted on May 11 the first fleet aerial refueling dry-plug certification between an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and an F/A-18F Super Hornet, according to a release from commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic public affairs. 

“With contact between probe and basket, VAW-120 Greyhawks achieved the latest in a litany of significant milestones as Greyhawk 642 became the first Fleet E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to complete F/A-18 aerial refueling,” said Capt. Matthew Duffy, commander of the airborne command and control and logistics wing. 

Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 211 aircraft from Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) embarked aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) participated in this refueling evolution, three years in the making. 

“This ground-breaking achievement represented the culmination of more than three years of test and evaluation to include over 500 hours of evaluation flight time developing the Advanced Hawkeye airborne refueling capability,” Duffy said. 

VAW-120, part of Airborne Command & Control and Logistics Wing, has been tasked with initial qualification of aerial refueling for the E-2D fleet and is currently developing the techniques and procedures to train pilots in the new skill set. 

“This milestone was the result of detailed coordination between an embarked Carrier Strike Group and a shore-based training command that truly exemplifies the ethos of teamwork that permeates across Naval Aviation,” said Cmdr. Aaron Rybar, commanding officer of Airborne Command and Control Squadron 120. 

In September 2019, VAW-120 took delivery of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye with an aerial refueling capability that allowed for the achievement of this initial operational capability. VAW-120 marked a second milestone in the E-2D legacy in April 2020, by achieving its 1,000th Aerial Refueling contact for the squadron. 

Lt. Michael Harrigan and Lt. David Carroll represent the first two fully qualified E-2D fleet replacement squadron (FRS) instructors qualified in aerial refueling. They completed 39 refueling evolutions with both VFA-211 and VFA-81. 

“This latest modification of the Advanced Hawkeye will allow for vastly improved on-station time and significantly increase the mission reach and influence of the world’s premier Command and Control platform,” said Duffy, who added that this month’s tested capability serves to increase the lethality for America’s Navy. 

The aerial refueling-modified E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is another key component to the carrier air wing of the future. Currently, the squadron’s E-2D AR instructor pilot cadre are increasing proficiency and experience in preparation for training and transitioning the first fleet squadron later this summer.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Navy recently completed a service life extension program (SLEP) on Yard Patrol 686 and returned the modernized craft to the U.S. Naval Academy on May 14, according to the Navy’s Program Executive Office-Ships (PEO-Ships). 
 
The SLEP for the vessel began in August 2019 and was executed in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard at its Curtis Bay shipyard in Baltimore. YP 686 is the fourth of 12 craft planned to receive an extensive overhaul and modernization package.  
 
Work items executed throughout the availability covered nearly every portion of the craft, including wooden hull and deck repair, habitability upgrades and overhaul and modernization of the propulsion and electric generating equipment. This SLEP effort will enable the craft to remain in service for another 10 years. 
 
The 108-foot wooden-hulled YP craft were originally delivered to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, between 1986 and 1988 and have been continuously utilized to train midshipmen on piloting, seamanship, navigation and engineering. The training is designed to help midshipmen develop the essential skills required of an officer-of-the-deck, such as proficiency in navigation and a working knowledge of afloat operations with modern systems essential to seamanship and navigation. 
 
“Recapitalization of the YP craft is a direct investment in the proficiency and technical capability of our Navy’s future leaders,” said Mike Kosar, program manager of the Support Ships, Boats and Craft Program Office within PEO-Ships. “The SLEP will ensure our midshipmen will continue to have the platforms they need to gain the skills that will be required of them at sea.”  
 
Follow-on craft availabilities are scheduled to continue through March 2022 utilizing both the Coast Guard and commercial shipyards.

LOS ANGELES — The hospital ship USNS Mercy left Los Angeles on May 15 after supporting COVID-19 response operations in the greater Los Angeles area, the U.S. Northern Command said in a release. 

“We came to Los Angeles to be the relief valve for local hospitals in the fight against COVID-19,” said Capt. John Rotruck, commanding officer of medical treatment facility (MTF) aboard the ship.

See: Despite Isolation, Five Returning Roosevelt Sailors Test Positive for Virus

“I am very impressed with how well the team came together on this rapid-response mission, completing a wide-range of high-quality medical procedures from orthopedic surgeries to interventional radiology. Sailors from across the country answered the call, forming a unified team focused on our mission to treat patients from Los Angeles. I couldn’t be more proud.” 

Mercy is scheduled to return to Naval Station San Diego, where the ship and members of its embarked MTF will remain ready for future tasking. 

At the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Northern Command, about 60 personnel assigned to Mercy’s MTF will continue supporting state and local health care providers at skilled nursing facilities. The U.S. Navy, with NORTHCOM-directed forces, remains engaged throughout the nation in support of the broader COVID-19 response. 

Mercy has been at the World Cruise Center Terminal in the Port of Los Angeles since March 27. The medical professionals aboard the Mercy performed various medical procedures, including general, orthopedic and plastic surgeries; interventional radiology; exploratory laparotomy; and skin grafting. 

“After arriving on station, the personnel aboard Mercy were able to safely execute our mission in support of FEMA and in coordination with state and local authorities,” said the mission’s commander, Capt. Dan Cobian, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21. 

“In addition to supporting Los Angeles-area hospitals, we were able to expand our mission by providing support to a local skilled nursing facility and we also sent personnel to aid USNS Comfort for their effort in New York. Our Sailors answered the call and showed our country and the world the capability of our combined Navy Medicine and Military Sea Lift Command team in providing aid during this pandemic.”

ARLINGTON, Va.—The U.S. Navy’s Patrol Squadron 40 (VP-40) completed its safe-for-flight evaluation for operating the P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft on May 14, a milestone that completes the transition of the 12th and final active component VP squadron from the P-3C Orion to the P-8A, according to a release from commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group public affairs. 

VP-40’s six-month transition to the P-8A completes a process that began in 2012, when VP-16 became the first fleet squadron to begin transition to the P-8A and took the aircraft on its first deployment in 2013. 

“The Fighting Marlins lived up to the incredibly high standard set by both Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and Naval Air Station Jacksonville squadrons,” Capt. Erin Osborne, commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10, said in the release. “The ability of these units to learn a completely new aircraft and seamlessly integrate into the battlespace is a testament to the agility, dedication and professionalism of our force.” 

VP-40 is one of six P-8A squadrons based at Whidbey Island, Washington, under commander, Patrol Reconnaissance Wing 10. 

“The completion of all 12 active VP squadron transitions represents a landmark occasion in our storied branch of naval aviation,” said Rear Adm. Pete Garvin, commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group. “I am confident that the men and women of the Fighting Marlins of VP-40 will continue to display the same level of pride and professionalism as each of their predecessors. I remain very proud of their effort to fight to the finish and the distinction they brought upon themselves and our community during the final active duty P-3C deployment.” 

The Navy’s Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Force currently operates 94 P-8As. Another six serve in test and evaluation units.