ARLINGTON, Va. — COVID-19 cases are on the rise among U.S.
Navy personnel, including five more Sailors diagnosed with the novel
coronavirus aboard the deployed aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt,
according to acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly.

The news brings the number of Roosevelt crew members testing
positive for COVID-19 to eight and raises the total number of infected active-duty
uniformed Navy personnel to 104, Modly told a Pentagon press briefing March 26,
adding that 23 Navy civilian employees, 16 family members and 19 civilian
contractors also have the virus.

He acknowledged that those totals indicate the Navy has the
highest number — about one third — of all coronavirus cases in the military. By
contrast, the Marine Corps, which keeps a separate tally, has reported 31 cases
of COVID-19 among active-duty personnel, including the first service member
working in the Pentagon to test positive. Also, five civilian Marine Corps
employees, five dependents and three contractors also have tested positive.

“I think we are trending higher. Some data that I saw this
morning showed that we are probably a third of all the active-duty people that
have tested positive,” said Modly, adding “I don’t have a reason for that.”
While the Navy is deployed around the world and has large concentrations of
people in places like San Diego and Norfolk, Virginia, Modly said any estimated
explanations were just speculation. “We have not done the forensics yet on
where these individual Sailors contracted the disease and, until we know that,
it would be irresponsible for me to say why we think this is happening,” he
said.

All eight infected Sailors evacuated from the Roosevelt to Guam had mild symptoms and were not hospitalized but they are quarantined, Modly said. In a change from earlier plans, he said 100% of the nearly 5,000 crew members on board the carrier would be tested for the coronavirus “to ensure we are able to contain whatever spread might have occurred on the ship.” He stressed the ship is operationally capable and “can do its mission if required to do so.”

The Roosevelt is making a previously-scheduled port visit to Guam, where testing the whole crew will be completed. All crew will be confined to the ship or the pier area while in port. In the meantime, the ship has 800 testing kits, with more on the way by air, and some limited ability to process the samples. Sailors who test positive will be transported to the U.S. Naval Hospital Guam for further evaluation and treatment as necessary.

The infected Marine stationed at the Pentagon was last in the building on March 13 and tested positive on March 24 and is in isolation at home. His workplace has been cleaned by response crews. Both Marine Corps recruit depots have begun screening incoming recruits and at least two have tested positive for the virus, but no drill instructors have. Two other Marines stationed at Parris Island have tested positive, but they were already in quarantine when their tests came back, Modly said.

The Navy has accelerated preparations for the hospital ship USNS Comfort to sail to New York City to help relieve local hospitals’ non-COVID-19 workload. Originally planned to depart from Norfolk, Virginia, on April 3, “in all likelihood she’s getting underway this weekend,” Modly said. “Hopefully she’ll be in New York by the early part of next week,” he added. The Navy’s other hospital ship, USNS Mercy, has been deployed to perform similar duties treating non-coronavirus cases in Los Angeles.

ARLINGTON, Virginia — The Marine Corps commandant has issued his plans for a major redesign of the Marine Corps’ force structure by 2030, with substantial reductions in some venerable weapon systems and increases in new systems. 

For example, traditional tube artillery is under the gun, as are tanks, but rocket artillery and precision missiles are boosted in the plan. 

Force Design 2030, signed out this month by Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, is aimed at more closely aligning the capabilities of the Corps with the National Defense Strategy, from a priority of confronting violent extremism to “great power/peer-level competition,” with emphasis on the Indo-Pacific.  

“Such a profound shift in missions, from inland to littoral, and from nonstate actor to peer competitor, necessarily requires substantial adjustments in how we organize, train and equip our Corps,” Berger said in the document. 

“A return to our historic role in the maritime littoral will also demand greater integration with the Navy and a reaffirmation of that strategic partnership. As a consequence, we must transform our traditional models for organizing, training and equipping the force to meet new desired ends, and do so in full partnership with the Navy.” 

Berger, foreseeing flat future defense budgets, said he is “operating under the assumption that we will not receive additional resources, we must divest certain existing capabilities to free resources for essential new capabilities. … With the shift in our primary focus to Great Power Competition and a renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific region, the current force has shortfalls in capabilities needed to support emerging joint, naval and Marine Corps operating concepts.” 

He said the Corps is over-invested in heavily armored ground combat systems (tanks), towed cannon artillery and short-range, low endurance unmanned aerial systems (UAS) incapable of employing lethal effects. 

Accordingly, Berger plans to, among other initiatives, to reduce the number of tube artillery batteries from 16 to five. These units are armed with the M777 towed cannon built by BAE Systems. 

In contrast, the Corps plans to increase its rocket artillery batteries from 7 to 21. These batteries are equipped with the Lockheed Martin-built M142 HIMARS (High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System). The Corps intends to create batteries of anti-ship missiles such as the Raytheon’s Tomahawk Maritime Strike Missile and the Kongsberg/Raytheon Naval Strike Missile. These missiles will enable Marine expeditionary forces to operate in contested littoral environments. 

“This investment provides the basis, over time, for generating one of the fundamental requirements for deterrence, and ultimately successful naval campaigns — long-range, precision expeditionary anti-ship missile fires,” Berger said. “This requirement is based on one of the more well-supported conclusions from wargaming analysis conducted to date.” 

The Corps also plans to eliminate its fleet of M1A1 main battle tanks, divesting its “entire capacity of seven companies and prepositioned capacity,” he said.  

“We have sufficient evidence to conclude that this capability, despite its long and honorable history in the wars of the past, is operationally unsuitable for our highest-priority challenges in the future,” Berger said. “Heavy ground armor capability will continue to be provided by the U.S. Army.” 

Because the Corps plans to reduce its active-component infantry battalions from 24 to 21, its amphibious assault requirements will be lessened. Accordingly, two of the six amphibious assault companies are slated for the cut. The units operate the AAV7 assault amphibious vehicle and the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle, both built by BAE. 

The Corps is looking at increasing force structure of light armored reconnaissance companies from nine to 12.   

“While I have repeatedly stated that all-domain reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance will be a critical element of any future contingency, I remain unconvinced that additional wheeled, manned armored ground reconnaissance units are the best and only answer — especially in the Indo-Pacific region,” Berger said. 

“We need to see more evidence during Phase III [of the study] to support this conclusion before engaging in an expansion of our existing capacity, or committing billions of dollars in procurement funds towards the acquisition of an Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV).” 

SEATTLE — The 150-member crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star returned March 25 to their homeport of Seattle following a 123-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said. 

This mission marks the Polar Star’s 23rd journey to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual joint military service mission to resupply U.S. Antarctic stations, in support of the National Science Foundation, the lead agency for the Antarctic program. This year also marks the 63rd iteration of the operation. 

The Polar Star crew departed Seattle on Nov. 27 for their sixth deployment in as many years and traveled more than 26,350 miles through the North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans. 

In the Southern Ocean, the crew travelled through nearly 500 miles of pack ice and broke through 23 miles of fast ice in order to create a nearly 18-square-mile navigable channel to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Because of the efforts of the Polar Star crew, two resupply vessels and one tanker travelled to McMurdo Station unescorted in order to refuel and resupply U.S. Antarctic stations. 

This year’s operation required the construction of a temporary, modular mobile causeway to replace an ice pier, which disintegrated during Operation Deep Freeze 2018-2019. The modular pier required a three-day construction period prior to the offload of supplies, followed by a three-day deconstruction period at the conclusion of the mission. 

Three resupply ships required 23 days to offload 19.6 million pounds of cargo and 7.6 million gallons of fuel during this year’s operation, more than doubling the operation duration and capacity as previous years. Together, the three ships delivered enough fuel and critical supplies to sustain NSF operations throughout the year until Polar Star returns in 2021. 

Among the cargo offloaded were construction materials for a five-year, $460 million Antarctica Infrastructure Modernization for Science (AIMS) project to recapitalize McMurdo Station, South Pole Station and other American outposts on the continent.  

Additionally, the Polar Star crew also supported a team of U.S. government officials from the State Department, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Coast Guard who conducted a five-day inspection of foreign research stations, installations and equipment in Antarctica. 

The team inspected three stations: Mario Zucchelli (Italy), Jang Bogo (South Korea) and Inexpressible Island (China). This was the 15th inspection of foreign research stations by the United States in Antarctica and the first since 2012. 

Inspections emphasize all of Antarctica is accessible to interested countries despite territorial claims and reinforce the importance of compliance with the Antarctic Treaty’s arms control provisions. The U.S. will present its report on the inspection at the next Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in May 2020. 

“I am very proud of the tenacity of this Polar Star crew,” said Coast Guard Capt. Greg Stanclik, commanding officer of the Polar Star. “158 crew members earned the Antarctic Service Medal during Operation Deep Freeze 2020.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is taking active measures to ease the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the operations and finance of its defense industrial base to minimize disruptions to its acquisition and readiness, the service’s top acquisition official said. 

James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, speaking March 25 in a teleconference with reporters, said the Navy is “using all the levers we have” such as moving up contract awards, accelerating contract payments and establishing baselines to compare pre-virus versus post-virus contractor performance.

See: Port Visits Cancelled, Submariners’ Health Monitored to Contain Coronavirus

Geurts said his effort is focused of three lines of operation: 

• The health of the defense industrial work force, including the government work force and its industrial partners such as prime contractors, subcontractors, small suppliers and individuals. 
• Ensuring the health of the industrial base. 
• Ensuring warfighting readiness of the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.  

Geurts said he is communicating with various stakeholders such as shipbuilder and aircraft builder presidents and Navy shipyards, regional maintenance centers and fleet readiness centers to take the pulse of operations and address concerns at all levels, including reducing barriers and freeing up funding. He said he is especially concerned about the resilience of the many small supplier companies that fill out the industrial supply chain. 

The Navy’s concerns about major shipyards vary by site, but Geurts said the sea service is “seeing a tightening on the supply base as smaller shops deal with their local situations. We’ve got a pretty good view of that with some of the real-time systems we are using. I do expect some delay or disruption.” 

Geurts said a key initiative was to establish baselines of the performance of current programs before the pandemic hit to understand the effects of delay and disruption with delays that were already incurred in programs and work through those issues on the back side of the pandemic and adjust as necessary. 

He said the Navy is not slowing down in its contracting activity and is, in fact, accelerating it “wherever we can to get that demand signal in” so that there is meaningful work waiting as the pandemic ends to avoid a lag effect in getting back to work at full speed. 

Regarding ship repair periods, the secretary said the Navy is reducing the normal 10% payment withholdings across the board.  

For claims that have been adjudicated but not yet paid, the Navy is looking to pay those out, and where claims have not yet been adjudicated, it will attempt to accelerate adjudication of those claims. 

“On the [contract] penalty side, we will continue to understand where those penalties are and work through how to deal with those penalties,” Geurts said.    

Geurts said his team is 90% to 95% dispersed and teleworking but he is “driving the team to accelerate” and he praised its dedication to performance despite the disruption of the virus. 

The secretary said the Navy is working to make sure there is no or only minimal disruption to the construction of the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine and the remaining work on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.  

He said he has “not seen any major impacts to that work [on the Columbia SSBN] yet but we are tracking it very closely.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — Nonessential port visits by U.S. Navy ships
have been cancelled and Sailors’ health aboard the nuclear deterrent submarine
force is being closely monitored, top officials said in the latest report on
combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said he believed “every port visit, with the exception of ships that need to pull in for maintenance or resupply,” had been cancelled. He was sure with “high certainty” that all ships in the Pacific Ocean were no longer making scheduled port calls and crews of ships that do make stops would be confined to the pier area while in port.

See: Ship Commissionings on Track, But Ceremonies Delayed

In a March 24 press briefing, Gilday and acting Navy Secretary
Thomas Modly announced that three Sailors deployed in the Pacific aboard the
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt were diagnosed with COVID-19 and were
being evacuated from the carrier. It was the first appearance of the novel
coronavirus on a deployed ship at sea, Modly said, adding that all those who encountered
the three sick individuals were being quarantined aboard the Roosevelt. There
were no plans to recall the carrier or any other deployed ship, Gilday said.

“We have not missed any operational commitment in the Navy
at this time,” he said, adding that the impact to force readiness has been low
“but that’s not to say that this couldn’t spike at any given time. We continue
to watch this very closely in every ship, squadron and submarine.”

Gilday said all crews of the ballistic missile submarine
force — which forms the maritime leg of the nuclear triad of submarines,
bombers and ground-based missiles — undergo enhanced medical screenings and
14-day isolation before beginning training or deployment aboard a sub. “We have
not seen a single case yet” of COVID-19 within the submarine force, Gilday
said.

Elsewhere, two Navy hospital ships were being readied to
ease the burden on health care workers and institutions in two cities hard-hit
by the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles and New York, Modly said.

The hospital ship USNS Mercy, which is based in San Diego, was
doing some initial training off the coast of California and would reach Los
Angeles “within the next few days,” he said, adding that Mercy would need
another 24 hours after arriving in L.A. “to prepare for how she’ll receive
patients” before the sick are brought aboard. The USNS Comfort, based in
Norfolk, Virginia, tasked with aiding New York City’s medical services squeezed
by the surge of COVID-19 cases, is still preparing for its mission, Modly said.

Both ships will serve as referral hospitals for patients not
infected with the coronavirus to allow local medical services to focus on those
who are, Modly stressed. “They’re there to handle the overflow of acute trauma
cases and other urgent needs, and they will not be handling pediatric or OB-GYN
cases,” the acting Navy secretary said.

Because of the pandemic, the Navy has postponed, until 2021,
this summer’s Large-Scale Exercise 2020, the first of a planned return to
annual large exercises involving several strike groups. Modly said no decision has
been made yet on scrubbing Hawaii-based Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s
largest international maritime exercise that runs every two years in June and
July. 

Both Modly and Gilday said they expect COVID-19 shutdowns
will challenge work tempo at Navy and private shipyards. While the work of the
private shipyards is essential in producing and repairing ships “we are also
concerned about the health of their people. We don’t want them putting them at
risk, either,” Modly said, noting Navy officials were talking with company executives
daily.

Meanwhile, large prime contractors were, in effect, creating
task forces to monitor the supply chains “to keep all of those production lines
running and to see where we might be incurring risk out through, 2021, so that
we can then prioritize what type of work we need to do,” Gilday said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy plans to put two Virginia-class attack submarines in commission in April despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ceremonies marking the events will be delayed.   

“Due to public health safety and restrictions on large public events, the commissioning ceremonies for the future USS Delaware and future USS Vermont were canceled for April 4 and 18, respectively,” Bill Couch, a spokesperson for Naval Sea Systems Command, said in a March 24 e-mail to Seapower. 

“The commissioning of both ships will take place administratively, and the ships will begin normal operations with the fleet.” 

The Delaware is the eighth and last Block III Virginia-class SSN. The Vermont is the first of 10 Block IV Virginia-class subs. The two submarines were built jointly by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding. 
 
“We greatly value the support of all those who were planning to attend, and we will look for a future opportunity to commemorate these special events with the sponsors, crews and commissioning committees,” Couch said. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — In the first case of COVID-19 detected aboard
a U.S. Navy ship at sea, three people quarantined with the coronavirus aboard
the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Pacific Ocean have been evacuated for further
treatment, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced.

“These are our first three cases of COVID-19 on a ship
that’s deployed,” Modly told a Pentagon press briefing on March 24. “We’ve
identified all those folks they’ve had contact with, and we’re quarantining
them as well,” he added.

To date, 86 cases of COVID-19 have been detected among people
connected with the Navy, including 57 uniformed personnel, 13 civilian
employees, 11 dependents and five contractors, Modly said.

The Roosevelt left its last port of call, Da Nang, Vietnam,
15 days ago and has been self-quarantined at sea for 14 days, the incubation
period of the virus, a procedure required of all Navy ships at sea since the
disease began to spread, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said. He
said it would be difficult to definitively link the outbreak on the Roosevelt
to the port visit in Vietnam.

“We’ve had aircraft flying to and from the ship, so we just
don’t want to say it was that particular port visit,” Gilday noted, adding that
enhanced medical screening of the crew was done after leaving port.

The CNO said the three Sailors who tested positive for
COVID-19 were not showing symptoms that would necessarily require
hospitalization, only an elevated body temperature and body aches. However,
leaders moved quickly to isolate them and evacuate them by aircraft to a Defense
Department hospital in the Pacific region, which Gilday declined to identify.

“We’ve begun to take a look inside the ship, how we can
isolate and contain as best we can,” Gilday said, adding there is testing
capability on the ship, including the capacity to test for non-COVID but
influenza-related incidents.

The CNO said Navy officials are working with the Roosevelt’s
commander to assess the situation both medically and in terms of the carrier’s
mission. “We’re taking this day-by-day, and we’re being very deliberate how we
do it,” Gilday said. “We are not at a position right now to say we have to pull
that ship in — or to take that ship off the front line.”

Given the busy comings and goings on an aircraft carrier,
including helicopters delivering supplies and personnel, Gilday was asked if
the Navy is planning any change in procedure for other deployed carriers. He
said there were no specifics yet but noted that after every COVID-19 case is
detected, practices and procedures are examined to determine “the dos and the
don’ts we can quickly promulgate fleetwide.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to change its aviation community significantly as part of a long-range effort to align its force structure more with the National Defense Strategy, including doubling the number of unmanned aerial system (UAS) squadrons and deactivating three rotary-wing squadrons. 

In a March 23 release, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) announced that it was redesigning its force “for naval expeditionary warfare in actively contested spaces, fully aligning the Service with direction of the National Defense Strategy. The Marine Corps has identified areas of modernization and realignment to meet these demands.” 

Among several initiatives planned for execution by 2030, the MCCDC said it would “double the number of UAS squadrons and austere lethal unmanned air and ground systems, enhancing our ability to sense and strike.” 

The Corps fields four Marine UAV squadrons (VMUs) — three in the active component and one in the reserve component. All four operate RQ-21A Blackjack UAS and one, VMU-2 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma, Arizona, operates two MQ-9 Predator UAVs under a contractor arrangement. The Corps intends to procure six MQ-9s for its VMU squadrons under current planning. 

MCCDC also announced plans to deactivate three rotary-wing squadrons by 2030. They include: 

• Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 264 (VMM-264), based at MCAS New River, North Carolina and one of 19 MV-22B squadrons in the Corps. 
• Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 (HMM-462), based at MCAS Miramar, California and one of eight CH-53E squadrons in the Corps.  
• Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 (HMLA-469), based at MCAS Camp Pendleton, California, and one of nine squadrons in the Corps operating the AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters. 

In addition, the Corps plans to deactivate HMLA-367 at MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and relocate the squadron to Camp Pendleton, presumably for reactivation. 

The Corps also plans to reduce the number — Primary Aircraft Authorized — of F-35Bs in some of its Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons (VMFAs). The original plan was to field 10 F-35Bs in some squadrons and 16 in others, with the extra six used to deploy as detachments on board amphibious assault ships. The F-35C squadrons also would be limited to 10 aircraft. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps’ first squadron to operate the F-35C Lightning II strike fighter has achieved certification as “safe for flight,” a major milestone toward eventual combat readiness and deployment. 

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, recently completed five months of transition as it retired its F/A-18C Hornet strike fighters and trained in the carrier-capable F-35C with the Navy’s F-35C fleet replacement squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125), at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The certification was achieved on March 20, the III Marine Aircraft Wing said in a release.  

The certification process “ensures the squadron is manned with qualified personnel to implement maintenance and safety programs in support of fleet operations. All transitioning squadrons are required to complete this certification prior to independently conducting flight operations,” the release said. 

“The certification process encompasses areas such as equipment, personnel and programs. Requirements include the installation and operation of management information systems and their accompanying support networks. There is also a requirement for operational F-35C squadrons to maintain robust maintenance programs and complete various inspections ranging from conventional weapons technical proficiencies to safety. Squadron personnel complete a transition curriculum and maintain specific competencies in accordance with Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures and Standardization guidelines.” 

VMFA-314 is in line to deploy on an aircraft carrier in 2022, according to the 2019 Marine Corps Aviation Plan, as one of four strike fighter squadrons of a carrier air wing. Under the TACAIR Integration Plan, the Marine Corps contributes some VMFA squadrons to carrier air wings. Currently, one F/A-18C-equipped squadron, VMFA-323, is assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17 and will make the last F/A-18C carrier deployment. VMFA(AW)-225 will be the next Marine Corps squadron to make the transition to the F-35C. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN — “Man all flight quarters stations!” These words were heard across every space on the USS Gerald R. Ford as the carrier prepared to launch and recover aircraft from Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) to complete flight deck certification (FDC) and carrier air traffic control center (CATCC) certification on March 20. 

Conducting flight operations is the key role of every carrier. To certify Ford’s flight deck and air traffic control center, the ship was required to complete a precision approach landing systems (PALS) certification and finish two straight days of flight operations with 50 day traps on the first day followed by 70 day traps and 40 night traps on the second. The crews of Ford and CVW-8 exceeded those minimums. 

Over a two-day period, F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets from four squadrons assigned to CVW-8 conducted 123 daytime and 42 night cats and traps aboard the Ford to reach this milestone in the ship’s operational readiness. 

“Our Sailors performed at a level that was on par with a forward-deployed aircraft carrier, and this was a direct result of the hard-core training and deployment ready mentality we have pushed every day for the past year,” said Capt. J. J. Cummings, the Ford’s commanding officer. “Our team put their game faces on, stepped into the batter’s box and smashed line drives out of the park. It was fun to watch.” 

Prior to FDC and CATCC certification, Ford received its PALS Mode IA and Mode II certification from Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. PALS, through the assistance of air traffic controllers in CATCC, aids pilots as they execute night or bad-weather landings, guiding pilots to a good starting position for approaches, and is a requirement for ships to conduct flight operations.  

“PALS cert was a critical step to achieving our flight deck certification,” said Cmdr. Phil Brown, the Ford’s air operations officer. “Our system performed really well during our approaches and provided a solid level of confidence to NAWCAD in our ability to recover jets.” 

The Ford CATCC team was not only essential to FDC but was also required to complete a certification in concert with the flight deck certification. 

Ford’s CATCC certification was the culmination of a three-phase process that began in October 2019 at the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) in Pensacola, Florida. Since then, NATTC instructors have been alongside Ford Sailors for every phase, testing their practical knowledge, reviewing their checklists and observing their recovery operations.