Pascagoula, Miss. — The future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 19) completed acceptance trials on March 12, returning to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding Division after spending two days at sea in the Gulf of Mexico.

During acceptance trials, the ship’s crew performed a series of demonstrations for review by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). These demonstrations are used to validate the quality of construction and compliance with Navy specifications and requirements prior to delivery of the ship to the Navy. 

“The ship performed exceptionally well and demonstrated that the ship is materially ready to execute her mission,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager for PEO-Ships. “The success of these trials validates this highly capable ship will be a force multiplier when she joins the fleet.”

DDG 119 is being constructed with the Aegis Baseline 9 combat system, which incorporates integrated air and missile defense capabilities, such as increased computing power and radar upgrades, that improve detection and reaction against modern air warfare and ballistic-missile defense threats. When operational, DDG 119 and her sister ships will serve as integral assets in global maritime security.

“DDG 119’s exceptional performance during these trials is a direct reflection of the teamwork between Ingalls Shipbuilding and the Navy,” said Capt. Nathan Schneider, supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair Gulf Coast. “I am proud of this ship, and I am extremely proud of the Ingalls Shipbuilding and Navy team that built her. Right behind DDG 119 are follow-on DDGs that will be even better, including the first Flight III DDG which is a real game-changer.”

DDG 119 honors Delbert D. Black, the first master chief petty officer of the Navy, and will be the first naval ship to bear his name. Black is best known for guiding the Navy through the Vietnam War and ensuring proper enlisted leadership Navy-wide by initiating the master chief program.

The future USS Delbert D. Black is expected to be delivered to the Navy later this year. HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is in production on the future destroyers Frank E. Peterson Jr. (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the first Flight III ship.

WASHINGTON — One of the ways to counter rivals in the Great
Power Competition is to impose costs on a potential adversary. An effective way
to do that is with a big, unmanned inflatable boat, according to a top Marine
Corps commander.

The Marines are looking to reduce their exposure to
increased long-range precision fire with unmanned systems in the air, on land
and sea. In addition to accomplishing a mission without exposing troops to
danger, unmanned systems are also seen as a way to flood an adversary’s
decision-making and targeting processes with an array of low signature,
affordable and risk-worthy platforms, according to written testimony prepared
for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing March 11.

Asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to explain how the
Corps is leveraging unmanned systems to  upset
adversaries’ decision-making, Lt. Gen. Eric Smith cited the Long Range Unmanned
Surface Vessel (LRUSV), a 33-foot long rigid hulled inflatable boat that can
travel far to enemy littorals and unleash a swarm of small aerial drones.

Smith, the deputy commandant for Combat Development and
Integration, said the LRUSV had been tested at the annual Advanced Technology
Exercise last July. The autonomous boat traveled down the Inland Waterway from
Norfolk, Virginia, to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, about 200 miles, with no
one aboard, controlled from Norfolk. On arrival, the LRUSV launched a swarm of
small, expendable Raytheon Coyote drones that could either attack or observe
the target.

“That’s the kind of capability that we will provide to those forces forward,” Smith said, adding that LRUSV and other lighter, more lethal, resilient capabilities like the Remotely Operated Ground Unit Expeditionary (ROGUE) naval strike missile-firing vehicle, would be transported to overseas exercises in 40-foot long shipping containers.

“That complicates an adversary’s calculus, because if you don’t know what’s in that, it could be weights for a weight room or a lethal strike missile,” Smith said. As the Marines and their weaponry are dispersed in support of distributed maritime operations, “You impose an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tax on an adversary,” he added.

MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy moved one step closer to integrating a laser weapon system onto an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after successfully conducting a critical design review (CDR) for the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, the company said in a release. 

“Our adversaries are rapidly developing sophisticated weapons, and the threats to the U.S. Navy’s fleet are getting more challenging,” said Hamid Salim, vice president of advanced product solutions at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems. “Our warfighters need this capability and capacity now to effectively counter threats such as unmanned aerial systems and fast-attack vessels.” 

This year, HELIOS will undergo system integration in Moorestown, New Jersey — the home of Aegis combat system development for 50 years. HELIOS will then be tested at the Wallops Island, Virginia, Navy land-based test site, which will reduce program risk before being delivered to a shipyard for integration into an Arleigh Burke destroyer next year. In addition to being built into a ship’s structure, HELIOS will become an integrated component of its Aegis system. 

“HELIOS will provide an additional layer of protection for the fleet — deep magazine, low cost per kill, speed of light delivery and precision response. Additional HELIOS systems will accelerate the warfighter learning curve, provide risk reduction for future laser weapon system increments and provide a stronger demand signal to the supply base,” said Brendan Scanlon, the HELIOS program director at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems. 

Lockheed Martin has more than 40 years of experience developing laser weapon systems. HELIOS leverages technology building blocks from internal research and development projects that continue to advance the Navy’s goal to field laser weapon systems aboard surface ships.

MARBLEHEAD, Mass. — The U.S. Navy has awarded Ribcraft, a manufacturer of rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) for law enforcement, safety professionals and military agencies, a five-year indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $43 million, the company said in a release. 
 
Under the contract, Ribcraft will build and deliver an estimated 48 of its 11-meter Expeditionary Mine Counter Measure Boats. Ribcraft has also been providing the Navy with 7-Meter shipboard RIBs since 2014. 

“The awarding of this latest contract is testament to Ribcraft’s exceptional design and production capabilities. We’ve enjoyed a long and collaborative relationship with the Navy,” said P. Brian Gray, Ribcraft’s president and CEO. “We have a proven track record of meeting the needs of the Navy with exceptional product and service.” 

A critical component of the Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures Company, the 11-meter RIBs will serve to support explosive ordnance disposal mine countermeasure platoons in both shallow and deep-water operations. 

To achieve this, Ribcraft will build two configurations for mine countermeasure operations, one with an open aft deck for stowage and deployment of two combat rubber raiding craft, and the other featuring a launch, recover and handling system for deployment and retrieval of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), which will have the capability to launch, recover and handle two UUVs using a single davit.

BOSTON — The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma returned to Kittery, Maine, on March 12 after a 70-day counter-drug patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard 1st District said in a release. 

Tahoma’s crew seized about 700 pounds of cocaine, valued at $12.5 million while working with an armed Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron MH-65 aircraft on board. 

The crew of Tahoma worked with several other Coast Guard units in the area to detain 27 suspected narcotics traffickers, and interdict 9,600 pounds of cocaine and 640 pounds of marijuana. 

Tahoma’s crew transited through the Panama Canal to conduct counter-drug operations under the tactical control of the Joint Interagency Task Force South in support of Operation Martillo. The operation involves 20 participating nations working together to counter transnational organized crime networks and illicit trafficking in the waters along Central America. 

“The crew was outstanding in executing the counter-drug mission in support of Operation Martillo,” said Cmdr. Michael Sarnowski, commanding officer of Tahoma. “I sincerely appreciate the contributions and professionalism from our detached teams while on this deployment.” 

Tahoma is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter with a crew complement of 100. They conduct maritime enforcement and homeland security missions in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere. 

WASHINGTON — In addition to imposing immediate travel
restrictions on personnel and forcing U.S. Navy ships at sea to self-quarantine
between visits to foreign ports, the worldwide coronavirus outbreak could be an
“impacting element” on acquisition and sustainment programs, a Department of
the Navy official said.

“We’ve been working for a long time on supply chain
integrity, and so [the virus outbreak] plays into the supply chain, understanding
our supply lines where we’ve got fragility, [and] planning forward on that,”
James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition,
told the readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee on March
12.

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), the readiness subcommittee chairman,
used his first question at the hearing on Navy and U.S. Marine Corps readiness not
about destroyers or shipyards but on how the sea services are dealing with the
coronavirus outbreak, which the World Health Organization on March 11 designated
as a pandemic.

Marine Corps Deputy Commandant Gen. Gary Thomas said the
Corps is reviewing disease containment plans, starting to restrict large
gatherings, implementing measures to screen and quarantine Marines when
necessary, and screening personnel in unique places “in the sense that they
bring people from all over the country, for example entry level training.”

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Robert Burke said the Navy’s
top priority is the “well-being of our Sailors and their family members.”
He added that the Navy, along with the other armed services, is providing
support to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), being coordinated by U.S. Northern Command.

The Navy is following CDC guidance regarding minimum requirements with implementation “above and beyond those requirements as necessary to meet the unique needs of the service,” Burke said.

Ships at sea are on self-quarantine for 14 days between every port departure and arrival and are monitoring their crew for symptoms of the virus. The at-sea quarantines, first initiated in the Pacific, are now in force worldwide, Burke said. “We are very sensitive to the fact that we’re moving from place to place rapidly. We do not want to be the source of transmission of the virus,” he added.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s top officer said the high-altitude, high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is providing support to the fleet on its first deployment that was not available before. 

“We’re still committed to the [MQ-4C Triton],” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said, responding to a question from Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) during a March 11 hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee.  

“We just accelerated the deployment of our first two out to Guam, so they are on station and on mission right now,” Gilday said. “The capabilities that the MQ-4 brings are game-changing in terms of long-range ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] at altitude, with sensors that we haven’t had supporting the fleet before.”   

Gilday took the opportunity to mention the Navy’s future unmanned, carrier-based aerial refueling aircraft, the MQ-25A Stingray, which is now in testing. He pointed out the aircraft’s potential ISR sensing capability as well as its primary aerial refueling role.  

Also testifying was Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, who said ISR unmanned assets “would become even more important. It does complement the manned ISR platforms like an F-35, which is a flying sensor platform. Especially critical for the forward force, the Navy-Marine Corps expeditionary team that’s up forward, as a stand-in forward force. That’s your eyes and ears. The joint force has to have a picture of what’s in front of them. I would expect, four or five years from now, much more unmanned ISR and [in] 10 years exponentially more than that.” 

Berger added that a family of all sizes of UAVs is needed. 

“We have the means for a sergeant to launch, recover, control a hand-held unmanned platform. He also has to be linked to medium, high-altitude, longer endurance as well, either kinetically to engage something for a target or just to collect information.”  

“Unmanned is going to be a huge part of our future,” acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said. “Unmanned is a critical element — not just aerial but unmanned ships as well.” 

MCLEAN, Va. — SAIC has been awarded a $45.2 million follow-on contract to support the tactical warfare training of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the company said in a release. The single-award contract has a three-year period of performance. 

SAIC will continue providing technical and tactical expertise to support tactical warfare training of the Tactical Training Group Pacific (TTGP) stationed in San Diego, the Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Pacific (EWTGP) based in Coronado, California, Tactical Training Group Detachment (TTGPDY) Yokosuka, Japan, and Carrier Strike Group 15 in San Diego. 

SAIC’s support provides the Navy and Marine Corps the most up-to-date training, including instruction related to tactics, techniques and procedures as well as practical applications and wargaming support, utilizing government-furnished training systems for classroom training, Fleet Synthetic Training, and Live, Virtual, Constructive Training. This support enables TTGP and EWTGP to execute their primary mission to train carrier strike groups, expeditionary strike groups, and amphibious ready groups of the Navy’s Third and Seventh Fleets. 

“SAIC is proud to continue our support of TTGP and EWTGP as they train groups for deployment,” said Jim Scanlon, SAIC executive vice president and general manager of the Defense Systems Customer Group. “We want today’s Navy and Marine Corps forces to be as mission-ready as possible and this program enables that preparation.” 

SAIC was the only awardee for this contract. Three subcontractors — American Systems, Prairie Quest, and Stellar Peak — will work with SAIC on this contract. 

“Our years of successful engagement on this program, coupled with key personnel, secured this win and cemented the trust between us and our customers in this contract,” Scanlon said.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is working to manage its strike fighter inventory by focusing on restoring grounded fighters while curtailing future procurement of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet after 2021, Navy officials said. 

The Navy is requesting 24 Super Hornets in the fiscal 2021 budget but has cancelled plans to procure 36 more beyond 2021.  

In a March 10 hearing of the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Hartzler (R-Mo.) said the Navy has a shortfall of 49 strike fighters — more than the 44 strike fighter complement of a carrier air wing — and that the Navy’s decision to curtail Super Hornet procurement “is creating too much operational risk in the near term.” 

Rear Adm. Gregory N. Harris, director of air warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said that ensuring enough fighters are coming out of depot-level maintenance while others are inducted into service-life modification (SLM) program is “a balanced risk that we are taking right now based on the current budget.”   

Commenting on the large amount of corrosion found on the first two Super Hornets inducted into the SLM program, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said the Navy has added to the program “so that we deliver a fully mission-capable airplane out of SLM,” including phase maintenance checks, “so when we hand it back to the wing and the squadron, it’s ready to go. Previous service-life extension programs have just done things to the airplane but not taken advantage of the fact we had the airplane all pulled apart.” 

Geurts said that the Navy is working closely with Boeing “to productionize the service-life extension — not getting every airplane its own custom artisan activity. We need to get that in the production flow. So, some of the risk of shoving the F/A-18 down after [fiscal] ’21 will be taking advantage of that line to productionize to get to our goal of 40 airplanes a year through that SLEP line.”  

Geurts also said the improved mission-capable rate of the current Super Hornet fleet “gives us additional ‘up’ aircraft to help balance that shortfall.” 

He said it takes 18 months to get a Super Hornet through SLM, but his goal is to reduce that to 12 months. 

He predicted that by 2029 the Navy would reach its full fighter inventory. 

The U.S. Marine Corps, having inherited many of the Navy’s divested F/A-18C Hornets, has 275 Hornets on hand to meet an inventory requirement of 143, said Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, deputy commandant for aviation. 

“We have enough Hornets, we have enough [AV-8B] Harriers,” Rudder said. “The challenge for us is the transition [to the F-35] … to maintain a 20 F-35 buy a year — at least — so we can stand up at least two squadrons a year as we go forward.” 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard plans to celebrate the keel-laying of the first Heritage-class offshore patrol cutter (OPC) next month in Panama City, Florida. 

Testifying March 10 before the House Homeland Security Committee, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl L. Schultz said the keel of the Argus, the first OPC hull, would be laid in April at the Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. shipyard. 

The OPC is designed to replace the current fleet of medium-endurance cutters, which are between 30 and 50 years old. OPCs will provide a capability bridge between the national security cutter and the fast-response cutter. Each OPC will feature a flight deck and advanced C4ISR (command, control, computers, communications, intelligence and reconnaissance) capabilities.  

Delivery of the first OPC is expected in fiscal 2022. The Coast Guard plans to acquire 25 OPCs. The damage inflicted on the Eastern Shipbuilding facilities by Hurricane Michael in October 2018 resulted in the sea service granting relief to the shipbuilder, reducing its planned construction to four OPCs instead on nine and deciding to recompete the remainder of the OPC program.