NATO has seen the effects of a modernized Russia’s navy and
its increased activities in all the waters around Europe, and the alliance is
responding with multinational exercises and new organizations, including a
command focused on ensuring the flow of forces and supplies across the Atlantic
during a conflict, a senior NATO commander said.

“We see the consequence of modernization of Russian naval
forces. We’ve seen increased activity” in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic
Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, said British Air Chief Marshall Peach Stuart, chairman
of the NATO Military Committee. “NATO takes its maritime security very
seriously. The way we make that real is through a series of patrols, and multinational
groupings of ships, in standing naval groups,” Stuart told a Defense Writers’
breakfast on Nov. 13.

“We have to take a balanced approach to that presence and to
reassure our allies. And the way we conduct our naval operations is, of course,
coordinated with allies and partners” and conducting international exercises,
Stuart said. He cited Trident Juncture, a massive exercise involving nearly
50,000 personnel from 31 nations in and around Norway in October and November
2018. Stuart called that
“a very impressive grouping of capabilities, including maritime.”

Asked about the concerns expressed by U.S. commanders of the
potential challenge to getting reinforcements and supplies across the Atlantic
due to the updated and expanded Russian submarine fleet, Stuart said: “Our role
is to deter. All our naval operations I just described are part of that
deterrent posture. Of course, the Atlantic Ocean is vital to the economic
well-being of the whole of Europe as well as North America. Therefore, we
continue to take everything that might affect that very seriously.”

“The exact response is to create a new headquarters, called
Joint Forces Command in Norfolk,” which is co-located with the headquarters of
the recently re-established U.S. Navy 2nd Fleet, both of which are commanded by
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, he said. Disbanded after the end of the Cold
War, the 2nd Fleet was reactivated in August 2018 by then Chief of Naval
Operations Adm. John Richardson, who cited the increased tensions between
Russia and NATO. Joint Forces “is forming actively as a NATO headquarters as we
speak,” Stuart said.

“Yes, we do observe the increased [Russian] activity, and we
are responding to that increased activity with the formation of an additional
headquarters, which its primarily focus would be, should it be necessary to
provide the ability to reinforce across the Atlantic Ocean.”

Stuart also noted there was “more tension” in the eastern
Mediterranean, where Russia has deployed some of its newest ships and
demonstrated the capabilities of its latest ship-launched land-attack missiles
in support of the Syrian regime. “NATO continues to operate in accordance with
international law,” he said, adding that “freedom of navigation is important
everywhere, not just in Asia.”

Despite Russia’s increasingly aggressive behavior, Stuart
said the alliance has continued its dialog with Moscow through the NATO-Russia
Council based at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “That dialog is an important
structure, but it is not business as usual. NATO does not recognize [Russian]

 occupation of
Crimea.”

Asked about the status of Turkey in NATO after
its increased ties with Russia, including buying the S-400 advanced air defense
system, Stuart said: “Turkey has been an important ally since the 1950s. That
has not changed. … The capabilities Turkey brings to the alliance are very
important,” and NATO’s relations with the Turkish military “continues very
close.” As for the S-400, he said, “procurement is a sovereign issue.” But, he
added, “interoperability is important to the alliance.” U.S. officials have
said the S-400 cannot be interoperable with NATO systems.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division marked the start of fabrication of the U.S. Coast Guard’s newest Legend-class national security cutter, Calhoun, on Nov. 12, according to a company release. The start of fabrication signifies that the first 100 tons of steel for a ship have been cut. 

“Each new ship in this class has been an exciting opportunity to build on our legacy,” said Jay Boyd, Ingalls’ NSC program manager. “This is the 10th cutter in the class and a steady production line has allowed our shipbuilders to continually improve on how we build and deliver these technologically advanced cutters to the nation.” 

NSC 10 is named for Master Chief Petty Officer Charles L. Calhoun, who was the first MCPOCG. He served in the U.S. Navy for three years during World War II and was honorably discharged in February 1946 as a torpedoman second class but enlisted in the Coast Guard that September. Over the course of 14 years he held various Coast Guard leadership positions, serving as MCPOCG from August 1969 until August 1973. 

Ingalls has delivered eight Legend–class NSCs, two more are under construction and one additional is under contract. Stone, the ninth NSC, is scheduled for delivery in 2020. 

NSCs can meet all maritime security mission needs required of the high-endurance cutter. They include an aft launch and recovery area for two rigid-hull inflatable boats and a flight deck to accommodate a range of manned and unmanned rotary wing aircraft.

The Legend class is the largest and most technologically advanced class of cutter in the Coast Guard, with maritime homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense capabilities. NSCs enhance the Coast Guard’s operational readiness, capacity and effectiveness at a time when the demand for their services has never been greater.

NEW YORK — The U.S. Coast Guard will name two of its new Sentinel-class fast-response cutters in honor of two public servants and Coast Guardsmen who lost their lives responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, the Coast Guard 1st District announced in a Nov. 12 release. 

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz made the announcement in New York’s Battery Park flanked by Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner James O’Neill and Fire Chief John Sudnik. 

The two new cutters will be named for Vincent Danz and Jeffrey Palazzo. 

Palazzo served as a Coast Guard reservist and New York firefighter at Rescue 5 in Staten Island. He died while helping others at the World Trade Center. Danz, also a Coast Guard reservist, was a police officer with the emergency services unit in the Bronx and was helping victims at Ground Zero when the Trade Center collapsed. 

“We are humbled and grateful for the opportunity to honor these brave men whose service and sacrifice spanned three great first-responder organizations,” Schultz said. “Their broad military and public service to both the nation and City of New York demonstrated their incredible dedication and character. When the call came, they answered. We are certain that the men and women who serve aboard Coast Guard Cutter Vincent Danz and Coast Guard Cutter Jeffrey Palazzo … will proudly carry on their sense of honor, respect and devotion to duty.” 

“On the day we needed them most, our city’s brave first responders ran toward danger without hesitation,” de Blasio said. “Officer Vincent Danz and Firefighter Jeffrey Palazzo lived and died in service to our city and our country, and I join the U.S. Coast Guard, NYPD and FDNY in remembering the sacrifices they made to keep us safe. They were heroes, plain and simple, and their spirit will live on through these vessels as they continue to protect our city and nation from harm.” 

The new cutters are scheduled for delivery starting in 2023. FRCs are the mainstay of the Coast Guard’s coastal patrol fleet, providing multimission capabilities and interagency interoperability.

They feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment; over-the-horizon cutter boat deployment to reach vessels of interest; and improved habitability and sea-keeping. They are replacing 1980s-era Island-class 110-foot patrol boats. 

BALTIMORE — Northrop Grumman Corp. has delivered its 500th APG-81 fire control radar for the F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, the company said in a release. 

The APG-81 active electronically scanned array is the cornerstone of the F-35’s advanced sensor suite, providing unparalleled battlespace situational awareness that translates into platform lethality, effectiveness and survivability.  

“As a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team, our continued investment in facilities and equipment, production enhancements in process and design and expanded supply chain capability through second sourcing helped reach this milestone,” said Chris Fitzpatrick, director of F-35 programs for Northrop Grumman. 

The APG-81 radar has long-range active and passive air-to-air and air-to-ground modes that support a wide range of demanding missions. These modes are enhanced by an array of stealth features as well as electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions. 

Northrop Grumman plays a key role in the development, modernization, sustainment and production of the F-35. The company also manufactures the center fuselage and wing skins for the aircraft, produces and maintains several sensor systems, avionics, mission systems and mission-planning software, pilot and maintainer training systems courseware, electronic warfare simulation test capability and low-observable technologies.

SEATTLE — Boeing has delivered the first of nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to the United Kingdom Royal Air Force, the company said in a release. 

The U.K. is acquiring the multimission aircraft through the foreign military sales process with the U.S. Navy. The P-8A Poseidon replaces the U.K.’s retired Nimrod aircraft. 

Speaking to attendees at the delivery ceremony, Air Marshal Andrew Turner, deputy commander of capability for the Royal Air Force, spoke of the “profound challenge” of enemy submarines threatening the U.K. and other nations. 

“P-8 is the key to solving this challenge on the surface, the sub-surface and in the waters of the North Atlantic. There is no place [for our enemies] to hide. We will make the oceans transparent and we will prevail.” 

Boeing formally delivered the aircraft on Oct. 29 to the U.S. Navy during a ceremony at the Boeing Military Delivery Center in Tukwila, Wash. From Tukwila, the aircraft flew to the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, where Navy leaders officially are to turn the aircraft over to the U.K. At JAX, Royal Air Force crew will work with the aircraft before flying it to the U.K. in January. All nine P-8A aircraft will be based at Lossiemouth, Scotland. 

As part of a collaborative program with the U.S. Navy, pilots and maintainers from the RAF have been stationed at NAS Jacksonville since 2012. Called “Project Seedcorn,” the arrangement has allowed RAF members to fly the P-8A with Patrol Squadron Thirty (VP-30), the Navy’s maritime patrol and reconnaissance fleet replacement squadron, to maintain their maritime patrol skills in advance of receiving the P-8A. 

The P-8 is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft capable of broad-area, maritime and littoral operations. In addition, the P-8 performs humanitarian and search and rescue missions around the globe.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — In a milestone for the DDG 51 program, the keel of the first Flight III destroyer, the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), was ceremoniously laid and authenticated at Huntington Ingalls Shipyard on Nov. 7. 

Ruby Lucas and Catherine B. Reynolds, the ship’s sponsors, authenticated the keel by etching their initials into the keel plate. Although the official start of fabrication for the Lucas began in May 2018, authenticating the ship’s keel symbolically recognizes the joining of modular components and represents the ceremonial beginning of the ship.  

“This destroyer was named after an American hero, Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas, and I am humbled and honored to be here today as we authenticate the keel on his namesake ship,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager, PEO Ships. “The Flight III ships will bring increased lethality and warfighting capacity to our warfighters, and today’s milestone is the first of many to come as we work to deliver this highly capable ship to the Fleet.”  

DDG 125 will be the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built in the Flight III configuration with improved capability and capacity to perform anti-air warfare and ballistic-missile defense in support of the integrated air and missile defense mission. 

The Flight III design contains modifications from the earlier DDG 51 class, enabling the SPY-6 radar, in association with Aegis Baseline 10, which includes larger electronically scanned arrays and the power generation and cooling equipment required to operate the powerful new radar.  

These multimission surface combatants serve as integral assets in global maritime security, engaging in air, undersea, surface, strike and ballistic missile defense as well as providing increased capabilities in anti-submarine warfare, command and control and anti-surface warfare. 

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is building the guided missile destroyers Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), amphibious assault ships Tripoli (LHA 7) and Bougainville (LHA 8) and amphibious transport dock ships Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29).

ARLINGTON, Va. — The admiral in charge of undersea warfare requirements said the Harpoon anti-ship missile will be returning to the submarine force next year, restoring more lethality to the sub force. 

“I am happy to report that we will have the first refurbished [Harpoon] missiles delivered to the fleet in FY21,” said Rear Adm. Thomas Ishee, director of undersea warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, speaking Nov. 7 at the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium in Arlington. 

In a demonstration in the 2018 Rim of the Pacific exercise, a Harpoon was fired from the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Olympia at a target ship, the first time one was fired from a U.S. Navy submarine since the UGM-84A Harpoons were withdrawn from the force in 1997. 

The UGM-84A is encapsulated to be fired from a torpedo tube and has a rocket booster to propel it above the surface of the water and into flight.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The admiral in charge of undersea warfare requirements said the U.S. Navy’s next-generation attack submarine (SSNX) will be revolutionary, not evolutionary. 

“We run up against the design margin of the Virginia class, and we will need a new submarine capable of carrying [payloads] and is capable of pacing the threat,” said Rear Adm. Thomas Ishee, director of undersea warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, speaking Nov. 7 at the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium in Arlington.

See: Admiral in charge of procuring sub missiles praises Trident’s motor.  

The NSSN “will have improved mobility — think speed and stealth, both not ‘or,’” Ishee said. “It will have improved lethality — think magazine size and payload integration. It will have some levels of artificial intelligence to increase the warfighter decision space. It will have improved survivability, able to take a punch and still carry out the mission.” 

The admiral said the Navy has studies — “two starting now — to really inform our requirements process,” noting that the top-level requirements will be determined over the next year. 

Ishee said the timetable for the SSNX is not clear yet. 

“Since the end of the Cold War we have been making evolutionary changes to our SSNs,” he said. “The theme for SSNX is to look at revolutionary changes, so we are accelerating in the direction of a new class of fast-attack submarine.” 

In an earlier briefing, Rear Adm. Scott Pappano, the Navy’s program executive officer for the new Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine, said that the SSNX, not the Columbia, will be the class that will feature automation that will significantly affect crew size of a submarine.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The admiral in charge of procuring and sustaining the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has praised the reliability of the Trident missile’s rocket motor, a critical factor in the credibility of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent.

See: Navy’s next-gen attack submarine will be revolutionary, not evolutionary, admiral says.  

Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director of Strategic Systems Programs, speaking Nov. 7 at the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium in Arlington, said all of the five Trident missiles fired during tests and demonstrations in preceding 12 months “flew exactly as they were supposed to” and he noted that in one of the missiles the three rocket motors were almost 27 years old.  

“From a health perspective, our system is doing very, very well,” Wolfe said. 

“We are the only people that use the 1.1 [highly detonable] propellant,” he said. “There is no need to change that [for the next-generation Trident D5LE2 version]. We’re going to continue on producing those rocket motors because, if you look from a reliability perspective, that is the base contributor. We’re not going to change that. 

“We have seen no real degradation in our motors at all,” he said. “We have understanding of the properties of these motors if we see some type of gradual degradation. But what we are focused on is never being at that point, which is why we continue to produce the motors. We take older motors out as we can and [replace them] with newer ones.” 

The Trident SLBM is built by Lockheed Martin and deployed on Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines and will be deployed on the future Columbia-class ballistic-missile sub.

The
Marine Corps has narrowed the list of requirements for its proposed large
unmanned aerial system (UAS) and is teaming with Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
on an unusual program to accelerate development of the technologies the UAS
would need.

Although
the Marines operate a variety of small and midsize UAS — primarily for short-
and medium-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services —
the Corps has long wanted a large pilotless aircraft that could provide a wide
scope of missions at extended range and longer endurance for its expeditionary
Marine Air Group Task Forces (MAGTF).

The
program, called the MAGTF Unmanned Aerial System Expeditionary (MUX), initially
was expected to provide extensive capabilities such as strike and armed escort
for MV-22 tilt-rotor troop transports. To give it the desired speed and range
and the ability to operate from amphibious ships or austere land bases, MUX was
expected to be a tilt-rotor. But research and feedback from the aerospace
industry indicated that all the desired attributes would require an aircraft
that could be too large to operate from amphibs and would be too expensive for
the Marines to buy in sufficient numbers.

As
a result, the Marines have narrowed the requirements for MUX to “four critical, Tier 1 capabilities” — early warning; ISR; electronic warfare; and communications relay, Capt.
Christopher Harrison, spokesman for Marine Aviation, said in an e-mail. That
same information was provided by 1st Lt. Sam Stephenson, a media officer at the
Marine Corps Combat Development Command, who said: “MUX will be multi-sensor
and will provide early warning, electronic warfare, a C4 bridge and ISR as
primary functions.”

“The potential to conduct strike capability and logistics
at ranges complementary

to those of MV-22 and F-35 will be explored as secondary
functions. MUX

will give Naval Expeditionary Forces flexible, persistent
and lethal reach,” Stephenson said. “The Marine Corps owns two Kaman KMAX CQ-24
UAS — currently assigned to VMX-1 — to expand the cargo UAS envelope, refine
MUX experimentation, reduce risk and capitalize on lessons learned from the
AACUS program,” he added, referring to an autonomous cargo aircraft project.

Harrison noted that the Marines are working with NAVAIR “as they prepare to announce the prize
challenge winners as part of the first phase of the MUX development strategy.
The six prize challenges were announced on July 11 at a MUX Industry Day; four
of the prize challenges are for individual mission payloads, one for payload
adapter designs, and one for system architecture designs.”

“The prize challenge is an innovative solution to get
this capability to the Marines faster and get the best performance per dollar of
investment,” Capt. Eric Soderberg, the Navy’s Multi-Mission Tactical UAS
(PMA-266) program manager, said in a NAVAIR release. “This approach will
hopefully prompt industry to use nontraditional ways to develop their
concepts.”

NAVAIR said it would award prize challenges in two phases. “The first phase will seek design concepts for payloads and modularity, emphasizing minimal size and weight while maximizing performance. The challenge submissions will be scored and evaluated by a panel of judges. Vendors will receive $700,000 for first place; $200,000 for second place; and $100,000 for third place. The results of the first phase will inform a second prize challenge for airframe and power plants.

The Navy expects to award a series of up to eight prize challenge awards for MUX.” A NAVAIR spokeswoman said the first phase awards were expected before the end of the calendar year. The Marines hope to field MUX in 2026, NAVAIR said.