SAN JUAN,
Puerto Rico — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Legare (WMEC-912) repatriated 22
Dominicans and returned one Venezuelan and two Haitians to a Dominican navy
patrol vessel Aug. 15 near Samaná, Dominican Republic, the Coast Guard 7th
District said in a release.

The
repatriation followed the interdiction of an illegal migrant voyage Aug. 13 off
the coast of Aguada, Puerto Rico.

Seven
other Dominican migrants traveling in the group remain in federal custody
facing possible prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
Puerto Rico on potential charges of attempted illegal reentry into a U.S.
territory.

The
interdiction is the result of ongoing efforts in support of Operation Unified
Resolve, Operation Caribbean Guard and the Caribbean Border Interagency Group
(CBIG).

“The swift
response by Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action marine units and
efficient collaboration with the crew of the cutter Legare allowed for the safe
embarkation of the migrants, while the professionalism of our partners from the
Dominican Republic navy ensured their safe and expedited return,” said Capt.
Eric King, Sector San Juan commanding officer.

Coast
Guard Sector San Juan Command Center watchstanders were contacted Aug. 13 by
Puerto Rico Police. The watchstanders were told that two Police Joint Forces of
Rapid Action (FURA) marine units had interdicted a 25-foot migrant boat about 3
nautical miles off the coast of Aguada.

Coast
Guard watchstanders diverted the cutter Legare to the scene. Once there, Legare
crew members safely embarked 29 Dominicans, 25 men and four women; 2 Haitian women;
three Brazilian men; and a Venezuelan man.

Once
aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and
basic medical attention.

The seven migrants facing
prosecution are in custody of U.S. Border Patrol agents in Puerto Rico, while
the three Brazilian migrants were transferred to Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement–Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents for further
immigrations processing.

Assistant
Secretary of Defense for Sustainment Robert McMahon will discuss industry’s role
in projecting and sustaining U.S. forces during an emergency or a crisis at the
National Defense Transportation Association-U.S. Transportation Command fall meeting
Oct. 7-10 at Union Station in St. Louis.

As one of
five keynote speakers, McMahon will discuss the private sector’s role in providing
augmented transportation capacity to support Defense Department requirements.

“Clearly,
DoD cannot accomplish its mission without partnering with commercial partners
in the world of logistics and sustainment. They are absolutely essential to our
success by ground, sea and air,” said Michael P. Kleman, a spokesman for USTRANSCOM.
“Our success is reliant on that partnership.”

The
collaboration’s foundation rests on the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement
and Civil Reserve Air Fleet programs, which provide commercial ships and
aircraft, respectively, to meet mission needs.

For
example, VISA involves the participation of all major U.S.-flag companies and
offers access to more than 90 vessels, contributing more than 3 million square
feet of force-projection capacity and 143,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of
sustainment capability. On the other hand, CRAF includes 25 safety-certified
U.S. air carriers, providing long-range international airlift for about 40% of
DoD air cargo and more than 90% of passenger transport.

In
addition, the Maritime Security Program, managed by the U.S. Maritime Administration,
consists of 60 military-useful, internationally-trading, U.S.-flags ships that
employ more than 2,500 U.S.-trained and credentialed mariners. MSP vessels are
required to be enrolled in the VISA program. 

After
completing a 34-year Air Force career, retiring as a major general in 2012,
McMahon was CEO of the 21st Century Partnership and then served as the director
of field operations and site lead for the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Integrated
Sustainment Program. He later served as president of Fickling Management
Services of Macon, Georgia, from 2015 to 2017, leading a real estate company
that maintained properties in eight states.

“I have a
much greater appreciation of the private sector than I had when I wore the
uniform. They are great Americans, just as dedicated and patriotic as those in
uniform,” McMahon said.

In his
current position, McMahon works as the principal staff assistant and adviser to
the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, deputy secretary
of defense, and secretary of defense for sustainment in the DoD. As the
principal logistics official within DoD senior management, he also provides
oversight of logistics policies, practices and efficiencies to enable readiness
throughout the Pentagon as well as manages more than $170 billion in logistics
operations.

McMahon also oversees the DoD’s real property portfolio made up of 28 million acres, over 500 installations, and more than 500,000 buildings and structures valued at $1 trillion.  Those interested in attending Mr. McMahon’s keynote address and other fall Meeting activities can register here.

ALAMEDA,
Calif. — Crews aboard the precommissioned U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Midgett (WMSL-757)
interdicted a suspected low-profile go-fast vessel July 31 and seized more than
4,600 pounds of cocaine during a boarding in international waters of the eastern
Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said in a release.

This was
the second at-sea cocaine seizure made by Midgett’s crew within five days.

Midgett’s
crew seized more than 2,100 pounds of cocaine July 25 from a low-profile
go-fast boat, the cutter’s first cocaine seizure ever since departing the
Pascagoula, Mississippi, shipyard in June following acceptance by the Coast
Guard.

The July 25
and July 31 boardings resulted in a combined seizure of more than 6,700 pounds
of cocaine with an estimated street value of over $89 million.

Low-profile
go-fast vessels are built by cartels for smuggling large quantities of
contraband by riding low in the water to avoid detection. They are designed to
be quickly sunk by using their integrated scuttling valves, a dangerous
practice that jeopardizes the safety of smugglers and the Coast Guard boarding
teams.

Nearly 80%
of all known illegal narcotics coming into North America are smuggled by
international cartels through the eastern Pacific corridor, an area greater in
size than the continental United States. The profits from cocaine manufacture allow
drug cartels to diversify and fund other illicit trafficking activities such as
the smuggling of opioids, synthetics, methamphetamines, people and weapons.

One metric
ton of cocaine (2,204.6 pounds or 1,000,000 milligrams) is equal to 20 million
individual doses upon arrival in the United States. The Coast Guard removed more
than 2 million pounds (923 metric tons) of cocaine with an uncut wholesale
value of more than $27 billion over the last five years.

“The
national security cutter gets you further, faster and delivers more capability
once on scene than any other cutter in the history of our service,” said Capt.
Alan McCabe, Midgett’s commanding officer. “I am incredibly proud of the crew’s
efforts who made these two seizures possible, and we are eager to conduct
future operations throughout the Pacific.”

Midgett, the Coast Guard’s
eighth national security cutter, is sailing toward its future homeport in
Honolulu, where it will be commissioned Aug. 24 along with its sister ship, the
Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL-756), in a ceremony presided over by Coast
Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The Raytheon Co. is ready to demonstrate a single-sortie mine
neutralization concept using systems it developed or is developing. The
technology will be demonstrated at Newport, Rhode Island, during the last week
of August at ANTX (Advanced Naval Technology Exercise) 2019.

The Raytheon plan
is to demonstrate “detect to engage” sea mines using unmanned systems, Andy
Wilde, director of strategy and business development for Raytheon Undersea, said
in an Aug. 15 interview with Seapower.

Wilde said that
unmanned systems will “revolutionize” mine countermeasures (MCM) that currently
take weeks or months to clear minefields and put minesweepers at risk. The Navy
is developing an MCM mission package for the littoral combat ship (LCS) that
will rely largely on unmanned systems.

Raytheon will
demonstrate its AQS-20C towed sonar, now in production, pulled through the
water by a riverine craft acting as a surrogate for the Textron-built MCM
unmanned surface vehicle (MCMUSV) that will be a component of the MCM mission
package for the LCS.

Under the concept,
an MCMUSV is launched from an LCS and deploys the AQS-20C. Once a possible sea
mine is detected by the AQS-20C’s synthetic aperture sonar, a Barracuda
expendable semi-autonomous mine neutralization unmanned undersea vehicle is —
on the same pass — launched into the water from a A-size sonobuoy launcher on
the MCMUSV.

The Barracuda deploys
a float that serves as an RF datalink to the CUSV and an acoustic data link to
the Barracuda. The tactical mission plan is downloaded from the LCS to the
Barracuda via the CUSV. The Barracuda starts a search track and, once it
acquires a mine, it maintains position at the mine. The operator on the LCS
confirms the object is s mine and commands the Barracuda to detonate the mine
with a charge. The MCMUSV would then continue its mission on its planned track.

Raytheon will
have a time slot during ANTX 2019 in Narragansett Bay to run its MCM system
through several geometric patterns, Wilde said.

He said his
company is looking to take advantage of artificial and machine learning to
optimize the performance of its systems.

He also said
the MCM mission concept could be expanded to other missions, including by use
of a B-size sonobuoy launcher with other payloads.

The AQS-20C sonar is now in
production. Raytheon currently is developing the Engineering Development Models
of the Barracuda and recently completed the Navy’s Preliminary Design Review.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Bell Textron Inc. announced that the Federal
Aviation Administration has issued an instrument flight rules supplemental type
certificate for the Bell 407GXi helicopter. The certification is a requirement for
the U.S. Navy Advanced Helicopter Training System competition, enabling the
Bell 407GXi to replace the Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger as the Navy’s training
helicopter.

Should the Bell 407GXi be selected for the Navy’s helicopter trainer
program, the company plans to conduct final assembly of the aircraft in Ozark,
Alabama.

“The team did a great job ensuring the Bell 407GXi achieved the FAA’s
IFR certification necessary to meet all of the Navy’s requirements,” said Mitch
Snyder, president and CEO of Bell Textron. “Bell is an instrumental part of the
Navy’s training program and has been for more than 50 years, and we look forward
to continuing the tradition for the next generation of naval aviators.” 

A Bell to Bell transition offers low risk to the Navy by streamlining
instructor pilot and maintainer transition training as well as using common
support equipment and infrastructure. The 407 airframe has proven capabilities
as the platform for the MQ-8C Fire Scout for the Navy.

Bell supports more than 1,600 Bell 407s globally. These aircraft have
nearly 6 million flight hours across the fleet and are actively performing
flight training as well as military and para-public missions helicopter
mission-set.

The
407GXi’s Garmin G1000H NXi Flight Deck enhances situational awareness and
reduces pilot workload by delivering easy-to-read information at a glance. The
Bell 407GXi’s new IFR capability will allow all-weather operations while
continuing to provide multimission capability safely, reliably and effectively.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has issued a draft Request for Proposals for its planned Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV), one of the vessels planned for its future surface fleet.

“The LUSV will be a
high-endurance, reconfigurable ship able to accommodate various payloads for
unmanned missions to augment the Navy’s manned surface force, the Aug. 9
announcement on the FedBizOps website said.

“With a large payload
capacity, the LUSV will be designed to conduct a variety of warfare operations
independently or in conjunction with manned surface combatants. The LUSV will
be capable of semi-autonomous or fully autonomous operation, with operators
in-the-loop (controlling remotely) or on-the-loop (enabled through autonomy).”

Naval Sea Systems
Command (NAVSEA) intends to award multiple contracts for conceptual designs
from the defense industry. A final RFP is to be issued in the fourth quarter
fiscal 2019. 

On July 16, the Navy issued an RFP for the Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV), another vessel planned to be part of its future fleet concept. That RFP calls for “a pier-launched, self-deploying modular, open architecture, surface vessel capable of autonomous safe navigation and mission execution.”

The Navy is expected to field the LUSV and MUSV as adjuncts to its future surface fleet that will include the future surface combatant and the new FFG(X) guided-missile frigate as well as Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers and the Independence- and Freedom-class littoral combat ships.

SAN PEDRO,
Calif. — The U.S. Coast Guard and partner agencies responded to a report of
multiple bales of narcotics in the water near Santa Catalina Island on Aug. 13,
the Coast Guard 11th District said in a release.

A
concerned citizen notified Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach
watchstanders, reporting multiple bales of what the caller believed to be
narcotics floating near Santa Catalina Island.

A Coast
Guard Station Los Angeles-Long Beach 45-foot response boat-medium crew and a Baywatch
Isthmus boat crew responded to investigate.

Coast
Guard and Baywatch crews recovered 43 bales from the water. The bales were
transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who confirmed the bales
consisted of marijuana weighing about 1,300 pounds with an estimated street value
of $1 million.

“We
appreciate the assistance provided by our partners and vigilant mariners in
keeping these drugs off of our streets,” said Lt. Andrew L. Fox, the Station
Los Angeles-Long Beach commanding officer. “We encourage anyone who sees
suspicious activity on the water, signs of distress, or hazards to navigation
to contact Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles Long Beach personnel on VHF channel
16 or at (310) 521-3801.”

The origin
of the bales is unknown. The case remains under investigation by agents of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations and the
Coast Guard Investigative Service.

Response to the report was
coordinated through an interagency structure known as a regional coordinating mechanism
(ReCoM). Located in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, the ReCoM
partnerships include the Coast Guard, CBP’s Office of Air and Marine Operations
and Office of Field Operations, U.S. Border Patrol and ICE’s Homeland Security
Investigations, in cooperation with state and local law enforcement partners
operating along the California coast.

MIAMI —
The Coast Guard interdicted 146 Haitian migrants Aug. 11 about 69 miles north
of Isla De Tortue, Haiti, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release.

The crew
of the Coast Guard Cutter William Trump (WPC-1111) interdicted a 40-foot
migrant sail freighter with 146 migrants aboard. The cutter crew safely
embarked 120 males, 22 females and four minors.

“These
illegal ventures attempting to immigrate to the United States in ill-equipped
and severely overloaded vessels are extremely dangerous, especially during the
hurricane season, when weather and sea conditions can rapidly change in minutes,
putting migrants in danger of being lost at sea,” said Capt. Jason Ryan, chief
of the enforcement branch of the Coast Guard 7th District.

“The Coast
Guard and our partner agencies coordinate efforts to interdict and stop these
unlawful migration attempts into the United States. Migrants caught attempting
to gain access into the U.S. through these dangerously illegal undertakings at sea
will be repatriated to their country in accordance with existing U.S.
immigration policy.”

The William Trump crew met the Coast Guard Cutter Resolute (WMEC-620) and safely transferred the migrants to the Resolute’s crew, who repatriated the migrants to their country of origin on Aug. 13.

A total of 3,414 Haitian migrants have tried to illegally enter the United States by sea in fiscal year 2019, compared to 2,727 in fiscal 2018. These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean.

PATUXENT
RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier Advanced Arresting Gear
(AAG) system received the green light to recover all props and jets, according
to an Aircraft Recovery Bulletin (ARB), the Program Executive Office (Tactical
Aircraft Programs) public affairs office said Aug. 13.

The ARBs
enable propeller aircraft — C-2A Greyhounds, E-2C Hawkeyes and E-2D Advanced
Hawkeyes — and jet aircraft — F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and E/A-18G Growlers — to
perform flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.

“The
entire team did a tremendous job accelerating the schedule and working through
challenges,” said Capt. Ken Sterbenz, program manager for the Aircraft Launch
and Recovery Equipment program office (PMA-251). “This achievement is another
significant step toward ensuring the system can support the ship’s full air
wing.”

ARBs are
official Navy instructional documents identifying the weights and engaging
speeds authorized for shipboard arrestments of specific aircraft.

“Release
of the ARBs signifies Naval Air Systems Command’s ‘stamp of approval’ for the
AAG system to safely recover these type/model/series aircraft aboard the Navy’s
newest class of aircraft carriers,” said Jeff Mclean, deputy program manager
for AAG system design and development.

The team,
in collaboration with prime contractor General Atomics, continues to perform requisite
system development and demonstration testing at land-based test sites located
at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. Comprehensive testing of new
systems like AAG is critical because it ensures the technology meets Navy
requirements and that it is safe for use in the fleet, Mclean added. The team
conducted more than 2,500 dead-load arrestments at the Jet Car Track Site and
1,420 manned aircraft arrestments at the Runway Arrested Landing Site.

“The pace of system testing was consistently demanding and required numerous team members to perform their duties in difficult conditions and in all types of weather in order to meet critical program milestones leading up to these ARB releases,” Mclean said. USS Gerald R. Ford is the lead ship in the Ford-class of aircraft carrier, the Navy’s first new class of aircraft carriers in more than 40 years.

The AAG system is designed to arrest a range of aircraft, reduce fatigue to the aircraft and provide higher safety margins while reducing manpower and maintenance. AAG is one of more than 20 new systems incorporated into the design of the Ford class.

The Defense Department is developing a space-based sensor
system and an associated communication network to defend the nation against
hypersonic weapons. But the military’s top future technologies official also
wants to field an offensive capability.

Although the United States led the world in developing
significant parts of hypersonic technology, “we choose not to weaponize it,”
Michael Griffin, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering,
said Aug. 13.

But “our adversaries are developing hypersonic weapons.” In
response, “I came into office wanting DoD to make a big deal of that. I want to
be the offense. I want to hold others hostage. … Hypersonic technology is the
key to that.”

In addition to the research being conducted by defense
agencies, the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force all have programs to produce
hypersonic missiles, with some test flights expected within a year.

Griffin said the danger from hypersonic weapons is that they
“overfly our air defense and underfly missile defense. They’re a new class of
threat we have to deal with,” he told a Hudson Institute forum. And that
requires sensors in space that can detect and track hypersonic missiles, which
can fly more than five times the speed of sound and, unlike ballistic missiles,
can maneuver.

Because they fly so low and so fast, “by the time we see them,
it’s too late in the kill chain” to intercept them. “We have to see them
farther out. Radar detection ranges are “about as good as they’re going to get,”
he said. “If this were exclusively a land conflict, the solution would be to
forward-deploy radars.” But intelligence suggests a future war would be “a
maritime conflict,” Griffin said.

Because there are “not a lot of islands out there” to put
radars on, “we have to move to space. You can see a lot from space.” Hypersonic
weapons also present a dimmer target than ballistic missiles so the space-based
sensors need to be in a lower orbit than those looking for ballistic missiles,
he explained.

“The sensor layer is critical. But if it can’t talk among
itself, it won’t be efficient. The network underlays everything we need to do,
in space, land and maritime. That’s what we don’t have today,” Griffin said.

Developing that network is one of the main jobs of the Space
Development Agency (SDA), which then-acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan created
in March, Griffin said. SDA was placed under Griffin, but if Congress agrees to
create a Space Force, as President Donald Trump proposed, and Griffin supports,
SDA would move into the Space Force, he said.

Asked about the ground-based midcourse missile defense
system, which includes the 44 interceptors in California and Alaska, Griffin
said he has “a great deal of confidence” in that system, even though the
Missile Defense Agency stopped its program to develop a new kill vehicle for
the interceptors because preliminary tests indicated it would not be
successful. Now the MDA and his office are looking for alternatives, Griffin
said.

Under official U.S. policy, the current missile defense
system is not designed to counter an attack from Russia or China, which have
more ballistic missiles than it could handle. Building a system to defend
against Russia and China would be a budgetary issue, not a technology
challenge, Griffin said.

“We know how to do it,” he said.