WASHINGTON —
The newest nominee for chief of naval operations listed his top three
technology priorities to the Senate Armed Services Committee during his July 31
confirmation hearing, with artificial intelligence coming in as No. 1.

“On the top
of the list I would put artificial intelligence,” Vice Adm. Michael M. Gilday said
in response to a question from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

MORE FROM THE CNO NOMINEE: Gilday says weapons elevator problems aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford are a “Navy failure.”

“I think that
that there are capabilities resident in industry that we can harness to our
advantage. What I am particularly interested in is how we use data in a more
innovative way to give us a quicker flash to bang, from decision-making to
action. There is a lot of information at our fingertips every single day; it’s
getting the right information to the right people at the right time so you can
make the right decisions faster than your opponent.”

“I think
there is great promise there,” Gilday added. “We are doing some experimenting
now that I’m very excited about.”

Gilday said
that hypersonics — his second technology priority — “is a must that we have to
get after quickly. Industry is our best partner as we work through this.”

His third
technology priority is unmanned systems.

“That is the future,” he said. “We have to look more deeply at how we would operate with unmanned vessels, whether they are on the sea, or under the sea, or in the air.”

Gilday said he “would take a look at wargaming, concept development and with experimentation. We’ve almost doubled the number of exercises we’re doing in the next year from 97 to 171. We’re going to look at these new technologies. If they’re going to fail, they can fail fast. If it’s something we want to invest in, then we put heat on it and field it quickly.”

ASTORIA, Ore.
— The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast (WMEC-632) returned home July 30
following a 56-day counternarcotic patrol to the eastern Pacific Ocean, the
Coast Guard Pacific Area said in a release.

The crew
interdicted five suspected smuggling vessels, including three pangas, a fishing
vessel and a sailboat, and the crew recovered floating bales of contraband
yielding more than 23,000 pounds of cocaine.

The Steadfast
crew offloaded more than 26,000 pounds of seized cocaine in San Diego on July
26, which was a result of the cutter’s five interdictions, bale recovery and an
interdiction case by the Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward (WPC-1130).

The cocaine,
worth an estimated $350 million, was seized by the crews while the cutters were
patrolling international waters off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South
America from late June to mid-July.

“This was
26,000 pounds of cocaine that will not make it to the main streets of the USA,
and it also gives us the opportunity to make sure we can continue to combat
transnational criminal organizations who transport this cocaine deep in the
Pacific every single day,” said Rear Adm. Peter Gautier, the 11th Coast Guard
District’s commander. “Because we know that with a supply chain of illegal
narcotics, at every single step there’s violence, instability and despair.”

Steadfast’s
seizure of more than 23,000 pounds of cocaine marks the largest amount of
cocaine seized by crews aboard a 210-foot Reliance-class medium-endurance
cutter during a single counternarcotic deployment in Coast Guard history.

Many of the
medium-endurance cutters in service today are more than 50 years old. The Coast
Guard’s medium-endurance cutters represent 70% of the service’s counter-drug
interdiction fleet. These cutters are approaching the end of their service life.
Replacing this aging fleet with the offshore patrol cutter is one of the Coast
Guard’s top priorities. Even though medium-endurance cutters are still highly
effective, as shown by the narcotics interdictions, the ships can be difficult
and expensive to maintain and operate.

As these
cartels become more advanced in their methods at sea, the Coast Guard is
recapitalizing the fleet with modern assets equipped to detect, interdict and
disrupt the growing flow of illegal drugs, weapons and people in the eastern
Pacific.

The offshore patrol cutter will provide a critical capability bridge between national security cutters like the Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL-755), which offloaded 39,000 pounds of cocaine earlier this month, and fast response cutters like the Robert Ward, which seized more than 3,000 pounds of the cocaine offloaded July 26. The Robert Ward’s interdiction was the first cocaine seizure made by a fast response cutter in the Eastern Pacific.

“There are few closer relationships than those among the members of a ship’s crew performing a dangerous, important mission,” said Cmdr. Dan Ursino, the Steadfast’s commanding officer. “Steadfast’s crew has worked as a remarkable, dedicated team with a strong common goal — protecting their nation from the deadly, destructive effects of illegal drugs.”

WASHINGTON
— The State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to
Egypt of technical support for various Egyptian navy ships for an estimated
cost of $554 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a release.

Egypt’s government
has requested a possible sale of technical support that provides for material
and labor services in support of Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates (FFG 7
class ships), fast missile craft, mine hunter coastal ships, coastal mine hunter
ships and 25-meter and 28-meter fast patrol craft.

Egypt
intends to use this technical maintenance and service support to ensure that its
navy is operationally capable of providing coastal defense and security. The
proposed sale will increase the Egyptian navy’s material and operational
readiness.

The prime contractor for engineering
services support will be VSE Corp., and U.S. Government activities will provide
the technical support to Egypt. 

ARLINGTON,
Va. — Falconwood Inc. recently won a contract from the U.S Navy to support the
commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command’s Fleet Enterprise Support Team (FEST),
the company announced in a release.

The FEST
performs all analytical, technical and customer service functions in support of
USFF commands with about 60,000 seats and more than 100,000 users in the Navy
Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) Enterprise Network. The contract is valued at $19
million and consists of one base year contract with four one-year option
periods. The contract effective date is Sept. 30.

“Falconwood
has a long-standing commitment to the Department of Defense to provide superior
support, with integrity and agility, to the warfighter,” said Allie Lawaetz, president
of Falconwood. “We are pleased to continue our efforts with the Fleet
Enterprise Support Team.” 

Falconwood
is also the prime contract holder for the $175 million contract supporting the Navy
Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS) and its
associated Program Management Offices (PMOs) This contract provides
professional and technical Engineering and Logistics support services. Through
this contract, Falconwood is providing support in areas such as logistics,
asset management, training, cyber, information assurance, engineering and
acquisition.

In
addition, the Falconwood Cloud Integrated Product Team (IPT) provides DoD
customers with a support model consistent with today’s cloud service providers,
allowing the customers with plug and pay access to Cleared Subject Matter
Expertise across IaaS, PaaS and SaaS service models in government, hybrid and commercial
cloud environments. This model helps streamline resources required to support
agile design, deploy, accreditation and support with the right skill as needed
without over staffing.

The
focus of the U.S. Navy’s efforts in mine warfare over the last two decades has
been mine countermeasures (MCM) — locating and neutralizing hostile mines. New
airborne systems such as the Airborne Laser Mine-Detection System and the
Airborne Mine Neutralization System were developed, and the MCM Mission Package
for the littoral combat ships includes new systems, some unmanned, to “take the
man out of the minefield,” as proponents call the overall focus of the effort.
The efforts are well-needed: Since World War II, mines have sunk more U.S. Navy
ships than any other weapon.

Check out the full digital edition of Seapower magazine here.

With
MCM modernization efforts well underway, the changing world geopolitical
situation is bringing new emphasis of the other aspect of mine warfare —
offensive mining — that has not seen such attention since the end of the Cold
War. The rise of Russia and China and the modernization of their navies has
marked the return of an era of “Great Power Competition” has brought offensive
mining from a dormancy to renewed emphasis and development of new sea mines.

Sea
mines — sometimes called “weapons that wait” — have a strong deterrent effect
on shipping. With sensitive magnetic, acoustic or contact fuses and hiding in
waters where they are difficult to detect, their covertness and lethality have
a strong effect on the morale and effectiveness of ship crews and can shut down
harbors and transit lanes from shipping more effectively than other methods,
effecting a blockade.

Sea
mines are an ancient technology, but came into widespread use in World War I,
when 235,000 sea mines were laid by the belligerents’ ships and submarines. During
World War II, between 600,000 and a million sea mines were laid by the
belligerents. During World War II, aircraft, finally powerful enough to carry a
payload of mines, became the dominant mine-laying platform.

The
United States’ use of aircraft to conduct offensive mining achieved some
extraordinary successes during World War II. U.S., British and Australian
aircraft mined the Yangon River in Burma, inflicting severe losses on Japanese
merchant shipping in February 1943. Navy TBF torpedo bombers mined the harbor
of Palau in March 1944, closing the harbor for 20 days and bottling up 32 ships,
which were sunk or damaged by airstrikes.

The
most successful aerial mining offensive was Operation Starvation, the campaign
to cut off the Japanese homeland from food and other supplies brought by
shipping. Beginning in March 1945, 160 U.S. Army Air Force B-29 bombers were
used to lay 12,000 mines in and near Japanese waters. At a cost of 15 B-29s
lost in the operation, 293 Japanese merchant ships were sunk by the mines.
According to the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, one in 21 air-laid mines struck
a ship, compared with one in 12 submarine-laid mines. Even though the
submarine-laid mines were more effective, the aerial mining proved to be 10
times less expensive per tonnage sunk.

The
U.S. Navy used offensive mining to good effect during the latter stages of the
Vietnam War. During Operation Pocket Money in May 1972, President Richard Nixon
ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor to cut off the seaborne flow of supplies
to North Vietnam. Four Navy A-7E and three Marine Corps A-6A aircraft laid
mines that bottled up 32 ships in the harbor for more than 10 months. The
mining operations continued through the rest of 1972, resulting in the laying
of more than 8,000 mines in the coastal waters of North Vietnam and 3,000 in
rivers and inland waterways.

The
only U.S. use of mine-laying since was during Operation Desert Storm in January
1991. According an email from Sean P. Henseler, a professor and deputy dean of
the College of Maritime Operational Warfare at the Naval War College and former
intelligence officer of one of the two participating squadrons, four A-6E
aircraft conducted mine-laying, each armed with 12 500-pound Destructor mines
(general-purpose bombs fitted with Snakeye retarding fins and mine fuzes), of
the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. One A-6E was shot down and its two-man crew was
killed.

Renewed
Interest

The
capability for offensive mining has remained intact — though low-key — in
subsequent years. But over the last two years, the Navy has shown more interest
in offensive mining and has accelerated improvements in its mining weaponry.

“Mines provide an
effective means of achieving sea control and sea denial,” a Navy official said
in an email provided by Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Chambers. “Mining
creates an additional factor that must be taken into account by our
adversaries’ decision-making.”

According to the Navy
official, “munitions requirements are determined based upon COCOM [combatant
commander] requirements and input, coupled with fiscal considerations. War-gaming
is a useful tool to determine numbers.”

Today, naval mines can
be deployed from a variety of aerial and subsurface platforms, including attack
submarines, Navy F/A-18 strike fighters and P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, and
Air Force B-52, B-1 and B-2 bombers.

Until
recently, the Navy’s mine inventory was limited to the Mk62, 63 and 65
Quickstrike air-delivered mines and the Submarine-Launched Mobile Mine. The
Mk62 and Mk63 Quickstrike mines are blast/fragmentation 500-pound Mk82 and
1,000-pound Mk83 bombs, respectively, equipped with influence target-detection
devices for use in shallow water. The Mk65 is a thin-walled casing with a
2,000-pound warhead equipped with a target-detection device for magnetic,
seismic and pressure detonation.

For
these air-delivered mines, the Navy ordered new target-detection devices and
adapters from Sechan Electronics Inc. during the last quarter of fiscal 2018.
The Navy also has adapted the Joint Direct-Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit
for the Quickstrike weapons, allowing for more precise seeding of the mines.
This capability was demonstrated in Exercise Valiant Shield in 2018. In
addition, an extended-range version of the JDAM Quickstrike — through installation
of a wing kit — will be tested during the third quarter of fiscal 2019.

One
indication of the growing importance of naval mines is that one of the items on
the Navy’s 2020 unfunded priorities list was $71 million for the Quickstrike JDAM-ER,
which a Navy spokesman said “provides a means to deliver increased capability
to the COCOMs.”

The Submarine-Launched Mobile Mine is a modified Mk37 torpedo armed with
a target detection device. This shallow-water mine can be covertly launched into
a harbor, anchorage, shipping lane or other area to interdict ship and
submarine traffic.

The
Navy now is developing the Clandestine Delivered Mine (CDM), Capt. Danielle
George, the Navy’s mine warfare program manager, said Jan. 17 at the Surface
Navy Association convention in Arlington, Virginia. The Navy is conducting
testing of the new cylindrical-shaped mine, including end-to-end testing during
the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Initial deliveries are scheduled for 2020.
George said she was not at liberty to reveal the delivery platform(s) for the
CDM.

Another
new mine program, started in 2018, is the Hammerhead, an encapsulated torpedo
designed to lie in wait for submarines. The capsule for the torpedo would be
anchored to the ocean floor, much like the Mk60 CAPTOR mine of Cold War vintage
that housed a Mk46 antisubmarine torpedo. (The CAPTOR was withdrawn from the
Navy’s inventory in 2001.) The Hammerhead will be designed to have modular
architecture to allow for technology insertion. The Navy expects to issue a classified
request for information for the Hammerhead this year, George said.

“The
initial payload for Hammerhead is planned to be the Mk54 torpedo,” a Navy
official said. “The vision for the program is to use existing technologies,
where possible, while seeking opportunities to upgrade and expand the
capability as new technology becomes available.”

One
thing that has changed offensive mining in recent years is the GPS.

“GPS technology has
opened up additional possibilities for increased precision and longer-range
delivery,” a Navy official said.

GPS
also will aid in the post-war mine clearance, in that “the location of minefields must
be carefully recorded to ensure accurate notification and facilitate subsequent
removal and/or deactivation,” the official said.

The Navy’s chief of naval
operations has a mine warfare plan under development.

Less ice in the Arctic is inviting more human activity. While
the environmental changes in the far north have opened the previously fully
frozen ocean and its coastline to opportunity, the Arctic is naturally a cold
and inhospitable place that is unforgiving for the unprepared.

As the access, interest and presence in the Arctic has grown,
new icebreakers and ice-capable ships are being built, and policies and
strategies have been updated. International research efforts are studying the
changing environment, and military exercise programs are learning and
practicing how to operate there.

Check out the full digital edition of Seapower magazine here.

Speaking at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition in May,
Commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Karl Schultz announced that the service had just
contracted for its new Polar Security Cutter (PSC), calling it the “first
recapitalization of the heavy icebreaker capability in the nation in more than
40 years.” Simultaneously, and what Schultz said was no coincidence, the Coast
Guard issued its new “Arctic Strategic Outlook.”

The U.S. Navy released “Strategic Outlook for the Arctic” in
January, which outlines the objectives of defending U.S. sovereignty and the
homeland from attack, ensuring that the Arctic remains a stable and
conflict-free region, preserving freedom of the seas, and promoting
partnerships within the U.S. Government and with allies and partners to achieve
these objectives.

According to the Danish “Defence Agreement 2018-2023,”
“Climate change brings not only better accessibility, but also an increased
attention to the extraction of natural resources as well as intensified
commercial and scientific activity. There is also increased military activity
in the area.”

According to the document, the Danish Defence presence and tasks are based on close relationships with the populations and local authorities of both Greenland and the Faroe Islands. “Although climate change and increased activity in the region necessitate increased presence and monitoring, Denmark continues to strengthen surveillance, command, control and communication, and operational efforts in the Arctic.”

All of these documents and action underscore concerns about
presence, sovereignty, safety and security, environmental, economic, and world
power competition in the Arctic. Russia has been open about its massive
military buildup in the Arctic, but Russia has a vested interest in extracting
resources and building access to markets. In fact, Russia gets 20 percent of
its gross domestic product from the north — not the situation in North America.
In 2018, China announced in its official Arctic strategy a $1 trillion program
to develop polar regions economically, declaring itself a “Near-Arctic State.” Russia’s
military expansion and China’s attempts to invest in a ports on Baffin Island
and airports in Greenland have alarmed the West. However, all the nations have
a goal to maintain the Arctic as a low-tension area, stressing cooperation and
collaboration.

Prepared for the High
Latitudes

The Coast Guard conducts annual the Arctic Shield exercise
to familiarize themselves with Arctic operations and evaluate new equipment. In
addition to the Navy’s long-running series of undersea Ice Exercises, the Navy
and Marine Corps also conducted major exercises in the high latitudes like NATO’s
Trident Juncture in and around Norway last fall, and is demonstrating
expeditionary maneuvers up in Alaska during the Arctic Expeditionary
Capabilities Exercise in September.

There are many challenges in conducting military exercises
in the Arctic, but they help warfighters to better understand and deal with the
lack of infrastructure, communications, logistics, medical response capability
and vastness of the region. For starters, they require ships designed and
equipped for high latitudes.

The Royal Danish Navy has operated in the waters off
Greenland for many years, and currently has Thetis-class frigates and Knud
Rasmussen-class arctic offshore patrol vessels that are optimized for the icy
waters.

The Royal Canadian Navy has commissioned the first of six Harry
DeWolf Arctic and offshore patrol vessels, and two more are planned for the
Canadian Coast Guard. The CCG is also modifying three icebreakers procured from
Sweden for use in Canadian waters and is building at least two new icebreakers
as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy. And the Canadian Armed Forces
continue to exercise and operate in the extreme north, and even conducting
diving operations with partner nations beneath the Arctic Ocean, as part of its
continuing Operation NANOOK series of training exercises.

There has been an increase in traffic in Canada’s Northwest
Passage, including transits by the Crystal Serenity cruise ship in 2016 and
2017. But the ice is unpredictable and prevented ships from getting through
last year. The 27 rural communities in Canada’s Nunavut territory are not
connect by roads, but must be resupplied once a year by ship or barge, and are
dependent on the capability to operate in the Arctic in the summer. Both the Royal
Canadian Navy and Coast Guard hope their new ships will allow them to work
farther north, and upgrading a former mining pier at Nanasivik to be used as a
refueling port will let them stay longer.

Cooperation

Also speaking at Sea-Air-Space, U.S. Coast Guard Deputy
Commandant for Operations Vice Adm. Daniel B. Abel talked about profound
partnerships and native knowledge. He served previously in command of the 17th
Coast Guard District in Juneau, Alaska, where he learned to “Listen to those
who live there, who are impacted by the Arctic.”

The Alaskan coastline is more than 6,600 miles long, Abel
said — more than the entire coastline for the lower 48 states. So cooperation
is an absolute necessity.

“We work closely with our partners in the Arctic, including
our neighbors in Canada, who are the best partners we could ever have,” Abel
said.

But that includes all the players in the Arctic. “The
distance across the Bering Strait is 44 miles, the same distance as Washington
is to Baltimore. That’s how close the United States is to Russia,” Abel said.
“Clearly, we have to cooperate.”

Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard Jeffery Hutchinson,
speaking at the Sea-Air-Space, said the Arctic is “not as frozen as it once
was, but from where we sit, there’s still lots of ice.”

The U.S. and Canada work closely with the other Arctic
nations, as members of the Arctic Coast Guard Forum. “We all understand the
vastness in the Arctic, in the ice, on the seas and on the land. It requires
everyone to pull together,” Hutchinson said. “There isn’t an Arctic nation that
hasn’t had to rely on another Arctic nation, at some point — and I say that
with pride and humility.

One important way nations cooperate in through scientific
research and environmental data collection. This fall the German research
icebreaker Polarstern will get stuck in the Arctic ice on purpose, and drift
for a year as teams of 600 scientists and researchers from 17 countries rotate
on and off the ship to collect data that would otherwise be impractical or
impossible. The Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic
Climate (MOSAiC) will study the Arctic climate system and how it relates to
global climate models. The U.S., Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, New
Zealand, Norway and Sweden are participating in the International Cooperative
Engagement Program for Polar Research (ICE-PPR), which shares in the
development and use of polar sensors and remote sensing techniques, data
collection, environmental modeling and prediction, and associated human factors
involved in operating in the extreme latitudes. The Canadian Armed Forces are
leading the multinational Joint Arctic Experiment.

Survival Gets Personal

While the places of the far north — like Alaska, Greenland,
or Nunavut — are enormous, and major the research efforts being conducted there
require many people working together, the bottom line for any military
operation or scientific project there comes down to personal survival.

The real enemy is the Arctic itself. In 2015, two
experienced polar explorers, Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo, fell through
the ice while on an expedition to measure sea ice thickness.

Maj. Gary Johnson from the Canadian Army Doctrine and
Training Mobility command runs the Canadian Arctic Training Center in Resolute,
which served as a base for Operation NANOOK-NUNALIVUT 2019 and the Joint Arctic
Experiment. As a logistician, he said any military activity in the far north
must address mobility, sustainability and survivability. “Whatever we do, it
has to be deliberate; it has to be planned. It’s an environment that can take
your life if you don’t respect it.”

Johnson looks at it as a crawl-walk-run situation. “Up here,
crawl means survive. The next phase is to operate, and the end goal is to thrive.

During NANOOK-NUNALIVUT, platoons traveled by snowmobile to
secure a landing zone while other soldiers built ice shelters and igloos. As
part of the Joint Arctic Experiment, researchers monitored the soldiers for
frostbite, which in the -60 degree Celsius temperatures can affect exposed skin
in two minutes.

Eyes, ears and voice
of the North

The vast majority of the people in the Canadian North are
indigenous, which has implications for Canadian Armed Forces operations in the
North. In fact, the face of the Canadian Armed Forces in the north is
indigenous.

Canada has 1,800 Canadian Rangers, a component of the
Reserve, most of whom are indigenous.

The Canadian Armed Forces are represented in every community through
the Ranger program. They are not only Canadian Armed Forces Reservists, but
they’re also selected by their communities. So within their communities,
they’re seen as leaders and examples to the young people, respected by their
peers and the people in their villages. “That level of connection is invaluable,
because they’re the eyes and ears and voice of the North,” said Brig. Gen. Patrick
Carpentier, commander, Joint Task Force North. “They connect to us on a
constant basis. So it’s a sensor that we wouldn’t otherwise have for what is
going on in different communities in the north. Our expectations are
that they will be masters of the terrain around their own communities and they
will be able to spot anything that changes, and pass word back to the 1^st
Canadian Rangers Patrol Group headquarters, and on to Joint Task Force North
headquarters in Yellowknife.

“We are on the land of the Inuit,” said Carpentier. “We look
to them to bring their traditional knowledge to us as we conduct operations in
the North. Nothing we do here would be possible without the Rangers.”

“It’s not a matter of they need our support,” said Hutchinson. “Rather we need their support, their knowledge and understanding.”

Edward Lundquist traveled to Yellowknife and Tukyoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, and Resolute, Nunavut, to report this story.

SAN JUAN,
Puerto Rico — The Coast Guard and Puerto Rico United Forces of Rapid Action
(FURA) interdicted 11 Dominican migrants July 24 about 2 miles west of Puerto
Rico, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release.

Coast Guard
Sector San Juan watchstanders received a report from FURA stating they
interdicted a 20-foot yola with 11 people aboard about 2 miles west of Puerto
Rico. The Coast Guard Cutter Resolute (WMEC-620) crew safely embarked the
migrants from the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle (WPC-1133), transferred four
of them to U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody and repatriated the other
seven to their home of origin.

“Attempting
these at-sea migrant voyages is illegal, dangerous and unsafe, putting migrants
at serious risk of potentially losing their lives, and we highly discourage
these voyages from taking place,” said Lt. C. Chaffer, Sector San Juan command
duty officer. “Those who are interdicted at sea attempting to illegally
immigrate will be repatriated to their country in accordance with existing U.S.
immigration policy. We want reinforce that taking to the sea in these
ill-equipped crafts, which are often used for these types of voyages, can end
in disaster, because the maritime domain can be unforgiving with changing
weather and sea conditions.”

A total of 1,531
Dominican migrants have attempted to illegally enter the U.S. via the maritime
environment in fiscal year 2019 compared to 829 Dominican migrants in fiscal 2018.
These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and
disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.

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

WASHINGTON
— Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer has announced that the newest towing, salvage
and rescue ship (T-ATS 8) will be named Saginaw Ojibwe Anishinabek in honor of
the history, service and contributions of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of
Michigan, Spencer’s public affairs office said July 26.

The
Saginaw Chippewa people are made up of Saginaw, Black River and Swan Creek
bands. Ojibwe is also referred to as Chippewa and Anishinabek means “original
people.”

“I am
deeply honored to announce that the history of the Saginaw Chippewa people will
once again be part of Navy and Marine Corps history,” Spencer said. “The future
USNS Saginaw Ojibwe Anishinabek honors the original people of modern-day
Michigan, with their original name, and will carry the proud Ojibwe legacy for
decades to come.”

This is
the first ship to bear the name Saginaw Ojibwe Anishinabek, and the fifth U.S.
ship to be named in honor of the Saginaw Chippewa people.

“It’s a
great honor to have the name and language of our people on a Navy ship,” said Ronald
Ekdahl, chief of the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan. “We hold our veterans
in high regard, and we have a proud tradition of having many of our men and
women provide service to our country. ‘Chi Miigwetch’ (thank you) to the U.S.
Navy for recognizing the culture in such a distinct way.”

Gulf
Island Shipyards was awarded a $64.8 million contract option for the detail
design and construction of the new ship, which will be based on existing
commercial towing offshore vessel designs and will replace the current T-ATF
166 and T-ARS 50 class ships in service with the U.S. Military Sealift Command.
The future USNS Cherokee Nation is the second ship in the new class of towing, salvage
and rescue Ships and will be designated T-ATS 7.

The
contract includes options for potentially six additional vessels, and each
additional ship will be named in honor of prominent Native Americans or Native
American tribes.

The T-ATS will serve as
open ocean towing vessels and will support salvage operations and submarine
rescue missions. The ship will be built at the company’s shipyard in Houma,
Louisiana, and is expected to be completed in July 2021.

LOUISVILLE,
Ky. — BAE Systems has received a follow-on contract to produce 28 more payload
tubes for the U.S. Navy’s Block V Virginia-class attack submarines, the company
said in a July 25 release.

Under the
contract with General Dynamics Electric Boat, a builder of the Virginia class,
BAE Systems will deliver seven sets of four tubes each for the Virginia Payload
Modules (VPM).

The Navy
is adding significant capability to the latest Virginia-class boats by
increasing the firepower and payload capacity of the Block V submarines. The
VPM extends the length of Block V subs over previous versions of the Virginia
class by adding a midbody section to create more payload space. Each
large-diameter payload tube can store and launch up to seven Tomahawk and
future guided cruise missiles.

“The VPM
is critical to the Virginia class because it offers not only additional strike
capacity, but the flexibility to integrate future payload types, such as
unmanned systems and next-generation weapons, as threats evolve,” said Joe
Senftle, vice president and general manager of weapon systems at BAE Systems.

“We’ve
invested heavily in the people, processes and tools required to successfully
deliver these payload tubes to Electric Boat and to help ensure the Navy’s
undersea fleet remains a dominant global force.”

BAE
Systems is also providing nine payload tubes under previously awarded VPM
contracts. As the leading provider of propulsors and other submarine systems,
the company has a long history of supporting the Navy’s submarine fleet. In
addition to payload tubes, BAE Systems is also providing propulsors, spare
hardware and tailcones for Block IV Virginia-class vessels and is prepared to
do the same for Block V.

Work under this contract
will be performed at the company’s facility in Louisville, Kentucky, with
deliveries scheduled to begin in 2021.

CINCINNATI
— The U.S. Navy has approved the commissioning date for the future littoral
combat ship USS Cincinnati (LCS 20), the commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S.
Pacific Fleet, said in a July 25 release.

The Navy
will commission Cincinnati on Oct. 5 in Gulfport, Mississippi. The
commissioning ceremony signifies the acceptance for service and the entrance of
a ship into the active fleet of the U. S. Navy.

Former
U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker is the ship’s sponsor. As the sponsor,
Pritzker leads the time-honored Navy tradition of giving the order during the
ceremony to “man our ship and bring her to life!” At that moment, the
commissioning pennant is hoisted, and Cincinnati becomes a ship of the fleet.

An Indianapolis
native, Cmdr. Kurt Braeckel, is the commanding officer of Cincinnati.

Former Navy
Secretary Ray Mabus announced LCS 20 would be named for Cincinnati at the
Cincinnati Reds baseball game on July 19, 2015.

LCS 20
will be the fifth ship in naval history to be named Cincinnati. The first
played an integral part in the Civil War; the second enforced neutrality laws
during the Cuban Revolution and saw service during the Spanish-American War;
the third acted as a patrol and flagship during World War II; and the fourth, a
Los Angeles-class submarine, was commissioned in 1978 and served during the
Cold War.

LCS is a highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable ship designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare missions. The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant. Cincinnati is a Freedom variant.

The future Cincinnati will be homeported at Naval Base San Diego.