PASCAGOULA,
Miss. — The Navy’s newest America-class amphibious assault ship, the future USS
Tripoli (LHA 7), successfully completed builder’s trials on July 19. The ship
returned to the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipbuilding division’s shipyard
following four days underway in the Gulf of Mexico.

Builder’s trials
are the Navy’s first opportunity to assess the operational readiness of a ship.
During the trials, the multipurpose amphibious assault ship underwent dock
trials followed by more than 200 at-sea test events.

“The
Navy and industry team did a commendable job this week,” said Tom Rivers,
amphibious warfare program manager for Naval Sea System Command’s Program
Executive Office-Ships.

“America-class
ships bring tremendous capability to our Sailors and Marines, and Tripoli will
be the first large deck amphib to reach the fleet fully ready to integrate the
Marine Corps air combat element to include Joint Strike Fighters.” 

Tripoli is
the second ship of the America (LHA 6) class, built to facilitate forward
presence and power projection. LHA 7 is the last Flight 0 ship planned for
construction and features an enlarged hangar deck, realignment and expansion of
the aviation maintenance facilities, an increase in available stowage for parts
and support equipment and increased aviation fuel capacity.

LHA 8 will
be the first Flight I ship, reincorporating a well deck to enhance
expeditionary warfighting capabilities while maintaining the principal aviation
characteristics of the Flight 0 ships.

LHA 7
incorporates gas turbine propulsion plant, zonal electrical distribution and
fuel-efficient electric auxiliary propulsion systems first installed on USS
Makin Island (LHD 8). LHA 7 will be 844 feet in length, will have a
displacement of about 45,000 long tons and will be capable of operating at
speeds of more than 20 knots.

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard
is also in production on Bougainville (LHA 8), the guided missile destroyers
Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), Jack H. Lucas
(DDG 125), and amphibious transport dock ships, Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and
Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29).

Arlington,
Va. — The U.S. Navy’s increasing focus on anti-submarine warfare is reflected
in a recent mega-contract award for its primary air-dropped sensor, the sonobuoy.

Naval Air
Systems Command has awarded to ERAPSCO, a joint venture of Sparton and USSI
based in Columbia City, Indiana, a $1 billion contract to manufacture and deliver
a maximum of 37,500 SSQ-36B sonobuoys as well as 685,000 SSQ-53Gs, 120,000
SSQ-62Fs and 90,000 SSQ-101Bs for fiscal years 2019 through 2023.

“Sonobuoys
are air-launched expendable, electro-mechanical anti-submarine warfare acoustic
sensors designed to relay underwater sounds associated with ships and
submarines,” according to a July 18 Defense Department release.

On a typical
ASW mission, a P-3 Orion or P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft can launch a
few dozen sonobuoys while tracking submarines. Sonobuoys also are dropped by MH-60R
helicopters.

In a new era of “Great Power
Competition,” anti-submarine warfare has taken on increasing importance as the Navy
and those of allied nations ramp up efforts to track and, should it become
necessary, counter the submarine forces of Russia, China, Iran or North Korea.

MIAMI, Fla. —
A U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II aircraft, flying a mission in approved international
airspace on July 19, was approached in an unprofessional manner by a SU-30 Flanker
Venezuelan fighter aircraft, according to the U.S. Southern Command.

“After
reviewing video documentation, we have determined the Russian-made fighter
aggressively shadowed the EP-3 at an unsafe distance in international airspace
for a prolonged period of time, endangering the safety of the crew and
jeopardizing the EP-3 mission,” according to a July 21 release from Southern
Command.

“The U.S.
routinely conducts regionally supported, multinationally recognized and
approved detection and monitoring missions in the region to ensure the safety
and security of our citizens and those of our partners. The EP-3 aircraft was
adhering to international standards and rules.”

“The Maduro regime
continues to undermine internationally recognized laws and demonstrate its
contempt for international agreements authorizing the U.S. and other nations to
safely conduct flights in international airspace,” according to the release.

LONDON —
Ricardo Defense’s Mobile Fuel and Energy Management (MFEM) system has
successfully completed its participation in Phase 1 of the U.S. Navy’s Fight
the Naval Force Forward Advanced Naval Technology Exercise, the company
announced July 22.

The Ricardo MFEM
provides dynamic visibility and management of liquid fuel to help ensure that
forces in the field have the resources needed to attain their objectives. The
Ricardo MFEM provides the tools and information needed to understand fuel
usage, distribution and availability in the theater of operations.

Manual
procedures for fuel management — measuring, collecting, aggregating,
calculating usage and projecting needs — are replaced with fully automated
processes, significantly improving the commander’s ability to plan and monitor
fuel use and status with the speed, accuracy and efficiency needed for field
operations. MFEM offers commanders with insight into fuel status that can be
incorporated into a battlefield “common operating picture.”

Ricardo
Defense demonstrated the capabilities of the MFEM system during Phase 1 of the
Fight the Naval Force Forward Experimentation Campaign, a multimonth
exploration phase that allowed for the detailed assessment of technologies
integrated into actual mission scenarios. Technologies were examined in live,
virtual or constructive simulation demonstrations as a part of the Advanced
Naval Technology Exercise over a two-week period that ended on July 18. 

The collaboration
with a variety of system stakeholders during the exercise positions Ricardo
Defense for future development and fielding of these capabilities. The Ricardo
MFEM is being assessed for a follow-on Phase 2 project that would include a six-
to 18-month prototyping period, limited use in the field and experimentation,
as part of Fleet/Force Experiments and/or Rapid Fielding.

“We are very excited to
have had the Ricardo MFEM included in this year’s Advanced Naval Technology
Exercise,” Ricardo Defense President Chet Gryczan said. “MFEM helps improve
military personnel decision-making through an accurate, up-to-date shared view
of fuel resources. The award of a Phase 2 effort, if granted, will validate the
value of MFEM and pave the way for maturation of the capabilities it provides.”

DULUTH, Minn. — Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy Jodi Greene announced Duluth as the commissioning location for the future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul in a joint press conference July 18 with Duluth Mayor Emily Larson.

Greene is LCS
21’s sponsor and is in Duluth for Duluth Navy Week, an outreach effort in which
Sailors and naval personnel from different commands across the country are in
the city meeting with people from all walks of life to talk about the Navy and
why it is important.

Greene
expressed excitement during at the announcement, underlining the importance of
the Navy maintaining ties to cities in America’s heartland.

“We are
eager to announce that Duluth has been chosen as the city in which we will hold
the commissioning for the USS Minneapolis/Saint Paul,” said Greene. “The city
of Duluth is an important port on Lake Superior and your Navy is looking
forward to continuing a strong partnership with Mayor Larson and the people of
Duluth as well as the people in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

Larson
mirrored Greene’s enthusiasm, highlighting Duluth’s historic connection to the
Navy.

“Duluth is
a city full of people linked to the Navy,” Larson said. “We have both active
servicemembers and veterans who call Duluth their home, and we proudly display
the anchor from the decommissioned USS Duluth where everyone can see it. I am
grateful to be able to continue honoring our Navy.”

The Navy recently
held a christening and launching ceremony for the future USS Minneapolis-Saint
Paul in Marinette, Wisconsin, where it is being built.

The ship
is being built by an industry team led by Lockheed Martin at Fincantieri
Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette. The future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul will
be about 388 feet in length and have a beam of nearly 58 feet.

LCS is a modular,
reconfigurable ship designed to meet validated fleet requirements for surface
warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures missions in the
littoral region. An interchangeable mission package is embarked on each LCS and
provides the primary mission systems in one of these warfare areas. Using an
open architecture design, modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of
manned and unmanned vehicles to gain, sustain and exploit littoral maritime
supremacy, LCS provides U.S. joint forces access to critical theaters.

ARLINGTON, Va. — An Iranian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle downed by U.S. naval forces July 18 was brought down not by missiles or guns but by a vehicle-mounted electronic attack system.

The Iranian
UAV had flown within 1,000 yards of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer and
its unknown controller had ignored radioed warning calls. The ship was in
transit toward the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz, the scene of
several attacks on shipping and UAVs in recent weeks.

“At approximately 10 a.m. local time,
the amphibious ship USS Boxer was in international waters conducting a planned
inbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz,” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan
Hoffman said in a July 18 release. “A fixed-wing unmanned aerial system approached
Boxer and closed within a threatening range. The ship took defensive
action against the UAS to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew.”

The Iranian UAV was targeted by a
Marine Corps Polaris MRZR vehicle parked on the forward flight deck of the Boxer.
The MRZR hosted a Mk2 counter-UAS version of the Light Marine
Air Defense Integrated System (LMADIS) that features four circular antenna radar antennas
arrays mounted at 90-degree intervals and an electro-optical/infrared sensor turret,
and a direct-fire weapon, according to the Marine Corps website.

President Trump
initially announced the incident in a June 18 White House briefing.

Iranian forces shot down a
U.S Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk UAV on June 21 and fired on an MQ-9 Reaper on June
13. Iranian forces also are believed to have planted the mines that damaged six
commercial tankers in May and June. Iran also claims to have seized a
British-owned tanker on July 19.

SAN DIEGO —
The guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG 63) arrives at its new homeport,
Naval Base San Diego, July 18, following 14 years of forward-deployed service
in the Indo-Pacific region operating from Japan, the commander, Naval Surface
Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a July 17 release.

As part of
the U.S. 7th Fleet’s Forward Deployed Naval Forces in Japan, Stethem worked
alongside allies and partners to provide security and stability throughout a
free and open Indo-Pacific. Stethem arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, in June of
2005. While serving in 7th Fleet, Stethem conducted a wide range of operations,
exercises and port visits, including disaster relief as well as search-and-rescue
missions. In 2011, the ship supported Operation Tomodachi to provide relief to
Japanese citizens affected by the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, and this
year, joined Japan-led search operations for a missing Japan Air Self-Defense
Force F-35.

While in San
Diego, Stethem will undergo a planned maintenance and modernization period.
Stethem will be fitted with the latest combat system suite, which includes
state-of-the-art air defense, ballistic-missile defense, surface warfare and
undersea warfare capabilities.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The new commandant of the Marine Corps has made force design as his top
priority as he moves to shape the Marine Corps for the future.

The “Commandant’s Planning Guidance” (CPG), issued by Gen. David H. Berger July 16, lists his five top priority focus areas: force design, warfighting, education and training, core values, and command and leadership.

Berger said
that changes will be based on “where we want the Marine Corps to be in the next
5-15 years. … We cannot afford to retain outdated policies, doctrine,
organizations or force development strategies.”

The CPG
affirms that the Corps is preparing for operations in the event of a high-end
fight.

“The Marine
Corps will be trained and equipped as a naval expeditionary force-in-readiness
and prepared to operate inside actively contested maritime spaces in support of
fleet operations,” the CPG said. “In crisis prevention and crisis response, the
Fleet Marine Force — acting as an extension of the fleet — will be first on the
scene, first to help, first to contain a brewing crisis and first to fight if
required to do so.”

Berger said
the Corps “should take pride in our force and recent operational successes, but
the current force is not organized, trained or equipped to support the naval
force — operating in contested maritime spaces, facilitating sea control or
executing distributed maritime operations. We must change. We must divest of
legacy capabilities that do not meet our future requirements, regardless of
their past operational efficacy.”

He said that
there is “no piece of equipment or major defense acquisition program that
defines us. … Likewise, we are not defined by any particular organizing
construct — the Marine Air-Ground Task Force cannot be our only solution for
all crises. Instead, we are defined by our collective character as Marines and
by fulfilling our service roles and functions prescribed by Congress.”

Berger said
he has “already initiated, and am personally leading, a future force design
effort. Going forward, CD&I [Capabilities Development and Integration] will be the only organization authorized to publish force
development guidance on my behalf. We will divest of legacy defense programs
and force structure that support legacy capabilities. If provided the
opportunity to secure additional modernization dollars in exchange for force
structure, I am prepared to do so.”

The
commandant emphasized the need to improve integration with the Navy. He pointed
out that the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act removed the preponderance of the FMF
[Fleet Marine Force] from fleet operational control and disrupted the
long-standing Navy-Marine Corps relationship by creating separate Navy and Marine
Corps components within joint forces. Furthermore, Navy and Marine Corps
officers developed a tendency to view their operational responsibilities as
separate and distinct, rather than intertwined. With the rise of both land- and
sea-based threats to the global commons, there is a need to reestablish a more
integrated approach to operations in the maritime domain. Reinvigorating the
FMF can be accomplished by assigning more Marine Corps forces to the fleet;
putting Marine Corps experts in the fleet Maritime Operations Centers; and also
by shifting emphasis in our training, education and supporting establishment
activities.”

He said that the
Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) will remain the Corps’ principal warfighting
organization but that the three MEFs need not be identical.

“III MEF will
become our main focus-of-effort, designed to provide U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
(U.S. INDOPACOM) and the commander, 7th Fleet with a fight-tonight, standing
force capability to persist inside an adversary’s weapon systems threat range,
create a mutually contested space and facilitate the larger naval campaign,”
the CPG said. “When modernized in a manner consistent with the vision above,
III MEF will be a credible deterrent to adversary aggression in the Pacific.”

“I MEF will
also be focused on supporting the commander, USINDOPACOM and the commander, 3rd
Fleet,” Berger said. “I MEF will continue to provide forces to USINDOPACOM to
build partner capacity and reinforce deterrence efforts and must be prepared to
impose costs on a potential adversary, globally. We will increasingly accept
risk with I MEF’s habitual relationship with CENTCOM [U.S. Central Command];
however, 7th Marines is at present purpose-built to support CENTCOM
requirements; thus, I MEF will continue to support CENTCOM requirements within
the capacity of 7th Marines.

“II MEF will
undergo substantial changes to better align with the needs of commanders of 2nd
and 6th Fleets,” he said. “During a major contingency operation or sustained
campaign ashore, necessary combat power will be provided to the committed MEF
through global sourcing by the total force.

Berger said
the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is “no longer has the same relevance as it
once had to the fleet; however, this will change. We will consider employment
models of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)/MEU other than the traditional
three-ship model. We will accept and prepare for fleet commander employment of
LHA/Ds [amphibious assault ships] as part of three-ship ESGs [Expeditionary
Strike Groups] as desired. I see potential in the “Lightning Carrier” concept,
based on an LHA / LHD; however, do not support a new-build CVL [light aircraft
carrier]. Partnering a big-deck amphib with surface combatants is the right
warfighting capability for many of the challenges confronting the joint force,
and provides substantial naval and Joint operational flexibility, lethality and
survivability.”

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)
took another step toward delivery of the submarine Delaware (SSN 791) to the
U.S. Navy when the first meal recently was served aboard the nuclear-powered
fast attack submarine.

On the menu: salad, sausage and spaghetti with a choice
of meat sauce or Alfredo.

“The first meal is a significant event in construction
for both shipbuilders and the Navy crew,” said Bob Bolden, director of
Virginia-class submarine construction at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding
division. “This is a result of shipbuilders and Sailors working side by side
and is one of the last steps in the journey to bringing the ship to its
operational state to support sea trials and delivery.”

The Virginia-class submarine is pierside at Newport News
and is in the final stages of construction and testing.

“I appreciate Newport News Shipbuilding’s superb work
through our construction process and am immensely proud of my crew’s efforts to
open our galley, support our crew and take this next step toward Delaware
becoming a self-sufficient, sea-going warship,” said Cmdr. Brian P. Hogan,
commanding officer of the pre-commissioning unit.

Delaware is the 18th Virginia-class submarine built as
part of the teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat. More than
10,000 shipbuilders from Newport News and Electric Boat have participated in
Delaware’s construction since the work began in September 2013; more than 5,000
suppliers across 48 states have provided parts and materials critical to the
submarine’s construction.

Delaware was christened in October 2018 and launched into
the James River for the first time two months later. Following successful sea
trials later this year, Delaware will be the ninth Virginia-class submarine
delivered by Newport News.

The U.S. Navy’s new surface warfare director said the sea service
is still working on what it wants in a proposed large surface combatant and also
what to do with the large unmanned surface vessels that the Navy plans to buy —
or even if they would be fully unmanned.

For the large surface combatant (LSC), “it’s a question of
how much speed do you need? How much can you afford? How much are you willing
to pay for it,” Rear Adm. Gene Black said July 17.

“The things I know, I need a big sensor. I need big
computing power, and I want a big [weapons] magazine. Beyond that, I don’t
know. It’s going to be a fantastically capable ship. … It’s going to be an
expensive ship. We want to make sure we’re coming in with the capability we
need.”

During a Surface Navy Association lunch, Black spoke at
length about his previous job as commander of the Harry S. Truman carrier
strike group, which made an historic voyage north of the Arctic Circle to
support the large NATO exercise Operation Trident Juncture, which included
driving the task force into a Norwegian fjord.

Asked what he thought about the five large unmanned surface vehicles the Navy asked for in the fiscal 2020 defense budget, Black said: “If I had had an USV at my disposal, I would have pushed it out ahead of me, certainly when I was in the high north. It would give me sensors, eyes and connectivity way out in front of the strike group, and awareness of what was going on, so I can decide if I want to go in another direction or do something completely different.”

“We’re just now exploring that space,” he said, noting the
recent establishment of a surface development squadron in California that will explore
possible use of unmanned surface vessels.

“Candidly, we’re going to get some of those things, going to
buy them,” and Black predicted “the young guys and gals in this room” would
find ways to employ them that older officers like himself could not contemplate.

“Certainly not in the next couple years are we going to turn
an unmanned vehicle loose from the West Coast and send it on a mission. There’s
a lot of learning that has to go on. And we have to come to terms if they’ll be
manned, unmanned or optionally manned. We’re working our way through all that,
and we don’t have the answers to all that.”

Asked about the new frigate program, for which a contract is
expected to be awarded soon, Black said only that “the program is going great.”

Black talked at length about the Truman deployment, which
was notable not only for operating in horrendous weather conditions north of
the Arctic Circle but also for its split deployment — in which it operated in
the Mediterranean Sea, returned to Norfolk, and then deployed again.

“The capabilities we’re bringing to sea these days [are] spectacular.
I can’t say much about it other than the investments we’ve made, the
investments we put into surface warfare strike” have produced a “return on
investments, probably 10 times over.”