ARLINGTON, Va. — One of the big challenges facing the U.S. Navy in the future deployment of unmanned systems is how to obtain and use them effectively on a global scale, the Navy’s top acquisition official says.

Unmanned systems are already a key part of the force, whether in the air, on the surface or under it,  but “how do we scale that to take advantage of the unique opportunities” they provide the Navy, James “Hondo” Geurts asked in a Sept. 8 livestreamed keynote address to the Unmanned Systems Defense, Protection, Security virtual conference.

“We need to be bold in trying new things,” said Geurts, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research, Development and Acquisition, “but disciplined in how we scale that so we don’t get into exquisite fragility, where we have systems in one specific niche for one specific set of conditions.”

Geurts said scale and balance are two key attributes going forward. He noted Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday’s unmanned systems campaign plan seeks to move from a collection of  systems, often treated as unique, into an integrated capability that share command and control, concepts of operations and data systems and avoid reinventing the wheel for every platform.

A key challenge is “how we’re going to communicate with all these different systems and how they can come in and out of our network,” Geurts said. It will take technology that can cut across multiple platforms, to align technical, business, programmatic and operational architectures, he said.

Geurts was asked if large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) should be counted as ships, an issue that has roiled the debate over how to increase the Navy’s size to 355 ships.  Geurts said he was “less interested in what numbers we count in what column.” He is more interested in a vessel’s capability, and when they prove they have the capability “appropriate for what we consider right now a battle force ship, then we’ll  put them in the right column,” Geurts said.

“In the end we have to get away from manned vs, unmanned. It’s manned and unmanned together, that will enable us to be the most successful,” he added.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The People’s Republic of China, increasing its two-decade military buildup, now has the world’s largest navy, according to the U.S. Defense Department’s latest annual assessment of China’s military capabilities.

The Pentagon’s 2020 report to Congress on “Military and Security Developments involving the People’s Republic of China,” noted the PRC has marshalled the resources, technology and political will over the last 20 years to build a world-class military. “And China is already ahead of the United States in certain areas” such as land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missiles, air defense systems and shipbuilding, added the report, released Sept. 1.

“The PRC has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines including over 130 major surface combatants,” according to the report. The 2019 assessment said China simply had the largest navy in the region.

“Those numbers are likely to increase and we estimate that they will,” because the PLAN [People’s Liberation Army Navy] is seeking “greater far seas or global power projection capabilities,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Chad Sbragia told a live-streamed discussion of the report presented by the Washington think tank AEI. He noted, however, that ship numbers are just one element of naval capability.   

In comparison, the U.S. Navy, which has a long-sought goal of achieving a 355-ship fleet, had a battle force of 293 vessels as of early 2020.

The PLAN has replaced older weapons platforms with larger, modern, multi-role combatants featuring advanced anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine weapons and sensors. China is also the leading ship-producing nation in the world by tonnage and is increasing its shipbuilding capacity and capability for all naval classes, the report stated. 

The army’s evolving capabilities and concepts continue to strengthen China’s ability to counter intervention by an adversary in the Indo-Pacific region and project power globally, according to the report.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has expanded its participation in bilateral and multilateral military exercises. It has a naval base at Djibouti in East Africa and “is very likely already considering and planning for additional overseas military logistics facilities to support naval, air and ground forces,” the 2020 report stated. It added that  China “has likely considered locations for PLA military logistics facilities” in Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola and Tajikistan.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific Area commander says she does not know yet how long it will take, or how much it will cost, to repair fire damage to the only U.S. ice breaker patrolling the Arctic.  

The temporary loss of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy underscores the need for more ice breaking capability in the waters of the “high latitudes,” where “presence equals influence,” Vice Adm. Linda Fagan said Aug. 27 at the Surface Navy Association’s First Virtual Waterfront Symposium. 

The Healy was 60 nautical miles off Seward, Alaska, heading into the second half of its deployment to the Arctic, when an electrical fire broke out in one of the ship’s main propulsion motors on Aug. 18. No injuries were reported, and the blaze was extinguished quickly. With the starboard propulsion motor and shaft no longer operational, the Healy returned to its homeport in Seattle for repairs and the Coast Guard canceled further Arctic operations with no indication when they will resume. That leaves just one sea-going U.S. icebreaker, the 44-year-old Polar Star, to serve both the Arctic and Antarctic.  

The Healy had completed 103 days in the Arctic, Fagan said, and was heading back to continue a combined mission of supporting scientific research and patrolling the maritime boundary with Russia in the Far North. The Healy’s absence in the Arctic emphasized the Coast Guard’s need for the polar security cutter (PSC) program. 

The planned 460-foot PSCs will serve as heavy ice breakers as well as performing other Coast Guard missions in the Arctic such as maritime safety and search and rescue operations.  

“The United States is an Arctic nation,” Fagan said, “and polar capability is the cornerstone of a whole of government approach and strengthens our interoperability with [the Defense Department].” Construction is slated to begin on the first PSC early next year and “we hope to have the first one in the 2024 timeframe,” Fagan said, adding “This is a critical investment for the nation.” 

In her live streamed appearance at the symposium, Fagan praised another Coast Guard investment: small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS). She said the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle drone, deployed with five of the National Security Cutters (NSCs), Stratton, James, Munro, Kimball and Waesche, has been a “key enabler” in the Western Pacific and the High Latitudes. In addition to adding ScanEagles to three more of the 418-foot NSCs, Bertholf, Hamilton and Midgett, Fagan said the Coast Guard is exploring the need for a land-based UAS, on the U.S. southwest border, possibly in partnership with Customs and Border Protection.

ARLINGTON, Va. — One lesson learned from the challenge of the novel coronavirus pandemic is that U.S. Navy ships and their crews need to be self-reliant and work with the equipment and skills on hand, the commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic said, noting the unexpected 200-plus days the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto spent at sea.

“From an equipment perspective, if there’s any silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s Sailor self-sufficiency in our ability to maintain our equipment at a higher level,” Rear Adm. Brad Cooper told the Surface Navy Association’s 1st Virtual Waterfront Symposium.

He noted the 32-year-old San Jacinto, escort to the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, was away from port for more than 200 days. “That’s an unimaginable number,” Cooper said during a live-streamed question-and-answer session on Aug. 25.  COVID-19 “has forced us to be a lot more self-sufficient,” he said, adding “and boy were they self-sufficient.”

Both ships left Norfolk Naval Station on Jan. 17 for the carrier strike group’s composite training unit exercise and follow-on deployment. They did not return to Norfolk until Aug. 9, partly to escape the spread of COVID-19 — which sidelined the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt for months — but also to maintain maritime stability and security, deter aggression and defend U.S. and allies’ interests in the 5th and 6th Fleets’ areas of operations.

Uncertainty posed by COVID-19 also showed the need to change from a Monday through Friday initial training schedule, Cooper said. Earlier this year, Surface Naval Force Atlantic shifted to a pilot program, Afloat Training Groups (ATG) Rodeo, where three ships stayed out at sea conducting drills, planning exercises, executing them and debriefing for three uninterrupted weeks, instead of coming back to on the weekends.

“As we look to the future, that’s the model we’re going to use in the Surface Force in both [Atlantic and Pacific] fleets,” Cooper said. Six ships coming out of maintenance and going into basic phase in the next few months are going to follow that training procedure, Cooper said.

He said leaders in the fleet must have “exquisite knowledge” of the condition of their equipment to meet Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday’s top priority: operational readiness. But they also need to know their crew members even better to meet their No. 1 priority: People. A key component to that is training, he said.

A day after the massive July fire that seriously damaged the assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard pier-side in San Diego, Cooper explained, he sent guidance to his commanders to do “a gut check” that their firefighting kill chain is “fully intact and you know how to exercise it down to the weakest link.”

When something happens, Cooper said, every single member of a ship’s fire party “has to know, where do they go, what’s the status of the equipment and what’s their responsibility.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — A subsidiary of Elbit Systems of America has been selected by a Defense Department team of medical professionals and engineers, to support the development and industrialization of ventilator designs — including one by the U.S. Navy — to help combat COVID-19 affliction.

Merrimack, New Hampshire-based KMC Systems Inc. is assessing five designs for low-cost, ready- for-production ventilators, picked by the department’s “Hack-a-Vent Challenge” in June. KMC is assessing the five for simplicity of manufacture and availability of components. KMC was selected for the task by the Defense Health Agency, U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the Wright Brothers Institute, due to its experience designing and manufacturing in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-regulated environment, the company said in an Aug. 20 statement.

“KMC has specialized in design and manufacturing for some of the leading medical devices and life-sciences companies for the last four decades,” said Raanan Horowitz, president and CEO of Elbit Systems of America, itself a subsidiary of Israeli defense contractor, Elbit Systems Ltd.

Leveraging the U.S. Special Operations Command digital platform, Vulcan, the “Hack-a-Vent Challenge” solicited crowdsourced proposals to build domestically sourced ventilators that would be portable, smaller than a traditional ventilator, and operational for under $500, providing a solution to rural communities and foreign partners. Five were selected out of 172 submissions.

The five prototypes include the CorVent by Coridea, BLU3 Vent by BLU3, iBreather by L3 Harris, FieldVent by Northrop Grumman, and the NAVSEA PRE-Vent by the Navy. The NAVSEA team — made up of U.S. Navy engineering, diving and life support, and biomedical research experts — kept their functional solution’s cost at $300.

The Navy team managed to provide many of the features of an intensive care unit ventilator without the reliance on the established medical supply chain by using sensors from the diving industry and the microcontroller enthusiast community.

The NAVSEA team also used 3-D printing to bridge compatibility gaps between those sensors and all standard aerosol, CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) and BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) hoses. They also included an uninterruptable power supply with battery backup.

ARLINGTON, Va. — COVID-19-related delays will not slow the planned March 2021 start of full-rate production for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II strike fighter, the Defense Department’s top acquisition official says.

“I am confident we are going to meet the March date,” Ellen M. Lord, deputy secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told a Pentagon press briefing on Aug. 20. “We have the entire government/industry team focused on that. I look forward to continued progress.”

Lord told reporters that she and Robert Behler, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation, plan to visit the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) that tests the F-35’s capabilities  against dense surface and air threats, at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, in southern Maryland. That evaluation must be completed before full-rate production of the F-35 can be approved.

“There have been setbacks within the JSE from COVID-19. It is a close working environment,” Lord acknowledged. However, the JSF team moved quickly to follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to ensure a safe working environment, she said. “We have operations there at least six days a week, if not seven days a week, almost 24 hours,” she added.

While the challenge from the pandemic has been “significant,” Lord said the F-35 team also has been working through the “technical maturation of simulating these threats. It’s an iterative process.” She and Behler were going to Pax River “to understand exactly where we are” in that process and to “make sure they have all the resources they need.”

Under low-rate production, more than 500 F-35s of all three variants — for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force and eight partner nations — have been fielded so far. The Air Force F-35A and the Marine vertical takeoff and landing F-35B have flown in combat. The F-35C is the Navy carrier-landing variant.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Another person has tested positive for COVID-19 at a U.S. Marine Corps installation on Okinawa, bringing to 16 the number of new cases since Aug. 1 at two installations on the Japanese island with novel coronavirus clusters, according to Marine officials.

The latest case was previously identified as a close contact of another person who tested positive within the cluster at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

“This individual has been in quarantine for over a week and was identified as a result of our policy to test all individuals prior to release from [restriction of movement] or due to close contact with a known positive,” Marine Corps Installations Pacific (MCIPAC) said in an Aug. 3 statement.

MCIPAC also reported that 33 people have recovered from infection since Aug. 1. The Marines have not specified which among the more than 200 cases diagnosed on Okinawa are military, family members or civilian employees.

On Aug. 2, the Marines announced that 15 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours. All 15 have been in quarantine for more than a week and were identified due to the Marines’ policy to test all individuals prior to release from ROM status, MCIPAC said in a statement. Thirteen of those cases were from Camp Hansen, the hardest hit Okinawa facility, and two were from MCAS Futenma, which has the next highest number among the four Marine facilities on the island.

“We are cautiously optimistic that we have curbed the spread among the two clusters that we identified at the beginning of July at MCAS Futenma and Camp Hansen. Those clusters were largely contained in a few units that arrived from the U.S. in mid-June,” an MCIPAC spokesperson, Maj. Kenneth Kunze, said via e-mail to Seapower. Kunze added that the Corps also is monitoring COVID-19 in the Okinawa community and maintaining elevated measures to prevent spread outside the two clusters.

Meanwhile, more COVID-19 cases continue to pop up across the sea services. After months as the armed service with the most cases, the U.S. Navy, with 6,888 cumulative cases, has been surpassed by the Army, which has 9,697. The Marines reported 3,445. Under Pentagon policy, numbers of infected in individual units, facilities or geographic areas are not made public.

However, a spokesperson for Naval Air Force Atlantic did confirm that “a small number of Sailors” assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush were diagnosed with COVID-19 in late July.

“The crew members who tested positive remain in isolation at their private residences in Virginia and receive daily medical supportive care until they have recovered,” Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg said in a statement e-mailed to Seapower. “There has been no impact to readiness.”

Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where the George H.W. Bush is in dry dock, is conducting temperature checks and is screening all personnel with a symptom questionnaire, and if required, referring Sailors with symptoms for medical evaluation, Cragg added.

Also, a Marine assigned to Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), which flies the helicopters that transport the president, tested positive for COVID-19 on July 23. The infected Marine was asymptomatic and close contact tracing is being performed in coordination with the White House Medical Unit, Maj. Joseph Butterfield, a Marine Corps spokesperson, said in a statement.

The infected HMX-1 Marine, who is in isolation and recovering, was never in direct contact with the president’s helicopter. Other Marines who may have had contact with the infected individual were removed from the squadron but have not tested positive.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The tiered system for testing of U.S. military personnel for COVID-19, considered a key element in defeating the novel coronavirus, has exceeded the goal of 56,000 tests per week, Defense Department officials told Pentagon reporters on July 30.

Not only has the program exceeded the 56,000 tests-per-week goal set in May, the Defense Department has been administering nearly 60,000 tests per week for several months, said Air Force Major Gen. Lee E. Payne, assistant director for combat support at the Defense Health Agency and a medical doctor.

“We’ve seen testing increase five-fold in the last three months, and to date, we’ve conducted over 540,000 tests since January,” said Lee, who also leads the Pentagon’s diagnostic and testing task force.

Defense Department personnel are testing positive for COVID-19 at lower rates than the general population, except for the 18- to 24-year-old age group, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Chiefs of Staff surgeon. The reason is not attributable to young people’s behavior, but because they are the largest demographic group across the U.S. armed services and are tested more, especially those who are incoming recruits, he added.

The Defense Department unveiled the priority-based, four-tiered system on April 22, when the department’s testing ability was limited by equipment shortages and slow turnarounds on test results. Tier 1 targeted critical national-security capabilities, like strategic nuclear deterrent units. Tier 2 focused on engaged, fielded forces around the world, while Tier 3 was for testing forward-deployed and redeploying forces. The remainder of the military makes up Tier 4.

Even with the rise in testing, infection rates for COVID-19 among active-duty military have held steady for several weeks at 5.7%, Payne said. The cumulative number of service personnel hospitalized for COVID-19 has been far less than the number diagnosed with the virus and far less than medical experts expected in January and February, Friedrichs noted.

“There were a lot of unknowns” about COVID-19 back then, he said, adding, “We have a lot more knowledge today about how to treat those infected.”

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, victimized this spring by a COVID-19 outbreak, is back home in San Diego and seemingly healthy. U.S. Marines, no longer using their T-shirts as face masks, are rotating back to Australia but with strict disease-prevention measures in place. U.S. Navy ships and crews have resumed annual exercises with allies and partner nations — but at sea only, with no contact on shore. A “new normal” has settled into place. No one knows just how long this will last.

In the seven months since the novel coronavirus surfaced in China and spread to Europe, the U.S. sea services appear to have fought the contagion to a stand-still. Even as case numbers spike throughout the homeland, especially in the Sun Belt, they appear to be static in the military, at least among uniformed personnel.

Check out the digital edition of the July-August Seapower magazine and other past issues here.

While the virus has sickened 3 million stateside and killed about 132,000, the Navy has reported more than 4,300 cases — many of those on two ships, the Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Kidd. One Sailor has died. The U.S. Marine Corps reported another 1,600 infections among uniformed personnel, though an outbreak occurred among dozens of Marines at two bases on Okinawa.

Commanders, meanwhile, are strategizing how to operate in all this and keep the numbers down while demanding focus as always on the mission at hand.

CNO Cautions Against Returning to the ‘Old Normal’

In a June 30 message to the fleet, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday stressed “the importance of remaining vigilant” in the Navy’s long-term battle against COVID-19.

“Each of us will be faced with temptations to cut corners and return to the ‘old normal.’ Do not do it. Together, we will rigorously maintain health protection measures to protect our Navy family and assure mission success even when it may appear the [American public] may be relaxing them,” he added.

Some measures put in place during the initial response to the pandemic this spring may last longer. Case in point: any event that requires a large gathering.

The sea services came up with virtual alternatives to graduation ceremonies of new Marines, Sailors and Coast Guard grads. The U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, was the latest institution to join the trend on June 24. Instead of parading in dress uniforms on historic Dewey Field, the 427 students who earned diplomas gathered virtually to hear recorded speakers.

Interviews with prospective recruits and Fleet Week events around the country are being conducted online. Mandated measures governing training and operations include expanded testing of personnel, isolating crews before and after they go to sea, stringent and frequent cleaning of work and living space, social distancing of at least 6 feet — when possible —and wearing face coverings when it is not. Masks will be a regular part of Navy, Marine and Coast Guard attire for the foreseeable future.

Returning to Normal Operations, but Still Vigilant

A sign that the sea services are emerging from a 24/7 emergency mindset came from Navy Reserve Force, which issued new guidance in June for Reservists to resume regular weekend onsite drills beginning in mid-July, pending evaluation of local conditions and guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Navy also began resuming exercises around the world, including BALTOPS 20, a multinational, maritime exercise in the Baltic Sea with 19 NATO and partner nations; U.S. Navy and Georgian Forces conducting maneuvering exercises in the Black Sea; and the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducting a maritime training exercise with Italian and French ships and aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea. Meanwhile, aircraft carrier strike groups have continued to deploy in the Pacific and Atlantic as well as the Mediterranean and the Arctic.

Despite the constraints imposed by the global health crisis, the Navy and U.S. Coast Guard did not stop patrolling the eastern Pacific and Caribbean during U.S. Southern Command’s fight against transnational narcotics trafficking. As one example, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble, with a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on board, recovered 100 bales of suspected cocaine with an estimated street value of $40 million, according to Coast Guard sources. Many more drug and migrant interdictions — both as part of the Navy-USCG partnership and by the Coast Guard alone — still are taking place routinely.

Virus Prevention Procedures Begin at Boot Camp

Strict adherence to those COVID-19 preventive guidelines is responsible for the continued flow of Navy and Marine Corps recruits into boot camp, according to the commanders of the services’ basic training commands.
Both the Navy and Marines have implemented 14-day restrictions of movement, where incoming recruits are quarantined off-site when they arrive at the Marine Corps Recruit Depots at San Diego and Parris Island, South Carolina, and at Navy Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Illinois. After 14 days the recruits are tested for COVID-19. If they test negative, they can start basic training. If they pop positive results, they isolate in a single room for monitoring and more testing.

Quarantining recruits in off-base facilities — like The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, for the Marines or hotels outside Chicago for the Navy — is costly, and both services are looking for long-term alternatives.

More than 8,100 new Sailors have been sent to the fleet during the pandemic, and 6,700 recruits are currently going through Great Lakes, Rear Adm. Milton J. Sands, commander of Naval Service Training Command, told media during a July 7 teleconference. He added that the Navy was on track to meet its goal of 40,800 new Sailors in the current fiscal year.

Speaking at the same briefing, Maj. Gen. William F. Mullen, commander of Marine Training and Education Command, said the number of recruits per company have been reduced at San Diego and Parris Island because of special distancing requirements.

That and some weeks left open without scheduled shipments of new recruits in case unforeseen COVID-19 problems back up the pipeline are expected to cut into the Corps’ goal of 38,000 new Marines this fiscal year. The traditional 10-day leave new Marines used to get after boot camp graduation has been canceled to keep them in the protective bubble before starting their follow-on training, Mullen said.

Concern for the Sub Fleet Leads to Innovative Measures

Norfolk, Virginia-based Submarine Squadron 6 (SUBRON 6) developed a COVID-19 plan that set the standard for Atlantic attack sub deployment with total assurance that crew are free of infection.

SUBRON 6 Commodore Capt. Jeffrey Juergens called the effort to man, train and equip his fleet of 15 attack subs homeported or undergoing maintenance at Norfolk in a COVID-free bubble “wholly unprecedented” in his Navy career. “Our medical and operations departments put together a testing regime, made sure they had the most up-to-date guidance, and knew what to do in case we had someone test positive,” Juergens said.

He credited Senior Chief Electronics Technician (Submarine) Joshua Sisk with much of the plan’s heavy lifting, like managing repairs and parts delivery on the pier without crew interaction.

“We’re now getting lots of phone calls from our counterparts to share lessons learned. Until further notice, this will be the new norm,” Sisk said.

Guam, Other Bases Become Safe Havens

Naval Base Guam is among the facilities designated safe-haven ports for Navy ships and subs. The base is equipped to resupply vessels pierside while protecting ships and service members. In this bubble, Sailors can enjoy mental and physical relaxation while their vessel is serviced. Also, on Guam, visiting crew members have access to a secured beach. Other safe-haven ports include Okinawa, Japan, and Naval Station Rota, Spain.

The safe-haven port concept grew out of the lessons learned from the ordeal of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the first naval warship hit with an outbreak at sea. More than 1,100 crew members tested positive while the aircraft carrier was sidelined on Guam for more than two months as it was clean and sanitized from bow to stern and sick crew treated.

Thanks to procedures put in place on Guam, the carrier put to sea in June to resume its deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations and returned safely to homeport in San Diego on July 9.

ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S. Marine Corps leaders on Okinawa have relaxed restrictions for some essential off-base activities as the spread of COVID-19 on the island has slowed and U.S. military headquarters in Japan ordered a more rigorous novel coronavirus testing policy for personnel arriving on the island.

On July 29, Okinawa-based Marine Corps Installations Pacific (MCIPAC) reported that no one affiliated with the Marines on the island — uniformed, family member, or civilian employee — had tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours. “We are still testing some groups and will be testing close contacts before they can exit quarantine,” Maj. Kenneth Kunze, an MCIPAC spokesman, said in a July 29 statement e-mailed to Seapower.

“Leadership is confident that we have contained the outbreak and are working hard to continue to mitigate the spread as the number of cases within the civilian population continues to rise on Okinawa and service members and families continue to [permanent change of station] to the island.”

Also on July 29, U.S. Forces-Japan, a component of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command overseeing all U.S. defense issues in Japan, directed all Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) personnel to undergo COVID-19 exit tests prior to release from the 14-day restriction of movement (ROM) already required of all new arrivals, including military, civilians, families and contractors.

Exit testing will be done between day 10 and 14 of the ROM requirement, and individuals must complete their full 14 days of isolation, regardless of the test result. Individuals testing positive will move from ROM into isolation. Component commanders were directed to develop and implement safety procedures for the new testing. Japanese officials in Okinawa and Tokyo have complained that the U.S. military was not doing enough to ensure all their arrivals from overseas were being tested.

On July 28, the Marines loosened some restrictions on off-base activities on Okinawa, which has been under stricter health protection rules than bases in Japan since July 11. Restrictions were eased on outdoor physical fitness activities and visiting off-base essential services like doctors, veterinarians, banks, grocery stores and gas stations. While personnel and their families may opt to use off-base schools and child-care centers, off-base liberty and recreation still are prohibited.

Navy and Marine Corps medical personnel, after “vigorous contact tracing and conducting more than 4,500 COVID-19 tests in the past month,” have identified two clusters, III Marine Expeditionary Force said in a press release. Those clusters are at Camp Hansen and Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, both of which are on Okinawa. Most of these individuals have been in quarantine since July 18, some since July 12, III MEF said on a Facebook posting.

“The level of testing has decreased over the last few days as the large batch testing of entire groups and units on Camp Hansen and MCAS Futenma have [been] reduced,” Kunze said.

As of July 24, there were 189 cases of COVID-19 at U.S. military installations in Japan and outlying islands, according to U.S. Forces-Japan. They included 84 at Camp Hansen, the worst-hit, 78 at MCAS Futenma, and two at Kadena Air Base, a U.S. Air Force facility, all on Okinawa. Two other Marine Corps installations on Okinawa, Camps Courtney and Kinser, each reported one person testing positive.

MCAS Iwakuni and Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Japan both reported three cases each and Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, reported nine cases. The remaining cases were at Army and Air Force bases in Japan.