ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing two concepts of operations for unmanned ships and other watercraft, the agency’s acting director said July 30. 

DARPA, which successfully developed what is called the Sea Hunter autonomous unmanned surface vessel, now operated by the U.S. Navy, is doing more work on autonomy and other crew-less technology. 

Peter Highnam, acting director of DARPA, who spoke to the Defense Writers Group at a webinar of the Project for Media and National Security of the George Washington University, said the agency is developing the Sea Train and the NOMARS (No Manning Required Ship) concepts. 

Under the Sea Train concept, a group of four or more unmanned vessels, either physically connected in trail or unconnected but sailing in formation, would be able to reduce the resistance of high sea states. They would be linked by command-and-control and navigation systems that could detach hulls for different missions and reassemble in trail or in formation.    

“How do we find a way involving [artificial intelligence] or autonomy?” Highnam asked rhetorically. “How do we put three or four hulls very closely in trail through different sea states to really be very efficient? Think of bike racing, being … up close behind the guy up front. You have to be constantly tracking that. So, there are potentially huge wins in terms of fuel efficiencies in autonomous longhaul work.” 

The NOMARS program involves a vessel designed from the outset to need no accommodations for a crew. “If you were to design a vessel completely from scratch, with no intention of ever having people on it, including perhaps repair at sea, what would you do differently?” he asked. “What I like about is, does the notion of ‘up’ even matter? Think of no [air conditioning], no messing, no staterooms, it’s a very different place to be.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s overseas expeditionary warfare capacity has expanded significantly with the deployment of the second expeditionary base ship USS Hershel “Woody” Williams.

The ship is forward-deploying to the U.S. Naval Forces Africa area of operations. The Williams likely will give the Navy a more enduring presence in waters off Africa.  

The Navy’s first ESB, USS Lewis B. Puller, is forward-deployed to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command area of operations. Both ships operate with two crews, Blue and Gold, which rotate with each other in a manner like the Navy’s four Ohio-class guided-missile submarines. Both ESBs operate with a mixed crew of Sailors and civil mariners of the Military Sealift Command.

The Hershel “Woody” Williams, with its Blue Crew on board, departed Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on July 27, the U.S. 2nd Fleet public affairs said in a release.

In recent years, the Navy occasionally has deployed expeditionary fast transport ships, destroyers, and amphibious warfare ships to waters off West Africa for theater security cooperation missions.

“As the commanding officer of the “Woody” Williams’ Blue Crew, I can tell you that we are excited to embark on the ship’s first deployment,” Capt. David Gray, commanding officer of the Blue Crew, said in the release. “For the majority of our Sailors, this will be their first deployment, and I can’t think of a more exciting area to operate in. We look forward to our deployment in U.S. Naval Forces Africa.”

The 784-foot-long Hershel “Woody” Williams “features a 52,000 square-foot flight deck, fuel and equipment storage, magazines, repair and mission-planning spaces,” the release said. “Its features include a four-spot flight deck, a mission deck and hangar, work and living spaces for a couple hundred staff and embarked personnel.”

The ship can embark rotary-wing aircraft, mine-countermeasures unmanned surface vessels, unmanned underwater vehicles, patrol craft, SEAL teams and other special operations forces. It has command, control, and communications capabilities for its embarked forces. The ESB is named for Hershel “Woody” Williams, a Marine Corps veteran, awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron, the aeronautical team known as the Blue Angels, received its first F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter, marking the beginning of a new generation of aircraft for the world-renowned team.

The Super Hornet was delivered July 27 to the Blue Angels at their home base, Naval Air Station Pensacola, according to a spotter.

The Blues have flown the legacy Hornet since 1986, when it replaced the A-4F Skyhawk on the team. Single-seat F/A-18A and two-seat F/A-18B versions were used by the team and have been supplemented by single-seat F/A-18C and two-seat F/A-18D versions.

Boeing, the builder of the Super Hornet, was awarded a contract in August 2018 to convert nine single-seat F/A-18Es and two F/A-18F two-seater versions for the team.

The Super Hornets are receiving more than a new paint scheme. The internal M61 cannon is removed and replaced by a smoke generator is installed. An Artificial Feel Spring is installed on the flight controls to help the pilot in close formation flying. The modified flight software helps the pilot align the demonstration flight path to help give the watching airshow crowd the most advantageous view. The landing gear is modified to allow flight at higher speeds and increased Gs with the gear extended.

This year the Blue Angels also are receiving a new “Fat Albert,” a transport aircraft that flies the team support personnel and equipment to its airshow destinations and also performs at the show demonstrating a Rocket-Assisted Takeoff. The old C-130T was retired and is being replaced by an ex-Royal Air Force C-130J.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and its escorting ships arrived in the U.S. Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility on July 24, where its strike group is relieving the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group (CSG). The Nimitz CSG, like the Eisenhower CSG before it, participated in a Competitive Unit Training Exercise (COMPTUEX) and departed coastal waters on deployment without the normal post-exercise return to port prior to deployment. 

The COMPTUEX is a final exam for a CSG prior to deployment. Traditionally, until recently, a CSG would get a homeport period of a month or so for crew leave and final deployment.  

By combining a COMPTUEX and a deployment on the same at-sea period, the Navy introduces more flexibility and less predictability in deployments, in the spirit of the Dynamic Force Employment concept. 

Another benefit is that the CSG reduces risk of infection by COVID-19 of its crew during the period between COMPTUEX and deployment. 

The Nimitz departed its West Coast homeport on April 27 but remained in the Eastern Pacific its COMPTUEX before turning west in June. The CSG participated in dual-CSG operations with the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Ronald Reagan CSGs and operated in the South China Sea. The Nimitz CSG also participated in exercises with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean while en route to the North Arabian Sea. 

According to a Navy release, the Nimitz CSG, commanded by Rear Adm. James A. Kirk, includes Nimitz and its embarked carrier air wing, CVW-17; Destroyer Squadron 9, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59); and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114). 

The Eisenhower CSG has been deployed for more than six months, having departed the East Coast on Jan. 17. The CSG included the Dwight D. Eisenhower, with CVW-3 embarked; Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Vella Gulf (CG 72); and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS James E. Williams (DDG 95), USS Stout (DDG 55) and USS Truxtun (DDG 103). 

St. LOUIS — Boeing is preparing its MQ-25 T1 unmanned aerial refueling test asset to return to flight test later this year, this time with a U.S. Navy aerial refueling store, the company said in a July 23 email. 

The store was recently integrated onto a purpose-built pylon under the wing of T1 during a planned modification. It is the same store currently carried by F/A-18 fighter jets that perform aerial refueling off aircraft carriers. MQ-25 will relieve F/A-18s of carrier-based aerial refueling, freeing up those assets to perform other missions. 

 “When we resume flight testing later this year, we’ll have the opportunity to gather test points about the aerodynamics of that pod and the software commands that control it – all happening well before we deliver the Navy’s first MQ-25 jet with the same pod,” said Dave Bujold, MQ-25 program director. “That early testing and early software development is a big part of supporting the Navy’s goal to get MQ-25 to the fleet as quickly as possible.” 

The Boeing and Navy team conducted an initial round of flight testing that began with T1’s first flight in September 2019 and resulted in nearly 30 hours in the air. Bujold said those flights helped accelerate the team’s understanding of the aircraft’s aerodynamic performance and informed design decisions for both the air vehicle and its software. 

The MQ-25 will be the U.S. Navy’s first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft. Boeing is under contract to manufacture seven aircraft that will subsequently go into Navy flight test. 

When T1 returns to flight with the aerial refueling store, it will be under the control of Boeing air vehicle operators and monitored by a team of flight test engineers, including those from the Navy. That team first will be looking at the aerodynamic effects of the store at various points of the flight envelope and later will be monitoring the hose and drogue’s behavior in the wake of the MQ-25 airframe. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — A U.S. Navy destroyer and maritime patrol aircraft have teamed up in the Black Sea to provide the U.S participation in the 2020 Sea Breeze annual international naval exercise.  

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter, a unit of the Forward-Deployed Naval Force based in Rota, Spain, entered the Black Sea on July 19 to participate in the 20^th annual Exercise Sea Breeze, sponsored by the United States and Ukraine. The exercise runs July 20 through July 26.  

The Porter, commanded by Cmdr. Craig M. Trent, is making its eighth ballistic-missile defense patrol and third excursion into the Black Sea. The ship has been joined by a P-8A Poseidon aircraft assigned to Patrol Squadron 47 (VP-47), based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, and deployed to Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily. VP-47 is commanded by Cmdr. Trever Plageman. 

The Porter and the VP-47 aircraft are participating in exercises with ships from seven other nations: Bulgaria, Georgia, Norway, Romania, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. Some of the ships are part of NATO Standing Maritime Group 2. 

“Sea Breeze serves to build a rock-solid foundation of partnership in the Black Sea,” Vice Adm. Gene Black, commander, U.S. 6th Fleet, said during the opening day press conference, according to a release. “Our ships, aircraft and personnel train together unified in our goal of maritime security and stability.” 

In a July 22 teleconference with reporters, Trent said the Porter conducted a search-and-rescue exercise on July 21, an air-defense exercise July 22, and is scheduled for an antisubmarine exercise on July 23. He said the ship crews in the exercise were “very capable and professional … and very willing to work with us.”   

Trent said his crew is observing strict health precautions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing normal festive port calls and productive interactions with the crews of the participating foreign ships. He said that a minimal number of Sailors go ashore to assist the Porter to assist the ship in taking on fuel. 

Plageman, also speaking in the teleconference, said that no submarines are serving as targets in the exercise. The ships and aircraft will be using an Expendable Mobile ASW Training Target System to simulate a target submarine. 

Trent said the Russian navy has been present in the vicinity of the exercise but that there have been no confrontations and the Russian units have acted in a “safe and professional” manner. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The top U.S. military official in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility has placed 360-degree defense of Guam from air and missile threats as his top priority. 

Adm. Phillip S. Davidson, commander, U.S. Indo Pacific Command, speaking in a July 21 teleconference with reporters, said that ballistic missiles launched from China or North Korea and cruise missiles launched from aircraft, ships or submarines are a threat to U.S. forces in Guam, a U.S. territory, which is increasing in importance as a base for U.S. forces. 

“My No. 1 priority, and the most important action we can take to readily and most fully implement the National Defense Strategy, as a first step, is a 360-degree persistent integrated air defense capability of what I call Homeland Defense System Guam,” Davidson said. 

Davidson advocates deploying the Baseline 10 Aegis Ashore missile defense system to Guam to supplement the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system already in place on the island.  

The Aegis Ashore system is an adaptation of the Navy’s Aegis Combat System installed on Ticonderoga-class guided-missile destroyers and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. The SPY-1D radars of the system are teamed with an array of vertical launch cells housing Standard SM-3 missiles. Two Aegis Ashore systems are deployed to Europe, in Romania and Poland.  

“The backbone of the Homeland Defense System Guam would be the Baseline 10 Aegis Ashore system,” Davidson said. “The reason I’m a key advocate for that is, first, it is technology that is available to us now and could be delivered by 2026, when I believe the threat will require us to have a much more robust capability than the combination of THAAD, which is deployed there now, and an Aegis ship in response can provide. 

“You are going to need a complete clock — a 360-degree coverage in order to help defend Guam,” he said. “Further, Aegis Ashore, the C5I [command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence], that comes with it, enables you to bring in other capability like PAC-3 [missile defense system], other shorter-range defenses as well, much like Baseline 10 on a ship enables you to link and engage with other capability sets. That’s going to be required going forward. And it comes quickest. And that’s why Homeland Defense System Guam is at the top of my list.” 

Davidson said the funding would have to be approved by Congress in the 2021 budget for ground to be broken in time for Aegis Ashore to be operational in Guam by 2026.  

Guam was an important base during the Cold War and Vietnam War, with a squadron of ballistic-missile submarines, an EP-3 fleet air reconnaissance squadron and a detachment of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, as well as an Air Force wing of B-52 long-range bombers. Its importance declined after the Cold War but returned in the 21st century to counter the rise of China’s military power. The Navy has stationed four attack submarines in Guam along with two submarine tenders. At Andersen Air Force Base, the Navy operates a sea combat helicopter squadron and a detachment of MQ-4C Triton long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles. The Navy also is building facilities for Marine Corps units that are scheduled to be moved to Guam from Okinawa in the future.   

Japan, which also deploys the Aegis system on its Kongo-class guided-missile destroyers, also had planned to deploy Aegis Ashore, but recently canceled the deployment because of concerns of damage to local communities near the launch sites. 

U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers forward-deployed to Japan patrol the Sea of Japan in rotation to provide ballistic-missile defense. Former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson advocated for more Aegis Ashore systems to make the ships available for other tasking.   

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is developing a new sonobuoy to enhance is ability to track newer and quieter submarines, according to a July 20 Defense Department contract announcement.  

The Office of Naval Research has awarded Undersea Signal Systems Inc. of Columbia City, Indiana, a $28.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee-contract “to develop a prototype sonobuoy, known as Extended Range Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (ER-DIFAR), to address new and quiet threat submarine targets.” 

Sonobuoys are deployed by Navy P-8A, P-3C and MH-60R aircraft to acoustically detect and track submarines. They are expendable sensors that float on the surface of the water and extend a hydrophone to depths to collect sound from submarine propulsion systems, auxiliary machinery and other sources of sound from a submarine. 

Passive sonobuoys, such as the SSQ-53 DIFAR (Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording) sonobuoys were a staple of Cold War antisubmarine operations because they were able to detect and point to the sounds from a submarine. As Soviet and later Russian submarines improved in their acoustic quieting, the DIFAR sonobuoy became less effective. The Navy then turned to emphasized active tracking sonobuoys such as the SSQ-125 sonobuoy, which used a sound source to “ping” a submarine, but also revealed to a submarine that it was being tracked.  

A new extended-range DIFAR sonobuoy would increase the ability to passively track quieter submarines.    

The contract for the DIFAR-ER is a three-year base contract with a one-year option. Work is expected to be completed by July 2024. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has ordered six more Enterprise Air Search Radars (EASRs) from Raytheon Missiles and Defense, the Defense Department said in a July 17 release. 

The Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Missiles and Defense of Marlborough, Massachusetts, a $125.9 million fixed-price, incentive fee modification to a previously awarded to exercise options for the six low- rate initial production units.  

The six units include four SPY-6(V)2 rotator versions and two SPY-6(V)3 fixed-faced versions. These versions are scaled-down versions of the SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar being installed on the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. 

The AN/SPY-6(V)2 EASR rotator units will be deployed on the amphibious assault ship USS Bougainville (LHA 8), the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), the last Flight I San Antonio-class amphibious platform dock ship USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29) and the first Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious platform dock ship USS Harrisburg (LPD 30), respectively.   

The two SPY-6(V)3 EASR fixed-faced units will be deployed on the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) and the first ship of the new FFG(X) guided-missile frigates.  

Work is expected to be completed by January 2023.   

ARLINGTON, Va. — As part of the national response to COVID-19, the Defense Department entered into a $22 million agreement with Rolls-Royce to maintain, protect and expand critical domestic productive capacity for propellers essential to U.S. Navy shipbuilding programs, the department said in a Jul 17 release. These projects will begin in July 2020 and help meet increasing demand across the vitally important shipbuilding sector of the defense industrial base. 

Using funds authorized and appropriated under the CARES Act, this DPA Title III investment will protect and create jobs in the Gulf Coast region hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure critical capabilities are retained in support of U.S. Navy operational readiness. 

Rolls-Royce intends to expand its existing facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to install a number of state-of-the-art machine tools to support production of propellers for all shipbuilding programs, reduce production risks and increase throughput. These investments will have long-term benefits for the U.S. Navy and the Gulf Coast region.  

Over the next 36 months, the $22 million government investment will sustain and expand critical domestic industrial base capability for propeller machining capacity. The Rolls-Royce Foundry will continue to be one of only two facilities capable of supplying the U.S. Navy with this capacity. 

The Rolls-Royce Foundry in Pascagoula is the principal place of performance.