ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered 24 Harpoon Block II+ Harpoon cruise missiles from Boeing Defense, Space & Security, the Defense Department said in an August 12 announcement. 

The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Boeing a $15.6 million firm-fixed-price order for the 24 missiles plus 25 captive air training missiles (CATMs). 

The Harpoon Block II+ includes a new GPS guidance kit, improved weapon reliability and survivability, and a new data-link interface that enables in-flight updates and improved target selectivity. Fleet introduction of the Block II+ was achieved in 2017 on the F/A-18E/F followed by the P-8A in 2019.  

A CATM is installed on the weapon pylon of an aircraft and gives the electronic signals of a live missile without an actual launch.  

The order is expected to be completed in August 2023. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official said the Columbia ballistic-missile submarine is on track and ready for a fiscal 2021 official construction start. 

Speaking Aug. 12 in a teleconference with reporters, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said the Columbia SSBN program went through a review Aug. 11 with program and shipyard teams. 

“The design maturity of Columbia is exceeding 86% right now,” Geurts said. “We’re focusing on converting that design into manufacturing plans, instructions, [and] material parts. Advance construction is continuing on all of the super-modules.”  

The Navy announced on June 22 a contract modification with Electric Boat that featured an option — that already has been fully priced by the Navy — that would start construction of the first Columbia, SSBN 826, in October (the first quarter of fiscal 2021) and fund advance procurement, advance construction and 2024 construction start of the second Columbia sub, SSBN 827.  

Geurts said at the time that the work of the Navy to price out the two SSBN contract options will help the service keep on schedule and achieve economies on materials and advance procurement for the Columbia class.   

“We’ve got the Build 1 contract in place,” he said in the latest teleconference. “We’re ready to exercise that upon appropriation and authorization in fiscal year 2021. … We’re continuing to ensure that Columbia stays on track as our highest priority program.” 

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic “has not impacted Columbia in terms of readiness to proceed.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — Training of some U.S. Marine Corps student aviators in carrier qualifications temporarily has been waived because of a shortage of engines for T-45C Goshawk jet training aircraft, a U.S. Navy spokeswoman said. The shortage also is forcing a reduction in part of the syllabus for Navy student aviators. 

“Due to a shortage of T-45C engines, Chief of Naval Air Training temporarily waived a portion of the advanced strike syllabus for Navy T-45C students, and the carrier qualification syllabus for U.S. Marine Corps T-45C students who will fly the F/A-18C Hornet, F-35B Lightning II, and AV-8B Harrier, which do not deploy on aircraft carriers,” said Lt. Michelle Tucker, a spokeswoman for the Chief of Naval Air Training at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.  

“These temporary waivers account for about 10% of the original syllabus,” Tucker said. “Each service branch chose which parts of the syllabus to waive based on how their respective fleet aircraft are employed. The U.S. Marine Corps chose to retain the tactical skillsets over carrier qualifications while the Navy retained carrier qualifications during this period. The Navy and Marine Corps will re-evaluate this decision once production has returned to normal levels.” 

Because Marine F/A-18Cs no longer are scheduled to deploy on aircraft carriers — the last squadron to do so is currently deployed — the only Marine aviators needing carrier qualification in the foreseeable future are F-35C pilots. 

During the Vietnam War, because of the high demand for pilots, some Marine aviators bound for tactical jet squadrons were trained by the Air Force and joined their first squadrons — land-based — without carrier qualification.  

Training Wing 1 at NAS Meridian, Mississippi, and Training Air Wing 2 at NAS Kingsville, Texas, conduct all of the Navy’s strike training and carrier qualification for student naval aviators in the T-45C.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet, whose ships have operated four times in the Arctic since the fleet was re-established two years ago, says that, on initial examination, there is no need for a numbered fleet in the region, but an Arctic naval component command might be worth consideration. 

Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis was responding to a question about a July 17 article posted on Seapower’s website concerning an idea proposed by an Arctic expert at the Naval War College. 

Lewis was speaking at a press teleconference about the start of the upcoming Operation Nanook-Tuugaalik, a Canadian Arctic operation in which units of the 2nd Fleet also will be participating along with a cutter of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area and ships of the French and Danish navies. 

Dr. Walter Berbrick, associate professor at the Naval War College and director of its Arctic Studies Group, speaking July 16 during a CNA webinar, Arctic East vs West: US Strategy in the Atlantic and Pacific Arctic, noted that the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Fleets all have responsibilities in the region, with the Navy “facing a time/space/force problem in the Arctic,” with too many other challenges around the world. 

“Perhaps we should think outside the box and create a new fleet, an Arctic fleet,” Berbrick said, saying that a total Navy battle fleet sized more toward 400 ships rather than 355 would be needed, which would allow for a fleet “permanently spread out across the Arctic region.”  

“It an interesting viewpoint,” Lewis said of Berbrick’s proposal. “I don’t know that I would consider creating a numbered fleet for an Arctic fleet. In the U.S. system, it’s another maneuver arm for the naval component. I don’t really own battlespace per se, as I own mission. If I’m given a mission, in the Arctic, or the North Atlantic or Western Atlantic or Southern Atlantic, I address that mission. 

“The naval component commander is fully responsible for that northern area — that might be something we need to look at, and that would be at the naval component command level. That’s kind of my initial thoughts. I actually pondered that [Seapower] article for quite some time a couple of weeks back.” 

Also speaking at the Operation Nanook-Tuugaalik teleconference was Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area. 

“The question really goes to the heart of how can we ensure maneuverability in the Arctic,” Poulin said. “I think it goes directly to the Coast Guard’s desire and plan to recapitalize the icebreaking fleet. We’re very pleased with the support from the administration and Congress that we’re moving forward smartly to build icebreaking capability to ensure that maneuverability and that presence.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is planning to build 12 Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs) to replace its 14 legacy Ohio-class SSBNs, but the number could change if the threat to the United States changes. 

With the increasing concern about the growing power of China and Russia in the era of “great power competition,” the numbers in the U.S. nuclear deterrence triad — Navy SSBNs and U.S. Air Force bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles — might need to be changed to meet the future threat. 

Adm. Charles Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, speaking July 30 at a webinar sponsored by the Mitchell Institute, said that the U.S strategic deterrent is “going to be tested in ways that it hasn’t been tested before,” noting that “it has been 30 years since the United States contemplated a nuclear conflict.” 

Richard noted that Russia has been modernizing its forces for the last 15 years and that there has been a “breathtaking expansion” in China’s forces. 

“China is on a trajectory to be a peer to us by the end of the decade,” he said. 

The admiral praised the U.S. nuclear deterrent triad because of the “flexibility of its design,” which allows U.S. Strategic Command to respond to every contingency. 

“If you take away any leg [of the triad], you just took away a stack of attributes that we have found useful in that past and see being useful in the future,” he said. “Can I compensate in some respects by coming across and using other elements of the triad? Yes, but not with those same attributes. Which means you just narrowed the range of the situations that we are able to effectively deter. You just took away a future hedging capability. If you took a piece [of the triad] away, that’s going to make it that much harder for me to execute the policy of this nation as documented in the Nuclear Posture Review.” 

Richard addressed the survivability of the SSBN leg of the triad, armed with Trident missiles. 

“When we say the submarine leg is survivable, that’s not just based on individual platform survivability,” he said. “Submarines are very difficult to find. They are not impossible to find. They have to be operated correctly like any stealth platform. But you derive that from force survivability. It is the combination of the number and location and the way you are operating the force is what gives you that very high confidence that that leg is going to survive.” 

“I’m very confident that the Navy has taken the right steps to ensure that we are able to maintain force survivability,” Richard continued. “I think it’s important that when we set the requirements, particularly the numbers for the platforms, that was based on a specific threat. If you change the threat on me, then we have to come back and re-think what the right number is. That’s going up. Going down, it’s not just what the threat looks like, but it’s what it takes to maintain that attribute of the leg. There’s a minimum number of submarines you can get to. It doesn’t matter what number of weapons or missiles are on them, it’s the number of platforms I have to have to make my statement remain true on force survivability. That is why the Navy and the STRATCOM will say ‘at least 12’ [Columbia-class SSBNs]. We need to see what the threat looks like.” 

Richard praised the introduction of the low-yield W76-2 nuclear warhead into the deterrent force. “It is a very welcome addition,” he said. “It is doing exactly what it was designed to do, but it is important to remember it added into an already existing stack of capabilities.” 

He also noted that the Nuclear Posture Review “wisely talked about a sea-launched [nuclear] cruise missile … a very good beginning to offset the numbers of non-treaty-accountable weapons that has great benefit in the assurance of our allies.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official said the service is focused on sustaining its shipbuilding industrial base and the shipyard workers, critical to avoiding the pain of losing the services of any yard and its highly trained work force.  

“The shipyard workers in that workforce are valuable members of our shipbuilding community and have built great ships and built them well for our Navy,” said James F. Geurts, speaking July 30 to reporters during a teleconference, responding to a question from Seapower about the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, whose production of Independence-class littoral combat ships and Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ships will end in the next few years. 

“I am absolutely interested in ensuring that we don’t lose large chunks of the industrial base such as that shipbuilder or others.”  

Geurts said that “restarting an industrial base that you lose is really hard, really painful, and takes a long time. We are absolutely focused on ensuring we do not lose an industrial base because we don’t have the time or resources to re-generate it later when we need it.” 

He emphasized the value of the Defense Production Act in shoring up the industrial base. “We’ve been working with Austal to enhance their capabilities to be able to be effective for future ships,” he said. “So that work is ongoing as a shared activity between the Navy and the shipbuilder there.” 

He also pointed to the current stimulus bill draft in Congress, noting that “there is certainly opportunity there to look for key capabilities that we can build in the near term that allows us to bridge to future needs.”  

Geurts said he was optimistic about the future of shipbuilding for the Navy, including for Austal. 

“For the entire shipbuilding community, it’ a heck of an exciting time here,” he said. “We have a lot of new ship types that we want to go build, both manned and unmanned, so the critical activity from my perspective is ensuring we’ve got the industrial base — both at the shipbuilder and the supplier — ready to go so we can pivot and continue to expand the number and types of ships we’re building and drive the cost out of those ships.” 

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).