ARLINGTON, Va. — The carrier air wing assigned to the USS Gerald R. Ford is working up on its flight deck and conducting air operations with inert ordnance, the wing commander said. 

Speaking June 1 to reporters by teleconference while operating off the Virginia Capes, Capt. Joshua Sager said his seven squadrons assigned to Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8) are on board the carrier for the first time, beginning a lengthy training cycle of catapult launches and arrested landings and working up to ordnance loads and dropping inert ordnance on targets. 

The Ford’s commanding officer, Capt. J.J. Cummings, also speaking in the teleconference, said the ship has unloaded 40,000 pounds of inert ordnance for CVW-8 to expend during its training. He said the newly operational aft lower Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) is getting a workout servicing the air wing. 

Sager said the AWE “gives us a lot of flexibility to access what is normally deeper in the magazine” — especially to make changes to ordnance loads in real time, as the mission set might change before aircraft are launched. 

“We’re actually testing that out while we’re out here,” he said. “We’re actually taking the carrier qualification mission to a mission that focuses on combat operations and executing that capability. It’s been an absolute an honor to be a part of that trajectory that we’re on.”      

The Ford has achieved 167 arrested landings in one day so far with the Advanced Arresting Gear, and Sager plans to show that the ship/air wing team can beat that number. 

Cummings said the reliability of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System is climbing.  

James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, also in the teleconference, said the Ford’s current at-sea period is serving to “exercise the equipment hard.”  

Sager said the air wing would not need recovery tanking during this at-sea period because of the availability of divert airfields within easy range. Mission tanking would be conducted for practice strikes into North Carolina. 

With more than 1,000 air wing personnel embarked, the ship’s galleys all are fully operating, Cummings said. The ship and air wing are free of any cases of COVID-19 among the personnel embarked, he said. 

CVW-8 includes four strike fighter squadrons flying F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, one carrier airborne early warning squadron flying E-2 Hawkeyes, one helicopter maritime strike squadron operating MH-60R Seahawks and one helicopter sea combat squadron flying MH-60S Seahawks. 

Sager declined to comment on plans for an electronic attack (VAQ) squadron flying EA-18G Growlers to join the air wing in the future. The VAQ squadron formerly assigned to the wing is assigned an expeditionary role.

ARLINTON, Va. — Naval Air Systems Command is looking at options for an aircraft to replace the T-44C Pegasus multi-engine training aircraft, but the ultimate choice may not be “new.” The Navy is exploring options for adapting an existing aircraft design to the service’s Multi-Engine Training System (METS). 

According to a draft request for information (RFI) posted May 26, the Navy is looking at existing twin-engine aircraft to replace the service’s fleet of 54 T-44Cs used to train Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard pilots to fly aircraft such as the V-22 Osprey, E-2C/D Hawkeye, P-8 Poseidon, P-3 and EP-3 Orion, C-130/KC-130/HC-130 Hercules, E-6 Mercury, C-40 Clipper, HC-27 Spartan and HC-144 Ocean Sentry. 

The T-44A, a variant of the Beech King Air 90 business aircraft, first entered service in 1980. The existing T-44As all have been modified to the T-44C configuration.  

The Navy said the METS should have an FAA type certification for single- and dual-pilot operations under day and night visual flight rules and under instrument flight rules. It shall cruise at speeds greater or equal to 195 knots and shall be able to operate at a minimum of 20,000 feet above sea level. The aircraft also should have an endurance of 3.5 or more flight hours. 

The pressurized aircraft cockpit will have side-by-side seating, as well as a jump seat for an instruct. The cockpit will be equipped with multifunction displays with digital moving map; redundant VHF and UHF radios; an integrated GPS/inertial navigation system; Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast; flight management system; weather radar, radar altimeter, and a cockpit data recorder.  

The METS aircraft also shall have tricycle landing gear and a reconfigurable cargo bay in the cabin.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has approved a possible foreign military sale to Taiwan of submarine-launched torpedoes, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a release. 

DSCA said that Congress has been notified of the potential sale of torpedoes to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), which represents Taiwan’s interests in the United States. 

TECRO has requested to buy 18 Mk48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology Heavy-Weight Torpedoes, as well as spare parts, support and test equipment, shipping and shipping containers, operator manuals, technical documentation, training, U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services and other related elements of logistics support, the DSCA said, with a total estimated program cost of $180 million. 

“The proposed sale will improve the recipient’s capability in current and future defensive efforts,” the release said. “The recipient will use the enhanced capability as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen homeland defense. The recipient will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”  

DSCA said that there are no prime contractors associated with this case because all material will be delivered straight from U.S. Navy stocks.  

The Mk48 torpedo is now back in production for the U.S. Navy after a gap in procurement.  

The Republic of China Navy in Taiwan operates two Chien-Lung diesel-electric submarines based on the Dutch Zwaardvis design as well as two old U.S. diesel-electric submarines for training. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — BAE Systems has expanded its capacity to manufacture its Riptide family of autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) a year after the company acquired Riptide Autonomous Systems. The company also has been integrating its sensor packages on the UUVs.  

BAE has built a new manufacturing facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, a “multimillion dollar state-of-the-art prototype and production site … that greatly increases capacity for both vehicle development and personnel focused on the Riptide product line,” the company said in a release.   

The Riptide UUVs are used by the U.S. Navy and other government agencies, said Dr. John Hogan, director of the Sensor Processing and Exploitation group at BAE Systems, in an interview with Seapower. He was not at liberty to discuss the customers’ use in any detail.  

The Riptide family consists of three types of portable small UUVs, which the company said in a release “are sophisticated yet simple, efficient and highly flexible platforms that offer performance discriminators including being able to perform at greater depth, at longer range, with more endurance, and at greater speed.” 

The Riptide family includes a 25-pound, 4.875-inch-diameter Micro UUV; a 65 to 120-pound, 7.5-inch-diameter, one-man-portable (1MP) UUV; and a 120 to 240 pound, 9.375-inch-diameter two-man portable (2MP) UUV. The Micro UUV now features enhanced functionality. The prototypes of the 1MP and 2MP have been completed. 

“Additionally, we have developed the first prototype of our 6,000-meter-rated UUV,” Hogan said in the release. “This depth in a small UUV will allow unparalleled flexibility and cost efficiency by taking on missions unprecedented for the small class of UUVs, reducing the barriers to access the deep ocean.”  

Hogan told Seapower the Riptide UUVs have a “very efficient computing system” and have the lowest power usage rate in the industry. 

He told Seapower that the systems and sensors that can be employed in the UUVs include navigation, communications, electro-optical and electronic warfare. The UUVs use waypoints for navigation and a have an open architecture for integrating sensors. 

Hogan pointed to the the Navy’s ANTX-19 demonstration last year in which a Riptide UUV was used for signals intelligence collection. The UUV recorded radio transmissions and was able to transmit the data acoustically to a surface vessel.    

“As joint all-domain operations become the Department of Defense’s (DoD) operational norm, there is increased need for undersea platforms capable of integrating key payload and autonomy technology,” Hogan said in the release. “In the time since the acquisition was announced, we have made tremendous technology and integration progress that positions us to serve our DoD customer base as well as commercial, research and development, and educational organizations to affordably and expertly explore under the sea. 

“Our Riptide family of autonomous undersea vehicles brings a sustainable and scalable solution for developers of autonomy and behaviors, power systems, subsea sensors, and new payloads,” Hogan said in the release. “Among the many commercial and military-based uses for our UUVs and sensor packages are seabed surveillance, harbor protection, intelligence collection, infrastructure surveillance, oil and gas survey, and mine countermeasures.” 

BAE Systems has set a commercial pricing model for the Riptide family to “streamline vehicle acquisition by employing standard, mission-focused system configurations that satisfy our broad customer base while continually enhancing vehicle quality, reliability and repeatability,” the release said. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier is progressing through its post-shakedown workload and is preparing to integrate its assigned air wing, Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8). 

Although the Ford has conducted more than 3,000 catapult launches and arrested landings, those have been performed by test units, training squadrons, fleet replacement squadrons and other fleet squadrons. When CVW-8 comes aboard in early June, the ship and its air wing will be integrated as a warfighting team for the first time. 

The Navy and its industry partners have been working to ready the Ford to embark the 1,200 personnel and prepare for flight operations with CVW-8.  

James. F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said in a May 20 teleconference with reporters that “the next thing with [Ford] will be embarking the air wing and going to cyclic ops.”  

On May 18, the carrier completed 167 launches and arrested landings — far greater than the ship’s previous record of 135, Geurts said. 

The Ford, built by Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding, is equipped with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), both built by General Atomics. Both, plus the Advanced Weapon Elevators (AWEs) designed for the Ford class, are key to achieving the sortie rate that will increase the carrier’s striking power over Nimitz-class carriers.  

The AWEs, 11 of which the Ford is to be equipped, are necessary to speed ordnance to the flight deck for arming of aircraft. The “bomb farm” that the Nimitz class had on the narrow part of flight deck on the starboard side of the island superstructure to temporarily park weapons carts is not a feature of the Ford class. The difficulties with equipping the Ford with the AWEs has played a significant part in the delays of the aircraft carrier becoming deployable. 

Geurts said the Navy/industry team has been steadily working through the AWE issues and recently certified the aft Lower Stage 5 AWE that lifts ordnance from the aft magazine to the flight deck. With this AWE operational, the carrier air wing can conduct some at-sea training with inert ordnance.   

Geurts also said that the forward lower AWE, Lower Stage 1, which “will give access to the forward ammo bay,” is set to be operational by the end of fiscal 2021. “The remaining elevators are really more about getting additional capacity and redundancy,” he said. 

Capt. Joshua Sager Sager assumed command of CVW-8 on March 5. He has accumulated more than 3,600 flight hours and has completed more than 900 carrier arrested landings. 

“It is an absolute honor and privilege to stand before you as the newest commander of Carrier Air Wing Eight,” Sager said at his change-of-command ceremony, as reported by the Navy News Service. “I look forward to continued service with the more than 1,700 outstanding men and women who comprise one of the finest organizations in this great Navy. We look forward to our upcoming integration with the USS Gerald R. Ford as we expand the capabilities of our service’s newest and most advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.” 

CVW-8 consists of seven aircraft squadrons flying F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, E-2C Hawkeyes, and MH-60S/R Seahawks. A squadron of EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft is expected to join the wing later.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps’ KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transport aircraft is getting an infrared countermeasures system at last. 

The U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Aircraft Prototyping Systems Division has awarded BAE Systems a prime position on a $26.7 million task order to install, integrate and test the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system on KC-130Js. 

The LAIRCM system, built by Northrop Grumman, is a tail-mounted pod with a turreted laser system that “improves aircraft capability and survivability by countering advanced infrared missile system threats,” according to a BAE Systems release. 

The LAIRCM uses laser beams to detect and disable the seekers of incoming infrared-seeking missiles. 

Until now, Marine Corps KC-130Js have operated in combat zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq but without a defensive countermeasures system. Some KC-130Js have operated in direct combat with the Harvest HAWK system, which includes Hellfire, Griffin and Viper Strike missiles for close air support missions.  

David Nagy, director of flight solutions for BAE, told Seapower that the LAIRCM systems procured from Northrop Grumman will be provided by the government to BAE for installation on the aircraft. BAE will install the LAIRCM systems in up to 19 KC-130Js under the contract over the next five years, if all options are exercised. 

The work will be performed in Crestview, Florida, in partnership with Vertex Aerospace Aircraft Integration and Sustainment Division. Under previous contracts, the BAE-Vertex team has installed LAIRCM systems on Air Force and foreign military aircraft,  

“The BAE Systems turnkey solution provides program management, inventory control, engineering support, installation, and system testing of the DoN [Department of the Navy] LAIRCM upgrade,” the release said. “Aircraft maintenance and support activities will also be provided as required. This is the second task order awarded to BAE Systems under the Prototyping and Limited Production indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract.” 

 “The program office looks forward to working with BAE Systems on the DoN LAIRCM installations,” said Navy Capt. Steven Nassau, program manager for Naval Air Systems Command’s PMA-207, as noted in the BAE Systems release.

“This competitive award will allow the Marine Corps to move from government depot installation to industry without a gap in services. It is a great reflection on the dedication of the KC-130J Mission Systems Team and the contracts office. It also speaks to the flexibility of both the Navy and industry.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has issued a formal notice that it is setting a standoff distance of 100 meters for other ships approaching its vessels — and the sea service is warning armed adversaries that it could consider crossing that line as a threat. 

In a May 20 “notice to mariners” broadcast to shipping, the Navy said that “due to recent events, in order to enhance safety, minimize ambiguity and reduce opportunities for miscalculation, all vessels are advised to maintain a safe distance of at least 100 meters from U.S. naval vessels in international waters/straits. 

“Armed vessels approaching within 100 meters of a U.S. naval vessel may be interpreted as a threat and subject to lawful defensive measures.” 

The maritime area affected by the notice includes the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.  

The formal notice was published following incidents near the Strait of Hormuz on April 15, when 11 Iranian navy (IRGCN) armed small craft “repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches of the USS Lewis B. Puller, USS Paul Hamilton, USS Firebolt, USS Sirocco, USCGC Wrangell and USCGC Maui while the U.S. vessels were conducting joint integration operations with U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the international waters of the North Arabian Gulf,” the U.S. 5th Fleet said in a release. 

“The IRGCN vessels repeatedly crossed the bows and sterns of the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds, including multiple crossings of the Puller with a 50-yard closest point of approach and within 10 yards of Maui’s bow,” the release added.  

“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships’ horns and long-range acoustic noise maker devices but received no response from the IRGCN. After approximately one hour, the IRGCN vessels responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, then maneuvered away from the U.S. ships and opened distance between them.”   

The Iranians occasionally have used their highly maneuverable boats in swarms to harass naval and merchant ships in the Persian Gulf and last year captured merchant ships flagged in the United Kingdom and other nations.  

Many U.S. ships are armed with Mk38 25 mm chain guns and M2 .50-caliber machine guns — in addition to larger-caliber guns on some ships — for countering fast attack craft, while many helicopters based on American ships are armed with Hellfire and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System guided missiles that are effective against such craft.  

In January 2016, Iranian boats seized two U.S. Navy riverine command boats and detained the crews after the U.S. boats strayed into Iranian waters off Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. The crews and boats later were released.  

The notice also said that “mariners are reminded to operate in accordance within international law and with due regard for the safe navigation of other vessels. All vessels operating in the vicinity of U.S. naval vessels are advised to clearly communicate intentions, respond to queries concerning course and speed, exercise principles of prudent seamanship required under international and remain at maximum distance from U.S. naval forces.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — Draper is leveraging its work on the U.S. Navy’s unmanned underwater vehicles toward building systems for the service’s future family of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), a company official said. The company’s experience in navigation, autonomy, sensors and control systems will enable it to provide a strong proposal for some systems for the USVs. 

Draper is one of 40 companies the Navy chose to develop technology for the various systems in six functional areas for the Navy’s USVs under a five-year, $982 million, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multi-award contract. Each company has chosen to develop certain systems within the program. Draper is working on development of payloads, non-payload sensors, and autonomy and vehicle control systems.   

Draper will provide capabilities for Navy platforms that include the existing Sea Hunter USV, the medium and large USVs, and the mine countermeasures USV, Draper said in a release. “The company will deliver sensor and actuator technologies, computing technologies, design methods and tools and modeling and simulation technologies, among others.”  

Bill Borgia, director of mission systems for Draper — formally known as the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts — told Seapower that his company has been supporting the Navy for more than 60 years in guidance and control systems, most notably those in the service’s submarine-launched ballistic-missile systems since the days of the Polaris program.   

Borgia said that Draper is an independent, not-for-profit, developer of technology that focuses on developing “first-of-their-kind systems and putting them in the field, ready for production.” 

He said Draper developed the guidance system for the Apollo spacecraft, the first fly-by-wire aircraft, the first swim-by-wire submarine — the Navy’s Seawolf-class attack submarine. His division focuses on precision navigation and timing systems and guidance, navigation and control systems. 

Borgia said that Draper has deployed on vehicles of various sizes the Maritime Open Architecture Autonomy (MOAA), a “Navy standard autonomy package that can be applied to unmanned systems — surface or subsurface.”  

Under the new contract, Draper will deliver the hardware and software for the autonomy controller for inclusion on USVs. 

Draper has been delivering alternatives to GPS navigation over many years such as celestial, vision-aided, magnetic and other navigation techniques to provide assured navigation to the Navy. Draper is under a separate contract to provide ship-board celestial navigation systems to the Navy. 

Borgia said the “holy grail” of autonomy is to be able to “task an unmanned system to similarly to how you would task a Sailor, a human subordinate,” with sensors and actuators. 

“What is more challenging is, tell me exactly what those sensors are seeing,” he said. “Instead of seeing a radar blip, tell me what that radar blip is. As you go to higher and higher levels of control, you’re trying to understand the world more like a human would understand it.”     

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S Navy has issued request for information (RFI) to the defense industry, looking at options for a new training jet that could possibly complement or replace the current Boeing T-45C Goshawk starting in 2028. 

The RFI, posted May 14, is exploring options for a version of an existing design that would be land-based but also capable of field carrier landing practice and touch-and-go landings on an aircraft carrier but not arrested landings or catapult launches. 

The T-45 is fully carrier capable and has been in service since the mid-1990s. All existing Goshawks are T-45C configurations. A new trainer to supplement the T-45C could reduce the number of landings for the T-45C, extending its remaining service life. However, the RFI says the T-45 system “is anticipated to be re-capitalized by replacement, during the 2028 timeframe” or sooner.  

The Navy’s requirements include a two-pilot cockpit with ejection seats; a helmet-mounted or heads-up display; an angle-of-attack indexer; two weapon pylons for Mk76 practice bombs and pods of 2.75-inch rockets; and a precision-landing system; and an automatic ground collision avoidance system. 

The new aircraft must be able to simulate mission systems including radar, electro-optical/infrared sensors, electronic attack sensors, radar warning receivers and weapons employment in the air-to-air or air-to-ground modes.  

The Navy wants the new aircraft to have a service life of 14,000 flight hours and 43,200 landings. Each aircraft would be required to fly 400 hours per year and conduct 1,200 FCLPs and 45 carrier touch-and-goes per year.  

The new aircraft must be capable of flying in all types of weather, day or night. 

Ground-based training systems, including simulators, also are part of the RFI provisions. Reponses to the RFI are due to the Navy by July 13. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Roosevelt has arrived at its new homeport, Naval Station Rota, Spain, the U.S. 6th Fleet said in a May 18 release. 

The destroyer arrived May 16 after participating in a regional patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. The ship departed its previous homeport, Naval Station Mayport, Florida, on March 21. 

“The Roosevelt is replacing USS Carney in the first of several scheduled homeport shifts to occur in support of the U.S. Navy’s long-range plan to gradually rotate the four Rota-based destroyers,” the release said. 

The Roosevelt will join USS Ross, a Flight I destroyer, USS Donald Cook, and USS Porter, a Flight II DDG, as part of the Forward-Deployed Naval Force-Europe in the 6th Fleet. The four ships perform ballistic-missile defense patrols in the Mediterranean among other missions for the fleet. 

The Roosevelt is a Flight IIA DDG that brings the Aegis Baseline 9/Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 5.1 Advanced Capability Build upgrade to the Aegis Combat System. 

The system “integrates its weapons and sensors to include Cooperative Engagement Capability; Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile; Mk15 Close-In Weapons System Block 1B; and the Mk41 Vertical Launching System, capable of supporting Standard Missile (SM) 3 and newer variants. These capabilities vastly increase the sea-based BMD force structure and contribute to NATO’s robust integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) architecture,” the release said. 

Another arrival with the Roosevelt were two embarked MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from Detachment 7 of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 48.   

“Having the MH-60R on board provides Roosevelt with an organic asset that enhances situational awareness in the areas of [anti-submarine warfare] and [surface warfare],” Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin T. Harris, air operations officer of HSM-48 Detachment 7, said in the release. “Additionally, the MH-60R provides the ship an [organic] asset capable of performing [search and rescue], logistics support and a variety of other missions without having to rely on outside entities.” 

“Roosevelt and her crew add increased lethality with the Navy’s most advanced sensors, weapons, and communication systems, to include our embarked MH-60R [helicopter] teams,” said Cmdr. Matthew Molmer, commanding officer of the Roosevelt. “Our ability to integrate with 6th Fleet, joint players in Europe, and the nation’s allies and partners adds capabilities that we are just beginning to leverage.” 

The Navy plans to station a full MH-60R squadron in Rota by the time the three remaining Flight I/II DDGs are replaced. 

“Roosevelt has already proven she is a great asset to 6th Fleet, enhancing the capabilities of our Forward Deployed Naval Forces-Europe Aegis destroyers in Rota, Spain,” said Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, commander of the 6th Fleet. “Her arrival, hosted by our long-standing ally, Spain, enhances our combined commitment to a stable and secure Europe and further reinforces our ironclad commitment to our allies and partners.”