WASHINGTON — The nominee to be the next Navy secretary said the sea service needs a course correction to restore the culture of leadership and accountability that has suffered in recent controversies, saying that “culture trumps everything.” 

“It saddens me to say: the Department of the Navy is in troubled waters due to many factors, primarily the failure of leadership,” Kenneth J. Braithwaite, the U.S. ambassador to Norway and the president’s nominee to be the 77th Navy secretary, said during testimony May 7 at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.  

Braithwaite said failings over the past few years — such as the “Fat Leonard” scandal, the fatal at-sea collisions in 2017, recent judicial missteps and the COVID-19 crisis aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt — were “indicative of a breakdown in the trust of those leading the service.” 

Lessons he said he took from his earlier experience as a naval aviator that the Navy Department is “resilient” and that “it all starts with culture.” 

“Successful organizations have a strong culture, which always starts with leadership,” he said. “Culture is one thing that creates for an organization a sense of belonging, a sense of good order and discipline.”  

“It is my No. 1 priority, if I’m confirmed, to restore the appropriate culture in the United States Navy,” Braithwaite said. “A culture exists; I won’t say it’s been broken; I think it’s been tarnished.” 

He stressed the importance of empowering people up and done the chain of command and that he would not intervene in the chain of command.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department has announced some Navy flag officer nominations, resuming a practice that had been suspended for about a year for cybersecurity reasons.  

Such lists of names are routinely provided to Congress, but their public announcement had been suspended by previous Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson. A reversion to a previous policy was made evident May 6 when Defense Secretary Mark Esper made some announcements of senior Navy officer reassignments.  

Current CNO Adm. Mike Gilday reportedly made the decision to resume announcements is response to a query from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass). The Marine Corps had been making at least some announcements in the interim. 

These Navy officers have been nominated to their respective positions:  

• Adm. Robert P. Burke for reappointment to the rank of admiral and assignment as commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe; commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa; and commander, Allied Joint Forces Command, Naples, Italy. Burke serves as vice chief of naval operations, directly under Gilday. 
• Vice Adm. William K. Lescher for appointment to the rank of admiral and assignment as the new vice CNO, succeeding Burke. Lescher is serving as deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources (N8), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. 
• Vice Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti for reappointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, N7, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Franchetti is commander of the 6th Fleet. She is also commander, Task Force 6; Striking and Support Forces NATO, deputy commander; U.S. Naval Forces Europe, deputy commander; U.S. Naval Forces Africa, and Joint Force Maritime Component commander Europe, Naples, Italy. 
• Rear Adm. Eugene H. Black III for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as commander, 6th Fleet; commander, Task Force 6; commander, Striking and Support Forces NATO; deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe; deputy commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa; and Joint Force Maritime Component commander Europe, Naples, Italy. Black is serving as director, Surface Warfare Division, N96, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C.   
• Rear Adm. Randy B. Crites for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources (N8), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Crites is serving as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget (FMB), and director, Fiscal Management Division (N82), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. 
• Rear Adm. Yancy B. Lindsey for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as commander, Navy Installations Command, Washington, D.C.   Lindsey is serving as commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia; and commander, Maritime Air Forces, Naples, Italy.   
• Rear Adm. Kenneth R. Whitesell for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as commander, Naval Air Forces; and commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, San Diego. Whitesell is serving as deputy commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.   
• Reserve Rear Adm. John B. Mustin for appointment to the rank of vice admiral and assignment as chief of Navy Reserve, Washington, D.C. Mustin is serving as commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 2, Norfolk, Virginia. 
• Rear Adm. (lower half) Stephen D. Barnett is serving as commander, Navy Region Northwest, Silverdale, Washington. Barnett previously served as deputy commander, Navy Installations Command, Washington, D.C.  
• Rear Adm. (lower half) Christopher S. Gray will be assigned as commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central; and as commander, Maritime Air Forces, Naples, Italy. Gray previously served as commander, Navy Region Northwest, Silverdale.  
• Rear Adm. (lower half) John E. Gumbleton is serving as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget (FMB); and director, Fiscal Management Division, N82, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Gumbleton previously served as commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 3, San Diego.  
• Rear Adm. (lower half) Brendan R. McLane will be assigned as commander, Carrier Strike Group 10, Norfolk. McLane previously served as commander, Navy Recruiting Command, Millington, Tennessee.  
• Rear Adm. (lower half) Paul J. Schlise will be assigned as director, Surface Warfare Division, N96, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, D.C. Schlise is serving as commander, Carrier Strike Group 10, Norfolk.  
• Rear Adm. (lower half) Philip E. Sobeck is serving as commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 3, San Diego. Sobeck previously served as director, 21st Century Sailor Office, N17, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Arlington, Virginia. 
• Rear Adm. (lower half) Dennis Velez is serving as commander, Navy Recruiting Command, Millington. Velez previously served as senior military assistant, Office of the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D.C. 
• Capt. Putnam H. Browne, selected for promotion to rear admiral (lower half), is serving as director, 21st Century Sailor Office, N17, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Arlington. Browne previously served as executive assistant to the assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, Washington, D.C. 

These Marine officers have been nominated to their respective positions:  

• Lt. Gen. Lewis A. Craparotta, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as commanding general, Training and Education Command. Craparotta is serving as the commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, and commanding general, Fleet Marine Corps Forces Pacific, at Camp Smith, Hawaii. 
• Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific and commanding general, Fleet Marine Corps Forces Pacific. Rudder is serving as the deputy commandant for aviation, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C. 
• Maj. Gen. Dennis A. Crall, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as director for command, control, communications and computers (C4)/cyber; and chief information officer, J-6, Joint Staff. Crall is serving as the senior military adviser for cyber to the undersecretary of defense for policy, Washington, D.C. 
• Maj. Gen. Karsten S. Heckl, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force. Heckl is serving as the commanding general, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, Cherry Point, North Carolina. 
• Maj. Gen. David A. Ottignon, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs. Ottignon is serving as the director, Manpower Management Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Quantico, Virginia. 
• Maj. Gen. Mark R. Wise, for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and assignment as deputy commandant for aviation, U.S. Marine Corps. Wise is serving as the deputy commanding general, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, and as assistant deputy commandant for combat development and integration, Quantico. 
• Col. Adam L. Chalkley for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Chalkley is serving as the chief of staff, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 
• Col. Kyle B. Ellison for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Ellison is serving as the director, Expeditionary Warfare School, Marine Corps Base Quantico.  
• Col. Phillip N. Frietze for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Frietze is serving as the deputy director, Capabilities Development Directorate, Department of Combat Development and Integration, Marine Corps Base Quantico.  
• Col. Peter D. Huntley for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Huntley is serving as the deputy commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  
• Col. Julie L. Nethercot for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Nethercot is serving as the director, Commander’s Action Group, U.S. Northern Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado.  
• Col. Forrest C. Poole III for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Poole is serving as the executive assistant to the deputy commandant, installations and logistics, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C. 
• Col. Ryan S. Rideout for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Rideout is serving as the chief of staff, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command, Norfolk. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The new frigate being designed and built for the U.S. Navy will operate manned and unmanned helicopters from its flight deck and will be able to add new weapon and aviation capabilities as those systems are developed. 

The Navy announced on April 30 that it had awarded a detailed design and construction contract to Marinette Marine of Marinette, Wisconsin, to build the FFG(X) based on Fincantieri’s FREMM frigate design that is in service with the Italian and French navies. Marinette Marine is a Fincantieri company. 

See: Urgency, Discipline Hallmarks of Frigate Selection Process, Geurts Says

“This is going to be a real workhorse for the United States Navy supporting distributed maritime operations in the future,” said Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, the Navy’s deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, speaking April 30 during the teleconference for the contract award. 

“So, we are super excited about this ship, and I can’t think of a better asset to a strike group or strike group commander to give them the flexibility to do what we need to do in the future.” 

Kilby said the frigate “has a requirement for a helo and an unmanned air vehicle but that is not dependent on the landing spot for either one of those. So conceivably, if procured, it could be two helos.” 

“This is going to be a real workhorse for the United States Navy supporting distributed maritime operations in the future.”

Vice Adm. Jim Kilby

James F. Geurts, the Navy’s assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, who also spoke during the teleconference, emphasized service-life allowance and flexibility in the frigate’s future. 

Geurts said that growth capability was an important element of the source selection and requirements as the program moves forward. 

“That was a design criterion, so we are looking to the future to be able to accommodate all our air vehicles and unmanned vehicles to make this ship what I would call a medium, multimission combatant [so] it can meet all spectrums of potential conflict,” Kilby said. 

The FFG(X) will represent a substantial growth in lethality over the Navy’s previous guided-missile frigates, the Oliver Hazard Perry class. The last of those ships was decommissioned in 2015, but the Perry class could accommodate two H-60 anti-submarine helicopters or one H-60 and at least one MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle.  

“Understanding how fast the threat is advancing means this service-life allowance requirement is so important for us,” Kilby said. “We did not want to define discretely where we’re going in the future so having some margin to include things such as directed energy [weapons] and other systems is why that’s so important.” 

“We have an extensive laser [science and technology] program in the Navy,” he added. “We definitely view it as a requirement for the future as we move into a realm where we want to have our launchers be reserved for offensive weapons and our point-defense systems be rechargeable magazines and the availability for us to sustain them for long periods of time.” 

Kilby also said of the new frigate, “Though it’s classified as a small surface combatant, [the FFX(X)] really falls nicely in between our small surface combatants and our large surface combatants, and I see it doing multiple things.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — A top U.S. Navy official said acquisition and sustainment could emerge stronger, having withstood disruptions during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Speaking May 4 as part of a Navy League webinar sponsored by IBM for small businesses in the defense industry, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said he views the pandemic as a crucible, where there will be some delays in production and maintenance, but also as an opportunity to strengthen the system. 

See: Potential for 3-Month Slowdown in Defense Acquisition, DoD’s Lord Says

“What new opportunities does that enable for us to leverage?” Geurts asked. “If you would have asked me four months ago, ‘Could the team go 95%-plus telework, increase contract awards 33%, do so with 10% less contracts, and at the same time get their distance learning up by 65%, I would have laughed a little bit. And we’ve [achieved those metrics] in the last seven weeks.” 

“I don’t see it as much as a disruption to our future plans … as an accelerant to our future plans,” Geurts added. “The goal for us is, how do we come out of this stronger than we were, and how do we work now to increase the speed by which we come out of this.” 

Geurts cited the late April award of the FFG(X) frigate contract to Marinette Marine three months ahead of schedule, which brought the total of Navy contract awards $25 billion ahead of the same point last fiscal year. By his recollection, this fiscal year is the first where all financial benchmarks have been exceeded.  

“If you would have asked me four months ago, ‘Could the team go 95%-plus telework, increase contract awards 33%, do so with 10% less contracts, and at the same time get their distance learning up by 65%, I would have laughed a little bit.”

James F. Geurts

“So, I don’t view it as much as a delay as an accelerant,” he said. “We will continue to adapt as the warfighter requires. I don’t see us having to adapt our programs in a major way. We’re going to have to figure out how to capture in a bottle all the great things that have occurred in the last seven or eight weeks where we’ve gained this operational effectiveness and be thoughtful of where we’re going to have to manage risk downstream. But in terms of drastic changes to programs or schedules, I don’t see that.” 

Geurts said the biggest collective challenge will be how to operate if the virus lingers for a long time. 

“We need to create a system that is resilient to disruptions,” he said. “I’m actually very optimistic that this has been a good learning method for us as an enterprise. It’s tremendously painful, horrible to see what is happening at the human element, and I don’t want to downplay any of that at the individual level or at the national level. 

“What it has done is helped shine some spotlights on where we probably were not as aggressive as we needed to be and where we’ve got an opportunity to be more effective. We’ve got to be able to ride through disruption. That’s what our Sailors, Marines and our nation expect of us, and that’s where we’ve got to be focused.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The nation’s top defense official said the U.S. armed forces need to shed some legacy forces for a more modern force, one that includes more modern naval forces. 

“We need a larger, more capable Navy that can implement distributed lethality across the seven seas,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, speaking May 4 in a webcast hosted by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “The Marines are doing some really innovative things with regard to how they are adjusting their force.”  

Esper said the Defense Department needs 3% to 5% annual real growth year-over-year in the budget topline to increase readiness and support the National Defense Strategy. 

Noting the probability of flat defense budgets and given the national debt and COVID-19 virus effects on the gross domestic product, Esper said he is worried that the “massive infusion of dollars into the economy … may throw us off that course … and lead to smaller defense budgets in the future.” 

“We need a larger, more capable Navy that can implement distributed lethality across the seven seas. The Marines are doing some really innovative things with regard to how they are adjusting their force.”

Defense Secretary Mark Esper

He said that the Defense Department is at a critical juncture with the “Great Power Competition” against China and Russia. 

“That means shedding the legacy force and moving to a more modern force,” Esper said, noting that a modern force would include completely revitalized strategic forces — including all three legs of the nuclear triad (bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles) — “but also investing a lot of money into [artificial intelligence], into hypersonics, into our space capabilities, cyber, into directed energy.” 

He said that the Air-Land Battle Concept has been replaced by the Joint Warfighting Concept “that will make sure we’re fighting in all domains as a coherent, cohesive joint force. We have new plans to reach out to our allies and partners and make sure they are well-integrated into all of our efforts.” 

The secretary emphasized readiness concepts underway, including immediate-reaction forces and contingency-reaction forces as well as dynamic force employment and “moving toward operational deployments rather than permanently deployed forces.” 

“That said, we do need that topline growth, and if we don’t [get it], we’re just going to have to accelerate that shedding of the legacy force and turning those dollars back into building the force we need in the future.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The secretary of defense noted May 4 that — with a couple of notable exceptions — the U.S. Navy’s ships at sea remain unaffected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

“The statistics show that the safest place to be is on a deployed Navy ship compared to one that’s in port,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, speaking during a webcast sponsored by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Of the 90-plus ships at sea, we only have two that have been affected.”

See: Navy Provides Medical Care to Infected Sailors of USS Kidd, Will Disinfect Ship

See: Navy Opens Deeper Inquiry Into Theodore Roosevelt; Move Delays Decision on Captain’s Reinstatement

The Navy has suffered significant outbreaks of the novel coronavirus on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd. A Sailor off the Roosevelt died from COVID-19 complications in mid-April. 

The cause of the transmission of the virus to the crews of both ships is unknown. The Theodore Roosevelt made a port call to Vietnam soon before Sailors began showing signs of illness. Another possibility: the virus was brought aboard by aircrews and passengers returning to the carrier. 

“We’re not sure where [the USS Kidd] picked [the virus] up,” Esper said. “It may have been through a counter-drug operation.” 

Esper said that “two ships out of 94 is a pretty good record. The Navy has taken a lot of good practices. They’ve learned from the Teddy Roosevelt. Before a ship is deployed it goes through multiple tests of its Sailors. They are quarantined for a couple of weeks. And, of course, we don’t bring a ship back in if it’s being replaced by one that’s going out. So, we’re being very careful of that.”  

“The statistics show that the safest place to be is on a deployed Navy ship compared to one that’s in port.”

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, during a May 4 webinar

The service is keeping the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman away from port following a major deployment to avoid the pandemic. 

“We have had ships that have been portside that have had Sailors infected but that’s not unlike what you might see at an Army base or an Air Force base where you have Sailors out in the community who may get infected by the virus,” Esper said. “Before they go to sea, we bring them in, we test, we quarantine, and we make adjustments to make sure our ships get out on time.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official praised the government team that selected and the industry teams that submitted proposals for the design of the Navy’s next-generation small combatant, the FFG(X) guided-missile frigate, the first of which is scheduled to be delivered in 2026. Design of the frigate has begun three months ahead of schedule. 

The Navy announced on April 30 that it had awarded a detailed design and construction contract to Marinette Marine, a Fincantieri company based in Marinette, Wisconsin. 

See: Marinette Marine Wins Guided-Missile Frigate Contract

Marinette is building the Freedom-class littoral combat ships for Lockheed Martin and will turn to building the new frigate that will be based on the Fincantieri FREMM frigate, which is in service with the Italian and French navies.    

“I am very proud of the hard work from the requirements, acquisition and shipbuilder teams that participated in the full and open competition, enabling the Navy to make this important decision today,” said James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, in the Navy’s April 30 announcement. 

“Throughout this process, the government team and our industry partners have all executed with a sense of urgency and discipline, delivering this contract award three months ahead of schedule. The team’s intense focus on cost, acquisition and technical rigor enabled the government to deliver the best value for our taxpayers as we deliver a highly capable next-generation frigate to our warfighters.” 

“The parent design really set us up well here.”

Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants

Geurts noted in a May 1 teleconference with reporters that the selection of the frigate design three months ahead of schedule was accomplished despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Navy and stressed again that the decision was made with “a sense of urgency but also a sense of discipline.” 

He said that by “integrating the requirements, acquisition planning and conceptual design we were able to reduce the span time by six years as compared to traditional shipbuilding programs. … It’s the best I’ve seen in the Navy thus far at integrating all of our teams together and it’s a model we are building on for future programs.” 

The detail design and construction (DD&C) contract awards $795.1 million for the design and construction of the lead ship plus nine separately priced options for up to nine more ships. The contract also provides for “post-delivery availability support, engineering and class services, crew familiarization, training equipment, and provisioned item orders,” the April 30 Defense Department contract announcement said. 

The price of the lead ship, including the design cost, is marked as $1.281 billion, which includes the $795 million for the shipbuilder’s design and construction, with the remainder for government-furnished equipment (GFE) and other items and services. 

The Navy has a cost objective for the follow-on ships of $800 million each and a threshold of $950 million. According to a Navy independent cost estimate, the follow-on ships will cost $781 million (in constant 2018 dollars) on average. If all options are exercised, the contract’s cumulative value for the 10 frigates would be $5.58 billion. The Navy has a requirement for 10 more small surface combatants but has not yet settled on an acquisition strategy for the second set of 10, Geurts said. 

He said that by selecting a proven hull and adding a proven combat system, weapons and sensors, the Navy was able to keep the cost under the objective cost per platform cap of $950 million (in fiscal 2018 dollars).  

“The Navy conducted this competition using a tradeoff process to determine the proposal representing the best value, based on the evaluation of non-price factors in conjunction with price,” the contract announcement said. 

“The Navy made the best value determination by considering the relative importance of evaluation factors as set forth in the solicitation, where the non-price factors of design and design maturity and objective performance (to achieve warfighting capability) were approximately equal and each more important than remaining factors.”  

Construction of the first frigate is scheduled for no later than April 2022, with delivery set for 2026. Initial operational capability is slated for 2029 or 2030 and full operational capability scheduled for 2031 or 2032. The contract calls for final work to be complete by 2035. 

Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, who also spoke at the teleconference, said the maturity of the selected design “was one of the non-price factors” that influenced the decision.  

“The parent design really set us up well here,” Moton said of the nondevelopmental FREMM design that was selected. 

He also cited the work that Fincantieri put into and will put into the Marinette shipyard as another non-price factor that was weighed in the selection decision. 

Moton also said he was very comfortable with how the plan for acquisition and integration of government-furnished equipment was proceeding and that the GFE “will be ready on time.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department’s top acquisition official said the department is working closely with the industrial base to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but said there is the potential for a three-month slowdown in procurement and sustainment.  

“We continue to assess the impact of a potential three-month slowdown to many programs due to COVID-19,” said Ellen M. Lord, deputy secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, speaking April 30 at the Pentagon to reporters.   

“I intentionally used the word slowdown and impact and not saying the word ‘delay,’ which carries a very different connotation,” Lord added. “We have seen inefficiencies across many programs. COVID-19 is temporarily shutting down defense manufacturing facilities and production lines, disrupting supply chains and distressing the financial stability of the companies DoD relies on to protect the nation. DoD continues to partner with industry to do everything possible to keep programs on schedule and to minimize the cost and schedule impacts.” 

Lord praised the work of the Defense Contracting Management Agency (DCMA) and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) in tracking the status of companies up and down the defense supply chain.  

“Out of the 10,509 companies DCMA tracks, 93 are closed, down 13 from last week, with 141 companies having closed and reopened, up very significantly 73 from last week’s number of 68,” she said. “This is the first time we have seen reopening numbers larger than the number of closures.  

“Out of the 11,413 companies DLA tracks, 437 are closed with 237 having closed and re-opened, almost 100 companies from last week.” 

Lord noted that “while we have seen minor improvements, we continue to see the greatest impacts in the aviation supply chain, shipbuilding and small space launch [companies].” 

Lord said her office’s policy team led by Jen Santos is “leading multiple industry calls making calls every week with 18 industrial associations.”  

“Tim Harrington, director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, has issued 22 defense pricing and cost memos, aggressively responding to industry needs and impacts. The memos include guidance for increased telecommuting, increased progress payment rates, acquisition timeline impacts, reimbursement for those prevented from working, and more,” she said. 

Lord gave an update on the $3 billion of increased cash flow due to increased progress payment rates, noting that this week the Defense Department processed more than $1.2 billion in invoices at the higher progress payment rate. 

“We have spoken with each of our major prime companies, and they have each confirmed their detailed plans to work with their supply chains to accelerate payments and to identify distressed companies and small businesses,” she said. “I want to particularly commend Lockheed Martin, who publicly committed to accelerating $450 million to their supply chain.” 

Lord said that her acquisition and sustainment team “remains focused on partnering with industry to maintain readiness and drive modernization.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — Acting U.S. Navy Secretary James McPherson has directed Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday to conduct a second deeper investigation of the events surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt that has claimed the life of a Roosevelt Sailor, hospitalized others and infected hundreds more.

The results of a first preliminary investigation were forwarded last week by Gilday to McPherson, who took them under review. McPherson is a retired Navy flag officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

See: Navy Provides Medical Care to Infected Sailors of USS Kidd, Will Disinfect Ship

See: A Timeline From the First Month of the Outbreak in the Sea Services

See: Military Consumers React to Life During the Pandemic

“Following [discussion with Gilday], I have unanswered questions that the preliminary inquiry has identified and that can only be answered by a deeper review,” McPherson said in an April 29 statement. 

“This investigation will build on the good work of the initial inquiry to provide a more fulsome understanding of the sequence of events, actions and decisions of the chain of command surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.”

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Robert Burke will be in charge of the second investigation, which is expected to wrap up by May 27, unless an extension is granted, according to an April 30 statement from Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for Gilday. From there, Gilday is expected to review the results and issue any recommendations.

The Navy reported as of April 25 that the entire crew of the Theodore Roosevelt had been tested for the virus, resulting in 4,105 negatives but 833 positives — including the carrier’s former commanding officer, Capt. Brett Crozier. 

Of the total cases, 112 Sailors had recovered and 4,273 Sailors from the Roosevelt had been moved ashore. Also, as of April 25, two of the ship’s Sailors were in U.S. Naval Hospital Guam under treatment for COVID-19 symptoms. Another Sailor died from complications of the infection, the Navy announced on April 13. 

The Theodore Roosevelt’s public affairs office announced April 29 that the ship was preparing to return to sea following a bow-to-stern cleaning process. The crew members that were quarantined ashore are beginning to move back on board.

“This investigation will build on the good work of the initial inquiry to provide a more fulsome understanding of the sequence of events, actions and decisions of the chain of command surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.”

Acting Navy Secretary James McPherson

Since March 27, the Roosevelt has been sidelined in Apra Harbor, Guam. Crozier was relieved of his command on April 2 by then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly after fallout from a letter written by the captain to his chain of command leaked to a San Francisco newspaper. A few days later, Modly flew to Guam to visit the ship and address the crew, but he stepped down on April 7 after his address  — which was highly critical of Crozier — generated many calls for Modly’s resignation. 

According to several press reports, Gilday recommended Crozier’s reinstatement to McPherson. Defense Secretary Mark Esper received a verbal update from Gilday on April 24. Another report said that U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended the more extensive investigation. 

Gilday had directed Burke to probe the circumstances and climate of the entire Pacific Fleet “to help determine what may have contributed to a breakdown in the chain of command,” Modly said April 2, the day he relieved Crozier as commander of the ship only months after Crozier had assumed command. 

A day earlier, at a press briefing on the Roosevelt virus outbreak, Gilday spoke of “a potential comms breakdown, wherever it occurred. We’re not looking to shoot the messenger here, we want to get this right.” 

Deputy Editor Scott Achelpohl and Seapower Correspondent John M. Doyle contributed to this report.

In January, the U.S. Navy’s newest surveillance aircraft, the Northrop Grumman-built MQ-4C Triton, a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), embarked on its first deployment, a move to demonstrate what the Navy calls early operational capability.

Two MQ-4Cs assigned to Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19 (VUP-19), the first Triton squadron, deployed to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam and were in place by Jan. 26 to fly missions in support of the U.S. 7th Fleet.

Check out the digital edition of the May Seapower magazine here.

“VUP-19 is operating Triton to further develop the concept of operations and fleet learning associated with operating a high-altitude, long-endurance system in the maritime domain,” Capt. Dan Mackin, the Navy’s Triton program manager, said in response to a query from
Seapower. “The squadron plans to conduct multiple flights per month in support of Commander Task Force 72, 7th Fleet and Indo-Pacific Command.”

“The fielding of the Navy’s premier unmanned aircraft system and its additive, persistent, multisensor data collection and real-time dissemination capability will revolutionize the way maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [ISR] is performed,” Mackin said in a Jan. 26 Navy release.

“While developing the concept of operations, the MQ-4C Triton is actively conducting missions that are complementing the P-8A Poseidon,” said Cmdr. Kim DaCosta-Azar, commanding officer of VUP-19, in an email response to Seapower. “This complement brings increased persistence, capability and capacity through its multisensor mission payload.”

The MQ-4C’s mission payload includes a Northrop Grumman-built ZPY-3 Multifunction Active Sensor, an X-band radar with modes that include maritime surface search, spot synthetic aperture radar (SAR), strip SAR, inverse SAR snapshot and inverse SAR high-resolution. The radar’s 360-degree scan enables the Triton to cover 2.7 million square miles during a mission.

The Triton’s suite also includes a Sierra Nevada-built ZLQ-1 electronic surveillance measures sensor equipped with specific emitter identification and with an automatic identification system. A Raytheon-built MTS-B multispectral electro/optical/infrared sensor with a laser designator/pointer/range-finder capability also is installed.

“The fielding of the Navy’s premier unmanned aircraft system and its additive, persistent, multisensor data collection and real-time dissemination capability will revolutionize the way maritime [ISR] is performed.”

Capt. Dan Mackin, the Navy’s Triton program manager

The Triton can transmit its data to a ground station, including video live-streaming. It also can be an alternative communications relay to space-based satellites.

“The MQ-4C Triton will provide 7th Fleet with a round-the-clock ISR capability, as the aircraft have capability to fly more than 24 hours during each mission,” DaCosta-Azar said. “The VUP-19 detachment has the ability to pilot the MQ-4C from Guam or from Jacksonville, Florida, mission-control station. The majority of the VUP-19 crew operates from Naval Air Station Jacksonville.”

VUP-19 is headquartered at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, but its Tritons are home-based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California.

“The introduction of MQ-4C Triton to the 7th Fleet area of operations expands the reach of the U.S. Navy’s maritime patrol and reconnaissance force in the Western Pacific,” said Capt. Matt Rutherford, Task Force 72’s commander. “Coupling the capabilities of the MQ-4C with the proven performance of P-8, P-3 and EP-3 will enable improved maritime domain awareness in support of regional and national security objectives.”

Praise for — and Commitment to — the MQ-4C

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday praised the Triton during March 11 testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee.

“The capabilities that the MQ-4 brings are game-changing in terms of long-range ISR at altitude, with sensors that we haven’t had supporting the fleet before,” he said. “We’re still committed” to the Triton.

Mackin said the Navy’s program of record remains at 68 UAVs, despite a gap of two years — 2021 and 2022 — proposed in the Navy’s 2021 budget proposal. The total does not include the two Navy-owned and one Northrop Grumman-owned test aircraft.

The Navy has ordered 20 Tritons to date and has accepted delivery of seven: three flyable test aircraft (including one owned by Northrop Grumman), one fatigue test article and three production aircraft, the latter three delivered to VUP-19. One of the VUP-19 Tritons was involved in a flight mishap during a landing at NAS Point Mugu on Sept. 13, 2018.

“The Triton aircraft damaged during the gear-up landing at Point Mugu has been stricken from inventory although some components were salvaged for use on training devices,” Mackin said.

Configurations With More Advanced Capabilities

He said the two MQ-4Cs deployed to Guam are in the Triton’s baseline configuration known as IFC 3 (Integrated Functional Capability 3). The Navy is working on deploying the Triton with IFC 4, which gives the UAV a signals intelligence capability and will put it on the path to replace the Navy’s EP-3E electronic reconnaissance aircraft. IFC 4, also called the multi-int (multi-intelligence) capability, is planned for fiscal 2022.

Multi-int capability deployed in four Tritons at a single site to establish a 24/7 orbit over the Western Pacific area of operations also will mark the achievement of initial operational capability for the Triton.

The Northrop Grumman-owned MQ-4C in the test program is being used to advance the Triton’s capabilities.

“We are … integrating and testing IFC-4 upgrades to meet the U.S. Navy’s and Australia’s multi-intelligence requirement, which will ultimately enable the U.S. Navy to retire the EP-3,” said Doug Shaffer, vice president and program manager, Triton program, Northrop Grumman, in response to a query from Seapower.

Mackin said there “is a plan for upgrading older aircraft to the multi-int configuration with some [aircraft] already” in the works.

VUP-19 eventually will operate 12 MQ-4Cs operated and maintained by 500 personnel. The Navy plans to establish a second Triton squadron, VUP-11, at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. The two squadrons together eventually will field 20 Tritons at five sites to sustain five around-the-clock orbits. The remaining 48 Tritons would be used for training, attrition and the maintenance pipeline over the service life of the UAV.

The groundwork for the MQ-4C, based on the U.S. Air Force Block 20 RQ-4A Global Hawk, was laid more than a decade ago with the Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstration (BAMS-D) program, in which the Navy acquired from the Air Force two Block 10 RQ-4As and their integrated sensors that included an electro-optical sensor, SAR with a ground moving target indicator and wide-area search modes. The Navy added an LR-100 electronic surveillance measures sensor, the automatic identification system, inverse SAR capability, and maritime moving target and maritime search sensing.

The Navy in 2011 received three more RQ-4As from the Air Force for the BAMS-D. Since then, one RQ-4A was lost in a mishap in eastern Maryland in 2012 and another was shot down by Iranian forces last June. A third was damaged in a takeoff mishap in November. Mackin said repair is underway on the damaged RQ-4A.

The Navy deployed the RQ-4A to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in early 2009 for a planned six-month deployment. Now, more than 11 years later, after continuous deployment, the Navy still values the BAMS-D program as it awaits more deployments of the MQ-4C Triton.

According to the 2021 budget proposal, the Navy plans to phase out the BAMS-D, beginning in fiscal 2023, to allow the sea service to fund the whole MQ-4C program. “The MQ-4C will assume the signal intelligence mission from the EP-3E in [fiscal] 2022, which will require aircraft and control station modifications and calibrations to keep pace with emerging signals of interest at greater sensitivity thresholds.”

Allies See Triton’s Value, Sign Up to Take Delivery

Two allied nations are on track to operate the Triton. Australia signed a memorandum of understanding for up to six Tritons in June 2019, with delivery of the first scheduled for 2023. Germany also has announced its intention to procure three Tritons. Foreign procurement may be key in sustaining a steady Triton production line if the Navy gaps the procurement in 2021 and 2022.

“A two-year gap in production would have significant negative effects on the production line and the supplier base,” Shaffer said. “A pause would mean we lose the lessons learned that have enabled our suppliers and Northrop Grumman to achieve production efficiencies and get to this mature point of the program, which would then add more risks and costs to the program.

“We estimate that stopping and restarting the line alone will cost roughly $100 million to $150 million and then each aircraft likely costs about $20 million more. We are working closely with the Navy on multiple options [that] could keep the production line open and potentially result in cost savings for both the Navy and Australia.

“We have had multiple discussions with the U.S. Navy and Australia about options to fill the [fiscal] ’21 and ’22 production lines with Australian aircraft,” he said. “An acceleration of the Australian program would result in significant savings to Australia and ensure cost savings to the U.S. Navy by preventing a pause in Triton production. While any decision to accelerate the Australian program is between the U.S. Navy and Australia, we are prepared to provide the necessary support to an accelerated Australian program.”