ARLINGTON, Virginia — The Navy has ordered two more Navajo-class T-ATS towing, salvage and rescue ships, the Defense Department said in a March 25 contract notice.   

The Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Gulf Island Shipyards LLC in Houma, Louisiana, a $129.9 million firm-fixed-price contract modification “to exercise options for the construction of two additional towing, salvage and rescue ships (T-ATS) and for the performance of unique item identification on the T-ATS 6-class program.  

“The contract also includes options for associated support efforts related to the ship design and construction for special studies, engineering and industrial services, provisioned items orders, unique item identification and data rights license,” the notice said. “Work is expected to be complete by October 2022.”   

The Navajo-class T-ATS is designed to combine and replace the current capabilities of the three Powhatan (T-ATF 166) class of fleet ocean tugs and two Safeguard (T-ARS 50) class rescue and salvage ships, which will reach the end of their expected service lives starting in 2020.  

The Navajo-class is designed with 6,000 square feet of deck space for embarked salvage and rescue systems. The ship will have an overall length of 263 feet and a beam of 59 feet. It will be able to carry a 1,796-ton load.  

Gulf Island Shipyard is currently building the first three T-ATSs: the future USNS Navajo (T-ATS6), USNS Cherokee Nation (T-ATS 7) and USNS Saginaw Ojibwe Anishinabek (T-ATS 8). These three ships are scheduled for delivery in 2021. 

ARLINGTON, Virginia — The Marine Corps commandant has issued his plans for a major redesign of the Marine Corps’ force structure by 2030, with substantial reductions in some venerable weapon systems and increases in new systems. 

For example, traditional tube artillery is under the gun, as are tanks, but rocket artillery and precision missiles are boosted in the plan. 

Force Design 2030, signed out this month by Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, is aimed at more closely aligning the capabilities of the Corps with the National Defense Strategy, from a priority of confronting violent extremism to “great power/peer-level competition,” with emphasis on the Indo-Pacific.  

“Such a profound shift in missions, from inland to littoral, and from nonstate actor to peer competitor, necessarily requires substantial adjustments in how we organize, train and equip our Corps,” Berger said in the document. 

“A return to our historic role in the maritime littoral will also demand greater integration with the Navy and a reaffirmation of that strategic partnership. As a consequence, we must transform our traditional models for organizing, training and equipping the force to meet new desired ends, and do so in full partnership with the Navy.” 

Berger, foreseeing flat future defense budgets, said he is “operating under the assumption that we will not receive additional resources, we must divest certain existing capabilities to free resources for essential new capabilities. … With the shift in our primary focus to Great Power Competition and a renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific region, the current force has shortfalls in capabilities needed to support emerging joint, naval and Marine Corps operating concepts.” 

He said the Corps is over-invested in heavily armored ground combat systems (tanks), towed cannon artillery and short-range, low endurance unmanned aerial systems (UAS) incapable of employing lethal effects. 

Accordingly, Berger plans to, among other initiatives, to reduce the number of tube artillery batteries from 16 to five. These units are armed with the M777 towed cannon built by BAE Systems. 

In contrast, the Corps plans to increase its rocket artillery batteries from 7 to 21. These batteries are equipped with the Lockheed Martin-built M142 HIMARS (High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System). The Corps intends to create batteries of anti-ship missiles such as the Raytheon’s Tomahawk Maritime Strike Missile and the Kongsberg/Raytheon Naval Strike Missile. These missiles will enable Marine expeditionary forces to operate in contested littoral environments. 

“This investment provides the basis, over time, for generating one of the fundamental requirements for deterrence, and ultimately successful naval campaigns — long-range, precision expeditionary anti-ship missile fires,” Berger said. “This requirement is based on one of the more well-supported conclusions from wargaming analysis conducted to date.” 

The Corps also plans to eliminate its fleet of M1A1 main battle tanks, divesting its “entire capacity of seven companies and prepositioned capacity,” he said.  

“We have sufficient evidence to conclude that this capability, despite its long and honorable history in the wars of the past, is operationally unsuitable for our highest-priority challenges in the future,” Berger said. “Heavy ground armor capability will continue to be provided by the U.S. Army.” 

Because the Corps plans to reduce its active-component infantry battalions from 24 to 21, its amphibious assault requirements will be lessened. Accordingly, two of the six amphibious assault companies are slated for the cut. The units operate the AAV7 assault amphibious vehicle and the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle, both built by BAE. 

The Corps is looking at increasing force structure of light armored reconnaissance companies from nine to 12.   

“While I have repeatedly stated that all-domain reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance will be a critical element of any future contingency, I remain unconvinced that additional wheeled, manned armored ground reconnaissance units are the best and only answer — especially in the Indo-Pacific region,” Berger said. 

“We need to see more evidence during Phase III [of the study] to support this conclusion before engaging in an expansion of our existing capacity, or committing billions of dollars in procurement funds towards the acquisition of an Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV).” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is taking active measures to ease the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the operations and finance of its defense industrial base to minimize disruptions to its acquisition and readiness, the service’s top acquisition official said. 

James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, speaking March 25 in a teleconference with reporters, said the Navy is “using all the levers we have” such as moving up contract awards, accelerating contract payments and establishing baselines to compare pre-virus versus post-virus contractor performance.

See: Port Visits Cancelled, Submariners’ Health Monitored to Contain Coronavirus

Geurts said his effort is focused of three lines of operation: 

• The health of the defense industrial work force, including the government work force and its industrial partners such as prime contractors, subcontractors, small suppliers and individuals. 
• Ensuring the health of the industrial base. 
• Ensuring warfighting readiness of the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.  

Geurts said he is communicating with various stakeholders such as shipbuilder and aircraft builder presidents and Navy shipyards, regional maintenance centers and fleet readiness centers to take the pulse of operations and address concerns at all levels, including reducing barriers and freeing up funding. He said he is especially concerned about the resilience of the many small supplier companies that fill out the industrial supply chain. 

The Navy’s concerns about major shipyards vary by site, but Geurts said the sea service is “seeing a tightening on the supply base as smaller shops deal with their local situations. We’ve got a pretty good view of that with some of the real-time systems we are using. I do expect some delay or disruption.” 

Geurts said a key initiative was to establish baselines of the performance of current programs before the pandemic hit to understand the effects of delay and disruption with delays that were already incurred in programs and work through those issues on the back side of the pandemic and adjust as necessary. 

He said the Navy is not slowing down in its contracting activity and is, in fact, accelerating it “wherever we can to get that demand signal in” so that there is meaningful work waiting as the pandemic ends to avoid a lag effect in getting back to work at full speed. 

Regarding ship repair periods, the secretary said the Navy is reducing the normal 10% payment withholdings across the board.  

For claims that have been adjudicated but not yet paid, the Navy is looking to pay those out, and where claims have not yet been adjudicated, it will attempt to accelerate adjudication of those claims. 

“On the [contract] penalty side, we will continue to understand where those penalties are and work through how to deal with those penalties,” Geurts said.    

Geurts said his team is 90% to 95% dispersed and teleworking but he is “driving the team to accelerate” and he praised its dedication to performance despite the disruption of the virus. 

The secretary said the Navy is working to make sure there is no or only minimal disruption to the construction of the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine and the remaining work on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.  

He said he has “not seen any major impacts to that work [on the Columbia SSBN] yet but we are tracking it very closely.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy plans to put two Virginia-class attack submarines in commission in April despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ceremonies marking the events will be delayed.   

“Due to public health safety and restrictions on large public events, the commissioning ceremonies for the future USS Delaware and future USS Vermont were canceled for April 4 and 18, respectively,” Bill Couch, a spokesperson for Naval Sea Systems Command, said in a March 24 e-mail to Seapower. 

“The commissioning of both ships will take place administratively, and the ships will begin normal operations with the fleet.” 

The Delaware is the eighth and last Block III Virginia-class SSN. The Vermont is the first of 10 Block IV Virginia-class subs. The two submarines were built jointly by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding. 
 
“We greatly value the support of all those who were planning to attend, and we will look for a future opportunity to commemorate these special events with the sponsors, crews and commissioning committees,” Couch said. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to change its aviation community significantly as part of a long-range effort to align its force structure more with the National Defense Strategy, including doubling the number of unmanned aerial system (UAS) squadrons and deactivating three rotary-wing squadrons. 

In a March 23 release, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) announced that it was redesigning its force “for naval expeditionary warfare in actively contested spaces, fully aligning the Service with direction of the National Defense Strategy. The Marine Corps has identified areas of modernization and realignment to meet these demands.” 

Among several initiatives planned for execution by 2030, the MCCDC said it would “double the number of UAS squadrons and austere lethal unmanned air and ground systems, enhancing our ability to sense and strike.” 

The Corps fields four Marine UAV squadrons (VMUs) — three in the active component and one in the reserve component. All four operate RQ-21A Blackjack UAS and one, VMU-2 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma, Arizona, operates two MQ-9 Predator UAVs under a contractor arrangement. The Corps intends to procure six MQ-9s for its VMU squadrons under current planning. 

MCCDC also announced plans to deactivate three rotary-wing squadrons by 2030. They include: 

• Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 264 (VMM-264), based at MCAS New River, North Carolina and one of 19 MV-22B squadrons in the Corps. 
• Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 (HMM-462), based at MCAS Miramar, California and one of eight CH-53E squadrons in the Corps.  
• Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 (HMLA-469), based at MCAS Camp Pendleton, California, and one of nine squadrons in the Corps operating the AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters. 

In addition, the Corps plans to deactivate HMLA-367 at MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and relocate the squadron to Camp Pendleton, presumably for reactivation. 

The Corps also plans to reduce the number — Primary Aircraft Authorized — of F-35Bs in some of its Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons (VMFAs). The original plan was to field 10 F-35Bs in some squadrons and 16 in others, with the extra six used to deploy as detachments on board amphibious assault ships. The F-35C squadrons also would be limited to 10 aircraft. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps’ first squadron to operate the F-35C Lightning II strike fighter has achieved certification as “safe for flight,” a major milestone toward eventual combat readiness and deployment. 

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, recently completed five months of transition as it retired its F/A-18C Hornet strike fighters and trained in the carrier-capable F-35C with the Navy’s F-35C fleet replacement squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125), at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The certification was achieved on March 20, the III Marine Aircraft Wing said in a release.  

The certification process “ensures the squadron is manned with qualified personnel to implement maintenance and safety programs in support of fleet operations. All transitioning squadrons are required to complete this certification prior to independently conducting flight operations,” the release said. 

“The certification process encompasses areas such as equipment, personnel and programs. Requirements include the installation and operation of management information systems and their accompanying support networks. There is also a requirement for operational F-35C squadrons to maintain robust maintenance programs and complete various inspections ranging from conventional weapons technical proficiencies to safety. Squadron personnel complete a transition curriculum and maintain specific competencies in accordance with Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures and Standardization guidelines.” 

VMFA-314 is in line to deploy on an aircraft carrier in 2022, according to the 2019 Marine Corps Aviation Plan, as one of four strike fighter squadrons of a carrier air wing. Under the TACAIR Integration Plan, the Marine Corps contributes some VMFA squadrons to carrier air wings. Currently, one F/A-18C-equipped squadron, VMFA-323, is assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17 and will make the last F/A-18C carrier deployment. VMFA(AW)-225 will be the next Marine Corps squadron to make the transition to the F-35C. 

ARLINGTON, Virginia  — The secretary of defense said the Military Sealift Command’s hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) is deploying to Los Angeles to relieve the city’s hospitals of some of their non-COVID-19 patient burden as they deal with the virus pandemic. 

During a March 23 news conference at the Pentagon, Secretary Mark Esper said the Mercy was departing its layberth in San Diego the same day for Los Angeles. The sister ship USNS Comfort would deploy at a later date for New York City for the same mission. The two ships will not be caring for COVID-19 patients but will treat acute care and surgery patients with other needs to relieve local hospitals that are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Esper said that some field hospitals are being readied for similar missions and that some hotels and college dormitories may be put in service as well for patient care. 

He said that to date 137 Defense Department personnel had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and that one department civilian had died. 

During a separate Pentagon news conference on the same date, Rear Adm. Timothy H. Weber, commander, Navy Medical Forces Pacific, said that 800 medical personnel were being embarked on the Mercy and were being drawn from eight military treatment facilities, primarily from naval hospitals and clinics in San Diego, Camp Pendleton, California, Twentynine Palms, California, Bremerton, Washington, and Oak Harbor, Washington. A total of 58 Navy Reserve medical personnel — all volunteers — also are being embarked. Weber said that none had been involved in treatment of COVID-19 patients. 

Also at the news conference, Capt. John R. Rotruck, commanding officer of the Mercy’s Medical Treatment Facility, said the ship would dock at Los Angeles “within the week” and will start care of the local population the following day. He said the ship will operate under the control commander, Destroyer Squadron 21, and operate for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Rotruck said the Mercy will embark a total of 1,128 personnel, including the ship’s civilian crew, the military medical treatment team and a few civilian contractors. The Mercy has 1,000 hospital beds and will be operating nine of the 12 operating rooms on the ship. He said the embarked crew will be screened for COVID-19 but not tested unless needed. 

Rotruck said the Mercy will offer a broad range of medical services but will not be staffed to handle obstetric or pediatric cases. The ship has a fully capable blood bank on board. 

“The Mercy is ready to go,” said the Mercy’s master, Capt. Jonathan Olmsted, also in the conference. He said the Mercy will be underway for about two days to runs some tests of its systems before docking pierside in the Port of Los Angeles.  

Rotruck said the time underway at sea will be used to train the medical team. 

“Our Mercy team is ready to deploy and support FEMA and local relief agencies against the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “I have an amazing team, and we are truly honored to answer the nations’ call to protect the health of the American people.” 

ARLINGTON, Va — The U.S. Navy’s top medical officer said that no COVID-19 cases have been detected on board Navy ships at sea. 

“Because of those enhanced measures that were undertaken weeks ago, we have not seen active transmission,” Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham, surgeon general of the Navy said, during a March 19 virtual news conference at the Pentagon. “We believe [those ships] are essentially self-quarantined in place as units.”  

“The small handful of cases that we have had have been in ships that are in port, Gillingham said. “Those individuals have been immediately identified, isolated and, if requiring treatment, they have been provided appropriate treatment for their condition.” 

The admiral affirmed that social distancing is being observed to the maximum extent possible on the ships. Analysis of COVID tests is not yet available on ships; the tests are sent ashore for analysis. 

He said that everyone boarding Navy ships is being screened for the virus. As a ship leaves port, it is not allowed to make a port call until it has been at sea for at least 14 days, the incubation period for the virus. 

The Military Sealift Command is activating the hospital ships USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy to relieve the burden of acute-care patients in some hospitals of patients without the COVID-19 virus so that the hospitals can concentrate on virus victims. The ships are being prepared for a 1,000-bed mission. The Comfort is being sent to New York City.  

Gillingham said that the critical core crew for the USNS Mercy is reporting aboard and is being screened for the virus before being allowed on board. A decision of where to send the Mercy on the U.S. West Coast has not yet been made. The Mercy is scheduled to sail next week.  

“We will be very careful in the development of our concept of operation of how to care for a community of patients [on the hospital ships],” Gillingham said. “Screening will be an essential part of that guidance.” 

WASHINGTON — The congressional push for reinstatement of a second Virginia-class submarine in the 2021 defense budget has attracted the support of 112 congressmen. 

A letter from three congressmen on the Seapower subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee — sent to the House Appropriations Committee in support of the additional Virginia SSN as well as for the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) — was endorsed by an additional list of 109 congressmen. 

The letter to Defense Appropriations Chairman Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) and ranking member Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) was drafted by Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), the Seapower subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), ranking member, and another member, Rep. James R. Langevin (D-R.I.). All three represent districts in states that host submarine builders. The 112 signers include 72 Democrats and 40 Republicans. 

“The 112 members that have joined this request represent 32 states, over 14,000 suppliers and over $10 billion in manufacturing and support activity in the submarine supply chain,” Neil McKiernan, a staffer for Courtney, said in a March 18 release. 

During recent hearings, the three drafters were critical of the Navy’s budget proposal that limited sub construction starting in fiscal 2021 to one Virginia SSN, together with the long-planned Columbia SSBN. 

The objections included the apparent retrogression regarding a 355-ship Navy and attaining a submarine force large enough to support the National Security Strategy, a force level currently set at 66 SSNs. Under current shipbuilding plans and planned retirements, the SSN force level will decline to 42 boats by 2027. 

The Navy has put the second Virginia SSN at the top of its 2021 unfunded priorities list. The service and its two sub builders, General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding, succeeded in recent years in reducing the cost of a Virginia SSN to allow the Navy to afford two per year.   

The letter notes that then-Chief of Naval Operations John M. Richardson told Congress in 2019 that “with respect to the greatest gap between the warfighting requirement and current inventory, there’s no greater need than the attack submarine fleet. … It’s a wide gap and it’s getting wider. So, every submarine counts against closing that gap.” 

“The proposal to request one attack submarine is contrary to the National Defense Strategy, the needs of our combatant commanders, and a decade of congressional action in support of a steady two-a-year build rate,” the letter said. “Of note, the Navy recently ranked the restoration of the second 2021 Virginia-class submarine as its top unfunded requirement. To that end, we respectfully request your strong support for two Virginia-class submarines in [fiscal] 2021.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The secretary of defense said March 18 that he has ordered the U.S. Navy to prepare its two hospital ships for activation to take pressure off the nation’s hospitals battling the COVID-19 virus pandemic. 

At a Pentagon news conference, Secretary Mark T. Esper referred to the two hospital ships — USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy, based at Norfolk, Virginia, and San Diego, respectively — operated by the Military Sealift Command. 

“The Comfort is undergoing maintenance and the Mercy is at port,” Esper said.  “We’ve already given orders to the Navy a few days ago to lean forward, in terms of getting them ready to deploy.” 

Esper said the capabilities of the two ships, like military field hospitals, are focused on trauma. 

“They don’t have necessarily the segregated spaces you need to deal with infectious diseases,” he explained. “And so one of the ways by which you could use either field hospitals, the hospital ships or things in between is to take the pressure off of civilian hospitals when it comes to trauma cases [and] open up civilian hospital rooms for infectious diseases.” 

Esper said that a bigger challenge that activating the hospital ships is staffing the ships with medical professionals. 

“All those doctors and nurses either come from our medical treatment facilities or they come from the Reserves, which means civilians,” he said. “And, so what we’ve got to be very conscious of and careful of as we call up these units and use them to support the states, [is] that we aren’t robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. So, what I don’t want to do is take Reservists from a hospital where they are needed just to put them on a ship to take them somewhere else where they are needed.  So, we’ve got to be very conscious of that. As I’ve spoken to a couple governors today, we talked a little bit about that, and I think people are beginning understand what that trade-off means.”