ARLINGTON, Va. — Naval Air Systems Command has ordered two MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft and provided funds to continue the modernization of the Osprey fleet. 

According to the Feb. 28 Pentagon contract announcement, NAVAIR awarded Bell-Boeing a $165.3 million contract under the fiscal 2020 defense budget for the two MV-22Bs and for repairs to the existing Osprey fleet under the Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program. 

The CC-RAM program is designed to reduce about 70 different sub-configurations of the Osprey fleet to standard configurations. Most of the existing Osprey fleet is the Block B configuration. Bell-Boeing delivered the first of 129 Block B MV-22Bs to be converted to Block C standards to the Marine Corps on Dec. 10.  

The Block C incorporates upgrades added as a result of lessons learned in combat deployments of the Osprey. The upgrades include improved cockpit displays, a display in the passenger/cargo cabin, chaff and flare dispensers and a weather radar. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s forthcoming Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment (INFSA) differs from the 2016 FSA by some inflection points, including a reduced emphasis on large surface combatants, the Navy’s top official said. 

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly, speaking Feb. 28 at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, noted several inflection points.  

“One of the more significant things is de-emphasis on large surface combatants,” Modly said. “You will see that number come down in favor of more small, highly capable surface combatants like the frigate and some of the things that we’re thinking about doing with the LCS [littoral combat ship].” 

He said another inflection point is unmanned vessels.  

“There is a large discussion about how unmanned [vessels] would work,” he said. “The numbers of the end-state of that are still in flux, and I’m fully comfortable with that being in flux because, frankly, we don’t have any right now. Whether we end up of 45 or something [unmanned vessels] that we don’t know or 50 or 75 we don’t know, it’s sort of irrelevant.” 

“We know we have to start down the path towards unmanned to understand how that’s going to work, and that’s both underwater and above water, [including] large, medium, small, etc.,” he said. 

Modly also said that two new classes of ships are being considered by the Navy. One is a smaller, lighter, more lightly manned amphibious ship that “can provide the distributed maritime operations and the expeditionary advanced base operations that are part of [Marine Commandant David H. Berger’s] vision.” 

The second class is a combat support ship.  

“We currently don’t have those kind of ships in the fleet right now, nor on the drawing board,” he said. “In this [fiscal 2021] budget, we have dollars assigned to start research and development.” 

Modly noted that there are differences between the Navy Department’s analysis and that of the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. 

“I don’t think they’re that significant, when you’re talking about a plan that’s going to evolve over 10 years, so it’s [Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s] prerogative and so we’re supporting him in taking a look at that,” he said. “The next couple of months we’ll probably tighten up some of those differences.” 

“We’ve got to invest in a new amphib; we’ve got to invest in a new combat support [vessel]; we’ve got to invest in the frigate,” Modly said. “We’ve got to think about how we accelerate the pace in which we’re going to acquire the frigate. We’ve got to think about unmanned.”  

Modly said the Navy and Marine Corps both assigned three-star flag officers to conduct the INFSA, a study that included campaign analyses. 

“It’s a good starting point for this future force structure,” he said. “What we want to do now is take it out of the realm being something we do every four years. This is how we have to start thinking as a department. So, we are developing a process now to take that statement around and iterate it continually so that it can inform our budget process in more of a real-time manner.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s plan to procure only eight battle force ships in the 2021 budget came under expected fire from lawmakers during a Feb. 26 hearing on Capitol Hill. 

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley testified at the hearing of the House Armed Services Committee to defend the Defense Department’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget. 

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), in whose district the Electric Boat submarine construction yard is located, addressing the plan to procure only eight ships — including just one Virginia-class attack submarine — attacked the 2021 plan as deficient for several reasons. 

He noted that a Congressional Research Service report confirmed that one of the eight ships in the 2021 budget — LPD 31, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship — was authorized and partially paid for via the 2020 defense bill and as such is being double-counted. He said that the real ship procurement proposed for 2021 is only seven ships. 

“Two of those seven are tugboats — they’re salvage ships,” Courtney said in his remarks. “We are not getting briefings in this committee about Russian tugboats or Chinese tugboats. We, in fact, then are left with really five combatant ships.”  

Courtney also criticized the decision to request only one Virginia-class attack submarine versus the two planned, a decision that he said will exacerbate the Navy’s shortage of attack subs. 

“Just for the record, we are at 52 attack submarines today,” Courtney said to Esper. “With the retirement of Los Angeles-class submarines, which is going to accelerate over the next four or five years, that fleet is going to shrink to 44 subs. Your budget keeps us in that trough into the 2030s. It defies any analysis in terms of something that comports with the National Defense Strategy.” 

Courtney also pointed out to Esper that a 30-year shipbuilding plan — required by law — was not submitted with the 2021 budget submission. Esper said he hadn’t seen the 30-year plan but would send it to Congress after he reviewed it. 

“At the appropriate point I will share with you what I believe our future force structure should look like,” Esper said. “I am a big believer in attack submarines. … My gut tells me we need more than we planned for.” 

“But there are two competing pressures we have right now: a topline budget which actually gives us 2% less buying power,” he said. “But the second thing — and importantly — is I support what the Navy did in terms of moving $4 billion from shipbuilding to maintenance. A concern that the [chief of naval operations] has, that the acting secretary has, and I have is that we have a hollow Navy.” 

Esper cited a December Government Accountability Office report, which said that over the last five years, 75% of U.S. surface ships left maintenance late. 

“Half of those ships took over three months to get to sea,” he said. “What that equates to is that 19 in 2019 unavailable to go to sea. We cannot have a hollow Navy. I agree we need to build a 355-plus-ship Navy, but we cannot have a hollow Navy at the same time.” 

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) pointed out that the budget plan to decommission four littoral combat ships, four cruisers and three dock landing ships seemed like math that “doesn’t add up to me to get to 355. In fact, we’re heading south on that.” 

Courtney also characterized the shipbuilding request as a “gut punch” to the welders, electricians and carpenters who build ships and to the supply chain that provides the materiel and components. 

“Lastly, it’s a punch in the gut to the combatant commanders,” he added. 

“In the last few days, we’ve had [Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command] talk about a 50% increase in Russian submarine patrol operations. We’ve had [Adm. Woody Lewis, commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet] talking about the ever-increasing number of submarines [and Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, Indo-Pacific Command] saying that his ‘day-to-day submarine requirement is met by slightly only 50% of what I’ve asked for.’” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has given its E-2 Hawkeye squadrons a new designation to more accurately reflect the aircraft’s expanded capabilities and missions. 

The service has changed the name from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron to Airborne Command and Control Squadron, effective Jan. 1, said Lt. Travis Callaghan, a spokesman for commander, Naval Air Forces, in response to a query from Seapower. 

The E-2 was fielded in 1965 during the Vietnam War as a radar early warning aircraft that was able to detect and track airborne targets and provide radio voice commands and data link tracks to enable fighters to intercept enemy aircraft or cruise missiles. Over the succeeding decades and as the sophistication of the E-2’s radar increased and other sensors were added, the aircraft added to its portfolio battle management, strike control, land force support, rescue coordination, drug-interdiction operations and other tasks that went beyond simple early warning. 

The current version in production, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, built by Northrop Grumman and equipped with Lockheed Martin’s APY-9 radar, includes modern capabilities such as Cooperative Engagement Capability and Navy Integrated Fire Control, which enhance its role as the Navy’s “quarterback in the sky.”  

Each of the Navy’s nine carrier air wings is equipped with one E-2C or E-2D squadron. Four squadrons are based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, and one is based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, while five are stationed at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, one being a replacement training squadron. 

The airborne command and control squadrons will retain the VAW acronym that has been in use since the 1950s. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — A Virginia-class attack submarine heads the U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2021 unfunded priorities list, according to Feb. 19 letter to Congress from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday. Three types of aircraft and one logistics proof-of-concept ship round out the top five unfunded priorities. 

Every year the services provide to congressional defense committees a list of procurement, operations and base infrastructure requirements that they would like Congress to fund should it wish to allocate more funds or to fund different priorities than some of those in the budget submission. 

A Virginia SSN order at $2.8 billion would be in addition to the one funded in the budget and enable the Navy to build a total of 10 Virginia SSNs under the Block V multiyear contract. 

The Navy also would like to add five F-35C Lightning II strike fighters to the 11 requested in the 2021 budget. Including spare parts, the addition would cost $525.5 million. 

The service also would like to procure an additional two E-2D Advanced Hawkeye command-and-control aircraft, upping the buy from six to eight for $357 million. The Navy has program of record of 77 — up from 75 — and has an objective of procuring a total of 86 E-2Ds. 

The Navy also would like to add two CMV-22B Osprey carrier-onboard-delivery aircraft to the six in the budget, which would require $211.4 million, including spare parts and spare engines. This also would increase the number of CMV-22Bs in the program to 46. 

As the Navy defines its requirements for a Small Auxiliary Logistics Platform for distributed maritime operations, it would like to fund — for $12 million — the lease of an additional offshore support vessel to support demonstrations “to evaluate potential solutions for refuel, re-supply and re-arm logistics mission requirements,”  the letter said. 

The Navy also would like to double the number of Next-Generation Jammer shipsets to six; procure 20 additional Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs), along with installation of an NSM launcher on an amphibious transport dock ship; procure two Surface Mission Modules for littoral combat ships; and purchase 100 more AIM-9X Block II air-to-air missiles; procure 6,392 sonobuoys to make up for unplanned operational expenditures; and upgrades to the Dual Band Radar on USS Gerald R. Ford and the Multifunction Radar on the Zumwalt-class destroyers. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Sikorsky a second production contract to build VH-92A helicopters for the U.S. Marine Corps, the company said in a release. 

The VH-92A has been selected to provide transport for the president of the United States, the vice president and other high-level government officials. The helicopter will replace the 19 VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N “White Hawk” helicopters operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One. The Corps plans to acquire a total of 23 VH-92As. 

Under the $470.8 million low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot II contract, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will deliver six VH-92A helicopters in 2022 and 2023. 

“All six of the production aircraft from the first [LRIP] contract are undergoing modifications at Sikorsky’s Stratford, Connecticut, plant and are on schedule to begin deliveries in 2021,” Sikorsky said in the release. 

Five VH-92As have been assigned to government testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, the release said. A sixth is going through modification and will enter the test program this spring. The modification includes a mature mission and communications system. Initial operational test and evaluation is scheduled for later this year. 

Sikorsky said the aircraft in testing have accrued more than 1,000 test hours. 

The company and the U.S. Navy integrate mature mission and communications systems into the aircraft.  

“The program continues to progress on budget and within our planned acquisition timeline,” Marine Col. Eric Ropella, the Navy’s presidential helicopter program manager, said in the release.  

“Now that we are ramping up production, the VH-92A program is gaining momentum,” Dave Banquer, Sikorsky VH-92A program director, said in the release.

“This second contract award demonstrates the confidence the U.S. Marine Corps has in Sikorsky’s proven ability to deliver and support the next-generation presidential helicopter. The men and women of Sikorsky treasure our legacy of building and providing helicopter transportation for every president and commander in chief since Dwight D. Eisenhower. We are proud to continue that legacy with the VH-92A helicopter.”

WASHINGTON — A National Maritime Strategy is soon to be released, the U.S. Maritime Administrator said.  

Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby, speaking Feb. 20 at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis, a Washington think tank, said that a “National Maritime Strategy was directed by Congress in the 2014 Coast Guard Authorization Act” and that a draft “was waiting for me in my in-box when I showed up in August 2017. We’ve been working on that.” 

“The final version of that strategy — or the recommendations of the strategy — are about to be released” … “very shortly, within days or a week or two,” Buzby said. 

“Constructing a National Maritime Strategy is going to be a matter of mustering national will,” he said. “It will move the ball quite a ways down the road and be a good path forward.” 

He was speaking at the roll-out of CSBA’s new report, “Strengthening the U.S. Defense Maritime Industrial Base: A Plan to Improve Maritime Industry’s Contribution to National Security.” 

Buzby said he had concerns about “the ability of our aging Ready Reserve Force [RRF] and relatively small remaining commercial U.S. Merchant Marine and mariner pool to meet this country’s needs in a protracted, all-hands-on-deck sealift effort.” 

He said the results of the Sept. 19 turbo-activation of the RRF and Military Sealift Command’s (MSC’s) surge sealift ships showed a disappointing level of readiness on short notice. 

He said that of the 61 ships — 46 RRF and 15 MSC — only 39 were ready to go on Sept. 16 when the activation was initiated, of which 33 were chosen for activation.  

“Recapitalizing that force has been a focus of Congress, [which] has authorized the purchase of ships — we’re doing that right now with the Navy,” he said. 

Buzby said the need for tankers has not been adequately addressed, citing for the need of a “bucket brigade of fuel necessary in a major conflict across the Pacific to keep everything running.” 

He said more than 80 tankers would be needed to sustain U.S. forces in a major conflict. 

“That need needs to be filled from someplace,” he said. 

Buzby also pointed out that the in a protracted sealift operation voluntary civilian mariner force would be short about 1,800 mariners.  

He also noted that of the seven shipyards that built sealift ships in the 1984 to 2002, only four are in operation and only one — NASSCO — is still in the business of building merchant and sealift ships. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard plans to fully fund the second polar security cutter (PSC) and the third offshore patrol cutter (OPC), according to the proposed fiscal year 2021 U.S. Department of Homeland Security budget. 

The Coast Guard overall is seeking $12.3 billion for fiscal 2021, $77 million more than the $12.2 billion in the enacted 2020 budget. 

The 2021 budget requests $555 million to fully fund the second PSC. The Coast Guard plans to procure a total of six polar security cutters to support growing national security interests and to replace the service’s only operating heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star. The first PSC is being built by VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The budget also requests $15 million for a multiyear service-life extension for the Polar Star.  

The $546 million to construct the third OPC also provides for long-lead materials for a fourth. The 25 OPPCs planned will replace the service’s medium-endurance cutters. Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Florida, is building the first OPC with options for three more, down from eight more because of the damage to the company’s yard from a hurricane. A competition will be opened for construction of more OPCs. 

The Coast Guard plans a gap in procurement of the Sentinel-class fast-response cutters (FRCs), with 37 delivered so far of a planned purchase of 58 FRCs. However, the service is proposing $15 million in 2021 for program support and sustainment of the Sentinel class. The FRCs are replacing Island-class patrol boats. 

The sea service is planning no purchases of new aircraft in 2021 but wants to allocate $78 million to missionize the C-27J aircraft fleet into HC-27Js and continue retrofit of the HC-144A aircraft fleet with the Minotaur mission system into HC-144B versions.  

The budget also provides $65 million to modernize the HH-65D helicopter fleet to HH-65Es and to extend the service life of MH-60T helicopters so that they can serve into the mid-2030s, enabling the Coast Guard to align its helicopter requirements with the Defense Department’s Future Vertical Lift program. 

The 2021 budget also proposes $35.5 million to manage retirements of old assets, including the decommissioning of two Secretary-class high-endurance cutters, two Island-class patrol boats and eight Marine Protector-class patrol boats. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S Navy’s 2021 budget seeks funding for only eight battle force ships, financed by $19.9 billion of a $207.1 billion Department of the Navy budget that is only slightly larger than the $205.2 billion budget enacted for fiscal 2020. The Future Years Defense Plan also forecasts some accelerated retirements or reductions in some ship and aircraft types.  

The $207.1 billion includes a base budget of $194.1 billion; a set-aside for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) for Base of $4.3 billion; and OCO funding of $8.7 billion. Of the $207.1 billion, $161 billion is for the Navy and $46 billion is allotted to the U.S. Marine Corps. 

The budget shaves Marine funding and end strength. See story here.

The relatively flat budget includes $70.6 billion for operations and maintenance; $57.2 billion for procurement; $55.2 billion for personnel; $21.5 billion for research and development; and $2.6 billion for infrastructure. 

The Navy says the 2021 budget is focused on all-domain dominance — sea, air, land, cyber, space, assured command and control, battlespace awareness and an integrated force. The service is making a priority of “capable capacity over less-capable legacy platforms to pace a rapidly changing threat.” 

The investments in the 2021 budget also are designed to enable distributed maritime operations with lethality capable enough to impose cost on competitors. 

Nuclear deterrence remains the Navy’s top priority as it recapitalizes the ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) fleet to ensure on-time delivery of the Columbia SSBN. 

The 2021 budget also advances development of new capabilities in the form of long-range hypersonic strike weapons such as Conventional Prompt Strike capability, with research funded at $1 billion aiming for an initial operational capability in 2028. The Standard Missile-6 Block 1B also is funded as well as the Navy Laser Family of Systems at $68.2 million. Other funded technological advances include additive manufacturing and applied artificial intelligence.    

The 2021 shipbuilding budget of $19.9 billion — compared with $24 billion enacted for 2020 — will fund the construction of the first Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine. Other ships funded are one Virginia-class attack submarine; three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers; the first FFG(X) next-generation guided-missile frigate; one Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship; and two Navajo-class towing, salvage and rescue ships. 

The five-year Future Years Defense Plan includes plans for an amphibious assault ship in 2023; a replacement submarine tender in 2024; a new ocean surveillance ship in 2022; and a new cable-laying ship and a new sealift ship in 2023.  

The shipbuilding budget also includes funds for five LCU 1700-class utility landing craft. Two large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) are funded by research and development funds, with the seven LUSVs in the future to be built using shipbuilding funds. The shipbuilding request also restores the refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which last year the Navy wanted to retire to instead fund modernization and new technologies.   

Two large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) are requested with $239 million in R&D funds, with the seven LUSVs in the future to be built using shipbuilding funds. R&D funds include $288 million for unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), including $116 million for the Orca Extra-Large UUV program and $78 million for the Snakehead large-diameter UUV. 

The Navy plans for the early retirement of four littoral combat ships (LCSs) and one dock landing ship (LSD) in 2021 as part of an effort to garner $1.4 billion in savings to help fund modernization. The four LCSs are the first four commissioned — Freedom, Independence, Fort Worth and Coronado — and are considered test and training ships. The LSD being retired in 2021 will be one of three — Germantown, Fort McHenry and Gunston Hall — that will be retired early over the next few years. 

The service also announced plans to decommission its four least modern Ticonderoga-class cruisers that have ballistic-missile defense (BMD) capability — Monterey, Shiloh, Vela Gulf and Port Royal — although no timetable was announced in budget documents. The BMD capabilities of these ships will be assumed by new Arleigh Burke-class DDGs. 

The Navy also plans to decommission its 12 Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships, but no timetable has been announced yet. 

R&D funds will be invested in 2021 for two new intra-theater lift vessels designed to support expeditionary advance-base operations and littoral operations in a contested environment. These investments will inform development of next-generation medium amphibious and logistics ships.   

If enacted as planned, this budget would bring the ship count of the battle force to 306 at the end of 2021, up from the current 293.   

The Navy plans to fund 121 aircraft with $17.2 billion in 2021, compared with $19.7 billion enacted in 2020. These include 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters; 10 F-35B and 10 F-35C Lightning II strike fighters for the Marine Corps and 11 F-35Cs for the Navy; four E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft; six CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor carrier onboard delivery aircraft; three MV-22B Osprey transports; five KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transports; seven CH-53K King Stallion transport helicopters; 36 TH-73A training helicopters; and five VH-92A presidential transport helicopters. 

Fiscal 2021 will fund the last batch of Super Hornets for the Navy. The 2021 budget does not fund any more P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, although with the production line open for foreign procurement the Navy could order more if Congress funds them in the next few years.  

The large quantity of TH-73As being procured in 2021 will allow the Navy to accelerate retirement of the TH-57B/C training helicopter fleet and allow the Navy to cancel further depot-level overhauls of the TH-57. 

The budget funds research and development of the MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial refueling aircraft for initial production in 2023 and initial operational capability in 2024. 

The plans to accelerate retirement of the MH-53 Sea Dragon mine-sweeping helicopter to begin in 2022. The Navy also plans to start retiring the MQ-8B version of the Fire Scout UAV in 2024, with 14 of the 23 being retired initially until the MQ-8C version reaches initial operational capability with a mine-countermeasures capability — projected to be 2028 — when the last MQ-8Bs will be retired. 

Procurement of the MQ-4C Triton UAV is being gapped for 2021-2022 to allow time to mature the UAV’s signals intelligence suite. The RQ-4A Global Hawk Broad-Area Maritime Demonstration UAV will be retired beginning in 2023, freeing up funds for MQ-4C sustainment. The MQ-4C will replace the EP-3E electronic reconnaissance aircraft in 2022. 

The Navy Reserve plans in 2022 to deactivate Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 85, a unit that supports special operations forces with its MH-60S helicopters. The Air Force and Army field will retain a robust SOF support capability and the Navy’s general-purpose MH-60S squadrons also are trained to provide similar capability.  

For ship depot-level maintenance, $10 billion is provided for 2021, the same as in 2020, and aircraft depot-level maintenance increases to $1.7 billion, up from 2020’s $1.4 billion. The budget is focused on improved predictability and optimized performance of shipyard maintenance.  

If enacted, the budget would increase Navy military end-strength to 347,800 Sailors, up from 340,500 enacted in 2020. The Navy Reserve would remain stable at 58,800 Sailors. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered another two MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles from Northrop Grumman Corp. 

According to a Feb. 6 Defense Department contract announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $172.4 million contract modification for the two UAVs, with the funding included for a main operation base, trade studies and associated technical and administrative data. 

The two Tritons are authorized and funded by the 2020 budget. 

Last month, the Navy’s Unmanned Patrol Squadron (VUP) 19, the Navy’s first Triton UAS squadron, deployed two MQ-4Cs to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to establish an early operational capability in the western Pacific Ocean. 

The Triton eventually will achieve initial operational capability when a total of four MQ-4Cs are deployed to a single site to establish a 24/7 orbit over the western Pacific area of operations.