ARLINGTON,
Va. — The fielding of the RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aerial system achieved full
operational capability in 2019, Navy’s program manager said.

Col. John
Neville, the Blackjack’s program manager for the Program Executive Office-Unmanned
and Strike Weapons, told Seapower at the Surface Navy Association gathering
here that all 21 systems for the Marine Corps and 10 for the Navy have been delivered
to fleet and training units.

The
Blackjack, built by Boeing’s Insitu, is a twin-boom, single-engine, small
tactical unmanned aerial vehicle that carries modular payloads mostly for
surveillance. It is pneumatically launched and is recovered using a skyhook
arrestment system. A single Blackjack system includes five UAVs, two ground
control stations, various payloads and a set of launch and recovery systems.

The Blackjack
now equips four Marine UAV squadrons plus a fleet replacement detachment. The
Marine Corps deploys the Blackjack with its Marine expeditionary units onboard
amphibious warfare ships. The 10 systems for the Navy have been delivered to
Navy Special Warfare Command and made two deployments in 2019.

Neville said
the Blackjack has demonstrated “great reliability.”

He said that
with fielding complete, his office is concentrating on sustainment of the
Blackjack and also on Foreign Military Sales. Two nations, Canada and Poland,
have procured the Blackjack and Neville said there are more possible sales “on
the horizon.”

Foreign sales will help to
bring down the cost of the Blackjack, he said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is installing control centers for unmanned aerial vehicles on its aircraft carriers as the ships go through overhauls and maintenance periods, a Navy official said.

Capt. Chuck
Ehnes, the Navy’s program manager for in-service aircraft carriers, speaking
Jan.16 at the Surface Navy Association gathering here, said the Unmanned
Aviation Warfare Centers (UAWCs) are being installed to operate the MQ-25A
Stingray unmanned aerial tanker and any follow-on UAVs the Navy plans to
operate from its aircraft carriers.

Ehnes said
the UAWC is one of several phased modernizations being conducted on the
carriers in service to upgrade their warfighting capabilities.

Over time,
carriers are receiving numerous modifications to prepare to operate the F-35C
Lightning II strike fighter, the CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor carrier onboard
delivery aircraft and the MQ-25. The carriers also are receiving additive
manufacturing labs and upgraded cybersecurity.

Ehnes said the carriers also are receiving the Distance Communication and Maintenance System (DCoMs), a remote conferencing system that will enable Sailors to discuss maintenance issues with technical experts ashore. He compared the new DCoMs to a telemedicine system will be a “potential game-changer” in reducing the need for tech assist visits and the dispatching of repair teams.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier will go through a rigorous period
of tests and trials over the rest of fiscal 2020, a Navy official said.

Speaking Jan.
16 at the Surface Navy Association gathering here, Capt. Ron Rutan, the Navy’s
program manager for the USS Gerald R. Ford, lead ship of its class, said the
ship gets underway “11 times over 220 days” starting Jan. 16, continuing 18
months of post-delivery testing and trials, which will run into through the
second quarter of fiscal 2021.

Rutan said the ship will have contractor personnel on board continuing work while the ship is at sea. The Navy plans to complete work on the seven Advanced Weapon Elevators that have not yet been certified. He said that four others already have been certified and they have been put through more than 5,000 cycles, including runs while the carrier has been put through high-speed turns that simulated Sea State 5.

One of the 11
events this quarter of the fiscal year will be used to certify the ship’s
flight deck.

The carrier
is scheduled for full-ship shock trials during the third or fourth quarters of
fiscal 2021.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s program
manager for the next three aircraft carriers said the sea service is
considering the business case for a single-phased delivery of the future USS
John F. Kennedy (CVN 79).

Speaking Jan. 16 at the Surface Navy Association’s symposium here, Capt. Philip Malone, the program manager for CVN 79, CVN 80 and CVN 81, said the Navy is looking at the possibility of delivering JFK with a single-phased approach. The current plan with a dual-phased approach includes delivering with some navigation and aviation capability followed by a second phase in which combat systems would be installed. 

One advantage of a two-phased delivery is
that the most recent mission systems can be installed before final delivery,
avoiding an obsolescence that can occur in the long timeline of a carrier’s
construction. An advantage of the traditional practice of a single-phased
delivery is having a completed ship at commissioning.

Malone said he is working with the Navy
secretariat to determine the effects of a single-phased delivery on cost and
build time.

James F. Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for
research, development and acquisition, told reporters Jan. 17 that the
discussion of a single-phased construction included “looking at a new version
of a radar, combat systems, the people and making sure we have the right
balance. Delivering an integrated ship with all its functions is an
attractive model to look at hard.”

Geurts said the decision on the single-phased
delivery would be made “in the next 30 to 45 days.”

“Mr. Geurts is aggressively pursuing
integrating lessons learned on CVN 78 to improve efficiencies and affordability
for the rest of the Ford class,” said Capt. Danny Hernandez, Navy acquisition
spokesman. “Delivery approach is one of the items that Mr. Geurts has the team
looking at.”

A major difference between CVN 78, the
USS Gerald R. Ford, and CVN 79 is that the dual-band radar on CVN 78 will be
replaced on CVN 79 by the SPY-6(V)3 Enterprise Air Search Radar.

CVNs 79, 80 and 81 are scheduled for
delivery in 2024, 2028 and 2032, respectively. The Navy expects the total
ownership cost savings of $4 billion for each ship over their 50-year service
lives, as compared to the Nimitz class.

Malone said the construction of USS John
F. Kennedy is incorporating more than 60,000 lessons learned from the
construction of the Gerald R. Ford.

He also said JFK will
receive modifications to operate the F-35C strike fighter after its
post-shakedown availability. The modification involves changes in the squadron
ready room and the flight deck’s jet-blast deflectors, among others. He said
his office is evaluating the impact of the installations on the carrier’s
schedule.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — Raytheon Co. has completed the first recertificated Tomahawk cruise
missile, one that it modified to the Block V configuration, a Navy official
said.

The missile
is one of the first five Block VI Tactical Tomahawk missiles that have been
inducted into the recertification process, which takes missiles at the midlife
15-year mark for overhaul and modernization. 

Capt. John
Red, the Navy’s Tomahawk program manager, speaking to reporters Jan. 15 at the
Surface Navy Association symposium here, said that all Block IVs will be
converted into Block Vs.

All Block Vs
will feature a new data-link radio and antennas and navigation system. The
Block Va version also will feature a new seeker kit to hit moving targets and
will be called the Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST). The Block Vb version will
feature the Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System.

Red was not
at liberty to discuss the MST’s seeker in detail but described it as a “multimode
seeker with the ability to discriminate targets.”

The Tomahawk
missile first entered combat in January 1991 in Operation Desert Storm. More
than 2,000 have been fired at hostile targets over three decades.

Red said the
remaining Block III Tomahawks, which first entered service in 1994, are being
withdrawn from use and are being “demilitarized.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s program manager for the Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer praised the capability being built into the ship as it transforms into an offensive surface strike platform from a land-attack ship, possibly to include a new missile strike capability. 

The Zumwalt is being lauded “as the premier strike platform for the U.S. Navy,” said Capt. Kevin Smith, the Navy’s Zumwalt program manager, speaking Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association convention here, noting that the ship was “designed to be stealthy and designed to carry the fight to the enemy.” 

Smith said the Navy is looking at the Zumwalt as a platform for a conventional prompt strike capability. He also said the Navy is looking at adding Tomahawk Block V — the Maritime Strike Tomahawk — to the Zumwalt’s arsenal. Under the current plan, the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk missile will be arming the Zumwalt. 

Smith noted that the Zumwalt will be equipped with the Standard SM-6 Block 1A multipurpose missile, the Standard SM-2 missile and the SPY-3 radar. 

He also said the two Advanced Gun Systems on the ship are still in lay-up pending the development of a replacement projectile.  

The current commanding officer of the USS Zumwalt, Capt. Drew Carlson, also spoke about the Zumwalt’s at-sea periods in 2019, when the ship operated in the eastern Pacific and made port calls in Victoria, British Columbia; Ketchikan, Alaska; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and San Francisco. The ship operated in Sea State 6 in the Gulf of Alaska. 

“I’d rather be in heavy seas on this ship than on any other I have been on,” Carlson said, noting that the ship now is 60% to 70% complete with hydrodynamic testing. 

“This ship is very stable,” he said, noting that experience should quiet the anxiety about the stability of the Zumwalt’s tumblehome hull form. 

Carlson said that some of the criticism of the Zumwalt is the constant comparison with the Arleigh Burke-class DDG. He said it is important to think of it as a new type of ship. 

“Maybe DDG is not the right [term] for it,” he said, musing that maybe it could be a cruiser or some other type. “It’s not the Arleigh Burke destroyer.”  

Smith said the combat systems activation of the Zumwalt should be completed by March 2020 — pending concurrence of the chief of naval operations — and is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability in September 2021. 

In 2020, the Zumwalt will be engaged in live-fire trials, operational concept development and tactical development. 

He said the USS Michael Monsoor is 93% complete and will complete its combat systems availability during the second quarter of 2020. It will begin its combat systems activation sometime in 2020. 

The third and final Zumwalt-class ship, USS Lyndon B. Johnson, is at Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine and is 90% complete with its hull, mechanical and electrical phase. Delivery to the Navy for its combat systems installation is scheduled for December. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is proceeding with studies and concept development for three special-mission ships to replace existing ships in the Military Sealift Command.

Speaking Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association symposium here, Matt Sermon, the executive director for Amphibious, Auxiliary and Sealift Office, Program Executive Office-Ships, said the Navy plans to build new ocean surveillance ships (T-AGOS), a new cable-laying ship (T-ARC) and a new oceanographic survey ship (T-AGS).

The Navy expects to issue during the second quarter of fiscal 2020 a request for proposal for industry studies for the new T-AGOS, which will be a SWATH (small waterplane, twin-hull) ship, as are the current T-AGOSs. A contract award for the Industries Studies Request for Proposals is expected in the third quarter of the year.

A new T-ARC is needed to replace the USNS Zeus, a one-of-a-kind cable laying ship, which has been in service since 1984. The 2020 budget has authorized research, development, test and evaluation funds for the program. T-AGS-67 will be a follow-on Pathfinder-class ship that will be similar to T-AGS-66, the USNS Maury, which introduced a “moon pool” for launch and recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The first of seven Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers entered into
the Cruiser Modification Program has been returned to the U.S. Navy’s fleet for
service.

USS Cowpens
went through the modification at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego over the last
four years, Capt. Kevin Byrne, the Navy’s program manager for surface ship modernization,
said Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association symposium here.

Under the
modification, the major addition is the Baseline 9A upgrade to the Aegis Combat
System with ballistic-missile defense (BMD) capability, along with the addition
of the SPQ-9B radar, the Navy Integrated Fire Control capability and the
SQQ-89(V)15 anti-submarine warfare system and the Multifunction Towed Array. The
ship’s Combat Information Center is revamped, the superstructure is
strengthened and provisions for the embarked MH-60R helicopters are included,
among other hull, mechanical and electrical improvements.

Also going
through modernization are USS Gettysburg at the BAE Systems yard in Norfolk,
Virginia, and USS Chosin, which soon will be towed to the Vigor shipyard in
Portland, Oregon. USS Cape St. George will follow at Vigor later in 2020, and USS
Vicksburg enters the BAE yard in Norfolk this month. USS Hue City is the next
to be inducted.

The seven
cruisers are part of the 11 that the Navy decided to take out of service for
modernization, but the Navy is keeping four in service for the time being to
maintain a robust BMD force structure.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — Three foreign navies have expressed interest in the U.S. Navy’s Raytheon-built
SPY-6 scalable family of shipboard radars as the Navy prepares to take delivery
this year of its first shipsets for installation.

Mike Mills,
Raytheon’s SPY-6 program director, told Seapower in a Jan. 14 interview
at the Surface Navy Association convention here that Norway, Singapore and
Japan have expressed interest in the radars. He said Raytheon hopes to land its
first foreign military sale of the radars in 2020 or 2021.

The SPY-6(V)1
Air and Missile Defense Radar is designed for the Navy’s Flight III Arleigh
Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) and features 37 radar modular
assemblies (RMAs) in fixed arrays. The SPY(V)2 Enterprise Air Search Radar
(EASR) is designed for amphibious warfare ships and features nine RMAs in a
rotating antenna.

The SPY-6(V)3
EASR, also with nine RMAs but in fixed arrays, is designed for aircraft
carriers. Another version, the SPY-6(V)4, with 24 RMAs will be back-fit on
Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The Navy’s FFG(X) next-generation
guided-missile frigate also will receive a version of the SPY-6 EASR as
government-furnished equipment.

Mills said that three shipsets — numbers 5, 6 and 7 — were placed on contract by the Navy in March and that a contract for shipsets 8 and 9 was awarded in December. The Navy ordered long-lead-time materials for the EASR radars to be installed on Bougainville (LHA 8) and USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Mills expects the Navy to order the shipsets for those two ships in May or June.

For the backfits to Flight IIA DDGS, Raytheon delivered the technical data package for the 24-RMA assembly to the Navy in October. The Navy plans on installation of the radars on many Flight IIA DDGs.

Raytheon has five AMDR arrays at the company’s facility in Andover, Massachusetts, with the first two in ranges for their scans. The company expects to deliver the next four between April and June, with the last one bound for installation of Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the first Flight III DDG.

ARLINGTON.
Va. — As Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV) goes through the
paces of testing, it is attracting the U.S. Navy’s attention for missions
beyond minesweeping.

The CUSV, an
unmanned boat capable of towing or carrying payloads, is under development for
the Navy’s Mine Countermeasures USV (MCM USV) program. Designed to tow a
mission package for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System, the MCM USV has been
tested with Raytheon’s AQS-20 and Northrop Grumman’s AQS-24 mine-hunting
sonars.

The MCM USV
has completed developmental test and operational evaluation, Wayne Prender,
vice president of Textron Systems, said in an Jan. 14 interview with Seapower
at the Surface Navy Association convention here. He said the company is
expecting a Milestone C decision from the Navy “any day now” that would
authorize low-rate initial production.

Textron has
built four CUSVs and has expanded its testing in southern Florida to include
Panama City as well. The company is working with the Naval Surface Warfare
Center at Dahlgren, Virginia, to develop expeditionary and surface warfare
packages for the CUSV.

In July, a
CUSV was modified with a remote-controlled .50-caliber M2 machine gun and a
Hellfire missile vertical launcher. In this configuration the craft was demonstrated
at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in an Advanced Naval Technology Exercise
(ANTX).

The MCM USV
has been tested in operations from an Independence-class littoral combat ship
and from two vessels of opportunity, including an expeditionary base ship and a
foreign-equivalent ship.

Prender said that Textron is continuing to work on the autonomy and mission behaviors of the CUSV.