WASHINGTON —
The Navy’s top officer told a gathering of naval engineers and industry
officials that being technologically ready for war is not something that can be
achieved overnight but is the result of diligent experimentation and keeping
pace with one’s adversary.

“The technological landscape is changing so fast, across all of
technology, really fueled by this information revolution that we’re in the
middle of right now,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson said,
speaking June 20 in Washington at the Technology, Systems and Ships Symposium
of the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE).

“We really do
need to move apace, but what we rely on — groups like naval engineers and ASNE
— is to make sure that as we do that we move forward not on hope, not on
magazine articles, not on predictions, but move forward based on solid
engineering.

“This is the
challenge. We’ve got to move forward on an evidence-based approach.”

Technological agility was a quality Richardson stressed as necessary to
keep up with evolving threats.

Richardson said that the supremacy of U.S. naval aviation after
the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled the U.S. battleships
was not a rapid development but the result of 20 years of innovation and hard
work by the fleet and such visionaries as Rear Adm. William Moffett and Adm.
Joseph Mason Reeves.

“This was not something we did as a pick-up team on Dec. 8,” Richardson
said. “We had evidence, a lot of experimentation, a lot of engineering going
into that, so that force [naval aviation] was truly ready to take on that new
mission, that new role, and it wasn’t just a pick-up thing overnight.”

“This is the way we have to move forward,” he said. “We have to continue
to get out there, experiment, prototype, get that evidence that these new
technologies are ready to carry on and take on the responsibility for the
security of our nation.

“And we have to do that at pace. We do not want to be the second Navy
armed with these decisive technologies — directed energy, unmanned, machine
learning, artificial intelligence, etc. … This is a human challenge at the end
of the day.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy RQ-4A Block 10 Global Hawk
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) shot down June 19 by Iranian forces was destroyed
by a surface-to-air missile of indigenous Iranian design and manufacture.

The Global Hawk was downed by a missile system the
Iranians call the Third of Khordad, which was
first unveiled in Iran in 2014. The system’s missile has a range of 75
kilometers and can intercept targets at an altitude of up to 81,000 feet,
higher than the 60,000-foot ceiling of the Global Hawk.

One
former Navy electronic countermeasures officer described the Third of Khordad
as a knock-off of the Russian-designed BUK-M1 (NATO code name SA-11 Gadfly) missile
system.

In a June 20 release, U.S. Central Command spokesman
Cmdr. Bill Urban said the RQ-4A was shot down “while operating in international airspace over the Strait of
Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19, 2019. Iranian reports that
the aircraft was over Iran are false. This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S.
surveillance asset in international airspace.”

Iran claimed the UAV had violated Iranian airspace.

The incident occurred a few days after Iranian forces
fired a missile at a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper UAV near the Strait of Hormuz and damaged
two oil tankers with limpet mines. Last month, four tankers were damaged by
explosives believed to be limpet mines.

The Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Block 10 Global Hawk
high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAV also is known as the BAMS-D (Broad-Area
Maritime Surveillance-Demonstration) system. Urban said the RQ-4A “provides
real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over vast
ocean and coastal regions.”

The Navy has deployed the RQ-4A to Southwest Asia since 2009 as a
component of the Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstration (BAMS-D)
program. Five RQ-4As were acquired from the U.S. Air Force and were based at
Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and operated by a detachment of
Patrol Reconnaissance Wing 11. The detachment keeps at least one RQ-4A in the
rotation to a base in the Persian Gulf region. One was lost in a mishap in
Maryland in June 2012.

The Navy and Northrop Grumman have been developing a
Global Hawk derivative, the MQ-4C Triton, to meet the Navy’s HALE requirements.
Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19 is scheduled to send a two-aircraft detachment to
Guam this year for the Triton’s Early Operational Capability deployment. The
deployment had been delayed a year following the gear-up landing of one of the
squadron’s MQ-4Cs in September 2018.

According to news reports, one MQ-4C recently had been
deployed to Southwest Asia as part of the U.S. buildup of forces in response to
Iranian hostile acts. The deployment initially led to some erroneous reports
that the downed UAV was an MQ-4C.

WASHINGTON —
The admiral in charge of building the Navy’s surface ships said the
construction programs are tracking well and that the service is gearing up for
some new platforms, including unmanned surface ships.

“We are in an era of stable design,” said Rear Adm. William Galinis, program executive officer for ships, speaking June 18 in Washington at the Technology, Systems and Ships Symposium of the American Society of Naval Engineers. “As we look forward, on the surface side, some new opportunities are on the horizon.”

Galinis was referring to stable designs such as the Arleigh Burke DDG 51 Flight IIA and III programs, the San Antonio-class LPD 17 program, the Tripoli LHA 7 — which will have full capability for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — and the Virginia-class attack submarine.

Ship programs
on the horizon he mentioned are the new FFG(X) guided-missile frigate, the
Large Surface Combatant, and unmanned surface vessels.

Galinis said
the Large Surface Combatant is likely to benefit from lessons learned through
the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer program.

“We’re
learning a ton off of that platform,” he said, noting the integrated power
system and low-observable signature of the ship, among other aspects, and that
signature requirements “really does drive up cost.”

He said that
use of mature technology will keep cost down on the Large Surface Combatant.

“Not to predispose anything, but I think in the end, you know, it’s
probably going to look a lot more like DDG 1000 than DDG 51 if I had to say
so,” Galinis said, noting that a lot of work remained to be done.

He also praised the use in shipbuilding of land-based
test sites, which, he said, “buy us a lot once we get into construction.”

Also speaking
with Galinis was Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, the chief engineer and deputy chief of
staff for ship design, integration and naval engineering at Naval Sea Systems
Command.

Selby sees
the new classes of ships coming in the next era of shipbuilding as an
“opportunity for us to reset on the way we do business at NAVSEA.”

He stressed
that the Navy needs to build up its talent base in ship design and engineering
as development proceeds on new classes of ships and submarines and needs to
space the workload so that the work force can be sustained as ship design work
comes and goes.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department’s plans to provide
additional security cooperation aid to Ukraine includes unspecified support for
Ukraine’s navy and naval infantry, the Pentagon said in a release.

DoD said it would provide $250 million in security
cooperation funds to Ukraine “for additional training, equipment and advisory
efforts to build the capacity of Ukraine’s armed forces.”

The security assistance funds will bring the total given to
Ukraine to $1.5 billion since 2014.

“The new funds will provide equipment to support ongoing
training programs and operational needs, including capabilities to enhance:
maritime situational awareness and operations as part of ongoing U.S. efforts
to increase support for Ukraine’s navy and naval infantry; the defensive
capacity and survivability of Ukraine’s land and special operations forces
through the provision of sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and
counter-artillery radars; command and control; electronic warfare detection and
secure communications; military mobility; night vision; and, military medical
treatment,” according to the June 18 release.

DoD said the funding “is made possible by Ukraine’s continued progress on the adoption of key defense institutional reforms to align Ukraine’s national security architecture with Euro-Atlantic principles.

“The United States remains committed to helping Ukraine implement provisions of Ukraine’s 2018 Law on National Security to strengthen democratic civilian control of the military, promote command and control reforms, enhance transparency and accountability in acquisition and budgeting, and advance defense industry reforms. These reforms will bolster Ukraine’s ability to defend its territorial integrity in support of a secure, prosperous, democratic and free Ukraine.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Central Command has published a
timeline of the June 13 attacks on two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

The two motor tankers, the Norway-flagged M/TAltair and the Japan-flagged M/T Kokuka Courageous, were
apparently damaged by limpet mines placed on their hulls. Ships and P-8
aircraft of the U.S. 5th Fleet responded to the incidents to render assistance
and to investigate who launched the attacks.

Secretary of State Michael
Pompeo later blamed Iran for the attacks, according to a June 13 report in
Politico. “These attacks are a threat to international peace and security,
a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable escalation
of tension by Iran,” he is quoted as saying by the Politico report.

Pompeo said his assessment
was based “on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to
execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping and the fact
that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to
act with such a high degree of sophistication,” Politico reported.

The incidents followed covert attacks on May
12 on four tankers in the waters of the United Arab Emirates, apparently also
with limpet mines.

The following is a timeline of the June 13 attacks
provided by Capt. Bill Urban of U.S. Central Command public affairs:

• U.S. Naval forces in the region received two separate distress
  calls at 6:12 a.m. local time from the Altair and a second one at 7 a.m. from Kokuka
  Courageous.
• Both vessels were in international waters in the Gulf of Oman about
  10 nautical miles apart at the time of the distress calls. USS Bainbridge was about
  40 nautical miles away from Altair at the time of the attack and immediately
  began closing the distance.
• At 8:09 a.m., a U.S. aircraft observed an Iranian Islamic
  Revolutionary Guard Corps Hendijan-class patrol boat and multiple IRGC fast attack
  craft/fast inshore attack craft (FAC/FIAC) in the vicinity of Altair.
• At 9:12 a.m., a U.S. aircraft observed the FAC/FIAC pull a raft
  from the Altair from the water.
• At 9:26 a.m., the Iranians requested that the motor vessel Hyundai
  Dubai, which had rescued the sailors from the Altair, turn the crew over to the
  Iranian FIACs. The Hyundai Dubai complied with the request and transferred the
  crew of the Altair to the Iranian FIACs.
• At 11:05 a.m. local time, USS Bainbridge approached the Dutch tug
  Coastal Ace, which had rescued the crew of 21 sailors from the Kokuka
  Courageous who had abandoned their ship after discovering a probable unexploded
  limpet mine on their hull following an initial explosion.
• While the Iranian Hendijan patrol boat appeared to attempt to get
  to the tug Coastal Ace before Bainbridge, the mariners were rescued by Bainbridge
  at the request of the master of the Kokuka Courageous. The rescued sailors are
  currently aboard Bainbridge.
• At 4:10 p.m., an IRGC Gashti-class patrol boat approached the Kokuka
  Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine
  from the Kokuka Courageous.

“The U.S. and our partners in the region will
take all necessary measures to defend ourselves and our interests,” Urban said.
“Today’s attacks are a clear threat to international freedom of navigation and
freedom of commerce. The U.S. and the international community stand ready to
defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation. The United States
has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we
will defend our interests.”

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The merger of the Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. (UTC),
announced June 9, will result in a defense company with a broad portfolio in
weapons, sensors, mission systems, avionics and propulsion.

In a joint
announcement, Raytheon and UTC said they entered into an agreement to merge, naming
the merged company Raytheon Technologies Corp.

“The transaction will create a premier systems provider with
advanced technologies to address rapidly growing segments within aerospace and
defense,” the announcement said. “The merger of Raytheon, a leading defense
company, and United Technologies, a leading aerospace company, comprised of Collins
Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney, will offer a complementary portfolio of
platform-agnostic aerospace and defense technologies.”

Raytheon
is known for missiles and other aerial weapons, radars, undersea weapons,
command-and-control systems and mission systems among other systems. UTC is the
manufacturer of the F135 engine used on the F-35. Collins is known for cockpit
avionics and other aircraft systems.

“Areas of joint advancement include, but are not limited to:
hypersonics and future missile systems; directed energy weapons; intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) in contested environments; cyber
protection for connected aircraft; next generation connected airspace; and
advanced analytics and artificial intelligence for commercial aviation,” the
companies’ announcement said.

Raytheon’s four business sectors will be consolidated into
two sectors, Intelligence, Space and Airborne Systems and Integrated Defense and
Missile Systems. The UTC sectors Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney will
form the third and fourth sectors of Raytheon Technologies.

Tom Kennedy, the current chairman and chief executive
officer of Raytheon, will be appointed executive chairman of Raytheon Technologies
and Greg Hayes will be named CEO. Two years following the close of the
transaction, Hayes will assume the role of chairman and CEO. The company will
remain headquartered in the Boston area.

UTC’s
Carrier and Otis sectors are expected to be spun off into separate companies in
2020.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded to Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics Co. a contract to continue development of Block 4 capabilities for
the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $1.8 billion “cost-plus-incentive-fee,
cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for continued design
maturation and development of Block 4 capabilities in support of the F-35
Lightning II Phase 2.3 Pre-Modernization for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps
and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants,” according to a Defense
Department announcement.

Details of the Block 4 capabilities have not been released by the
F-35 Joint Program Office, but they are mainly incremental software and sensor
upgrades intended to add to the aircraft’s agility, lethality and situational
awareness to enable the aircraft to keep ahead of the threats anticipated in
the future.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded a
contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in Baltimore for full-rate
production of the TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR).

According to a June 7 Department of Defense release, the
Marine Corps Systems Command awarded to Northrop Grumman a $958 million contract
for the purchase of 30 full-rate production G/ATORs plus spare parts and
retrofit kits.

The Marine Corps plans to procure a total of 45 G/ATOR
units.

The TPS-80 is a three-dimensional,
expeditionary, short/medium-range, multirole radar capable of detecting
low-observable, low-radar-cross-section targets such as rockets, artillery,
mortars, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial systems.

G/ATOR is being developed and
fielded in three blocks and will be used by Marine Air-Ground Task Force across
a range of its capabilities. The capability blocks will cover air combat element
and ground combat element missions, replacing three in-service legacy radars
and the functionality of two systems already retired.

The Program Executive Officer Land Systems in Quantico,
Virginia, is the portfolio manager of the G/ATOR program.

CHERBOURG, France — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer named a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, DDG 132, in honor of Coast Guard Capt. Quentin Walsh, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his service during World War II, the secretary’s public affairs office announced in a June 6 release.

“Capt.
Walsh was a hero whose efforts during World War II continue to inspire, and his
leadership in securing the French port of Cherbourg had a profound effect on
the success of the amphibious operations associated with Operation Overlord,”
Spencer said.

“For over
two centuries, the Navy and Marine Corps team and the Coast Guard have sailed
side by side, in peacetime and war, fair weather or foul. I am honored the
future USS Quentin Walsh will carry Capt. Walsh’s legacy of strength and
service throughout the world, and I am proud that for decades to come, this
ship will remind friends and adversaries alike of the proud history of our
services and the skill and professionalism of all those who stand the watch
today.”

Spencer
made the announcement alongside Adm. Karl Schultz, the commandant of the U.S.
Coast Guard, in a ceremony aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle in
Cherbourg, France.

“We
are grateful to the U.S. Navy and Sec. Spencer for honoring one of our Coast
Guard heroes, Capt. Quentin Walsh,” Schultz said. “Naming a future
Navy destroyer after Capt. Walsh, the first Arleigh Burke-class ship to be
named after a Coast Guard legend, highlights not only his courageous actions
but the bravery of all U.S. service members involved in the D-Day Invasion of
Normandy.

“The
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard legacies are interwoven as reflected in the heroic
actions of Capt. Walsh and the Navy Sailors under his command during the
liberation of Cherbourg,” the commandant continued. “We will remain
always ready to stand with our brothers and sisters in the U.S. Navy and Marine
Corps.”

During
World War II, while serving on the staff of the commander, U.S. Naval Forces,
Europe, then Cmdr. Walsh was given command of a 53-man special task force
assigned to capture the vital port of Cherbourg. Despite heavy casualties, his
small force seized the port facilities and took control of the harbor the day
after they entered the city.

After he
discovered that the remaining German garrison at Fort du Homet held 52 U.S.
Army paratroopers as prisoners, Walsh, under a flag of truce, exaggerated the
strength of the forces under his command and persuaded the commanding officer
of the remnants of the German garrison to surrender. These actions earned him
the Navy Cross and, all told, he accepted the surrender of over 700 German
soldiers. Walsh died May 18, 2000.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy has reduced the number of F/A-18C Hornet strike fighters it
is modernizing to the F/A-18C+ configuration from 25 to 19, only enough to field
one squadron for the U.S. Marine Corps, according to Michael Land, a spokesman
for the Naval Air Systems Command.

As an upgrade
to the F/A-18C, the F/A-18C+ is equipped with an upgraded APG-73 radar, Link
16, color cockpit displays, a moving-map display, ALE-47 infrared
countermeasures, the Naval Aircrew Common Ejection Seat and the Joint
Helmet-Mounted Cueing System. The service life of the airframes is being
extended from 6,000 flight hours to 8,000 hours.

Originally
the C+ program was to include 30 aircraft, enough to field two squadrons. The
number later was reduced to 25.

The aircraft
are being upgraded by Boeing at its facility at Cecil Field in Jacksonville,
Florida.

As of early May, three of the C+ versions had been completed. Two had been delivered to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 (VMFA-115), one of which had been lost in a mishap. The third has been delivered to reserve squadron VMFA-112 at Naval Air Station Fort Worth in Texas in May. That squadron is scheduled to receive most of the C+ Hornets.