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.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract for 34 ScanEagle unmanned aerial
vehicles for four partner nations adjacent to the South China Sea.

The Naval Air
Systems Command awarded a $47.9 million contract on May 31 to Boeing’s Insitu
in Bingen, Washington, for the UAVs as well as “spare payloads, spare and
repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services and field
service representatives,” according to a Defense Department announcement.

The UAVs will
be built for the governments of Malaysia (12 UAVs), Indonesia (8), the
Philippines (8) and Vietnam (6).

The ScanEagle
is a small Group 2 UAV that can be launched from a pneumatic rail launcher
ashore or from ship and recovered by a line that intercepts a hook on the wing
of the UAV. It can carry sensor payloads such as electro-optical imaging,
infrared imaging and millimeter wave radar. The UAV can stay aloft for 18
hours.

Deliveries are expected to
be completed by March 2022.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services though use of Group 5 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

According to a May 30 Defense Department
contract announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded GA-ASI a $36.5 million
contract modification to provide ISR services with
contractor-owned/contractor-operated MQ-9 Reaper UAVs, the same UAV used by the
U.S. Air Force.

The Marine Corps extensively has used contractor
ISR services in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, with the smaller Insitu ScanEagle,
and has employed its new service-owned Boeing Insitu RQ-21A Blackjack UAV in
the same roles. The use of the larger Reaper is filling a gap in ISR coverage
for the Marine Corps.

The Corps has developed a requirement for
its own Reapers and has requested two in the fiscal 2020 defense budget.

The current contract modification is for nine
months of Reaper services, scheduled to run through February 2020 at overseas
locations and at Yuma, Arizona.

NORFOLK,
Va. — The U.S. 2nd Fleet declared the command has achieved initial operational
capability (IOC) May 29, less than one year after being established by senior
military leaders, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs said in a May 29 release.

Vice Adm.
Andrew “Woody” Lewis, commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet, made the announcement onboard
Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, the waterfront homeport of many 2nd Fleet
maritime assets.

“The North
Atlantic has some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and with the opening
of waterways in the Arctic, this traffic will only grow,” Lewis said. “This is
a fact acknowledged by both our allies and competitors, and as such, it is
critically important U.S. 2nd Fleet reinvigorates the way our forces are
employed in this influential theater.”

In
achieving IOC, the command has reached the capability to command and control
forces assigned, as is expected of a numbered fleet, utilizing the functions
and processes of the Maritime Operations Center and Maritime Headquarters.

“The North Atlantic has some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and with the opening of waterways in the Arctic, this traffic will only grow,” Lewis said. “This is a fact acknowledged by both our allies and competitors, and as such, it is critically important U.S. 2nd Fleet reinvigorates the way our forces are employed in this influential theater.”

Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis

By
focusing on the high-end training and employment of assigned assets, the new
2nd Fleet will be postured to support the employment of forces, whether that is
on the Western side of the Atlantic, the Eastern side of the Atlantic, or up
into the Arctic.

A few days
after achieving IOC, the new fleet will lead Exercise Baltic Operations
(BALTOPS), marking the first time the fleet will operate in the European
theater, and leveraging increased lethality, interoperability and integrated
warfighting capability with allies and partners in the region.

“BALTOPS
2019 is our collective opportunity to promote peace and security through
cooperation, collaboration, interoperability, and an unambiguous display of
strength in the Baltic region,” Lewis said. “As an alliance, increasing our
capabilities across all-domains as well as building a command-wide network will
give us the ability to deter aggression and project stability.”

U.S. 2nd
Fleet exercises operational and administrative authorities over assigned ships,
aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and the North Atlantic.
Additionally, it plans and conducts maritime, joint and combined operations as
well as trains and recommends certification of combat ready naval forces for
maritime employment and operations around the globe.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has allocated
funds for long-lead components for the next production lot of the MQ-4C Triton
high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles, including one for Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF), according to a May 30 Defense Department contract
announcement.

The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded
to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. a not-to-exceed $65 million advance
acquisition contract toward the Lot 5 low-rate initial production of three
Tritons, two for the U.S. Navy and one for the RAAF. The contract also provides
for three ground stations, two for the U.S. Navy and one for the RAAF.

As of last month, Northrop Grumman had
delivered three production MQ-4Cs to the U.S. Navy.

The Australian government has identified a
requirement for seven Tritons for the maritime surveillance role. Two have been
ordered to date.

The U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19,
the first Triton squadron, is on track to deploy the Triton for an Early
Operational Capability deployment to Guam later this year. It will take two
MQ-4Cs to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to support the U.S. 7th Fleet.

Rear Adm. Brian Corey, program executive
officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, speaking May 6 at the Navy
League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland, said the two Tritons
making the first deployment will be in the aircraft’s baseline configuration.

The baseline configuration, Integrated
Functional Capability 3 (IFC 3) includes the Northrop Grumman AN/ZPY-3
Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) maritime radar, Raytheon MTS-B electro-optical/infrared
sensor turret, Automatic Identification System receiver and an electronic
support measures system.

Corey said the current priority of the
Triton program is to “put forward the IFC 4 [Integrated Functional Capability
4] capability [in the Triton] to do much of the EP-3E mission.”

The MQ-4C is scheduled to replace the EP-3E
electronic reconnaissance aircraft when the UAV’s IFC 4 multi-intelligence
capability is installed and certified for operations.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Ceremonies and a flyaway May 23 at Eglin Air
Force Base, Florida, marked the deactivation of the Navy’s first F-35C fleet
replacement squadron and its consolidation with the second F-35C FRS as the
service moves to conduct all F-35C flight training at one base.

Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101, the “Grim Reapers,” officially
will be deactivated on July 1, but the deactivation ceremonies were held May
23. The squadron flew out its last F-35Cs on that date to Naval Air Station Lemoore,
California, the home of VFA-125, the FRS that is training future F-35C pilots
and conducting transition training of VFA squadrons to the F-35C.

Reactivated in 2012 at Eglin AFB, VFA-101 has been training
instructor and test pilots to fly the F-35C Lightning II strike fighter. The
Navy decided to reactivate VFA-125 at NAS Lemoore to become an F-35C FRS.
VF-125 conducted the transition of the first fleet F-35C squadron, VFA-147,
which took the F-35C to Initial Operational Capability in February. VFA-147 is
scheduled to deploy on board USS Carl Vinson in 2021.

Although it is not of the lineage of World War II’s Fighter
Squadron 10 (VF-10), VFA-101 adopted the Grim Reaper traditions of the famous
squadron. VF-10 flew the F4F Wildcat and later F6F-3 Hellcat off USS Enterprise
(CV-6) in the Pacific during WWII. The squadron later deployed twice into
combat on board USS Intrepid (CV-11) in 1945, first with F4U-1D and later F4U-4
Corsair fighters. VF-10 was deactivated in 1945.

VF-101 was activated in 1952 at NAS Cecil Field, Florida, and took
on the nickname and traditions of VF-10 “Grim Reapers.” VF-101 flew F4U-4 Corsairs
in the Korean War and went on to operate the F2H Banshee, F4D Skyray, F3H
Demon, F-4 Phantom II and the F-14 Tomcat. VF-101 was deactivated in September
2005.

The squadron was reactivated in May 2012 as the F-35C FRS.
According to a May 23 release from the Joint Strike Fighter Wing, VFA-101 trained
more than 75 Navy and Marine Corps F-35C pilots, accepted more than 30
aircraft, trained more than 1,200 F-35C maintainers and flew nearly 11,000
flight hours.

“The contributions that VFA-101 has made to the F-35C community
will not diminish as this program grows,” VFA-101’s commanding officer, Cmdr.
Adan Covarrubias, said in the release. “The original cadre of maintainers and
pilots have left a legacy that is evidenced in all aspects of this community. Their
influence will continue long after the squadron’s doors are closed.”

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The Navy established a new unit at Naval Base San Diego on May 22 that
will serve as a fount of experimentation for the surface warfare community to
accelerate the lethality and combat readiness of the Navy’s surface warships.

In a May
20 teleconference with reporters, Vice Adm. Richard Brown, commander, Naval
Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said that he was establishing Surface
Development Squadron One (SURFDEVRON ONE) to:

• Execute operational testing and evaluation of new and emerging surface warfighting capabilities.
• Develop material and technical solutions to tactical challenges.
• Coordinate doctrine, organization, training, material, logistics, personnel and facilities requirements for unmanned surface systems.

“We want
to rapidly be able to experiment and move at a faster pace,” Brown said, noting
that the new squadron is modeled in part after the Navy’s submarine development
squadron and unmanned underwater vehicle squadron.

Brown said
the new squadron was a renaming and a repurposing of the “Z-RON”—the squadron
for the two, soon to be three, Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyers.

Brown said
the Zumwalt class DDGs would still deploy with carrier strike groups in
accordance with the Optimized Fleet Response Plan despite their assignment to
the development squadron.

He said
the Zumwalt DDGs were ideal for the squadron because if their advanced
capabilities and potential.

“There is
no reason why a Zumwalt could not control USVs,” Brown said.

He also
said he is working to get the Navy’s Sea Hunter medium-displacement unmanned
surface vehicle (USV) transferred to the squadron from the Office of Naval
Research. The Navy is experimenting with the Sea Hunter in the eastern Pacific
to develop navigation capabilities, concepts of operation and sensor
configurations for USVs. He also plans to assign the second Sea Hunter now
under construction to the squadron.

Brown
expects that the Large USVs (LUSVs) and Medium USVs (MUSVs) that are envisioned
for the fleet in the 2020s will be assigned to the development squadron as
well. The concept of operations of these USVs include the possibilities of
being controlled by another ship, a strike group commander or a fleet
commander.

“The
possibilities are endless,” he said. “We need an organization that is doing
that.”

The growth
of Surface Development Squadron One will be in phases. Phase 1, the name change
from Z-RON and the leveraging of the Zumwalt-class DDGs, will be complete by
the end of fiscal 2019.

Phase 2 will
be about building capacity, Brown said, including the absorption of the two Sea
Hunter USVs.

Phase 3,
expected to begin in 2024, will involve addition of the new LUSV and MUSV.

Brown said
the Navy’s first four littoral combat ships (LCS) — Freedom, Independence, Fort
Worth and Coronado — would be transferred to the development squadron at the
end of Phase 2 or Phase 3. These LCS are currently considered nondeploying test
ships to support development of the fleet of successor LCS and their mission
packages.

Capt. Hank
Adams is the first commanding officer of Surface Development Squadron One. He
will report directly to Brown.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — With the U.S. Navy resuming manufacture of Mk48 torpedoes for its
submarines after a two-decade hiatus, the engineering effort to restore the industrial
capability to build the torpedo has required some resourcefulness on the part
of defense contractors.

SAIC won a competitive contract to build the torpedo’s aft section, consisting of the propulsion section and the propeller, said Stephen Rigdon, SAIC vice president for programs in the Defense Systems Customer Group, speaking to Seapower on May 6 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition in National Harbor, Maryland.

The guidance-and-control
section is being built by Lockheed Martin. Rigdon said the warheads and fuel
tanks in the middle section of the torpedo are on hand in the Navy’s inventory.

“This is a
build-from-scratch program,” Rigdon said. “They haven’t been built since the
mid-90s. The biggest challenge we faced is reinvigorating the supply chain, finding
suppliers that can provide the assemblies that go inside this torpedo.”

He said there
was no new technology in the propulsion sections, dating to the late 1980s and
early 1990s. The Mk48 originally was built by Gould.

“We’re
building this from a government print,” he said. “What we’re finding out in
some cases is that if you build it to the print it doesn’t necessarily work
perfectly. If you go back to the ‘90s, there was a guy that worked for the
company that knew how to do that. That person is retired now. So, it’s been an
engineering challenge to figure those things out.”

“The Navy has programs underway to look at improved engines and things like that,” he said.

SAIC is under
contract to build 95 propulsion sections for the Mk48, with two more options on
the contract.

“The Navy may
buy up to 199 more,” Rigdon said.

SAIC is
building the torpedo assemblies at its facility in Bedford, Indiana.