ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has exercised a contract option to order 79 Block II+ kits for Harpoon cruise missiles, the Defense Department said in a Jan. 30 release. The $16 million order by the Naval Air Systems Command comprises…

WASHINGTON — The Navy’s top officer defended the notion of survivability for U.S. aircraft carriers and their battle groups in an era when great power competitors are developing advanced weaponry such as hypersonic missiles. “There is a great virtue to…

WASHINGTON — The Navy must be able to rapidly adjust to changing geopolitical situations and technological advances to maintain maritime superiority, the Navy’s top officer said. “We’ve got to, in the Navy, restore agility,” said Adm. John M. Richardson, chief…

ARLINGTON, Va. — While mine countermeasures dominate the Navy’s efforts in mine warfare, the service has accelerated improvements over the last two years in its weaponry in offensive mine warfare, the ability to lay anti-ship and anti-submarine mines. The service…

ARLINGTON, Va. — The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships (LPD 17s) in production are incorporating improvements as the class progresses to the Flight II configuration, the Navy’s program manager said. “The mission remains the same,” Capt. Brian Metcalf, the…

ARLINGTON, Va. — Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded to the Lockheed Martin LCS team a fixed-price, incentive-fee contract for an additional littoral combat ship, LCS 31, the company said in a release. LCS 31 will be built in Marinette,…

ARLINGTON, Va. — Austal USA officials have revealed features of its conceptual design for the Navy’s competition for the Future Guided-Missile Frigate (FFG(X)), an evolution of its Independence-class littoral combat (LCS) design. The company has provided an artist’s concept and…

ARLINGTON, Va. — The program manager for the Navy’s new-construction Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) guided-missile destroyers reveled in the stability of the program in wake of the passage of the 2019 defense budget and the approval of multiyear procurement of…

ARLINGTON, Va. — The cost estimates of the Navy’s future guided-missile frigate (FFG(X) are coming in under the required threshold and trending downward toward the cost objective, the program manager said. Speaking Jan. 17 to an audience at the Surface…

ARLINGTON, Va. — The readiness of the Navy’s Forward-Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) stationed in Japan is improving, the Navy’s surface warfare chief said, crediting a new command, the Naval Surface Group Western Pacific, with driving much of the improvement. “The…