CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coast Guard law enforcement crews interdicted 78 lanchas, seized 15,484 pounds of catch and detained 208 fishermen during fiscal year 2021 along the Texas coast, the Coast Guard 8^th District said Dec. 5. 

Since the first recorded lancha interdiction in the late 1980s, the Coast Guard has seen a significant uptick in the detection of the vessels, recording close to 300 lancha interdictions in the past three fiscal years combined. 

A noteworthy case from this year was on Aug. 4, when Coast Guard Station South Padre Island worked with Coast Guard Sector and Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Coast Guard Cutter Pelican to interdict four lanchas with a total of 320 pounds of red snapper and 1,160 pounds of shark in one day. 

In cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, the Coast Guard uses a layered approach to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing through aircraft, small boats and cutters, as well as improved technology on those assets, resulting in the drastic increase in lancha interdictions. 

“The crew at Station South Padre Island takes their role of protecting our natural resources from poaching along the Maritime Boundary Line very seriously,” said Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Ippolito, commanding officer of Coast Guard Station South Padre Island. “The last few years of record-breaking lancha interdictions speak to the steadfast commitment, professionalism, and teamwork of the Coast Guard crews and our partners at Texas Parks and Wildlife to this mission. We ask that the public continue to stay vigilant and report any instances of illegal fishing to the Coast Guard or Texas Parks and Wildlife.” 

A lancha is a fishing boat used by Mexican fishermen that is approximately 20-30 feet long with a slender profile. They typically have one outboard motor and are capable of traveling at speeds exceeding 30 mph. Lanchas pose a major threat, usually entering the United States’ exclusive economic zone near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Gulf of Mexico with the intent to smuggle people, drugs, or poach natural resources. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced May 19 the designation of 27 Centers of Excellence for Domestic Maritime Workforce Training and Education (CoE). The CoE designation recognizes community colleges and training institutions that prepare students for careers in our nation’s maritime industry. These academic institutions are located in sixteen states and one U.S. territory.   

“Our collaboration with these institutions represents an important expansion of MARAD’s role in supporting maritime education and will help form pathways to good-paying American jobs in our nation’s maritime industry,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.   

MARAD may now start working with the designated institutions to enter into cooperative agreements to help advance recruitment of students and faculty, enhance facilities, award student credit for military service, and potentially receive assistance in the form of surplus equipment or temporary use of MARAD vessels.   

Authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, the CoE program is designed to assist the maritime industry in gaining and sustaining a well-trained labor force while enhancing diversity and inclusion in the industry.   

“The CoE designations recognize the high standard of maritime education and training provided by the designated community and technical colleges and maritime training centers. These institutions play vital roles in our nation’s maritime industry by providing the training and skills students need to begin and advance careers afloat and ashore,” said Acting Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley.  

Information regarding the CoE program and the application process was disseminated through Federal Register notices. Successful applicants include accredited community colleges, technical colleges, and maritime training centers under State supervision. A searchable, interactive map is available to provide information on each CoE designee. For additional information, please visit Centers of Excellence on the MARAD website. 

MAYPORT, Fla. — The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) with embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) team seized over 120 kilograms of suspected cocaine July 24, U.S. 4th Fleet/U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Public Affairs said in an Aug. 11 release. 

While on routine patrol approximately 200 nautical miles southwest of Jamaica, a helicopter assigned to the “Wolf Pack” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75 located the vessel and Pinckney soon arrived on scene. After coordination with the government of Colombia and the Colombian navy, the vessel was searched and six suspected drug smugglers were detained. The mariners are now in Colombia’s custody. 

Upon examination, Pinckney personnel determined one detainee required medical assistance, and a medical evacuation was necessary for the patient to survive. That individual was transported further medical treatment.   

Pinckney and the embarked LEDET recovered an estimated 120 kilograms of suspected cocaine worth an estimated wholesale value worth over $4.5 million. 

USS Pinckney is deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations conducting U.S Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South’s enhanced counter drug operations missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. 

PACIFIC OCEAN — Sailors aboard USS Zumwalt, working with engineers and technicians from Navy surface warfare centers, executed a “structural test fire” of the Mark 46 Mod 2 Gun Weapon System (GWS) at the Naval Air Weapons Center Weapons Division Sea Test Range, Point Mugu, on May 16, according to a U.S. 3rd Fleet release. 

“The privilege of being a ‘first-in-class’ ship includes having the opportunity to systematically conduct testing across the breadth of systems installed onboard the ship,” said Capt. Andrew Carlson, Zumwalt’s commanding officer. “The real plus is conducting those tests, such as today’s live fire with the Mark 46 GWS, which provide tangible evidence of combat capability maturation.” 

The Mark 46 GWS is a remotely operated naval gun system that uses a 30 mm high-velocity cannon, a forward-looking infrared sensor, a low-light TV camera and a laser rangefinder for shipboard self-defense against small, high speed surface targets. It is a program of record already successfully installed and operated on LPD-17- and LCS-class ships. The test firing aboard the Zumwalt was the first large caliber weapons firing event for the Zumwalt-class destroyer program and occurred only three weeks after the Navy officially accepted delivery of the combat system. 

Test fires assess structural and electrical components of the ship against shock and vibration of the weapon firing. They also measure potential hazards to personnel or degradations to adjacent equipment as a result of firing live ordnance. The tests are a coordinated effort between the Zumwalt Class Destroyer Program Office, the U.S. 3rd Fleet, Commander, Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and the Naval Sea Systems Command surface warfare centers in Dahlgren, Virginia, Port Hueneme, California, and Indian Head, Maryland. 

“Today’s event is the first in a chapter of live-fire test events over the next year that will prove the lethal capability that these ships will bring to the fight,” said Lt. Cmdr. Tim Kubisak, the Zumwalt test officer for the Program Executive Office for integrated warfare systems, embarked aboard the Zumwalt. 

The Zumwalt-class destroyer is designed and built to execute multiple maritime missions, including deterrence and power projection. The ships’ stealth and ability to operate in both the open ocean and near-shore environments creates a new level of battlespace complexity for potential adversaries.  

The Zumwalt is 100 feet longer and 13 feet wider than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, providing the space required to execute a wider array of surface, undersea and aviation missions.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense Department officials are reportedly split on reinstatement of Capt. Brett Crozier following his ouster as commander of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt earlier this month by then-Navy Secretary Thomas Modly.

After the end of a preliminary investigation into Crozier’s dismissal, top U.S. Navy officials announced April 24 that a recommendation on Crozier’s fate had been delivered to Modly’s replacement, acting Navy Secretary James McPherson, and that McPherson was still in talks with Defense Secretary Mark Esper on the question of restoring Crozier to his previous position.

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However, several media outlets have reported April 24 and since that McPherson and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday recommended that Crozier be restored to his former command.

Another outlet said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley wanted to pump the brakes and recommended a longer and more detailed investigation before Crozier’s status is determined.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, emphatically weighed in April 24 in favor of Crozier’s reinstatement. “The secretary of defense needs to reinstate Capt. Brett Crozier as commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt,” Smith said in his statement.

The Navy was less committal, at least publicly, that day — so a final decision may take days or weeks longer. President Trump may also reportedly weigh in.

“This afternoon, Secretary Esper received a verbal update from the acting secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations on the Navy’s preliminary inquiry into the COVID-19 outbreak on the [Roosevelt],” Jonathan Rath Hoffman, public affairs assistant to Esper, said April 24.

“After the secretary receives a written copy of the completed inquiry, he intends to thoroughly review the report and will meet again with Navy leadership to discuss next steps. He remains focused on and committed to restoring the full health of the crew and getting the ship at sea again soon.”

Gilday directed Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Robert Burke to investigate the circumstances and climate of the entire Pacific Fleet “to help determine what may have contributed to a breakdown in the chain of command,” Modly said April 2, the day he announced that Crozier was relieved of his command.

A day earlier, at a press briefing on the Roosevelt virus outbreak, Gilday spoke of “a potential comms breakdown, wherever it occurred,” adding “we’re not looking to shoot the messenger here, we want to get this right.”

Crozier was fired by Modly after a March 30 letter the captain wrote to top Navy officers and fellow naval aviators leaked to a San Francisco newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, which published a story the next day. The publication of the letter sparked an outcry and worldwide media attention over Crozier’s actions and the fate of the carrier’s crew.

A week later, Modly added fuel to the fire with a profanity-laced speech criticizing Crozier in front of the nuclear carrier’s crew that went viral on social media. Modly had to resign the next day, April 7, in the wake of the expanding controversy.

At the time Crozier wrote his letter, three Sailors on the Theodore Roosevelt had tested positive for COVID-19, but many more were later found to be infected after the carrier made a scheduled port visit to Guam. As of April 25, the Navy reported that the entire crew had been tested for the virus, with 833 total positive and 4,105 negative results. A small number of results were pending, the Navy added. Of the total cases, 112 Sailors have recovered and 4,273 Sailors have moved ashore.

Two Sailors assigned to the Roosevelt were in U.S. Naval Hospital Guam under treatment for COVID-19 symptoms. None of those hospitalized for the virus was in the intensive care unit. However, one Sailor from the Roosevelt did die there earlier this month from complications of the infection, the Navy reported.

In his letter, the captain wrote that he believed the carrier had inadequate space to isolate or quarantine Sailors. He also pleaded for faster intervention from his superiors to assist his crew. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,” Crozier wrote. “If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”

He was hailed as a hero by his crew — who were seen on video cheering him on during his departure from the ship in Guam — as well as some in and out of the military, while others criticized him for circumventing the Navy’s chain of command.

“What we’ve learned from the TR is very informative,” Hoffman said April 24 of the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases on the carrier.

That has led to a priority-based, tiered system of testing starting with critical national capabilities, like strategic nuclear deterrent units, working its way through fielded forces around the world, forward-deployed and redeploying forces and the rest of the force.

Meanwhile, an embarked medical team continues testing aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Kidd in the eastern Pacific, where 33 Sailors have tested positive for COVID-19. Two Sailors have been medically evacuated to the United States. Sailors aboard the Kidd are wearing PPE and N95 masks. The amphibious ship USS Makin Island, with a fleet surgical team, ICU capacity and ventilators and additional testing capability, is en route to rendezvous with the Kidd in case medical support is required at sea.

The Navy continues to lead all armed services with 1,659 cases of the novel coronavirus, followed by the Army with 995, the National Guard with 792, the Air Force with 347 and the Marine Corps with 304, according to the latest data released by the Defense Department on April 27. There have been only two deaths among military personnel.

Seapower Correspondent John M. Doyle contributed to this report.

Space is not benign — no longer just the domain of unmanned scientific probes and occupied by astronauts in capsules or space stations exploring and conducting research, panelists stressed during a webcast that was aired on April 16 as part of the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2020: Virtual Edition. 

“Space, internationally, is very important to our way of life. It’s of strategic importance. We see our adversaries starting to weaponize space,” said Rear Adm. Marcus Hitchcock, director of strategy, plans and policy at U.S. Space Command, the unified combatant command responsible for American military operations in outer space.

To register and then watch this Sea-Air-Space 2020: Virtual Edition webinar live online, click here. 

Other guests in the panel discussion, which was moderated by Francis Rose, included Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency, and Christian Zur, executive director of the Procurement and Space Industry Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

“We’ve seen a massive explosion in everything space, at the national level and in our military,” Hitchcock observed, noting the establishment last year of the newest branch of the military, the U.S. Space Force. “Every morning we leap out of bed and we come in and stand the watch to maintain our space domain.” 

The admiral observed that space has already seen its share of incidents, such as the 2017 launch of a missile by the People’s Republican of China, a “Great Power Competitor” along with Russia, that shot down a satellite in low-earth orbit. “This is a very real example of our adversaries or potential adversaries developing counter-space offensive weapons that can test our supremacy.” 

A satellite recently launched by Russia also is believed to have the capability to damage or disable U.S. Military assets in orbit, Hitchcock added. 

To maintain America’s strategic high ground in space, Tournear said the U.S. needs to maintain its technological advantage but speed up the frequency of its launches of defense assets. 

“In the last National Defense Strategy, it basically said we have the new technology, we have the best digital base, but we do not have the speed, and our adversaries are able to get capabilities in orbit in three- to five-year timeframes at the longest. At the shortest, we can do it in 10 years [but] usually it’s closer to 15.” 

It’s the mission of the Space Development Agency to field U.S. capabilities to orbit faster, he added. 

Moderator Rose observed that the NASA-based model had “flipped over the past few years,” where instead of U.S. efforts in space being led by the vaunted civilian government agency, space efforts are being pioneered by private industry — scientific and commercial endeavors but most especially defense applications. 

Tournear countered that this development has led to companies building “hundreds of thousands” of satellites, commoditizing them and getting them to orbit quickly. “No longer does the government need to lead to make sure we develop the best technology,” he said. “We need to make sure we can get technology up there every two years.” 

Zur picked up the discussion from private industry’s perspective. 

He said the pairing of industry and defense technology for space started early, in the 1950s. Once the Defense Department started seeking technology for space, notably computer chips, costs per chip started going down. That trend has stretched into today, Zur said. 

Rose touched on the responsibility that commercial industry and governments hold to mind how they maintain low-earth orbit. Zur talked about space debris but also private industry’s role as caretaker. 

“While I could argue that there aren’t really enduring procedures that are accepted among all the players, and in large part militaries around the world have different objectives, we in the U.S. have kind of taken the lead in the commercial use of space. These norms and procedures have to be established, not only from a regulation standpoint, it’s simply best business practices. We’re just at the beginning stages of this.” 

Hitchcock agreed with Rose that it’s important for U.S. Space Command to know what commercial assets are in orbit, where they are and what function they are serving. The U.S. is “getting better at looking up and understanding what is in space,” he added. 

He described a new radar that recently went active that can map and track assets of all kinds — U.S. governmental, foreign and commercial. Older tracking counted some 25,000 objects in orbit, only 2,000 of which were actual satellites or other platforms, he said. “The rest of it was debris, trash. We think our understanding of what’s up there will increase tenfold as this ‘space fence’ comes online, and we might see as many as 250,000 different objects up there.” 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is looking at acquisition strategies for procuring four amphibious warfare ships over the next few years to achieve economies, the Navy’s top acquisition official said. 

During March 4 testimony about the fiscal 2021 shipbuilding proposal before the Seapower subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee by James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he was pleased that the 2021 proposal had accelerated the planned procurement of amphibious assault ship LHA 9 from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2023. 

Geurts said that the acceleration was enabled because Congress had appropriated funds and given incremental funding authority “relatively early to that need.”  

“Our challenge in the future budgets will be to place that money back in the program so we can deliver that LHA,” he said.  

Wicker asked about the possibility of a multiyear procurement for three Block II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships (LPDs 31, 32 and 33) and LHA 9. He referred to a request last year from the Seapower subcommittee to “review alternative acquisition strategies for amphibious ships to leverage multiple-ship contracts, which have saved billions of dollars. In this review, the Navy reported that significant savings could be achieved by procuring various combinations of amphibious ships.” 

“There is tremendous potential as [said] in our report to Congress, and as we’ve looked at it even further to doing a block buy of the three LPDs and the LHA,” Geurts said. 

“We see that savings to be in that 8% to 12% range, which would be a billion dollars back in taxpayer savings. So, we’re looking at that closely. We’re also executing that advance procurement, long-lead funding that’s been appropriated with the incremental authority. The things that I’ve seen in the draft of the SHIPS Implementation Act in terms of giving us more authorities to do smart procurement will be tremendously beneficial.” 

The Huntington Ingalls shipyard where the Navy’s amphibious warfare ships are built is in Pascagoula, Mississippi. 

Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz of the Coast Guard headlined a Navy League and Shipbuilders Council of America shipbuilding caucus breakfast on Nov. 21 in cooperation with two members of Congress, Reps. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Rob Wittman (R-Va.).

The
shipbuilding caucus provided a forum for members of Congress and U.S. Coast
Guard, Navy, Marine Corps and industry leaders to improve awareness of the
current and future state of shipbuilding.

A topic of prominence at the breakfast at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., was how well the Coast Guard is resourced and how the sea service — as well as the Navy, Marine Corps and U.S. Merchant Marine — is managing budgetarily in the era of uncertainty under continuing resolutions (CR) from Congress.

At the caucus breakfast, “I reiterated the theme from the [Navy League Anchors Aweigh Congressional Fly-In on Nov. 14] regarding the damage done by continuously running CRs and that this process stymies the ability for the forces to stay ahead or keep pace with our competitors,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, a former commander of the U.S. 4th Fleet and now the civilian director of business development at the Department of the Navy. “DoD and DHS need stable budgets now and the flexibility to move resources in the direction of addressing challenges and changes in technology.”

Brig. Gen. Robert C. Fulford, Marine Commandant Gen. David H. Berger’s legislative assistant, also carried the message of the damage done to the services by CRs to another Navy League event, a “Special Topics Breakfast” the same morning as the shipbuilding caucus event. Fulford told defense industry attendees that CRs had helped to “normalize life under budget uncertainty.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps must change course. Peer
competition from Russia is resurgent and China is rapidly expanding its
influence. A return to a Fleet Marine Force is the new reality — and the sea
service must do all this in the face of budgetary uncertainty from Capitol
Hill, a top deputy of Commandant Gen. David H. Berger told a gathering at Navy
League headquarters on Nov. 21.

Brig. Gen. Robert C. Fulford, Berger’s legislative assistant,
told defense industry representatives at the Navy League’s monthly “Special
Topics Breakfast” that Berger is determined to carry through with the striking
directives he set forth this year in his “Commandant’s Planning Guidance” soon
after rising to become the 38th commandant of the Marine Corps. This includes
the notion that the Corps must restructure and, in Fulford’s words, “divest in
order to reinvest.”

“The recognition that there is a need to change is resonating
across the force,” Fulford said.

To do this, he said, the Marine Corps is taking a
“force-design approach.” He told a questioner later during the breakfast program
that this restructure didn’t necessarily mean doing away outright with certain programs
— just that some would need to be scaled back to better integrate Marine
missions with those of the U.S. Navy.

Fulford, who said he was “in the amphib business” and up until June was director of the Expeditionary Warfare School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, delivered a history lesson of sorts, saying the Corps was a “threat-based force” in a “bipolar world” from 1947 to 1991 when the single “peer competitor” to the U.S. was the Soviet Union. Now, he said, after years of fighting terrorism, the world the U.S. faces is “multipolar” with the Russian and Chinese surges, Iran and North Korea’s aggression and the continuing threats from nonstate actors.

“I know that the world ahead of us is going to be profoundly
different than the world behind us,” he said. He also mentioned that Navy
Secretary Richard V. Spencer is “intimately involved” in Berger’s proposed
force restructure and that the reception to it had been warm from leaders in
Congress.

But Fulford, who noted that he didn’t have a legislative
affairs background, also spoke at length about the cycle of continuing budget
resolutions in Congress that hampers Marine and Navy efforts to carry out any
force restructuring.

He said the sea services face the prospect of having to operate under a full-year continuing resolution (CR), which freezes spending at prior-year levels, rather than the regular appropriations process that allows for budget expansion — or at least flexibility — and proper defense program planning in conjunction with the defense industry.

The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a short-term, House-passed
CR that would avert a government shutdown but only extend funding through Dec.
20. In an atmosphere filled with impeachment hearings and resistance to funding
for President Trump’s border wall on the southern border with Mexico, Congress
may need another CR and may not be able to return to regular order anytime soon.

“We all recognize the tyranny of the congressional
calendar,” Fulford said, adding that military services — the Corps included —
had “normalized life under budget uncertainty.” He mentioned that projects such
as the restoration of housing at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were still slowed
by budgetary uncertainty more than a year after Hurricane Florence struck the
base.

The commandant also “appreciates the impact of the CR on the industrial base,” Fulford added, recognizing that industry representatives were in the audience at Navy League HQ.

“We understand what it means to the small-business owner,” he said.

ALAMEDA,
Calif. — The crew aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750)
returned July 2 to their homeport of Alameda following a 164-day deployment to
the western Pacific, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said in a release.

The crew
steamed nearly 32,000 nautical miles since they departed Alameda Jan. 20 amid
the partial government shutdown.

Under the
tactical control of commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, the crew patrolled and conducted
operations as directed, including enforcing United Nations Security Council resolution
sanctions against North Korea by monitoring and gathering intelligence on
vessels conducting ship-to-ship transfers in the East China, South China and
Yellow Seas.

Bertholf’s
crew made history March 24-25 as the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to transit
the Taiwan Strait.

Bertholf’s
crew engaged in professional exchanges, community relations events and
capacity-building exercises with navies and coast guards in Japan, South Korea
and the Philippines, including at-sea joint search-and-rescue and interdiction
exercises.

Bertholf also
made a multiday port call to Hong Kong, marking the first U.S. Coast Guard
cutter to visit the city in 17 years.

The Coast
Guard has an ongoing role in the Indo-Pacific, going back more than 150 years.
The service’s ongoing deployment of resources directly supports U.S. foreign
policy and national security objectives in the Indo-Pacific region.

“The U.S.
Coast Guard is proud to operate with our Pacific counterparts, and together we
are dedicated to enhancing our capabilities and strengthening maritime
governance and security while promoting individual sovereignty,” said Vice Adm.
Linda Fagan, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific Area.

Commissioned
in 2008, Bertholf is the first of the Coast Guard’s Legend-class national
security cutters and the first NSC to deploy to the western Pacific.
Alameda-based U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton departed June 5 for a
months-long deployment in the same region.

“The
U.S. Coast Guard’s unique authorities, capabilities, and missions make us the
maritime safety and security partner of choice for sea-going countries around
the world,” Fagan said. “Our increased presence throughout the Indo-Pacific
will enhance regional stability and improve maritime governance and security.”