CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Navy T-45C Goshawk
aircraft crashed at Naval Air Station Kingsville at 2:38 p.m. Friday, May 10,
the Chief of Naval Air Training Public Affairs reported in a release.

The two pilots, an instructor and a student,
suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local medical treatment
facility for care.

The pilots safely ejected from the aircraft before
it crashed just short of the runway inside the airfield perimeter fence.

Emergency services immediately responded to the crash site. The incident
is under investigation.

NASHUA, New Hampshire — BAE Systems worked
closely with Lockheed Martin to deliver Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM)
to the U.S. Air Force, achieving Early Operational Capability (EOC) for the B-1B
bomber ahead of schedule, BAE said in a May 6 release. The Air Force accepted
delivery of production LRASM units following successful simulation,
integration, and flight tests that demonstrated the missile’s mission
readiness.

“We’re quickly delivering critical capabilities to
warfighters to meet their urgent operational needs,” said Bruce Konigsberg,
Radio Frequency (RF) Sensors product area director at BAE Systems. “Our sensor
systems provide U.S. warfighters with a strike capability that lets them engage
protected, high-value maritime targets from safe distances. The missile
provides a critical advantage to U.S. warfighters.”

BAE Systems’ long-range sensor and targeting technology
enables LRASM to detect and engage protected ships in all weather conditions,
day or night, without relying on external intelligence and navigation data.

BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin are working closely together
to further mature the LRASM technology. The companies recently signed a
contract for the production of more than 50 additional sensors and are working
to achieve EOC on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in 2019.

The advanced LRASM sensor technology builds on BAE Systems’ knowledge in electronic warfare (EW), signal processing and targeting technologies, and demonstrates the company’s ability to apply its world-class EW technology to small platforms. The successful LRASM sensor program demonstrates the company’s ability to quickly deliver advanced EW technology to warfighters.

As part of the company’s electronic warfare capacity expansion initiatives, it locates key programs where they will be optimally staffed to quickly transition from design to production, accelerate deliveries, and improve product affordability. The company’s work on the LRASM program is conducted at state-of-the-art facilities in Wayne, New Jersey and Nashua, New Hampshire.

NORFOLK, Virginia
— A new class of towing and salvage vessels will join the U.S. Navy’s Military
Sealift Command (MSC) in fiscal year 2021. 

“The new
Navajo class replaces the Powhatan class T-ATF fleet tugs, which provide
towing, diving and standby submarine rescue services for the U.S. Navy, and the
Safeguard class T-ARS rescue and salvage vessels, whose mission includes,
salvage, diving, towing and heavy-lift operations,” said Tim Schauwecker, MSC towing
and salvage project officer.

“MSC and
the fleet commanders will benefit by having new, state-of-the-art and highly
capable platforms that can perform a wide range of missions ranging from towing
and salvage, diving operations and submarine rescue,” he said.

The
primary mission of the fleet tug is towing and submarine rescue with the
secondary mission of salvage. Rescue and salvage ships conduct salvage with a
secondary mission of towing. The Navajo class will combine the capabilities of
both classes into a single class for greater efficiency, Schauwecker said.

“The major
improvements include a significant bollard pull increase that will enable the
ship to tow virtually any ship currently in the [Navy] inventory. The new ships
include additional deck space to account for the requirements of the submarine
rescue diving and recompression system, including transfer under pressure, a
40-ton heave compensating crane to assist with underwater salvage operations
such as lifting aircraft wreckage out of the water, dynamic positioning, which
provides the ability to automatically maintain position and heading in the
water by using its propellers and thrusters despite the environmental
conditions, and berthing for an additional 42 personnel [other than crew] in two-
to six-person staterooms. The ship will also have modern automation and
engineering systems that include environmentally friendly main propulsion
diesel engines,” he said.  

MSC search-and-rescue
vessels have contributed to a variety of missions around the world, including
recovery efforts for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s plane crash, the USS Guardian
grounding, TWA flight 800, Hurricane Katrina and the SS El Faro sinking.

MSC took
delivery of the Powhatan class of fleet ocean tugs between 1978 and 1981. These
ships were designed and built based on commercial offshore towing vessels and were
manned by civilian mariners. Salvor and Grasp were commissioned in 1985 and
1986 and were sailed as USS ships by U.S. Navy Sailors. The Navy decommissioned
the Safeguard class of salvage ships in 2006 and 2007 and transferred them to
MSC, where they were redesignated as T-ARS and manned by civilian mariners.

According
to the Congressional Budget Office’s 2019 shipbuilding analysis, the
procurement of the new Navajo class aligns with the Navy’s plan to expand the
fleet to 355 ships.

“This new
ship class will bring a significant capability increase to the U.S. Navy and
Military Sealift Command and eventually restore the towing and salvage fleet to
an end strength of eight hulls,” Schauwecker said.

Secretary
of the Navy Richard V. Spencer announced in March the new class of ships will
be named Navajo, in honor of the major contributions the Navajo people have
made to the armed forces.

The lead ship will start
construction in May, with delivery of the first five ships in fiscal 2021 and
2022, followed by one ship per year through 2025.

NEWPORT
NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division
has been named a recipient of a 2019 CIO 100 Award for adopting
business-aligned IT strategies during its integration of modern technologies
into shipbuilding. The ongoing initiative, known as Integrated Digital
Shipbuilding (iDS), is transforming the way ships are being designed and built.

The annual
awards program, sponsored by IDG’s CIO magazine and the CIO Executive Council,
celebrates organizations that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver
business value, optimize business processes, enable growth or improve
relationships with customers.

Newport
News is being recognized for its use of technology business management
strategies to bolster IT cost transparency and build trust, which helped the
company to embrace a digital-first mindset in adopting leading-edge
technologies.

Since the
company’s digital transformation began two years ago, Newport News has
introduced laser scanning, augmented reality, modeling and simulation, and
additive manufacturing into processes to increase efficiency, safety and
affordability. The digital shipbuilding efforts also include transitioning from
traditional two-dimensional paper-based instructions — the company’s primary
method for conveying design data for more than a century — to digital formats.
The company currently is developing digital work packages for the aircraft
carrier Enterprise (CVN 80), which will be the first ship built completely
paperless, and preparing to go digital with the new class of ballistic
submarines, the Columbia class.

“Digital
shipbuilding is the largest transformative initiative, digital or otherwise,
that Newport News has embarked upon since switching from diesel to
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the 1960s,” said Bharat Amin, Newport
News’ vice president and chief information officer. “I feel proud of my team
for helping to drive change and empowering shipbuilders with the tools to build
today’s warships with tomorrow’s technology. It’s an exciting time to work in
IT and at HII.”

The
company will be recognized at the CIO 100 Symposium and Awards Ceremony on Aug.
21 in Colorado.

VIENNA,
Austria — Norway’s Andøya Test Center selected Schiebel’s market-leading Camcopter
S-100 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned air system (UAS) for
extensive search-and-rescue trials as part of the Arctic 2030 project, the
company said in a May 2 release.

In a typical
configuration, the Camcopter S-100 operates six hours continuously and is able
to simultaneously carry multiple payloads, offering significant payload
flexibility to the user. Therefore, the S-100’s missions deliver aerial views
that reach considerably farther than manned helicopters.

The S-100
also offers a number of key advantages for naval operations in the Arctic. As a
VTOL platform, the Camcopter does not require any additional start or recovery
equipment and its minimal footprint is perfect for offshore patrol vessels with
small deck sizes. The S-100 also distinguishes itself through its ability to
perform in the harshest weather conditions, flying at temperatures down to
-40°C. This has been proven in a series of intensive trials, such as the
Canadian icebreaker operations. In this particular case, the Camcopter S-100
was deployed 60 nautical miles north of Fogo Island, offshore Canada, providing
a wide-view image of the ice structure as well as identifying the boundaries
between flat and rough ice.

The goal of
the Andøy Municipality project is a demonstration of VTOL UAS use in the Arctic
region in an effort to increase maritime safety. For this purpose, the Camcopter
S-100 will be equipped with an electro-optical/infrared camera gimbal, an
Overwatch Imaging PT-8 Oceanwatch payload, an automatic identification system
receiver and a maritime broadband radio by Radionor. Such a combination of
payloads is intended to strengthen emergency preparedness in the region and
provide search and rescue mission support.

Tests are
scheduled to commence in the fall of 2019 with the UAS being deployed from
Norwegian Coast Guard vessels in Andfjorden, Northern Norway. More operations
are planned in Spitsbergen in the spring of 2020.

“This is
clearly an important milestone in the project,” said Gunnar Jan Olsen, general manager
of the Andøya Test Center. “We have already gained some experience with the
Schiebel Camcopter S-100 UAS during an impressive demonstration in 2017. We
believe that these current, more extensive S-100 trials will demonstrate that
maritime safety in the Arctic can effectively be increased with the help of
VTOL UAS.”

SAN DIEGO —
The Coast Guard commissioned the newest California-based 154-foot Fast Response
Cutter in San Diego, May 1, the Coast Guard 11^th District said in a
release of the same date.

The Benjamin
Bottoms is the fourth Sentinel-Class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) to be
homeported at Base Los Angeles-Long Beach.

While these
ships will be based in San Pedro, they will operate throughout the 11th Coast
Guard District, which includes all of California and international waters off
of Mexico and Central America. 

“Radioman
First Class Benjamin Bottoms is a Coast Guard hero,” said Adm. Charles
Ray, the Coast Guard vice commandant. “He was the embodiment of honor,
commitment and sacrifice — the motto of this new cutter.”

FRC’s are
154-foot multimission ships designed to conduct drug and migrant interdictions;
ports, waterways and coastal security operations; fisheries and environmental
protection patrols; national defense missions; and search and rescue.

To date, the
Coast Guard has accepted delivery of more than 30 FRCs. Each ship is designed
for a crew of 24, has a range of 2,500 miles and is equipped for patrols up to
five days. The FRCs are part of the Coast Guard’s overall fleet modernization
initiative.

FRCs feature
advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance equipment as well as over-the-horizon response
boat deployment capability and improved habitability for the crew. The ships
can reach speeds of 28 knots and are equipped to coordinate operations with
partner agencies and long-range Coast Guard assets such as the Coast Guard’s
National Security Cutters.

FRCs are
named in honor of Coast Guard enlisted leaders, trailblazers and heroes. The
four California-based FRCs are:

Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129): Rednour aided in the rescue of 133
people during the sinking of the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, Feb. 3, 1943. He was
awarded the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions.
Rednour lost his life in the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba in June
1943.

Robert Ward (WPC-1130): Ward operated beach-landing boats
during the Normandy invasion. He landed his craft on the Cotentin Peninsula and
rescued two stranded boat crews in the face of a heavily fortified enemy
assault.

Terrell Horne III (WPC-1131): Horne was murdered by suspected drug
smugglers who intentionally rammed the boat he and fellow Coast Guardsmen were
aboard during law enforcement operations near Santa Cruz Island off the
Southern California coast in December 2012. Horne pushed one of his shipmates
out of the way of the oncoming vessel attack and sustained fatal injuries.

Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132): Bottoms was part the Coast Guard
aircrew that rescued an Army aircrew from a downed B-17 off the east coast of Greenland
in 1942. Bottoms and the pilot conducted the first landing of a cutter plane on
an icecap and commenced a two-day rescue over a rugged arctic terrain that
required multiple flights. During the second day of rescue operations, radio
contact with Bottoms’ plane was lost and he was declared missing in
action. 

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered the National Security Cutter Midgett (WMSL 757) to the U.S. Coast Guard on May 1, the company said in a release. Midgett is scheduled to sail away in June and will be commissioned later this year.

“We have a mission statement in the NSC program that says
during the construction of each NSC we will provide the men and women of the
United States Coast Guard with the finest ship in their fleet,” said Derek
Murphy, NSC program manager. “This excellence will be provided by our
shipbuilders through working safely, attention to detail and ownership of work.
Since the beginning of construction on NSC 8, we’ve seen an amazing
transformation, made possible by the thousands of people who poured their heart
and soul into this ship.”

Ingalls has now delivered eight Legend-class NSCs and has one more under construction and two more under contract. Stone (WMSL 758) is scheduled for delivery in 2020. In December of 2018, Ingalls received two fixed-price incentive contracts with a combined value of $931 million to build NSCs 10 and 11.

“From a homeland security and defense perspective, this ship provides unmatched command and control,” said Cmdr. Brian Smicklas, Midgett’s executive officer and acting commanding officer.

“We’ve reached a number of accomplishments and milestones up to this point. However, there’s more work to do on the water. We have record drug flows in the eastern Pacific, and there are traditional Western Hemisphere missions that our Coast Guard brothers and sisters are conducting on the water every day. We also see a large increase in demand for the geographic combatant commanders for this specific National Security Cutter capability, and we’re excited to fill that and be a part of the national fleet.”

NSC 8 is named to honor the hundreds of members of the Midgett family who have served in the U.S. Coast Guard and its predecessor services. At least 10 members of the family earned high honors from the Coast Guard for their heroic lifesaving deeds. Seven Midgett family members were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the Coast Guard’s highest award for saving a life, and three were awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal.

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls
Shipbuilding division has been awarded a cost-plus-award-fee contract with a
potential total value of $931.7 million for planning yard services in support
of in-service littoral combat ships (LCS), the company said in a May 1 release.
The contract, which includes options over a six-year period, also provides work
packages for HII’s Technical Solutions division.

“Ingalls Shipbuilding will build on 35 years of planning
yard experience to join our Technical Solutions division in fully supporting
this life-cycle work on the LCS program,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian
Cuccias said. “Our talented shipbuilding team has the resources and program
management experience necessary to ensure the post-delivery work on the LCS
program meets the requirements and missions of our U.S. Navy customers.”

The planning yard design services contract will provide
the LCS program with post-delivery life-cycle support, which includes fleet
modernization program planning, design engineering and modeling, logistics
support, long-lead-time material support, and preventative and planned
maintenance system item development and scheduling. Unique to this planning
yard effort is the requirement to manage the scheduling of all planned,
continuous and emergent maintenance and associated availabilities.

Most
of the work will be accomplished in Pascagoula and Hampton, Virginia, by
designers, engineers, logisticians, planners, program managers and a variety of
additional subject matter experts. Ingalls and Technical Solutions will also
provide waterfront support in the LCS homeports.

WASHINGTON — Textron Airborne
Solutions, a business unit of Textron Inc., announced on May 1 that its
Airborne Tactical Advantage Company subsidiary (ATAC) has been selected as a
provider of contracted air services under the U.S. Navy’s Terminal Attack
Controller Trainer (TACT) program.

Training provided under the IDIQ contract
will be led by ATAC and includes a team made up of Textron Aviation Defense and
the Valkyrie Defense family of companies. They will deliver contracted live-air
training to forward air controllers, joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs)
and forward air controllers (Airborne) on ATAC’s L-39 Albatros, Textron
Aviation Defense’s Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine light attack and armed
reconnaissance aircraft and Valkyrie’s A-27 Tucanos.

“TACT is a marked increase in both the
quality and quantity of JTAC training services demanded by the U.S. Navy and
Marine Corps. ATAC’s world-class team is pleased to provide the most
mission-representative JTAC training solutions available,” said Russ Bartlett,
CEO of Textron Airborne Solutions.

“Textron Aviation Defense is proud to be on
this air services contract to equip the TACT community with the Beechcraft AT-6
Wolverine’s cost-effective, high-performance close air support capability,”
said Brett Pierson, vice president of Light Attack Aircraft and Scorpion. “The
Navy and Marine Corps flew the AT-6 during the U.S. Air Force Light Attack
experiments and are well-acquainted with its unparalleled mission capability
and optimized battlespace networking capability.”

“Everyone at Valkyrie Defense’s family of
companies is excited to be working with ATAC in providing the best contracted
close air support and JTAC training available. We look forward to fulfilling
the needs of the U.S. warfighter for years to come with our fleet of aircraft,”
said Charlie Keebaugh, CEO of Valkyrie Aero.

ATAC has a fleet of more than 90 aircraft,
having pioneered much of what are now contracted air services industry
standards with 20 years of operating experience and 57,000 flight hours. For
the past 15 years, ATAC has provided a wide range of contracted close air
support capabilities to U.S. Department of Defense JTAC communities across
Europe, continental U.S., Hawaii and the western Pacific region. The only
contractor that has operated supersonic fighter aircraft for the DoD, ATAC has
helped train crews from the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and regularly
operates out of as many as 25 different bases per year.

Textron Airborne Solutions
focuses on live military air-to-air, air-to-ship and air-to-ground training and
support services. Within Textron Airborne Solutions is Airborne Tactical
Advantage Company (ATAC), a business that provides tactical flight training and
adversary aggressor services for Navy, Marine and Air Force pilots.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The builder of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter has designed a
new weapons rack to enable the aircraft to carry two more missiles internally.

The new rack,
called Sidekick, enables each of the two weapons bays of the Air Force F-35A
and Navy carrier-capable F-35C to carry three AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range
Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) instead of the current two, for a total of six internally
carried AMRAAMs.

Speaking May
1 to reporters at a Lockheed Martin media briefing, a company F-35 test pilot,
Tony ‘Brick’ Wilson, said the rack was developed entirely with company internal
research and development funds.

The rack is
not compatible with the vertical lift Marine Corps F-35B version, which has
smaller weapons bay.

The F-35 can
carry more AMRAAMs on external pylons, but Wilson pointed out that carrying two
more internally preserves the stealth characteristics of the F-35. 

“The extra
missiles add a little weight but are not adding extra drag,” Wilson said.

Wilson also said the F-35 has the external structural capacity for hypersonic weapons should that be required in the future.

He also said
the company, working with the Air Force Research Lab, has developed and installed
on the F-35A — six years ahead of schedule — the Auto Ground Collision
Avoidance System (AGCAS).

The AGCAS has
“saved eight pilots’ lives,” Wilson said.

He
said the AGCAS will be installed later on the F-35B and on the F-35C in 2021.