MIAMI, Fla. —
A U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II aircraft, flying a mission in approved international
airspace on July 19, was approached in an unprofessional manner by a SU-30 Flanker
Venezuelan fighter aircraft, according to the U.S. Southern Command.

“After
reviewing video documentation, we have determined the Russian-made fighter
aggressively shadowed the EP-3 at an unsafe distance in international airspace
for a prolonged period of time, endangering the safety of the crew and
jeopardizing the EP-3 mission,” according to a July 21 release from Southern
Command.

“The U.S.
routinely conducts regionally supported, multinationally recognized and
approved detection and monitoring missions in the region to ensure the safety
and security of our citizens and those of our partners. The EP-3 aircraft was
adhering to international standards and rules.”

“The Maduro regime
continues to undermine internationally recognized laws and demonstrate its
contempt for international agreements authorizing the U.S. and other nations to
safely conduct flights in international airspace,” according to the release.

LONDON —
Ricardo Defense’s Mobile Fuel and Energy Management (MFEM) system has
successfully completed its participation in Phase 1 of the U.S. Navy’s Fight
the Naval Force Forward Advanced Naval Technology Exercise, the company
announced July 22.

The Ricardo MFEM
provides dynamic visibility and management of liquid fuel to help ensure that
forces in the field have the resources needed to attain their objectives. The
Ricardo MFEM provides the tools and information needed to understand fuel
usage, distribution and availability in the theater of operations.

Manual
procedures for fuel management — measuring, collecting, aggregating,
calculating usage and projecting needs — are replaced with fully automated
processes, significantly improving the commander’s ability to plan and monitor
fuel use and status with the speed, accuracy and efficiency needed for field
operations. MFEM offers commanders with insight into fuel status that can be
incorporated into a battlefield “common operating picture.”

Ricardo
Defense demonstrated the capabilities of the MFEM system during Phase 1 of the
Fight the Naval Force Forward Experimentation Campaign, a multimonth
exploration phase that allowed for the detailed assessment of technologies
integrated into actual mission scenarios. Technologies were examined in live,
virtual or constructive simulation demonstrations as a part of the Advanced
Naval Technology Exercise over a two-week period that ended on July 18. 

The collaboration
with a variety of system stakeholders during the exercise positions Ricardo
Defense for future development and fielding of these capabilities. The Ricardo
MFEM is being assessed for a follow-on Phase 2 project that would include a six-
to 18-month prototyping period, limited use in the field and experimentation,
as part of Fleet/Force Experiments and/or Rapid Fielding.

“We are very excited to
have had the Ricardo MFEM included in this year’s Advanced Naval Technology
Exercise,” Ricardo Defense President Chet Gryczan said. “MFEM helps improve
military personnel decision-making through an accurate, up-to-date shared view
of fuel resources. The award of a Phase 2 effort, if granted, will validate the
value of MFEM and pave the way for maturation of the capabilities it provides.”

DULUTH, Minn. — Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy Jodi Greene announced Duluth as the commissioning location for the future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul in a joint press conference July 18 with Duluth Mayor Emily Larson.

Greene is LCS
21’s sponsor and is in Duluth for Duluth Navy Week, an outreach effort in which
Sailors and naval personnel from different commands across the country are in
the city meeting with people from all walks of life to talk about the Navy and
why it is important.

Greene
expressed excitement during at the announcement, underlining the importance of
the Navy maintaining ties to cities in America’s heartland.

“We are
eager to announce that Duluth has been chosen as the city in which we will hold
the commissioning for the USS Minneapolis/Saint Paul,” said Greene. “The city
of Duluth is an important port on Lake Superior and your Navy is looking
forward to continuing a strong partnership with Mayor Larson and the people of
Duluth as well as the people in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

Larson
mirrored Greene’s enthusiasm, highlighting Duluth’s historic connection to the
Navy.

“Duluth is
a city full of people linked to the Navy,” Larson said. “We have both active
servicemembers and veterans who call Duluth their home, and we proudly display
the anchor from the decommissioned USS Duluth where everyone can see it. I am
grateful to be able to continue honoring our Navy.”

The Navy recently
held a christening and launching ceremony for the future USS Minneapolis-Saint
Paul in Marinette, Wisconsin, where it is being built.

The ship
is being built by an industry team led by Lockheed Martin at Fincantieri
Marinette Marine Corp. in Marinette. The future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul will
be about 388 feet in length and have a beam of nearly 58 feet.

LCS is a modular,
reconfigurable ship designed to meet validated fleet requirements for surface
warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures missions in the
littoral region. An interchangeable mission package is embarked on each LCS and
provides the primary mission systems in one of these warfare areas. Using an
open architecture design, modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of
manned and unmanned vehicles to gain, sustain and exploit littoral maritime
supremacy, LCS provides U.S. joint forces access to critical theaters.

SAN DIEGO —
The guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG 63) arrives at its new homeport,
Naval Base San Diego, July 18, following 14 years of forward-deployed service
in the Indo-Pacific region operating from Japan, the commander, Naval Surface
Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a July 17 release.

As part of
the U.S. 7th Fleet’s Forward Deployed Naval Forces in Japan, Stethem worked
alongside allies and partners to provide security and stability throughout a
free and open Indo-Pacific. Stethem arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, in June of
2005. While serving in 7th Fleet, Stethem conducted a wide range of operations,
exercises and port visits, including disaster relief as well as search-and-rescue
missions. In 2011, the ship supported Operation Tomodachi to provide relief to
Japanese citizens affected by the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, and this
year, joined Japan-led search operations for a missing Japan Air Self-Defense
Force F-35.

While in San
Diego, Stethem will undergo a planned maintenance and modernization period.
Stethem will be fitted with the latest combat system suite, which includes
state-of-the-art air defense, ballistic-missile defense, surface warfare and
undersea warfare capabilities.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)
took another step toward delivery of the submarine Delaware (SSN 791) to the
U.S. Navy when the first meal recently was served aboard the nuclear-powered
fast attack submarine.

On the menu: salad, sausage and spaghetti with a choice
of meat sauce or Alfredo.

“The first meal is a significant event in construction
for both shipbuilders and the Navy crew,” said Bob Bolden, director of
Virginia-class submarine construction at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding
division. “This is a result of shipbuilders and Sailors working side by side
and is one of the last steps in the journey to bringing the ship to its
operational state to support sea trials and delivery.”

The Virginia-class submarine is pierside at Newport News
and is in the final stages of construction and testing.

“I appreciate Newport News Shipbuilding’s superb work
through our construction process and am immensely proud of my crew’s efforts to
open our galley, support our crew and take this next step toward Delaware
becoming a self-sufficient, sea-going warship,” said Cmdr. Brian P. Hogan,
commanding officer of the pre-commissioning unit.

Delaware is the 18th Virginia-class submarine built as
part of the teaming agreement with General Dynamics Electric Boat. More than
10,000 shipbuilders from Newport News and Electric Boat have participated in
Delaware’s construction since the work began in September 2013; more than 5,000
suppliers across 48 states have provided parts and materials critical to the
submarine’s construction.

Delaware was christened in October 2018 and launched into
the James River for the first time two months later. Following successful sea
trials later this year, Delaware will be the ninth Virginia-class submarine
delivered by Newport News.

SAN DIEGO
— The U.S. Navy has approved the commissioning date for the future USS
Indianapolis (LCS 17), the commander of Naval Surface Forces announced July 17.

The littoral
combat ship will be commissioned Oct. 26 in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The
commissioning ceremony signifies the acceptance for service and the entrance of
a ship into the active fleet of the U.S. Navy.

Burns
Harbor is on the shores of Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana and is 160 miles
north of Indianapolis.

Jill
Donnelly, the wife of former Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, is the ship’s sponsor.
As the sponsor, Donnelly leads the time-honored Navy tradition of giving the
order during the ceremony to “man our ship and bring her to life!” At that
moment, the commissioning pennant is hoisted and Indianapolis becomes a ship of
the fleet.

Cmdr.
Colin Kane, a Columbus, Ohio, native, is the ship’s commanding officer.

“The
future USS Indianapolis honors more than a city; it pays tribute to the legacy
of those who served during the final days of World War II on board USS
Indianapolis,” Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said at the ship’s
christening ceremony. “This ship will continue the proud legacy of service
embodied in the name Indianapolis and is a testament to the true partnership
between the Navy and industry.”

LCS 17 is
the fourth ship to carry the name of Indiana’s capital city. The first
Indianapolis was a steamer built for the U.S. Shipping Board (USSB) and
commissioned directly into the Navy in 1918. After two runs to Europe, the ship
was returned to the USSB following World War I.

The saga
of the second Indianapolis (CA 35), a cruiser, and its crew is well documented
by the Naval History and Heritage Command. The loss of the ship was a tragic
moment following the completion of a secret mission that directly contributed
to the end of World War II.

After a
successful high-speed run to deliver atomic bomb components to Tinian, the
decorated Portland-class cruiser continued to Guam. Indianapolis was en route
from Guam to Leyte when she was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese submarine
I-58 on July 30, 1945. The ship’s wreckage was located on Aug. 19, 2017.
Survivors of the cruiser met with the crew of the future Indianapolis earlier
this year to screen a documentary about the discovery of the lost ship.

The most
recent Indianapolis was a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, which was
commissioned Jan. 5, 1980, and served through the end of the Cold War before
being decommissioned in 1998.

The future Indianapolis
will be homeported in Naval Station Mayport, Florida, upon her commissioning.

SAN DIEGO —
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. was awarded a follow-on task order
by the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, the company
announced July 17.

Valued at $15.1
million, it was issued against a U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) sole-source,
three-year, single-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to
provide training-related products and services in a variety of disciplines to
the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF).

When combined
with the value of previous awards, the contract funding to date is $95 million
and has a potential value to Kratos of $99.3 million, depending on the number
of task orders issued and anticipated contract modifications under the FMS
agreement.

“This award expands our
ability to continue to support the RSNF’s commitment to the transformational
goals of the Ministry of Defense as it modernizes its growing naval fleet,”
said Jose Diaz, senior vice president of Kratos’ training division.

WASHINGTON
— Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer has become acting defense secretary, as the
Senate has received the packet nominating Mark T. Esper to be the confirmed
secretary of defense.

Eric
Chewning, the chief of staff to the defense secretary, said the transition from
Esper to Spencer went smoothly. “There is only one secretary of defense,
and that person is fully capable of defending the country and protecting the
homeland,” Chewning said.

Esper was
named acting defense secretary when Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M.
Shanahan stepped down from the position last month. President Trump nominated
Esper for the position — a move that requires Senate confirmation. By law,
Esper cannot continue to serve as acting secretary while he is under
consideration for the permanent job. He reverts to his position as secretary of
the Army.

The principals
involved in this program met to discuss how the transition would happen. This
included Esper, Spencer, David L. Norquist, the undersecretary of defense who
continues to perform the duties of the deputy defense secretary, Marine Corps Gen.
Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Chewning.

When
Spencer became acting secretary, he assumed the full authority and
responsibility of the secretary of defense.

To ensure
continuity, the team supporting the Office of the Secretary of Defense remains
in place.

“We’ve
been working closely with Senate leadership and the Senate Armed Services
Committee, and we thank them for their efforts and commitments to swiftly
consider top DoD leadership,” Chewning said.

DoD does
not assume Esper’s confirmation, and Chewning was quick to point out that it is
the Senate’s prerogative to take as long as it believes is necessary to examine
and confirm the nominee. “Secretary Spencer is prepared to remain in the
role until there is a Senate-confirmed secretary of defense,” he said.

If Esper is confirmed by
the Senate, then Norquist will be formally nominated to be the deputy defense
secretary. In deference to the Senate, he will step out of his role of
performing the duties of the deputy secretary of defense while that nomination
is pending. If this happens, Spencer will then perform the duties of the deputy
secretary.

SEATTLE — The
first Boeing P-8A Poseidon for the United Kingdom Royal Air Force (RAF) took
off from Renton, Washington, at 10 a.m. PT on July 12, marking the first flight
of this inaugural U.K. P-8A.

During the
90-minute flight, key testing took place before the aircraft touched down and
moved to the next phase of preparation before customer delivery, installation
of military systems.

U.K. Ministry
of Defence (MOD) and Royal Air Force personnel, along with Boeing P-8 program
leaders, were on hand to witness the takeoff and landing of the recently
painted aircraft, number ZP801.

“This is a
great milestone in the U.K. P-8A Poseidon’s journey to the U.K., as we are one
step closer to its arrival in Scotland,” said Air Commodore Richard Barrow, the
senior responsible owner for the U.K.’s P-8A program. “The platform will
enhance the UK’s maritime patrol capability with advanced, state-of-the-art
technology.”

The RAF P-8A
Poseidon fleet will support maritime surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and
anti-ship warfare for the United Kingdom and will increase protection of the United
Kingdom’s nuclear deterrent and Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

The first of
nine P-8As ordered by the United Kingdom now moves to the P-8 Installation and
Checkout facility in Tukwila, Wash., where mission systems are installed and
further testing happens before final delivery to the customer later this year.
When the aircraft is delivered it will first fly to U.S. Naval Air Station
Jacksonville for additional preparation and training by U.K. personnel before
flying home to the United Kingdom. The RAF will take delivery of ZP801 later
this year and it will move to the United Kingdom in early 2020.

The United Kingdom is one
of six international customers for the P-8A Poseidon. As a direct commercial
sale, India has received eight of the P-8I variant to date with four more in
production. The U.S. Navy is on contract to receive 111 with the potential for
additional quantities based on the fleet’s needs. As a cooperative partner with
the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Program Office, Australia began
receiving their P-8A aircraft in 2016 with eight delivered and four more in
production; Norway will begin receiving their five P-8As in 2022; both New
Zealand and South Korea have signed agreements with the U.S. Navy to purchase
four and six aircraft, respectively.

EVENDALE,
Ohio — GE Marine’s LM2500+G4 gas turbine will soon power the Italian Navy’s new
Paolo Thaon di Revel Pattugliatore Polivalente d’Altura (PPA) multipurpose
offshore patrol ship, the company said July 15.

This hybrid-electric
powered ship was launched at a June 15 ceremony at the Fincantieri Shipyard in
Muggiano-La Spezia, Italy, and will be delivered to the Italian navy in 2021.

“A total
of seven PPA ships will be built by Fincantieri by 2026, and GE has a contract
to provide seven LM2500+G4 gas turbines,” said Mike Reale, acting vice president
and general manager at GE Marine.

“The
LM2500+G4, with an ISO rating of 35.3 MW and United States Navy rating of 30.3
MW, has found success in the naval market thanks to its selection to power 20
French and Italian FREMM ships and the seven Italian PPA’s. There is interest
in the U.S. and abroad in propulsion and generator set applications that rely
on the LM2500+G4’s best-in-class power density that is improved with the use of
GE’s new fully-shock-qualified, lightweight composite gas turbine module.”

In
addition, GE’s Power Conversion business provides the hybrid’s electrification
system, including shock-proof MV3000 drives and motors, electrical system
integration, energy-efficient PTO/PTI (power take-off/in) and shore power
connection functionality. Integration of the electric propulsion system is
carried out in support of and in cooperation with Fincantieri. Rounding out the
“GE Store” approach for this Italian navy project, Avio Aero, a GE Aviation
business headquartered in Italy, designed the gas turbine packages.

The PPA
patrol ship will serve multiple functions from patrol with sea rescue capacity
to civil protection operations. It is 133 meters long and can carry 90 crew
members with additional accommodations for up to 171 members. The ship’s
flexible hybrid propulsion plant features small gearbox-mounted motors for low
speed operations, two propulsion diesels for mid-speed service and the
LM2500+G4 gas turbine to reach more than 31 knots.

The PPA
program continues a long tradition of LM2500-powered combatants in the Italian navy
with the selection of the LM2500+G4. Starting in 1977, the Italian navy and
Fincantieri were early adopters of GE’s LM2500 gas turbine for the Lupo-, Maestrale-,
Artigliere- and Horizon-class frigates, the De la Pen-class destroyers, and the
aircraft carriers Garibaldi and Cavour (equipped with GE gears). In 2004, GE’s
LM2500+G4 gas turbine was chosen to power 10 FREMM multipurpose frigates for
the Italian navy.  

The
LM2500+G4 gas turbines for the PPA program will be built in Evendale; Avio Aero
will manufacture the LM2500+G4 turbine control system at its facility in
Brindisi; and GE’s Power Conversion business will manufacture the drives.