By Matt Reisener America’s maritime industrial base (MIB) is in crisis. Decades of deindustrialization, inconsistent policy support, labor attrition and increasingly globalized supply chains have left the United States struggling to produce ships on time and on budget, all while strategic competition at sea intensifies. America’s MIB is…
Q&A: Fincantieri Marine Group CEO George Moutafis
In February 2026, Fincantieri Marine Group (Booth 1223) issued the following release: “As you may have seen in NAVSEA’s press release, the U.S. Navy tapped Fincantieri to build four of the first wave of Medium Landing Ships (LSMs) for the Marine Corps. Our $1B investment…
Raytheon Doubled ESSM Production in 2025
By Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor Raytheon Missiles & Defense (Booth 911) doubled production of the Block II RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) in 2025 as it addressed the increased demand from the U.S. Navy and its partners in the NATO consortium, a company official told Seapower. “Last year, we produced over 350…
HII Moves Further into Physical AI for Shipbuilding
By Brett Davis Shipbuilding giant HII (Booth 923) has added another artificial intelligence partner to its shipbuilding program, taking another step toward adding “physical AI” to the process of constructing Navy ships. In early April, the company announced it signed a memorandum…
STEM Expo Enchants Students with Science, Games and Fun
The annual STEM Expo kicked off Sea-Air-Space 2026 by giving students of all ages a look at the various technologies that underpin the maritime world of the sea services. Attendees got examples of chemical reactions from Mad Science presentations, learned some of…
Navy Awards Marinette Marine $30 million Contract toward Medium Landing Ships
Navy Awards Marinette Marine $30 million Contract toward Medium Landing Ships By Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract to a shipbuilder for materials and engineering activities for the first four Block 1 medium…
USS John P. Murtha to Support NASA’s Artemis II Mission
From Petty Officer 1st Class Jomark Almazan, April 6, 2026 SAN DIEGO — Amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) is slated to serve as the recovery ship for the Orion spacecraft and its crew upon their return from…
The (Other) Manhattan Project: Forgotten Island Had Front-Row Seat to Military History
On a historical impact per square mile basis, few places on earth rival the island of Tinian. Almost completely forgotten today, this small, isolated speck of land in the Northern Mariana Islands — located about 125 miles north of Guam…
‘Let Foreign Yards Build U.S. Navy Auxiliary and Service Ships Now’
There is much current discussion about having foreign shipyards build U.S. Navy warships as a way to increase production and fleet numbers. That sounds good on paper, but if the target is combatant ships, then there will be significant challenges….
Projecting Power in Contested Regions: Marine Corps’ EABO Moves from Paper to Reality
The Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) concept debuted in 2019 as a new strategy for the U.S. Marine Corps to fight not only with the support of naval forces but also to defend and support those forces in turn, coordinated…
