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ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy Department is requesting funds for nine battle force ships and 88 aircraft in its fiscal 2024 budget proposal. The service also plans to decommission 11 battle force ships, some before the expiration of their service life. 

The 2024 request at $255.8 billion represents an $11.1 billion or 4.5% increase over the 2023 budget enacted by Congress, according to Undersecretary of the Navy Eric Raven and Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, deputy secretary of the Navy for Budget, briefing reporters March 13 at the Pentagon.

Ships

The nine ships in the $32.8 billion ship construction request include one Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN), two Block V Virginia-class attack submarines (and advance funding for four more), two Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, two Constellation-class guided-missile frigates, one John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler, and one new-design submarine tender.  

Ship construction funding includes $5.8 billion for the first and second increments of the second Columbia-class, Wisconsin (SSBN 827). Funding also is requested for the Ford-class aircraft carrier program: the seventh increment for the third, Enterprise (CVN 80), and the sixth increment for the Dorie Miller (CVN 81). 

The budget allocates $1.8 billion for the final increment of the Fallujah (LHA 9), the fourth America-class amphibious assault ship.  

Of note, no funding is provided for any more Flight II San Antonio-class landing platform dock ships throughout the Future Years Defense Plan. Procurement of the new medium landing ship is planned for fiscal 2025 and the next-generation logistic ship is planned for 2027.  

The proposed budget also funds the procurement of two LCU 1700-class utility landing craft; two used ships for conversion to sealift ships; and the service-life extension of one air-cushion landing craft (LCAC). Procurement of the LCAC 100-class ship-to-shore connector is gapped for 2024, with resumption planned for 2025. 

Procurement of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel and the Orca Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle are funded for 2025 and 2026, respectively. 

The Navy plans to retire 11 ships, including eight which would be retired before the normal end-of service life. The ships to be retired include: one Los Angeles-class attack submarine, five Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, two Independence-class littoral combat ships, and three dock landing ships.  

Under the 2024 plan, the Navy’s battle force would decline by one ship to 293 ships. 

Aircraft

The budget proposal included $17.3 billion for the procurement of 88 aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps. This includes 16 F-35B and 19 F-35C Lightning IIs; 26 T-54A multi-engine training aircraft; two KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transports; 15 CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopters; five MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); two MQ-4C Triton UAVs; and three MQ-25A Stingray UAVs. 

Gumbleton said this budget request completes the procurement of the KC-130J (at 88 aircraft); the MQ-4C (at 22 aircraft), and MQ-9A (at 18 aircraft). The Navy’s stated requirement was for 68 MQ-4Cs, so this truncation represents a change in direction. The Navy Air Reserve has an unfunded requirement for 32 C-130J transports. 

As expected, the Navy has not requested any F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters. It remains to be seen if Congress will again fund more Super Hornets out of concern for the Navy’s strike fighter shortfall. 

The 2024 plan would leave the Navy and Marine Corps aircraft fleet at 3,998 aircraft, slightly under the 2023 total of 4,012. 

Marine Corps Vehicles

The Marine Corps plans to procure 80 personnel variants of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle and 396 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles in 2024. The Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) and Long Range Fires (LRF) programs would continue development and testing of the Remotely Operated Ground Unit Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires vehicle, an “unmanned ground vehicle based on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) chassis mounting a missile launcher system,” the Navy’s budget briefing book said. The 2024 budget souls continue procurement of NMESIS systems as well as funding for 90 Naval Strike Missiles and, for the LRF, 34 Tactical Tomahawk missiles. 

Release from Coast Guard Atlantic Area Public Affairs 

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March 10, 2023 

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – The crew of USCGC Spencer (WMEC 905) returned to their home port in Portsmouth, Friday, following an 88-day deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa area of operations, employed by the U.S. Sixth Fleet and Combined Task Force 65, to defend U.S., allied and partner interests. 

During the patrol, Spencer’s crew worked to combat illicit transnational activities, including illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, by conducting multinational law enforcement operations in the Atlantic Ocean. Their efforts served to strengthen existing relationships with African nations and prioritized opportunities for new partnerships. Spencer’s crew also participated in Obangame Express 2023, a maritime exercise with participants from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and 17 West African partners. Conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa, Obangame Express is designed to improve regional cooperation, information-sharing practices, and tactical interdiction expertise to enhance the collective capabilities of participating nations to counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and other sea-based illicit activity. 

“I am very proud of what this crew accomplished on Spencer while working with our partners in Africa,” said Cmdr. Corey Kerns, Spencer’s commanding officer. “Together we demonstrated the U.S.’s commitment to maritime security in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. We helped our partners in the region build the capability to enforce a rules-based order critical to their own food and economic security. I know this deployment will be something we all remember for a long time, and it was an honor to be a part of it.” 

Spencer’s crew hosted multiple African country representatives, held diplomatic engagements and participated in community relations events during port visits in Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Nigeria and Côte D’Ivoire. Spencer’s port visit to Lomé, Togo marked the first U.S. ship visit to Togo since 2012. 

While at sea, Spencer also interdicted a Brazilian sailing vessel carrying 3,040 kilograms of suspected cocaine worth over $109 million. 

Spencer’s crew was augmented with several temporarily assigned members, including Tactical Law Enforcement and Maritime Safety and Security Team personnel, medical officers from the U.S. Public Health Service and Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Chinese language translators, electronics technicians and a yeoman. 

Commissioned in June 1986, Spencer is a Famous-class medium endurance cutter named after John C. Spencer, the 16th Secretary of the Treasury. Spencer is homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia. The cutter’s primary mission areas include homeland security, law enforcement, counter drug, search and rescue, migrant interdiction and fisheries enforcement in support of U.S. Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.  

For information on how to join the U.S. Coast Guard, visit www.GoCoastGuard.com to learn more about active duty and reserve officer and enlisted opportunities. Information on how to apply the U.S. Coast Guard Academy can be found at www.uscga.edu. 

Release from Boeing 

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– Teams will explore integrating artificial intelligence technology on current and future programs for military customers 

AURORA, Colo., March 8, 2023 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Shield AI have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore strategic collaboration in the areas of autonomous capabilities and artificial intelligence on current and future defense programs. The agreement, signed at the Air Force Association Warfare Symposium, will be managed by Boeing Phantom Works. 

“Boeing continues to leverage talent from across the enterprise to make great strides in autonomous capabilities and programs in recent years,” said Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager for Boeing’s Air Dominance organization. “Collaborating with Shield AI, the leader in AI pilots, will accelerate our ability to deliver these capabilities to the warfighter.” 

Shield AI created Hivemind, an artificial intelligence pilot that has flown a variety of aircraft. According to Shield AI, the AI pilot can also enable swarms of drones and aircraft to operate autonomously without GPS, communications or a human pilot in the cockpit.  

“AI pilots are the most strategic deterrent technology since the introduction of stealth aircraft and have proven successful in flying air-combat scenarios” said Brandon Tseng, president and co-founder of Shield AI and a former Navy SEAL. “Integrating Boeing aircraft with our AI pilot would redefine what large aircraft, crewed or uncrewed, could do. As the world leader in aerospace technology, Boeing has been exceptionally easy to engage with, so we are excited to expand our scope of work to co-develop, productize and bring to market the world’s best AI pilot for large aircraft.” 

Release from Naval surface Warfare Center Panama City Division 

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ONE TEAM, NSWC PCD brings flexibility to the future of diving 

By Jeremy Roman, NSWC PCD Public Affairs 

PANAMA CITY, Fla.  –   

After months of planning, the mission to rapidly deliver solutions to ensure warfighting dominance moved one step closer during the Deep Sea Expeditionary with No Decompression (DSEND) Suit In-Water Concept Demonstration held at the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU), Feb. 7 – 8. 

The DSEND demo tested the capabilities of a new concept suit aimed to help divers navigate their environment more efficiently. Allie Williams, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSW PCD) Fleet Diving In-Service Engineering Agent, explained some of the highlights from this successful demonstration.  

“This test was conducted as a proof of concept demonstrating the DSEND suit’s flexibility and maneuverability under the diver’s own power,” said Williams. “The operator was [also] wearing a Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) system inside the suit to demonstrate the future permanent integration of DAVD, as well.” 

While performance-capable, the current Atmospheric Diving Suit (ADS) is also heavy, lacks maneuverability and requires relatively large sea craft for deployment. This project aims to innovate the previous ADS on several fronts including improvements to its current rotary joint design. For example, the current ADS does not allow movement in the same direction as natural human joints, which can contribute to diver fatigue. This new suit concept would enhance a diver’s range of motion, without considerable strain or force, while providing the added benefit of allowing the user to swim independent of propulsion systems. 

An additional program objective is to develop a swimmable dive suit that maintains atmospheric pressure internal to the suit and can withstand pressures up to 300 feet of seawater (fsw). Further development could enable it to greater depths. 

“The demo went well and served as a good proof of concept for the project. We received good feedback and it was valuable to have the chance for follow-on testing,” said Williams. “This program will provide new capabilities to the warfighter by creating a more flexible and lightweight ADS, compared to the previous more costly and burdensome capabilities.” 

Not only does this demonstration move the project closer to interoperability capability, it also strengthens partnerships through the organizational collaboration of Naval Sea Systems Command 00C3, Office of Naval Research 342, NSWC PCD, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport, Nuytco Research, Mide Technology, Coda Octopus and NEDU. They will continue their respective work to complete their primary objective, which is to develop a suit that will replace the 300 fsw Mixed Gas Diving Systems and eventually go to greater depths. 

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ARLINGTON, Va. — The Royal Australian Air Force has re-activated a historic squadron to operate its forthcoming MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).  

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles announced at the Avalon Air Show last week that 9 Squadron is “being re-formed after a break of 34 years,” according to a release from the Australian Department of Defence of a March 3 transcript of an interview with Australian officials at the air show. 

“There’s a lot of lineage to this Squadron,” Marles said. “9 Squadron was originally formed in 1939. It did maritime surveillance during the Second World War. It saw service during the Vietnam War and for the keen military historians among you, you will have noticed that 9 Squadrons insignia is on the tail of the Triton. And 9 Squadron will be reformed to operate this capability the Triton uncrewed aircraft. It will be based at RAAF base Edinburgh although the airframes that you see behind me will actually operate out of Tindal.” 

Marles said the Triton “will be able to provide the persistent reconnaissance and surveillance, of our northern maritime approaches which is so important in terms of the defence of our nation. It’s also going to be really useful in terms of surveilling illegal fishing both in our own waters, but also the waters of our Pacific neighbours. So, it’s a really exciting capability.” 

Air Marshal Robert Chipman, chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, noted that 9 Squadron saw operational service in World War II with the Navy, “flying from our cruisers, HMA Ships, Hobart, Perth, Sydney, Canberra and Australia from the Arctic all the way down to the Southwest Pacific. And 22 serviceman lost their lives in World War II serving with 9 Squadron. In Vietnam, the Squadron was involved in some of the most iconic battles with the Australian Army, including the Battle of Long Tan, and two crewman lost their lives in the Vietnam War. So, it is a Squadron have a lot of history. On the emblem, you’ll see an Australian native bird- it’s the black browed albatross. The black browed albatross is renowned for spending a long time on in overwater flights, which makes it the perfect symbol, for the perfect Squadron for us to establish the MQ-4 Triton capability.” 

Australia has three Tritons — built by Northrop Grumman — on order. The first is scheduled for delivery in 2024. Chipman said that the Air Force has had personnel training to operate and maintain the Triton for “a number of years.” 

“Congratulations to the Royal Australian Air Force on the reactivation of the historic No. 9 Squadron,” said Jane Bishop, vice president and general manager, global surveillance, Northrop Grumman. “We’re honored the squadron will be operating Australia’s MC-4C Triton uncrewed aircraft for their most demanding maritime ISR missions, and we look forward to delivering the first RAAF Triton in 2024.” 

Release from United States Coast Guard

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Feb. 15, 2023 

Editor’s Note: For b-roll of Bear’s patrol, click here; homecoming footage can be viewed here. 

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The crew of the USCGC Bear (WMEC 901) returned to their homeport in Portsmouth Wednesday after completing a 60-day deployment in the Florida Straits and Windward Passage. 

Bear’s crew supported Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast and Operation Vigilant Sentry in the Coast Guard’s Seventh District area of operations. While underway, Bear’s crew conducted maritime safety and security missions while working to detect, deter and intercept unsafe and illegal migrant ventures bound for the United States. 

Within the first days of patrol, Bear interdicted an overloaded Cuban rustic vessel in the Florida Straits and transferred 27 migrants on board the cutter. 

Bear also spent part of the patrol acting as a visual deterrence to illegal migration in the region by operating close to Haiti’s shore, which resulted in the interdiction of two overloaded migrant voyages. Both vessels were approximately 50 feet in length and each carried more than 200 migrants. After providing food, water, and medical care, Bear’s crew repatriated the migrants back to Haiti. 

Throughout the deployment, Bear’s crew members cared for and provided medical attention to 502 migrants on board the cutter before repatriating them to their country of origin. 

“Bear’s mission was to deter illegal maritime migration and rescue those in distress before the sea claimed their lives,” said Cmdr. Brooke Millard, Bear’s commanding officer. “This deployment was challenging. It’s tough to witness fellow humans risk all for a better way of life in an unforgiving sea. Know that your Coast Guard is ‘all in’ to protect our maritime border as well as save lives.” 

Since the fiscal year began in October, Coast Guard crews have interdicted over 7,100 Cubans and Haitians at sea. 

Bear is a 270-foot, Famous-class medium endurance cutter with a crew of 100. The cutter’s primary mission areas include homeland security, law enforcement, counter drug, search and rescue, migrant interdiction, and fisheries enforcement in support of U.S. Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere. 

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WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. Navy leaders in the Atlantic and European regions discussed, in some detail, the nature of the Russian build-up and naval activity in the Arctic region during a recent seminar in Washington. 

Speaking Feb. 9 at a seminar sponsored by the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and the Center for Maritime Strategy (CMS), a think tank of the Navy League of the United States — Deterring Russia at Sea in the High North — were Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Vice Adm. Dan Dwyer, commander, U.S. Second Fleet. The seminar was moderated by retired Adm. James Foggo, dean of CMS. 

“Russia now has six bases, 14 airfields, 16 deep-water ports, and 14 icebreakers built,” Caudle said of the Russian build-up. 

“They dominate the Arctic geography and possess the corresponding ability to dominate in capability and infrastructure,” he said. “They do have legitimate sovereign interests and have elevated their Northern Fleet to constitute its own military district — think, combatant command.” 

For decades, Russia and its prior Soviet Union entity have been especially protective of the northern approaches of the Barents Sea and Artic Ocean out of a desire to maintain a protective bastion for its nuclear-tipped missile force deployed on its ballistic-missile submarines.  

Caudle said Russia has the largest icebreaker fleet in the world and has even armed icebreakers with the Kalibr cruise missile.  

“They have an active defense system that has high readiness, mobility, and firepower in the Northern Fleet,” he said. “They centralize the command-and-control authority of the S-400 [surface-to-air] missile system. They have strong anti-access and access-denial capability that reaches from the Arctic to the Baltic to the GIUK [Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom] Gap. They have long-range, precision-guided strike weapons especially focused in and near the Kola Peninsula.” 

Caudle said those weapons include submarine-launched Kalibr submarine-launched land-attack cruise missiles, the Kinzhal long-range anti-ship missile, and the Screwdriver mobile land-attack cruise missile. 

Arctic Upgraded as Russian Priority

Dwyer, whose fleet had increased its excursions into the High North, said “[t]he stability that we enjoyed in the High North is in fact being challenged not only by climate change but by Russia themselves. 

He said that in July 2022 Russia released its new maritime doctrine, “prioritizing the Arctic as its most important maritime direction, pledging to protect these waters ‘by all means.’ This includes increasing attention on the Arctic littorals as well as the introduction of new missile capabilities … to focus on its bastion of the Northern Fleet…. Prior to this announcement, the Arctic was their number three priority. The Atlantic was their number one priority. Now Russians realize that the Arctic is the key to their economy and to their defense as they see the receding of the Arctic ice cap.” 

Dwyer also noted that in August 2022, Russia, “unveiled plans for a new strategic missile-carrying submarine cruiser for Atlantic operations. Moreover, in September Russia conducted Exercise Inka in the Arctic, deploying several submarines together, showing their capability in the High North. It is worth noting that Russia has renovated many Arctic sites and opened new ones. This is why we at JFC [NATO’s Joint Forces Command] Norfolk do everything in our power to manage and mitigate risk, prevent escalation, and ensure transparency of NATO operations in the Arctic.”   

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ARLINGTON, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is seeking an opportunity to demonstrate its new launch and recovery platform for large-diameter UUVs (LDUUVs) at sea on a U.S. Navy amphibious landing platform dock ship, a company official said. 

Brian Blanchette, vice president for Quality and Engineering at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding, spoke to reporters in a teleconference at West 2023 on Feb. 14, a trade show and symposium of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and the U.S. Naval Institute, and said the company would welcome a demonstration of the Pharos launch and recovery system from the well deck of an LPD either underway or in port.  

The Pharos system is a prototype cradle large enough to accommodate an LDUUV than can be streamed behind the well deck of an LPD or a well-deck-equipped amphibious assault ship (LHA/LHD) to launch the LDUUV or recover it. The cradle is tethered to a winch. 

The Pharos concept was developed by HII and underwent additional testing through cooperative agreements with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Florida, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, Rhode Island. 

The Pharos was tested dockside in the HII Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi in June 2022 and towed in a river, Blanchette said. The payload for the demonstration was HII’s Proteus LDUUV. 

He said that interface testing was conducted in September 2022 with a surrogate for the Navy’s Snakehead LDUUV, followed in October 2022 with a ballast/de-ballast test with the Snakehead.  

Scalable Concept 

“When we went through the design process for this vehicle [Pharos], we did computations, including dynamic studies, to evaluate where in the wake zone of the LPD would be a favorable location for a launch and recovery vehicle and also did model basin testing at the University of New Orleans in their tow tank to look at a physical scale model and better understand the capabilities of the system at speed simulating a tow. 

“We feel like we understand some of the challenges and have designed the system around those, but we look forward to at-sea testing to further validate the concept,” he said. “We are in talks with the Navy trying to find a target of opportunity to interface with an LPD either pier-side or at sea.”  

HII also plans this year to integrate the Pharos with the REMUS 6000 UUV. 

Blanchette said the Pharos concept is scalable and could be built to accommodate extra-large-diameter UUVs such as the Orca being developed by Boeing for the Navy. 

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ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s new SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar is scheduled to reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, a Raytheon official said. 

The radar, which first went to sea for trials on Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) in December, met all of its test objectives, said Mike Mills, Raytheon’s senior director for Naval Radar Programs in a Jan. 6 interview with Seapower, noting that the radar will be ready for IOC late next year. 

New Year, New Radar

The fixed-face SPY-6(V)1 replacing the SPY-1 in the newest version of the Arleigh Burke class DDG, Flight III. 

Mills said more software enhancements to the radar will be made as it is readied for the Navy’s acceptance trials scheduled for May or June. 

Raytheon is under contract for 25 SPY-6 radars of the various versions, including six SPY-6(V)1 variants for DDGs. The future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) will be the second ship DDG to be fitted with the SPY-6(V)1. 

The SPY-6(V)2 Enterprise Air Search Radar (EASR) is a rotating antenna version that is first being installed on the Flight I San Antonio-class amphibious platform dock ship Richard M. McCool Jr., the transition ship to the Flight II of the class. 

The first SPY-6(V)3 EASR rotating radar has been installed on the future aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), currently under construction.   

The SPY-6(V)4 version has a fixed-face antenna and will be retrofitted on some Flight IIA DDGs in place of the SPY-1. Mills said an adapter plate will be installed on the ships to allow for the retrofit of the SPY-6(V)4 antennas. The existing power systems will be 95% leveraged for re-use, he said. 

Mills said he expects a contract for the (V)4 to be forthcoming this year. 

He said the commonality of the various SPY-6 variants will simplify logistics. They will have common software and common sensor cells.  

Superior Defense Capabilities

All DDGs equipped with the SPY-6 will have defense capability against ballistic missiles, Mills said.   

He also pointed out that the increased range of the SPY-6 will improve the defensive capability of a DDG and free up more missile launchers for offensive capability.  

“We’ve got a whole lot of international interest,” Mills said, noting that several nations that currently use the SPY-1 radars would be potential customers for the SPY-6(V)1. He said his company has given numerous briefings to potential international customers.  

U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Tactics Instructors (WTIs) are converging in Washington for a conference January 9-12. The conference, known as a “Re-Blue,” is coordinated and hosted by the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC), who leads the Surface Warfare WTI program.

Trained and Qualified Instructors

WTIs are highly trained and qualified surface warfare officers who have specialized knowledge and expertise in one of the warfighting areas of integrated air and missile defense (IAMD): anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare (ASW/ASUW), mine warfare (MIW), and amphibious warfare (AMW). WTIs provide their commanding officers with tactical expertise and provide advanced training to warfighting teams.

About 130 WTIs are expected to participate.

Leadership, Technology, and Skills

While at the Pentagon, the WTIs will hear keynote remarks from leadership across the surface force, have an opportunity to refresh their knowledge on updated tactics, and receive briefings on best practices from SWMDC’s flagship underway training, SWATT – Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training.

The conference is taking place with the Surface Navy Association’s 35th Annual Symposium in nearby Crystal City, Va., allowing the WTIs to hear from Navy and Marine Corps leaders and see the latest in products and technologies from exhibiting companies.

“Our WTIs are assigned across the fleet in various shore and afloat billets, some as the only WTI at a command,” said Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, SMWDC Commander. “I’m looking forward to giving everyone the opportunity to come together with the greater WTI cadre, refresh their knowledge on the latest in surface tactics, and at the same time offer them the opportunity to attend SNA’s Annual Symposium.”

Maintaining a Competitive Edge

WTIs help maintain the competitive edge of the surface fleet and are the foundation of SMWDC’s five lines of efforts:
• Warfare tactic instructor production
• Advanced tactical training
• Doctrine and tactical guidance development
• Operation support to combatant commanders, numbered fleet commanders, and task force commanders
• Capability assessments, experimentation, and future requirements

The program is open to all qualified surface warfare officers in paygrades O1 to O4. Chief warrant officers and limited duty officers may also apply to the program.