ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps will embark F-35B strike fighters on a Japanese aircraft carrier this fall, the service’s commandant said, a next step to match a current F-35B deployment on board a U.K. Royal Navy aircraft carrier.  

“We’re actually going to fly U.S. Marine Corps F-35s off of a Japanese ship,” said Gen. David H. Berger, commandant of the Marine Corps, speaking Sept. 1 during a webinar conducted by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies and sponsored By Huntington Ingalls Industries. 

The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force operates the JS Izumo, commissioned a helicopter carrier in 2015 but under conversion to operate F-35Bs, of which Japan has ordered 40 from Lockheed Martin. A sister ship, JS Kaga, was commissioned in 2017 and also is planned for conversion to operate F-35Bs. 

The U.S. Marine Corps operates two F-35B squadrons at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan: Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121) and VMFA-242. 

Berger pointed to the current deployment of F-35Bs of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211 (VMFA-211) together with Royal Air Force F-35Bs on board HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is operating in the Pacific region, as an example of how the United States and its allies are working together to solve operational details. 

For one example he discussed, the British and Americans each have their own Special Compartmented Intelligence Facility, or SCIF, on the Queen Elizabeth to avoid complications of handling classified information. 

Berger sees cooperation with such allies as the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia as key to sharing information to countering the influence of China in the region. Enabling the F-35’s of each country to share data over networks is an important part of that cooperation.    

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter crashed into the Pacific Ocean while conducting flight operations approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of San Diego, the U.S. 3rd Fleet public affairs said in a release. 

Six personnel were on the helicopter when it crashed. One was rescued and transported ashore. He was said to be in stable condition. Search efforts continue by ships Navy and Coast Guard aircraft for the five additional aircrew members. 

The helicopter crashed at 4:30 p.m. PST, Aug. 31, while embarked aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). The carrier was conducting carrier qualifications for aircraft at the time. 

The MH-60S was “operating on deck before crashing into the sea,” the Navy said. “Five additional Sailors aboard Abraham Lincoln suffered injuries in the incident and are in stable condition. Two of the five Abraham Lincoln Sailors were transported ashore for treatment, while three of the five Abraham Lincoln Sailors had minimal injuries and remain aboard the ship.” 

The MH-60S was assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8, based at Naval Air Station North Island, California. 

The crash marked the second loss of an MH-60S this year. On July 16 an MH-60S assigned to NAS Fallon, Nevada, crashed on a rescue mission near Mount Hogue, California. No injuries occurred in that mishap. 

An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway. 

MANAMA, Bahrain — Ships from the Israeli navy and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) conducted a combined maritime security patrol in the Red Sea, Aug. 30-31, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in an Aug. 31 release. 

 Four Israeli and U.S. Navy ships sailed together in the Gulf of Aqaba as the U.S. Department of Defense shifted Israel from U.S. European Command to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. 
 
“Our navies are ushering in a new era of expanded cooperation and capacity building,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of NAVCENT, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. “We are partnering in new ways, which is essential for preserving security in today’s dynamic maritime environment.” 

 
Guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) sailed alongside an Israeli navy corvette and two patrol boats as a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flew overhead. The units conducted air defense, high value unit defense, small boat operations and tactical maneuver training.    
 
“Combined patrols like these help maintain regional maritime security and stability,” said Capt. Robert Francis, commodore for NAVCENT’s Task Force 55 which controls U.S. Navy surface assets in the Middle East. “The collaboration has been tremendous. We share a common understanding with our international counterparts that there is strength in unity.” 
 
In January, the United States announced moving Israel from U.S. European Command to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility effective Sept. 1. The change offers new opportunities for cooperation among regional navies in the Middle East. 
 
The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses nearly 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab-al-Mandeb. With Israel’s addition, the region is now comprised of 21 countries. 

NEW ORLEANS — The Coast Guard has conducted a total of six search and rescues in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Ida, saving a total of 13 people and two animals, and assisting six people, as of Sept. 1. 

Flight crews from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans, Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile and Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod have conducted these efforts. Their total flight time for the following cases are 27 hours and 42 minutes. 

The following search and rescue efforts were conducted by Air Station New Orleans: 

Aug. 30 – Leeville – The Coast Guard received a report that a man had been struck in the head during the storm by a window. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew landed on a highway and embarked the patient and took him to West Jefferson Hospital in stable condition. 

Aug. 30 – Port Sulphur – The Coast Guard received a report at 11 p.m. a shrimp boat caught fire and one of the crew members managed to swim to shore. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew landed on the highway in nighttime conditions, navigating down power lines and debris. The crew member was transferred to West Jefferson Hospital in Marrero.  

Aug. 31 – Grand Isle – An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew responded to a report of two men needing medical assistance, one having difficulties from a preexisting condition and the other with a leg injury. The aircrew lowered the rescue swimmer to assess the patients while the pilots landed the helicopter on the beach to conserve fuel and provide a stable loading platform. The patients were transferred to University Medical Center in New Orleans.  

The following search and rescue efforts were conducted by Aviation Training Center Mobile: 

Aug. 30 – Houston, Texas – While deployed in Houston, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew assisted in hospital transfers of four patients. 

Aug. 30 – La Place – An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew medevaced a middle-aged woman suffering from seizures and transferred her to West Jefferson Hospital. A secondary MH-65 Dolphin helicopter also transported two of her family members to Air Station New Orleans where a vehicle was waiting to drive them to the hospital.  

The following search and rescue was conducted by Air Station Cape Cod: 

Aug. 30 – Grand Isle – An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew conducted a beach landing to check for signs of distress and found eight people and two felines in a severely damaged motel. They requested to depart the island to safety. The aircrew transported everyone to the parking lot of the Houma Civic Center. 

EVENDALE, Ohio — GE Marine has renewed a long-term, customized service agreement (CSA) with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the company said in a Sept. 1 announcement. The CSA covers an operating fleet of 24 GE LM2500 aeroderivative marine gas turbines plus spare engines used to power Halifax-class frigates.  

According to Kris Shepherd, vice president, general Manager, GE Marine, Evendale, Ohio, “GE has been providing the RCN with 20 years of customized service for their LM2500 engines, yielding significant performance and operational advantages in terms of improved reliability and the high availability of the gas turbines to power their surface combatants.”  

“GE builds on its relationship of trust and reliability with the RCN, dating back to the early 1990s. The CSA provides the Navy with high availability of the RCN’s LM2500 fleet over the initial five years of contract support, as well as helping to promote supplier and skills development in Canada. The five-year contract comes with renewal and sustainment options until the eventual decommissioning of the Halifax-class frigates,” Shepherd added.  

Other benefits of this CSA include formal and on-the-job training with GE and Navy personnel working side by side to maintain the LM2500 fleet, and assistance with procurement, inspection, technical support and materials inventory management. 

Backed by GE’s extensive network of global field service technicians, the RCN has access to GE services located throughout the globe, providing immediate onsite technical support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Similar to the original contract, the scope of the renewed contract includes:  

• Repair, overhaul and engineering support  
• Parts warehousing and inventory management (including spare engines, supply of spare parts and replenishment of inventory)  
• Field service representative support (home port and deployed)  
• Support of naval engineering school training curriculum for on-engine and equipment maintenance  
• Operational level maintenance  
• Configuration management  
• Supply and distribution of technical manuals  

Customized agreements provide direct access to GE’s global inventory of parts and spare engines, and the ability to tap into GE’s worldwide service and support expertise such as training, maintenance, repair and overhaul services — all on an as-needed basis. With a CSA, navies can realize the full potential for their critical propulsion gas turbines while balancing performance and risk, along with predictable costs and less administrative oversight. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III released the following statement Aug. 30 to mark the end of American involvement in the war in Afghanistan. 

“Today, we completed the U.S. military evacuation of civilians and the removal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan.   

I am deeply saddened that, in the course of this historic evacuation mission, we lost 13 of our own, along with so many others who were killed and wounded days ago by cruel terrorists.  

We mourn alongside the families of those who were lost, and we will never forget your loved ones’ heroism and sacrifice. They gave their lives trying to save the lives of others. And I know that you share my pride in them.   

I hope that all Americans also share my pride in all the troops and diplomats who raced to help save lives during those critical days of August.   

Our service members secured, defended, and ran a major international airport. They learned how to help consular officers screen and verify visa applicants. They provided medical care, food and water, and compassion to people in need.  They flew tens of thousands of people to safety, virtually around the clock. They even delivered babies. 

No other military in the world could accomplish what we and our allies and partners did in such a short span of time.  That is a testament not only to our forces’ capabilities and courage but also to our relationships and the capabilities of our allies and partners.  

Over the course of more than four decades in service, I have never ceased to be amazed at what an American service member can do. I remain in awe. And I am thankful for the skill and professionalism with which they do it. 

I want to thank all those who labored so hard and under such difficult circumstances over the past few weeks, including dozens of our diplomats, to move some 6,000 of our fellow citizens out of harm’s way and evacuate more than 123,000 people from Afghanistan — the vast majority of whom are Afghans, friends and allies who fought by our side and fought for our shared values. 

We will help these Afghan friends as they now turn to the task of beginning new lives in new places. We will provide these men, women, and children with temporary living spaces, medical care, and sustenance at military facilities at home and abroad. We will continue to support the interagency effort led by the Department of Homeland Security to screen them and to process some of them to lead new lives in America. And we will work hard to defend our citizens from terrorist threats emanating from anywhere around the globe. 

Now, the end of this operation also signals the end of America’s longest war.   

We lost 2,461 troops in that war, and tens of thousands of others suffered wounds, seen and unseen.  
 
The scars of combat don’t heal easily, and often never heal at all.   

As we look back as a nation on two decades of combat and struggle in Afghanistan, I hope that we will do so with as much thoughtfulness and humility as we can muster.  And I know that we will wish for a brighter future for the Afghan people — for all their sons, and for all their daughters.  

Amid these discussions, we must remember our Gold Star families, and the support that we owe them. We must remember the wounded and the family members and the caregivers who still tend to them. We must remember the veterans of this war, those still on duty and those who have hung up the uniform. This country owes them all a profound debt of gratitude. 

And we must remember the citizens whom we serve and the nation that we defend.   

For my part, I am proud of the part that we played in this war. I am proud of the men and women who led me. I am proud of those with whom I served and led. And I am proud of the intrepid, resilient families who made what we did possible.” 

BURLINGTON, Mass. — BAE Systems Inc. has received a $6.5 million Phase 2 contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to further develop software that will enable semi-autonomous, multi-domain mission planning. The Phase 2 award under the Adapting Cross-Domain Kill-Webs, or ACK, program follows a successful Phase 1 demonstration.  

As part of Phase 1, BAE Systems’ FAST Labs research and development organization, along with teammates Carnegie Mellon University and Uncharted Software, created software called the Multi-domain Adaptive Request Service. The Phase 1 demonstration highlighted the software’s ability to update a plan in real time during a live exercise by ingesting information feeds to track the state of planned tasks, and then generating options to adapt the plan to insert new tasks. The Multi-domain Adaptive Request Service software adapts a plan with 100s of missions to insert tasks against new targets, requiring only fractions of a second per target added.   

Under Phase 2, BAE Systems will continue to mature and advance the software to scale up the capabilities designed to help operators make informed decisions by automatically identifying available assets across domains, and then rapidly assessing the costs and benefits of using those assets when adapting mission tasks. Phase 2 is a step toward the ultimate goal of the program: demonstrating the techniques in a full scale, operationally realistic setting. 

“Autonomy is a critical enabler for multi-domain mission planning,” said Chris Eisenbies, product line director of the Autonomy, Controls, and Estimation group at BAE Systems. “The Phase 2 award will focus on advancing the software designed for military operators to leverage battlespace resources from across various domains, including space, air, land, and sea, for more effective, efficient missions.”  

The software builds on BAE Systems’ robust autonomy portfolio and 20-year history pioneering autonomy technology. Work on the ACK program is being performed at the company’s facilities in Burlington, Massachusetts and Arlington, Virginia. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — A strong partnership between the Navy and the defense industry, including small and medium businesses, is essential to building and maintaining a strong fleet to counter potential adversaries such as China and Russia, the Navy’s new civilian leader said.  

“I know what it takes to build a warship and the teamwork that’s involved with both large companies and small companies, the government, the supervisor of shipbuilding,” said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, speaking Aug. 30 in a webinar of Southeast New England Defense Industry Alliance(SENEDIA). I was really impressed with the work that was going on at Electric Boat [in Groton, Connecticut] … and Quonset Point [Rhode Island].”

On Aug. 28, Del Toro was in Groton to attend the administrative commissioning of the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Vermont. 

“I spent three years of my own life in a shipyard building the [Arleigh Burke-class destroyer] USS Bulkeley,” Del Toro said. “About a year and a half was actual construction and a year and a half was sailing the ship on sea trials. I have tremendous respect for our shipyard workers and the work they do and all of the small businesses that come together to build a surface ship or a submarine.  

“It’s an example of how America’s best can come together to build these tremendous platforms and protect not just our national security, quite frankly but our economic security in every possible way,” he said. 

Del Toro praised SENEDIA for “doing a great job training the next generation of submarine workers through your OTA [Other Transaction Authority] partnership with the many apprenticeship programs.”    

The SECNAV said that the defense industry was critical to keeping pace with the threat of China’s expansion and Russia’s growing and increasingly capable submarine force. 

“China is my No. 1 priority as a more pacing threat to the United States,” he said. “We must do everything we can to prevent China from continuing its malevolent behavior toward the United States, toward other nations, to prevent them from what they potentially want to do [such as take over Taiwan] in some form or fashion.”   

Del Toro pointed out that China “has threatened our shipping lanes, she has demonstrated far greater regional aggression, [with] her expanding her presence, not just in the Pacific but around the entire world.  

“Russia also shows continued aggression in the Arctic and the Mediterranean and right up to our Atlantic shores as well,” he said. “She continues to build first-class submarines. That’s why organizations like SENEDIA working together with the United States Navy are so critically important to us to continue to stay ahead of technology in every possible way … and build the best possible platforms than we can.” 

The SECNAV said the world’s “rules-based order remains under siege in every possible way. We must be present, we must be persistent, and we must be postured for anything that comes our way.”

Navy Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander, Naval Surface Force, said readiness, training, manpower and new technology, such as simulators, are sharpening the surface fleet’s competitive edge.

The “SWO Boss” spoke Aug. 26 on the closing day of the Surface Navy Association’s annual Waterfront Symposium at Naval Station San Diego, a hybrid live and virtual event with in-person speakers and attendees as well as virtual participants.

Kitchener cited progress in training and certifying ship crews and individual watchstanders and the value of virtual training capabilities and simulators.

“We continue our integration of the live, virtual and constructive capability, which is integral to the future of training as it emulates threats at the scale we will encounter and injects them into our training scenarios,” he said. 

“Junior officers are becoming highly proficient at shiphandling and navigation thanks to an array of new trainers and simulators,” Kitchener said. “It’s amazing technology, being led by Surface Warfare and bringing increased training capacity and warfare capability to our fleet, worldwide.”

The weapons tactics instructors (WTIs) being developed by the Surface and Mine Warfare Development Center are now joining commands around the fleet in significant numbers, and they’re paying dividends, he said. 

“We will always need talented people developing and introducing warfighting tactics on the waterfront — to do that, we need to certify more WTIs. We will continue to invest in SMWDC and strengthen it as the centerpiece of Surface Force warfighting.”

According to Kitchener, getting WTIs into the fleet seven years ago shifted the conversation back to warfighting.

“Now we need to take it even further. We are validating the required number of WTIs to meet our goals over the next few years, but we know that with the growing size and complexity of our SWATT [surface warfare advanced tactical training] program and our goal to put a WTI on every ship, we need a better path to get these officers certified and out to the fleet.”

The myriad of readiness, training, manpower and technology initiatives together will retain the surface force’s “competitive edge,” he said. “Competitive edge is leading the world in warfighting technology. Competitive edge is denying our adversaries battle space and freedom of maneuver every day in peacetime. Competitive edge is not only knowing we can defeat the enemy, but the enemy knowing it too. It’s about combat readiness, but more importantly, it’s about combat action, and winning that action.”

Retired Vice Adm. Rick Hunt, president of SNA, thanked the speakers representing operations, personnel, training and support leadership, as well as the in-person and virtual audience for attending. He expressed his gratitude to the active duty and reserve attendees, as well as industry partners, for their contributions to the surface force and national defense.

“Where but the Navy, and the surface Navy in particular, do you have the opportunity to learn every day; to continue to grow; address new and challenging opportunities every day; to make a difference, not only to yourself, but to your shipmates every day; and to be able to deliver directly to our national defense?” he said. “What higher purpose can there be than to do be able to do this kind of very personally and professionally satisfying work — and to do it in a most powerful way?”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Department of Defense announced Aug. 28 the deaths of 13 service members who were supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. They died Aug. 26, 2021, as the result of an enemy attack while supporting non-combatant evacuation operations in Kabul, Afghanistan. The incident is under investigation.    

For the Marine Corps, the deceased are: 

Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California.
Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California.
Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana.
Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas.
Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri.
Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming.
Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California.  

Hoover, Lopez, Page, Sanchez, Schmitz, Espinoza, McCollum, Merola and Nikoui were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California.  

Gee was assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  

Rosariopichardo was assigned to 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Naval Support Activity Bahrain.  

For the Navy, the deceased is:  

Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio.  

Soviak was assigned to 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California.  

For the Army, the deceased is:  

Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee. 

Knauss was assigned to 9th PSYOP Battalion, 8th PSYOP Group, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.