MILTON, Fla. The first operational TH-73A “Thrasher” training helicopter landed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field in Milton, Aug. 6, the Navy said in a release. 

 The helicopter will be assigned to Training Air Wing (TW) 5 and will replace chief of Naval Air Training’s (CNATRA) TH-57B/C Sea Ranger as the undergraduate training helicopter for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. 

The helicopter made the two-day transit to the base from the Leonardo Helicopters facility in Philadelphia, where the aircraft was manufactured. CNATRA leadership welcomed the aircraft alongside representatives from Leonardo Helicopters, Vertex Aerospace, who will provide maintenance support for the TH-73A, in addition to local community leaders. 

Leonardo Helicopters is contracted to deliver 31 additional Thrashers this calendar year for a total of 130 through 2024 before the Sea Ranger’s scheduled sundown in 2025 and will provide the Navy the capacity to train several hundred aviation students per year. 

The TH-73A incorporates a modern avionics suite with a fully integrated flight management system, automatic flight control system, and independent, digital cockpit displays to both pilot stations. It boasts increased performance in power, speed, payload, and endurance over the Sea Ranger, making it comparable to fleet aircraft. These upgrades will help bridge capability and capacity gaps to better prepare newly winged naval aviators as they transition to fleet replacement squadrons for postgraduate training. 

In addition to new helicopters, the full Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) includes aircrew training services that provide availability on new simulators, a modernized curriculum, and a new contractor logistics support contract for Thrasher maintenance and flight line support. 

“Using current cockpit technologies and a new training curriculum, AHTS will improve pilot training and skills and ensure rotary wing and tilt-rotor aviators are produced more efficiently at a higher quality and are ready to meet the fleet’s challenges,” CNATRA Rear Adm. Robert Westendorff said. “AHTS will meet our advanced rotary wing and intermediate tilt-rotor training requirements through 2050.” 

The TH-73As will be housed in a temporary hangar at NAS Whiting Field, while construction of a new helicopter maintenance hangar on base is slated to begin in 2023. Leonardo Helicopters also recently established a TH-73A maintenance support team at Santa Rosa County’s new aviation customer service hangar at Peter Prince Airport in Milton. 

“This delivery signifies a new era for Naval Aviation training,” said Capt. Holly Shoger, Naval Undergraduate Flight Training Systems Program Office (PMA-273) program manager. “The combined government and contractor team set new standards to meet much needed requirements in the fleet. We are proud to develop and provide these new capabilities that will improve pilot training for many years to come.” 

The TH-73A Helicopter Instructor Training Unit (HITU) team under TW-5 at NAS Whiting Field will use the first Thrasher to validate the modernized curriculum efforts, which is a requirement prior to training student naval aviators with the new curriculum in the new system. 

“The simple cockpit design and layout, pushbutton and toggle switch interface, advanced navigation and communication capabilities, and rapid control response make it the ideal training aircraft and the perfect stepping stone to any service rotary wing platform,” said Cmdr. Dustin Robbins, TW-5 AHTS Fleet Integration Team (FIT) officer in charge. “With its all-digital cockpit and fully integrated Flight Management System coupled with superior power and speed margins, the TH-73A is a lot of fun to fly.”  

PMA-273 at Naval Air Systems in Patuxent River, Maryland, oversees the AHTS and TH-73A, and will determine the final disposition of the 35-year-old TH-57 Sea Ranger, which is scheduled to sundown in fiscal years 2022 through 2025. 

The TH-73A Thrasher is named for the brown thrasher, a bird common to the skies over the Southeastern United States including Northwest Florida. The inconspicuous, yet territorial, bird is a fearless defender known for its low-level flying prowess. 

TW-5 is comprises three primary fixed-wing and three advanced helicopter squadrons and trains aviators from the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and allied nations. 

RENTON, Wash. — The first of five Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft for Norway performed its first flight Aug. 9, the company said in a release. The aircraft took off at 10:03 a.m. Pacific time and flew for 2 hours, 24 minutes, reaching a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet during the flight from Renton Municipal Airport to Boeing Field in Seattle. 

The first flight marks the next phase of the production cycle of this aircraft as it is moved to the Installation and Checkout facility, where mission systems will be installed and additional testing will take place before final delivery to the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) later this year. 

“This inaugural flight is an important milestone for Norway, and the Boeing team remains committed to delivering the P-8 fleet to the NDMA on schedule,” said Christian Thomsen, P-8 Europe program manager. “The P-8 is a capability that will help Norway improve anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and search-and-rescue missions, in addition to fostering valuable regional collaboration and interoperability with NATO nations.” 

The five P-8As will eventually replace Norway’s current fleet of six P-3 Orions and three DA-20 Jet Falcons. The Royal Norwegian Air Force currently operates its P-3s from Andoya Air Station. With the introduction of the P-8s, flight operations will move to new facilities at Evenes Air Station. 

To date, Boeing has delivered 136 P-8 aircraft to the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Indian navy and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. Norway is one of eight nations that have selected the P-8A as their maritime patrol aircraft, along with the United States, India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Korea, New Zealand and Germany. 

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The Airborne Strategic Command, Control, and Communications Program Office (PMA-271) purchased a retired Royal Air Force E-3D for $15 million that will be used as an E-6B Mercury pilot training aircraft, the Naval Air Systems Command said in an Aug. 4 release. 

The program office had been looking to acquire a dedicated training aircraft for the fleet to take the strain off using the current mission-capable E-6 aircraft. 

“The training flights expose mission aircraft to significant wear-and-tear and impact their readiness and availability,” said Capt. Adam Scott, PMA-271 program manager. “This is a great chance to work with the United Kingdom and bring a much-needed aircraft to the fleet.” 

Since the E-6’s inception over three decades ago, the Navy has looked for ways to train pilots and keep them up to date on the airframe. Those options have included leasing several different commercial aircraft as well as using the mission-capable aircraft. 

For the past several years, the program has been looking for a dedicated trainer and found one when the Royal Air Force decided to retire their fleet of E-3Ds. 

Both the E-3 and E-6 are militarized versions of the Boeing 707. 

When the funds became available in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the team moved fast. 

Members of the program office went to Louisiana at the end of February to inspect the condition of the aircraft as they moved closer to acquiring it. 

“This team has done a great job of moving quickly and capitalizing on this opportunity,” Scott said. “It’s a big win for the entire E-6 community.” 

Once the aircraft comes to NAVAIR, a modification will begin with a goal to get it out to the fleet by October 2023. 

The aircraft will help reduce an estimated 600 flight hours and 2,400 landings/cycles per year from the E-6 mission aircraft. 

The E-6B is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It provides survivable, reliable, and endurable airborne command, control and communications between the National Command Authority and U.S. strategic and non-strategic forces. 

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Technical Solutions division announced Aug. 10 it has been awarded a five-year contract with a total value of $273 million to support the U.S. Navy’s carrier engineering maintenance assist team, surface engineering maintenance assist team for West Coast surface ships, and other maintenance and material readiness programs. 

“Continuous modernization and sustainment of our nation’s fleet is essential to our national security,” said Garry Schwartz, president of Technical Solutions’ Defense and Federal Solutions business group. “HII is honored to extend our 40-year partnership with the U.S. Navy in support of these critical defense assets, and to continue leveraging our expertise to maximize efficiency and cost-savings in the future.” 

Work performed on the contract will support maintenance and planning for the overhaul and repair of equipment and systems including hull, mechanical and electrical; aviation equipment and systems; command, control, communications, computer and intelligence; and combat support systems. The programs follow a “find, fix and train” philosophy with assessments, maintenance, and training to enhance sailor self-sufficiency and maintenance capabilities while ensuring platforms remain mission capable. Work will be performed within the U.S. and internationally during operational deployments. 

FAIRFAX, Va. — Schiebel Aircraft and Areté Associates successfully showcased the Camcopter S-100 unmanned aircraft system combined with Areté’s Pushbroom Imaging Lidar for Littoral Surveillance (PILLS) sensor to the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research, Schiebel said in an Aug. 9 release. 

In a combined demonstration sponsored by ONR on a commercial vessel off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Schiebel and Areté demonstrated the combination’s ability to conduct hydrographic mapping of ocean littoral spaces with a low size, weight, and power sensor that easily integrates into the small S-100. PILLS has multiple military and commercial applications.  

“We are proud that we could successfully showcase the outstanding capabilities and data-gathering features of our Camcopter S-100 to the U.S. Navy,” said Hans Georg Schiebel, chairman of the Schiebel Group. “Globally, we operate extensively on land and at sea and we are confident that our unmanned solution is also the right fit for the U.S. Navy.” 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Unmanned systems may be a solution for handling dirty, dull or dangerous tasks in the Arctic, but they’re no substitute for a U.S. flagged ship when it comes establishing presence in the Far North, a Coast Guard Arctic expert says.

“Unmanned systems are a great tool but they don’t deliver presence,” according to the Coast Guard Senior Arctic Advisor Shannon Jenkins. “Presence is a U.S. flagged [manned] sovereign vessel,” Jenkins told an Aug. 3 exhibit booth briefing at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo at National Harbor, Maryland. “You can’t surge into the Arctic. You have to be up there.”

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz has said repeatedly that “presence equals influence in the Arctic” to counter a resurgent Russia, and China — which styles itself a “near Arctic nation” — from ignoring the rules-based international order and modern maritime governance as they have done in other regions like the Black and South China seas.

Maritime domain awareness in the Arctic requires more than periodic exercises. It is important to understand how the environment is changing, Jenkins said, “So that we’re better prepared for when industry changes their operations up there, so we can be prepared to be up there and regulate, enforce and protect those operations as well as the U.S. citizens up there.”

The U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the waters off Alaska and the Aleutians is greater than all other American EEZs along the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf coasts and U.S. territorial waters in the Central Pacific and the Caribbean. “That’s a lot of water,” Jenkins said, “so we have to go where the activity is.” That includes going where the fishing fleets, the cruise ships and the oil and gas explorers operate as climate change melts polar sea ice, opening up new sea lanes across the top of the world in summer as well as access to mineral resources and fish stocks long-hidden beneath the ice.

The Russian fishing fleet has begun experimental fishing in the Chukchi Sea, north of the Bering Strait “and that means the Coast Guard is going to be up there to monitor,” Jenkins said. Among worldwide fishery production, Alaska ranks seventh, and the six larger producers are all nation states, he said. Illegal, unlawful and unlicensed fishing is replacing piracy as the top global maritime security threat facing the nation, according to the Coast Guard.

“We’re going to need ice breakers, more ships, more planes, more helicopters, more people,” Jenkins said, adding those systems and platforms have to be able to operate in the austere conditions of the Arctic. “There’s a lot of icing and extreme winds. With unmanned aerial systems, we’ve had issues deploying in that region. Wind factors are just too great,” said Jenkins. “It’s also an access issue. That’s where the ice breakers are so essential. They’re our floating infrastructure.”

The Coast Guard currently has only two operating ice breakers, both of them old. Congress has provided funding for the first two Polar Security Cutters (PSCs), which will be heavy icebreakers. A contract was awarded to VT Halter in 2019 for the first PSC. Delivery is expected in 2026, Jenkins said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Senate has confirmed Carlos Del Toro as the 78th secretary of the Navy, the Defense Department said in an Aug. 7 release. 

Below is a statement from Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on the confirmation:  

“Carlos Del Toro’s lifelong pursuits and deep experience advancing America’s national security make him well-prepared to serve as the 78th Secretary of the Navy. A student of the U.S. Naval Academy and Naval War College, Carlos rose through the ranks during the Cold War and Operation Desert Shield and Storm to serve as the first commanding officer of the destroyer USS Bulkeley DDG 84, and then later as a trusted aide to Pentagon leadership. He understands firsthand the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing our Navy, from addressing the pacing challenge of China and modernizing our capabilities, to investing in our most valuable asset — our people. As an immigrant who has dedicated his life to public service, Carlos exemplifies the core values of honor, courage, and commitment in defense of our country. 

“We remain the preeminent force in the world because of leaders like Carlos, and I have no doubt our Navy and our nation will be well served. I congratulate him on his confirmation, look forward to working with him and take pleasure in welcoming him back aboard.”

WASHINGTON, D.C.— USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) successfully conducted a third explosive event off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on Aug. 8, marking the completion of the ship’s Full Ship Shock Trials (FSST), the Program Executive Office Aircraft Carriers Public Affairs said in an Aug. 8 release.  

Shock Trials validate a ship’s shock hardness and ability to sustain operations in a simulated combat environment using live ordnance. During the four-month testing evolution, the first-in-class aircraft carrier withstood the impact of three 40,000-pound underwater blasts, released at distances progressively closer to the ship. 

“The Navy designed the Ford-class carrier using advanced computer modeling methods, testing, and analysis to ensure the ships are hardened to withstand harsh battle conditions,” said Capt. Brian Metcalf, manager for the Navy’s future aircraft carrier program office, PMS 378. “These shock trials have tested the resiliency of Ford and her crew and provided extensive data used in the process of validating the shock hardness of the ship.” 

Metcalf said that the goal of the tests is to ensure that Ford’s integrated combat systems perform as designed and added “the tests demonstrated — and proved to the crew, fairly dramatically — that the ship will be able to withstand formidable shocks and continue to operate under extreme conditions.” 

CVN 78 is returning to the Tidewater area for a six month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). As the PIA begins, teams will conduct additional detailed inspections, assess any damage sustained during the shots, and continue modernization and maintenance work in advance of workups for the ship’s deployment in 2022. 

Rear Adm. James P. Downey, program executive officer for aircraft carriers, rode the ship during the first and third shock evolutions, and observed the historic trials, first-hand. “FSST has proven a critical investment in the Ford-class development,” said Downey. “The ship and crew performed exceptionally in these very strenuous conditions and continued their operations throughout the shock events, demonstrating the ship’s ‘fight-through’ capability.” 

“We’re designing and building these aircraft carriers to sail in some of the world’s most contested security environments. So, when you think about the threats to warships posed by non-contact blasts and the number of sea mines in the inventories of navies around the world, the gravity and consequence of these shock trials really come into focus,” he said. “The Navy’s ongoing investment in the design, including this modeling, will help ensure the resiliency of Ford’s integrated, mission critical systems in underway threat environments.” 

Downey added that the trial’s ultimate success hinged on the extraordinary performance of ship’s force, in coordination with crews on several surface and aviation platforms that support FSST. 

“The countdown to the actual shot is choreographed down to the smallest detail, and the coordination between the ship and the other surface and aviation platforms, as well as the on-scene environmental scientists has been impressive.” 

FSSTs are complex evolutions, conducted during a precise operating schedule in compliance with exacting environmental mitigation requirements, respecting known migration patterns of marine life and protected species. Ford’s shock trials required exacting coordination across multiple Navy/Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) organizations and experienced FSST teams. 

Prior to each shot, the FSST team notified mariners to avoid the test area, and implemented extensive protocols to ensure the safety of military and civilian personnel participating in the operation. A team of more than a dozen scientists, biologists, and observers were assigned to Ford, nearby support vessels, and observation aircraft. Observers used high-powered lenses to detect marine life at great distances, through ocean waves and white caps. 

During the sequence of events leading up to each shot, crews operated in a heightened state of watchful readiness in anticipation of the ultimate go/no-go decision, which had to be made between 4:00 and 8:00 a.m. on the day of the scheduled blast. 

Ford’s commanding officer, Capt. Paul Lanzilotta, was the tactical commander that ordered the go/no-go decision, based on the interplay of several crucial variables, such as ship and crew readiness, weather, and sea state, as well as pre-set environmental mitigation measures, designed to protect any marine life spotted within the test area. 

“Safety was always the driving consideration throughout the shock trials,” recalled Lanzilotta. “So, once we were ready and in position, pausing the countdown to the shot could really test our focus and persistence.” 

“In spite of months of detailed preparation, you can’t always count on the weather,” he said. “But the crew hung in there and showed the great tenacity and professionalism reflective of their pride in our Warship.” 

“So many pieces had to fall into place to execute Ford’s FSSTs within the testing window,” Lanzilotta said. “Success required equal measures of technical expertise, trust, and courage — traits you’ll find in great supply on Warship 78 and throughout the entire Ford Shock Trial Team. These shots have only strengthened my confidence in the durability of this ship, and the excellence of the crew who came out here to own it, and absolutely crushed it.” 

The U.S. Navy has conducted FSSTs over several decades, most recently for the Littoral Combat Ships USS Jackson (LCS 6) and USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) in 2016; as well as on the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) in 2008, the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) in 1990, and the guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) in 1987. The last aircraft carrier to execute FSST was USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in 1987. 

The Navy conducted the Gerald R. Ford shock trial testing in accordance with Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction 9072.2, and as mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016. The first two shots of the FSST sequence occurred on June 18 and July 16. 

USS Gerald R. Ford is the newest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy. The ship closed out a successful 18-month Post Delivery Test & Trials period in April, during which the crew completed all required testing, accomplished planned improvements and maintenance ahead of schedule, and learned valuable lessons to increase the reliability of Ford-Class systems. At the same time, the ship also served as the sole East Coast platform for conducting carrier qualifications. 

The Gerald R. Ford-class represents the first major design investment in aircraft carriers since the 1960s. CVN 78 is engineered to support new technologies and a modern air wing essential to deterring and defeating near-peer adversaries in a complex maritime environment. 

TAMPA, Fla. – Following the July 30 explosive unmanned aerial vehicle attack on the Motor Tanker (M/T) Mercer Street while transiting international waters off the coast of Oman, an expert explosive investigative team from the USS Ronald Reagan embarked the M/T to examine the evidence and interview the surviving crew members, the U.S. Central Command said in an Aug. 6 release. 

The team found: 

1) The M/T Mercer Street was targeted by two unsuccessful explosive UAV attacks on the evening of July 29. The crew reported the attacks via distress calls on the evening of July 29. Based on crew interviews, the investigative team found credible the reports of the attacks, which impacted the sea near the M/T Mercer Street.  Investigators found small remnants of at least one of the UAVs on Mercer Street that the crew had retrieved from the water, corroborating the reports. 

2) The investigative team determined that the extensive damage to the Mercer Street, documented in the attached slides, was the result of a third UAV attack on July 30. This UAV was loaded with a military-grade explosive, and caused the death of two crewmembers; the master of the ship, a Romanian citizen, and a United Kingdom national who was part of the security detail. 

3) The explosive detonation following the UAV impact created an approximately 6-foot diameter hole in the topside of the pilot house and badly damaged the interior. Explosive chemical tests were indicative of a Nitrate-based explosive and identified as RDX, indicating the UAV had been rigged to cause injury and destruction. 

4) Explosives experts were able to recover several pieces of this third UAV, including a vertical stabilizer (part of the wing) and internal components which were nearly identical to previously collected examples from Iranian one-way attack UAVs. The distance from the Iranian coast to the locations of the attacks was within the range of documented Iranian one-way attack UAVs. Following an on-scene analysis, some of the material was transferred to U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain and subsequently to a U.S. national laboratory for further testing and verification.  

5) U.K. explosive experts were provided access to the evidence at the 5th Fleet headquarters. Evidence was shared virtually with Israeli explosive experts. Both partners concurred with the U.S. findings.  

U.S. experts concluded based on the evidence that this UAV was produced in Iran. 

This statement was released with an accompanying briefing “Iranian UAV Attack Against MOTOR TANKER MERCER STREET”  

https://www.centcom.mil/Portals/6/PressReleases/MERCERSTREETATTACK06AUG2%20final.pdf

The above statements and those in the accompanying briefing are attributable to U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Urban, the CENTCOM spokesman. 

KEY WEST, Fla. — The Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk’s crew returned to homeport Sunday, following a 52-day counter-drug deployment throughout the Eastern Pacific Ocean in support of U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South and the Eleventh Coast Guard District, the Coast Guard 7th District said in an Aug. 9 release.

During the patrol, the Mohawk made significant advances in combating transnational criminal organizations and stopped more than 12,000 pounds of illicit drugs, valued at over $218 million. 

The cutter’s crew, with a deployed Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron crew and MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, interdicted seven vessels, apprehended more than 20 suspected drug smugglers and seized 11,416 pounds of cocaine and 736 pounds of marijuana. While deployed, the Mohawk’s crew boarded five suspected drug smuggling vessels in less than two days. Later in the deployment, the Mohawk’s crew successfully interdicted two separate vessels smuggling cocaine and marijuana in less than a day. 

“I am extremely proud of this crew and all they have accomplished,” said Cmdr. Andrew Pate, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk. “Despite encountering some significant equipment and logistics challenges, the Mohawk crew rose to the occasion time and again, demonstrating superior tactical proficiency and dedication to this joint mission. Keeping a 30-year-old cutter fully mission capable for two months in a harsh environment wouldn’t be possible without partnerships on the water and unwavering support from back home. Mohawk’s success in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is reflective of an increased commitment by U.S. and international partners to detect, disrupt, and deter criminal activity destabilizing the region.” 

The Mohawk’s crew kicked off the deployment with a biannual shipboard training cycle off the coast Jacksonville, Florida. During a compressed week-long evaluation period, Mohawk’s crew demonstrated their knowledge and skills by completing 76 drills in the areas of damage control, navigation, seamanship, naval warfare, communications, medical response, engineering casualties and force protection. The crew’s efforts resulted in an average drill score of 96 percent, demonstrating excellence in all warfare areas. 

While underway, the Mohawk’s crew completed aviation, damage control, engineering, seamanship and navigation training to maintain operational readiness and prepare for future multi-mission deployments. 

The Mohawk’s crew also located, and successfully freed, a green sea turtle trapped in fishing gear off the coast of Central America. 

The Mohawk is the last built of the 270-foot Famous-class cutters, commissioned in March 1991 and homeported in Key West, Florida.