WASHINGTON — The Department of the Navy’s first Senate-confirmed Senior Military Acquisition Advisors (SMAA) joined the assistant secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA) staff this month, the Navy said in a June 2 release. 

This program established in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018 is designed for senior officers within the acquisition community to provide strategic, technical, and programmatic advice to their Service Acquisition Executive with the option of serving as adjunct professors at Defense Acquisition University. 

U.S. Navy Capt. Stephen Murray and U.S. Marine Corps Col. Dave Burton were selected by a panel of flag and general officers to provide senior level acquisition expertise to ASN RDA. 
 
“Both of these officers are very successful acquisition professionals,” said Vice Adm. Mike Moran, principal military deputy ASN RDA. “Their selection as the Department of the Navy’s first SMAAs speaks not only to their superb careers, but the tremendous value they will bring to the Department of the Navy for many more years.”   
 
Murray will assume a key leadership role as a military deputy on the recently established Deputy ASN Sustainment staff. He will be responsible for long term surface ship/submarine maintenance planning, industrial base coordination, and shipyard improvements for fleet readiness. Murray will also assume a lead role on the new Sustainment System Working Group (SSWG), established to address systemic readiness issues across the naval enterprise. Murray has extensive fleet and acquisition experience, and just completed a very successful tour as a major program manager for Surface Ship Readiness and Maintenance.  
 
Burton will assume a key leadership role as the military deputy on the Department of the Navy’s new Project Overmatch Organization, which supports Navy and Marine Corps Distributed Maritime Operations and integration with the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program. He will be responsible for integrating current Marine Corps and Navy networks and services to enable a future common operational architecture. Burton’s decades of operational and acquisition experience uniquely qualify him for this role along with his very successful tour as a major program manager for Intelligence Systems.  
 
The assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition serves as the Navy Service Acquisition Executive. ASN RDA has authority, responsibility and accountability for all acquisition functions and programs, and for enforcement of Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment procedures. The assistant secretary represents the Department of the Navy to USD (A&S) and to Congress on all matters relating to acquisition policy and programs.  
 
The assistant secretary establishes policies and procedures and manages the Navy’s research, development and acquisition activities in accordance with DoD 5000 Series Directives. The assistant secretary serves as program (milestone) decision authority on ACAT IC programs and recommends decisions on ACAT ID programs.  

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps plans to shrink its force and divest itself of heavy weapons platforms such as tanks and towed artillery to pay for new investments in cyber space, artificial intelligence and high mobility, according to new budget documents and briefings.

The Department of the Navy, including the Marine Corps, is seeking $211.7 billion from Congress in its fiscal 2022 budget request. The Marines would get $47.98 billion, an increase of 6% over their 2021’s enacted budget, “with real growth in their operational, maintenance and procurement accounts,” Adm. John Gubleton, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, told a Pentagon briefing at the Defense Department budget rollout May 28.

Overall, the Navy “realigned tens of billions of dollars towards higher priority programs and divested of legacy capabilities,” Gubleton said. For the Marine Corps those divestments include the Corps’ Abrams main battle tanks and towed artillery, to pay in part for a lighter, swifter widely dispersed force with the right skills for future challenges such as distributed operations, crisis response, and electronic, information and cyber warfare, according to budget documents.

Force Design

As part of that modernization, included in the Force Design 2030 plan announced in March 2020, the current budget request calls a reduction of 2,700 enlisted Marines, from 159,716 in 2021 to 156,650 in fiscal 2022. With the addition of 366 new officers to the existing officer corps, the total force in fiscal 2022 would be 178,500.

In the months leading up to the budget announcement, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger has stressed the Marines are divesting 20^th century weaponry, like main battle tanks and towed artillery, to make room for capabilities that are unique to the threat posed by China, which Pentagon leadership has identified as the number one pacing challenge, a near-peer competitor that is catching up. But Berger has also stressed the Marine Corps has to be ready for other contingencies like natural disaster relief and rapid response across the globe.

“We’re willing to trade things like heavy armor for capabilities I think are unique to the Marine Corps, that provide a unique contribution to the combatant commander to the Joint Force,” Berger told a live-streamed forum at the Brooking Institution 10 days before the budget release. “And that is the expeditionary, the amphibious, the parts that we do better than anybody else.”

Berger said he was “willing to trade capacity, end strength, for quality,” adding, “we’ll have a slightly smaller Marine Corps in terms of end strength, but they will be more senior and better trained. So that’s a trade I’m willing to make.”

Procurement

The fiscal 2022 request includes $3 billion in procurements, up from $2.7 billion enacted in 2021, including key Marine Corps development programs such as the Ground Based Anti-Ship Missile (GBASM), Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar, CH-53K King Stallion helicopter and the Amphibious Combat Vehicle.

Procurement requests include 17 short take off and vertical landing F-35B Lightning II joint strike fighter aircraft and six KC-130 aerial refueling tankers.

The request calls for replacing the CH-53 Sea Stallion, the ship-board compatible heavy-lift helicopter the Marines have been operating since the early 1980s, with the CH-53K King Stallion. The fiscal 2022 request seeks nine King Stallions.

The fiscal 2022 request would procure 613 Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) vehicles, 139 less than fiscal 2021, and associated kits. The kits will support the baseline vehicle by providing the warfighter the ability to augment the vehicle’s configuration in order to respond to environmental conditions or threat situations. Kit procurement provides up to 75 individual kit options.

For the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, which will replace the legacy Assault Amphibious Vehicle in the Assault Amphibious battalions, the request is for a second full-rate production lot of 92 vehicles (20 more than FY 2021), plus procurement of related items such as production support, systems engineering/program management, engineering change orders, government furnished equipment, and integrated logistics support.

Fiscal 2022 funding seeks eight Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) systems as well as the initiation of radar decoy procurement capabilities to support air defense, air surveillance, and counterbattery/target acquisition.

The Marines are asking for $47.9 million to begin the procurement of the initial capacity Naval Strike Missiles in support of the GBASM/Remotely Operated Ground Unit Expeditionary (ROGUE) Fires Vehicle for the Marine Littoral Regiment.

For the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, a C-130 transportable, wheeled, indirect fire, rocket/missile launcher, the Marines are also seeking funding to procures launchers, carriers and equipment to support the continued expansion of marine Corps launcher capacity, and the procurement of Reduced Range Practice Rockets for tactical training, classroom training, and handling exercises.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard is requesting $13.1 billion for fiscal 2022, according to the service’s budget documents, just $38 million more than enacted in the 2021 budget. 

The cutter procurement portion of the Coast Guard budget includes $1 billion for cutter construction and long-lead materials. The procurement includes: 

• $170.0 million for program management for construction of Polar Security Cutter (PSC) hulls #1 and #2 and for long-lead materials for PSC #3
• $597.0 million for construction of Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) #4, detailed design for the re-compete contract for the OPC, and long-lead materials for OPC #5  
• $67.0 million for the detail and design and construction of the Waterways Commerce Cutter 
• $87.8 million for sustainment of numerous in-service cutters  
• $78.0 million for post-delivery activities for National Security Cutters #10 and #11 
• $20 million for program management of the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program 
• $15 million for the multi-year service-life extension of the USCGC Polar Star, the services only operational heavy icebreaker. 

The Coast Guard also requested $221.8 million for aircraft procurement and modification:  

• $102.8 million to continue life extension of the MH-60T helicopter fleet to serve into the 2030s and initial funding to expand the size of the fleet beyond 48 aircraft (through conversion of ex-Navy H-60 airframes)   
• $66.5 million for continued missionization of C-27J medium-endurance surveillance aircraft into HC-27J versions 
• $20.0 million for long-lead materials for HC-130J long-range surveillance aircraft in preparation of the transition of Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, from the legacy HC-130H versions 
• $32 million for modernization and sustainment of the MH-65 helicopters to extend their service life into the 2030s 
• $0.5 million to continue funding installation of small unmanned aerial system capability into the National Security Cutters. 

The Operations and Maintenance portion of the budget includes $92.5 million, which includes funding for: 

• Crew and shore side support for the homeporting of the 10th NSC in Charleston, South Carolina 
• Crews and support for six FRCs for Manama, Bahrain; St. Petersburg, Florida; Ketchikan, Alaska; and Boston, Massachusetts 
• Crew, support, and facilities for OPCs at San Pedro, California 
• Crew and support for three HC-130J aircraft at Air Station Barbers Point 
• Support for a new C-27 long-range command-and-control aircraft in Washington, D.C. 
• Support for a new air station in Ventura County, California 
• Support for home-porting a medium-endurance cutter at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia 
• Support for the transition of Air Station New Orleans, Louisiana, from the MH-65 to the MH-60T helicopter 
• Crew and support for the 49th MH-60T helicopter 
• A third Cyber Protection Team. 

The 2022 budget also plans for retiring five HC-130H aircraft (four at Barbers Pint and one in depot maintenance); decommissioning five 110-foot Island-class patrol boats; and decommissioning five 87-foot Marine Protector-class coastal patrol boats. 

The 10 patrol boats are being replaced by FRCs. 

MIAMI — The Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore crew repatriated 46 Cuban migrants to Cuba, Monday, from four interdictions, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a May 31 release. 

In the first interdiction, the Cutter Kathleen Moore’s crew located a migrant vessel and notified Sector Key West watchstanders, May 21, approximately 45 miles north of Bahia Honda, Cuba.  

In the second interdiction, the Coast Guard Cutter Resolute’s crew spotted and rescued migrants from the water, May 21, approximately 16 miles south of Key West. Cutter Resolute’s crew transferred the migrants to Cutter Kathleen Moore. 

In the third interdiction, a Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew spotted a rustic vessel and notified Sector Key West watchstanders, May 21, approximately 23 miles south of Key West. The Cutter Resolute arrived on scene and embarked the migrants with no medical concerns reported. Cutter Resolute’s crew transferred the migrants to Cutter Kathleen Moore. 

In the fourth interdiction, Coast Guard District Seven watchstanders received a report from a good Samaritan of a rustic vessel, May 21, approximately 69 miles south of the Marquesas. Cutter Kathleen Moore arrived on scene and safely embarked the migrants. 

“The Florida Straits can be very dangerous,” said Capt. Adam Chamie, commander of Sector Key West. “The weather can change quickly. Even if the water is warm, the sea can be unforgiving, particularly in unseaworthy rafts. Please don’t take to the sea.” 

Since Oct. 1, 2020, Coast Guard crews have interdicted 323 Cubans, compared to: 

5,396 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2016 

1,468 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2017 

259 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2018 

313 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2019 

49 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2020.

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. Throughout the interdiction, Coast Guard crew members were equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to any possible case of COVID-19.   

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy Department’s fiscal 2022 budget requests totals $211.7 billion, a $3.8 billion increase over the enacted 2021 budget. The request includes funds for eight battle force ships and 107 aircraft. 

The Navy Department’s $211.7 billion request is part of the Defense Department’s $715 billion request. Defense programs in the Department of Energy total $37.9 billion. 

The department’s request includes $71.2 billion for operations and maintenance; $56.6 billion for personnel; $58.2 billion for procurement; $22.6 billion for research, development, test and evaluation; $150 million for revolving and management funds. 

SHIPS 

The procurement budget requests $22.6 billion for shipbuilding, a 3% reduction from the 2021 amount of $23.3 billion. The administration is planning incremental funding for the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) as well as the fifth increment of the detailed design and construction of the third Ford-class aircraft carrier, the future USS Enterprise and the fourth increment for the fourth Ford-class CVN, the future Dorie Miller. 

The Navy is planning on procuring two Block V Virginia-class attack submarines (SSNs), each with the Virginia Payload Module and funding advance procurement of the Block VI Virginia version; one Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer; one Constellation-class guided-missile frigate (FFG); one John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler (T-AO); two Navajo-class towing, salvage and rescue ships (T-ATS); and one T-AGOS(X) ocean-surveillance ship. 

The shipbuilding procurement request also includes two LCAC 100-class ship-to-shore connectors, four LCU 1700-class utility landing craft and five used commercial logistics ships for conversion to sealift ships. Two older LCACs will be given service-life extensions.  

The shipbuilding budget also requests funds toward one America-class amphibious assault ship and an additional increment of funding for the future USS Pittsburgh, a Block II San Antonio-class amphibious platform dock ship.  

RDT&E funds for ships are planned for the Columbia SSBN, Ford-Class CVN, Virginia-class SSN, Future Attack Submarine (SSN(X)), Constellation-class FFG, Future Large Surface Combatant ((DDG(X)), Next-Generation Logistics Ship (NGLS), Large USV, Orca UUV, Snakehead UUV and Mk18 UUV.  

The Navy anticipates delivery of 17 ships in fiscal 2022 and retirement of 15 ships. Deliveries include three Virginia-class SSNs, three Arleigh Burke-class DDGs, one Zumwalt-class DDG, one expeditionary staging base ship (ESB), one Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship, one John-Lewis-class T-AO and one Navajo-class T-ATS.  

Ships planned for retirement include four littoral combat ships (LCS 3, 4, 7 and 9), two Los Angeles-class SSNs, seven Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers (including two not previously planned for retirement — USS Hue City and USS Anzio), one Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship (LSD) and one Powhatan-class fleet ocean tug. Also planned for divestment are the Navy’s 12 Mark VI patrol boats.  

The Navy is decommissioning LCS 1 and 2 in 2021. The service moved the planned retirement of LCS 3 and 4 to 2022. These four ships, currently serving as training and research ships, no longer meet the desired capabilities for the class. LCS 7 and 9 are more modern. The reason LCS 5 was not selected for retirement is that it is preparing for deployment and that it made more sense to select LCS 7 and 9 for budget reasons, according to Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, briefing reporters May 28. 

AIRCRAFT 

Funding of aircraft procurement for 2022 totals $16.5 billion, a 15.6% decrease from 2021’s $19.5 billion. Navy aircraft requested for 2022 include 20 F-35C Lightning II strike fighters, five E-2D Advanced Hawkeye battle management aircraft, three CMV-22B Osprey carrier-onboard-delivery aircraft and 36 TH-73A training helicopters. For the Marine Corps, the request includes funds for 17 F-35Bs, six KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transport aircraft, nine CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopters, five MV-22B Osprey assault transport tiltrotor aircraft and six MQ-9 extended-range Reaper medium-altitude surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles. 

Notably, the budget contains no further funding for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter, P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft, the VH-92A presidential transport helicopter or the training version of the E-6B Mercury strategic communications aircraft. Procurement of these types has been completed, assuming no additions by the Congress. There is no 2022 request for funding for the MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance UAV in that there is a pause in procurement while the UAV’s Integrated Functional Capability 4 is matured. 

RDT&E funds are programed for the F-35, CH-53E, VH-92A, Next-Generation Jammer, F/A-18E/F Advanced Infrared Search and Track (IRST), and MQ-25 Stingray UAV. 

The 2022 budget plan calls for accelerated divestment of legacy F/A-18A-D Hornet strike fighters, moving up the divestment of the 55 on strength from 2024 to 2022 and replacing them in the adversary role with F-16s transferred from the Air Force. Divestment of the RQ-4A Global Hawk Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator UAV is planned for acceleration from 2023 to 2022, with the savings invested in higher priorities. 

WEAPONS 

Weapons procurement is slightly less that that of 2021, with $4.2 billion requested for 2022 to purchase 1,092 missiles and torpedoes, compared with $4.5 billion for 2,095 weapons in 2021. One missile type being added to the inventory for the first time is the AGGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JAASM), which has up until now has been an Air Force-only weapon. 

RDT&E funds are programmed for the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic weapon and the Navy Family of Laser Systems. 

PERSONNEL 

The 2022 budget calls for a reduction of active-component Sailors by 1,600 to a level of 346,200 Sailors. Part of the decrease is a planned result of some ship decommissionings. The reserve component is planned for a decrease of 200 personnel to 58,600 Sailors. 

WASHINGTON — Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) successfully conducted a test of the First Stage Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) on May 27 in Promontory, Utah, as part of the development of the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) offensive hypersonic strike capability and the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), the Navy said in a release. 

This was the initial live fire test of the first stage SRM and is a vital step in the development of a Navy-designed common hypersonic missile that will be fielded by both the Navy and Army.  
 
The first stage SRM will be part of a new missile booster for the services, and will be combined with a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB) to create the common hypersonic missile. Each service will use the common hypersonic missile, while developing individual weapon systems and launchers tailored for launch from sea or land. This successful SRM test represents a critical milestone leading up to the next Navy and Army joint flight test, which will take place in the first quarter of fiscal tear 2022, and ultimately the fielding of the CPS and LRHW weapon systems. 
 
The Department of Defense successfully tested the CHGB on March 20, 2020. The services are working closely with government national laboratories and industry to continue development and production of the CHGB. The Navy is the lead designer, and the Army leads production. 
 
Information gathered from this and future tests will further inform the services offensive hypersonic technology development. The Department of Defense is working in collaboration with industry, government national laboratories and academia to field hypersonic warfighting capability in the early-to mid-2020s. 
 
Hypersonic weapons, capable of flying at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5), are highly maneuverable and operate at varying altitudes. In a matter of minutes, Navy and Army warfighters can defeat high-value targets hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Delivering hypersonic weapons is one of the DoD’s highest priorities. 
 
The common hypersonic missile design for sea and land-based applications provides economies of scale for future production and relies upon a growing U.S. hypersonics industrial base. 

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Active (WMEC 618) returned to their homeport May 27 in Port Angeles after a 58-day counter-drug patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said in a May 28 release. 
 
The 55-year-old cutter and crew patrolled international waters off the coasts of Central America and Mexico in support of the Coast Guard and partner agencies’ maritime illicit drug interdiction missions. 
 
The Active intercepted two vessels suspected of smuggling illicit narcotics. Active’s crew seized approximately 5,650 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $106.8 million from the combined interdictions. One of the two smuggling vessels, which are designed to evade detection, was a low-profile vessel. Low-profile vessels ride low in the water and are often painted blue to camouflage with the ocean, which make them more difficult to track. The contraband and suspects were transferred to the custody of federal law enforcement agencies for prosecution. 
 
Active’s crew offloaded approximately 11,500 pounds of seized cocaine in San Diego on May 19, representing four suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions made by crews aboard the Active, the Coast Guard Cutters Steadfast (WMEC 623) and Tahoma (WMEC 908). 
 
The cutter also conducted two search-and-rescue missions during their deployment. Active’s crew rescued four fishermen from a stranded fishing vessel and towed the disabled vessel until another Coast Guard cutter completed the search-and-rescue case. The second case Active responded to was a distress call for a jet skier injured in the water. Active’s health services technician provided first aid to the person and stabilized the injured jet skier for further transfer by Coast Guard Station San Diego to waiting emergency medical services personnel.  
 
Active was accompanied by an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco and personnel from the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) from Jacksonville, Florida. The helicopter and HITRON aircrews are capable of utilizing airborne use of force including disabling fire on the engines of non-compliant vessels suspected of carrying contraband. Additionally, Active’s crew was supplemented by four Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team (PAC-TACLET) members from San Diego. PAC-TACLET’s specialization in law enforcement and knowledge of the Law of the Sea enhanced Active’s ability to identify, interdict, and process suspected drug smugglers. 
 
“This patrol was another superb example of teamwork across the interagency,” said Cmdr. James M. O’Mara IV, Active’s commanding officer. “Beyond our lifelines, interagency and partner nations shared information to develop cases, while U.S. Navy, Customs and Coast Guard aircraft detected targets of interest. Active’s crew leaned forward, operated aggressively and executed their missions with distinction.” 
 
This patrol marked O’Mara’s last patrol as commanding officer of the Active. Assuming command in January of 2019, O’Mara sailed over 55,000 miles throughout his nearly two and a half year tenure as Active’s commanding officer. O’Mara was relieved by Cmdr. Brian J. Tesson on May 24 during a change of command ceremony aboard the cutter in the San Francisco Bay while transiting home. O’Mara will be reporting to Pacific Area Cutter Forces in June. Tesson reports to the Active from the Coast Guard Civil Engineering Unit Oakland where he served as the executive office. 
 
Commissioned in 1966, Active is a 210-foot Reliance-class medium-endurance cutter homeported in Port Angeles and routinely deploys in support of counter-drug, migrant interdiction, fisheries, and search-and-rescue and homeland security missions. 

SAN DIEGO — Northrop Grumman’s autonomous high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator (BAMS-D) system surpassed 40,000 flight hours during a routine mission in the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of operations April 13, the company said in a May 27 release.

“This milestone in the BAMS-D program demonstrates Northrop Grumman’s commitment to delivering critical capabilities to our customers that provide an advantage to U.S. and coalition partners in theater,” said Doug Shaffer, vice president and program manager, Triton programs, Northrop Grumman. “BAMS-D providing operational support well beyond its intended demonstration period highlights the unrivaled strategic value of autonomous maritime HALE while the Navy integrates the MQ-4C Triton into its vital maritime patrol mission.”

BAMS-D entered operational service for the U.S. Navy in 2009. Originally intended to be a six-month demonstration deployment, BAMS-D has supported U.S. Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions in USCENTCOM for more than 12 years.

“BAMS-D sustainment is truly a Northrop Grumman cross-enterprise effort and is a testament to our unwavering commitment to mission readiness,” continued Shaffer.

“This is a significant milestone for any aircraft, but especially remarkable for an originally planned six-month demonstration system,” said Capt. James P. Johnston, commander, Task Force 57. “The persistence and dependability of the BAMS-D system and the resilience of the personnel who operate the platform here in 5th Fleet, are essential in sustaining maritime security and freedom of navigation throughout the region.”

While BAMS-D remains in operational service, its replacement, the MQ-4C Triton, completed its first year of an early operating capability deployment in the U.S. Indo-Pacific area of responsibility. The Triton system is currently progressing toward a multi-intelligence configuration and will ultimately support five operational orbits for the Navy with 68 operational aircraft. Australia is set to receive their first Triton in 2023 as part of a cooperative development program that will enable intelligence sharing between the U.S. and Australia.

Northrop Grumman’s family of autonomous high-altitude, long-endurance systems perform critical wide-area ISR collection. Today, autonomous HALE systems operate across the globe, with 24-plus hour endurance, collecting essential ISR data over land and sea to enable rapid, informed decision-making. In the future, these systems will connect the joint force, implementing advanced autonomy and AI and machine learning while delivering indispensable capabilities with fewer people to provide information at the speed of relevance.

MOBILE, Ala. — The future USS Savannah (LCS 28) successfully concluded acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico May 14 after a series of in-port and underway demonstrations, the Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants Public Affairs said in a May 26 release. 

“I continue to be impressed with the outstanding results achieved by the Navy and industry team during acceptance trials for LCS ships. The future USS Savannah set the bar even higher and exceeded expectations. Our warfighting capabilities continue to evolve, and each LCS that meets this milestone further demonstrates progressive improvements in tactical performance and mission readiness,” said LCS program manager Capt. Mike Taylor. 

The Navy conducted comprehensive tests of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship’s systems during the trials, spanning multiple functional areas including main propulsion, auxiliaries and electrical systems. LCS 28 also performed a full-power demonstration, steering and quick reversal, anchor drop test and combat system detect-to-engage sequence. Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before delivery of the ship to the Navy, which is planned for late June. 

Following delivery and commissioning, Savannah will sail to California to be homeported in San Diego with sister ships USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12), USS Manchester (LCS 14), USS Tulsa (LCS 16), USS Charleston (LCS 18), USS Cincinnati (LCS 20), USS Kansas City (LCS 22), USS Oakland (LCS 24) and USS Mobile (LCS 26). 

Four additional Independence-variant ships are under construction at Austal USA in Mobile. Final assembly is underway on Canberra (LCS 30) and Santa Barbara (LCS 32). Austal is fabricating modules for Augusta (LCS 34), and initial fabrication for Kingsville (LCS 36) has begun. The future USS Pierre (LCS 38) will begin fabrication later this year. 

LCS is a highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable warship designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine and surface warfare missions. The Independence-variant LCS integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission, ranging from deep water to the littorals. 

LCS is now the Navy’s second-largest surface ship class in production, behind the DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program. In 2019, three LCSs were delivered to the fleet, four were delivered in 2020, and four will again deliver in 2021 — a shipbuilding delivery pace not seen since the 1990s. 

MIAMI — The Coast Guard Cutter William Trump crew repatriated 21 Cubans to Cuba May 24 at approximately 10 a.m. after they were interdicted off Key West’s coast, the Coast Guard 7^th District said in a May 25 release. 

A good Samaritan alerted Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders to a raft with 11 people aboard at approximately 8 a.m., May 22, off Alligator Reef Light.  

Station Islamorada law enforcement officers reported one of the Cubans deceased. The deceased’s son reported the raft had capsized at the start of their voyage resulting in loss of their food, water, medication and his father passed away during the voyage.  

In the second interdiction, a good Samaritan alerted Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders, May 25, to a 16-foot raft with 11 people aboard off Marathon.  

The good Samaritan provided life jackets, food, and water to the Cubans and due to 10-12 foot seas and stayed with them until Coast Guard Cutter William Trump arrived on scene. 

“The dangers of traveling through the Florida Straits cannot be overstated,” said Chief Warrant Officer Matt James, commanding officer, Station Islamorada. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the man who died as a result of losing critical medicine for a reported pre-existing condition during the capsizing.” 

Since Oct. 1, 2020, Coast Guard crews have interdicted 250 Cubans compared to: 

• 5,396 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2016 
• 1,468 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2017 
• 259 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2018 
• 313 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2019 
• 49 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2020 

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. Throughout the interdiction, Coast Guard crew members were equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to any possible case of COVID-19.