ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has exercised a contract option for more production DVS-1 Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) systems. 

The Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Panama City Division has awarded Arete Associates an $18 million contract option for additional COBRA Block 1 systems, the Oct. 8 Defense Department contract announcement said. The quantity of systems to be ordered was not announced. Work on the option is expected to be completed by September 2021. 

The COBRA is a mine- and obstacle-detection multispectral sensor that is a modular component of the mine warfare mission package for the Navy’s littoral combat ships. It is designed to detect mines from the beach through the surf zone. In March 2009, COBRA Block I was rated mature enough to enter Low-Rate Initial Production. The COBRA was successfully tested on an MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle in October 2010. Initial Operational Capability was achieved in July 2017. Operational testing was completed in April 2018.  

Two upgrades to the COBRA are planned. Block II will add night operation capability and full-detection capability in the surf zone. Block III will add buried-mine line-detection capability and near-real-time on-board processing capability.  

STUART, Fla. — SeaRobotics Corp. has been awarded a contract to supply multiple SR-Surveyor M1.8 Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to help the Department of the Navy develop its advanced autonomy research program, the company said in an Oct. 8 release.  

The SR-Surveyor M1.8 is a tightly integrated, 1.8-meter long ASV designed to streamline logistics and optimize data acquisition in shallow and hard-to-navigate waters. The platform is specifically purposed to be versatile and rapidly deployable for users that require high quality, reliable data capture in remote and restricted waters.  

Leveraging the highly reliable SR-Surveyor M1.8 ASV, SeaRobotics optimized the platform for multi-vehicle collaborative behavior development. This custom configuration provides an innovative and cost-effective system for various research activities. 

“While we have developed a number of unmanned systems for marine defense application in the past, this is the first truly man-portable asset for multi-vehicle deployment,” said SeaRobotics president Don Darling. “This contract award supports the continued commitment to the advancement of autonomy research for naval operations and we are excited that the SR-Surveyor M1.8 will play an instrumental role.” 

The first SR-Surveyor M1.8 is scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2020, with staged deliveries bi-weekly to follow and scheduled to be completed early in the first quarter of 2021. 

A Maltese-flagged tanker has reportedly been damaged by a mine while taking on crude on October 3 outside the Yemeni port of Bir Ali. MV Syra reportedly suffered significant damage, resulting in a oil spill.

The Iranian Press News Agency (IP) reported on Oct. 6 that “An oil tanker of the United Arab Emirates was exploded and sunk in Yemen’s Al-Nashimah oil port.  The Emirati oil tanker Syra carrying 500,000 barrels of oil was exploded and sunk in Al-Nashimah oil port, due to a collision with marine mines.”

Other sources report that Syra was damaged, but not sunk. In fact, as of 8:30 a.m. EDT, the vessel was underway on its own power and preparing to arrive at the Port of Khor Fakkan in the UAE. 

According to maritime website Splash, “A number of suspicious floating objects were reported to have drifted towards the tanker as it was loading its cargo. One or two of these objects – assessed as likely to have been floating IEDs or sea mines – later exploded in proximity to the tanker.”

Splash reported that significant pollution has been spotted in satellite images in the wake of the Syra.  “Splash understands the tanker suffered damage to its forward ballast tanks, but has been able to move on its own power and is due to arrive in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates later today where its cargo will be transferred and then the ship will head for repairs.

A listing of maritime casualties on vesseltracer.com stated that “Syra was targeted by a marine mine which caused an explosion at the Rudhum/Al-Nashimah terminal, Yemen, on Oct 3, 2020, at 8 p.m. The mine was planted by the Southern Transitional Council militias, while the tanker was in the process of loading oil at the terminal. The Syra immediately halted the pumping process after the explosion, which caused minor damage. She departed the terminal on Oct. 4 at 7 a.m. headed to Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, where further damage evaluation was to take place after the arrival on Oct 9. One ballast tank was reportedly damaged.”

Yemen has been devasted since 2014 by a civil war between the Saudi-backed government forces and Iranian-supported Houthi rebels. 

Mines, both on land and at sea, have been employed by the Houthis. Three Egyptian fishermen were killed in International waters by sea mines near Yemen in February of this year.  A Saudi Press Agency (SPA) report said that Houthis indiscriminately planted 137 mines in the south of the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which were located and destroyed.

“Houthi militia’s continued planting and deploying naval mines is a serious threat to maritime navigation and international trade in the south of the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb strait,” an SPA spokesman said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Assistant Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, Gen. Gary Thomas, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19, according to the Marine Corps.

Thomas, who tested positive Oct. 7, had been self-quarantining since Oct. 6, when he and several other senior military leaders were notified that Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm. Charles Ray had tested positive for COVID-19 a day earlier. Ray had attended meetings with them at the Pentagon the previous week. Some of the meeting attendees were members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said, adding that “all potential  close contacts from these meetings are self-quarantining.”

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger, a member of the Joint Chiefs, was away and did not attend the Pentagon meetings. Thomas, as assistant commandant, was there in his place.

Thomas was the first meeting attendee besides Ray to test positive. “In accordance with established Marine Corps COVID policies, Thomas, 58, will continue to quarantine at home. He is experiencing mild symptoms, but otherwise is feeling well,” according to a Marine Corps statement.

The Coast Guard issues a similar statement saying Ray would quarantine from home and “any Coast Guard personnel that were in close contact will also quarantine.”

As of Oct. 7, the latest Defense Department figures available, there have been 47,658 cases of COVID-19 among all the armed services, including: 17,803 in the Army; 10,585 for the Navy; 7,407 among the Air Force; 5,942 for the Marine Corps and 5,596 among the National Guard. There have been just eight COVID-related deaths among all the services. There were 10,751 total cases among civilian Defense Department employees, including 60 who died from the disease.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy apparently had deployed the Infrared Search and Track (IRST) sensor pod on F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighters currently deployed in the Persian Gulf region. 

An Aug. 16 photograph of an F/A-18F of Strike Fighter Squadron 94, assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17 on board the USS Nimitz, was posted on the Navy’s website, clearly showing the IRST pod mounted on the centerline pylon of the aircraft. 

The AN/ASG-34 IRST is a passive, long-wave infrared sensor mounted in the forward section of a centerline fuel tank that detects and tracks aerial targets at extended ranges. Its high angle accuracy allows it to passively track closely spaced targets at maximum ranges, enabling the Super Hornet to track without using its APG-79 radar. The aft section of the pod contains fuel for the aircraft. 

The IRST system began flight testing on F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in February 2014 and was approved for Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) in December 2014. However, Full-Rate Production was deferred in favor of development of an improved version, IRST Block II, which is under development by contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin and planned for fleet service in late 2021. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The recent concentration of Chinese fishing vessels in the vicinity of the Galapagos Islands in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, accused of fishing inside the Ecuadorean Economic Exclusion (EEZ) around the islands, was tracked by a commercial satellite system that intercepts RF signals and can detect when a vessel turns off its AIS (Automatic Identification System). 

HawkEye 360, a commercial satellite company which specializes in RF geo-analytics, collected RF data from the Chinese fishing fleet near Galapagos and published the data, which the company said “reveals the Chinese vessels deactivated their Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking system hundreds of times to ‘go dark.’ “ 

The discovery of the Chinese fishing fleet near Galapagos raised protests from Ecuador and other nations, despite the denial on Aug. 24 by Chinese Ambassador Chen Guoyou that the fishing fleet did not penetrate the EEZ. The Ecuadorean navy sent vessels to investigate the fleet, later joined by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. 

The EEZ around Galapagos is larger than Spain and Portugal combined, and therefore “using traditional coast guard and airplane observation is near impossible making it easy for fishing vessels to ‘go dark’ and cross into the EEZ,” HawkEye360 said in a release.  

According to Reuters, Ecuador’s government said that 149 of some 325 vessels still fishing near the ecologically sensitive islands had turned off tracking systems to prevent monitoring of their activities.” 

HawkEye 360 “discovered multiple instances of dark vessels within the EEZ boundary that didn’t correlate with AIS records — raising suspicion of illegal fishing without notice,” the company said. “HawkEye 360 also conducted a joint RF and SAR [synthetic aperture radar] collection with partner Airbus Defence and Space Intelligence. By fusing multiple forms of intelligence, they found many dark vessels and a better understanding of fleet activity.” 

“During a six-week period from mid-July to the end of August, HawkEye 360 compared its geolocations against AIS data to filter out vessels that were routinely reporting their locations,” the release said. “The remaining hundreds of geoloca­tions indicated previously unknown vessel positions. Of greatest concern, HawkEye 360 discovered multiple instances of RF activity within the EEZ immediately adjacent to the heart of the Chinese fishing fleet. None of these locations correlated with AIS records for the entire day when they were detected. Although it could be other types of vessels engaged in legitimate activity, these signals may be evidence of dark Chinese vessels crossing into the EEZ to conduct illegal fishing. 

“Airbus’s automatic vessel detection extracted 58 vessels locations from the SAR image and provided es­timated size and heading for each vessel,” the release said.  “Comparing these locations against +/- 60 minutes of AIS data matched only 16 vessels to AIS tracking, again reinforcing the many gaps in the AIS record.” 

The HawkEye360 satellite system also has been used to track Chinese forces along the Indian border and “dark” Iranian vessels at sea,” said John Serafini, chief executive officer of HawkEye360, in an Oct. 8 interview with Seapower. 

Hawk360 has one satellite system currently in orbit. The system includes three satellites that fly in a cluster and triangulate RF emissions of 1 watt and greater, including S-band and X-band radars, Serafini said.  

The company plans to launch a second system in December and will launch another five systems — roughly one per quarter — in 2021 and 2022. The first system was carried aloft by a Space-X rocket and has been in orbit for 20 months. 

The data — all unclassified — from the satellites is sold to governments and private companies and organizations. Serafini was not at liberty to discuss specific customers, but said that they included U.S. defense, intelligence and civilian organizations, international defense and intelligence organizations, and commercial entities. 

Serafini, a former U.S. Army officer, said that HawkEye360 raised $130 million in private financing to launch and operate the company. 

MIAMI — The Coast Guard and partner nations halted more than 4,000 pounds of cocaine during September, worth almost $73 million, the Coast Guard 7th District said in an Oct. 8 release.  

These interdictions were a direct result of the partnerships with crews aboard Dutch, British and U.S. naval ships with embarked Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment boarding teams who worked jointly with U.S. Southern Command and other Department of Defense agencies to detect and interdict illegal drugs and stopping the flow of drugs throughout the Caribbean.  

“Coast Guard law enforcement detachments – or LEDETs – are highly specialized and play a vital role in the fight against illicit drug trafficking in the maritime domain,” said Rear Adm. Eric C. Jones, commander of Seventh Coast Guard District. “Our LEDETs deploy with the U.S. Navy and Allied navies supporting enhanced counter narcotics operations, bringing broad law enforcement authority critical to successful interdictions throughout the Caribbean Basin.” 

The Coast Guard’s Western Hemisphere Strategy assigns three specific priorities of combatting networks, securing borders and safeguarding commerce. To achieve success in these priorities, the Coast Guard continuously strives for close coordination between partnering naval assets as well as its own. Effective communication, persistence and teamwork are among many characteristics that contribute to mission success. The diversity of the assets that contributed to these interdictions demonstrates the effectiveness of the high level of cooperation between the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, British Royal navy, and Dutch navy. The Coast Guard remains committed to the enhancement of counter-narcotic operations throughout the maritime domain to diminish transnational threats and maximize our country’s security. 

On April 1, U.S. Southern Command began enhanced counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt the flow of drugs in support of Presidential National Security Objectives. Numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security cooperated in the effort to combat transnational organized crime. The Coast Guard, Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with allied and international partner agencies, play a role in counter-drug operations.  

The fight against drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring and interdictions, to criminal prosecutions for these 12 interdictions by Attorney’s Offices from the District of Puerto Rico, the Middle District of Florida and the Southern District of Florida. The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is conducted under the authority of the Coast Guard 11th District, headquartered in Alameda, California, and the law enforcement phase of operations in the Caribbean Sea is conducted under the authority of the Coast Guard 7th District, headquartered in Miami. The interdictions, including the actual boardings, are led and conducted by members of the Coast Guard.  

In 1986, Public Law 99-570 authorized Coast Guard personnel, such as LEDETs, to conduct law enforcement operations from U.S. Navy ships, in addition to Coast Guard vessels. In 1988, Public Law 100-456 required all Navy surface units transiting drug interdiction areas to carry Coast Guard law enforcement personnel increasing the need for LEDETs. In addition, the 1989 National Defense Authorization Act tasked Department of Defense agencies with monitoring maritime and aerial importation of illegal drugs. The act named the Coast Guard as the lead agency for waterborne drug interdiction and apprehension of illegal drug traffickers. 

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced in an Oct. 8 release the launch of a new Marine Highway module of the Port Planning & Investment Toolkit (Toolkit), which helps U.S. ports plan, evaluate, and finance freight transportation projects. 

This easy-to-read, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-execute Toolkit, which was produced as part of a cooperative agreement between MARAD and the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), helps guide ports toward fruitful investments. 

“This Toolkit will help the development of future port projects and improve the nation’s long-term efficiency and economic competitiveness,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao 

The goal of the Port Planning & Investment Toolkit is to provide U.S. ports with a common framework and examples of best practices. The analytical tools and guidance contained in this comprehensive resource are designed to aid ports in developing “investment-grade” project plans and obtaining capital for their projects in a variety of ways, including: (1) assisting metropolitan and regional planning organizations and state agencies in qualifying for formula funding or aid; (2) better positioning marine highway projects for federal aid; and (3) assisting ports in obtaining private sector investments. 

“By working together, we are helping to support investments in our ports that will pay dividends for years to come,” said Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby.  “I am pleased that the new module of the Toolkit focuses on investments in America’s Marine Highways, which can help reduce traffic congestion and related pollution by moving cargoes off our crowded highways and onto to our Nation’s navigable waterways.” 

The marine highway module of the Port Planning & Investment Toolkit provides an overview of America’s Marine Highway Program and educates readers on how marine highway services can become designated projects by USDOT.  It explains how to plan a new marine highway service, determine its feasibility, and identify possible funding mechanisms.  This module of the Port Planning & Investment Toolkit will be updated periodically as new regulations and policies affecting marine highway planning, feasibility, and investment requirements related to the applicable laws discussed in the document are developed. 

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced Oct. 7 that a milestone of 4,492 catapult launches and landing arrestments using the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system has been successfully and safely achieved aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).  

“CVN 78 passed the half-way mark of its PDT&T, and we are well underway toward achieving the cats and traps milestones by the end of this rigorous testing phase,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “In addition to the demanding system shakedown testing, the ship, and EMALS and AAG, are providing valuable capacity to meet the Navy’s certification and training requirements for today, with an eye toward the future as the next Ford class carriers begin to enter the fleet. We are extremely proud of our dedicated team supporting the ship’s crew as they continue to qualify naval aviators as well as demonstrate the systems capabilities under combat operations tempo.” 

During CVN 78’s at sea periods, which involve night and day, all weather, and various sea state operations, EMALS and AAG successfully launch and recover a range of aircraft, including F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, E-2C/D Hawkeyes and Advanced Hawkeyes, C-2A Greyhounds, EA-18G Growlers, and T-45C Goshawks. In addition to CVN 78, GA-EMS is delivering EMALS and AAG for the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) and USS Enterprise (CVN 80). EMALS and AAG will provide greater flexibility over legacy systems to not only accommodate aircraft in the current air wing, but also future aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles.  

BALTIMORE – Secretary of the Navy Kenneth J. Braithwaite announced USS Constellation (FFG 62) as the name for the first ship in the new Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) class of ships Oct. 7 while aboard the museum ship Constellation in Baltimore Inner Harbor, the Navy said in a release. 

The name was selected in honor of the first U.S. Navy ships authorized by Congress in 1794 — heavy frigates named United States, Constellation, Constitution, Chesapeake, Congress, and President. These ships established the Continental Navy as an agile, lethal and ready force for the 19th century. This will be the fifth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name Constellation. 

“As the first in her class, these ships will now be known as the Constellation Class frigates, linking them directly to the original six frigates of our Navy, carrying on the traditions of our great service which have been passed down from generation to generation of Sailors,” said Braithwaite. “While providing an unmatched capability and survivability for the 21st Century, Constellation Class Frigates will honor our Navy’s historic beginnings as we continue to operate around the world in today’s era of Great Power Competition.” 

As the next generation of small surface combatants will contribute to meeting the goal of 355 battle force ships. With the ability to operate independently or as part of a strike group, it will deliver an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR), Mk 41 Vertical Launching System, and Baseline 10 (BL 10) Aegis Combat System capabilities. The ships’ lethality, survivability, and improved capability will provide Fleet Commanders multiple options while supporting the National Defense Strategy across the full range of military operations. 

Constellation is a historic name with a long Naval history. The original name was submitted to President Washington in 1795 to represent the ‘new constellation of stars’ on the United States flag.  The first Constellation was a 38-gun frigate with a crew of 340 personnel. The ship was built in Baltimore in 1797 and remained in service until 1853. 

The second Constellation was a sloop-of-war launched in 1854 and was the last sail-only warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy. The ship currently stands as a museum in Baltimore. 

The keel for a third ship named Constellation was laid, but the ship was never completed in the peace years following WWI. 

The most prominent Constellation is the Kitty Hawk-class conventional aircraft carrier that commissioned in 1961. It had a storied history to include overcoming several catastrophic fires on board, supporting operations during the Vietnam War, the first Persian Gulf War, and Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom before decommissioning in 2003. 

Constellation-class Frigates will be built at Marinette Marine Corporation in Marinette, Wisconsin, with the first ship scheduled for delivery in 2026.