ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard is expanding its Charleston, South Carolina, station
into a major Atlantic base and home to its newest class of cutters.

In addition
to five 418-foot national security cutters, the Coast Guard’s largest and
newest sea-going patrol vessels, Charleston will be the homeport for a
complement of yet to be built offshore patrol cutters.

“Charleston
is a first stop to nationwide investment in our service, our facilities and our
people,” Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said in his State of the Coast Guard
address, which was live streamed from Charleston on Feb. 20.

Over the
next five years the Coast Guard plans to consolidate its campus along one
waterfront, starting with $140 million to begin upgrading shoreside facilities.
The improvements could turn Charleston into one of the nation’s largest
concentrations of Coast Guard assets and people. The port of Charleston is experiencing
unprecedented change, Schultz said, noting that by 2021, Charleston will have
the deepest harbor on the East Coast.

However, 40%
of Coast Guard buildings around the country are over 50 years old, leading to a
$2 billion backlog of facility repairs for mold, leaky roofs, flooding and
outdated building standards. The Coast Guard’s fiscal year 2021 budget request
is $12.3 billion, $77 million more than the $12.2 billion approved last
year.

There are
also problems with the agency’s 1990s-era computer hardware and software.
“Years of investment tradeoffs have brought our information technology to the
brink of catastrophic failure,” Schultz said. Over the summer, more than 95
vital systems went off-line for several days due to a single server malfunction.

To address information
technology issues, Schultz released the Coast Guard’s Tech Revolution Road Map
for digital modernization. Upgrades are planned over the next three years,
starting with increasing Coast Guard external internet speeds and doubling
connectivity for major cutters in 2020.

Communication
is also a problem in the Arctic, Schultz noted. The medium icebreaker Healy is
without reliable communications for a large part of its multimonth patrol above
the Arctic Circle. Last month the harsh environment in Alaska knocked out
communications equipment.

“As commandant, I need my operational commanders to be able to communicate with every Coast Guard asset — anytime, anywhere,” Schultz said. “We are exploring new satellite communications capabilities with the Department of Defense and industry, as well as renewing land-based communications capabilities in Alaska.” Arctic communications, however, are a “whole-of-government” issue, he said, adding “we must work together to solve our communication blackout in the Arctic now.”

The first of the 360-foot offshore patrol cutters, the Argus, is under construction with delivery planned in 2022. The OPC program calls for 25 hulls, ultimately making up almost 70% of the Coast Guard’s offshore presence.

They will replace the service’s 210-foot medium-endurance cutters and become “the backbone of our modernized fleet,” Schultz said. They will also play a critical role in the Coast Guard’s campaign against narcotics trafficking in the Western Hemisphere.

In a move to expand maritime domain awareness across the Pacific Ocean, the service is partnering with Global Fishing Watch, an international, no-profit big data technology platform that leverages satellite data to track global commercial fishing activity.

WASHINGTON — Digital modernization of U.S. Navy back-office
operations is a largely overlooked activity that can improve readiness, cut
costs and deliver educational content and training to personnel, acting Navy Secretary
Thomas B. Modly said on Feb. 21.

Participating in a panel discussion with U.S. Army Secretary
Ryan McCarthy and U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, Modly and the others were asked what
technologies were underappreciated or promised unexpected benefits.

The Army secretary cited long-range precision fires. The Air
Force secretary mentioned GPS and the other existing technologies in space that
she noted were “ubiquitous but invisible.” Modly singled out digitalization for
opening up “huge opportunities to improve our networks and how we do business
through better use of technology.”

The Department of the Navy is at least 15 years behind the
private sector in the ability “to understand where things are in our inventory
system,” Modly said. As an example, he cited an audit conducted in 2019 that
found a warehouse in Florida containing aircraft parts worth $150 million.

“We didn’t know we had the parts. We didn’t know we had the
warehouse,” he said. A week after the parts were input into the Navy’s
inventory system, there were $20 million in requisitions for those parts “for
aircraft that were down for [lack of] parts we didn’t know we had,” Modly said.

During discussion of other topics, Modly said he didn’t
think the Navy Department budget top line — or the Defense Department’s — was
likely to grow much soon. To contend with the pressures of increasing the size
of the surface force to 355 ships and improving readiness, Modly said leaders
will need to look internally to find savings “in the way we traditionally do
things” to fund the priorities outlined in the National Defense Strategy.

He said some “North Stars” point the way in the recently completed Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment, which has not been made public. Additionally, Modly has ordered a stem-to-stern review to find savings to fill the budget gap. If 5% to 6% of the $207 billion Navy budget can be freed up, he said, “we can start moving down the path” to a 355-ship-plus Navy in the next 10 years. All three secretaries said they were cooperating with each other and industry on the development of hypersonic weapons.

However, Modly noted that moving such new technology to production is a “big, big leap.” He added that the military needs to send strong signals to industry about where it is headed. “But a lot of this technology is really new, so we have to make sure it works before we jump too far.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Sikorsky a second production contract to build VH-92A helicopters for the U.S. Marine Corps, the company said in a release. 

The VH-92A has been selected to provide transport for the president of the United States, the vice president and other high-level government officials. The helicopter will replace the 19 VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N “White Hawk” helicopters operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One. The Corps plans to acquire a total of 23 VH-92As. 

Under the $470.8 million low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot II contract, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will deliver six VH-92A helicopters in 2022 and 2023. 

“All six of the production aircraft from the first [LRIP] contract are undergoing modifications at Sikorsky’s Stratford, Connecticut, plant and are on schedule to begin deliveries in 2021,” Sikorsky said in the release. 

Five VH-92As have been assigned to government testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, the release said. A sixth is going through modification and will enter the test program this spring. The modification includes a mature mission and communications system. Initial operational test and evaluation is scheduled for later this year. 

Sikorsky said the aircraft in testing have accrued more than 1,000 test hours. 

The company and the U.S. Navy integrate mature mission and communications systems into the aircraft.  

“The program continues to progress on budget and within our planned acquisition timeline,” Marine Col. Eric Ropella, the Navy’s presidential helicopter program manager, said in the release.  

“Now that we are ramping up production, the VH-92A program is gaining momentum,” Dave Banquer, Sikorsky VH-92A program director, said in the release.

“This second contract award demonstrates the confidence the U.S. Marine Corps has in Sikorsky’s proven ability to deliver and support the next-generation presidential helicopter. The men and women of Sikorsky treasure our legacy of building and providing helicopter transportation for every president and commander in chief since Dwight D. Eisenhower. We are proud to continue that legacy with the VH-92A helicopter.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy recently installed the first Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN), a laser weapon system that allows its ships to counter enemy unmanned aerial systems (UAS), Naval Sea Systems Command said. 

The first system was installed on the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey during the ship’s recently completed dry-docking. 

ODIN’s development, testing and production was done by Navy experts at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, Virginia, in support of Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems. Their work on the laser weapon system known as LaWS positioned them to be the design and production agent for ODIN. 

During his recent visit to the Dewey, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research development and acquisition, said he was impressed by the rapid progress made by the team. 

Geurts said: “This is a great example of our organic talent at the warfare centers all working together with ship’s company to deliver a system which will provide game-changing capability. Bravo Zulu to the entire ODIN team on being mission-focused and delivering lethal capability to the warfighter.” 

Going from an approved idea to installation in two and a half years, ODIN’s installation on Dewey is the first operational employment of the stand-alone system that functions as a dazzler to combat threats from enemy UAS. 

Adversaries’ UAS production and employment has increased significantly, and ODIN was developed to counter these threats. 

“The Pacific Fleet commander identified this urgent counter-intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance need, and the chief of naval operations directed us to fill it as quickly as possible,” said Cmdr. David Wolfe, Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems Directed Energy office. 

“The NSWC Dahlgren Division team did an amazing job addressing challenges and keeping our accelerated schedule on track and moving forward to deliver this capability.” 

Within the next couple of years, the ODIN program will have all units operational within the fleet. Lessons learned from ODIN’s installation on Dewey will inform installation on other vessels and further development and implementation of surface Navy laser weapon systems.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The “Great Power Competition” with Russia
and China isn’t limited to winning allies in geostrategic flash points or
sailing through contested areas to promote freedom of the seas, according to
the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Near-peer adversaries “are actively exploiting other
nations’ natural resources, including fish stocks. In many cases [they are]
challenging the sovereignty of smaller or less-developed nations,” Adm. Karl
Schultz said in his annual State of the Coast Guard address, live-streamed Feb.
20 from Charleston, South Carolina.

Schultz identified China, which has the world’s largest
distant water fishing fleet, as “one of the worst predatory fishing offenders,”
engaging in Illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing (IUU). The problem goes
beyond conservation and sustainability, he said — “This is a national security
challenge warranting a clear response.”

An essential protein source for more than 40% the world’s
population, fish stocks are critical to the sovereignty and economic security
of many nations. The most conservative estimates put the annual loss to the global
economy from IUU fishing at more than $23 billion.

The Coast Guard could be a global leader in combatting IUU
fishing through international cooperation and targeted operations, Schultz
said, adding that the agency was developing a progressive IUU Strategic
Outlook, planned for release in late summer.

The United States already holds 16 counter-IUU fishing
bilateral agreements in the Pacific and West Africa. “And we are pursuing
additional agreements to help us push back against the destructive fishing
practices that are leaving vast expanses of the ocean and seabed in ruins,” he
said.

Nowhere is this more important than the Indo-Pacific, the
epicenter of global maritime trade and geostrategic influence, Schultz said.
Many Pacific Island countries — even U.S. island territories — lack the
capability to fully police their sovereign waters. Without mentioning any
country by name, Schultz said he was most concerned by a “coercive state’s
influence operations, intentions to construct dual-use infrastructure projects
and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed their strategic
agenda.”

To strengthen the community of island nations in Oceania,
the Coast Guard will continue Operation AIGA, which last year deployed an oceangoing
tender and a fast-response cutter (FRC) to Samoa and American Samoa, where they
conducted exercises with ships from the Royal Australian and Royal New Zealand
navies. By year’s end, delivery is expected of the first two, 154-foot FRCs to
be homeported in Guam.

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica — The 159 crew members onboard U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star departed McMurdo Station on Feb. 19 after escorting three refuel and resupply vessels and assisting with a five-day inspection of foreign research stations, installations and equipment in Antarctica, according to the Coast Guard Pacific Area. 

The departure marks the Polar Star’s 23rd journey to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze, an annual joint military service mission to resupply U.S. stations in Antarctica, in support of the National Science Foundation, the lead agency for the U.S. Antarctic Program. 

The Seattle-based 399-foot, 13,000-ton Polar Star created a 23-mile channel through the ice to McMurdo Sound, which enabled the offload of over 19.5 million pounds of dry cargo and 7.6 million gallons of fuel from three logistics vessels. Together these three ships delivered enough fuel and critical supplies to sustain NSF operations throughout the year until Polar Star returns next year. 

The Polar Star also supported a team of U.S. government officials from the State Department, National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Coast Guard who conducted a five-day inspection of foreign research stations, installations and equipment. 

The U.S. continues to promote Antarctica’s status as a continent reserved for peace and science in accordance with the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. The inspection serves to verify compliance with the Antarctic Treaty and its environmental protocol, including provisions prohibiting military measures and mining as well as provisions promoting safe station operation and sound environmental practices.  

The team inspected three stations: Mario Zucchelli (Italy), Jang Bogo (South Korea) and Inexpressible Island (China). This was the 15th inspection of foreign research stations by the U.S. in Antarctica and the first since 2012. The U.S. will present its report on the inspections at the next Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in May. 

“I am immensely proud of all the hard work and dedication the men and women of the Polar Star demonstrate each and every day,” said Greg Stanclik, commanding officer of the heavy icebreaker.  

“Maintaining and operating a 44-year-old ship in the harshest of environments takes months of planning and preparation, long workdays and missed holidays, birthdays and anniversaries with loved ones. The Polar Star crew truly embodies the ethos of the Antarctic explorers who came before us — courage, sacrifice and devotion.” 

Commissioned in 1976, the Polar Star is the only operational U.S. heavy icebreaker, capable of breaking ice up to 21 feet thick. Reserved for Operation Deep Freeze each year, the ship spends the winter breaking ice near Antarctica, and when the mission is complete, returns to dry dock to conduct critical maintenance and repairs in preparation for the next Operation Deep Freeze mission.  

If a catastrophic event, such as getting stuck in the ice, were to happen to the Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic or to the Polar Star near Antarctica, the U.S. Coast Guard is left without a self-rescue capability. By contrast, Russia operates more than 50 icebreakers — several of which are nuclear-powered. 

The U.S. Coast Guard has been the sole provider of the nation’s polar icebreaking capability since 1965 and is seeking to increase its icebreaking fleet with six new polar security cutters to ensure continued national presence and access to the polar regions. 

In April, the Coast Guard awarded VT Halter Marine Inc. of Pascagoula, Mississippi, a contract for the design and construction of the Coast Guard’s lead polar security cutter, which will also be homeported in Seattle. The contract also includes options for the construction of two additional PSCs. 

“Replacing the Coast Guard’s icebreaker fleet is paramount,” said Vice Adm. Linda Fagan, commander of the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area. “Our ability to clear a channel and allow for the resupply of the United States’ Antarctic stations is essential for continued national presence and influence on the continent.”

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Oshkosh Defense said the U.S. Army Contracting Command-Detroit Arsenal has placed an order for 1,240 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) and associated kits. The U.S. Marine Corps also will use the JLTV. 

In addition to the Marines, this order includes JLTVs for Slovenia and Lithuania and kits for the Marines, the Army and the two foreign countries. 

“We work side-by-side with the Joint Program Office to give the military the necessary technological edge to compete with and defeat the most advanced adversaries,” said George Mansfield, vice president and general manager of joint programs for Oshkosh Defense. “Without sacrificing mobility or transportability, the JLTV can accommodate over 100 mission package configurations, a true testament to its agility and modularity.” 

The JLTV’s digital architecture allows incorporation of advances in weapons, lasers, sensors, networking and communications. Additionally, foreign interest in the highly capable JLTV platform continues to grow. The award includes orders for JLTVs to Slovenia and JLTVs to Lithuania through the Foreign Military Sales process. 

“We are proud of our vehicle and proud of this program,” Mansfield said. “The JLTV stands out as one of the few major programs delivering on its promises — it is on time, on budget, and delivering against all program requirements. Our mission is to enable the brave men and women of our Armed Forces and our allies to complete their missions and return home safely.” 

The USS Normandy, while conducting maritime security operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, boarded a dhow in the Arabian Sea on Feb. 9 in accordance with international law and discovered a large cache of weapons, according to a Feb. 13 U.S. Central Command release. 

The weapons seized include 150 “Dehlavieh” anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), which are Iranian-manufactured copies of Russian Kornet ATGMs. Other weapons components seized aboard the dhow were of Iranian design and manufacture and included three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, Iranian thermal imaging weapon scopes and Iranian components for unmanned aerial and surface vessels as well as other munitions and advanced weapons parts. 

Many of these weapons systems are identical to the advanced weapons and weapon components seized by guided-missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman in the Arabian Sea in November. Those weapons were determined to be of Iranian origin and assessed to be destined for the Houthis in Yemen, which would be in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons to the Houthis.  

The seized weapons are in U.S. custody awaiting final disposition. The assessment of the material will be an interagency and international effort. International partner nations and organizations have also been invited to inspect the cache. The operation is ongoing, according to Central Command. 

WASHINGTON — To meet the pressing needs of the National
Defense Strategy (NDS), the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are discarding development
measures that have slowed the production of new amphibious ships and other
platforms, Marine Commandant Gen. David H. Berger said.

“We’re not going to do that,” Berger said of past procedures where “the Navy and Marine Corps figure out what we might need, then we get with industry, then we go back and forth for a couple of years.”

Instead, he told a Feb. 11 congressional forum on amphibious
warships, “We have to accelerate production now. We cannot wait four or five
years to begin.” The requirements evaluation process is already underway, and
it is teamed with industry to determine what is in the realm of possibility,
Berger added.

When he became commandant in July, Berger said his top
priority is designing a force that could meet the threat of strategic competitors
like China, which is outlined in the NDS. His Commandant’s Planning
Guidance states that Marines will be trained and equipped as a naval
expeditionary force-in-readiness, prepared to operate inside actively contested
maritime spaces in support of fleet operations. His plan calls for both force
structure and operational changes, including dispersing smaller and highly
mobile Marine expeditionary units — carried by smaller, cheaper and more
numerous surface vessels — that can move their base of operations within 48 to
72 hours.

“The capability, the lethality of a forward Navy/Marine
Corps team is the unique contribution that we have. This is what amphibious
forces bring — the ability, at the times and place of your choosing, to put
your forces where you want to, when you want to,” Berger told the Capitol Hill gathering,
which was sponsored by the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition.

In his opening remarks at the forum, retired Navy Rear Adm.
Sam Perez, the coalition’s chairman, noted that more than 70 companies in 44
states and more than 250 congressional districts provide parts worth more than
$1.4 billion for the construction of amphibious warships.

Two long-term studies — to determine how many and what kind
of ships the Navy will need in the next five to 15 years and what kind of
Marines and Sailors should man them — will be released soon, Berger said. A Force
Structure Assessment (FSA) conducted by the Navy in 2016 called for a 355-ship
fleet. A new FSA, known as the Integrated Naval FSA (INFSA), to include the new
integration of Navy and Marine Corps personnel and assets, is expected to
initiate a once-in-a-generation change in the Navy’s mix of ships. Berger said the
Corps’ work on the INFSA is done, and he’s waiting for Defense Secretary Mark
Esper and Deputy Secretary David Norquist to complete their review.

In addition to the INFSA, the Marines have conducted their own Force Design Assessment to determine the size and structure of Marine end strength. That document also is awaiting review by Esper and acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. In his commandant’s guidance, Berger said he was prepared to reduce force structure in exchange for more modernization funding. The Department of the Navy’s fiscal 2021 budget, released Feb. 10, called for reducing the size of the Marine Corps by 2,100 to 184,100 active-duty personnel.

“We’re not getting smaller for smaller’s sake,” Berger told reporters after his speech to the amphibious group. “We need resources, and when we shrink a little bit in structure, we’re going to take that money and pour it into the Marine Corps.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard plans to fully fund the second polar security cutter (PSC) and the third offshore patrol cutter (OPC), according to the proposed fiscal year 2021 U.S. Department of Homeland Security budget. 

The Coast Guard overall is seeking $12.3 billion for fiscal 2021, $77 million more than the $12.2 billion in the enacted 2020 budget. 

The 2021 budget requests $555 million to fully fund the second PSC. The Coast Guard plans to procure a total of six polar security cutters to support growing national security interests and to replace the service’s only operating heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star. The first PSC is being built by VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The budget also requests $15 million for a multiyear service-life extension for the Polar Star.  

The $546 million to construct the third OPC also provides for long-lead materials for a fourth. The 25 OPPCs planned will replace the service’s medium-endurance cutters. Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Florida, is building the first OPC with options for three more, down from eight more because of the damage to the company’s yard from a hurricane. A competition will be opened for construction of more OPCs. 

The Coast Guard plans a gap in procurement of the Sentinel-class fast-response cutters (FRCs), with 37 delivered so far of a planned purchase of 58 FRCs. However, the service is proposing $15 million in 2021 for program support and sustainment of the Sentinel class. The FRCs are replacing Island-class patrol boats. 

The sea service is planning no purchases of new aircraft in 2021 but wants to allocate $78 million to missionize the C-27J aircraft fleet into HC-27Js and continue retrofit of the HC-144A aircraft fleet with the Minotaur mission system into HC-144B versions.  

The budget also provides $65 million to modernize the HH-65D helicopter fleet to HH-65Es and to extend the service life of MH-60T helicopters so that they can serve into the mid-2030s, enabling the Coast Guard to align its helicopter requirements with the Defense Department’s Future Vertical Lift program. 

The 2021 budget also proposes $35.5 million to manage retirements of old assets, including the decommissioning of two Secretary-class high-endurance cutters, two Island-class patrol boats and eight Marine Protector-class patrol boats.