The U.S. Navy is seeking to shave $1.4 billion from the
Marine Corps fiscal year 2021 budget request and to reduce the active-duty
force by 2,100, according to new Defense Department budget documents.

The Marines’ piece of the Navy Department’s $207.1 billion budget request for fiscal 2021 amounts to $46 billion, down from the $47.4 billion the Corps received in the enacted 2020 budget.

See details of the Navy’s proposed fiscal year 2021 budget here.

The National Defense Strategy (NDS) shifted focus from short
conventional wars and protracted counterterrorism operations to “the high-end
fight” and the re-emergence of China and Russia in a ‘great power competition,’
said Deputy Defense Secretary David L. Norquist, explaining the reasons for Pentagon
funding diversions in a flat $705.4 billion topline budget.

“That means we had to make additional tough choices and
major cuts in some areas in order to free up money to continue to invest in
preparing for the high-end fight,” Norquist told reporters at a Pentagon budget
briefing.     

Total Marine Corps end strength dropped 2,100 to 184,100
active-duty officers and enlisted Marines from the 2020 figure of 186,200. Reserve
strength remained the same as 2020 at 38,500 officers and enlisted Marines. The
force reduction is part of “efforts to align and sustain our force, as
described by the NDS,” said Rear Adm. Randy B. Crites, the deputy assistant secretary
of the Navy for budget.

The force cuts don’t target operational units per se, Crite
said, adding that they are “primarily focused on headquarters reductions. They
looked for excess capacity.”

The number of Navy amphibious ships, key to Marine Corps
expeditionary operations, stayed flat at 33 ships, with the addition of one amphibious
transport dock ship and the retirement of one dock landing ship. Most of the
Marines’ $7 billion operation and maintenance funding for 2021 is dedicated to expeditionary
forces.

The Navy’s $17.2 billion aircraft procurement budget includes 10 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing Lightning II strike fighters to replace Marine AV-8B Harrier jets. Seven CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters, nine MV-22B variants of the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and five more VH-92A presidential executive helicopters also are included in the Marine aircraft procurement budget.

The $2.9 billion Marine procurement budget also includes 752 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, a joint Army-Marine Corps program and the first full-rate production lot, 72, of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV), which is phasing out Cold War-era Assault Amphibious Vehicles.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S Navy’s 2021 budget seeks funding for only eight battle force ships, financed by $19.9 billion of a $207.1 billion Department of the Navy budget that is only slightly larger than the $205.2 billion budget enacted for fiscal 2020. The Future Years Defense Plan also forecasts some accelerated retirements or reductions in some ship and aircraft types.  

The $207.1 billion includes a base budget of $194.1 billion; a set-aside for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) for Base of $4.3 billion; and OCO funding of $8.7 billion. Of the $207.1 billion, $161 billion is for the Navy and $46 billion is allotted to the U.S. Marine Corps. 

The budget shaves Marine funding and end strength. See story here.

The relatively flat budget includes $70.6 billion for operations and maintenance; $57.2 billion for procurement; $55.2 billion for personnel; $21.5 billion for research and development; and $2.6 billion for infrastructure. 

The Navy says the 2021 budget is focused on all-domain dominance — sea, air, land, cyber, space, assured command and control, battlespace awareness and an integrated force. The service is making a priority of “capable capacity over less-capable legacy platforms to pace a rapidly changing threat.” 

The investments in the 2021 budget also are designed to enable distributed maritime operations with lethality capable enough to impose cost on competitors. 

Nuclear deterrence remains the Navy’s top priority as it recapitalizes the ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) fleet to ensure on-time delivery of the Columbia SSBN. 

The 2021 budget also advances development of new capabilities in the form of long-range hypersonic strike weapons such as Conventional Prompt Strike capability, with research funded at $1 billion aiming for an initial operational capability in 2028. The Standard Missile-6 Block 1B also is funded as well as the Navy Laser Family of Systems at $68.2 million. Other funded technological advances include additive manufacturing and applied artificial intelligence.    

The 2021 shipbuilding budget of $19.9 billion — compared with $24 billion enacted for 2020 — will fund the construction of the first Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine. Other ships funded are one Virginia-class attack submarine; three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers; the first FFG(X) next-generation guided-missile frigate; one Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship; and two Navajo-class towing, salvage and rescue ships. 

The five-year Future Years Defense Plan includes plans for an amphibious assault ship in 2023; a replacement submarine tender in 2024; a new ocean surveillance ship in 2022; and a new cable-laying ship and a new sealift ship in 2023.  

The shipbuilding budget also includes funds for five LCU 1700-class utility landing craft. Two large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) are funded by research and development funds, with the seven LUSVs in the future to be built using shipbuilding funds. The shipbuilding request also restores the refueling and complex overhaul of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which last year the Navy wanted to retire to instead fund modernization and new technologies.   

Two large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) are requested with $239 million in R&D funds, with the seven LUSVs in the future to be built using shipbuilding funds. R&D funds include $288 million for unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), including $116 million for the Orca Extra-Large UUV program and $78 million for the Snakehead large-diameter UUV. 

The Navy plans for the early retirement of four littoral combat ships (LCSs) and one dock landing ship (LSD) in 2021 as part of an effort to garner $1.4 billion in savings to help fund modernization. The four LCSs are the first four commissioned — Freedom, Independence, Fort Worth and Coronado — and are considered test and training ships. The LSD being retired in 2021 will be one of three — Germantown, Fort McHenry and Gunston Hall — that will be retired early over the next few years. 

The service also announced plans to decommission its four least modern Ticonderoga-class cruisers that have ballistic-missile defense (BMD) capability — Monterey, Shiloh, Vela Gulf and Port Royal — although no timetable was announced in budget documents. The BMD capabilities of these ships will be assumed by new Arleigh Burke-class DDGs. 

The Navy also plans to decommission its 12 Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships, but no timetable has been announced yet. 

R&D funds will be invested in 2021 for two new intra-theater lift vessels designed to support expeditionary advance-base operations and littoral operations in a contested environment. These investments will inform development of next-generation medium amphibious and logistics ships.   

If enacted as planned, this budget would bring the ship count of the battle force to 306 at the end of 2021, up from the current 293.   

The Navy plans to fund 121 aircraft with $17.2 billion in 2021, compared with $19.7 billion enacted in 2020. These include 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters; 10 F-35B and 10 F-35C Lightning II strike fighters for the Marine Corps and 11 F-35Cs for the Navy; four E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft; six CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor carrier onboard delivery aircraft; three MV-22B Osprey transports; five KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transports; seven CH-53K King Stallion transport helicopters; 36 TH-73A training helicopters; and five VH-92A presidential transport helicopters. 

Fiscal 2021 will fund the last batch of Super Hornets for the Navy. The 2021 budget does not fund any more P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, although with the production line open for foreign procurement the Navy could order more if Congress funds them in the next few years.  

The large quantity of TH-73As being procured in 2021 will allow the Navy to accelerate retirement of the TH-57B/C training helicopter fleet and allow the Navy to cancel further depot-level overhauls of the TH-57. 

The budget funds research and development of the MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial refueling aircraft for initial production in 2023 and initial operational capability in 2024. 

The plans to accelerate retirement of the MH-53 Sea Dragon mine-sweeping helicopter to begin in 2022. The Navy also plans to start retiring the MQ-8B version of the Fire Scout UAV in 2024, with 14 of the 23 being retired initially until the MQ-8C version reaches initial operational capability with a mine-countermeasures capability — projected to be 2028 — when the last MQ-8Bs will be retired. 

Procurement of the MQ-4C Triton UAV is being gapped for 2021-2022 to allow time to mature the UAV’s signals intelligence suite. The RQ-4A Global Hawk Broad-Area Maritime Demonstration UAV will be retired beginning in 2023, freeing up funds for MQ-4C sustainment. The MQ-4C will replace the EP-3E electronic reconnaissance aircraft in 2022. 

The Navy Reserve plans in 2022 to deactivate Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 85, a unit that supports special operations forces with its MH-60S helicopters. The Air Force and Army field will retain a robust SOF support capability and the Navy’s general-purpose MH-60S squadrons also are trained to provide similar capability.  

For ship depot-level maintenance, $10 billion is provided for 2021, the same as in 2020, and aircraft depot-level maintenance increases to $1.7 billion, up from 2020’s $1.4 billion. The budget is focused on improved predictability and optimized performance of shipyard maintenance.  

If enacted, the budget would increase Navy military end-strength to 347,800 Sailors, up from 340,500 enacted in 2020. The Navy Reserve would remain stable at 58,800 Sailors. 

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The first U.S. Navy CMV-22B Osprey arrived at Patuxent River on Feb. 2 after completing its ferry flight from Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas, Naval Air Systems Command said. 

This is the first of two CMV-22B aircraft assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21, the squadron leading the developmental test efforts for the program. 

“Accepting the first aircraft and ferrying it to Patuxent River to continue developmental testing is a critical step forward for the program,” said U.S. Marine Corps Col. Matthew Kelly, program manager for the V-22 Joint Program Office. “Our government/industry team can be proud of this milestone as we prepare to put the CMV-22B through testing which will ensure it is ready to support the Navy anywhere around the world.” 

HX-21 and Bell conducted the aircraft’s first flight in December prior to transiting cross-country. 

“The developmental test program is designed to validate the capabilities of the aircraft and ensure they meet the Navy’s unique mission,” said Kacie Fleck, PMA-275’s assistant program manager for test and evaluation. “Our integrated test team will complete a variety of ground, flight and avionics test events.” 

The integrated test team, which includes pilots, aircrew, engineers and maintainers from HX-21, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Boeing and Bell, will conduct developmental test over the next year. 

The first operational squadron, Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30, is scheduled to receive the aircraft in summer 2020 and operational testing is slated to begin in early 2021. The CMV-22B is a variant of the MV-22B and is the replacement for the C-2A Greyhound for the Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) mission. The aircraft will be used to transport personnel, mail, supplies and high-priority cargo from shore bases to aircraft carriers at sea. 

“The CMV-22B will enable the Navy to supply the carrier strike groups with what they need to project sea power, anytime, anyplace,” Kelly said. 

For example, the CMV-22B will be capable of transporting up to 6,000 pounds of cargo and/or personnel over a 1,150 nautical mile range. This expanded range is due to the addition of two new 60-gallon tanks installed in the wing for an additional 120 gallons of fuel and the forward sponson tanks were redesigned for additional capacity. 

The CMV-22B variant has a beyond line-of-sight high frequency radio, a public address system for passengers and an improved lighting system for cargo loading. The aircraft will also be capable of internally transporting the F-35C Lightning II engine power module. 

The CMV-22B is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability in 2021. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered another two MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles from Northrop Grumman Corp. 

According to a Feb. 6 Defense Department contract announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $172.4 million contract modification for the two UAVs, with the funding included for a main operation base, trade studies and associated technical and administrative data. 

The two Tritons are authorized and funded by the 2020 budget. 

Last month, the Navy’s Unmanned Patrol Squadron (VUP) 19, the Navy’s first Triton UAS squadron, deployed two MQ-4Cs to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to establish an early operational capability in the western Pacific Ocean. 

The Triton eventually will achieve initial operational capability when a total of four MQ-4Cs are deployed to a single site to establish a 24/7 orbit over the western Pacific area of operations. 

YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. — Raytheon’s new Excalibur S precision-guided munition scored direct hits on moving targets in a U.S. Navy test, the company said in a Feb. 5 release. Testing validated the projectile’s ability to survive the shock and stress of a howitzer firing, then transition from GPS to laser guidance and hit a moving target. 

Excalibur S uses the Excalibur Ib variant’s GPS technology and incorporates a semi-active laser seeker to engage mobile land and maritime targets at comparable ranges. Existing Ib projectiles can be upgraded with Excalibur S capabilities. 

“Using artillery to engage moving targets gives soldiers more flexibility,” said Sam Deneke, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president. “Artillery is typically used to hit stationary objects, but Excalibur S expands the capability of artillery on the battlefield.” 

Excalibur is a true precision weapon, impacting at a radial miss distance of less than 2 meters from the target. Widely used by U.S. and international artillery forces, Excalibur has been fired more than 1,400 times in combat. 

WASHINGTON — Roger Wicker, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, on Feb. 6 introduced the Securing the Homeland by Increasing our Power on the Seas (SHIPS) Implementation Act, according to his office. 

The legislation follows the Mississippi Republican’s 2017 SHIPS Act, which was signed by President Trump, making it U.S. policy to reach a 355-ship Navy. The new act would authorize the use of multiple cost-saving measures and direct the Navy to procure 39 new ships over the next four fiscal years. 

“Our nation’s Navy is still the envy of the world, but our adversaries are quickly catching up,” Wicker said. “It is time for Congress to get serious about investing in our fleet and give our Sailors and Marines the tools they need to stay ahead of those who wish us harm.” 

“In the near term, [the act] would empower our Navy to reach its 355-ship goal by authorizing the procurement of specific vessels and cutting costs. Over time, my proposal would help to decrease risk for the Navy and provide greater certainty for the industrial base.” 

The Navy’s 355-ship goal is the direct result of a Navy-wide “force structure assessment” from 2016 that solicited inputs from all regional commands about their current and projected needs. These projections included a recognition that the U.S. would need to significantly increase the size and capability of the Navy to counter growing threats from China and Russia. 

In response to this assessment, Wicker introduced the 2017 SHIPS act. Even with a reinvigorated shipbuilding effort over the last three years, the Navy’s shipbuilding budget still falls between $4 billion and $5 billion short of the level required to reach a 355-ship Navy.  

Wicker’s SHIPS Implementation Act would expand his 2017 legislation by providing a strategic framework and additional support to help the Navy reach its fleet goal. 

Among other provisions, the act would: 

•    Direct the Navy to start construction on at least 12 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, 10 Virginia-class submarines, two Columbia-class submarines, three San Antonio-class amphibious ships, one LHA-class amphibious ship, six John Lewis-class fleet oilers and five guided missile frigates across fiscal 2021-2025. 

•    Authorize the award of shipbuilding contracts for three San Antonio-class amphibious ships, one America-class amphibious ship, two Columbia-class submarines and six John Lewis-class fleet oilers in fiscal 2021. 

•    Recognize the strategic value of the Columbia-class submarine program by authorizing the use of the National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund to support the program with funds over and above the Navy’s shipbuilding budget. 

•    Introduce stability to the Navy’s acquisition process by requiring steady shipbuilding rates to be maintained for each vessel class. 

•    Authorize the use of several cost-saving measures, including multiyear or block buy contract authorities when appropriate. 

•    Minimize risk for the Navy by requiring shipbuilding prototyping to occur at the subsystem-level in advance of ship design, to the maximum extent practicable.

MARINETTE, Wis. — Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine delivered the future USS St. Louis, littoral combat ship No. 19, to the U.S. Navy, according to a Feb. 6 Lockheed Martin release. 

“With LCS 19’s delivery, the U.S. Navy has 10 Freedom-variant littoral combat ships in the fleet,” said Joe DePietro, Lockheed’s vice president and general manager of small combatants and ship systems. 

“LCS 7 recently deployed, and it is gratifying to know that our team has delivered a ship that is relevant for today’s fight and that is needed around the world. Our team is encouraged by the positive feedback we’ve received about LCS 7 on deployment, and we continuously look to incorporate fleet input into capabilities on LCS hulls.” 

The Freedom-variant LCS delivers advanced capability in anti-submarine, surface and mine countermeasure missions. LCS was designed to evolve with the changing security environment. With an increase in near-peer competition from large nation states, Lockheed is partnering with the Navy to evolve LCS to meet these threats. Upgrades are already underway as computing infrastructures are receiving cyber upgrades and naval strike missiles are being installed to support upcoming deployments. 

The St. Louis is is the 10th Freedom-variant LCS designed, built and delivered by the Lockheed Martin-led industry team and will be commissioned in Pensacola, Florida, this summer.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The health and readiness of the U.S. defense industrial base, plagued by
intellectual property theft and a shrunken workforce, rates a barely passing
grade on a report card issued on Feb. 5 by the sector’s largest industry group.

The report,
compiled by the National Defense Industry Association (NDIA) and data analytic firm
Govini, raises concerns about an industry challenged by cyber threats and industrial
espionage. Securing sensitive material against spies and data breaches earned a
failing grade, 63 out of 100, the lowest among eight areas analyzed by Govini
and NDIA.

In the
foreword to the report, “Vital Signs 2020: The Health and Readiness of the
Defense Industrial Base,” Govini CEO Tara Murphy Dougherty noted the new era of
‘great power competition’ is different from the Cold War. China is a rival
economic power, rapidly closing the technological gap, she wrote, adding, “China’s
efforts to exploit technological advancements made by others for its own
benefit threaten the security of the defense industrial base.”

“Just look
what they do with regard to cyber threats. The intellectual property that they
steal. Trillions of dollars a year are taken from our country with intellectual
property theft or data breaches,” Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, a retired U.S. Air
Force general and NDIA’s president and CEO, told reporters in a teleconference for
the report’s rollout.  

Production inputs,
another area examined in the report, barely earned a C grade, with a 68, due in
part to a defense industry workforce that has contracted from its peak of 3.2
million in the 1980s to about 1.1 million today. The persistent security
clearance backlog was another contributing factor, especially with stagnating
approvals for top secret clearances, the data-driven report found.

The threat
to industrial security posed by state and nonstate actors is “very concerning”
in the near term, said Wesley Hallman, NDIA’s senior vice president of strategy
and policy. However, to achieve a capable workforce 20 to 40 years in the
future, investments have to be made now by government and society as a whole to
field a workers with “not only the skills, the talent and the educational
background to perform, but they’ve got to be able to pass a security clearance,”
Hallman warned.

NDIA and
Govini analyzed, over a three-year running average — 2017 through 2019 — 44
statistical indicators, such as surge capacity and threats to digital systems.
Each of the 44 indicators was graded from zero (bad) to 100 (excellent) and
slotted into eight sections, called dimensions, that were then graded individually.
The composite grades of the eight dimensions resulted in the defense industrial
base’s overall C grade of 77 for 2019. Factoring in 2017 and 2018 data, the
overall score is down 2% since 2017.

The other dimensions analyzed were: supply chain issues, which scored a 68; innovation, 74; productive capacity and surge readiness, 77; political and regulatory issues, 79; demand, 94; and competition, where conditions among the thousands of defense contractors scored a 96, the highest scoring dimension. That was largely because profitability is up 7% since 2017, enabling companies to expand business operations.

The 70-page report makes no specific recommendation, but NDIA leaders said their aim was to make the report an annual event that would generate a dialogue about national security among industry, the Defense Department, lawmakers, policymakers and the public. “The American people are a big part of this,” Carlisle said.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Coast Guard, U.K. Royal Navy and U.S. law enforcement partners seized 3,086 pounds of cocaine and detained nine suspected drug smugglers following two separate interdictions in the Caribbean on Jan. 24 and Jan. 30, according to the Coast Guard 7th District. 

The seized drug shipments are estimated to have a wholesale value of more than $46.2 million. 

The interdiction was a result of an international, multiagency law-enforcement effort in support of Operation Unified Resolve, Operation Caribbean Guard, Campaign Martillo (a joint, interagency, 20-nation collaborative counter narcotic effort) and the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. 

“These efforts, underpinned by our unwavering resolve to stop drug smuggling vessels at sea, greatly contribute to safeguarding our citizens in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and protecting our shared interests of a safer and more secure Caribbean,” said Rear Adm. Eric C. Jones, commander of the 7th District. 

“These interdictions highlight the importance of working with our international partners as we combat drug trafficking,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “These large drug seizures make our community safer by keeping the narcotics out of our neighborhoods. We commend all of our partner agencies for their steadfast efforts.” 

“These operations reiterate the significance of intelligence and resource sharing among agencies,” said A.J. Collazo, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Caribbean Division special agent in charge. “We will continue to aggressively target and disrupt drug-trafficking organizations operating in the Caribbean.” 

In the first interdiction, the Royal Navy’s RFA Mounts Bay, while on patrol with a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment (LEDET) and a Coast Guard helicopter interdiction tactical squadron (HITRON) armed helicopter onboard, detected two suspicious go-fast vessels, about 74 nautical miles south of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. 

The RFA Mounts Bay launched the Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter and the ship’s pursuit vessel with the Coast Guard LEDET to interdict both suspect vessels.  

The Coast Guard LEDET boarding team, with the assistance of RFA Mounts Bay crew members, boarded both suspect vessels, apprehending the seven men and seizing 42 bales of suspected contraband. 

In the second interdiction, a maritime patrol aircraft detected a northbound target of interest, southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic. The Coast Guard Cutter Bear along with a helicopter responded to interdict the go-fast vessel. The Bear’s over-the-horizon cutter boat and embarked helicopter arrived on scene and stopped the go-fast. The Bear’s boarding team detained the two men aboard the go-fast after discovering 13 bales of suspected contraband. 

The Bear delivered the seized contraband and detainees from both cases to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-HSI, and DEA special agents in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 4. 

Between October 2019 and December 2019, the Coast Guard and Caribbean Border Interagency Group authorities have seized 12,060 kilograms of cocaine and 407 pounds of marijuana during law-enforcement operations surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The wholesale value for these seizures is more than $314 million. 

Cutter Bear is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia. The RFA Mounts Bay is a Bay-class auxiliary landing ship dock belonging to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which provides logistical support to the Royal Navy.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. 2nd Fleet exercised its ability to operate expeditionary maritime operations centers in its run-up from initial to full operational capability, achieved in December, the fleet commander said. 

Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis, commander of the 2nd Fleet, who spoke here Feb. 4 at Maritime Security Dialogue sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute, said his staff deployed on board the USS Mount Whitney — traditionally the flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet — to the Baltic Sea last year to command maritime forces in the BATLTOPS 19 exercise.  

Lewis gave a second example where a mobile operations center with 30 personnel was deployed to Keflavik, Iceland, last month, to control operations of P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. The deployment tested the scalability of the fleet staff to run maritime operations centers from two locations. 

He also dispatched a surface action group (SAG) to the Atlantic — the first to deploy to that ocean in more than a decade — elements of which operated in the Arctic region. 

The 2nd Fleet was established in 2018 to operate in the North Atlantic in response to the growing Russian presence in the ocean in recent years. In the previous two decades, the East Coast ships mostly deployed to Europe and the Middle East. 

“The Atlantic is a battlespace that can’t be ignored,” Lewis said, noting the increased Russian submarine presence and even a Russian icebreaker armed with Kalibr cruise missiles. 

Lewis said he did not expect that his fleet would operate its own command ship soon but that he saw his staff eventually “having a kit to deploy with which we don’t currently have,” but that he needed the personnel to maintain it. 

Lewis said that soon the fleet will deploy a mobile operations center at an expeditionary location in the U.S. homeland under the auspices of U.S. Northern Command and that the fleet staff would deploy afloat on a ship that was not a command ship. 

Because of the Russian submarine threat, Lewis emphasized that the fleet is “re-learning” much of anti-submarine warfare (ASW).    

“It’s an all-domain integrated fight — in the air, on the surface, in the subsurface down to the seabed, and it’s in space,” he said. “It’s a really hard challenge, a real varsity operation. And that’s something we’re getting back into, very much so.”  

Lewis also praised the ASW capabilities of the Navy’s P-8 aircraft.