WASHINGTON — Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly on Jan. 20 named a future aircraft carrier the USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, honoring black Americans of the Greatest Generation. 

The day’s ceremony also paid homage to the beginning and end of America’s role in World War II and the scene where Doris Miller’s heroic actions cemented him into America’s history books.  

“It’s an honor to join you today on the birthday celebration of one of our nation’s — and the world’s — greatest spiritual, intellectual and moral leaders,” Modly said. “Seventy-five years ago, our nation bound together to secure victory against an existential threat, but also to secure opportunities for broader liberty and justice for the entire world.” 

“But we were not perfect in our own pursuits of these values here at home,” Modly continued. “That contradiction is an undeniable part of our history, one that cannot be glossed over or forgotten.” 

Doris “Dorie” Miller manned anti-aircraft guns during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, for which he had no training, and he tended to the wounded. He was recognized by the Navy for his actions and awarded the Navy Cross — the first black man to ever receive the honor. 

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) delivered an emotional speech about the influence of Miller’s legacy on her own life. 

“All of my life, I’ve heard about how great Doris Miller was,” Johnson said. “[He] was my childhood hero. It was the spirit of Dorie Miller that made me appreciate being an American more than anything else because, in the days of real segregation, a black man from my hometown had stepped up to help save America. Dorie Miller started the civil rights movement and perhaps even gave Martin Luther King Jr. the spirit to lead us into the era of which he did.” 

Modly noted that throughout U.S. history, the finest of every generation have stepped forward to serve the cause of freedom around the world even if they were denied those same freedoms at home simply because of the color of their skin.  

On Dec. 7, 1941, Doris Miller did not let the prejudice of others define him, the Navy secretary said. Johnson said naming CVN 81 in honor of Doris Miller has done so much to recognize and highlight that no matter the color of a person’s skin, they can achieve anything. 

U.S. Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas), which includes Miller’s hometown of Waco, said it was an honor to pay tribute to one of America’s heroes from the Greatest Generation.  

“[Miller] was a man who exemplified the hearts of our Sailors and the spirit of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who we also recognize today,” Flores said. “Dr. King once said, ‘The time is always right to do something right’ and that is what Petty Officer Miller did. His story of bravery is a testament to his courage and commitment to serve both his fellow Sailors and his country.” 

For the members of Miller’s family present at the ceremony, it was a moment to reflect on the legacy their family lives to honor with every generation. 

“When Uncle Doris decided that he was going to step up to the machine gun and shoot, it was a ‘why not me?’ moment,” said Henrietta Blednose Miller, a niece of Miller’s. “As we go through life, we’re all going to be confronted with ‘why not me?’ moments whether they are small or big, but with each one, you will be affecting someone if you take an action at that moment.” 

CVN 81 will be the second ship named in honor of Miller and the first carrier ever named for a black American. The Doris Miller will also be the first aircraft carrier to be named in honor of a Sailor for actions while serving in the enlisted ranks.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The development of unmanned watercraft for expeditionary warfare has been
progressing rapidly, said the program manager of U.S. Navy Unmanned Maritime
Systems.

“We made a tremendous
amount of progress in the expeditionary warfare area in 2019,” Capt. Pete Small,
PMS 406, said Jan. 16 during a briefing at the Surface Navy Association symposium
here. That progress included successful testing of three Mine Countermeasures
USVs (MCM USV) on three different platforms.

The Navy is
using Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle for the MCM USV program, one of
the mission modules for littoral combat ships. The long endurance, semi-autonomous,
diesel-powered boat has been tested with Raytheon’s AQS-20 and Northrop
Grumman’s AQS-24 mine-hunting sonars.

“We have three
vehicles operational in the water,” Small said. In 2019, all three were
operated with three different payloads — a suite payload and the two different
towed sonars. Testing was done in different locations on the East, West and
Gulf coasts, sometimes simultaneously in multiple locations. “We have accrued
just shy of 900 hours of on-water operational time deploying this payload in
2019,” Small said.

Additionally,
PMS 406 conducted integration tests with the LCS and two different vessels of
opportunity — a U.S. expeditionary sea base and a British amphibious platform.

Small said formal
developmental testing and operational assessment of the suite variant of the MCM
USV was completed in late November. “That was a major milestone for us, and we
are rapidly nearing a milestone C decision and the award of low rate production,”
Small said.

Progress also continued with the Knifefish Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV), another counter-mine package for the LCS, completed formal testing and operational assessment in August. “We’ll continue low rate production of that throughout [fiscal 2020],” Small said, adding the Navy will continue additional development and testing of the General Dynamics-made, medium class UUV to demonstrate the full capability of the mine counter measures mission package.

PMS 406 — a unit of Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants, which oversees the littoral combat ship and its mission modules and related systems — also develops unmanned maritime vehicles, both surface and undersea, for three different warfare domains: unmanned expeditionary, unmanned undersea and unmanned surface, “our most rapidly growing warfare domain,” Small said.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard is so bullish on the Insitu-built ScanEagle unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) that it is moving up the schedule of installing it on its Legend-class
national security cutters (NSCs).

The Coast
Guard awarded Insitu an ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance)
services contract to Insitu in 2016 to deploy the ScanEagle onboard one NSC,
the Stratton. Two years ago, the Coast Guard awarded Insitu a contract to
operate the ScanEagle on board all NSCs.

“Over the
past year and a half, we have begun integration on board all national security
cutters,” said Ron Tremain, vice president of Insitu Defense, a Boeing company,
who spoke to Seapower on Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association’s gathering
here.

“We had a notional
timeline to integrate over a five-year period and [Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl
Schultz] stated in his speech last year that he wanted to integrate it on board
all national security cutters by the end of 2020.”

“So that
expedited the program,” Tremain added. “We’ve installed it on five national
security cutters to date, and it will be installed on all national security
cutters currently built by the end of 2020.”

Insitu
installs the UAVs and their launch-and-recovery equipment and ground-control
stations on board the ships, he said. Insitu sends four-person teams to deploy
with each ship. They operate the entire system once on board. The teams are
fully embedded with their ship’s crew.

“The
ground-control station is fully integrated into the command-and-control
structure of the ship,” Tremain said. “The launch-and-recovery equipment is
roll-on/roll-off.”

A standard
pack-out for a deployment is three ScanEagle UAVs, he said. The sensor systems
include and electro-optical/infrared camera, a laser pointer, a communication
relay, an Automatic Identification System interrogator and Vidar (visual
detection and ranging, a surface search capability).

Retired Coast
Vice Adm. John P. Currier, head of JP Currier Consulting LLC and former head on
Coast Guard acquisition, told Seapower that the sensor data product from
the ScanEagle is provided to the cutter for analysis and action.

Currier said
that before deployment of the ScanEagle the NSC had a scan of 35 miles either
side of the ship with its organic sensors.

“With
ScanEagle on board, for good parts of the day, you’re up to 75 miles either
side of the ship as you’re moving through the sea space,” he said. “ScanEagle
is a game-changer.”

“We’ve
effectively doubled the search area of a national security cutter,” Tremain
said. “We’re he only company flying with Vidar, and we’re surveilling up to 1,000
square miles of open ocean per flight hour, and we’re identifying greater than
90% of the targets.”

Deployments
under the current contract have been made by cutters Monroe, James and Stratton.
Four were made on Stratton on the 2016 contract.

Tremain said
the ScanEagle teams have been credited with assisting in the interception on
nearly $3 billion worth of narcotics to date.

The current
$118 million ISR services contract is a one-year contract with seven options
for one-year extensions. Tremain said that with the expedition of the
installations the value of the contract will go up exponentially.

He said that
Insitu is integrating ScanEagle on a number of ships of other navies around the
world.

The Coast Guard also plans
to integrate the ScanEagle on the forthcoming Heritage-class offshore patrol
cutters.

ST. LOUIS — For the first time, Boeing and the U.S. Navy flew an F/A-18 Super Hornet equipped with an Infrared Search & Track (IRST) Block II pod in late 2019, the company said in a release.  

IRST Block II is a critical component of the Block III Super Hornet. The Block III conversion includes enhanced network capability, longer range with conformal fuel tanks, an advanced cockpit system, signature improvements and an enhanced communication system. The updates are expected to keep the F/A-18 in active service for decades to come. 

IRST is a passive, long-range sensor incorporating infrared and other sensor technologies for highly accurate targeting. 

“The IRST Block II gives the F/A-18 improved optics and processing power, significantly improving pilot situational awareness of the entire battle space,” said Jennifer Tebo, Boeing’s director of F/A-18 development. 

Currently in the risk reduction phase of development, IRST Block II flights on the Super Hornet allow Boeing and the Navy to collect valuable data on the system before deployment to the fleet. The Block II variant will be delivered to the Navy in 2021, reaching initial operational capability shortly thereafter. 

“The IRST Block II sensor gives Navy fighters extended range and increasing survivability. This technology will help the Navy maintain its advantage over potential adversaries for many years,” said Kenen Nelson, Lockheed Martin director of fixed wing programs, supplier of the IRST sensor. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is installing control centers for unmanned aerial vehicles on its aircraft carriers as the ships go through overhauls and maintenance periods, a Navy official said.

Capt. Chuck
Ehnes, the Navy’s program manager for in-service aircraft carriers, speaking
Jan.16 at the Surface Navy Association gathering here, said the Unmanned
Aviation Warfare Centers (UAWCs) are being installed to operate the MQ-25A
Stingray unmanned aerial tanker and any follow-on UAVs the Navy plans to
operate from its aircraft carriers.

Ehnes said
the UAWC is one of several phased modernizations being conducted on the
carriers in service to upgrade their warfighting capabilities.

Over time,
carriers are receiving numerous modifications to prepare to operate the F-35C
Lightning II strike fighter, the CMV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor carrier onboard
delivery aircraft and the MQ-25. The carriers also are receiving additive
manufacturing labs and upgraded cybersecurity.

Ehnes said the carriers also are receiving the Distance Communication and Maintenance System (DCoMs), a remote conferencing system that will enable Sailors to discuss maintenance issues with technical experts ashore. He compared the new DCoMs to a telemedicine system will be a “potential game-changer” in reducing the need for tech assist visits and the dispatching of repair teams.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier will go through a rigorous period
of tests and trials over the rest of fiscal 2020, a Navy official said.

Speaking Jan.
16 at the Surface Navy Association gathering here, Capt. Ron Rutan, the Navy’s
program manager for the USS Gerald R. Ford, lead ship of its class, said the
ship gets underway “11 times over 220 days” starting Jan. 16, continuing 18
months of post-delivery testing and trials, which will run into through the
second quarter of fiscal 2021.

Rutan said the ship will have contractor personnel on board continuing work while the ship is at sea. The Navy plans to complete work on the seven Advanced Weapon Elevators that have not yet been certified. He said that four others already have been certified and they have been put through more than 5,000 cycles, including runs while the carrier has been put through high-speed turns that simulated Sea State 5.

One of the 11
events this quarter of the fiscal year will be used to certify the ship’s
flight deck.

The carrier
is scheduled for full-ship shock trials during the third or fourth quarters of
fiscal 2021.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s program
manager for the next three aircraft carriers said the sea service is
considering the business case for a single-phased delivery of the future USS
John F. Kennedy (CVN 79).

Speaking Jan. 16 at the Surface Navy Association’s symposium here, Capt. Philip Malone, the program manager for CVN 79, CVN 80 and CVN 81, said the Navy is looking at the possibility of delivering JFK with a single-phased approach. The current plan with a dual-phased approach includes delivering with some navigation and aviation capability followed by a second phase in which combat systems would be installed. 

One advantage of a two-phased delivery is
that the most recent mission systems can be installed before final delivery,
avoiding an obsolescence that can occur in the long timeline of a carrier’s
construction. An advantage of the traditional practice of a single-phased
delivery is having a completed ship at commissioning.

Malone said he is working with the Navy
secretariat to determine the effects of a single-phased delivery on cost and
build time.

James F. Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for
research, development and acquisition, told reporters Jan. 17 that the
discussion of a single-phased construction included “looking at a new version
of a radar, combat systems, the people and making sure we have the right
balance. Delivering an integrated ship with all its functions is an
attractive model to look at hard.”

Geurts said the decision on the single-phased
delivery would be made “in the next 30 to 45 days.”

“Mr. Geurts is aggressively pursuing
integrating lessons learned on CVN 78 to improve efficiencies and affordability
for the rest of the Ford class,” said Capt. Danny Hernandez, Navy acquisition
spokesman. “Delivery approach is one of the items that Mr. Geurts has the team
looking at.”

A major difference between CVN 78, the
USS Gerald R. Ford, and CVN 79 is that the dual-band radar on CVN 78 will be
replaced on CVN 79 by the SPY-6(V)3 Enterprise Air Search Radar.

CVNs 79, 80 and 81 are scheduled for
delivery in 2024, 2028 and 2032, respectively. The Navy expects the total
ownership cost savings of $4 billion for each ship over their 50-year service
lives, as compared to the Nimitz class.

Malone said the construction of USS John
F. Kennedy is incorporating more than 60,000 lessons learned from the
construction of the Gerald R. Ford.

He also said JFK will
receive modifications to operate the F-35C strike fighter after its
post-shakedown availability. The modification involves changes in the squadron
ready room and the flight deck’s jet-blast deflectors, among others. He said
his office is evaluating the impact of the installations on the carrier’s
schedule.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s program manager for the Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer praised the capability being built into the ship as it transforms into an offensive surface strike platform from a land-attack ship, possibly to include a new missile strike capability. 

The Zumwalt is being lauded “as the premier strike platform for the U.S. Navy,” said Capt. Kevin Smith, the Navy’s Zumwalt program manager, speaking Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association convention here, noting that the ship was “designed to be stealthy and designed to carry the fight to the enemy.” 

Smith said the Navy is looking at the Zumwalt as a platform for a conventional prompt strike capability. He also said the Navy is looking at adding Tomahawk Block V — the Maritime Strike Tomahawk — to the Zumwalt’s arsenal. Under the current plan, the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk missile will be arming the Zumwalt. 

Smith noted that the Zumwalt will be equipped with the Standard SM-6 Block 1A multipurpose missile, the Standard SM-2 missile and the SPY-3 radar. 

He also said the two Advanced Gun Systems on the ship are still in lay-up pending the development of a replacement projectile.  

The current commanding officer of the USS Zumwalt, Capt. Drew Carlson, also spoke about the Zumwalt’s at-sea periods in 2019, when the ship operated in the eastern Pacific and made port calls in Victoria, British Columbia; Ketchikan, Alaska; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and San Francisco. The ship operated in Sea State 6 in the Gulf of Alaska. 

“I’d rather be in heavy seas on this ship than on any other I have been on,” Carlson said, noting that the ship now is 60% to 70% complete with hydrodynamic testing. 

“This ship is very stable,” he said, noting that experience should quiet the anxiety about the stability of the Zumwalt’s tumblehome hull form. 

Carlson said that some of the criticism of the Zumwalt is the constant comparison with the Arleigh Burke-class DDG. He said it is important to think of it as a new type of ship. 

“Maybe DDG is not the right [term] for it,” he said, musing that maybe it could be a cruiser or some other type. “It’s not the Arleigh Burke destroyer.”  

Smith said the combat systems activation of the Zumwalt should be completed by March 2020 — pending concurrence of the chief of naval operations — and is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability in September 2021. 

In 2020, the Zumwalt will be engaged in live-fire trials, operational concept development and tactical development. 

He said the USS Michael Monsoor is 93% complete and will complete its combat systems availability during the second quarter of 2020. It will begin its combat systems activation sometime in 2020. 

The third and final Zumwalt-class ship, USS Lyndon B. Johnson, is at Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine and is 90% complete with its hull, mechanical and electrical phase. Delivery to the Navy for its combat systems installation is scheduled for December. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is proceeding with studies and concept development for three special-mission ships to replace existing ships in the Military Sealift Command.

Speaking Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association symposium here, Matt Sermon, the executive director for Amphibious, Auxiliary and Sealift Office, Program Executive Office-Ships, said the Navy plans to build new ocean surveillance ships (T-AGOS), a new cable-laying ship (T-ARC) and a new oceanographic survey ship (T-AGS).

The Navy expects to issue during the second quarter of fiscal 2020 a request for proposal for industry studies for the new T-AGOS, which will be a SWATH (small waterplane, twin-hull) ship, as are the current T-AGOSs. A contract award for the Industries Studies Request for Proposals is expected in the third quarter of the year.

A new T-ARC is needed to replace the USNS Zeus, a one-of-a-kind cable laying ship, which has been in service since 1984. The 2020 budget has authorized research, development, test and evaluation funds for the program. T-AGS-67 will be a follow-on Pathfinder-class ship that will be similar to T-AGS-66, the USNS Maury, which introduced a “moon pool” for launch and recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The first of seven Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers entered into
the Cruiser Modification Program has been returned to the U.S. Navy’s fleet for
service.

USS Cowpens
went through the modification at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego over the last
four years, Capt. Kevin Byrne, the Navy’s program manager for surface ship modernization,
said Jan. 15 at the Surface Navy Association symposium here.

Under the
modification, the major addition is the Baseline 9A upgrade to the Aegis Combat
System with ballistic-missile defense (BMD) capability, along with the addition
of the SPQ-9B radar, the Navy Integrated Fire Control capability and the
SQQ-89(V)15 anti-submarine warfare system and the Multifunction Towed Array. The
ship’s Combat Information Center is revamped, the superstructure is
strengthened and provisions for the embarked MH-60R helicopters are included,
among other hull, mechanical and electrical improvements.

Also going
through modernization are USS Gettysburg at the BAE Systems yard in Norfolk,
Virginia, and USS Chosin, which soon will be towed to the Vigor shipyard in
Portland, Oregon. USS Cape St. George will follow at Vigor later in 2020, and USS
Vicksburg enters the BAE yard in Norfolk this month. USS Hue City is the next
to be inducted.

The seven
cruisers are part of the 11 that the Navy decided to take out of service for
modernization, but the Navy is keeping four in service for the time being to
maintain a robust BMD force structure.