ARLINGTON, Va. — The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says he’d like the Defense Department to stop buying the troubled and massively expensive F-35 Lightning II strike fighter. In a wide-ranging discussion livestreamed March 5 by the Brookings Institution,…

Coast Guard Interdicts 25 Migrants off West Palm Beach
MIAMI — Coast Guard Station Lake Worth Inlet and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations rescue crews interdicted a 30-foot vessel with 25 people aboard March 3 after they called for help reporting they were taking on water…

Seaborne Targets Depot Team Demonstrates Contribution to Readiness
PORT HUENEME, Calif. – The U.S. Navy’s Seaborne Targets team from Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships and NAVAIR’s Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) demonstrated its essential capabilities to Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Michael Gilday, during his…

HII Announces the Election of Kari Wilkinson as Ingalls Shipbuilding President
NEWPORT NEWS, Va.–Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) board of directors has elected Kari Wilkinson to serve as executive vice president of HII and president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, effective April 1, the company announced in a March 5 release. She…

U.S. Will Fight from Guam and for Guam, U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander Says
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy admiral in charge U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said building up the defenses of Guam is his highest budget priority and reminded observers Guam is not just a base for military operations but a part of the…

SECDEF Announces Marine General Promotions
ARLINGTON, Va. — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced on March 4 that the president has made the following nominations: Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Jay M. Bargeron has been nominated for appointment to the rank of major general. …

Coast Guard Set to Retire Last High-Endurance Cutter, Commandant Says
WASHINGTON —The Coast Guard will retire USCGC Douglas Munro at the end of March, concluding 49 years of Coast Guard service for the cutter and 54 years for the Secretary-class 378-Foot cutters. In a March 4 message to the Coast…

Communications, Information Sharing Seen as Critical for Middle East Shipping Security
Collaboration between the merchant shipping community and coalition military forces is critical in securing maritime trade flows across the Middle East region, with communications and information sharing central to such collaboration, a U.S. Navy officer told a recent regional shipping…

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone Completes Operation Southern Cross
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The USCGC Stone (WMSL 758) crew arrived in their homeport of North Charleston, S.C., March 1, following the conclusion of the Operation Southern Cross, a patrol to the South Atlantic in support of counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated…

L3Harris to Design Long-Endurance Autonomous Surface Ship Concept for DARPA
MELBOURNE, Fla. — L3Harris Technologies has been selected to design an autonomous surface ship concept for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to demonstrate the reliability and feasibility of an unmanned ship performing lengthy missions, the company said in…