MIAMI — The Coast Guard Cutter William Trump crew repatriated 22 Cuban migrants to Cuba, Friday, from two interdictions, the Coast Guard 7^th District said in a May 14 release. 

In the first interdiction, a Coast Guard Station Key West small boat crew and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine surface asset located a migrant vessel, Saturday, after CBP AMO’s maritime patrol aircraft reported two personal watercrafts headed northbound approximately 26 miles southeast of Key West.  

In the second interdiction, Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo crew intersected the chug approximately 82 miles southwest of Key West and embarked the migrants with no medical concerns reported. 

“Migrant interdiction patrols help save lives by deterring dangerous illegal migrant activity and removing migrants from dangerous environments,” said Capt. Michael Gesele, Coast Guard District Seven Chief of Enforcement. “The Coast Guard patrols the Florida Straits, Windward Passage and the Mona Passage, maintaining a solid presence with air and sea assets. Migrants attempting to enter the United States illegally can expect to be repatriated, regardless of their nationality.” 

Since Oct. 1, 2020, Coast Guard crews have interdicted 228 Cubans compared to: 

5,396 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2016 

1,468 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2017 

259 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2018 

313 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2019 

49 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2020.

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. Throughout the interdiction, Coast Guard crew members were equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to any possible case of COVID-19. There were no migrants in these cases reported to have any COVID-19 related symptoms. 

MANAMA, Bahrain – The International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) released the newest edition of its IMSC Bridge Reference Cards, May 13, Task Force sentinel Public Affairs said in a May 17 release. 

Originally published in June 2020, the reference cards are designed as a quick-access distillation of guidance found in the United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations’ (UKMTO) Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy and Enhance Maritime Security, edition 5 (BMP5) and address specific scenarios that threaten the physical security of merchant vessels. 

“Mariners are thoroughly trained on how to respond in emergencies but being face-to-face with a real-life threat is a completely different experience compared to an exercise,” said Lt. David Bourne, British Royal Navy, the information officer at Coalition Task Force Sentinel (CTF Sentinel), the operational arm of IMSC.  

“It is important to have authoritative, but easy to understand, guidance at hand, especially when you are trying to think clearly with everything happening so quickly.” 

The newest edition has sections specifically devoted to limpet and sea mine awareness threats. Since May 2019, several maritime incidents in the Middle East region have been related to either mines or water borne improvised explosive devices (also addressed in the cards). 

“Our aim is to deliver a greater understanding of mines and other explosives which have the potential to cause loss of life or severe damage to a vessel, and empower seafarers to alert authorities,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Danielle Centeno, the task force’s Maritime Trade Officer.  

“Often times, under the cover of darkness, perpetrators use small boats or divers to plant limpet mines, which are mines that magnetically adhere to the metal hull of merchant vessels.” 

The reference cards provide industry best practices addressing factors seafarers and vessel masters should consider when facing threats to include being approached by a suspicious craft in port or at anchor. 

“Mariners don’t have time to waste when facing a possible crisis. They must assess what they see and know who to call,” said Centeno.  

If seafarers understand the threat, they are more likely to identify nefarious or suspicious activity before an attack materializes. 

The cards also address what to do if hailed by unknown vessels or aircraft exhibiting threatening or harassing behavior, impeding safe navigation, or attempting to illegitimately alter one’s course within international waters. 

“These bridge cards serve as a reminder to professional mariners that they are not alone,” said Royal Navy Commodore Adrian Fryer, CTF Sentinel’s commanding officer. 

“Rather, there are a number of organizations like IMSC, UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations), and other national defense forces that are devoted to protecting freedom of navigation.” 

UKMTO is a British Royal Navy capability with the principal purpose of providing an information conduit between maritime security forces and the wider international maritime trade community.  

IMSC continues to work together with industry partners to safeguard freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce and to reassure merchant shipping by deterring and exposing state-sponsored malign activity that threatens security of the maritime commons in the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Southern Red Sea. 

U.S. and allied navies took part in the  multi-national exercise Jeanne D’Arc (ARC) 21 in and around Japan, exercises that began May 11 and wrapped up May 16.

The Sasebo, Japan-based USS New Orleans (LPD 18) joined with the Royal Australian Navy, French armed forces, Japan self-defense forces and other U.S. forces for ARC 21.

“This exercise brings together service members from each nation’s military in a combined effort to enhance interoperability in pursuit of common regional security goals,” said Navy spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Sherrie Flippin. “Service members from participating units planned, coordinated and conducted operations over land and at sea.”

The 684-foot New Orleans, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with elements of the Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force and the 3rd Marine Logistics Group, have been engaged in amphibious landings and air assaults while also conducting formation maneuvers, air defense exercises and communication drills with the other units in the exercise. MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft also took part.

“On the New Orleans we are prepared to flex our amphibious skills with each of the teams here and strengthen our joint operational capabilities,” Capt. Brian Schrum, New Orleans’ commanding officer, said in the release. “Each event affords us the opportunity to collaborate across staffs developing deeper personal bonds, fostering trust between all our nations and in turn growing as a cohesive naval and Marine force.”

ARC 21 also included the 387-foot Anzac-class frigate HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154) from the Royal Australian Navy, as well as the French navy’s 653-foot Mistral-class LHD FS Tonnerre (L9014) and 410-foor La Fayette-class Frigate FS Surcouf (F 711). 

Participating ships from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force included the 646-foot Hyūga-class helicopter destroyer JS Ise (DDH-182); 528-foot Kongō-class guided missile destroyer JS Kongō (DDG-173); 541-foot Atago-class guided missile destroyer JS Ashigara (DDG-178); 495-foot Asahi-class ASW destroyer JS Asahi (DD-119); 584-foot Ōsumi-class landing ship tank JS Ōsumi (LST 4001); and a pair of 164-foot Hayabusa-class patrol boats, JS Ōtaka (PG-826) and JS Shirataka (PG-829); along with other host nation air and ground forces.

The field training portion of the exercise began at the JSDF Kirishima maneuver area with a combat engineer subject matter expertise exchange, casualty evacuation and combat service support training, and simulated fire support coordination training between Japan Air Self Defense Forces and U.S. military personnel.

“This exercise, by bringing together our air, land, and maritime forces to increase our ability to jointly respond to crises across the range of military operations, is yet another demonstration of our rapidly growing constellation of partners, all united by the common goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said Lt. Col. Jeremy Nelson, commander of the 3rd Landing Support Battalion. “It is commonly said that we train alongside our partners and allies in peace to be ready to fight alongside them in war, and exercises like ARC-21 are the best example of this.”

Forward deployed to Okinawa, Japan, the 3rd Marine Logistics Group provides responsive combat logistics support to III Marine Expeditionary Force and other Marine units within the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations through expeditionary means, forward basing and global sourcing during exercises and contingency operations.

Nelson, who was also the commander of the Marine Forces in the exercise, said the U.S. Marines were represented by an Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit and a reconnaissance team detachment.

The culminating events included surveillance and insertion of forces via JSDF CH-47 Chinook helicopters from Tonnerre, followed by a helicopter-borne assault via U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys from USS New Orleans, Flippin said.

Flippin said the exercise was conducted in adherence to strict COVID mitigation measures to protect participating forces as well as local communities.

Capabilities and Limitations

Speaking to reporters, Schrum and Nelson commented on the amount of effort involved in the staff planning process for exercises like ARC 21.

Nelson said the staff planning process is a way to understand the capabilities and limitations of the participating units, and how each of the forces conducts their planning — including who they bring to the table, and why. 

“We were able to familiarize ourselves with tactics, techniques and procedures — how they conduct themselves on patrolling and in urban combat, how they use their own gear, equipment and  communications and how they use their weapon systems,” Nelson said. 

Schrum said communications is a key attribute to “achieving interoperability with partners and allies, and understanding their capabilities and what they can bring to the fight, and how we can all work together to achieve a common goal.”

Schrum noted one of the more interesting events in the exercise involved the approaches and dockings by Japanese LCACs (landing craft air cushion) in the well deck of the New Orleans.

“To see another county’s ship-to-shore connector come into our well deck and land was an amazing thing for our crew in the well deck, as well as our junior officers and watchstanders. They got a chance to see what it’s like to work with partners and allies here in this region.”

Nelson said there was a lot more commonality than differences among the different units. “They had very good gear and they take care of it,” he said. “They’re very disciplined, perform to standard and are eager to train. We worked through bad weather; the common understood COVID mitigation measures; and the language barrier, and were still able — through deliberate planning — execute a safe exercise that everyone mutually benefited from.

“Sharing experiences, tactics and best practices makes us all better. Anytime you train together, you’re better together,” Nelson said.

ARC21 is the first large-scale joint exercise involving the U.S. and France on Japanese soil, and is taking place at a time of growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the exercise is a way to deepen defense cooperation with the U.S. and “like-minded countries” that shares Japan’s vision of “a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

CHANDLER, Ariz.–Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a production contract option for 18 additional GQM-163A “Coyote” supersonic sea-skimming target vehicles, the company announced in a May 14 release. 

This award represents the first of three options that can be exercised against the full-rate production contract awarded last year. The $55.4 million award brings the GQM-163A targets ordered to date to 218. 

“We are committed to supporting U.S. Navy fleet readiness with our high performance, supersonic Coyote target vehicles,” said Rich Straka, vice president, launch vehicles, Northrop Grumman. “Our design integrates a solid-fuel, air-breathing ducted rocket propulsion system with high performance avionics capable of emulating multiple scenarios to prepare and protect our warfighters against evolving threats.” 

Northrop Grumman designed and developed the Coyote starting in the early 2000s, with the first flight in 2003. The company has since delivered 124 targets to the U.S. Navy and successfully launched them 81 times. To create efficiencies and save time for the production of this target system, the company uses 3D printing technology to build mockups and tooling, and to prototype design modifications. 

The Coyote program is managed by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. The Coyote provides the Navy with a cost-effective target to simulate advanced supersonic anti-ship cruise missile threats. It can be used as a Mach 2.5+ sea skimming target or as a Mach 3.5+ diving target from an altitude of 52,000 feet; the target vehicle is also able to perform high G turns. 

The Coyote is designed and built at Northrop Grumman’s state-of-the-art launch vehicle production facility in Chandler, Arizona and launches from San Nicholas Island, California; Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. 

BLACK SEA — The Legend-class national security cutter USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753) transited from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, concluding the crew’s recent Black Sea operations and engagements, May 14, 2021, the Coast Guard Atlantic Area said in a May 15 release. 
 
Hamilton entered the Black Sea on April 27, 2021, in support of NATO Allies and partners. Hamilton is the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to visit the Black Sea since 2008. The last U.S. Coast Guard cutter to visit the Black Sea, USCGC Dallas (WHEC 716), sailed to the Black Sea twice, in 2008 and 1995. 
 
“Operating in the Black Sea these last few weeks has strengthened our enduring partnerships with regional maritime forces,” said Capt. Timothy Cronin, commanding officer of Hamilton. “Our time in this critical waterway also reinforced our commitment to maintaining freedom of movement in international waters for all nations. The Black Sea is not owned by any one nation; it belongs to the world.” 
 
While in the Black Sea, the crew of Hamilton operated with Black Sea partner navies and coast guards and made two port visits. 
 
Within the first week of arriving in the Black Sea, Hamilton’s operations with the Turkish navy Yavuz-class TCG Turgutreis (F 241) included passing exercises and cross-platform helicopter operations with a Turkish Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter and their embarked U.S. Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter. 
 
Hamilton conducted exercises with the Georgian coast guard. Hamilton crewmembers executed search and rescue patterns, simulated survivor rescue training, helicopter hoisting evolutions, approaches for towing, and ship communications with the Georgian coast guard vessels Dioskuria (P 25) and Ochamchire (P 23), May 2-3. These maneuvers and operations enhanced the proficiency in specific mission areas familiar to both coast guards. 
 
On May 4, the Hamilton team called on Batumi, Georgia, for engagements with Georgian coast guard leadership and local Georgian representatives. Upon arrival, the crew was greeted with a Georgian demonstration of dancing and singing after conducting the U.S. and Georgian national anthems. The Georgian coast guard and Hamilton also conducted several tours, a dinner, and a five-kilometer run to foster camaraderie. 
 
Hamilton conducted maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, and ship handling operations with Ukrainian navy vessel Island-class patrol boat Starobilsk (P 241) and Ukrainian border guard vessel Kuropiatnikov (BG 50), May 9-10.  
 
These operations increased interoperability as a part of a regional effort to bolster maritime partnerships with NATO Allies and partners. The next day, Hamilton conducted a port visit in Odesa, Ukraine, where the crew conducted maritime law enforcement training with the maritime border guard and exchanged damage control and firefighting expertise with the Ukrainian navy. Hamilton also served as the training platform for the Ukrainian 73rd Special Force Unit to conduct maritime law enforcement training. 
 
The Hamilton crew conducted its final operations in the Black Sea with Romanian Navy Frigate Mărășești (F111) and Bulgarian corvette Bodri (BGS 14) on May 13, 2021. The vessels executed passing and communications exercises and flight operations with the Hamilton’s MH-65 Dolphin helicopter detachment aircrew. 
 
The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting a routine deployment in U.S. Sixth Fleet, working alongside Allies, building maritime domain awareness, and sharing best practices with partner nation navies and coast guards. 
 
Hamilton is the fourth national security cutter and is the fifth named for the father of the U.S. Coast Guard, Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury and advocate for creating the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The biggest problem facing U.S. Navy and Marine Corps plans to deter great power competitors is how to supply a widely distributed maritime force in a contested environment, the commandant of the Marine Corps says.

With his Force Design 2030 plan, Gen. David Berger, seeks to reshape the Corps so it can operate and survive inside the area of operations of a peer competitor equipped with advanced manned and unmanned aerial systems and cruise missiles.

“For the first time in a generation, we have a strategic competitor and that is China,” Berger said May 12 at the McAleese Associates FY2022 Defense Programs Conference webinars. “I think our force must be lighter, must be more mobile, has to be more expeditionary. We’ve got to be able to operate from a variety of platforms.”

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. Berger’s 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

“Of all the things we’re working on in the naval force, and narrowly within the Marine Corps, this is the hardest problem going forward: logistical sustainment in a distributed environment, in a contested environment,” said Berger, noting, “nobody has contested our supply lines in 70 years.”

He added that this was an area where industry could help. The planned light amphibious warship (LAW), designed to complement and fill a gap in capability between the Navy’s large, multi-purpose amphibious warships and shorter range landing craft, is “going to give us the organic mobility that we so desperately need in the littorals anywhere in the world,” the commandant said.

He emphasized the driving force behind LAW’s concept is mobility, not creating an offensive weapons platform. “Perhaps at some point it would make sense to integrate some type of naval strike missile on a light amphibious warship, that’s not the driver,” Berger said. “My focus is on the mobility of it.”

He noted with its shallow draft, lower heat signature and organic mobility allowing it to remain forward deployed, the LAW gives commanders “the  ability to move the force around in a littoral environment.”

Unmanned systems in the air, and both on and beneath the sea will also play a “central, more prominent role” in the Marines, Berger said. “We’re doubling the inventory of our unmanned aerial squadrons,” he said.

Berger speculated that future platforms could be designed specifically for undersea warfare, carrying weapons systems, sonobuoys or sensor packages, and conventional amphibious ships with well decks might deploy unmanned surface vessels, possibly for a subsurface fight. “I think within a decade, half of our aviation, half of our logistics will be unmanned,” he added.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top officer said reaching a production rate of three Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines a year will be a challenge for a number of reasons. 

“I do think that three a year is a challenge,” said Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations (CNO), speaking May 13 at the McAleese FY2022 Defense Programs Conference. “I think that industry recognizes that three a year is a challenge.  

“I do think that the analysis that was done highlighted the fact that, look, we believe we have an advantage right now under the sea,” Gilday said. “We need to maintain that advantage. [The attack submarine is] our most survivable strike platform. It performs a heavy lift for us across the world right now. We need to double down on it, if you will.” 

The Navy has too few attack submarines (SSNs) to meet more than half of the requirements of the regional combatant commanders, according to testimony before Congress in recent years. The Navy is facing a shortage in attack submarines that will become more severe during the mid-2020s because submarine production is too low to replace the Los Angeles-class SSNs that are being decommissioned. The Navy plans to extend the service lives of several Los Angeles-class boats to partially mitigate the shortfall. Accelerating procurement of the Virginia class from two to three boats per year, a move supported by key members of Congress, also would help alleviate the shortfall.  

Production now is underway on the first Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN), which is the Navy’s top procurement priority in that the strategic deterrence is the Navy’s No. 1 mission. The cost of the Columbia class is putting the Navy budget planning under heavy pressure, making the affordability of three Virginia SSNs per year a budget challenge. The capacity of the two submarine builders — General Dynamic’s Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding — in terms of available infrastructure and skilled workers also raises questions about the ability to squeeze and other SSN in a given year. The addition of the Virginia Payload Module, which adds expense to the Block 5 of the Virginia class, also pressurizes the shipbuilding budget. 

“So, it’s really a challenge to industry,” Gilday said. “Can we get to a place where we produce three a year? I do think that is a challenge. Right now, the answer is we can’t produce three a year. We hope we get to a place where we could, but it’s also going to come down to affordability with respect to what the [budget] topline is, and how much money we have left for affordable growth with respect to capacity.” 

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division announced today the start of fabrication of Legend-class national security cutter Friedman (WMSL 760). The start of fabrication signifies the first 100 tons of steel have been cut, the company said in a May 11 release. 

“Our workforce has invested more than a decade of effort, creativity and resolve to make the Legend-class national security cutter production line incredibly efficient and strong,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. “We are pleased to achieve this milestone and will continue to look for any additional opportunity in our processes and approaches to provide the most affordable and capable ships to our customers.” 

NSC 11 is named to honor Elizebeth Smith Friedman. Friedman was a code breaker during the Prohibition Era who, as a civilian, intercepted and solved coded messages from racketeers and gangs and delivered them to the Coast Guard. During World War II, she worked against German espionage communications and developed information that was critical to counterintelligence work in the Southern Hemisphere. Friedman’s work resulted in hundreds of criminal prosecutions, saved thousands of lives and laid the groundwork for the science of cryptology and the establishment of the modern-day National Security Agency.  

The Legend-class NSC is the most technologically advanced ship in the Coast Guard’s fleet, which enables it to meet the high demands required for maritime and homeland security, law enforcement, marine safety, environmental protection and national defense missions. NSCs are 418 feet long with a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 120. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — While Pentagon planners and lawmakers puzzle over which platforms to retire and which to keep in service in the coming decades, it’s important to balance competing priorities of readiness to meet current threats as well as preparing for ones yet to be imagined, the second-highest ranking civilian in the U.S. Navy says.

It’s a “false dilemma” to say the Navy Department has to choose between current readiness and future readiness,” James “Hondo” Geurts said May 12 at the McAleese Associates FY2022 Defense Programs Conference webinars. “We have to do both of them. Balance is really important, particularly in today’s operational environment,” where thousands of Marines are forward deployed in the first island chain of the Pacific, and a third of the fleet is at sea.   

Geurts, until Jan. 21 the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, was designated as performing the duties of Under Secretary of the Navy in February by acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker. In the new role of principal assistant to the Secretary, Geurts acts as chief operating officer and chief management officer for the department.

Navigating the great power competition, in what is expected to be an era of shrinking defense budgets, will require resilience in dealing with cyber, climate and competition challenges, Geurts said, as well as balancing “how we think about future readiness in things like remotely crewed or unmanned systems with today’s manned systems.”

Geurts said that question has weighed on him for the last two years, but he was encouraged by the Unmanned Campaign framework released by the Navy and Marine Corps March 16. He also said he was feeling positive “that we have started the right motions, people are thinking about it,” but he wants to see improvement in the “scale and speed” at which technology discoveries move from development to deployment with the fleet.

As for the issue of retiring older platforms like cruisers and amphibious warfare ships, to make way for new technologies, a hot topic on Capitol Hill, Geurts said he wouldn’t discuss specifics until the Biden administration’s first defense budget is released. However, “we’re looking at what’s that right balance of keeping things while they’re still useful, but not keeping things to the point where they’re not adding value to the missions we see going forward,” Geurts said, adding “we want to maximize the return on investments made and maybe in new and interesting ways.”

He noted that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday has been outspoken about continuing to use Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) in the Western Pacific. “There is a place for it. We just need to be creative in how do we maximize that previous investment going forward,” Geurts said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is finding the modernization of its Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers (CGs) its primary challenge in surface ship sustainment, a senior admiral said. 

“The cruisers across the force are 30 to 35 years old,” said Vice Adm. William Galinis, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command, speaking May 12 as the McAleese Associates FY2022 Defense Programs Conference webinars. “What we’re seeing is the ships’ infrastructure — the hull systems, the piping — that we’re having the biggest challenges with.” 

The cruisers “are — hands down — probably our toughest class of ship to maintain, followed by the LSD class [dock landing ships],” he said. 

In 2015, Congress approved the CG Phased Modernization Plan for seven cruisers, which, like the Cruiser Modernization (CG Mod) program, introduces new warfighting capabilities, improves material condition and readiness, replaces obsolete equipment, and reduces total ownership costs through technology insertion. Cowpens and Gettysburg were inducted into the program in 2015, Vicksburg and Chosin in 2016, Anzio and Cape St. George in 2017 and Hue City in 2019.    

Galinis said currently there are five CGs going through modernization, four of which are well into what he termed the “big modernization availability,” the third of three availabilities each cruiser is to go through in its path to modernization, the first being “removal of equipment and the start of structural repairs” and the second focused on structural repairs. The third availability got into the modernization piece. 

“I’ll be honest with you: we’re having our challenges with the first three ships,” Galinis said. “We’ve got two on the East Coast, one in San Diego, and the fourth ship is up in Seattle.” 

He said a fifth cruiser is soon to be inducted into the third phase later in 2021. 

The admiral noted that the CG in Seattle “frankly is doing fairly well.” 

He said there were a “lot of lessons learned from the first to the second to the third ship and then the fourth ship.”