WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has approved the possible foreign military sale of up to 16 Mark VI patrol boats and related equipment to Ukraine for an estimated cost of $600 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a June 17 release. The DSCA has delivered the required certification to Congress of the possible sale. 

Ukraine’s government had requested the boats along with 32 MSI Seahawk A2 gun systems; 20 Electro-Optics-Infrared Radar systems (16 installed and 4 spares); 16 Long-Range Acoustic Device five-kilometer loudspeaker systems; 16 Identification Friend or Foe systems; and 40 Mk44 cannons (32 installed and eight spares). 

As part of the sale, Ukraine also requested communication equipment; support equipment; spare and repair parts; tools and test equipment; technical data and publications; personnel training and training equipment; U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support; and other related elements of logistics support. 

“The proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a modern, fast, short-range vessel,” the release said. “Ukraine will utilize the vessels to better defend its territorial waters and protect other maritime interests.” 

The prime contractor will be SAFE Boats International of Bremerton, Washington.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Top U.S. missile defense officials say they are not overly concerned about Japan’s decision to suspend the planned deployment of two Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense systems aimed at countering North Korean missiles.

Japan’s defense minister, Taro Kono, announced June 15 that he was halting the installations at Akita Prefecture in the north and Yamaguchi Prefecture in the south of Japan’s main island of Honshu, citing cost and technical issues.

Those issues included concerns that the interceptors’ rocket boosters might endanger civilian lives and infrastructure if they did not fall in designated safe areas after separating from the SM-3 Block IIA missile. Communities near both sites opposed the installations, concerned about radiation from the system’s Lockheed Martin Long Range Discrimination Radar.

“I’m not necessarily shocked” by the decision to suspend work in Japan, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s commander, Vice Adm. Jon Hill, said on June 23. “There are options out there, and we’ll work them,” he told a livestreamed roundtable on Global Missile Defense Responsibilities presented by the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

Hill noted the longstanding U.S.-Japanese partnership in the Pacific region, including cooperative technology development, like the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor, co-developed by Raytheon Missile Systems and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

“Fundamentally, the issue is the siting,” Hill said. “We spent a lot of time going through the impacts of the sensing capability [and] what it means to have interceptors near a community area.”

Hill said he wanted to give the Japanese government time to work the issues out, pledging to Tokyo “we are going to lean in and give you whatever support and help you need to make the decision.”

Rear Adm. Stephen Koehler, director of operations for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, emphasized the strength of the U.S.-Japanese partnership on ballistic missile defense and pledged  to work for “the best solution in the theater for them, for us, and for the overarching threat that we face together.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is working hard and making progress in developing concepts and making technological advances in developing its planned large and medium unmanned surface vessels (USVs), said the admiral in charge of their development.  

“USVs are one of the centerpieces of distributed maritime operations,” said Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer, Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO-USC), speaking June 23 at an event sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute, Huntington Ingalls Industries and the Center for Strategic and International Studies — a Washington think tank.  

Moton said the Navy views the future Large USV (LUSV) and Medium USV (MUSV) as platforms that will enable the fleet to operate in a more distributed manner either as part of a carrier strike group or as vessels pressed forward with an acceptable risk of attrition. 

The LUSV and MUSV are envisioned as distributed platforms with lower cost than manned warships that will have sensors and/or missiles and that normally will operate under the protection of a carrier strike group. Both types of USVs will need to be capable of open-ocean transits, Moton said.   

The LUSV, for example, is envisioned to be a node in the Aegis protective network and could function as an “add-on magazine” of missiles, Moton said.  

Moton’s office is “laying a lot of the foundational work” for USV operations by developing mission autonomy; navigation and control systems; hull, mechanical and electrical reliability; cyber and anti-tamper protection; and integration of the USV into the Aegis Combat System, with a focus on retiring risk in the prototype phase of development. Moton said the LUSV to be equipped with vertical-launch systems.    

The Navy’s Surface Development Squadron One in San Diego now operates the single Sea Hunter USV, which he said has been exercising with guided-missile destroyers. A second Sea Hunter is under construction. 

The Navy’s two Overlord commercial-standard vessels with unmanned systems also have been busy with concept and systems development. One of the Overlord vessels made two long transits of 1,400 nautical miles from the Gulf of Mexico to Norfolk, Virginia, and back, in an autonomous mode, Moton said.  

One of the concepts being worked on is the degree to which people will be involved in servicing the LUSV, for example. Personnel will need to be involved in maintenance, resupply, protection, and moving the vessel in and out of port. The need for personnel to temporarily board and stay onboard these vessels for a period is one of the areas being studied. Redundancy of some systems may reduce the need for unscheduled maintenance. A goal is to have a 30-day threshold of operation between preventative maintenance periods. 

“Our starting point for those two vessels [LUSV and MUSV] is we are driving from a technology standpoint to try and automate everything that we can,” Moton said. 

He said the Navy has two more Overlord vessels under construction that will be delivered in fiscal 2021. 

“The plan is to push our prototypes out to the West Coast [for the Surface Development Squadron One] but we’re looking for opportunities for the East Coast as well,” Moton said. 

The first program-of-record LUSV is planned for procurement in fiscal 2023. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has awarded an $869 million contract modification for continued work on the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) design and support, but which also includes an option to build the first two Columbia SSBNs when funds are authorized and appropriated by Congress, the Navy announced on June 22. The work to ready the contract option will enable the Navy, if authorized, to begin construction of the first Columbia in October 2020. 

Naval Sea Systems Command awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat the $869 million contract modification to pursue “continued design completion, engineering work, affordability studies and design support efforts for the Columbia class,” the 22 June Defense Department contract announcement said. “This modification also includes submarine industrial base development and expansion efforts as part of the integrated enterprise plan and multi-program material procurement supporting Columbia SSBNs and the nuclear shipbuilding enterprise (Virginia-class [submarine] and Ford-class [aircraft carrier]). The contract modification also provides additional United Kingdom Strategic Weapon Support System kit manufacturing and effort to support expansion of the domestic missile tube industrial base.” 

The contract modification also features an option — that already has been fully priced by the Navy — that would start construction of the first Columbia, SSBN 826, in October 2020, and fund advance procurement, advance construction and 2024 construction start of the second Columbia, SSBN 827. If exercised, the option would increase the value of the contract to $9.5 billion. 

In a June 22 teleconference with reporters, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, defense and acquisition, said the Navy is focused on its supplier industrial base and improving the capacity of its sub-tier vendors, which would reduce risk in its nuclear ship programs and thereby reduce risk and delay in the Columbia program. He expressed appreciation of Congress for its support of the Navy’s efforts to shore up the industrial base. 

Geurts said the work of the Navy to price out the two SSBN contract option will help the service keep on schedule and achieve economies on materials and advance procurement for the class.  

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., chairman of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, in whose district Electric Boat’s main facility is located, praised the Navy’s initiative in a June 22 statement.  

“Today’s announcement means ‘game on’ for this exciting and transformational project that will shape our region’s economy for the next two decades — and I know that our talented shipbuilders of Electric Boat are up to the challenge,” Courtney said. “This award is the culmination of nearly a decade’s worth of preparation for this milestone moment for our region and our nation,” Courtney said. “The replacement of our sea-based strategic deterrent comes only once every other generation, and this work is already fueling unprecedented growth in the workforce in Groton and transformation of the shipyard. This isn’t just good news for Groton — the work that will be done on this program will fuel activity at suppliers across our state and our nation for years to come. This exciting news is a testament to the hard work of countless designers, engineers and waterfront tradesmen and women who have worked so hard each and every day for more than a decade to see this day come.” 

Geurts said the strategic imperative of fielding the USS Columbia on its first deterrent patrol in 2031 requires a delivery of the submarine in 2028. 

The Navy plans to build 12 Columbia-class SSBNS to replace 14 Ohio-class SSBNs. The Trident D5LE nuclear-armed ballistic missile will arm both classes. 

MOBILE, Ala. — Austal USA has been awarded a modification to previously awarded contract with a total potential value of $43,362,000 by Naval Sea Systems Command to exercise the options for littoral combat ship (LCS) class design services, material to support LCS class design services and the integrated data product model environment (IDPME), the company said in a June 23 release.  

“The continued award of LCS post-delivery services contracts reflects the Navy’s ongoing confidence in Austal to perform quality work throughout the life cycle of the ship,” Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle said. “Austal’s post-delivery service and supply team’s performance will help continue Austal’s outstanding support to the fleet well into the future.” 

Austal will provide LCS class design services to all LCS ships and services may include program management, fitting out services, change processing, software maintenance, engineering and lifecycle efforts. Austal will also maintain an IDPME that shall enable Navy access to enterprise LCS data management. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Naval Air Systems Command has ordered two MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles for the Marine Corps. 

The Naval Air Systems Command ordered the two Reapers from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), of Poway, California, with a $26.9 million firm-fixed-price contract, according to the June 22 Defense Department announcement. The contract also provides for one dual-control mobile ground-control station, one modular data center and one mobile ground-control station 

The MQ-9 Reaper is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle used for surveillance and strike operations. The Reaper is a battle-proven development of the RQ-1 Predator, upgraded for longer endurance, a heavier payload, and the ability to launch heavier precision munitions in a benign aerial environment. 

The Marine Corps selected the Reaper in 2018 to fill an urgent needs request for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in support of forward operations in Southwest Asia. GA-ASI has provided ISR services since September 2018 through contractor-owned/contractor-operated (COCO) Reapers and their teams to support Marine Corp forces in Afghanistan. Marine UAV squadrons (VMUs) have been learning to operate the Reaper in preparation for the Corps’ procurement of government-owned/government operated MQ-9s. On March 20, 2020, a Marine crew of VMU-1 controlled a COCO Reaper for the first time on an operational mission in support of forward-deployed ground forces. 

The Marine Corps plans to begin operations with its own Reapers in 2021. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces has announced its proposals for the mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. 

In a June 22 release, chairman Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., and ranking member Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., released the proposals the day before the scheduled June 23 mark-up session.  

Of major naval-related items, the proposal: 

• Recommends the restoration of a second Virginia-class submarine and the required advanced procurement to maintain the two-per-year build rate. 
• Recommends to the full committee that the Navy procure eight battle force ships, including one Columbia class fleet ballistic missile submarine; two Virginia-class submarines; two Arleigh Burke destroyers; one guided-missile frigate (FFG); and two T-ATS towing, salvage, and rescue ships. 
• Prohibits the retirement of littoral combat ships LCS 3 and LCS 4 until all operational tests have been completed.  
• Prohibits the retirement of any aircraft carrier before its first refueling.  
• Recommends six P-8 Poseidon aircraft. 
• Recommends four additional V-22 Osprey aircraft. 
• Authorizes efficient construction of the first two Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarines. 
• Restricts funds associated with the secretary of defense until the 30-year shipbuilding plan is delivered. 
• In fiscal 2021, prohibits the retirement of any Navy vessel until the secretary of defense provides a Navy force structure assessment. 
• Authorizes the procurement of up to four used sealift vessels.   
• Requires the secretary of defense to provide ship requirements to implement the Commandant’s Planning Guidance. 
• Establishes a Tanker Security Fleet to help fill the gap in at sea logistics. 
• Recommends funding of the fourth National Security Multi-Mission Vessel for the state maritime academies and recommends additional funds for previously authorized ships. 
• Continues to provide strict oversight of the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The decision of shipyard workers at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Bath, Maine, to go on strike has U.S. Navy officials concerned about slowed delivery of new-construction guided-missile destroyers (DDGs). 

With shipbuilding and ship repair troubles exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting supplier base disruption, as well as earlier budget shortfalls, the strike piles on the Navy at a bad time.  

“We’re very concerned with the dispute up at BIW,” said James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said in a June 22 teleconference with reporters. “The Navy’s expectations are that the leaders of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers work very diligently and with a sense of urgency to come to agreement so that we can keep our ship construction on track. We are very dependent on Bath Iron Works for their production and support of our ships for our Sailors. My expectation is both sides will work aggressively and a sense of urgency so that we can get these programs to continue to execute. 

The shipyard workers voted to strike on June 21 at BIW, a General Dynamics company. BIW is one of two shipyards that builds the Arleigh Burke-class DDGs, the other being Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Mississippi. BIW is the sole builder of the Zumwalt-class DDG, the last of which is still at the shipyard and yet to be delivered to the Navy. 

In a teleconference last week, Geurts said the Navy still has a pending contract award to make in 2020 for a DDG.  

JACKSONVILLE — The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Valiant (WMEC-621) returned home to Naval Station Mayport, Florida, June 22, after completing a nine-week patrol conducting operations in the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba in support of Coast Guard 7th District and Operation Southeast Watch, the 7th District said in a release.  

Coast Guard Cutter Valiant patrolled over 11,000 nautical miles in the Caribbean, working closely with the Navy and Coast Guard cutters Diligence (WMEC-616), Resolute (WMEC-620), Kathleen Moore (WPC-1109), William Trump (WPC-1111) and Raymond Evans (WPC-1110). 

Valiant increased Coast Guard presence along the northern coasts of Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Windward Passage, working to prevent an anticipated surge of illegal immigration and human smuggling amid the COVID-19 global pandemic. Throughout this patrol, Valiant served as the Cutter Tasking Unit, directing all Coast Guard assets supporting Operation Southeast Watch in the Windward Passage. In order to deter an illegal exodus from Haiti, Valiant maintained an overt presence by frequently transiting the Canal de la Tortue, a heavily trafficked, deepwater passage between the Tortuga Island and the Northern Haitian coastline.    

Early in the patrol, Valiant conducted vital training with two MH-65 Dolphin helicopters from Air Station Miami. The first evolution involved a vertical replenishment between the cutter and an airborne helicopter and aided in the qualification of Valiant’s flight deck crew as well as two pilots for shipboard operations in preparation for hurricane season. The second evolution included multiple day and night touch and go landings, as well as a helicopter in-flight refueling, ultimately leading to the qualification of numerous crew members.  

Valiant unloaded nearly 14,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana and nine detained suspected drug smugglers during the patrol. The contraband and detainees were seized by multiple Coast Guard and Navy assets and transferred to other Coast Guard cutters for future disposition stateside. 

Valiant also assisted in the transfer of a Coast Guard 45-foot Response Boat-Medium (RB-M) from Coast Guard Sector Miami to Coast Guard Sector San Juan. The Valiant crew took on the tow of the RB-M from Coast Guard Cutter Diligence in the Windward Passage and towed the vessel the remaining 360 nautical miles to Sector San Juan, saving the Coast Guard over $100,000 in shipping costs. 

“Valiant’s crew has a unique ability to be at their best in the most challenging of times, and this patrol was no exception,” said Cmdr. Matthew Waldron, Valiant’s commanding officer. “Demonstrating exceptional fortitude, they adapted and overcame all challenges associated with the worldwide pandemic to safely conduct a two-month patrol in the Windward Passage. Using overt presence to deter migrant departures from Haiti, we prevented attempts of dangerous and illegal maritime voyages to the Bahamas and Florida. The crew’s efforts proved highly effective, as migrant departures from Haiti were kept well below historic norms during this period, allowing first responders in the U.S. and the Bahamas to focus on pandemic response efforts.” 

The Valiant is a multimission 210-foot medium-endurance cutter. Missions include search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, marine environmental protection, homeland security. and national defense operations.  

CARIBBEAN SEA — The Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant (WMEC-617) crew seized a total of 122 bales of cocaine June 15 in back-to-back interdictions of go-fast vessels just off the coast of Limon, Costa Rica, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a June 19 release. 

The forward-deployed Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew aboard the Vigilant successfully disabled the first go-fast vessel and observed the crew throwing packages overboard. 

Once on scene, the boarding team discovered four people aboard and recovered 77 bales, or approximately 4,200 pounds, of cocaine from the water. Immediately following the first interdiction, the helicopter crew and a separate cutter boarding team were vectored to a 34-foot go-fast vessel with five people aboard. 

The helicopter crew successfully disabled the second go-fast vessel and also observed the crew throwing packages overboard. Vigilant’s boarding team arrived on scene, apprehended five people and recovered 45 bales or approximately 2,600 pounds of cocaine from the water. 

The cocaine recovered during both interdictions has an estimated wholesale value of approximately $118.3 million. The nine people will be prosecuted by the Middle District of Florida and the seized contraband will be transferred to the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

“Every high-speed interdiction of drug-laden vessels presents unique challenges, so for us to simultaneously interdict two overpowered go-fast vessels in the middle of the night is extraordinary,” said Cmdr. Fred Bertsch, commanding officer of the Vigilant. “I am very proud of our crew and could not have asked anything more from them. These efforts, combined with those of our partner agencies and nations, will help ensure stability in the Western Hemisphere.” 

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all detainees 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. No detainees were reported to be sick or to have any COVID-19 related symptoms.