ARLINGTON, Va. — When the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz deployed last week for a major deployment in the Pacific Ocean, it was carrying a bit of history. On board as a unit of Carrier Air Wing 17 was Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323 (VMFA-323), taking the F/A-18C Hornet on its last scheduled carrier deployment. 

The “Death Rattlers” of VMFA-323 left with the Nimitz on June 8. The squadron is the only Marine squadron assigned to a carrier air wing, down from a peak of four VMFAs assigned a few years ago under the TACAIR Integration Concept. VMFA-314, the Corps’ first F-35C squadron, is scheduled to deploy as a unit of a carrier air wing in 2022 as a resumption of the TACAIR Integration concept.  

The last Navy legacy Hornet squadron to deploy on a carrier was Strike Fighter Squadron 34 (VFA 34), which returned home in April 2018 from a deployment with Carrier Air Wing 2 on board the USS Carl Vinson. VFA-34 transferred its last F/A-18C on Feb. 1, 2019, and has upgraded to the F/A-18E Super Hornet.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) awarded $9.5 million in grants to eight marine highways projects across the United States under the America’s Marine Highway Program, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced in a June 15 release. 

The funding supports the enhancement of navigable waterways and expands existing waterborne freight services in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and American Samoa.  

“This federal assistance will provide additional options to reduce congestion on the roads and help the surrounding local communities’ and the regions’ economic recovery,” Chao said.  

The America’s Marine Highway Program promotes the increased use of the nation’s navigable waterways to ensure landside congestion relief, new and efficient transportation options, and increased performance of the surface transportation system. The program works with public and private stakeholders to achieve these goals.  

Of the eight projects that were awarded grants, seven are in Opportunity Zones, which were created to revitalize low-income and economically distressed communities using private investment. 

Low-income communities are nominated by states, U.S. possessions and the District of Columbia and then certified by the U.S. Treasury secretary as Opportunity Zones.  

“The continued expansion and modernization of the U.S. marine transportation system benefits the maritime industry,” Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby said. “U.S. waterway freight systems offer a safe and efficient option for shippers and reduce road traffic and emissions while providing jobs, commerce, and crucial resources to dozens of communities across multiple states.” 

Since 2016, the Maritime Administration has provided $33.8 million in grants for the America’s Marine Highway Program. A total of 18 eligible marine highway projects has received funding assistance to further improve the transportation system and national security by adding to the nation’s strategic sealift resources and providing transportation alternatives during times of disaster or national emergency.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald departed Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard on June 13 to return to its homeport in San Diego, Naval Sea Systems Command said in a release. 

The sail away reflects more than two years of effort in restoring and modernizing one of the Navy’s most capable warships after it was damaged during a collision in 2017 that claimed the lives of seven Sailors. 

“Today the ‘Fighting Fitz’ is returning to the Pacific Fleet as one of our nation’s most capable warfighting platforms, marking a significant step in her return to warfighting readiness,” said Rear Adm. Eric Ver Hage, director of surface ship maintenance and modernization and commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center. “The Fitzgerald sailors, our Navy project teams, and the men and women of Ingalls put forth a tremendous effort to restore the ship to fighting shape and did so on schedule.” 

To restore the impacted spaces to full operations and functionality, various hull, mechanical and electrical, combat system and command, control, communications, computers and intelligence repairs and upgrades were completed. This work ranged from partial to complete refurbishment of impacted spaces to replacement of equipment such as the radar and electronic warfare suite. 

Due to the extent and complexity of the restoration, both repair and new construction procedures were used to accomplish the restoration and modernization efforts. Throughout this restoration, the U.S. Navy made it a priority to ensure the Fitzgerald returned to a peak state of warfighting readiness to contribute to an agile and dynamic fleet. 

The Fitzgerald’s crew completed multiple training and certification events, such as navigation assessment and light off assessment (LOA), to ensure the crew was at peak readiness to operate the ship as it returns to homeport. 

“Completing repairs and upgrades to Fitzgerald was only possible because of the outstanding teamwork between the government and industry teams over the last 2 1/2 years,” said Cmdr. Scott Wilbur, commanding officer of the Fitzgerald. “My thanks go out to everyone involved in making sure the ship is ready, and I’m especially proud of my crew’s hard work ensuring we are trained and prepared to take our ship back to sea.”  

Prior to departing Pascagoula for San Diego, the Fitzgerald’s crew began a pre-movement sequester on May 23 in accordance with U.S. Navy pre-deployment guidelines — compliance with Navy and CDC guidance is critical to minimize the spread of COVID-19. 

The Fitzgerald is assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 1 and upon return to her homeport in San Diego, crew training and certifications will commence in support of basic phase training. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Senate Armed Services Committee has marked up its version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to require a plan to increase the number of Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain. 

The mark-up, released June 11, “[r]equires the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander of U.S. European Command to submit a detailed plan to base two additional destroyers at our base in Rota, Spain, as soon as practicable.” 

As part of the NDAA bill, the requirement must be approved by the full Senate, the House of Representatives and the president before it becomes policy. 

The Navy currently bases four Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) at Naval Station Rota as units of the U.S. 6th Fleet. One of the primary roles of the ships is to conduct ballistic-missile defense patrols in the Mediterranean Sea in support of European Command. 

The Navy is in the process of replacing the four DDGs originally forward-deployed in Rota with more modern versions of the Arleigh Burke class. The USS Roosevelt, a Flight IIA DDG, arrived in Rota on May 16 to replace the USS Carney, a Flight I ship. Other newer DDGs eventually will arrive to replace the USS Ross, USS Donald Cook and USS Porter in Rota. 

The Roosevelt is a Flight IIA DDG that brings the Aegis Baseline 9/Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 5.1 Advanced Capability Build upgrade to the Aegis Combat System. The system “integrates its weapons and sensors to include Cooperative Engagement Capability; Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile; Mk15 Close-In Weapons System Block 1B; and the Mk41 Vertical Launching System, capable of supporting Standard Missile (SM) 3 and newer variants. These capabilities vastly increase the sea-based BMD force structure and contribute to NATO’s robust integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) architecture,” the release said.  

The Roosevelt and the future replacement DDGs will operate MH-60R helicopters. The Navy plans to station a full MH-60R squadron in Rota by the time the three remaining Flight I/II DDGs are replaced in 2022. 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Coast Guard Cutter Donald Horsley repatriated 50 of 51 migrants to the Dominican Republic navy on June 11 in waters just off Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, following the interdiction of two illegal migrant voyages just off the west coast of Puerto Rico. 

Of the 51 interdicted migrants, 49 are reported to be Dominican nationals, while two others are reported to be Haitian. One of the migrants remains in U.S. custody facing criminal immigration charges. 

The interdictions are the result of ongoing efforts in support of Operation Caribbean Guard and the Caribbean Border Interagency Group CBIG. 

“These interdictions speak to the strong local and federal law enforcement partnerships within the Caribbean Border Interagency Group and our collective resolve to safeguard the nations southernmost maritime border against existing threats,” said Capt. Eric P. King, Sector San Juan commander. 

“The efficient coordination between responding agencies led to these successful interdictions and the safe recovery of all 51 migrants. These illegal voyages are extremely dangerous, as migrants continue to take to the sea aboard grossly overloaded and unseaworthy makeshift vessels with little or no lifesaving equipment onboard.”  

Late on June 9, a Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action marine unit interdicted a 25-foot yola with 38 migrants aboard, 36 men and 2 women, including the two Haitian men, about 3 nautical miles off the coast of Aguada, Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser diverted to the scene and embarked the migrants from the makeshift vessel, while a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Borinquen flew overhead rescue support throughout the transfer. 

Early on June 11, a Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action marine unit interdicted a second yola transporting 13 migrants, about 1 nautical mile off the lighthouse in Rincón, Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark arrived on scene shortly thereafter and embarked all 13 migrants from the makeshift boat. 

The migrant facing potential federal prosecution was transferred to the custody of Border Patrol Agents in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, on June 11, while the remaining migrants were transferred and transported by the cutter Donald Horsley to the Dominican Republic for their repatriation. 

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants received 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 migrants were reported to be sick or to have any COVID-19 related symptoms. 

Winslow Griesser and Donald Horsley are 154-foot fast-response cutters, while Reef Shark is an 87-foot coastal patrol boat. All homeported in San Juan.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter James returned home on June 12 to Charleston following a 75-day counter-drug patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release. 

During their patrol, the James’ crew, augmented by an embarked armed helicopter capable of disabling drug smuggling vessels from the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, interdicted four drug-smuggling vessels and seized more than 3,800 kilograms of cocaine and 3,300 pounds of marijuana bound for the United States.  

The James’ patrol efforts were in direct support of the president’s enhanced counter-narcotics surge announced in early April. The U.S. Coast Guard, working cooperatively with U.S. Southern Command, began this surge effort in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, putting increased pressure on the drug trafficking organizations operating in Central and South America. 

Working alongside U.S. Navy crews aboard destroyers and littoral combat ships, the James crew, along with several other Coast Guard cutter crews, seized or disrupted more than 43,000 kilograms of cocaine and nearly 10,000 pounds of marijuana. 

Before returning home, the crew conducted a narcotics offload in Port Everglades, Florida, on June 9. After collecting contraband from other vessels in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, the crew offloaded nearly 30,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana, worth an estimated $400 million, representing seven additional interdictions events by Coast Guard and Navy vessels supporting this enhanced counter-narcotics surge. 

“This patrol highlights our crew’s sincere commitment to protecting the American people from our adversaries amid all the uncertainty caused by COVID-19,” said Capt. Jeffrey Randall, the James’ commanding officer. “The James’ crew demonstrated supreme resilience and performed exceptionally as showcased by the results of this successful patrol.” 

The James is one of two 418-foot national security cutters homeported in Charleston.

FALL RIVER, Mass. — L3Harris Technologies has received an order to upgrade three Iver3 autonomous underwater vehicles to be used in support of the British Royal Navy’s Project Wilton, the company said in a June 12 release.  

L3Harris will upgrade the Iver3 vehicles with the capability to integrate high accuracy navigation sensors and advanced communications for surface tracking, with collaborative autonomy architecture and automatic target recognition. The U.K. Royal Navy will use the upgraded Iver vehicles during unmanned mine hunting and other missions. 

The Project Wilton program will provide a portable route survey capability using a suite of equipment, including autonomous surface craft, autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, and a portable operations center. The initial program operating capability is planned for the third quarter of 2020. 

“We look forward to trialing and incorporating the upgraded Iver3 as part of the Wilton equipment set,” said Cmdr. Steven White, the commander of the Royal Navy’s First Mine Counter Measures Squadron (MCM1), which conducts route survey operations in U.K. waters and in many areas throughout the world to ensure freedom of navigation for commercial and military vessels. 

“We are pleased to support the Royal Navy in their mine countermeasure missions and peacetime route surveys,” said Daryl Slocum, vice president/general manager Unmanned Maritime Systems, L3Harris. 

“We are proud to be part of the autonomy revolution and will continue to evolve the Iver platform to keep it at the cutting edge.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s only special projects patrol squadron has moved to its new base and soon will operate a new aircraft. 

Special Projects Patrol Squadron 2 (VPU-2), which flies modified P-3C Orion maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft, “will transition to P-8A this summer,” Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, a spokeswoman for commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic, said in a statement to Seapower. 

VPU-2 moved from Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, to Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, effective April 1. It was the Navy’s last of four P-3 squadron to depart Kaneohe Bay. The other three squadrons — regular patrol squadrons VP-4, VP-9 and VP-47 — have moved to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, and have already made the transition to the P-8A Poseidon.  

VPU-2 originated in the late 1960s as a special projects detachment of a patrol squadron but later became Patrol Squadron Special Projects Unit 2. It was upgraded later to a full squadron and its name was changed to Special Projects Patrol Squadron 2. VPU-2’s P-3Cs were equipped with specialized sensors and other modifications for reconnaissance and special projects. 

Two years ago, the Navy had planned to deactivate VPU-2 but apparently reversed the decision.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s new organization for warfighting development (N7) is now fully organized for its role in developing strategy and warfighters, its director said, and has joined with the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard to develop a new maritime strategy.  

The deputy chief of naval operations (DCNO) for warfighting development, Vice Adm. Stuart Munsch, said that N7 is making progress in fulfilling its roles and is hitting its stride and, in conjunction with the Marine Corps and Coast Guard, expects to field the new maritime strategy by late summer or early fall.  

“Our North Star is warfighting advantage,” Munsch said during a June 5 teleconference with reporters, noting the Navy’s focus on the current climate of Great Power Competition and the need to outpace increasingly sophisticated adversaries, renewing a focus on sea control.  

The Navy directive addressing the organizational changes defined the role of N7 “with ensuring the Navy’s warfighting advantage in order to deter, dissuade and deny or defeat adversaries by engaging in three broad, interrelated lines of effort: warfighter development, warfare development and warfighter corps development. It further established that CNO N7’s mission and functions will be supported by a digital platform to enhance its ability to achieve a warfighting edge for the Navy.”    

The N7 now has four divisions: director, warfighter development; director, warfare development; director, strategic warfighting innovation cell; and director, warfare integration.  

N7 is responsible for developing the strategic framework for the Navy, looking forward at longer range than N3/5, the DCNO for operations, plans and strategy, which focuses on the short term. N7 has now absorbed the functions and billets of the now disestablished Strategy Division, Naval Strategy Panel, and some billets from the Naval Warfare Group from N3/5. The Naval Analytics Office also now is aligned within N7.  

Munsch said that N7 is to identify the key operational problems facing the Navy and to develop solutions.  

N7 also is responsible for force employment and force development, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop the Joint Warfighting Concept and an influencing the DCNO for warfare systems (N9) with the characteristics of the capabilities needed to implement strategy.  

Munsch also said his office has the role of adapting the Navy to changing circumstances, instilling adaptability into the institutional behavior of the Navy, and instilling a lifelong habit of learning to enable that adaptability.  

To enhance that learning, Munsch said that the Naval War College, Naval Postgraduate School and U.S. Naval Academy are now under the N7 umbrella, having been shifted from the chief of naval personnel (N1) organization.  

Also now aligned within N7 are certain billets from the Resource Management Division and Total Force Manpower, Training, and Education Requirements Division from the N1 organization.  

The admiral said that N7 will craft a wargaming schedule for the War College that will be the “most advanced and significant war gaming we’ve done since the 1930s.”  

He was referring to the innovative wargaming by the Navy in the inter-war period in which the Navy developed many of the concepts that enabled the Navy to achieve victory in World War II.  

Vice Adm. Lisa M. Franchetti, commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet, has been confirmed to succeed Munsch as the head of N7 this summer. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Senate Armed Services Committee’s $740.5 billion version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act includes a billion-dollar boost in shipbuilding to $21.3 billion, signaling support for the 355-ship U.S. Navy “as soon as practicable.”

The legislation, approved June 10 by a 25-2 bipartisan vote, authorizes $1.4 billion more than the Navy’s budget request for shipbuilding. The legislation shifts to the full Senate for debate.

“The FY21 NDAA ensures the United States fields a force of the optimal size, structure and strategy, capable of supporting conflict as envisioned by the [National Defense Strategy],” which refocused U.S. attention on a “Great Power Competition” with China and Russia, according to an executive summary of the Senate bill. The House Armed Services Committee is slated to begin marking up its own version of the 2021 NDAA on June 22.

The fiscal 2021 NDAA also establishes the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) “to send a strong signal to the Chinese Communist Party that America is deeply committed to defending our interests in the Indo-Pacific.” The initiative would focus resources on military capability gaps, reassure U.S. allies and partners and bolster the credibility of American deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, the summary stated.

The bill authorizes $1.4 billion for the PDI in fiscal 2021, including $188.6 million above the Pentagon’s budget request for Indo-Pacific requirements such as missile defense, enhanced forward posture and improved interoperability with allies and partners. The bill also authorizes a PDI topline of $5.5 billion for fiscal 2022 and directs the secretary of defense to create a spending plan for these resources.

The increased shipbuilding authorization calls for procurement of seven battle force ships, one less than the Navy’s budget request, due to an amphibious transport dock ship previously authorized by Congress. It also includes multiship contracting authority for up to two Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, three San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships and one America-class amphibious ship. It also authorizes $500 million for long lead time material for two other amphibious ships.

The Senate panel’s bill provides for an increase of $472 million for Virginia-class attack submarine advance procurement to preserve the option to procure 10 Virginia-class boats between fiscal years 2019 and 2033. Also authorized is $350 million to improve sub and surface ship supplier stability. The measure also authorizes $260 million for long-lead time material for Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

The authorization bill establishes a Navy-U.S. Department of Labor joint shipbuilding industrial base working group and requires the comptroller general to review shipbuilding and ship repair as well as the Supervisor of Shipbuilding organization.

In aviation, the bill authorizes $9.1 billion to procure 95 joint strike fighters, including $2.4 billion for 23 carrier-based F-35Cs and $1.2 billion for 12 short takeoff/vertical landing F-35Bs for the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Senate bill also requires the Navy to create an acquisition strategy for the fighter aircraft force and report on carrier air wing composition and carrier-based strike fighter squadrons “to better prepare for potential conflicts envisioned by the National Defense Strategy.”