ARLINGTON, Va. — The secretary of defense said March 18 that he has ordered the U.S. Navy to prepare its two hospital ships for activation to take pressure off the nation’s hospitals battling the COVID-19 virus pandemic. 

At a Pentagon news conference, Secretary Mark T. Esper referred to the two hospital ships — USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy, based at Norfolk, Virginia, and San Diego, respectively — operated by the Military Sealift Command. 

“The Comfort is undergoing maintenance and the Mercy is at port,” Esper said.  “We’ve already given orders to the Navy a few days ago to lean forward, in terms of getting them ready to deploy.” 

Esper said the capabilities of the two ships, like military field hospitals, are focused on trauma. 

“They don’t have necessarily the segregated spaces you need to deal with infectious diseases,” he explained. “And so one of the ways by which you could use either field hospitals, the hospital ships or things in between is to take the pressure off of civilian hospitals when it comes to trauma cases [and] open up civilian hospital rooms for infectious diseases.” 

Esper said that a bigger challenge that activating the hospital ships is staffing the ships with medical professionals. 

“All those doctors and nurses either come from our medical treatment facilities or they come from the Reserves, which means civilians,” he said. “And, so what we’ve got to be very conscious of and careful of as we call up these units and use them to support the states, [is] that we aren’t robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. So, what I don’t want to do is take Reservists from a hospital where they are needed just to put them on a ship to take them somewhere else where they are needed.  So, we’ve got to be very conscious of that. As I’ve spoken to a couple governors today, we talked a little bit about that, and I think people are beginning understand what that trade-off means.”

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released the first annual report on the progress made in mapping U.S. ocean, coastal and Great Lakes waters, the agency said in a release.  

Knowledge of the depth, shape and composition of the seafloor is foundational data necessary to explore, sustainably develop, understand, conserve and manage our coastal and offshore natural resources. The 2019 Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska and the global Seabed 2030 initiative make comprehensive ocean mapping a priority for the coming decade. The Unmapped U.S. Waters report tracks progress toward these important goals. 

“The progress made in mapping U.S. waters through 2019 represents the cumulative work of federal and state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private contracting partners and crowdsourced contributions,” said Rear Adm. Shepard Smith, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “Partnerships and advances in technology are key to making significant progress toward our common goal of completely mapping U.S. waters.” 

Pulling from an analysis of publicly available bathymetry, the report presents the percentage of unmapped U.S. waters by region and shows our progress towards filling these basic bathymetry data gaps with each passing year. At the end of 2019, the latest analysis yielded the following results: 

Percent of U.S. waters that remain unmapped in 2019: 

• U.S. total — 54% of 3,592,000 square nautical miles (snm) 
• Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico — 43% of 472,200 snm 
• Great Lakes — 95% of 46,600 snm 
• Caribbean — 42% of 61,600 snm 
• Alaska — 72% of 1,080,200 snm 
• Pacific (California, Oregon, Washington) — 24% of 239,700 snm 
• Pacific Remote Islands and Hawaii — 50% of 1,691,700 snm 

Multibeam and lidar surveys are the two primary sources of bathymetry needed to fill these gaps. In support of the integrated ocean and coastal mapping goal to “map once, use many times,” all the data collected in this effort are publicly available to benefit numerous user communities. For the latest status on these efforts and how you can contribute, click here.

ASTORIA, Ore. — The Coast Guard Cutter Alert returned home to Astoria on March 15 following a 69-day eastern Pacific Ocean counter-drug deployment, the Coast Guard Pacific Area said in a release. The crew patrolled international waters off the coast of Mexico to disrupt the flow of narcotics and illegal migrants. 

Alert’s crew also participated in the North American Maritime Security Initiative (NAMSI) Pacific Exercise in and around Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. 

NAMSI is a trinational effort by forces of the United States, Canada and Mexico to improve mutual capacity for operational coordination. The three-day exercise focused on enhancing information-sharing and integrating capabilities of Canadian, U.S. and Mexican maritime forces during at-sea counter-drug interdiction operations. 

“It was a great experience to participate in and be a part of such a culturally diverse operational exercise,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Cristina Hickey, a Spanish translator and Alert crewmember. “I thoroughly enjoyed conversing in Spanish with my foreign counterparts and learning more about their missions.” 

Crews from the Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, Coast Guard Cutter Benjamin Bottoms, Pacific Strike Team, Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team, Pacific Area/D11 command center and Joint Interagency Task Force South also participated in the exercise alongside Canadian and Mexican maritime participants. 

“I’m proud of the hard work that our crew put into our Eastern Pacific patrol,” said Cdr. Tyson Scofield, Alert’s commanding officer.

“I am especially proud of the professionalism that the crew showed during our joint exercises with the Canadian and Mexican navies.  They displayed a high level of skill while demonstrating counter narcotics interdiction techniques and during the shipboard launch and recovering of a Mexican helicopter for the first time. Most importantly, our crew created personal and professional relationships with their North American peers which will help to counter the flow of illegal narcotics into all of our countries.”

Pascagoula, Miss. — The future USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 19) completed acceptance trials on March 12, returning to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding Division after spending two days at sea in the Gulf of Mexico.

During acceptance trials, the ship’s crew performed a series of demonstrations for review by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). These demonstrations are used to validate the quality of construction and compliance with Navy specifications and requirements prior to delivery of the ship to the Navy. 

“The ship performed exceptionally well and demonstrated that the ship is materially ready to execute her mission,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager for PEO-Ships. “The success of these trials validates this highly capable ship will be a force multiplier when she joins the fleet.”

DDG 119 is being constructed with the Aegis Baseline 9 combat system, which incorporates integrated air and missile defense capabilities, such as increased computing power and radar upgrades, that improve detection and reaction against modern air warfare and ballistic-missile defense threats. When operational, DDG 119 and her sister ships will serve as integral assets in global maritime security.

“DDG 119’s exceptional performance during these trials is a direct reflection of the teamwork between Ingalls Shipbuilding and the Navy,” said Capt. Nathan Schneider, supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair Gulf Coast. “I am proud of this ship, and I am extremely proud of the Ingalls Shipbuilding and Navy team that built her. Right behind DDG 119 are follow-on DDGs that will be even better, including the first Flight III DDG which is a real game-changer.”

DDG 119 honors Delbert D. Black, the first master chief petty officer of the Navy, and will be the first naval ship to bear his name. Black is best known for guiding the Navy through the Vietnam War and ensuring proper enlisted leadership Navy-wide by initiating the master chief program.

The future USS Delbert D. Black is expected to be delivered to the Navy later this year. HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is in production on the future destroyers Frank E. Peterson Jr. (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the first Flight III ship.

WASHINGTON — One of the ways to counter rivals in the Great
Power Competition is to impose costs on a potential adversary. An effective way
to do that is with a big, unmanned inflatable boat, according to a top Marine
Corps commander.

The Marines are looking to reduce their exposure to
increased long-range precision fire with unmanned systems in the air, on land
and sea. In addition to accomplishing a mission without exposing troops to
danger, unmanned systems are also seen as a way to flood an adversary’s
decision-making and targeting processes with an array of low signature,
affordable and risk-worthy platforms, according to written testimony prepared
for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing March 11.

Asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to explain how the
Corps is leveraging unmanned systems to  upset
adversaries’ decision-making, Lt. Gen. Eric Smith cited the Long Range Unmanned
Surface Vessel (LRUSV), a 33-foot long rigid hulled inflatable boat that can
travel far to enemy littorals and unleash a swarm of small aerial drones.

Smith, the deputy commandant for Combat Development and
Integration, said the LRUSV had been tested at the annual Advanced Technology
Exercise last July. The autonomous boat traveled down the Inland Waterway from
Norfolk, Virginia, to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, about 200 miles, with no
one aboard, controlled from Norfolk. On arrival, the LRUSV launched a swarm of
small, expendable Raytheon Coyote drones that could either attack or observe
the target.

“That’s the kind of capability that we will provide to those forces forward,” Smith said, adding that LRUSV and other lighter, more lethal, resilient capabilities like the Remotely Operated Ground Unit Expeditionary (ROGUE) naval strike missile-firing vehicle, would be transported to overseas exercises in 40-foot long shipping containers.

“That complicates an adversary’s calculus, because if you don’t know what’s in that, it could be weights for a weight room or a lethal strike missile,” Smith said. As the Marines and their weaponry are dispersed in support of distributed maritime operations, “You impose an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tax on an adversary,” he added.

MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy moved one step closer to integrating a laser weapon system onto an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after successfully conducting a critical design review (CDR) for the High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, the company said in a release. 

“Our adversaries are rapidly developing sophisticated weapons, and the threats to the U.S. Navy’s fleet are getting more challenging,” said Hamid Salim, vice president of advanced product solutions at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems. “Our warfighters need this capability and capacity now to effectively counter threats such as unmanned aerial systems and fast-attack vessels.” 

This year, HELIOS will undergo system integration in Moorestown, New Jersey — the home of Aegis combat system development for 50 years. HELIOS will then be tested at the Wallops Island, Virginia, Navy land-based test site, which will reduce program risk before being delivered to a shipyard for integration into an Arleigh Burke destroyer next year. In addition to being built into a ship’s structure, HELIOS will become an integrated component of its Aegis system. 

“HELIOS will provide an additional layer of protection for the fleet — deep magazine, low cost per kill, speed of light delivery and precision response. Additional HELIOS systems will accelerate the warfighter learning curve, provide risk reduction for future laser weapon system increments and provide a stronger demand signal to the supply base,” said Brendan Scanlon, the HELIOS program director at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems. 

Lockheed Martin has more than 40 years of experience developing laser weapon systems. HELIOS leverages technology building blocks from internal research and development projects that continue to advance the Navy’s goal to field laser weapon systems aboard surface ships.

MARBLEHEAD, Mass. — The U.S. Navy has awarded Ribcraft, a manufacturer of rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) for law enforcement, safety professionals and military agencies, a five-year indefinite-quantity contract worth up to $43 million, the company said in a release. 
 
Under the contract, Ribcraft will build and deliver an estimated 48 of its 11-meter Expeditionary Mine Counter Measure Boats. Ribcraft has also been providing the Navy with 7-Meter shipboard RIBs since 2014. 

“The awarding of this latest contract is testament to Ribcraft’s exceptional design and production capabilities. We’ve enjoyed a long and collaborative relationship with the Navy,” said P. Brian Gray, Ribcraft’s president and CEO. “We have a proven track record of meeting the needs of the Navy with exceptional product and service.” 

A critical component of the Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures Company, the 11-meter RIBs will serve to support explosive ordnance disposal mine countermeasure platoons in both shallow and deep-water operations. 

To achieve this, Ribcraft will build two configurations for mine countermeasure operations, one with an open aft deck for stowage and deployment of two combat rubber raiding craft, and the other featuring a launch, recover and handling system for deployment and retrieval of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), which will have the capability to launch, recover and handle two UUVs using a single davit.

BOSTON — The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma returned to Kittery, Maine, on March 12 after a 70-day counter-drug patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard 1st District said in a release. 

Tahoma’s crew seized about 700 pounds of cocaine, valued at $12.5 million while working with an armed Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron MH-65 aircraft on board. 

The crew of Tahoma worked with several other Coast Guard units in the area to detain 27 suspected narcotics traffickers, and interdict 9,600 pounds of cocaine and 640 pounds of marijuana. 

Tahoma’s crew transited through the Panama Canal to conduct counter-drug operations under the tactical control of the Joint Interagency Task Force South in support of Operation Martillo. The operation involves 20 participating nations working together to counter transnational organized crime networks and illicit trafficking in the waters along Central America. 

“The crew was outstanding in executing the counter-drug mission in support of Operation Martillo,” said Cmdr. Michael Sarnowski, commanding officer of Tahoma. “I sincerely appreciate the contributions and professionalism from our detached teams while on this deployment.” 

Tahoma is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter with a crew complement of 100. They conduct maritime enforcement and homeland security missions in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere. 

WASHINGTON — In addition to imposing immediate travel
restrictions on personnel and forcing U.S. Navy ships at sea to self-quarantine
between visits to foreign ports, the worldwide coronavirus outbreak could be an
“impacting element” on acquisition and sustainment programs, a Department of
the Navy official said.

“We’ve been working for a long time on supply chain
integrity, and so [the virus outbreak] plays into the supply chain, understanding
our supply lines where we’ve got fragility, [and] planning forward on that,”
James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition,
told the readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee on March
12.

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), the readiness subcommittee chairman,
used his first question at the hearing on Navy and U.S. Marine Corps readiness not
about destroyers or shipyards but on how the sea services are dealing with the
coronavirus outbreak, which the World Health Organization on March 11 designated
as a pandemic.

Marine Corps Deputy Commandant Gen. Gary Thomas said the
Corps is reviewing disease containment plans, starting to restrict large
gatherings, implementing measures to screen and quarantine Marines when
necessary, and screening personnel in unique places “in the sense that they
bring people from all over the country, for example entry level training.”

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Robert Burke said the Navy’s
top priority is the “well-being of our Sailors and their family members.”
He added that the Navy, along with the other armed services, is providing
support to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), being coordinated by U.S. Northern Command.

The Navy is following CDC guidance regarding minimum requirements with implementation “above and beyond those requirements as necessary to meet the unique needs of the service,” Burke said.

Ships at sea are on self-quarantine for 14 days between every port departure and arrival and are monitoring their crew for symptoms of the virus. The at-sea quarantines, first initiated in the Pacific, are now in force worldwide, Burke said. “We are very sensitive to the fact that we’re moving from place to place rapidly. We do not want to be the source of transmission of the virus,” he added.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s top officer said the high-altitude, high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is providing support to the fleet on its first deployment that was not available before. 

“We’re still committed to the [MQ-4C Triton],” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said, responding to a question from Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) during a March 11 hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense subcommittee.  

“We just accelerated the deployment of our first two out to Guam, so they are on station and on mission right now,” Gilday said. “The capabilities that the MQ-4 brings are game-changing in terms of long-range ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] at altitude, with sensors that we haven’t had supporting the fleet before.”   

Gilday took the opportunity to mention the Navy’s future unmanned, carrier-based aerial refueling aircraft, the MQ-25A Stingray, which is now in testing. He pointed out the aircraft’s potential ISR sensing capability as well as its primary aerial refueling role.  

Also testifying was Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, who said ISR unmanned assets “would become even more important. It does complement the manned ISR platforms like an F-35, which is a flying sensor platform. Especially critical for the forward force, the Navy-Marine Corps expeditionary team that’s up forward, as a stand-in forward force. That’s your eyes and ears. The joint force has to have a picture of what’s in front of them. I would expect, four or five years from now, much more unmanned ISR and [in] 10 years exponentially more than that.” 

Berger added that a family of all sizes of UAVs is needed. 

“We have the means for a sergeant to launch, recover, control a hand-held unmanned platform. He also has to be linked to medium, high-altitude, longer endurance as well, either kinetically to engage something for a target or just to collect information.”  

“Unmanned is going to be a huge part of our future,” acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said. “Unmanned is a critical element — not just aerial but unmanned ships as well.”