NORFOLK, Va. — U.S. 2nd Fleet, on behalf of U.S. Naval Forces Europe (NAVEUR) and with Military Sealift Command (MSC), is conducting convoy operations across the Atlantic, employing the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf alongside USNS Benavidez, MV Resolve and MV Patriot, the 2nd Fleet said in a release. 

Sealift remains the primary method for transporting military equipment, supplies and materiel around the world. With the return of peer competition and access to sea lanes no longer guaranteed, the Navy and MSC train together to ensure successful delivery and sustainment of combat power. 

“In a real-world conflict, much of the military equipment must still go by sealift, which makes convoy operations a critical skill set to maintain and practice,” said Capt. Hans E. Lynch, commodore of MSC Atlantic. “In the last five years, there has been an increased emphasis on including Merchant Marine shipping in large-scale exercises to enhance tactical proficiency. Exercises that incorporate convoy operations are an extension of that ongoing tactical training.” 

This exercise is simulating an opposed transit, testing the fleets’ abilities to safely cross the Atlantic and new ways of conducting a convoy in today’s environment. Convoy operations were critical during World War I and World War II as the primary method for moving troops and military equipment, supplies and materiel to Europe. After WWII, convoys became less prevalent in the Atlantic theater, although still practiced in other areas of operation. 

“The Atlantic is a battlespace that cannot be ignored,” said Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis, commander of the 2nd Fleet. “We need to be prepared to operate at the high end alongside our allies, partners and adversaries alike as soon as we’re underway.” 

During its operations in the Atlantic, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with P-8s from VP-4 and a U.S. submarine, cleared the maritime battlespace prior to the transit of the Vella Gulf-escorted MSC convoy. 

“This exercise allows us to sharpen our ability to move critical resources across the Atlantic, from the United States to Europe,” said Adm. James G. Foggo III, commander of NAVEUR. 

Foggo added: “The transatlantic bridge is just as important today for moving troops and military equipment, supplies and materiel from the United States to Europe as it has been at any point in history.” 

The 2nd and 6th fleets work together to ensure the security of sea lanes of communication in the Atlantic. If called upon, the Pentagon’s sealift transportation fleet expects to move about 90% of required assets from the U.S. to the conflict theater. The safest and quickest way to get needed materials to the front lines is via maritime convoy. 

“We, as a Navy, are inherently linked with the broader maritime industry, and this exercise provides a great opportunity to train like we fight,” said Capt. Andrew Fitzpatrick, the Vella Gulf’s commander. “Practicing convoy operations flexes a blue-water, high-end skill for the first time in many years, enabling us all to operate on, above and below the sea in a contested environment.” 

MSC operates about 110 noncombatant, civilian-crewed ships that replenish Navy ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners. 

C2F tests operational authorities over assigned ships, aircraft and landing forces on the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. When directed, C2F conducts exercises and operations within the U.S. European Command area of responsibility as an expeditionary fleet.

MCLEAN, Va. — BAE Systems Inc. was awarded a five-year $188.2 million contract to provide the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Technical Representative organization with large-scale system engineering, integration and testing expertise for the Aegis weapons and combat systems aboard Navy surface ships, the company announced.  

“BAE Systems personnel have worked side-by-side with Navy Sailors and civilians for nearly 40 years to strengthen and modernize the fleet of Aegis-equipped surface ships,” said Mark Keeler, vice president and general manager of BAE’s Integrated Defense Solutions business. “Our team brings a wealth of Aegis combat system expertise with the agility, innovation and technical acumen to ensure the U.S. Navy has the safe and effective combat capability it needs to meet mission objectives.” 

As part of the Aegis Technical Representative Engineering Support Services contract, BAE will provide Navy acquisition managers with on-site leadership and systems engineering to validate Total Ship Combat design at Navy sites in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Bath, Maine, and Pascagoula, Mississippi. 

The company also will support systems engineering and test and evaluation personnel to provide fleet experience and operational insight. Additionally, the company will provide logistics, cybersecurity, production, acquisition and waterfront support required for upgrading and maintaining development of Aegis combat system capabilities and baselines across the entire life cycle.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy will christen its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Cooperstown (LCS 23), during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony on Feb. 29 in Marinette, Wisconsin, the Pentagon said in a release. 

Alba Tull will serve as the ship’s sponsor. In a time-honored Navy tradition, she will christen the ship by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow. Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board of directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, will deliver the ceremony’s keynote address.  

“The christening of the future USS Cooperstown marks an important step toward this great ship’s entry into the fleet,” acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said. “The dedication and skilled work of everyone involved in the building of this ship has ensured that it will represent the great city of Cooperstown and serve our Navy and Marine Corps team for decades to come.” 

LCS 23 is the 12th Freedom-variant LCS, the 23rd in the class. The Cooperstown is the first ship named in honor of the city. LCS 23 received its name on July 25, 2015, during a ceremony at the Hall of Fame and it honors the veterans who are members of the Hall of Fame. These 64 men served in conflicts ranging from the Civil War through the Korean War. 

LCS is a modular and reconfigurable ship, designed to meet validated fleet requirements for surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures missions in the littoral region. Using an open architecture design, modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles to gain, sustain and exploit littoral maritime supremacy, LCS provides the U.S. joint force access to critical areas in multiple theaters. 

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom-variant team is led by Lockheed Martin in Marinette (for the odd-numbered hulls). The Independence-variant team is led by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls).

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s forthcoming Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment (INFSA) differs from the 2016 FSA by some inflection points, including a reduced emphasis on large surface combatants, the Navy’s top official said. 

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly, speaking Feb. 28 at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, noted several inflection points.  

“One of the more significant things is de-emphasis on large surface combatants,” Modly said. “You will see that number come down in favor of more small, highly capable surface combatants like the frigate and some of the things that we’re thinking about doing with the LCS [littoral combat ship].” 

He said another inflection point is unmanned vessels.  

“There is a large discussion about how unmanned [vessels] would work,” he said. “The numbers of the end-state of that are still in flux, and I’m fully comfortable with that being in flux because, frankly, we don’t have any right now. Whether we end up of 45 or something [unmanned vessels] that we don’t know or 50 or 75 we don’t know, it’s sort of irrelevant.” 

“We know we have to start down the path towards unmanned to understand how that’s going to work, and that’s both underwater and above water, [including] large, medium, small, etc.,” he said. 

Modly also said that two new classes of ships are being considered by the Navy. One is a smaller, lighter, more lightly manned amphibious ship that “can provide the distributed maritime operations and the expeditionary advanced base operations that are part of [Marine Commandant David H. Berger’s] vision.” 

The second class is a combat support ship.  

“We currently don’t have those kind of ships in the fleet right now, nor on the drawing board,” he said. “In this [fiscal 2021] budget, we have dollars assigned to start research and development.” 

Modly noted that there are differences between the Navy Department’s analysis and that of the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. 

“I don’t think they’re that significant, when you’re talking about a plan that’s going to evolve over 10 years, so it’s [Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s] prerogative and so we’re supporting him in taking a look at that,” he said. “The next couple of months we’ll probably tighten up some of those differences.” 

“We’ve got to invest in a new amphib; we’ve got to invest in a new combat support [vessel]; we’ve got to invest in the frigate,” Modly said. “We’ve got to think about how we accelerate the pace in which we’re going to acquire the frigate. We’ve got to think about unmanned.”  

Modly said the Navy and Marine Corps both assigned three-star flag officers to conduct the INFSA, a study that included campaign analyses. 

“It’s a good starting point for this future force structure,” he said. “What we want to do now is take it out of the realm being something we do every four years. This is how we have to start thinking as a department. So, we are developing a process now to take that statement around and iterate it continually so that it can inform our budget process in more of a real-time manner.”

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was lased by People’s Republic of China (PRC) navy destroyer 161 on Feb. 17 while flying in airspace above international waters about 380 miles west of Guam, according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s public affairs office. 

The P-8A was operating in international airspace. The PRC navy destroyer’s actions were deemed unsafe and unprofessional. 

Additionally, these acts violate the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), a multilateral agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of incidents at sea, according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 

The CUES agreement specifically addresses the use of lasers that could harm personnel or damage equipment. The destroyer’s actions were also inconsistent with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between U.S. Defense Department and the Ministry of National Defense of the PRC regarding rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters.  

The laser, which was not visible to the naked eye, was captured by a sensor onboard the P-8A. Weapons-grade lasers could potentially cause serious harm to aircrew and mariners as well as ship and aircraft systems. 

The P-8A is assigned to VP-45, based at Jacksonville, Florida, and is forward-deployed to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. The squadron conducts routine operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. 

Navy aircraft routinely fly in the Philippine Sea and have done so for many years and aircraft and ships will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The U.S. Navy accepted delivery on Feb. 28 of the future USS Tripoli, the newest America-class amphibious assault ship, from Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, the Navy announced.   

Amphibious assault ships project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the amphibious ready group or expeditionary strike group. These ships transport elements of a U.S. Marine expeditionary unit or Marine expeditionary brigade with a combination of aircraft and landing craft. Optimized for aviation capability, Tripoli will enhance Marine aviation with an enlarged hangar deck, greater maintenance capability, and JP-5 fuel capacity. 

“On behalf of the entire team, I am grateful to take delivery of this versatile warfighting asset,” said Tom Rivers, amphibious warfare program manager for Program Executive Office (PEO)-Ships. “The Navy and industry team has worked persistently to deliver this platform, ready to integrate the Marine Corps air combat element, including the Joint Strike Fighter, to our combatant commanders.”   

USS Tripoli incorporates the fuel-efficient gas turbine propulsion plant, zonal electrical distribution, and electric auxiliary systems first installed on USS Makin Island (LHD 8). LHA 7 will be 844 feet in length, will have a displacement of about 44,971 long tons and can operate at speeds of more than 20 knots. 

“Shipbuilding is a team sport, and LHA 7 is no exception,” said Capt. Nathan Schneider, supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair (SUPSHIP) Gulf Coast at Naval Sea Systems Command. 

“LHA 7 represents the culmination of significant work effort by shipbuilders here at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, suppliers around the nation, and government stakeholders both here in Pascagoula as well as Naval Sea Systems Command and the Program Executive Office-Ships in Washington, D.C., along with the warfare centers around the country.” 

With Tripoli delivered, the ship will focus on moving crew aboard and preparing for commissioning and sail-away later this year.  

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is producing Bougainville (LHA 8), the guided missile destroyers Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) and amphibious transport dock ships, Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29). 

WASHINGTON —
Lawmakers challenged U.S. Navy leaders at a fiscal year 2021 budget hearing on how
long it will take to acquire a 355-ship fleet, how many vessels will be
unmanned and why more ships of the fleet aren’t submarines.

Acting Navy
Secretary Thomas B. Modly, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Commandant
of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger acknowledged the Navy Department’s
relatively flat budget request of $207.1 billion — $161 billion for the Navy
and $46 billion for the Marines — had forced hard choices in procurement and
end strength.

The budget
request slows the trajectory toward a fleet of 355 or more ships, but “it does
not arrest” that goal, Modly told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb.
27, offering his personal assurance that the Navy is “deeply committed” to
building a larger, more capable, more distributed force within a time frame of
no more than 10 years.

Both the
committee chairman, Rep.  Adam Smith
(D-Wash.), and the ranking member, Rep. Mach Thornberry (R-Texas), said they are
more interested in ships’ capabilities than numbers. “The 355 number kind of
offends me,” Smith added. “You know, you can have 355 rowboats, theoretically,
and you would have 355 ships.” Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.) called getting to
355 ships by 2030 “an impossible task based on the current pace.”

Modly
disagreed, but he said two things are required for the goal to become reality:
a reasonable plan and the political will. Modly’s plan starts with finding ways
to wring between $5 billion and $8 billion per year out of the existing Navy budget,
and he’s conducting a 45-day stem-to-stern review to find outdated or
unnecessary expenses for elimination. He said he would do what he could to stir
political will.

Several
lawmakers were concerned about the size and numbers planned for air, surface
and underwater unmanned vehicles.

“We have to
really accelerate our investment in unmanned platforms,” Modly said, explaining
why the Navy is seeking funding for the serial production of a large unmanned
surface vessel before prototyping and testing are complete. It would be hard to
experiment with concepts to understand how the technology will work with others
without an existing platform, he said.

Regarding
lethal unmanned aircraft, Berger said he didn’t yet know how they would operate
in cooperation with manned aircraft. He did know “we have got to move faster
than we have in the past three or four years,” he said. “We can cover a lot
more ground if it is a mix of manned and unmanned. It is also more survivable,”
by complicating targeting for enemy air defense systems, Berger said.

Rep. Joe
Courtney (D-Conn.), chairman of the House Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee,
complained about the Defense Department’s last-minute reduction in shipbuilding
accounts that led to the elimination of one of two planned Virginia-class
attack submarines from the proposed 2021 budget.

Courtney
noted that Gilday’s predecessor as CNO, Adm. John Richardson, said there was no
greater need in warfighting requirement and current inventory than the attack
submarine. With older subs scheduled to retire in coming years, the Navy will
be down to 42 attack boats by 2028. Modly said he wasn’t part of the discussion
about shifting shipbuilding money, but the elimination wasn’t helpful “because
it takes a ship out of a plan that we are driving toward.”

Gilday said
his first objective is to fully fund the new Columbia-class ballistic missile sub.
Noting the Ohio-class subs, “the nuclear seaborne deterrent that this nation
depends upon” is aging out. “We need to deliver Columbia on time for its first
patrol in 2031,” he said.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries has reached an
important milestone in the construction of the aircraft carrier John F.
Kennedy as the first of 2,700 compartments were turned over to the ship’s crew,
the company announced.

The completed spaces allow Sailors to begin training on the carrier
while final outfitting and testing progresses at the company’s Newport News
Shipbuilding division.

Earlier this month, Sailors assigned to the pre-commissioning
unit began coming onboard the ship and working in some of the compartments,
which include a training facility, offices and habitability spaces.

Turning over crew training areas earlier in Kennedy’s
construction was a lesson learned from the construction of the USS Gerald
R. Ford. As a result, the Kennedy’s construction team was able to
complete and turn over 63 compartments to the ship’s crew over four months
earlier than on Ford.

“The first Sailors coming onboard is a significant step in the
life of the ship,” said Mike Butler, program director for Kennedy. “Our
completing and turning over these spaces to the crew will allow them to start
on-hands, shipboard training, and learn the systems and components they will
operate when the ship joins the fleet.”

Over the next two and a half years, other spaces, such as
berthing and mess areas, will be completed, and distributive, mechanical and
combat systems, such as catapults and radar arrays, will be tested.

HUNT VALLEY, Md. — Textron Systems Corp. announced that
the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) program, which is based
on Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV), has achieved a Milestone C
decision. The decision allows the program to enter low-rate initial production
(LRIP), with the Navy planning to award three UISS systems to Textron under
their existing contract.

“The Textron and U.S. Navy teams have worked diligently
to reach this Milestone C decision,” said Wayne Prender, senior vice president
of applied technologies and advanced programs at Textron. “We recognize the
time on the water and dedication of the testing teams which enabled us to enter
this phase of the program.” 

UISS is the Navy’s first unmanned surface vehicle (USV)
program of record, designed for the demanding maritime environment. It provides
unmanned mine counter-measure and capabilities using interchangeable payloads
and advanced sensors.

UISS completed Navy developmental test and operational
assessment in November. The UISS is the first in the Navy’s USV portfolio to
reach this milestone. UISS is part of a comprehensive Mine Counter Measure
Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MCM USV) mission and is designed to be deployed from
the littoral combat ship and vessels of opportunity.

Textron is the prime contractor and system integrator
for the UISS and MCM USV programs. The company designed CUSV as a multi-mission
unmanned surface vehicle, capability of carrying multiple payloads including
side-scan sonar, mine neutralization, non-lethal weapons, and intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors.

Production will be completed at Textron’s Hunt Valley,
Maryland, and New Orleans locations.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant returned home on Feb. 27 to Naval Station Mayport after completing a nine-week patrol in the Caribbean Sea, according to the Coast Guard 7th District.

The Valiant crew
patrolled more than 11,000 nautical miles in the Caribbean supporting Joint
Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) conducting humanitarian and law-enforcement
operations, ultimately saving 23 lives.

While underway, the Valiant crew interdicted a 30-foot disabled and adrift migrant vessel attempting an illegal voyage to Puerto Rico, about 37 nautical miles south of Isla Saona, Dominican Republic.

A Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Aircraft crew spotted the vessel and directed Valiant to its location. This interdiction rescued 19 migrants whose vessel would not have had enough fuel to reach its U.S. destination. The crew later transferred the Dominican migrants to a Dominican navy vessel for a safe return home.

Previously, the Cutter
Richard Dixon crew transferred 50 migrants to Valiant from two separate
interdictions. The Valiant crew transported six of the migrants to Ramey Sector
Border Patrol Agents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, for federal prosecution on
charges of attempting to illegally re-enter the United States. The crew then
repatriated the remaining 44 migrants to the Dominican Republic.

In addition to interdicting migrant vessels, the Valiant crew conducted joint law-enforcement operations with the Belize coast guard and hosted a Belize coast guard officer aboard.

This opportunity gave both nations the chance to communicate and learn from each other while sharing different law-enforcement techniques. As a result of the exercise, Belize was able to establish a presence further offshore in a suspected drug smuggling area. Throughout their patrol, the crew conducted law-enforcement operations with an embarked MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) from Jacksonville, Florida.

Near the end of the patrol, the Valiant crew located two disabled vessels in a known drug smuggling area within a 24-hour period. The first was experiencing engine troubles and the other was out of fuel, and both crews claimed they had been adrift and without food or water for days. The Valiant crew rescued all four from their stricken vessels, embarked them onboard the cutter as search-and-rescue survivors, and transferred them to the Colombian navy for transport back to land.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our crew this patrol as we plied the waters of the Caribbean for illicit maritime drug smugglers over the past two months in support of JIATF-S counterdrug operations, interdicting two logistics supply vessels,” said Cmdr. Matthew Waldron, Valiant’s commanding officer.

“Additionally, the crew demonstrated exceptional flexibility by quickly shifting gears from counter-drug to migrant operations and interdicting a disabled yola with 19 Dominican migrants bound for Puerto Rico in the middle of the night. Had it not been for the combined efforts of a forward-deployed Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 crew, the Dominican Republic navy and Valiant, the individuals on that yola would have likely been lost at sea. … That’s 19 lives saved.”