The U.S. Navy is seeking to shave $1.4 billion from the Marine Corps fiscal year 2021 budget request and to reduce the active-duty force by 2,100, according to new Defense Department budget documents. The Marines’ piece of the Navy Department’s…
Navy 2021 Budget Relatively Flat; Only 8 Ships Funded, Ship Retirements Accelerated
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S Navy’s 2021 budget seeks funding for only eight battle force ships, financed by $19.9 billion of a $207.1 billion Department of the Navy budget that is only slightly larger than the $205.2 billion budget enacted for fiscal 2020. The Future Years Defense Plan also forecasts some accelerated retirements or reductions…
Navy, Marines Say Readiness Improving in Pacific After Fatal Air, Sea Crashes
WASHINGTON — Stating that command readiness is their top priority, senior U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leaders told Congress they are improving manning, training and maintenance procedures in the wake of three fatal sea and air accidents. In a joint…
First Navy V-22 arrives in Patuxent River
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The first U.S. Navy CMV-22B Osprey arrived at Patuxent River on Feb. 2 after completing its ferry flight from Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas, Naval Air Systems Command said. This is the first of two CMV-22B…
Navy Orders Two MQ-4C Triton UAVs Plus Operating Base
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered another two MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles from Northrop Grumman Corp. According to a Feb. 6 Defense Department contract announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $172.4 million contract modification for the two…
Laser-Guided Excalibur S Munition Aces Navy Test
YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. — Raytheon’s new Excalibur S precision-guided munition scored direct hits on moving targets in a U.S. Navy test, the company said in a Feb. 5 release. Testing validated the projectile’s ability to survive the shock and…
Coast Guard Repatriates 64 Migrants to Dominican Republic
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 64 migrants to the Dominican Republic between Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 following the interdiction of an illegal migrant voyage on Feb. 3 about 51 nautical miles north of Punta Cana, the according to the Coast Guard’s 7th District. The interdiction…
Components of Northrop Grumman AQS-24B Mine-Hunting System Now Made in Australia
CANBERRA, Australia — Northrop Grumman Corp. has started to manufacture components of the AQS-24B towed mine-hunting system with Marand Precision Engineering in Australia, at the company’s Moorabbin, Victoria, facility. The AQS-24 mine-hunting system includes an operational high-speed synthetic aperture sonar (HSSAS) and an optical laser line-scan sensor. The system performs high-resolution detection,…
First RAF Poseidon Lands in U.K.
LONDON — The RAF’s new submarine-hunting Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) has touched down for the first time in the United Kingdom, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in a release. The aircraft is the first of a new program, including the purchase of nine state-of-the-art…
Marine Corps Orders Two Northrop Grumman TPS-80 Radars
BALTIMORE — Northrop Grumman Corp. has received an order from the U.S. Marine Corps for two additional AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) systems as part of the full-rate production Lot 2 award received in December, Northrop Grumman said. This order completes the planned…
