ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy is taking active measures to ease the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the operations and finance of its defense industrial base to minimize disruptions to its acquisition and readiness, the service’s top acquisition official said. 

James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, speaking March 25 in a teleconference with reporters, said the Navy is “using all the levers we have” such as moving up contract awards, accelerating contract payments and establishing baselines to compare pre-virus versus post-virus contractor performance.

See: Port Visits Cancelled, Submariners’ Health Monitored to Contain Coronavirus

Geurts said his effort is focused of three lines of operation: 

• The health of the defense industrial work force, including the government work force and its industrial partners such as prime contractors, subcontractors, small suppliers and individuals. 
• Ensuring the health of the industrial base. 
• Ensuring warfighting readiness of the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.  

Geurts said he is communicating with various stakeholders such as shipbuilder and aircraft builder presidents and Navy shipyards, regional maintenance centers and fleet readiness centers to take the pulse of operations and address concerns at all levels, including reducing barriers and freeing up funding. He said he is especially concerned about the resilience of the many small supplier companies that fill out the industrial supply chain. 

The Navy’s concerns about major shipyards vary by site, but Geurts said the sea service is “seeing a tightening on the supply base as smaller shops deal with their local situations. We’ve got a pretty good view of that with some of the real-time systems we are using. I do expect some delay or disruption.” 

Geurts said a key initiative was to establish baselines of the performance of current programs before the pandemic hit to understand the effects of delay and disruption with delays that were already incurred in programs and work through those issues on the back side of the pandemic and adjust as necessary. 

He said the Navy is not slowing down in its contracting activity and is, in fact, accelerating it “wherever we can to get that demand signal in” so that there is meaningful work waiting as the pandemic ends to avoid a lag effect in getting back to work at full speed. 

Regarding ship repair periods, the secretary said the Navy is reducing the normal 10% payment withholdings across the board.  

For claims that have been adjudicated but not yet paid, the Navy is looking to pay those out, and where claims have not yet been adjudicated, it will attempt to accelerate adjudication of those claims. 

“On the [contract] penalty side, we will continue to understand where those penalties are and work through how to deal with those penalties,” Geurts said.    

Geurts said his team is 90% to 95% dispersed and teleworking but he is “driving the team to accelerate” and he praised its dedication to performance despite the disruption of the virus. 

The secretary said the Navy is working to make sure there is no or only minimal disruption to the construction of the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine and the remaining work on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford.  

He said he has “not seen any major impacts to that work [on the Columbia SSBN] yet but we are tracking it very closely.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — Nonessential port visits by U.S. Navy ships
have been cancelled and Sailors’ health aboard the nuclear deterrent submarine
force is being closely monitored, top officials said in the latest report on
combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said he believed “every port visit, with the exception of ships that need to pull in for maintenance or resupply,” had been cancelled. He was sure with “high certainty” that all ships in the Pacific Ocean were no longer making scheduled port calls and crews of ships that do make stops would be confined to the pier area while in port.

See: Ship Commissionings on Track, But Ceremonies Delayed

In a March 24 press briefing, Gilday and acting Navy Secretary
Thomas Modly announced that three Sailors deployed in the Pacific aboard the
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt were diagnosed with COVID-19 and were
being evacuated from the carrier. It was the first appearance of the novel
coronavirus on a deployed ship at sea, Modly said, adding that all those who encountered
the three sick individuals were being quarantined aboard the Roosevelt. There
were no plans to recall the carrier or any other deployed ship, Gilday said.

“We have not missed any operational commitment in the Navy
at this time,” he said, adding that the impact to force readiness has been low
“but that’s not to say that this couldn’t spike at any given time. We continue
to watch this very closely in every ship, squadron and submarine.”

Gilday said all crews of the ballistic missile submarine
force — which forms the maritime leg of the nuclear triad of submarines,
bombers and ground-based missiles — undergo enhanced medical screenings and
14-day isolation before beginning training or deployment aboard a sub. “We have
not seen a single case yet” of COVID-19 within the submarine force, Gilday
said.

Elsewhere, two Navy hospital ships were being readied to
ease the burden on health care workers and institutions in two cities hard-hit
by the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles and New York, Modly said.

The hospital ship USNS Mercy, which is based in San Diego, was
doing some initial training off the coast of California and would reach Los
Angeles “within the next few days,” he said, adding that Mercy would need
another 24 hours after arriving in L.A. “to prepare for how she’ll receive
patients” before the sick are brought aboard. The USNS Comfort, based in
Norfolk, Virginia, tasked with aiding New York City’s medical services squeezed
by the surge of COVID-19 cases, is still preparing for its mission, Modly said.

Both ships will serve as referral hospitals for patients not
infected with the coronavirus to allow local medical services to focus on those
who are, Modly stressed. “They’re there to handle the overflow of acute trauma
cases and other urgent needs, and they will not be handling pediatric or OB-GYN
cases,” the acting Navy secretary said.

Because of the pandemic, the Navy has postponed, until 2021,
this summer’s Large-Scale Exercise 2020, the first of a planned return to
annual large exercises involving several strike groups. Modly said no decision has
been made yet on scrubbing Hawaii-based Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the world’s
largest international maritime exercise that runs every two years in June and
July. 

Both Modly and Gilday said they expect COVID-19 shutdowns
will challenge work tempo at Navy and private shipyards. While the work of the
private shipyards is essential in producing and repairing ships “we are also
concerned about the health of their people. We don’t want them putting them at
risk, either,” Modly said, noting Navy officials were talking with company executives
daily.

Meanwhile, large prime contractors were, in effect, creating
task forces to monitor the supply chains “to keep all of those production lines
running and to see where we might be incurring risk out through, 2021, so that
we can then prioritize what type of work we need to do,” Gilday said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy plans to put two Virginia-class attack submarines in commission in April despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but the ceremonies marking the events will be delayed.   

“Due to public health safety and restrictions on large public events, the commissioning ceremonies for the future USS Delaware and future USS Vermont were canceled for April 4 and 18, respectively,” Bill Couch, a spokesperson for Naval Sea Systems Command, said in a March 24 e-mail to Seapower. 

“The commissioning of both ships will take place administratively, and the ships will begin normal operations with the fleet.” 

The Delaware is the eighth and last Block III Virginia-class SSN. The Vermont is the first of 10 Block IV Virginia-class subs. The two submarines were built jointly by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding. 
 
“We greatly value the support of all those who were planning to attend, and we will look for a future opportunity to commemorate these special events with the sponsors, crews and commissioning committees,” Couch said. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — In the first case of COVID-19 detected aboard
a U.S. Navy ship at sea, three people quarantined with the coronavirus aboard
the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Pacific Ocean have been evacuated for further
treatment, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly announced.

“These are our first three cases of COVID-19 on a ship
that’s deployed,” Modly told a Pentagon press briefing on March 24. “We’ve
identified all those folks they’ve had contact with, and we’re quarantining
them as well,” he added.

To date, 86 cases of COVID-19 have been detected among people
connected with the Navy, including 57 uniformed personnel, 13 civilian
employees, 11 dependents and five contractors, Modly said.

The Roosevelt left its last port of call, Da Nang, Vietnam,
15 days ago and has been self-quarantined at sea for 14 days, the incubation
period of the virus, a procedure required of all Navy ships at sea since the
disease began to spread, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said. He
said it would be difficult to definitively link the outbreak on the Roosevelt
to the port visit in Vietnam.

“We’ve had aircraft flying to and from the ship, so we just
don’t want to say it was that particular port visit,” Gilday noted, adding that
enhanced medical screening of the crew was done after leaving port.

The CNO said the three Sailors who tested positive for
COVID-19 were not showing symptoms that would necessarily require
hospitalization, only an elevated body temperature and body aches. However,
leaders moved quickly to isolate them and evacuate them by aircraft to a Defense
Department hospital in the Pacific region, which Gilday declined to identify.

“We’ve begun to take a look inside the ship, how we can
isolate and contain as best we can,” Gilday said, adding there is testing
capability on the ship, including the capacity to test for non-COVID but
influenza-related incidents.

The CNO said Navy officials are working with the Roosevelt’s
commander to assess the situation both medically and in terms of the carrier’s
mission. “We’re taking this day-by-day, and we’re being very deliberate how we
do it,” Gilday said. “We are not at a position right now to say we have to pull
that ship in — or to take that ship off the front line.”

Given the busy comings and goings on an aircraft carrier,
including helicopters delivering supplies and personnel, Gilday was asked if
the Navy is planning any change in procedure for other deployed carriers. He
said there were no specifics yet but noted that after every COVID-19 case is
detected, practices and procedures are examined to determine “the dos and the
don’ts we can quickly promulgate fleetwide.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps is planning to change its aviation community significantly as part of a long-range effort to align its force structure more with the National Defense Strategy, including doubling the number of unmanned aerial system (UAS) squadrons and deactivating three rotary-wing squadrons. 

In a March 23 release, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) announced that it was redesigning its force “for naval expeditionary warfare in actively contested spaces, fully aligning the Service with direction of the National Defense Strategy. The Marine Corps has identified areas of modernization and realignment to meet these demands.” 

Among several initiatives planned for execution by 2030, the MCCDC said it would “double the number of UAS squadrons and austere lethal unmanned air and ground systems, enhancing our ability to sense and strike.” 

The Corps fields four Marine UAV squadrons (VMUs) — three in the active component and one in the reserve component. All four operate RQ-21A Blackjack UAS and one, VMU-2 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma, Arizona, operates two MQ-9 Predator UAVs under a contractor arrangement. The Corps intends to procure six MQ-9s for its VMU squadrons under current planning. 

MCCDC also announced plans to deactivate three rotary-wing squadrons by 2030. They include: 

• Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 264 (VMM-264), based at MCAS New River, North Carolina and one of 19 MV-22B squadrons in the Corps. 
• Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 462 (HMM-462), based at MCAS Miramar, California and one of eight CH-53E squadrons in the Corps.  
• Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 (HMLA-469), based at MCAS Camp Pendleton, California, and one of nine squadrons in the Corps operating the AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters. 

In addition, the Corps plans to deactivate HMLA-367 at MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and relocate the squadron to Camp Pendleton, presumably for reactivation. 

The Corps also plans to reduce the number — Primary Aircraft Authorized — of F-35Bs in some of its Marine Fighter Attack Squadrons (VMFAs). The original plan was to field 10 F-35Bs in some squadrons and 16 in others, with the extra six used to deploy as detachments on board amphibious assault ships. The F-35C squadrons also would be limited to 10 aircraft. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps’ first squadron to operate the F-35C Lightning II strike fighter has achieved certification as “safe for flight,” a major milestone toward eventual combat readiness and deployment. 

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314), based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, recently completed five months of transition as it retired its F/A-18C Hornet strike fighters and trained in the carrier-capable F-35C with the Navy’s F-35C fleet replacement squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125), at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. The certification was achieved on March 20, the III Marine Aircraft Wing said in a release.  

The certification process “ensures the squadron is manned with qualified personnel to implement maintenance and safety programs in support of fleet operations. All transitioning squadrons are required to complete this certification prior to independently conducting flight operations,” the release said. 

“The certification process encompasses areas such as equipment, personnel and programs. Requirements include the installation and operation of management information systems and their accompanying support networks. There is also a requirement for operational F-35C squadrons to maintain robust maintenance programs and complete various inspections ranging from conventional weapons technical proficiencies to safety. Squadron personnel complete a transition curriculum and maintain specific competencies in accordance with Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures and Standardization guidelines.” 

VMFA-314 is in line to deploy on an aircraft carrier in 2022, according to the 2019 Marine Corps Aviation Plan, as one of four strike fighter squadrons of a carrier air wing. Under the TACAIR Integration Plan, the Marine Corps contributes some VMFA squadrons to carrier air wings. Currently, one F/A-18C-equipped squadron, VMFA-323, is assigned to Carrier Air Wing 17 and will make the last F/A-18C carrier deployment. VMFA(AW)-225 will be the next Marine Corps squadron to make the transition to the F-35C. 

ATLANTIC OCEAN — “Man all flight quarters stations!” These words were heard across every space on the USS Gerald R. Ford as the carrier prepared to launch and recover aircraft from Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) to complete flight deck certification (FDC) and carrier air traffic control center (CATCC) certification on March 20. 

Conducting flight operations is the key role of every carrier. To certify Ford’s flight deck and air traffic control center, the ship was required to complete a precision approach landing systems (PALS) certification and finish two straight days of flight operations with 50 day traps on the first day followed by 70 day traps and 40 night traps on the second. The crews of Ford and CVW-8 exceeded those minimums. 

Over a two-day period, F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets from four squadrons assigned to CVW-8 conducted 123 daytime and 42 night cats and traps aboard the Ford to reach this milestone in the ship’s operational readiness. 

“Our Sailors performed at a level that was on par with a forward-deployed aircraft carrier, and this was a direct result of the hard-core training and deployment ready mentality we have pushed every day for the past year,” said Capt. J. J. Cummings, the Ford’s commanding officer. “Our team put their game faces on, stepped into the batter’s box and smashed line drives out of the park. It was fun to watch.” 

Prior to FDC and CATCC certification, Ford received its PALS Mode IA and Mode II certification from Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. PALS, through the assistance of air traffic controllers in CATCC, aids pilots as they execute night or bad-weather landings, guiding pilots to a good starting position for approaches, and is a requirement for ships to conduct flight operations.  

“PALS cert was a critical step to achieving our flight deck certification,” said Cmdr. Phil Brown, the Ford’s air operations officer. “Our system performed really well during our approaches and provided a solid level of confidence to NAWCAD in our ability to recover jets.” 

The Ford CATCC team was not only essential to FDC but was also required to complete a certification in concert with the flight deck certification. 

Ford’s CATCC certification was the culmination of a three-phase process that began in October 2019 at the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) in Pensacola, Florida. Since then, NATTC instructors have been alongside Ford Sailors for every phase, testing their practical knowledge, reviewing their checklists and observing their recovery operations. 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded a $191.9 million fixed-price award-fee contract March 20 to Alberici-Mortenson, Joint Venture out of St. Louis, Missouri, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast Public Affairs said in a March 23 release. The first phase of the design-bid-build contract is for the recapitalization of the dry dock at Naval Submarine Base (NSB) Kings Bay, Georgia. 

“The overhaul and restoration of the Kings Bay Dry Dock is the most important strategic deterrence enterprise modernization effort outside of the construction of the new Columbia-class SSBN, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine,” said Trident Refit Facility Commanding Officer Capt. Paul Dinius. 

The Navy’s submarines serve as the nation’s sea-based deterrent strategies. The Dry Dock Recapitalization Project at NSB Kings Bay is in direct support of the future of submarine warfare. The new Columbia-class submarine is replacing the Ohio-class submarine. 

“There have been several dedicated teams brought to bear for this effort,’ said NAVFAC Southeast Deputy Construction Management Officer Travis Baker. “So many have worked tirelessly to ensure the project would be ready for award and of high quality.” 

Dinius explained, “This will be the hardest single effort executed in this region since the construction of the dry dock more than 30 years ago, but I’m confident that Team Kings Bay is ready for the challenge.” 

The work to be performed includes concrete and steel repairs, overhaul and repair of the steel caisson and upgrades to power distribution, chilled water and fire detection and alarm systems. The entire superstructure will be re-coated, along with replacement of the roof, wall panels, and other plumbing and piping. The control system, electronic components and the auxiliary seawater system will also be upgraded. 

All existing training and maintenance facilities will be retrofitted and some new facilities will be constructed to support the next generation of submarines. 

“The window of opportunity to perform the majority of the work is limited,” said Baker. “The sheer magnitude of the work to be accomplished combined with the limited time to accomplish everything is almost overwhelming.” 

In order to meet this tight deadline, NAVFAC Southeast has established a Construction Management Office on site at NSB Kings Bay with dedicated resources capable of supporting 24-hour-a-day activities. 

“We have been successful in pulling several dedicated teams together to prepare for this effort,” said Baker. “Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure the project would be ready for award and be of high quality.” 

Baker explained that this is the most significant project he has ever seen in his career both in terms of importance and scale. “The amount of senior-level leadership and supported command focus and support has been unparalleled.” 

The contract also contains unexercised options, which if exercised, would increase the cumulative contract value to $592.3 million. The work is expected to be complete by July 2023. 

ARLINGTON, Virginia  — The secretary of defense said the Military Sealift Command’s hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) is deploying to Los Angeles to relieve the city’s hospitals of some of their non-COVID-19 patient burden as they deal with the virus pandemic. 

During a March 23 news conference at the Pentagon, Secretary Mark Esper said the Mercy was departing its layberth in San Diego the same day for Los Angeles. The sister ship USNS Comfort would deploy at a later date for New York City for the same mission. The two ships will not be caring for COVID-19 patients but will treat acute care and surgery patients with other needs to relieve local hospitals that are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Esper said that some field hospitals are being readied for similar missions and that some hotels and college dormitories may be put in service as well for patient care. 

He said that to date 137 Defense Department personnel had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and that one department civilian had died. 

During a separate Pentagon news conference on the same date, Rear Adm. Timothy H. Weber, commander, Navy Medical Forces Pacific, said that 800 medical personnel were being embarked on the Mercy and were being drawn from eight military treatment facilities, primarily from naval hospitals and clinics in San Diego, Camp Pendleton, California, Twentynine Palms, California, Bremerton, Washington, and Oak Harbor, Washington. A total of 58 Navy Reserve medical personnel — all volunteers — also are being embarked. Weber said that none had been involved in treatment of COVID-19 patients. 

Also at the news conference, Capt. John R. Rotruck, commanding officer of the Mercy’s Medical Treatment Facility, said the ship would dock at Los Angeles “within the week” and will start care of the local population the following day. He said the ship will operate under the control commander, Destroyer Squadron 21, and operate for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

Rotruck said the Mercy will embark a total of 1,128 personnel, including the ship’s civilian crew, the military medical treatment team and a few civilian contractors. The Mercy has 1,000 hospital beds and will be operating nine of the 12 operating rooms on the ship. He said the embarked crew will be screened for COVID-19 but not tested unless needed. 

Rotruck said the Mercy will offer a broad range of medical services but will not be staffed to handle obstetric or pediatric cases. The ship has a fully capable blood bank on board. 

“The Mercy is ready to go,” said the Mercy’s master, Capt. Jonathan Olmsted, also in the conference. He said the Mercy will be underway for about two days to runs some tests of its systems before docking pierside in the Port of Los Angeles.  

Rotruck said the time underway at sea will be used to train the medical team. 

“Our Mercy team is ready to deploy and support FEMA and local relief agencies against the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “I have an amazing team, and we are truly honored to answer the nations’ call to protect the health of the American people.” 

CHICAGO — Boeing has temporarily suspended production operations at its Puget Sound-area facilities in light of the state of emergency in Washington state and the company’s continuous assessment of the accelerating spread of the coronavirus in the region, the company said in a release. 

These actions are being taken to ensure the well-being of employees, their families and the local community and will include an orderly shutdown consistent with the requirements of its customers, the Boeing release said. 

Boeing planned to begin reducing production activity on March 23 and projects the suspension of such operations to begin on March 25 at sites across the Puget Sound area. The suspension of production operations is set to last 14 days, during which Boeing will continue to monitor government guidance and actions on COVID-19 and its associated impacts on all company operations. During this time, Boeing will deep-clean at impacted sites and establish rigorous criteria for return to work. 

“This necessary step protects our employees and the communities where they work and live,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said. 

“We continue to work closely with public health officials, and we’re in contact with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders who are affected by this temporary suspension. We regret the difficulty this will cause them, as well as our employees, but it’s vital to maintain health and safety for all those who support our products and services and to assist in the national effort to combat the spread of COVID-19.” 

Puget Sound area-based employees who can work from home will continue to do so. Those who can’t work remotely will receive paid leave for the initial 10 working days of the suspension — double the company policy — which will provide coverage for the 14-calendar-day suspension period. 

When the suspension is lifted, Boeing will take an orderly approach to restarting production with a focus on safety, quality and meeting customer commitments. This will be a key step to enabling the aerospace sector to bridge to recovery.