ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard plans to fully fund the second polar security cutter (PSC) and the third offshore patrol cutter (OPC), according to the proposed fiscal year 2021 U.S. Department of Homeland Security budget. The Coast Guard overall is seeking $12.3 billion for fiscal 2021, $77 million more than the $12.2 billion in the enacted 2020 budget. The 2021…
Titan to Acquire HII’s San Diego Shipyard
Titan Acquisition Holdings, created through the combination of Vigor Industrial and MHI Holdings, announced Feb. 12 an agreement to acquire Huntington Ingalls’ San Diego Shipyard, one of the largest fleet service and repair sites in America, located in the nation’s largest Navy port. The acquisition…
EMALS, AAG Systems OK’d for All Carrier Aircraft
SAN DIEGO — General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced that the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) have been cleared for shipboard launch and recovery of all currently deployed naval aircraft types aboard USS Gerald R. Ford…
Coast Guard Offloads $338 Million of Cocaine in San Diego
SAN DIEGO — The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro offloaded nearly 20,000 pounds of cocaine Feb. 10 seized from known drug-transit zones of the eastern Pacific Ocean worth about $338 million, according to the Coast Guard’s 11th District. Eight interdictions were made between mid-November and…
Navy’s 2021 Budget Cuts Marines Corps Funding, End Strength
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…
