OSHKOSH, Wis. — Oshkosh Defense received a visit from Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, who addressed team members and thanked them for delivering Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps ahead of schedule and below budget. The Bravo Zulu Award they received signifies a “job well done.” 

“I recently had the pleasure of meeting the general responsible for fielding JLTVs to [II Marine Expeditionary Force] at Camp LeJeune,” Spencer said. “He went on to tell me that the teamwork between Oshkosh and the Marines was so cohesive that the only way someone could tell the difference between the two was by the color of their shirts. For that, I thank you all. And please know that the sweat and time put into each vehicle is just the beginning of its life. That vehicle will go on to play a critical role in the Navy’s success for decades to come.”  

“It is a true honor to host Secretary Spencer and introduce him to the men and women who come to work each day focused on delivering the products that allow our warfighters to complete their missions and return home safely,” said John Bryant, executive vice president of parent company Oshkosh Corp. and president of Oshkosh Defense. 

The JLTV program is in full-rate production and has completed all reliability qualification and performance testing as well as logistics supportability evaluations around the country. In August, the Marine Corps reached Initial Operating Capability on the vehicle almost a full year ahead of schedule. 

Harrisburg, Pa. — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer has named the next San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, LPD 30, in honor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, according to a statement from Spencer’s public affairs office. 

“The people of central Pennsylvania have always played a critical role in forging the strength of our Navy and fighting to defend our nation,” Spencer said. “The future USS Harrisburg will carry on this legacy to every part of the world.” 

LPD 30 will be the second U.S. Navy vessel named after the city. The first was a troopship acquired by the Navy during World War I that served in commission from May 29, 1918, to Sept. 25, 1919. That ship also served with the Navy in the Spanish-American War under another name.  

The capital of Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg-Carlisle metropolitan statistical area is home to several Defense Department facilities, including the Naval Support Activity, Mechanicsburg. During the Civil War, Camp Curtin, located in what is now the Uptown area of the city, served as the largest camp during the conflict with more than 300,000 enlistments passing through its gates. 

San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships support amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious ready groups. LPD 30 will be the first Flight II San Antonio class ship, serving as the functional replacement for the aging LSD 41/49 Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships.  

The ship provides the Navy with modern, sea-based platforms that are networked, survivable and built to operate with modern-day transformational platforms, such as the MV-22 Osprey and amphibious assault vehicles. 

USS Harrisburg will be built at Huntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship will be 684 feet long, have a beam length of 105 feet and be capable of operating at speeds in excess of 22 knots. 

MARINETTE, Wis. — Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marinette Marine marked the start of construction on littoral combat ship (LCS) 27, the future USS Nantucket, with a ceremony here Oct. 9, according to a Lockheed Martin statement. 

As part of a ship-building tradition dating back centuries, a shipyard worker welded the initials of Polly Spencer, USS Nantucket’s ship sponsor and wife of Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, into the ship’s keel plate. This plate will be affixed to the ship and travel with Nantucket throughout its commissioned life. 

“The USS Nantucket will confront many complex challenges,” Spencer said. “It will confront humanitarian relief all the way to ‘great power competition,’ drawing on the strength of every weld, every rivet applied by the great people here.”  

The focused-mission LCS is designed to support mine countermeasures, anti-submarine and surface warfare missions today and is easily adapted to serve future and evolving missions tomorrow. 

About 40% of the hull of a Freedom variant LCS is reconfigurable, able to integrate Longbow Hellfire Missiles, 30 mm guns and manned and unmanned vehicles. LCS is equipped with Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) and a Mark 110 gun, capable of firing 220 rounds per minute. An LCS also is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots.  

“LCS can serve a multitude of missions to include surface, anti-submarine and mine countermeasure missions by quickly integrating mission equipment and deploying manned and unmanned aerial, surface or sub-surface vehicles,” said Joe DePietro, vice president and general manager of small combatants and ship systems for Lockheed Martin. 

LCS 27 is the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after Nantucket, Massachusetts, in more than 150 years. Nantucket has a deep connection to sailing and maritime traditions, serving as a whaling hub in the 1800s and as the home of generations of American Sailors since the town’s beginning. The previous USS Nantucket, the first to be named after the island, was commissioned in 1862 to serve during the Civil War. 

“I have been given a very special honor in being the sponsor of the future USS Nantucket. I am happy she is being built here in Marinette, Wisconsin, which has an impressive history of shipbuilding,” said Polly Spencer, LCS 27 sponsor. “Thank you to all the talented people who are bringing this ship to life. … It is going to be an amazing journey that I am thrilled to be on.” 

LCS 27 will be the 14th Freedom-variant LCS and will join a class of more than 30 ships. It is one of six ships in various stages of construction and test at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard. 

“We are very excited to begin construction of the future USS Nantucket,” said Jan Allman, chief executive officer of Fincantieri Marinette Marine. “Our men and women are proud to put their efforts into giving the Navy versatile ships to keep our country and its interests safe.”

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement crews interdicted a record-breaking number of lanchas throughout the Gulf of Mexico for fiscal year 2019, according to a Coast Guard 8th District release. 

Since October 2018, Coast Guard assets and personnel have detected a total of 175 lanchas, intercepted 138 and interdicted 74. Since the first recorded lancha interdiction in the late 1980s, the Coast Guard has seen a significant uptick in detection of the vessels, particularly in the past two years, recording 61 lancha interdictions in the previous fiscal year. 

The Coast Guard utilizes a layered approach for interdiction through aircraft, small boats and cutters as well as improved technology on those assets, resulting in the drastic increase in lancha interdictions. 

“Working with our ReCoM partners, we will continue to apply maximum pressure along the Maritime Boundary Line in order to deter this illicit activity, preserve our natural resources and uphold U.S. sovereignty,” said Lt. Kurtis Mees, Coast Guard Station South Padre Island commanding officer. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of my crew’s efforts and their steadfast dedication towards this mission. This problem has persisted now in South Texas for 30-plus years, and we are committed to seeing an end to it.” 

A lancha is a fishing boat used by Mexican fishermen that is about 20 to 30 feet long with a slender profile. They typically have one outboard motor and are capable of traveling at speeds in excess of 30 mph. Lanchas pose a major threat, usually entering the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Gulf of Mexico with the intent to smuggle people, drugs or poach the United States’ natural resources.

APOPKA, Fla. — Northrop Grumman Corp. has been selected to build prototype Next Generation Handheld Targeting Systems (NGHTS) for the U.S. Marine Corps. These handheld systems will enable forward observers to quickly and efficiently acquire and designate targets with a high level of precision. 

“Our latest solution, based on our decades of experience in delivering handheld targeting systems, will provide the mobility and precision that forward observers need,” said Bob Gough, vice president of land and avionics C4ISR for Northrop Grumman. “Combined with network connectivity, these capabilities will enable more informed and rapid targeting decisions.” 

The systems developed under the second phase of the NGHTS program are designed to replace three legacy systems, incorporating their separate target location, laser spot imaging and laser target designation capabilities into a single, lightweight system. 

Northrop Grumman has delivered more than 20,000 man-portable target location and designation systems to the Department of Defense.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Northrop Grumman Corp. successfully operated the AQS-24 mine-hunting sonar at depths greater than 400 feet during testing off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to a company release. 

Embarked on the M/V Richard Becker, the Northrop Grumman test team demonstrated reliable AQS-24 system operations with excellent sonar performance at all tested depths while using the system to classify bottom objects of interest. 

“The AQS-24 mine-hunting system performed superbly at tow depths up to and beyond 400 feet,” said Alan Lytle, vice president of undersea systems for Northrop Grumman. “This latest internal research and development effort underscores our commitment to provide the most innovative, affordable and operationally proven capabilities to meet the Navy’s littoral combat ship mine countermeasures mission package requirements and future expeditionary MCM needs.” 

Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman demonstrated an autonomy upgrade path for the mine-hunting system by integrating and successfully testing the company’s image exploitation suite, incorporating state-of-the-art machine learning for automatic target recognition ATR using multiple ATR algorithms. Following this successful demonstration, the U.S. Navy plans to incorporate this new capability into existing AQS-24 mine-hunting systems. 

The success of the deep tow is now followed by the recently commenced in-water testing of Northrop Grumman’s AQS-24 system on the Navy’s MCM unmanned surface vessel (USV) at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City. This is in preparation for user operated evaluation system testing aboard littoral combat ships next year. The AQS-24’s newly doubled depth capability is planned for integration and test with the MCM USV system. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s program for its next-generation ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN), the Columbia class, is on track to start construction on time, but the program has a tight schedule with little margin for delay, the program manager said. 

“Our biggest risk today is the supplier base,” said Capt. Jon Rucker, program manager for the Columbia SSBN, speaking Oct. 8 at the eighth annual TRIAD Conference in the Washington, D.C., area.  

Rucker pointed out that when construction of the current Ohio class began, a supplier base of 17,000 companies contributed to the materiel and systems for the boat. Today, the Columbia program is pressing forward with only 3,000 suppliers. 

The supply of skilled shipyard workers also is a concern to Rucker. He noted that General Dynamics Electric Boat, the prime contractor for the Columbia, is increasing its workforce to 20,000 from 17,000 workers. But the hiring is drawing skilled workers from naval shipyards that routinely maintain subs and carriers. 

Rucker said that robots have been used in building the Common Missile Compartment for the Columbia class and the U.K. Royal Navy’s Dreadnought-class SSBN. Robots used in welding the missile tubes to the bottom of the hull section took 44 minutes and 8 seconds, compared with 4 days for a human worker. 

Electric Boat has invested $1.8 billion in facilities to build the Columbia class and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division is spending $800 million to $900 million to support the construction, Rucker said.  

About 10 percent of the construction of the lead boat, Columbia, already has begun but its formal start is scheduled for Oct. 1, 2020. The first Columbia SSBN needs to be on patrol by the beginning of fiscal 2031, on Oct. 1, 2030. The program goal is to build each of the following boats of the class in 84 months.  

“We will deliver at least 12 Columbia-class SSBNs by 2042,” Rucker said, with emphasis on “at least.” 

The Navy operates 14 Ohio-class missile submarines, which are scheduled for an extended service life of 42.5 years. The last Ohio-class boat built, USS Louisiana, recently entered its final refueling period to extend its life. The Ohio class is scheduled to begin retirement in 2027. 

“We can’t extend them anymore,” Rucker said. 

Rucker noted that the Columbia program has a high design maturity, with a design that will be 83% at construction start. By contrast, the Ohio design was only 2% complete at construction start.  

“We make sure we keep stable requirements,” he said. 

“We own this platform cradle to grave,” Rucker said, noting that the program office will be responsible for sustainment in addition to construction. 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Coast Guard Cutters Joseph Tezanos and Heriberto Hernandez repatriated 82 migrants from the Dominican Republic and five Haitians to a Dominican navy vessel on Oct. 7 following the interdiction of five illegal migrant voyages in Mona Passage, according to a Coast Guard release. 

Eight other Dominican migrants remain in Puerto Rico to face possible federal prosecution for trying to illegally re-enter the United States. 

The interdictions were a result of ongoing efforts in support of operations Unified Resolve and Caribbean Guard and the Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG). Since Oct. 1, 2018, the Coast Guard and CBIG federal and state partner agencies have interdicted 2,078 migrants at sea near Puerto Rico. 

“The Coast Guard, along with our partners in the Caribbean Border Interagency Group, remains postured with cutters and aircraft to stop illegal maritime migration in the Mona Passage and the Caribbean,” said Capt. Eric King, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Juan. 

The first interdiction took place on the morning of Oct. 4, after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection air and marine operations DHC-8 patrol aircraft crew sighted a migrant boat just off Mona Island. The Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk diverted to the scene and interdicted the 17-foot migrant vessel with 13 Dominican men aboard. Hours later, the crew of a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft detected a second migrant boat near Mona Island. Mohawk interdicted that vessel, which had another 20 Dominican men aboard. 

The third and fourth interdictions took place Oct. 5 after a HC-144 and the crew of a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Borinquen detected two illegal voyages in Mona Passage. Heriberto Hernandez interdicted one of the vessels, which carried 14 Dominican migrants, 12 men and two women, and the other with 34 migrants, including five Haitians, a woman and four men, and 29 Dominicans, 27 men and two women. 

The fifth interdiction took place Oct. 6 after an Ocean Sentry aircraft detected an illegal migrant voyage transiting Mona Passage. The cutter Joseph Tezanos diverted and interdicted a 25-foot makeshift vessel with 14 Dominican migrants aboard, 13 men and a woman. 

Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, assumed custody of the eight migrants awaiting federal prosecution. 

Middletown, R.I. — Rite-Solutions recently was awarded a five-year, $16.8 million contract with Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport to support delivery of a new early warning and electronic support training capability to U.S. submarines, the company said in an Oct. 8 release. 

The company will conduct hardware and software development, including design, analysis, prototyping, integration, test, training and installation services.  

“It is exciting to able to play such a critical role in upgrading the training opportunities for the fleet,” said Ken Haner, senior vice president and director of engineering services at Rite-Solutions. “Together with our teammates, SEA CORP, Northrop Grumman and SIMVENTIONS, we know we have the correct level of expertise and capability to deliver and integrate this new capability in the Submarine Multi-Mission Team Trainer.” 

“This award confirms that Rite-Solutions’ investment in becoming just one of six companies in the United States who are appraised CMMI V2.0 Maturity Level 3, providing a clear value to the Navy,” said Mike Coffey, executive vice president and general manager at Rite-Solutions. 

The emergence of more capable missile threats — more precise
and maneuverable ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles — requires more
capable sensors in space and total integration of all missile defense systems
and sensors in space, on land and at sea, the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) director
said.

That systems integration is particularly important to the
national defense network because “we are running out of islands” in the Pacific
and “there is a lot of space to cover,” Vice Adm. Jon Hill said Oct. 7 at a
Center for Strategic and International Studies forum.

Looking at the Pacific theater, Hill said MDA has been
testing integration of the U.S. Army’s land-based THAAD and Patriot missile
defense systems. “If you tie in the ships that are off the coast, you can
defend against all sorts of threats,” he told the forum.

Hill noted that in the original MDA charter, “we’ve always
been focused on the North Korean threat, focused on the growing Iranian threat.
Now we’re moving to these other threats and different adversaries,” he said, an
apparent reference to Russia and China.

“What we’re finding as we move into the future, our
adversaries are taking a different path” in missile capabilities, with more precision
guidance, hypersonic and cruise missile, he said. “Then you get into the
unpredictability of maneuverability. It’s very challenging. It challenges your
architecture, your fire control, challenges the methods by which you engage.”

“I do believe we are at an inflection point, for our forward-deployed
forces and our friends and allies.

We have to think differently,” Hill said.

Hill showed graphics and explained the latest test of the
Ground-Based, Mid-Course system, which is the main national missile defense
capability with sensors in space, radars on the west coast and in the Pacific
and interceptors in Alaska and California. The March 25 test involved a
simulated ballistic missile with decoys. The simulated warhead and a decoy were
destroyed by two interceptors, guided by a TPY-2 radar on Wake Island, the
sea-based X-band radar and an Aegis-equipped U.S. Navy ship in the Pacific.

The interceptors in that test used the old kill vehicle. Hill
said MDA is still working on detailed requirements before issuing a request for
proposals to industry for the next-generation kill vehicle, after cancelling
the previous attempt at a new interceptor.

He described a recent visit to the Aegis Ashore site in
Romania, where construction is completed and is manned by U.S. Sailors and
Romanian personnel but is not yet operational. When completed, it will join the
Poland-based Aegis-Ashore site and the four Aegis-equipped Arleigh Burke-class
destroyers based in Rota, Spain, as part of the missile defense of NATO allies.

Recently retired Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M.
Richardson advocated getting the Navy out of the dedicated BMD mission, to free
the four destroyers for broader missions.

Hill said MDA recently made the final production decision
for the new SAM-3 Block IIA missile.

He declined to answer questions about the recent
North Korean launch of what may be a submarine-capable missile and the new
missile systems displayed in China’s 70th anniversary parade, referring those
issues to intelligence agencies.