ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has ordered nine E-2D Advanced Hawkeye from Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. for the government of Japan.  

According to a Sept. 26 Defense Department contract announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. a $1.36 billion firm fixed-price contract modification for the production and delivery of the nine E-2Ds. The contract was awarded under Foreign Military Sales. 

Earlier, in May 2019, Northrop Grumman delivered the first of four E-2Ds ordered under a 2014 contract.  

The E-2Ds will equip the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, which currently operates the older E-2C version.  

The E-2D features the Lockheed Martin APY-9 radar with a two-generation leap in capability and upgraded aircraft systems that improve supportability and increase readiness. Another notable upgrade is the glass cockpit. The three 17-inch liquid crystal display panels enable either the pilot or co-pilot to become a fourth tactical operator — when not actively engaged in flying the aircraft — to give the crew more flexibility in performing its diverse missions.

BOSTON — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca returned home to Boston on Sept. 27 after a 93-day patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard 1st District said in a release. 

Seneca intercepted three drug smuggling vessels transporting cocaine from South America that were bound for the United States. The interdictions during this patrol resulted in the apprehension of nine suspected narcotics traffickers and more than 12,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of nearly $174 million dollars. 

“Counter-drug operations are a vital component to the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security’s mission and our national security,” said Cmdr. John Christensen, commanding officer of the Seneca. “I am exceptionally proud of this crew who, over the course of the last three months, rose above the challenges of conducting operations at sea, persevered through many personal sacrifices and showed an unwavering dedication to serving our nation.” 

Throughout the patrol, Seneca rescued 22 Haitian Migrants, conducted joint exercises with the Honduran navy, transited the Panama Canal and spent several months combating illicit narcotics smuggling across the eastern Pacific with a deployed armed Coast Guard helicopter team from Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron Jacksonville. 

These interdictions were in support of Operation Martillo, a regional initiative targeting illicit trafficking that threatens security and prosperity at the national, regional and international levels. 

HONOLULU — The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned the newest Hawaii-based 154-foot fast response cutter (FRC) in Honolulu on Sept. 26, according to a Coast Guard 14th District release. 

“There is no greater reflection of the commandant’s strategic vision and commitment than the fact that as we commission the William Hart today, it will be the fifth Coast Guard cutter commissioned in the last two years here at Base Honolulu that will operate in the heart of Oceania,” said Rear Adm. Kevin Lunday, commander of the 14th District. 

“There is no question that by our actions and not our words alone, the Coast Guard is here and committed along with the rest of the United States in the Pacific.”  

The Coast Guard Cutter William Hart (WPC 1134) is the third Sentinel-Class FRC to be homeported at Coast Guard Base Honolulu. While these ships’ crews call Honolulu home, they will operate throughout the 14th Coast Guard District, which covers more than 14 million square miles of land and sea, with units in Hawaii, American Samoa, Saipan, Guam, Singapore and Japan. 

The FRCs are some of the newest Coast Guard vessels to come online, replacing the aging Island-Class patrol boat fleet. The FRCs represent the Coast Guard’s commitment to modernizing service assets to address the increasingly complex global maritime transportation system. 

William Hart “is a remarkable ship with increased seakeeping, endurance, range, combat capability, telecommunications, everything about this is a game-changer for the Coast Guard,” Lunday said. 

FRCs feature advanced systems as well as over-the-horizon response boat deployment capability and improved habitability for the crew. The ships can accommodate a team of 24, reach speeds of 28 knots with a range of 2,500 nautical miles and patrol up to five days. 

Recently, FRCs already stationed in Honolulu participated in longer over-the-horizon voyages to the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Samoa, displaying the potential of these cutters and their importance to the Coast Guard’s overall Pacific strategy and regional partnerships. 

The crew took delivery of the William Hart, which was built by Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, in Key West, Florida, and arrived in Honolulu on Aug. 17. Three more FRCs are scheduled to be homeported in Guam, increasing the 14th Coast Guard District’s total number of the cutters to six. Servicewide, the Coast Guard is acquiring 56 FRCs to replace the 110-foot Island-class patrol boats. 

William C. Hart, the cutter’s namesake, was a Gold Lifesaving Medal recipient who rescued a crewmember of the tug Thomas Tracy. 

In November 1926, Hart dove into the water in a 70-mph gale off Absecon, New Jersey, to save the mariner, who went overboard in the storm. Throughout the 1930s, Hart served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before returning to the Coast Guard in 1939, advancing to the rank of chief petty officer and serving as a boatswain’s mate.

When the United States entered World War II, he was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade and saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He served as commanding officer and executive officer for several ships before retiring from the Coast Guard as a lieutenant commander in 1950.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Raytheon has demonstrated the ability to detect and identify a mine-like object and position an unmanned underwater vehicle to be in position to neutralize it, a company official said on Sept. 26. 

The Aug. 29 “detect to engage” demonstration was one event in the Navy’s ANTX (Advanced Naval Technology Exercise) 2019 held at Newport, Rhode Island. 

“We view it as a tremendous success,” Andy Wilde, director of strategy and business development for Raytheon Undersea, said in an interview with Seapower. He said it was a “great example of the great work the Navy and industry can do when we co-invest in critically important projects like this to solve very, very difficult problems.”  

Wilde cited the success as an example of a “high-velocity outcome” of a “best-of-breed” technology being rapidly prototyped and tested and able to be fielded very quickly, a process championed by former Chief of Naval Operations John M. Richardson. 

Raytheon’s AQS-20C towed sonar was pulled through the water by a surplus riverine craft acting as a surrogate for the Textron-built MCM unmanned surface vehicle (MCMUSV) that will be a component of the MCM mission package for the littoral combat ship (LCS). 

Under the concept, an MCMUSV is launched from an LCS and deploys the AQS-20C. Once a possible sea mine is detected by the AQS-20C’s synthetic aperture sonar, a Barracuda expendable semi-autonomous mine neutralization unmanned undersea vehicle is — on the same pass — launched into the water from a A-size sonobuoylauncher on the MCMUSV. 

The Barracuda deploys a float that serves as an RF datalink to the CUSV and an acoustic data link to the Barracuda. The tactical mission plan is downloaded from the LCS to the Barracuda via the CUSV. The Barracuda starts a search track and, once it acquires a mine, it maintains position at the mine. The operator on the LCS confirms the object is a mine and commands the Barracuda to detonate the mine with a charge. The MCMUSV would then continue its mission on its planned track. 

During the demonstration, the towed AQS-20C detected a mine-like object moored in Narragansett Bay. The surface craft launched a Nemo, the prototype of the Barracuda developed with the Office of Naval Research. The Nemo located the mine-like object and hovered with it, keeping station. Having transmitted imagery of the mine-like object to the control station, the Barracuda was commanded to touch the mine-like object to simulate firing a shaped charge, Wilde said. 

Wilde said the Barracuda has station-keeping technology that enables it to remain position to fire the shaped charge at the mine even in currents that cause a moored mine to sift position on its tether. 

In an Aug. 15 interview, Wilde said that unmanned systems will revolutionize mine countermeasures (MCM) that currently take weeks or months to clear minefields and put minesweepers at risk. The Navy is developing an MCM mission package for the littoral combat ship that will rely largely on unmanned systems. 

He also said the MCM mission concept could be expanded to other missions, including by use of a B-size sonobuoy launcher with other payloads. The AQS-20C sonar is now in production. Raytheon is developing the engineering developmentmodels of the Barracuda and recently completed the Navy’s preliminary designreview.  

Wilde said Raytheon is in discussions with the Navy about other missions to which the Barracuda could be applied. 

FAIRFAX, Va. — General Dynamics Mission Systems has equipped the USS Gabrielle Giffords with new over-the-horizon missile capability in support of the Chief of Naval Operations’ mandate to increase littoral combat ships’ lethality and survivability, according to a Sept. 26 company release. 

The integration of the Mk87 Mod 0 over-the-horizon Naval Strike Missile (NSM) aboard the USS Gabrielle Giffords, an Independence-variant LCS, strengthens the ship’s mission readiness and defensive capabilities. 

General Dynamics was able to integrate the NSM system by determining equipment placement, adapting the ship’s navigation system to provide unique signals to the missile system, designing the operational station in the Integrated Command Center, designing the system for providing specialized power to the Mk87 and conducting all of the analyses necessary for a safe and effective system. The General Dynamics team, including Austal USA, designed structures and foundations and accomplished the installation in San Diego. 

“The open-architecture design of the ship’s computing environment and electronic systems made the design and integration of the new NSM system feasible in an accelerated timeline,” said Carlo Zaffanella, vice president and general manager of maritime and strategic systems at General Dynamics Mission Systems.   

The NSM, produced by Kongsberg and managed in the United States by Raytheon, is a long-range, precision-strike weapon that can find and destroy enemy ships at distances up to 100 nautical miles.  

In addition to the USS Gabrielle Giffords, General Dynamics will serve as the prime contractor for the integration and installation of the NSM capability on all Independence-variant LCSs already in service. 

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division and the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the company said in a Sept. 25 release. This was Esper’s first visit to the shipyard since he was sworn in to lead the Pentagon in July. 

Esper toured Ford to see the progress being made during the ship’s post-shakedown availability and to learn more about its weapons-handling innovations and increased warfighting capabilities. 

“Our shipbuilders play a vital role in building our Navy’s future fleet,” said Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding. “We appreciate that Secretary Esper took the time to visit our operations and Ford to see firsthand how we are working with our Navy partners to redeliver the newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that will be the centerpiece of our nation’s security strategy for decades to come.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The planned upgrade of the nuclear warhead on some U.S. Navy submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has been delayed for 18 months by unacceptable reliability of some components.  

Testifying Sept. 25 on Capitol Hill before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces, Charles P. Verdon, deputy administrator for defense programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), said that during stress tests to certify some electrical components of the weapons, some capacitors for the Navy’s W88 Alteration 370 warhead for the Trident D5LE SLBM and the Air Force’s B61 Mod 12 nuclear bomb did not meet the stringent reliability requirements. The capacitors were commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components.  

Verdon said a blue-ribbon panel established by NNSA formed to study the matter “advised in June 2019 that the prudent approach was to accept the delay of these programs and replace these components rather than risk component failure in future years.”    

The recommendations were accepted by NNSA at that time, Verdon said, noting that NNSA is developing a specific production schedule and initial operational capability dates are being explored. 

Verdon said the capacitor of insufficient reliability was a $5 part, whereas the replacement capacitor — being built to a new standard that did not exist at the time the original capacitors were procured — cost $75. Although the figures for program delays are not yet final, he said the delay would cost NNSA an additional $120 million to $150 million for the W88 Alt 370 and $600 million to $700 million for the B61 bomb. 

Verdon also said the additional costs could be mitigated by balancing the workload within NNSA’s modernization portfolio. He said that any increase in funding would not be needed until fiscal 2021. 

Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, the Navy’s director of strategic systems programs, also testifying before the committee, said the upgrades for the W88 Alt 370 begun in 2008 focused on procuring the arming, fuzing and firing units and replacing the warhead’s high explosives. He said the installation of the Alt 370 was delayed to a start of December 2019, “removing any schedule margin for the refurbishment effort.” 

He said the Navy and NNSA are planning for about an 18-month delay to the Alt 370 program and that the Navy is working with the ballistic-missile submarine fleet’s operational commander, U.S Strategic Command, to mitigate the effect of the delays and ensure that the nation’s strategic requirements are met on schedule. 

“We will meet the requirements as we move forward,” Wolfe said. 

Verdon said that “[a]s a root cause, we identified that our methodology for the insertion of COTS components into high-reliability, long-life nuclear warheads needs to be improved” to avoid such future delays. 

He said the NNSA “underestimated the variability between lots” in COTS-procured capacitors.  

A closed classified session was held by the subcommittee following the open hearing. 

QUANTICO, Va. — The return of the Marine Corps to the concept of the Fleet Marine Force means that the Marines must be active in defense of amphibious forces for amphibious missions to be successful, a Marine Corps official said. 

Col. Kurt Schiller, director of Air Combat Element/Maritime Expeditionary Warfare Division, Combat Capabilities Directorate, speaking last week at the Modern Day Marine expo at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, said that “Marines cannot just be passengers” on amphibious or prepositioning ships … “but need to help with fleet defense.” 

“We need better self-defense capability on these L-class [amphibious warfare] ships,” he said. 

Schiller discussed several trends that he has noted in the current and future amphibious platforms, some of which are problems being remedied and some which need addressing in an era of great power competition. 

He sees a rise in force protection risks because of an adversary’s more long-range precision munitions and more ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capabilities, including unmanned aerial vehicles. 

Second, insufficient platform availability limits the number of amphibious ships that can deploy on short notice. “We just don’t have enough of them and can’t keep them afloat as much as we’d like,” he said.  

Third, he noted insufficient capacity in the digital domain and the ability of adversaries “to take out our command and control systems.”   

Fourth, Schiller noted “insufficient planning and coordination spaces on the ships. There’s not enough space on the ships for all of the things we want to do.”  

Fifth, he said that amphibious warfare ships need the C5I [command, control, communications, computers and combat] systems that enable them to operate independently from an amphibious ready group.  

Sixth, amphibious warfare ships likely will need to handle greater capacity with regards to Marine Corps equipment, like the F-35 strike fighter, MV-22 Osprey aircraft and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, all of which are heavier than their predecessors.  

“All the Marine [Corps] systems are getting heavier,” Schiller said. 

He also noted a decreased readiness and capacity of old landing craft. The Navy is in the process of procuring new LCAC 100-class ship-to-shore connectors and new utility landing craft. 

RESTON, Va. — Leidos’ unmanned ship, Sea Hunter, was recently featured in a major demonstration using an advanced sensor, the company said in a Sept. 19 release. 

The new milestone comes less than a year after the ship voyaged from San Diego to Hawaii with no personnel on board. Including the return trip, this transit covered about 5,000 nautical miles. 

The Office of Naval Research project was supported by the Naval Information Warfare Center-Pacific, Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Newport and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to explore how unmanned vehicles can be used as a naval force multiplier and allow warships to be available for other missions. 

The exercise also showcased the open architecture and flexibility of Sea Hunter, which has hosted a variety of mission payloads, including airborne sensors. 

“This exercise offered valuable lessons learned on how to take full advantage of a medium unmanned surface vehicle, with no personnel on board,” said Nevin Carr, Leidos Navy’s strategic account executive. “Autonomous vessels, especially when combined with artificial intelligence, have the potential to impact naval warfare in ways yet to be discovered.” 

About 3,000 servicemembers took part in the Arctic
Expeditionary Capabilities Exercise (AECE), which just concluded in Alaska.

AECE is a manifestation of the joint Navy and Marine
Corps Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE) concept, issued in
2017, which calls for the creation of Littoral Combat Forces (LCFs) of various
units to conduct specific missions.

The exercise commander was Rear Adm. Cedric Pringle,
commander of Expeditionary Strike Group Three. The LCF construct provides a
multifunction command and control force that can be ashore or embarked at sea
or both.

For AECE, the LCF headquarters was established at Joint
Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, and the operating forces were divided
into Littoral Combat Groups 1 and 2, with those commanders embarked aboard USS
Somerset (LPD 25), carrying a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force
(SP-MAGTF), and USS Comstock (LSD 45), respectively.

Speaking to reporters Sept. 23, Pringle said AECE was a
“natural evolution” of the Pacific Blitz exercise, held in March in California,
which exercised the LCF construct. But, he said, AECE was conducted in
“unfamiliar territory,” with wider range of assets than what he usually has
available to him with his expeditionary strike group and more adverse weather
conditions.

Like Pacific Blitz, the Navy-Marine Corps team was fully
integrated. But as the exercise was planned, both U.S. Air Force and Coast
Guard assets were included.

The U.S. Alaskan Command hosted the AECE command element
at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Operations were taking place
in Seward, about 125 miles away, and Adak, 1,200 miles away, as well as off the
Silver Strand at Coronado, California.

AECE included mine-clearance operations at Seward and an
air assault on the airfield at Adak to establish a site for fueling and
rearming of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.  Support at Anchorage was provided by the
Alaska National Guard. The Coast Guard embarked an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter on
USS Somerset, and an HC-130 Hercules from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak
supported AECE with search-and-rescue capability and aerial refueling,
respectively. Coast Guard Cutter Douglas Munro (WHEC-724) supported search-and-rescue
operations and securities and enforcement in Adak. The Air Force C-130 aircraft
was able to fly to Adak with a medical team aboard to quickly evacuate a Sailor
in need of a higher level of care.

The exercise provided an opportunity to use platforms in
nontraditional roles and to bring together forces that do not usually operate
together.

“We had to find a way to have unity of command and
effort,” Pringle said. “This was all new.”

A key element to expeditionary operations is logistics
and what Pringle called the “ability to push fuel to forces ashore.” AECE
included the deployment of the offshore petroleum discharge system (OPDS) and a
forward arming and refueling point (FARP).

“To be able to get here, do expeditionary operations and
test our logistics capabilities made AECE a phenomenal opportunity to exercise
muscles we don’t usually exercise,” Pringle said.

USS Comstock transported the ABLTS system from San Diego
to Seward — the first time an amphibious ship was used to transport the ABLTS —
and demonstrated the capability by pumping water from a barge to a “fuel farm”
consisting of three 20,000-gallon bladders. 
The system can support combat operations or provide humanitarian
assistance as a part of the Navy’s Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA)
mission. 

“If a natural disaster were to take out a coastal town’s
power, gas stations or drinkable water anywhere in the world, we could fill a
barge and send it to the affected region,” Pringle explained. “Systems like
ABLTS and our ability to transfer thousands of gallons of liquids like drinkable
water or fuel are critical during contingencies, crises response or
humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”

Adak offered challenging and variable wind and sea
conditions. “The winds and seas dictated changes almost faster that we could
execute,” Pringle said. “One day we had winds up to 50 knots, with 15-foot
waves and a ceiling below 1,000 feet, and the next day it was clear and calm,
with 2-foot seas.”

Pringle said the equipment held up well in the harsh
surroundings. “We had one issue with a helicopter, but that actually was a good
thing, because we got to flex our maintenance capability.”

He said the Navy and Marine Corps learned a great deal
from their Air Force and Coast Guard counterparts. “The Air Force and Coast
Guard are always here. They know the environment better than we do.”

Apart from the periodic submerged Ice Exercise (ICEX) submarine transits of the Arctic Ocean, the sea services do not have a significant amount of current experience in extreme latitudes. The Navy and Marine Corps participated in the multinational exercise Trident Juncture last fall in and around Norway, and the Marines work with their Norwegian counterparts on a regular basis. But the last major exercise in Alaska was Kernel Potlach in 1987, and that was the first winter amphibious operation in the Aleutian Islands since the end of World War II.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz all visited Alaska to see AECE firsthand.

“Alaska is one of the best training venues we have,”
Spencer said while in Seward. “The location is tremendously strategic when it
comes to protecting the homeland, and training here is extremely important to
the Navy’s Arctic strategy. We need to conduct exercises like AECE to continue
pushing our joint force into the future and continue pursuing innovation within
the force.”

Vice Adm. John B. Alexander, commander of the U.S. 3rd
Fleet, also came to Alaska to see the exercise. “AECE provided our Navy and
Marine Corps team an opportunity to test our collective ability to plan,
communicate and conduct complex amphibious and expeditionary combat support
operations in a challenging austere environment,” he said. “The training and
experience we gained from AECE will help ensure that we remain a lethal and
capable fighting force and that we are able to conduct defense support of civil
authorities in the event of a crisis or disaster at home.”

While the conditions in and around Alaska were more
challenging that what might be encountered off California, Pringle admits it
could have been worse. “This is September. We understand it’s not this nice here
in winter.”

But, he said, that’s the point.

“We need to find hard venues and prove we can do it.”