MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – BAE Systems, Inc. has won a U.S. Navy competition to serve as the design agent for the mechanical portion of the Mk41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), the company said in a May 18 release. With this $164 million award, BAE Systems will provide design and support of the system that is embedded in cruisers and destroyers and launches a wide arsenal of offensive and defensive missiles. 

The contract calls for BAE Systems to provide design, development, test, product improvement, and sustaining support for current and legacy VLS systems. BAE Systems will also continue to design and support canisters used to store, transport, and launch the missiles from the VLS. 

“This award demonstrates that BAE Systems is an industry leader when it comes to the VLS solution for the Navy’s fleet of Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers,” said Brent Butcher, vice president of the weapon systems product line at BAE Systems. “Going forward this contract secures our role in providing the Navy with cutting- edge design and engineering supporting this critical warfighting capability.” 

The Mk41 VLS is capable of launching a broad range of missiles, including the Standard Missile SM-2, SM-3, and SM-6 variants; the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile; the NATO Seasparrow and Evolved Seasparrow; and the Vertical Launch Anti-Submarine Rocket. 

The Mk 41 VLS is also deployed with the navies of Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey. 

Work on this contract begins immediately and will primarily be performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Two U.S. Navy training jets collided in mid-air over Texas on May 17, but all four crew members survived. 

Two T-45C Goshawk training jets assigned to Training Air Wing Two, collided over Ricardo, Texas, at approximately 11:00 am. Central Time, the chief of naval air training (CNATRA) said in a Facebook post. The pilots are assigned to Training Squadron 22, one of two T-45C squadrons based at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas. 

“One aircraft was able to safely land at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, and the other aircraft’s instructor and student pilot safely ejected about nine miles south of Kingsville in Ricardo, Texas,” CNATRA said. “One pilot was taken to CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Kleberg for minor injuries. The incident is currently under investigation and the U.S. Navy is cooperating fully with local authorities.” 

The T-45Cs were part of a three-plane formation flight. 

According to an unofficial count, a total of 31 T-45s of 222 built have been lost in mishaps since the type began service in 1991, an average of one per year. 

LONDON — The U.S. Navy has turned to global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin and enterprise applications company IFS to deliver an intelligent maintenance product that will help power its digital transformation of multiple legacy systems into a single, fully modernized and responsive logistics information system. The system will ensure personnel spend more time focused on the mission and less on aircraft and ship repairs. 
 
The IFS system comprises capabilities for planning and executing maintenance, repair, and overhaul of more than 3,000 assets including aircraft, ships, and land-based equipment. The Naval Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (N-MRO) product combines artificial intelligence (AI), digital twin capabilities and predictive analytics to anticipate and react to potential equipment failures before they happen, which will contribute to the enhanced support of maintenance, supply logistics, real-time fleet management and other business functions for more than 200,000 sailors. 
 
Following a comprehensive and competitive evaluation process, the U.S. Navy selected Lockheed Martin together with IFS’s acclaimed industry-specific functionality already used by some of the world’s largest aerospace and defense organizations. With the added support of software developer Beast Code, the system will initially be fielded at multiple U.S. Navy sites to help sailors and Marine Corps maintainers break down operational silos and work towards a common maintenance workflow across all ship and aircraft platforms.  
 
The digital transformation of the U.S. Navy’s maintenance systems will see a consolidation of assets and parts data in a central repository visualized to the users through an intuitive, mobile-friendly experience. This initiative will lead to increased data accuracy, streamlined workflows and ultimately less asset downtime and fewer unscheduled maintenance events. Enabling total asset readiness through N-MRO will ensure information is always readily available to help the U.S. Navy achieve its desired materiel readiness and operational availability objectives. For instance, Navy personnel will be empowered to document faults, request parts and report work completion at the point of maintenance, thereby reducing asset downtime while increasing data accuracy as an enabler of enhanced planning and procurement. 
 
“Our goal is to provide capabilities that create real value across the Navy’s complex, multi-site operations and optimize its mission-critical maintenance processes,” said Reeves Valentine, Lockheed Martin vice president of Enterprise Sustainment Solutions. “We want to empower Navy personnel with tools that are easy and effective to use with intuitive interfaces, streamlined workflows and timesaving, intelligent features. IFS distinguished itself by providing all of these capabilities through a single, commercial-off-the-shelf solution.” 
 
Scott Helmer, president, Aerospace & Defense, IFS, added, “We are proud to be part of N-MRO, which will set a new global standard for total asset readiness and the way defense organizations manage asset maintenance and logistics, both ashore and afloat. A&D [aerospace and defense] has been a key focus industry at IFS for decades and this landmark deal stands as testament to the success of our long-term strategy and determination. Working with Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy, we are already making great strides and look forward to a long and successful collaboration.” 

CHANDLER, Ariz.–Northrop Grumman Corp. has been awarded a production contract option for 18 additional GQM-163A “Coyote” supersonic sea-skimming target vehicles, the company announced in a May 14 release. 

This award represents the first of three options that can be exercised against the full-rate production contract awarded last year. The $55.4 million award brings the GQM-163A targets ordered to date to 218. 

“We are committed to supporting U.S. Navy fleet readiness with our high performance, supersonic Coyote target vehicles,” said Rich Straka, vice president, launch vehicles, Northrop Grumman. “Our design integrates a solid-fuel, air-breathing ducted rocket propulsion system with high performance avionics capable of emulating multiple scenarios to prepare and protect our warfighters against evolving threats.” 

Northrop Grumman designed and developed the Coyote starting in the early 2000s, with the first flight in 2003. The company has since delivered 124 targets to the U.S. Navy and successfully launched them 81 times. To create efficiencies and save time for the production of this target system, the company uses 3D printing technology to build mockups and tooling, and to prototype design modifications. 

The Coyote program is managed by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. The Coyote provides the Navy with a cost-effective target to simulate advanced supersonic anti-ship cruise missile threats. It can be used as a Mach 2.5+ sea skimming target or as a Mach 3.5+ diving target from an altitude of 52,000 feet; the target vehicle is also able to perform high G turns. 

The Coyote is designed and built at Northrop Grumman’s state-of-the-art launch vehicle production facility in Chandler, Arizona and launches from San Nicholas Island, California; Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top officer said reaching a production rate of three Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines a year will be a challenge for a number of reasons. 

“I do think that three a year is a challenge,” said Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations (CNO), speaking May 13 at the McAleese FY2022 Defense Programs Conference. “I think that industry recognizes that three a year is a challenge.  

“I do think that the analysis that was done highlighted the fact that, look, we believe we have an advantage right now under the sea,” Gilday said. “We need to maintain that advantage. [The attack submarine is] our most survivable strike platform. It performs a heavy lift for us across the world right now. We need to double down on it, if you will.” 

The Navy has too few attack submarines (SSNs) to meet more than half of the requirements of the regional combatant commanders, according to testimony before Congress in recent years. The Navy is facing a shortage in attack submarines that will become more severe during the mid-2020s because submarine production is too low to replace the Los Angeles-class SSNs that are being decommissioned. The Navy plans to extend the service lives of several Los Angeles-class boats to partially mitigate the shortfall. Accelerating procurement of the Virginia class from two to three boats per year, a move supported by key members of Congress, also would help alleviate the shortfall.  

Production now is underway on the first Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN), which is the Navy’s top procurement priority in that the strategic deterrence is the Navy’s No. 1 mission. The cost of the Columbia class is putting the Navy budget planning under heavy pressure, making the affordability of three Virginia SSNs per year a budget challenge. The capacity of the two submarine builders — General Dynamic’s Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding — in terms of available infrastructure and skilled workers also raises questions about the ability to squeeze and other SSN in a given year. The addition of the Virginia Payload Module, which adds expense to the Block 5 of the Virginia class, also pressurizes the shipbuilding budget. 

“So, it’s really a challenge to industry,” Gilday said. “Can we get to a place where we produce three a year? I do think that is a challenge. Right now, the answer is we can’t produce three a year. We hope we get to a place where we could, but it’s also going to come down to affordability with respect to what the [budget] topline is, and how much money we have left for affordable growth with respect to capacity.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — While Pentagon planners and lawmakers puzzle over which platforms to retire and which to keep in service in the coming decades, it’s important to balance competing priorities of readiness to meet current threats as well as preparing for ones yet to be imagined, the second-highest ranking civilian in the U.S. Navy says.

It’s a “false dilemma” to say the Navy Department has to choose between current readiness and future readiness,” James “Hondo” Geurts said May 12 at the McAleese Associates FY2022 Defense Programs Conference webinars. “We have to do both of them. Balance is really important, particularly in today’s operational environment,” where thousands of Marines are forward deployed in the first island chain of the Pacific, and a third of the fleet is at sea.   

Geurts, until Jan. 21 the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, was designated as performing the duties of Under Secretary of the Navy in February by acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker. In the new role of principal assistant to the Secretary, Geurts acts as chief operating officer and chief management officer for the department.

Navigating the great power competition, in what is expected to be an era of shrinking defense budgets, will require resilience in dealing with cyber, climate and competition challenges, Geurts said, as well as balancing “how we think about future readiness in things like remotely crewed or unmanned systems with today’s manned systems.”

Geurts said that question has weighed on him for the last two years, but he was encouraged by the Unmanned Campaign framework released by the Navy and Marine Corps March 16. He also said he was feeling positive “that we have started the right motions, people are thinking about it,” but he wants to see improvement in the “scale and speed” at which technology discoveries move from development to deployment with the fleet.

As for the issue of retiring older platforms like cruisers and amphibious warfare ships, to make way for new technologies, a hot topic on Capitol Hill, Geurts said he wouldn’t discuss specifics until the Biden administration’s first defense budget is released. However, “we’re looking at what’s that right balance of keeping things while they’re still useful, but not keeping things to the point where they’re not adding value to the missions we see going forward,” Geurts said, adding “we want to maximize the return on investments made and maybe in new and interesting ways.”

He noted that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday has been outspoken about continuing to use Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) in the Western Pacific. “There is a place for it. We just need to be creative in how do we maximize that previous investment going forward,” Geurts said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is finding the modernization of its Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers (CGs) its primary challenge in surface ship sustainment, a senior admiral said. 

“The cruisers across the force are 30 to 35 years old,” said Vice Adm. William Galinis, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command, speaking May 12 as the McAleese Associates FY2022 Defense Programs Conference webinars. “What we’re seeing is the ships’ infrastructure — the hull systems, the piping — that we’re having the biggest challenges with.” 

The cruisers “are — hands down — probably our toughest class of ship to maintain, followed by the LSD class [dock landing ships],” he said. 

In 2015, Congress approved the CG Phased Modernization Plan for seven cruisers, which, like the Cruiser Modernization (CG Mod) program, introduces new warfighting capabilities, improves material condition and readiness, replaces obsolete equipment, and reduces total ownership costs through technology insertion. Cowpens and Gettysburg were inducted into the program in 2015, Vicksburg and Chosin in 2016, Anzio and Cape St. George in 2017 and Hue City in 2019.    

Galinis said currently there are five CGs going through modernization, four of which are well into what he termed the “big modernization availability,” the third of three availabilities each cruiser is to go through in its path to modernization, the first being “removal of equipment and the start of structural repairs” and the second focused on structural repairs. The third availability got into the modernization piece. 

“I’ll be honest with you: we’re having our challenges with the first three ships,” Galinis said. “We’ve got two on the East Coast, one in San Diego, and the fourth ship is up in Seattle.” 

He said a fifth cruiser is soon to be inducted into the third phase later in 2021. 

The admiral noted that the CG in Seattle “frankly is doing fairly well.” 

He said there were a “lot of lessons learned from the first to the second to the third ship and then the fourth ship.” 

OAK HARBOR, Wash. – Sailors from Patrol Squadron Nine (VP-9) returned home to family and friends after a successful deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations, the U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs said in a May 10 release. 

VP-9 deployed to Cooperative Security Location Comalapa, El Salvador, last October to support Joint Interagency Task Force South’s mission, which includes counter illicit drug trafficking in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Flying 1,060 mishap-free flight hours in the P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft, the Golden Eagles coordinated with U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and partner nation surface forces to disrupt more than 38,000 kilograms of cocaine and 18,000 pounds of marijuana worth a street value in excess of $2.7 billion dollars. 
 
“The Golden Eagles lived up to their reputation of operational prowess and mission success,” said Capt. Matthew Pottenburgh, commander of Task Force 47. “They flawlessly executed all the types of missions we train for as maritime patrol aviators which helped people in need and strengthened partnerships with our friends in the region.” 
 
Additionally, VP-9 provided support to two major hurricanes Eta and Iota off the coast of Honduras. Both hurricanes brought heavy rains, severe flooding, and landslides to many of the same areas. VP-9 flew reconnaissance missions in support of disaster response operations, providing real-time information to decision makers to ensure the proper flow of aid to the most severely impacted regions of the country. 
 
The Golden Eagles also participated in several training opportunities, specifically a tri-lateral anti-submarine warfare exercise with forces from Colombia and Peru. Planned in a pandemic environment with no face-to-face meetings, VP-9’s performance enhanced interoperability with two of our key partners and increased the naval warfighting readiness for all three navies. 
 
“The hallmark of VP-9’s deployment was seamless coordination,” said Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet.  The squadrons are vital to our mission and our partner nation relationships.”   
 
U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet supports U.S. Southern Command’s joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American region. 

WASHINGTON (NNS) – Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday traveled to Bath, Maine, May 10 to visit Bath Iron Works with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, his public affairs officer said in a release. 

“One of the most important reasons I am in Maine today is to ensure every person here knows their work is critically important to our Navy,” said Gilday. “DDGs [guided-missile destroyers] are the workhorse of our Fleet, and simply put, you can’t get to the fight if you don’t have ships to sail there. To the entire workforce here at Bath Iron Works who are responsible for helping us generate warfighting readiness, you have my profound thanks.” 

During the trip, Gilday and the Senators saw Bath Iron Works’ shipyard facilities, toured and met with Sailors aboard USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118). 

“It was a pleasure to host Admiral Gilday in Maine to tour Bath Iron Works,” said Collins.  “I am proud of the highly skilled employees at BIW who build the best ships in the world.  Today’s visit provided Adm. Gilday with the opportunity to see firsthand the impressive work that they do to provide our sailors with high quality and technologically advanced destroyers.  As a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I will continue to be a strong advocate for the shipyard, and I look forward to working with the Navy to increase the size and capabilities of our fleet.” 

During the tour they also visited the Bath Iron Works Training Academy, which teaches new workers to become pipefitters, welders, tinsmiths, and other tradespeople.  

“I’ve long believed that ‘one day of seeing is better than one hundred days of reading.’ Today, the CNO lived by that mantra by coming to get a firsthand look at the important work being done at Bath Iron Works,” said King. “The ships being built at BIW are the workhorses of the Navy, playing an outsized role in our national defense, and they’re all the product of the skill and dedication of Maine’s shipbuilders. I’m grateful to the CNO for taking the time to visit BIW, which is an essential part of our national defense infrastructure and a major economic engine for the state of Maine. In the months ahead, I will continue collaborating with Navy leaders and my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee to ensure that this shipyard has the tools it need to continue bolstering our national defense and supporting thousands of good-paying jobs for families throughout Maine.” 

The visit marked CNO’s first trip to Bath Iron Works. 

RESTON, Va. — Rolls-Royce has been selected to supply its MTU naval generator sets for phase one of the U.S. Navy’s Constellation (FFG 62)- class frigate program, previously known as the FFG(X) program. Rolls-Royce has received a contract for the first shipset to provide four MTU naval generator sets, each rated at 3000 kWe at 1800 rpm. 

The Navy Constellation-class frigate is a multi-mission warship designed for operation in littoral and blue water environments to conduct air, anti-submarine, surface and electronic warfare, in addition to information operations. The generator sets are based on the MTU 20V 4000 M53B engine and provide a total power output of 12 MW for propulsion and on-board power supply. 

“We’re very proud that Fincantieri Marinette Marine has placed its trust in our mtu naval generator sets for this important program,” said Adam Wood, director, Government Sales North America at Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems. “We have a legacy of strong support for our partners in both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, and we are honored to be selected for FFG 62. There is no doubt that our systems will perform to the high expectations and unique demands of the U.S. Navy Constellation class.” 

The flexible design engineering of the frigate’s CODLAG propulsion system will allow for energy-efficient diesel power generation for propulsion at normal cruising speeds with extended range, while enhancing anti-submarine capability in its extremely quiet diesel-electric configuration. When completed, the lead ship will be nearly 500 feet long, accommodate up to 200 Sailors and be capable of sustained speeds of more than 26 knots.  

Fincantieri Marinette Marine of Marinette, Wisconsin, was awarded the build contract for the project, which includes the design and construction of the lead ship and the option to build up to 10 ships in total for phase one. A potential planned second phase would include another 10 ships.  

Construction on the first ship is expected to begin later this year.