PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The Specialized and Proven Aircraft program office (PMA-226) recently completed a modification on several U.S. Navy F-16A Fighting Falcon aircraft to increase readiness and service life, according to Naval Air Systems Command. 

The FalconUp modification improves F-16A readiness by extending their fatigue lives by more than 500 hours and provides the configuration baseline to incorporate the funded Falcon Star program, which adds an additional 3,750 hours to the service lives of the aircraft. 

“The FalconUp upgrade incorporates structural improvements that extend the service life of the aircraft from 3,665 hours to 4,250 hours,” said Capt. Ramiro Flores, PMA-226’s program manager. “The program procured and installed proven structural modification kits on 10 U.S. Navy aircraft that enhanced and strengthened their internal structure.” 

PMA-226 used a rapid acquisition approach, in this case a build-to-print strategy to minimize risk and eliminate the need for test plans, systems engineering plans and design reviews. Build-to-print is a process in which a manufacturer produces products, equipment or components according to the customer’s exact specifications. 

The program office leveraged existing designs that the U.S. Air Force and international partners have used to install the modification and have been including it in production of the F-16 for more than two decades. The Navy competitively awarded the contract to ES3 Prime Logistics Group Inc., which has previously manufactured the same components for the Air Force and PMA-226. 

“Since the proven design has flown thousands of hours in this configuration, and it doesn’t require expansion of the current flight envelope, we were able to deliver this training capability to the warfighter much faster than a traditional program,” said Lt. Cmdr. Heather Bliss, PMA-226 adversary program team co-lead. 

“The upgrade allows the Navy to provide mission ready adversary aircraft for Naval aviation advanced tactical and aerial combat training, extending the operational life of the F-16A through 2025,” said Boyd Forsythe, PMA-226 adversary program team lead.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Naval Air Systems Command has ordered two MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft and provided funds to continue the modernization of the Osprey fleet. 

According to the Feb. 28 Pentagon contract announcement, NAVAIR awarded Bell-Boeing a $165.3 million contract under the fiscal 2020 defense budget for the two MV-22Bs and for repairs to the existing Osprey fleet under the Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program. 

The CC-RAM program is designed to reduce about 70 different sub-configurations of the Osprey fleet to standard configurations. Most of the existing Osprey fleet is the Block B configuration. Bell-Boeing delivered the first of 129 Block B MV-22Bs to be converted to Block C standards to the Marine Corps on Dec. 10.  

The Block C incorporates upgrades added as a result of lessons learned in combat deployments of the Osprey. The upgrades include improved cockpit displays, a display in the passenger/cargo cabin, chaff and flare dispensers and a weather radar. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy will christen its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Cooperstown (LCS 23), during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony on Feb. 29 in Marinette, Wisconsin, the Pentagon said in a release. 

Alba Tull will serve as the ship’s sponsor. In a time-honored Navy tradition, she will christen the ship by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow. Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board of directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, will deliver the ceremony’s keynote address.  

“The christening of the future USS Cooperstown marks an important step toward this great ship’s entry into the fleet,” acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said. “The dedication and skilled work of everyone involved in the building of this ship has ensured that it will represent the great city of Cooperstown and serve our Navy and Marine Corps team for decades to come.” 

LCS 23 is the 12th Freedom-variant LCS, the 23rd in the class. The Cooperstown is the first ship named in honor of the city. LCS 23 received its name on July 25, 2015, during a ceremony at the Hall of Fame and it honors the veterans who are members of the Hall of Fame. These 64 men served in conflicts ranging from the Civil War through the Korean War. 

LCS is a modular and reconfigurable ship, designed to meet validated fleet requirements for surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures missions in the littoral region. Using an open architecture design, modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles to gain, sustain and exploit littoral maritime supremacy, LCS provides the U.S. joint force access to critical areas in multiple theaters. 

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom-variant team is led by Lockheed Martin in Marinette (for the odd-numbered hulls). The Independence-variant team is led by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls).

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s forthcoming Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment (INFSA) differs from the 2016 FSA by some inflection points, including a reduced emphasis on large surface combatants, the Navy’s top official said. 

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly, speaking Feb. 28 at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, noted several inflection points.  

“One of the more significant things is de-emphasis on large surface combatants,” Modly said. “You will see that number come down in favor of more small, highly capable surface combatants like the frigate and some of the things that we’re thinking about doing with the LCS [littoral combat ship].” 

He said another inflection point is unmanned vessels.  

“There is a large discussion about how unmanned [vessels] would work,” he said. “The numbers of the end-state of that are still in flux, and I’m fully comfortable with that being in flux because, frankly, we don’t have any right now. Whether we end up of 45 or something [unmanned vessels] that we don’t know or 50 or 75 we don’t know, it’s sort of irrelevant.” 

“We know we have to start down the path towards unmanned to understand how that’s going to work, and that’s both underwater and above water, [including] large, medium, small, etc.,” he said. 

Modly also said that two new classes of ships are being considered by the Navy. One is a smaller, lighter, more lightly manned amphibious ship that “can provide the distributed maritime operations and the expeditionary advanced base operations that are part of [Marine Commandant David H. Berger’s] vision.” 

The second class is a combat support ship.  

“We currently don’t have those kind of ships in the fleet right now, nor on the drawing board,” he said. “In this [fiscal 2021] budget, we have dollars assigned to start research and development.” 

Modly noted that there are differences between the Navy Department’s analysis and that of the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. 

“I don’t think they’re that significant, when you’re talking about a plan that’s going to evolve over 10 years, so it’s [Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s] prerogative and so we’re supporting him in taking a look at that,” he said. “The next couple of months we’ll probably tighten up some of those differences.” 

“We’ve got to invest in a new amphib; we’ve got to invest in a new combat support [vessel]; we’ve got to invest in the frigate,” Modly said. “We’ve got to think about how we accelerate the pace in which we’re going to acquire the frigate. We’ve got to think about unmanned.”  

Modly said the Navy and Marine Corps both assigned three-star flag officers to conduct the INFSA, a study that included campaign analyses. 

“It’s a good starting point for this future force structure,” he said. “What we want to do now is take it out of the realm being something we do every four years. This is how we have to start thinking as a department. So, we are developing a process now to take that statement around and iterate it continually so that it can inform our budget process in more of a real-time manner.”

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The U.S. Navy accepted delivery on Feb. 28 of the future USS Tripoli, the newest America-class amphibious assault ship, from Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, the Navy announced.   

Amphibious assault ships project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the amphibious ready group or expeditionary strike group. These ships transport elements of a U.S. Marine expeditionary unit or Marine expeditionary brigade with a combination of aircraft and landing craft. Optimized for aviation capability, Tripoli will enhance Marine aviation with an enlarged hangar deck, greater maintenance capability, and JP-5 fuel capacity. 

“On behalf of the entire team, I am grateful to take delivery of this versatile warfighting asset,” said Tom Rivers, amphibious warfare program manager for Program Executive Office (PEO)-Ships. “The Navy and industry team has worked persistently to deliver this platform, ready to integrate the Marine Corps air combat element, including the Joint Strike Fighter, to our combatant commanders.”   

USS Tripoli incorporates the fuel-efficient gas turbine propulsion plant, zonal electrical distribution, and electric auxiliary systems first installed on USS Makin Island (LHD 8). LHA 7 will be 844 feet in length, will have a displacement of about 44,971 long tons and can operate at speeds of more than 20 knots. 

“Shipbuilding is a team sport, and LHA 7 is no exception,” said Capt. Nathan Schneider, supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair (SUPSHIP) Gulf Coast at Naval Sea Systems Command. 

“LHA 7 represents the culmination of significant work effort by shipbuilders here at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, suppliers around the nation, and government stakeholders both here in Pascagoula as well as Naval Sea Systems Command and the Program Executive Office-Ships in Washington, D.C., along with the warfare centers around the country.” 

With Tripoli delivered, the ship will focus on moving crew aboard and preparing for commissioning and sail-away later this year.  

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is producing Bougainville (LHA 8), the guided missile destroyers Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) and amphibious transport dock ships, Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29). 

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries has reached an
important milestone in the construction of the aircraft carrier John F.
Kennedy as the first of 2,700 compartments were turned over to the ship’s crew,
the company announced.

The completed spaces allow Sailors to begin training on the carrier
while final outfitting and testing progresses at the company’s Newport News
Shipbuilding division.

Earlier this month, Sailors assigned to the pre-commissioning
unit began coming onboard the ship and working in some of the compartments,
which include a training facility, offices and habitability spaces.

Turning over crew training areas earlier in Kennedy’s
construction was a lesson learned from the construction of the USS Gerald
R. Ford. As a result, the Kennedy’s construction team was able to
complete and turn over 63 compartments to the ship’s crew over four months
earlier than on Ford.

“The first Sailors coming onboard is a significant step in the
life of the ship,” said Mike Butler, program director for Kennedy. “Our
completing and turning over these spaces to the crew will allow them to start
on-hands, shipboard training, and learn the systems and components they will
operate when the ship joins the fleet.”

Over the next two and a half years, other spaces, such as
berthing and mess areas, will be completed, and distributive, mechanical and
combat systems, such as catapults and radar arrays, will be tested.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has given its E-2 Hawkeye squadrons a new designation to more accurately reflect the aircraft’s expanded capabilities and missions. 

The service has changed the name from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron to Airborne Command and Control Squadron, effective Jan. 1, said Lt. Travis Callaghan, a spokesman for commander, Naval Air Forces, in response to a query from Seapower. 

The E-2 was fielded in 1965 during the Vietnam War as a radar early warning aircraft that was able to detect and track airborne targets and provide radio voice commands and data link tracks to enable fighters to intercept enemy aircraft or cruise missiles. Over the succeeding decades and as the sophistication of the E-2’s radar increased and other sensors were added, the aircraft added to its portfolio battle management, strike control, land force support, rescue coordination, drug-interdiction operations and other tasks that went beyond simple early warning. 

The current version in production, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, built by Northrop Grumman and equipped with Lockheed Martin’s APY-9 radar, includes modern capabilities such as Cooperative Engagement Capability and Navy Integrated Fire Control, which enhance its role as the Navy’s “quarterback in the sky.”  

Each of the Navy’s nine carrier air wings is equipped with one E-2C or E-2D squadron. Four squadrons are based at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California, and one is based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, while five are stationed at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, one being a replacement training squadron. 

The airborne command and control squadrons will retain the VAW acronym that has been in use since the 1950s. 

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The future guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black successfully completed builder’s trials on Feb. 22 after spending three days underway in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Navy’s Program Executive Office (PEO)-Ships. The trials were conducted by the shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Ingalls Shipbuilding Division. 

The ship was previously underway for Alpha trials in December and will be underway again in March for acceptance trials, which will be conducted by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey. 

“The Navy and our dedicated shipbuilders have continued to make strides towards delivering this exceptional capability to the fleet and performed well during builder’s trials,” said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager, PEO-Ships. “This ship continues the proud Aegis shipbuilding legacy and will provide the Navy with a 21st-century fighting edge.”  

Delbert D. Black is configured as a Flight IIA destroyer, which enables power projection, forward presence and escort operations at sea in support of low intensity conflict/coastal and littoral offshore sarfare as well as open ocean conflict. DDG 119 will be equipped with the Navy’s Aegis Combat System.  

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is producing the future destroyers Frank E. Petersen Jr (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the first ship to be built in the Flight III configuration. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — A Virginia-class attack submarine heads the U.S. Navy’s fiscal 2021 unfunded priorities list, according to Feb. 19 letter to Congress from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday. Three types of aircraft and one logistics proof-of-concept ship round out the top five unfunded priorities. 

Every year the services provide to congressional defense committees a list of procurement, operations and base infrastructure requirements that they would like Congress to fund should it wish to allocate more funds or to fund different priorities than some of those in the budget submission. 

A Virginia SSN order at $2.8 billion would be in addition to the one funded in the budget and enable the Navy to build a total of 10 Virginia SSNs under the Block V multiyear contract. 

The Navy also would like to add five F-35C Lightning II strike fighters to the 11 requested in the 2021 budget. Including spare parts, the addition would cost $525.5 million. 

The service also would like to procure an additional two E-2D Advanced Hawkeye command-and-control aircraft, upping the buy from six to eight for $357 million. The Navy has program of record of 77 — up from 75 — and has an objective of procuring a total of 86 E-2Ds. 

The Navy also would like to add two CMV-22B Osprey carrier-onboard-delivery aircraft to the six in the budget, which would require $211.4 million, including spare parts and spare engines. This also would increase the number of CMV-22Bs in the program to 46. 

As the Navy defines its requirements for a Small Auxiliary Logistics Platform for distributed maritime operations, it would like to fund — for $12 million — the lease of an additional offshore support vessel to support demonstrations “to evaluate potential solutions for refuel, re-supply and re-arm logistics mission requirements,”  the letter said. 

The Navy also would like to double the number of Next-Generation Jammer shipsets to six; procure 20 additional Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs), along with installation of an NSM launcher on an amphibious transport dock ship; procure two Surface Mission Modules for littoral combat ships; and purchase 100 more AIM-9X Block II air-to-air missiles; procure 6,392 sonobuoys to make up for unplanned operational expenditures; and upgrades to the Dual Band Radar on USS Gerald R. Ford and the Multifunction Radar on the Zumwalt-class destroyers. 

MOBILE, Ala. — The U.S. Navy’s 12th expeditionary fast transport (EPF), the future USNS Newport (EPF 12), was launched at Austal USA’s shipyard on Feb. 20, according to the Navy’s Program Executive Office-Ships said.  

The launching of an EPF is a multistep process. The ship modules are constructed in Austal’s manufacturing facility, then transported to the assembly bay. When ready for launch, the ship is translated by heavy-lift machinery to a docking barge in the Mobile River and further translated onto a floating dry dock. From there, the dry dock is submerged and the ship is launched. The translation and launch takes place over the course of two days. 

“We are excited to get Newport in the water, so we can shift focus to final outfitting and trials,” said Tim Roberts, strategic and theater sealift program manager, PEO-Ships. “EPFs increase our reach, improving our ability to sustain our Navy and Marine Corps forces around the globe.” 

EPFs are versatile, noncombatant transport ships that are being used for high-speed transportation of troops, military vehicles and equipment. They support a variety of missions including overseas contingency operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, support of special operations forces, theater security cooperation activities and emerging joint sea-basing concepts.   

EPFs can transport 600 short tons 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots. Each vessel includes a flight deck to support day and night aircraft launch and recovery operations. The ships are capable of interfacing with roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities, as well as on/off-loading vehicles such as a fully combat-loaded Abrams tank. 

The Newport is on track to be delivered later this year. Austal USA has also started construction of the future USNS Apalachicola (EPF 13) and is under contract to build the future USNS Cody (EPF 14).