MARINETTE,
Wis. — Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 17, the future USS Indianapolis, completed acceptance
trials in Lake Michigan, Lockheed Martin said in a June 26 release. This is the
ship’s final significant milestone before the ship is delivered to the U.S.
Navy. LCS 17 is the ninth Freedom-variant LCS designed and built by the
Lockheed Martin-led industry team and is slated for delivery to the Navy this
year.

“LCS 17
is joining the second-largest class of ships in the U.S. Navy fleet, and we are
proud to get the newest Littoral Combat Ship one step closer to delivery,” said
Joe DePietro, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager, Small
Combatants and Ship Systems. “This ship is lethal and flexible, and we are
confident that she will capably serve critical U.S. Navy missions today and in
future.”

Unique among
combat ships, LCS is designed to complete close-to-shore missions and is a
growing and relevant part of the Navy’s fleet.

•        It is flexible — with 40 percent of the
hull easily reconfigurable, LCS can be modified to integrate capabilities
including over-the-horizon missiles, advanced electronic warfare systems and
decoys.

•        It is fast — capable of speeds in excess
of 40 knots.

•        It is lethal — standard equipped with
Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) and a Mark 110 gun, capable of firing 220
rounds per minute.

•        It is automated — with the most
efficient staffing of any combat ship.

The trials
included a full-power run, maneuverability testing, and surface and air
detect-to-engage demonstrations of the ship’s combat system. Major systems and
features were demonstrated, including aviation support, small boat launch
handling, and recovery and machinery control and automation.

“I am
extremely proud of our LCS team including our shipbuilders at Fincantieri
Marinette Marine,” said Jan Allman, Fincantieri Marinette Marine president
and CEO. “These are complex vessels, and it takes a strong team effort to
design, build and test these American warships.”

MOBILE, Ala. — Austal USA delivered its 10th
Independence-variant littoral combat ship to the U.S. Navy, the company
announced in a release, as the future USS Cincinnati(LCS 20) will be
the 18th LCS to enter the fleet.

“It’s so exciting to deliver another great warship to the
U.S. Navy,” Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle said. “I’m so proud of our
incredible team here at Austal USA, our industry and Navy partners for achieving
this major milestone for the future USS Cincinnati.”

Five small surface combatants are presently under various
stages of construction at Austal’s Alabama shipyard. The future USS Kansas City
(LCS 22) is preparing for sea trials. Assembly is underway on the future USS
Oakland (LCS 24) and the future USS Mobile (LCS 26), and modules are under
construction for the future USS Savannah (LCS 28) and the future USS Canberra
(LCS 30) with four more under contract through LCS 38.

“The shipbuilding momentum here is second to none, led by
the most talented shipbuilding professionals I’ve ever worked with,”
Perciavalle said. “This momentum and efficiency continue to result in
incredible cost savings ship over ship, enabling us to provide highly capable
but very cost-effective solutions to our Navy.”

More than 700 suppliers in 40 states contribute to the
Independence-variant LCS program. This supplier base supports tens of thousands
of small business to large business jobs.

LCS is a highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable ship
designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and
surface warfare missions. The Independence-variant LCS integrates new
technology and capability to support current and future mission capability from
deep water to the littorals.

Austal is also under contract to build 14 Expeditionary
Fast Transport vessels (EPF) for the Navy. The company has delivered 10 EPFs
while an additional two are in various stages of construction.

WASHINGTON
— Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer has announced the newest towing, salvage
and rescue ship will be named Cherokee Nation in honor of the service and
contributions the Cherokee people have made to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps,
the secretary’s public affairs office said in a June 21 release.

“It is my
privilege to announce that the many Cherokee Nation citizens who’ve served
throughout the years will be remembered with the highest honor a secretary of
the Navy can bestow, the naming of a ship,” Spencer said.

This is
the fifth U.S. ship to be named in honor of the Cherokee people.

“The Cherokee Nation is extremely honored that the U.S. Navy is recognizing our tribal nation and the generations of Cherokee men and women who have bravely and humbly sacrificed for our freedom today,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said.

“Our
Cherokee people have contributed in every major battle and war ever fought in
this country and continue to serve in the armed forces in some of the highest
rates per ethnicity. Cherokees are a strong, resilient people, and we are
privileged to have a U.S. ship at sea that reflects both our country and
tribe’s history and values.”

Gulf
Island Shipyards was awarded a $64.8 million contract option for the detail
design and construction of the new Ship, which will be based on existing
commercial towing offshore vessel designs and will replace the current T-ATF
166 and T-ARS 50 class ships in service with the U.S. Military Sealift Command.
The Cherokee Nation is the second ship in the new class of towing, salvage and rescue
ships and will be designated T-ATS 7.

The contract
includes options for potentially six additional vessels, and each additional
ship will be named in honor of prominent Native Americans or Native American
tribes.

The T-ATS
will serve as open ocean towing vessels and will additionally support salvage operations and submarine rescue missions. The ship will be
built at the company’s shipyard in Houma, Louisiana, and is expected to be
completed in July 2021.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy RQ-4A Block 10 Global Hawk
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) shot down June 19 by Iranian forces was destroyed
by a surface-to-air missile of indigenous Iranian design and manufacture.

The Global Hawk was downed by a missile system the
Iranians call the Third of Khordad, which was
first unveiled in Iran in 2014. The system’s missile has a range of 75
kilometers and can intercept targets at an altitude of up to 81,000 feet,
higher than the 60,000-foot ceiling of the Global Hawk.

One
former Navy electronic countermeasures officer described the Third of Khordad
as a knock-off of the Russian-designed BUK-M1 (NATO code name SA-11 Gadfly) missile
system.

In a June 20 release, U.S. Central Command spokesman
Cmdr. Bill Urban said the RQ-4A was shot down “while operating in international airspace over the Strait of
Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19, 2019. Iranian reports that
the aircraft was over Iran are false. This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S.
surveillance asset in international airspace.”

Iran claimed the UAV had violated Iranian airspace.

The incident occurred a few days after Iranian forces
fired a missile at a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper UAV near the Strait of Hormuz and damaged
two oil tankers with limpet mines. Last month, four tankers were damaged by
explosives believed to be limpet mines.

The Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Block 10 Global Hawk
high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAV also is known as the BAMS-D (Broad-Area
Maritime Surveillance-Demonstration) system. Urban said the RQ-4A “provides
real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over vast
ocean and coastal regions.”

The Navy has deployed the RQ-4A to Southwest Asia since 2009 as a
component of the Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstration (BAMS-D)
program. Five RQ-4As were acquired from the U.S. Air Force and were based at
Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and operated by a detachment of
Patrol Reconnaissance Wing 11. The detachment keeps at least one RQ-4A in the
rotation to a base in the Persian Gulf region. One was lost in a mishap in
Maryland in June 2012.

The Navy and Northrop Grumman have been developing a
Global Hawk derivative, the MQ-4C Triton, to meet the Navy’s HALE requirements.
Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19 is scheduled to send a two-aircraft detachment to
Guam this year for the Triton’s Early Operational Capability deployment. The
deployment had been delayed a year following the gear-up landing of one of the
squadron’s MQ-4Cs in September 2018.

According to news reports, one MQ-4C recently had been
deployed to Southwest Asia as part of the U.S. buildup of forces in response to
Iranian hostile acts. The deployment initially led to some erroneous reports
that the downed UAV was an MQ-4C.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S Navy will christen its newest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile
destroyer, the future USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118), during a 10 a.m. ceremony June
22, in Bath, Maine, the Defense Department announced.

The future
USS Daniel Inouye is named in honor of Daniel Inouye, who served as a United
States senator for Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012.

Inouye
received the Medal of Honor June 21, 2000, for his extraordinary heroism in
action while serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment Combat Team in Italy
during World War II. During an assault on April 21, 1945, an exploding grenade
shattered his right arm; despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation. He
remained at the head of his platoon until they broke the enemy resistance and
his men deployed in defensive positions, continuing to fight until the
regiment’s position was secured.

U.S. Sen.
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii will deliver the christening ceremony’s principal
address. Irene Hirano Inouye, the late senator’s wife, will serve as the ship’s
sponsor. In a time-honored Navy tradition, Irene Inouye will christen the ship
by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across her bow.

“The
future USS Daniel Inouye will serve for decades as a reminder of Senator
Inouye’s service to our nation and his unwavering support of a strong Navy and
Marine Corps team,” Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said. “This
ship honors not only his service but the service of our shipbuilders who help
make ours the greatest Navy and Marine Corps team in the world.”

The future
USS Daniel Inouye will be the 68th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and is one of
21 ships under contract for the DDG 51 program. The ship is configured as a
Flight IIA destroyer, which enables power projection and delivers quick
reaction time, high firepower, and increased electronic countermeasures
capability for anti-air warfare. The USS Daniel Inouye will be 509.5 feet long
and 59 feet wide, with a displacement of 9,496 tons. She will be homeported in
Pearl Harbor.

PARIS — The
U.S. Navy successfully completed a series of guided flight tests for Raytheon
Co.’s Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Block 2A short-range, surface-to-air
missile, the company said in a release.

Testing
occurred at Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, and from the
Navy’s self-defense test ship off the coast of Southern California.

RAM is the world’s
most modern ship self-defense weapon and protects ships of all sizes. It is
deployed on more than 165 ships in 11 countries, ranging from 500-ton fast
attack craft to 95,000-ton aircraft carriers. The latest software upgrade
enhances guidance and the missile’s capability to defeat threats.

Raytheon
expects to deliver the RAM Block 2A missile to the Navy by the end of the year.

RAM is an international
cooperative program between the United States and Germany. Raytheon and the
German company RAMSYS share development, production and maintenance costs.

MARINETTE,
Wis. — The Lockheed Martin-led shipbuilding team launched Littoral Combat Ship 21,
the future USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, into the Menominee River at the
Fincantieri Marinette Marine Shipyard on June 15.

Ship sponsor
Jodi J. Greene, deputy U.S. Navy undersecretary for policy, christened LCS 21
just prior to launch, according to a Lockheed press release. “LCS 21 is going
to bring the name ‘Minneapolis-Saint Paul’ all around the globe,” said Greene, who
is native of the Twin Cities.

“LCS is the
second largest ship class in the U.S. Navy, and Lockheed Martin is proud to
deliver capability and added force projection with each additional hull,” said
Joe DePietro, vice president and general manager of small combatants and ship systems
for Lockheed.

Littoral
combat ships are designed to complete close-to-shore missions and are a growing
part of the Navy’s fleet. With 40 percent of its hull easily reconfigurable, an
LCS can be modified to integrate capabilities such as over-the-horizon
missiles, advanced electronic warfare systems and decoys and, in the future,
vertical launching systems or laser weapon systems.

An LCS is fast,
as it is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots. The ships are lethal as well,
as all are equipped with Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) and a Mark 110 gun, which
is capable of firing 220 rounds per minute.

Lockheed
Martin is in full-rate production and has delivered eight LCS to the U.S. Navy.
There are eight others in various stages of production and testing. This year,
Lockheed and Fincantieri Marinette Marine will begin construction on two ships,
deliver two ships, complete sea trials for two ships and see three ships
commissioned (LCS 13, 15 and 17).

TODENDORF, Germany — German, Norwegian, Danish and U.S. Navy Sailors from the Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) exercise Mine Warfare Task Group came together to clear three World War II-era air-laid mines in the Baltic Sea on June 14, the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center said in a release.

During complex mine warfare training to increase combined
force integration and maritime capability among 11 nations, the task group
identified three historical mines on the sea floor. The team detonated the
mines after receiving approval from German authorities to increase safety and
reduce risk to mariners operating in German territorial waters.

“This is an excellent example of the valuable training we
gain from exercises like BALTOPS,” said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Scott Robertson,
commander of the BALTOPS 2019 Mine Warfare Task Group and commander of Naval
Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center.

“Working together with our professional partners from
Denmark and Norway to clear these undetonated, historical mines provides
hands-on training and increases safety to mariners in the region by clearing
hazardous material from the Baltic Sea. There is a good chance we will find
more of these mines as the exercise continues, and it’s reassuring to know our
international task group has the training and expertise necessary to safely
dispose of them,” Robertson emphasized.

A team of mine warfare professionals aboard the Norwegian
Alta-class MS HMNoS Otra (M351) detected and classified two mines, which were
reacquired and identified by a team of Danish divers. Members of a Norwegian
dive team discovered the third mine in another Mine Warfare Task Group’s
training area off the coast of the Bundeswehr Military Training Area in
Todendorf, Germany.

“German authorities willingly support the reduction of
threat to navigation and shipping,” said Bundeswehr Personnel Exchange Program
Officer Fregattenkapitaen Stefan Oeggl, who is assigned to the U.S. Navy’s Mine
Countermeasures Division 31 and serves as a liaison for the Mine Warfare Task Group
and Germany.

“Even after 75 years, explosives like these are dangerous,
and we are happy to have the mines cleared as part of the exercise.”

Each of the cleared mines were World War II-era British
air-laid, bottom mines (A Mk I–VI), each roughly 1,000 pounds.

“This has been a tremendous opportunity to continue to work
with partner and allied forces that we frequently engage with throughout the
region,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jeff Demarco, commanding officer of Explosive
Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 8 based in Rota, Spain, which serves as the
Undersea Mine Countermeasures Commander within the BALTOPS Mine Warfare Task
Group.

“Working with the Norwegian, Danish and Belgium clearance
diving and AUV teams during training exercises is critical to our ability to maintain
sea control in a complex theater.”

Nations participating in the BALTOPS 2019 Mine Warfare Task
Group include Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, the
Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, France and the United States.

Nations participating in BALTOPS 2019 include Belgium,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom
and the United States.

BALTOPS is an opportunity to promote partnerships, presence,
and professionalism through an unambiguous display of strength in the Baltic
region.

Sporting spectacles such as the Pro Bowl and Boston Marathon
draw big crowds. Now they are also drawing swarms of U.S. Navy recruiters.

Recruiters have always gravitated to where the potential
applicants may be, to talk about Navy opportunities. Navy Recruiting Command
initiated “swarming” in December 2018, to bring extra recruiters and resources
together for high-profile events.

“This concept will give us the ability to support bigger
events with heightened visibility while bolstering prospecting, increasing Navy
awareness and closing leads,” said Rear Adm. Brendan McLane, commander of Navy
Recruiting Command.

“We focus on big events and bring in our top recruiters from
around the country to take advantage of the increased attention which those events
have. We ran a pilot right before Christmas in Miami for two back-to-back Miami
Heat NBA games,” McLane said.

The Miami swarm included 55 recruiting personnel who visited
12 high schools, three community outreach events and attended two Miami Heat-Houston
Rockets basketball games Dec. 17-22.

“It was very successful, and we followed that with the Pro
Bowl in January, which also coincided with a military expo focused on high
school kids in Orlando. We did the Mobile Navy Week in Alabama at the end of
February. And then in March, we were at the Minnesota Ice Hockey State
Championship in Minneapolis and the Boston Marathon in April,” McLane said. “We
bring in our best instructors from the Recruiting Academy, and the recruiters of
the year from the other districts, as a way of recognizing them, and we swarm.
We visit the high schools in much larger groups than we usually do.”

McLane said groups of recruiters visit a number of high
schools to make presentations in the classrooms, particularly about STEM
subjects, to drive recruitment for the nuclear field and other advanced career
fields. “We also invest in local media about 14 days before the event.”

According to Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class
Hilary A. Martin, assigned to Navy Recruiting District, Raleigh, and a
participant in the Miami swarm, the Navy can offer young people an education,
health care and travel, a chance to serve their country and a career.  “I’m a communications electrician, and I work
with some of the most advanced systems and equipment, which not only is
exciting but helps prepare me for other jobs when I eventually get out of the
Navy.”

The swarm includes one of CNRC’s two virtual reality trucks,
which offers young people the chance to put on a 360-degree virtual reality
headset with amazing graphics and become immersed in a tactical scenario. “You
get a dog tag that has your info on it and then you become a special boat
driver who has to go into a hot extraction point to get the SEALs out, and
drive them back down the river,” McLane said. “After your mission, you get your
debrief, and you can see if you performed as well as your friends.”

“The centennial generation have grown up with the internet
and technology, so we appeal to them with things like virtual reality goggles
where they get to see a 360-degree view on a carrier flight deck and more,”
said Capt. Matthew Boren, Navy Recruiting Command’s chief marketing officer.
“They want to see it, and we have the virtual reality truck where they can go
on a virtual mission to extract a SEAL team. We are a technical Navy with some
of the most high-tech combat systems in the world, so we need really
well-trained and smart operators that have the skills to run those systems.”

“All these things combined drive the number of contacts up,
which leads to higher numbers of interviews, which leads to greater numbers of contracts,”
McLane said.  “That leads to recruits
graduating and going on to [initial job training] “A” schools so they can fill;
vital billets in the fleet.”

McLane said the plan is ensure that there are an equal
number of swarms in both the east and west recruiting regions.  “You can count on swarming events occurring
every month throughout the nation.”

Edward Lundquist traveled to Navy Recruiting Command’s headquarters in Millington, Tennessee, to report this story.

NASHUA, N.H.
— BAE Systems has been awarded contracts by Boeing Co. to supply the Vehicle
Management Control System (VMCS) and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) System
for the MQ-25 unmanned aerial vehicle, BAE said in a release.

“BAE
Systems leads the industry in high-integrity fly-by-wire and mission-critical
IFF technologies,” said Corin Beck, director of military aircraft systems at
BAE Systems. “Our relationship with Boeing started more than four decades ago and
has resulted in aircraft that have some of the most advanced avionics and
reduced size transponders in the world.”

The VMCS
will control all flight surfaces and perform overall vehicle management duties
for the MQ-25. The IFF product ensures operation in contested environments by
reliably identifying both coalition and enemy vehicles.

The MQ-25 will be the U.S. Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aircraft and is designed to provide a much-needed refueling capability. The contract supports Boeing’s engineering and manufacturing development program to provide four MQ-25 aircraft to the Navy for Initial Operational Capability by 2024.

“The MQ-25 program is vital because it will help the U.S. Navy extend the range of the carrier air wing, and Boeing and our industry team is all-in on delivering this capability,” said Dave Bujold, Boeing’s MQ-25 program director. “The work we’re doing is also foundational for the future of Boeing — where we’re building autonomous systems from seabed to space.”