ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Central Command has published a
timeline of the June 13 attacks on two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

The two motor tankers, the Norway-flagged M/TAltair and the Japan-flagged M/T Kokuka Courageous, were
apparently damaged by limpet mines placed on their hulls. Ships and P-8
aircraft of the U.S. 5th Fleet responded to the incidents to render assistance
and to investigate who launched the attacks.

Secretary of State Michael
Pompeo later blamed Iran for the attacks, according to a June 13 report in
Politico. “These attacks are a threat to international peace and security,
a blatant assault on the freedom of navigation and an unacceptable escalation
of tension by Iran,” he is quoted as saying by the Politico report.

Pompeo said his assessment
was based “on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to
execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping and the fact
that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to
act with such a high degree of sophistication,” Politico reported.

The incidents followed covert attacks on May
12 on four tankers in the waters of the United Arab Emirates, apparently also
with limpet mines.

The following is a timeline of the June 13 attacks
provided by Capt. Bill Urban of U.S. Central Command public affairs:

• U.S. Naval forces in the region received two separate distress
  calls at 6:12 a.m. local time from the Altair and a second one at 7 a.m. from Kokuka
  Courageous.
• Both vessels were in international waters in the Gulf of Oman about
  10 nautical miles apart at the time of the distress calls. USS Bainbridge was about
  40 nautical miles away from Altair at the time of the attack and immediately
  began closing the distance.
• At 8:09 a.m., a U.S. aircraft observed an Iranian Islamic
  Revolutionary Guard Corps Hendijan-class patrol boat and multiple IRGC fast attack
  craft/fast inshore attack craft (FAC/FIAC) in the vicinity of Altair.
• At 9:12 a.m., a U.S. aircraft observed the FAC/FIAC pull a raft
  from the Altair from the water.
• At 9:26 a.m., the Iranians requested that the motor vessel Hyundai
  Dubai, which had rescued the sailors from the Altair, turn the crew over to the
  Iranian FIACs. The Hyundai Dubai complied with the request and transferred the
  crew of the Altair to the Iranian FIACs.
• At 11:05 a.m. local time, USS Bainbridge approached the Dutch tug
  Coastal Ace, which had rescued the crew of 21 sailors from the Kokuka
  Courageous who had abandoned their ship after discovering a probable unexploded
  limpet mine on their hull following an initial explosion.
• While the Iranian Hendijan patrol boat appeared to attempt to get
  to the tug Coastal Ace before Bainbridge, the mariners were rescued by Bainbridge
  at the request of the master of the Kokuka Courageous. The rescued sailors are
  currently aboard Bainbridge.
• At 4:10 p.m., an IRGC Gashti-class patrol boat approached the Kokuka
  Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine
  from the Kokuka Courageous.

“The U.S. and our partners in the region will
take all necessary measures to defend ourselves and our interests,” Urban said.
“Today’s attacks are a clear threat to international freedom of navigation and
freedom of commerce. The U.S. and the international community stand ready to
defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation. The United States
has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we
will defend our interests.”

GULF OF OMAN (NNS) — The Arleigh Burke-class
guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) responded to a distress call
from the M/V Kokuka Courageous in the Gulf of Oman the morning of June 13.

The Bainbridge received a call from the
Kokuka Courageous crew advising that their ship was in distress approximately
30 nautical miles from Bainbridge’s location.

“This is what we’re out here for,” said Cmdr.
M. Kathryn Devine, commanding officer of Bainbridge. “Our mission is to ensure
maritime safety and to answer the call for aid when we can.”

All 21 crew members of the Kokuka Courageous
had evacuated to a tug boat and were transferred to the Bainbridge. One of the
Kokuka Courageous sailors suffered burns on his hands and was treated
immediately by the Bainbridge medical team.

Once safely aboard Bainbridge, the Kokuka
Courageous crew received medical check-ups, showers and clean clothes along
with food and any other attention they required.

“I’m very proud of my crew and their quick
response to the situation,” said Devine. “They’ve done an incredible job of
making sure the crew of the tanker was safely brought aboard and taken care
of.”

Bainbridge is underway as part of Abraham
Lincoln Carrier Strike Group’s (ABECSG) deployment in support of maritime
security cooperation efforts in U.S. 5th, 6th and 7th Fleet areas of
operations.

With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship,
deploying strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier
Strike Group 12 (CSG 12), Destroyer Squadron 2 (DESRON 2), USS Leyte Gulf (CG
55) and Carrier Air Wing 7 (CVW 7).

PATUXENT
RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Navy’s presidential helicopter program awarded a $542
million contract to Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, on June 10 to build
six VH-92A aircraft, spares and support equipment, the Program Executive Office
for Assault and Special Missions announced in a release.

“The team
has efficiently leveraged a proven platform with cutting-edge government
mission systems for rapid agile development of the next helicopters to fly presidential
missions,” said James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research,
development and acquisition. “I am proud of the combined government and
contractor team who has worked so hard to transition this program into initial
production and did so at over $1 billion less than the program’s cost
baseline.”

“The presidential
lift mission is a no-fail mission for the Marine Corps,” said Lt. Gen Steven
Rudder, the deputy commandant for Marine Corps aviation. “We deliver helicopters
and MV-22 transportation across the globe to support the requirements of the presidency.
The authorization to move forward with procurement of the VH-92A will allow the
Marine Corps to deliver the next generation of presidential helicopter
support.”

The VH-92A
aircraft will increase performance and payload over the current presidential
helicopters, VH-3D and VH-60N, that have been serving more than 40 years. The
VH-92A will provide enhanced crew coordination systems and communications
capabilities plus improve availability and maintainability.

Government testing will
continue to validate system performance and prepare for initial operational test
and evaluation planned for mid-2020 and initial operational capability (IOC) in
late 2020.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded to Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics Co. a contract to continue development of Block 4 capabilities for
the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $1.8 billion “cost-plus-incentive-fee,
cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for continued design
maturation and development of Block 4 capabilities in support of the F-35
Lightning II Phase 2.3 Pre-Modernization for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps
and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants,” according to a Defense
Department announcement.

Details of the Block 4 capabilities have not been released by the
F-35 Joint Program Office, but they are mainly incremental software and sensor
upgrades intended to add to the aircraft’s agility, lethality and situational
awareness to enable the aircraft to keep ahead of the threats anticipated in
the future.

The
House Armed Services Committee chairman downplayed the partisan differences
over the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization but said the “biggest
threat” to adequate defense funding was the failure to reach agreement on
lifting punishing spending caps.

Although
the chairman’s mark he released would ban funding for low-yield nuclear warheads
for a submarine-launched ballistic missile and defense money to build U.S.-Mexico
border barriers and provide $17 billion less in total defense spending, which
the Republicans oppose, “the overwhelming majority of this bill, that is
incredibly important, is not controversial,” said the chairman, Rep. Adam Smith
(D-Washington).

Addressing
a Defense Writers’ Group breakfast June 10, Smith cited a 3.1 percent military
pay raise, funds to continue improving readiness, efforts to fix deteriorating family
housing, funding for 11 Navy battle fleet ships, including three attack
submarines, and “countless other projects, all of which we agree on,” that are in
the Democrats’ proposal. “The amount of stuff that we disagree on is about 2% of
the bill.”

But
in response to a Seapower question about the impact on defense funding if
Congress and the administration cannot agree on lifting caps enacted with the
Budget Control Act of 2011, which would cut nearly $90 billion from the base
defense budget, Smith said: “You have correctly identified the biggest threat
we face.” Senate Republicans were expected to plead for a deal to lift the caps
during a White House meeting on June 10.

The
committee will take up the NDAA on June 12, and the debate is likely to go well
into the night as Republicans have attacked provisions that came out the
subcommittee process as an unusual breach of HASC’s tradition of
bipartisanship.

Smith
defended the proposed total defense funding of $733 billion as the number
initially recommended by the Pentagon and said the $750 billion requested later
by the Trump administration “would encourage inefficiencies.” Committee
Republicans, however, insisted $750 billion was necessary to meet the 3% to 5%
real growth recommended by last year’s Strategic Capabilities Commission.

Although
Smith repeated his long-held view that the military wants to spend too much on
nuclear arms, he noted the Democrats would fully fund the new B-21 strategic
bomber and the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine to replace the aged
Ohio class and would increase overall spending on strategic programs. Smith and
some arms-control advocates argue that the new W-76.2 lower-yield warhead for
the submarine-launched Trident D-5 missile would reduce the strategic load of
the Ohio boats and increase instability.

Other
controversial issues in the proposed NDAA are a ban on use of defense funds to
build President Trump’s border wall, would require that any use of troops for
border security not affect combat readiness and would be paid for by the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. It also would restrict the administration’s
ability to reprogram defense funds to use for border security, which the
president did this year.

Although
the proposal would increase the purchase of F-35s for the Air Force, it would
fence some of the funding for the Lightning II pending analysis of ways to
improve the parts supply line for the fighter. Similarly, funding to buy more
of the Marine Corps’ CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters would be curtailed until the
U.S. Navy submits reports on how it will fix technical problems hampering the
program.

There
also will be debate on the nature of a future command to manage space programs,
with the Democrats resisting the president’s demand for a separate service,
which Smith called too expensive and bureaucratic. But Smith said he believes
the Air Force has done a poor job managing space.

CHERBOURG, France — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer named a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, DDG 132, in honor of Coast Guard Capt. Quentin Walsh, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his service during World War II, the secretary’s public affairs office announced in a June 6 release.

“Capt.
Walsh was a hero whose efforts during World War II continue to inspire, and his
leadership in securing the French port of Cherbourg had a profound effect on
the success of the amphibious operations associated with Operation Overlord,”
Spencer said.

“For over
two centuries, the Navy and Marine Corps team and the Coast Guard have sailed
side by side, in peacetime and war, fair weather or foul. I am honored the
future USS Quentin Walsh will carry Capt. Walsh’s legacy of strength and
service throughout the world, and I am proud that for decades to come, this
ship will remind friends and adversaries alike of the proud history of our
services and the skill and professionalism of all those who stand the watch
today.”

Spencer
made the announcement alongside Adm. Karl Schultz, the commandant of the U.S.
Coast Guard, in a ceremony aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle in
Cherbourg, France.

“We
are grateful to the U.S. Navy and Sec. Spencer for honoring one of our Coast
Guard heroes, Capt. Quentin Walsh,” Schultz said. “Naming a future
Navy destroyer after Capt. Walsh, the first Arleigh Burke-class ship to be
named after a Coast Guard legend, highlights not only his courageous actions
but the bravery of all U.S. service members involved in the D-Day Invasion of
Normandy.

“The
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard legacies are interwoven as reflected in the heroic
actions of Capt. Walsh and the Navy Sailors under his command during the
liberation of Cherbourg,” the commandant continued. “We will remain
always ready to stand with our brothers and sisters in the U.S. Navy and Marine
Corps.”

During
World War II, while serving on the staff of the commander, U.S. Naval Forces,
Europe, then Cmdr. Walsh was given command of a 53-man special task force
assigned to capture the vital port of Cherbourg. Despite heavy casualties, his
small force seized the port facilities and took control of the harbor the day
after they entered the city.

After he
discovered that the remaining German garrison at Fort du Homet held 52 U.S.
Army paratroopers as prisoners, Walsh, under a flag of truce, exaggerated the
strength of the forces under his command and persuaded the commanding officer
of the remnants of the German garrison to surrender. These actions earned him
the Navy Cross and, all told, he accepted the surrender of over 700 German
soldiers. Walsh died May 18, 2000.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy has reduced the number of F/A-18C Hornet strike fighters it
is modernizing to the F/A-18C+ configuration from 25 to 19, only enough to field
one squadron for the U.S. Marine Corps, according to Michael Land, a spokesman
for the Naval Air Systems Command.

As an upgrade
to the F/A-18C, the F/A-18C+ is equipped with an upgraded APG-73 radar, Link
16, color cockpit displays, a moving-map display, ALE-47 infrared
countermeasures, the Naval Aircrew Common Ejection Seat and the Joint
Helmet-Mounted Cueing System. The service life of the airframes is being
extended from 6,000 flight hours to 8,000 hours.

Originally
the C+ program was to include 30 aircraft, enough to field two squadrons. The
number later was reduced to 25.

The aircraft
are being upgraded by Boeing at its facility at Cecil Field in Jacksonville,
Florida.

As of early May, three of the C+ versions had been completed. Two had been delivered to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 (VMFA-115), one of which had been lost in a mishap. The third has been delivered to reserve squadron VMFA-112 at Naval Air Station Fort Worth in Texas in May. That squadron is scheduled to receive most of the C+ Hornets.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract for 34 ScanEagle unmanned aerial
vehicles for four partner nations adjacent to the South China Sea.

The Naval Air
Systems Command awarded a $47.9 million contract on May 31 to Boeing’s Insitu
in Bingen, Washington, for the UAVs as well as “spare payloads, spare and
repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services and field
service representatives,” according to a Defense Department announcement.

The UAVs will
be built for the governments of Malaysia (12 UAVs), Indonesia (8), the
Philippines (8) and Vietnam (6).

The ScanEagle
is a small Group 2 UAV that can be launched from a pneumatic rail launcher
ashore or from ship and recovered by a line that intercepts a hook on the wing
of the UAV. It can carry sensor payloads such as electro-optical imaging,
infrared imaging and millimeter wave radar. The UAV can stay aloft for 18
hours.

Deliveries are expected to
be completed by March 2022.

LONDON — HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s future
flagship, will deploy in late summer for the eastern seaboard of the United States,
including a port visit in the Washington, D.C., area, where she will host the
Atlantic Future Forum, the U.K. Ministry of Defence announced.

The aircraft carrier, United Kingdom’s largest and
most advanced warship ever built, will make the transatlantic journey for the
second consecutive year to train alongside the U.K.’s closest ally. She will
also make several port calls while deployed before returning home before Christmas.

While in the Washington area she will host the Atlantic Future Forum, which aims at bringing the U.S. and U.K. defense industry and military together to address the changing nature of warfare and shared threats both allies face at home and abroad.

“HMS Queen Elizabeth represents the best of British innovation and is a true embodiment of our international ambition,” said British Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

“The fact that this important ship will have visited
the U.S. twice within her short service thus far is testament to our enduring
transatlantic defense relationship. In the week that we commemorate the 75th anniversary
of the D-Day landings, it is only right that we continue to look at how we can
deepen our global partnerships to promote peace and deter future conflict.”

The deployment, known as WESTLANT 19, will see Queen Elizabeth and her crew conduct deck and warfare trials with U.K. F-35 jets from 17 Test and Evaluation Squadron based in the United States and 617 Squadron based at RAF Marham as well rotary wing training with Merlin and Wildcat helicopters.

While stateside, she will also welcome U.S. Marine Corps vertical-lift F-35s on deck.

HMS Queen Elizabeth remains set to be deployed on global operations from 2021 and when Prince of Wales joins her in the fleet in the near future, the United Kingdom will have one carrier available at very high readiness at all times.

Britain’s prime minister also announced June 4 that
the Royal Navy will ready the HMS Queen Elizabeth to join allies in forming
part of NATO’s major “readiness initiative” when she becomes operational.

“I’m pleased to announce that NATO will soon be able
to call on the U.K.’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and F-35 fighter
jets to help tackle threats around the world,” Prime Minister Theresa May said.

NATO’s “readiness initiative” aims to improve the
readiness of the alliance’s forces to deploy and move within Europe and across
the Atlantic to safeguard international security. Britain will look to make its
aircraft carrier a key part of those plans as the country continues to play a
leading role in the alliance which has been the cornerstone of its defense for
70 years.

“Be it projecting influence for peace, standing ready
to fight, or delivering vital aid around the world, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her
sister ship HMS Prince of Wales will fly the flag of a Global Britain,”
Mordaunt said. “Nothing symbolizes the leading role that we play in NATO more
than our nation’s future flagship being ready to respond to any challenge that
the Alliance may face.”

At the Defence Ministers’ meeting in June, allies
committed, by 2020, to having 30 battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 naval
combat vessels ready to use within 30 days. This was reinforced by allied heads
of state and government at the NATO summit in July.

SAN DIEGO
— Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has changed its name to Naval
Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWARSYSCOM), reinforcing its commitment
to outpacing adversaries in information warfare, the command said in a release.

Chief of
Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson announced the name change at the
Information Warfare Senior Leadership Symposium in Washington, D.C., on June 3.
The change is effective immediately.

“We have
been on a steady drumbeat since the issuance of the Design for Maintaining
Maritime Superiority to further normalize information warfare into the way we
do operations and warfighting in the Navy,” Richardson said. “Today, we will
take an important step in that direction as we rename the Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Command to the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command. This new name
more accurately describes the full totality of the mission, supporting naval
warfare — from seabed to space.”

The intent
of the name change is to recognize the power that information warfare brings to
the fight. The change aligns the command name with the command mission to
identify, develop, deliver and sustain information warfare capabilities and
services that enable naval, joint, coalition and other national missions.

“In this era of ‘Great Power Competition,’ information is a fundamental element of warfare, an essential component of the Navy’s strategy, and a warfare area that transcends the traditional domains of air, sea, land and space,” said NAVWARSYSCOM’s commander, Rear Adm. Christian Becker. “This name change underscores the importance of information warfare in providing our fleet with an unfair advantage in today’s complex and increasingly competitive security environment.”

In
addition to more accurately reflecting the focus and core capabilities of the
command, the name change will bring renewed clarity of mission and purpose for
the warfighter, stakeholders across the fleet, industry partners, the broader
information warfare community and the Naval Research and Development
Establishment, according to the release.

“We have
been at the center of incorporating advanced information warfare technologies
that enable new operational concepts for decades,” NAVWARSYSCOM Executive
Director Patrick Sullivan said. “Information warfare has been and will continue
to be our central focus, and now our name accurately reflects this focus.”

In
February 2019, NAVWARSYCOM’s two Echelon III commands, formerly “systems
centers” in Charleston, South Carolina and San Diego changed their names to Naval
Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic and NIWC Pacific, respectively.
While this move reflects clarity of mission and purpose, it also aligns the
centers’ naming architecture with Naval Air Systems Command’s air warfare
centers and Naval Sea Systems Command’s surface and undersea warfare centers.

The change
to NAVWARSYSCOM is the second name change in the command’s history. In May 1966,
the Department of the Navy established the Naval Electronic Systems Command.
The command was one of five systems commands placed under the Naval Material
Command. In May 1985, the Department of the Navy disestablished the Naval
Material Command, and the Naval Electronic Systems Command became Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Command, an Echelon II command under the CNO.

NAVWARSYSCOM consists of
more than 11,000 active duty military and civil service professionals around
the world and close to the fleet to keep NAVWARSYSCOM at the forefront of research,
engineering and acquisition to provide and sustain information warfare
capabilities to the fleet.