ARLINGTON, Virginia — China’s first home-built aircraft carrier is likely to join the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet this year, a highlight of China’s effort to modernize its fleet with modern, farther-ranging platforms and weapons. Construction began on a…
Sealift Command to Welcome New Navajo Class of Tugboats to Fleet
NORFOLK, Virginia — A new class of towing and salvage vessels will join the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) in fiscal year 2021. “The new Navajo class replaces the Powhatan class T-ATF fleet tugs, which provide towing, diving and…
Navy’s Heliborne EW Pods Set for Delivery at Year’s End
ARLINGTON, Va. — Lockheed Martin is set to deliver to the Navy the first Advanced Off-Board Electronic Warfare AOEW pods at the end of 2019, the company’s program manager said. The first set of pods is on track for delivery…
HII’s Digital Shipbuilding Transformation Earns 2019 CIO 100 Award
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division has been named a recipient of a 2019 CIO 100 Award for adopting business-aligned IT strategies during its integration of modern technologies into shipbuilding. The ongoing initiative, known as…
O-Level Reform: Lemoore Strike Fighter Squadrons Returning More Jets to Flight Line
LEMOORE, Calif. — Two Navy Super Hornet squadrons at Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore, California, have reduced maintenance turnaround times and are boosting aircraft readiness as part of naval aviation’s maintenance reform initiatives under the Naval Sustainment System (NSS). The…
HII Wins LCS Planning Yard Contract Worth a Possible $931.7 Million
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division has been awarded a cost-plus-award-fee contract with a potential total value of $931.7 million for planning yard services in support of in-service littoral combat ships (LCS), the company said in a…
ATAC Selected as Provider of Training for Navy’s TACT Program
WASHINGTON — Textron Airborne Solutions, a business unit of Textron Inc., announced on May 1 that its Airborne Tactical Advantage Company subsidiary (ATAC) has been selected as a provider of contracted air services under the U.S. Navy’s Terminal Attack Controller…
DARPA Director Praises Navy’s Aggressive Use of Autonomous Sea Hunter
The director of the nation’s premier government innovation organization is excited about the U.S. Navy’s aggressive use of an unmanned surface vessel to experiment with the military applications of advanced automation and artificial intelligence. “The most exciting thing I’m really…
Lockheed Develops Rack to Make F-35A/C a Six-Shooter
ARLINGTON, Va. — The builder of the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter has designed a new weapons rack to enable the aircraft to carry two more missiles internally. The new rack, called Sidekick, enables each of the two weapons…
Navy Leaders to Meet May 16 to Assess Sub Construction Delays, Columbia Class Schedule, Secretary Tells House Panel
U.S. Navy leaders will meet with industry officials in May to examine how they can improve the increasingly challenged submarine production program and try adding more space in the tight schedule to build the first of the Columbia-class ballistic missile…
