The Department of the Navy (DoN) is requesting $205.6 billion for fiscal 2020 — $159.7 billion for the Navy and $45.9 billion for the Marine Corps. The 2020 request represents a significant increase over the fiscal 2019 budget of $196.1 billion.

The Navy’s base 2020 request is 29 percent of the overall Defense Department base request of $545 billion. The total DoD request of $718 billion includes the $545 billion plus Overseas Contingency Operations funding of $164 billion and $9 billion for emergency funding for activities such as hurricane relief. The DoN’s OCO funding of $44.7 is included in the DoN’s budget total.

The DoN’s $205.6 billion request includes $52 billion for military personnel; $68.5 billion for operations and maintenance; $61 billion for procurement; $20 billion for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E); $3.1 billion for military construction; and $366 million for family housing.

“This [budget] fields a formidable force in all domains of operations,” said Rear Adm. Randy B. Crites, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, briefing reporters March 12 at the Pentagon.

The end-strength of active-component Navy personnel is planned to rise to 340,500, an increase of 5,100 over 2019. Reserve personnel are planned to decrease slightly by 100 to 59,000. DoN civilian manpower is slated to grow, from 214,284 to 217,476.

During 2020, 10 ships are planned for delivery: four Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDGs); three Virginia-class attack submarines (SSNs); two littoral combat ships (LCSs); and one Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport (T-EPF). Also during the year, the Navy plans to retire two Los Angeles-class SSNs and three Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships. The battle force strength will grow by five ships to 301 in 2020.

The Navy has budgeted $23.8 billion for shipbuilding and conversion, the largest amount requested in 20 years, although, because in 2019 Congress added three ships in the 2019 budget, the 2019 total was larger at $24.2 billion. The 2020 budget requests funds for 12 ships: the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, the future USS Enterprise; three Virginia-class SSNs, two of which will be equipped with the Virginia Payload Module; three Flight III Arleigh Burke-class DDGs; one FFG(X) frigate, the lead ship of its class; two John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oilers (T-AO); and two towing, salvage and rescue ships.

For the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine, the Navy has requested $533 million in RDT&E funds. Construction of the first Columbia-class hull is planned for 2021.

The Navy expects to save $254 million ($2.5 billion over five years) from divestment of the planned service-life extension of Ticonderoga-class cruisers.

Also requested in the shipbuilding account are the construction of four LCU 1700 utility landing craft and the refueling and comprehensive overhaul of one Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. The Navy is gapping for a year the procurement of the LCAC 100 class of ship-to-shore connectors as that program is restructured.

The Navy is requesting the cancellation of the future RCOH — scheduled to begin in 2024 — for the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman with plans to retire the ship early and use the funds towards other programs. the procurement of Ford-class carriers. The Navy’s official budget document said the adjustment is made to balance the fleet’s high-end platforms with “a greater number of complementary, more affordable, potentially attritable options.”

The Navy plans to fund two large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) with $373 million in RDT&E funds and begin experimenting with them to develop such vessels with an offensive missile capability. Transition to procurement is expected to begin in 2021.

The Navy requests $18.6 billion in 2020 for 148 aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps. The fixed-wing aircraft include 10 F-35B and 10 F-35C Lightning II strike fighters for the Marine Corps and 10 F-35Cs for the Navy; 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters; four E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft; six P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft; three KC-130J Super Hercules for the Marine

Corps; and 22 ex-Swiss Air Force F-5 adversary aircraft, 11 each for the Navy and Marine Corps to recapitalize the older F-5 inventory.

Rotary-wing and tiltrotor aircraft requested in the budget include six CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopters and six VH-92A presidential transport helicopters for the Marine Corps; 38 helicopters of a design yet to be selected to replace TH-57 training helicopters; and 10 CMV-22B Osprey carrier-onboard-delivery aircraft for the Navy. Deliveries of more MV-22B Ospreys for the Marine Corps is gapped for 2020.

Large unmanned aircraft requested include two MQ-4C Tritons for the Navy and three MQ-9 Reaper medium-range UAVs, the first of this type for the Marine Corps.

WASHINGTON — The nation’s seaborne logistics capability is atrophying and in need of rejuvenation, senior government officials said in testimony before Congress. Maintaining older ships is proving more costly than anticipated, driving officials to seek new or used ships to replace some in the current inventory.

Testifying March 7 before a joint hearing of the Seapower and Projections Forces subcommittee and Readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Service Committee were Army Gen. Steve Lyons, commander, U.S. Transportation Command, and retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Buzby, administrator of the Maritime Administration (MARAD), a Department of Transportation agency that maintains the Ready Reserve Force (RRF), a fleet of sealift and specialized ships available on a reduced operational status for call up to service.

Of interest are the 46 ships of the RRF and the 15 sealift ships operated by the Military Sealift Command. The average age of the RRF ships is 44 years and are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Of the RRF ships, 21 are steam-powered, an obsolescent propulsion technology for which qualified mariners to operate it are decreasing in numbers.

Lyons noted that commercial ship companies look to retire ships at the 15-year mark to avoid the maintenance and repair costs of older ships.

He said the readiness of the 15 surge sealift roll-on/roll-off ships currently is only 65 percent.

“The need to recapitalize is urgent,” Lyons said. “I believe accelerating the used vessel purchases with the authority … Congress provided in the last two years is the most practical way ahead.”

Buzby said the key to sustaining sealift capability is the “acquisition and conversion of used ships for the RRF, beginning with the purchase of two vessels as authorized by the FY [fiscal year] ’18 NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act].”

He said that in January the Navy, in coordination with U.S. Transportation Command, “provided MARAD with the desired characteristics for replacement ships to be acquired from the commercial market. MARAD then released a request for information to identify suitable ships, and responses are due back [on March 16].”

Buzby said that of the 50,000 large, oceangoing commercial vessels in the world, 181 sail under the U.S. flag, including 82 vessels operating exclusively in international trade and the remainder in domestic trade. He said that these commercial ships are critical to sustaining the employment base for mariners for the RRF. He also noted that of 82 U.S.-flag ships in international trade, MARAD’s Maritime Security Program helps sustain a fleet of 60 militarily useful ships with mariners fully qualified for sealift operations.

“I am deeply concerned about our ability to muster an adequate number of mariners to operate the sealift fleet for surge and sustainment operations during a mobilization lasting about six months,” Buzby said.

Buzby said the Navy is funding some service-life extensions (SLEPs) of MARAD ships, but “the pace of repair is outpacing the pace of service-life extension,” noting that many of the repairs involve structural steel repairs. “We’re not making any headway toward extending that service life.”

He said that the SLEPs for each ship cost from $800,000 to $3.5 million, and often three times what was budgeted.

Service-life extensions are not returning the investment that we thought,” Lyons said.

Buzby said that used ships vary in cost “from $25 million, maybe to $60 million” depending on age “and a new ship is 26 times that.”

“If you look at the investments the Navy in the out-years, it’s very, very hard to compete a sealift new-build that is 26 times as expensive as an acquired used [ship] solution,” Lyons said.

New or used roll-on/roll-off ships are the primary recapitalization requirement for sealift, Buzby said.

ANDOVER, Mass. — Mercury Systems Inc. has received a $2.8 million order from a leading defense prime contractor for modular rackmount servers to be used in a naval weapon system, the company said in a March 7 release. The order was booked in the company’s fiscal 2019 third quarter and is expected to be shipped over the next several quarters.

Currently deployed on over 40 naval programs, Mercury’s EnterpriseSeries rackmount servers are designed for mission-critical applications.

“Performance, availability and versatility are extremely important to our customer,” said Scott Orton, vice president and general manager of Mercury’s Trusted Mission Solutions group. “Designed to meet both current and future deployment needs, our composable servers not only minimize cost but also offer long-term sustainability.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The extended-range version of the AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER) is proceeding into engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) with the March 7 Defense Department contract announcement of a contract award to Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, Northridge, California, was awarded a $322.5 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract from the Naval Air Systems Command to provide for the EMD phase, which will include “the design, integration and test of a new solid rocket motor for the AARGM-ER.”

The AARGM-ER will be integrated on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter and EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft and configured for internal carriage on the F-35AC Lightning II joint strike fighter.

“AARGM-ER extended range coupled with AARGM lethality will meet a critical defense suppression requirement while protecting our strike aviators,” said Cary Ralston, vice president, defense electronic systems, Northrop Grumman, in a March 8 release.

“The AARGM-ER program is leveraging the AARGM that is currently in production,” the Northrop Grumman release said.

The AARGM is an improved version of the AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), an air-launched missile used to suppress and destroy enemy air defenses. The AARGM is currently deployed with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps on the F/A-18C/D Hornet; the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft; and the Italian Air Force’s Tornado electronic combat aircraft.

Work on the EMD phase is expected to be completed in December 2023.

WASHINGTON — The Navy has established Program Executive Office Columbia (PEO CLB) to focus entirely on its No. 1 acquisition priority, Research, Development and Acquisition Public Affairs said in a March 6 release.

PEO CLB will provide oversight of the construction of 12 Columbia-class submarines (SSBN) that will help the Navy maintain a credible, survivable and modern sea-based strategic deterrent into the 2080s.

“This is the Navy’s most important program and establishing a new PEO today will meet tomorrow’s challenges head on,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for acquisition, research and development.

“The evolution from initial funding to construction, development and testing to serial production of 12 SSBNs will be crucial to meeting the National Defense Strategy and building the Navy the nation needs. PEO Columbia will work directly with resource sponsors, stakeholders, foreign partners, shipbuilders and suppliers to meet national priorities and deliver and sustain lethal capacity our warfighters need.”

Geurts announced that Rear Adm. Scott Pappano will assume the first office of PEO Columbia.

PEO Columbia will be part of Team Subs and will work closely with PEO Submarines and the Naval Sea Systems Command’s In-Service Submarine Directorate (SEA 07) on all submarine and affiliated programs, including life-cycle support. PEO CLB will focus on the design, construction and sustainment of the Columbia program and associated efforts that include interface with Strategic Systems Program and the United Kingdom for the Dreadnought Program.

The Columbia-class is a critical shipbuilding program and must deliver on time to meet U.S. Strategic Command nuclear deterrence requirements due to the Ohio-class submarines reaching maximum extended service life. The first Columbia-class ship is on track to begin construction of USS Columbia (SSBN 826) in fiscal year 2021, deliver in fiscal year 2028, and on patrol in 2031.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has posted a draft Request for Proposals for its next warship design, the FFG(X) next-generation guided-missile frigate.

“The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) intends to issue a solicitation under full and open competition in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019 for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of guided-missile frigates under the FFG(X) program,” said the announcement posted on the FedBizOps website on March 2. “The solicitation will provide for DD&C of up to ten (10) FFG(X) ships, post-delivery availability support, engineering and class services, crew familiarization, training equipment and provisioned item orders.”

The Navy plans to purchase 20 new frigates, the first beginning in fiscal 2020, scheduled for delivery in 2023. The designs submitted by shipbuilders are required to be based on “an existing parent ship design that has been demonstrated at sea. … FFG(X) ships must be constructed in a United States shipyard. Each offeror may submit only one proposal as a prime contractor. However, offerors may act as subcontractors under a prime contractor in one or more proposals.”

Five companies are expected to respond to the final RfP: Austal USA, Fincantieri Marine, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works Huntington Ingalls Industries and Lockheed Martin, all of which were contracted to develop frigate designs. The competition is open to other builders as well. Unlike in the Littoral Combat Ship program, only one hull type will be selected.

The RfP is under the purview of the Program Executive Office — Unmanned and Small Combatants.

The FFG(X) will be equipped with the Raytheon-built Enterprise Air Search Radar; the Block II of the SLQ-32(V)6 SEWIP (Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program), with a space reservation for SLQ-32(V)7 SEWIP Block III; the Cooperative Engagement Capability; the COMBATSS-21 combat system; the SQS-62 variable-depth sonar; the TB-37 multifunction towed array; the SQQ-89(V)15 antisubmarine warfare system; and data links 11, 16 and 22.

The new frigate’s weapons will include a battery of over-the-horizon cruise missiles; a Mk110 57 mm gun, a 32-cell Mk41 Vertical Launching System — armed with the Standard Missile-2 surface-to-air missile and Block II of the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile, and, in the future, an ASROC-like anti-submarine missile — a Rolling Airframe Missile launcher, and, potentially in the future, a laser weapon.

The ship will be able to carry one MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, one MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle, and two 7-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has awarded a $429 million contract modification to Boeing for long-lead material and activities for 16 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

The contract modification, awarded by Naval Air Systems Command, will support the procurement of Lot 11 aircraft for six P-8As for the U.S. Navy, four for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and six for the Republic of Korea Navy.

New Zealand and South Korea are the latest nations to order the P-8A. Earlier international customers include Australia, the United Kingdom and Norway. India has acquired the P-8I version.

Last month, the Navy awarded Boeing a $2.4 billion production contract for 19 P-8As, including 10 aircraft for the U.S. Navy fleet, all five ordered by Norway and the final four of nine P-8As for the United Kingdom, which will receive its first P-8A this year. Norway will receive its first aircraft in 2021.

All of the customers except the United Kingdom and India are replacing P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft with the P-8.

SAN DIEGO — The F-35C Lightning II, the aircraft carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, has met all requirements and has achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC), the commander of Naval Air Forces and the deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for aviation announced Feb. 28 in a joint statement.

The announcement comes shortly after the Navy’s first F-35C squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147, completed aircraft carrier qualifications aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and received safe-for-flight operations certification.

To declare IOC, the first operational squadron must be properly manned, trained and equipped to conduct assigned missions in support of fleet operations. This includes having 10 Block 3F, F-35C aircraft, requisite spare parts, support equipment, tools, technical publications, training programs and a functional Autonomic Logistic Information System (ALIS).

Additionally, the ship that supports the first squadron must possess the proper infrastructure, qualifications and certifications. Lastly, the Joint Program Office, industry, and Naval Aviation must demonstrate that all procedures, processes and policies are in place to sustain operations.

“The F-35C is ready for operations, ready for combat and ready to win,” Commander Naval Air Forces Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller said. “We are adding an incredible weapon system into the arsenal of our carrier strike groups that significantly enhances the capability of the joint force.”

Naval Air Station Lemoore is the home-base for the Navy’s JSF wing, Navy F-35C fleet squadrons and the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), VFA-125, that trains Navy and Marine Corps carrier-based JSF pilots.

To accommodate the F-35C program at NAS Lemoore, several facilities were built or remodeled to facilitate F-35C maintenance and training requirements, including a pilot fit facility, a centralized engine repair facility, a pilot training center and a newly remodeled hangar. Future projects are planned as additional Navy squadrons transition into the F-35C. The Marine Corps plans to transition four F-35C squadrons that will be assigned to carrier air wings for deployments.

“We’re very proud of what our sailors have accomplished in the Joint Strike Fighter community,” said Capt. Max McCoy, commodore of the Navy’s JSF Wing. “Their commitment to mission delivered fifth-generation capability to the carrier air wing, making us more combat effective than ever before. We will continue to learn and improve ways to maintain and sustain F-35C as we prepare for first deployment.”

Meanwhile, Rear Adm. Dale Horan, director of the Navy’s F-35C Fleet Integration Office, said, “The F-35C will revolutionize capability and operating concepts of aircraft carrier-based naval aviation using advanced technologies to find, fix and assess threats and, if necessary, track, target and engage them in all contested environments.”

The F-35C’s stealth technology, state-of-the-art avionics, advanced sensors, weapons capacity and range provides unprecedented air superiority, interdiction, suppression of enemy air defenses and close-air support as well as advanced command and control functions through fused sensors, according to the joint Feb. 28 statement.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy will commission its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Charleston (LCS 18), during a 10 a.m. ceremony on March 2 at Columbus Street Terminal in Charleston, S.C., the Defense Department said in a Feb. 27 release.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will deliver the commissioning ceremony’s principal address. Charlotte Riley, wife of former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, is the ship’s sponsor and she will continue the time-honored Navy tradition of giving the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

“The future USS Charleston is proof of what the teamwork of all of our people — civilian, contractor and military — can accomplish together,” Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said. “This ship will extend the maneuverability and lethality of our fleet to confront the many challenges of a complex world, from maintaining the sea lanes to countering instability to maintaining our edge against renewed great power competition.”

The name Charleston has a long and storied history in the Navy. The first Navy ship to bear the name Charleston was a row galley that defended the coast of South Carolina during the Quasi-War with France. The second Charleston (C-2) was a protected cruiser that received the surrender of Guam during the Spanish-American War. The third Charleston (C-22) was a St. Louis-class protected cruiser that performed escort and troop transport duties in World War I. The next Charleston (PG 51) was an Erie-class patrol gunboat that earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one battle star for her service in the northern Pacific during World War II. The fifth Charleston (AKA 113/LKA 113) was an amphibious cargo ship that served during the Vietnam War.

The future USS Charleston is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation. It is designed to defeat asymmetric “anti-access” threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The ship will be homeported in San Diego.

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

The commissioning ceremony, using hashtag #USSCharleston, can be viewed on the Navy Live blog at http://navylive.dodlive.mil.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — The Navy completed developmental testing for the AN/AQS-20C mine-hunting sonar system at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), on Feb. 26, the Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants Public Affairs announced in a Feb. 27 release.

The AQS-20C is the next generation of the AN/AQS-20 system designed to be incorporated into the Littoral Combat Ship Mine Countermeasures Mission Package. The system consists of four sonar arrays: two side-looking arrays, a gap-filler sonar array and a forward-looking sonar array, all providing simultaneous detection, localization and classification of bottom mines, close-tethered moored mines and volume-moored mines.

The system delivers high-definition images of bottom mines, providing the operator with both range and contrast data that combine to form a three-dimensional image during post-mission analysis to aid in mine identification.

Developmental testing verifies that a system’s design meets all technical specifications and that all contract requirements have been met. During testing, the Raytheon-developed towed sonar sensor conducted 12 underway missions in various operational modes and at different depths at four separate NSWC PCD test ranges. The missions were conducted aboard the test vessel M/V Patriot.

The AQS-20C will be integrated with and deployed from the Mine Countermeasures Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MCM USV), a long-endurance, semi-autonomous, diesel-powered, all-aluminum surface craft that supports the employment of various mine countermeasure payloads.

The MCM USV can be launched and recovered by the LCS, from other vessels of opportunity or from shore sites to provide minesweeping, mine-hunting and mine neutralization capabilities. The MCM USV is undergoing developmental testing as a component of the Unmanned Influence Sweep System at the South Florida Test Facility in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Test results will undergo scoring and performance assessment, leading up to a final developmental testing report that is expected to be finished this spring. Findings from this report will be used for future performance improvements of the system.