ARLINGTON, Va. — Austal USA officials have revealed features of its conceptual design for the Navy’s competition for the Future Guided-Missile Frigate (FFG(X)), an evolution of its Independence-class littoral combat (LCS) design. The company has provided an artist’s concept and…
Navy’s DDG 51 Manager Revels in Program Stability
ARLINGTON, Va. — The program manager for the Navy’s new-construction Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) guided-missile destroyers reveled in the stability of the program in wake of the passage of the 2019 defense budget and the approval of multiyear procurement of…
Panel Outlines Navy’s Push for Accelerated Acquisition
ARLINGTON, Va. — With pressure and support from the Navy’s top civilian leaders, key officials in the research, development and acquisition community are pushing an accelerated acquisition process that one key official said was aimed at rapidly moving “those programs…
Fleet Forces Commander: Careful Balance Needed Between Current and Future Readiness
ARLINGTON, Va. — The growing threat of great power competition and a shrinking industrial base means that being able to fight with the Navy the nation has now is as important as building the Navy the nation needs for the…
NAVSEA Officials Tout Progress in Building the Future Fleet
ARLINGTON, Va. — Two years of higher defense budgets and the 2019 funding approved early for the first time in a decade enable Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to make significant progress in building the future surface fleet, four of…
Navy FFG(X) Program Cost Estimates Trending Downward
ARLINGTON, Va. — The cost estimates of the Navy’s future guided-missile frigate (FFG(X) are coming in under the required threshold and trending downward toward the cost objective, the program manager said. Speaking Jan. 17 to an audience at the Surface…
Navy Surface Chief: Western Pacific Ship Readiness Improving
ARLINGTON, Va. — The readiness of the Navy’s Forward-Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) stationed in Japan is improving, the Navy’s surface warfare chief said, crediting a new command, the Naval Surface Group Western Pacific, with driving much of the improvement. “The…
LCS Mission Modules Progressing Toward Operational Capability
ARLINGTON, Va. — The various mission modules for the three mission packages designed for the Navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS) are progressing through their testing milestones toward their initial operational capability (IOC), a Navy official said. “This is really a…
Navy Starting Dialogue for Future Surface Combatant USVs
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy is beginning to move forward on its plans for a force of future combatants that will include three types of unmanned surface vessels (USVs), a service official said. The Navy “is just starting a dialogue…
Surface, Expeditionary Warfare Directors Outline Challenges, Programs
ARLINGTON, Va. — The directors of Surface Warfare and Expeditionary Warfare described their extensive and well-coordinated programs to build the forces needed to meet the challenges of the renewed era of great power competition, during a presentation to the Surface…
