EVENDALE, Ohio — GE Marine has signed a contract with STM (Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik Ve Ticaret A.Ş.), Ankara, Turkey, to provide LM2500 marine gas turbines to power the Pakistan Navy’s new MILGEM multipurpose corvettes, GE announced in an Oct. 6 release. STM is the main propulsion system integrator for the MILGEM newbuilds.  

In July 2018, the Pakistan Navy contracted for four MILGEM corvettes with ASFAT (Askeri Fabrika ve Tersane İşletme A.Ş.), two of them to be built in Turkey and the other two in Pakistan. Recent milestones for the Pakistan Navy’s MILGEM program include the keel laying of the first ship in Istanbul, Turkey, and the steel cutting ceremony for the second corvette in Karachi, Pakistan.  

“We are delighted to provide the Pakistan Navy with our proven LM2500 gas turbine to power these new MILGEM corvettes,” said Kris Shepherd, vice president, Marine Operations, GE Marine, Evendale, Ohio. “Our LM2500 gas turbines are reliably logging operating hours onboard the Turkish Navy’s four MILGEM corvettes, the first of which was commissioned in 2011,” he added. 

The propulsion system for all the MILGEM ships consist of one LM2500 gas turbine in a combined diesel and gas turbine configuration with two diesel engines; total propulsion power is 31,600 kilowatts. Additionally, 24 LM2500s operate aboard the Turkish Navy’s Barbaros and Gabya class frigates. Worldwide, there are over 1,200 marine LM2500 gas turbines providing reliable power for 39 international navies and in countless industrial applications.  

The LM2500 gas turbines for the Pakistan Navy’s MILGEM program will be manufactured at GE’s facility in Evendale, Ohio.

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.

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).

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.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The crew of
Coast Guard Cutter Resolute (WMEC-620) returned home on May 19 following a
60-day patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard 7th District said
in a release.

Upon getting underway, Resolute
patrolled south to the Panama Canal, transiting the 51-mile canal and passing
through three separate locks over the course of 10 hours to reach the Gulf of
Panama and the Pacific Ocean. After reaching the Pacific, Resolute transitioned
to conducting law-enforcement operations in support of the Joint Interagency
Task Force South counter-drug mission under the tactical command of the 11th
Coast Guard District.

Resolute embarked an aviation detachment
from the Coast Guard helicopter interdiction tactical squadron to assist with
counter-drug missions. With the aid of the aviation detachment, Resolute
interdicted seven suspected drug-smuggling vessels, seizing or disrupting over
4,000 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated $129 million in street value.
Additionally, Resolute detained 23 suspected narcotics traffickers and ensured
they received proper care and proper disposition to various agencies.

Resolute’s cases ranged from high-speed
interdictions of go-fast vessels to fishing vessels concealing contraband in
hidden compartments. Many of these cases lasted more than 20 consecutive hours
and some required detailed operational planning and partnership with additional
assets, including Canadian navy and Central American coast guard assets.

This patrol was one of Resolute’s most
successful counterdrug patrols in recent years. Resolute disrupted transnational
criminal organizations through the interdiction and apprehension of seven
separate vessels, ensuring more than $130 million of illegal narcotics were
seized prior to making it to the United States.

Resolute is a 210-foot Reliance class
cutter and has a crew of 78. The cutter was commissioned in 1966 and has been
homeported in San Francisco, California, Astoria, Oregon, and now St.
Petersburg. Resolute has a decorated past, including patrols in both the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans, participating in the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez
disaster in Alaska, the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the
search-and-rescue efforts for the El Faro. The ship’s recent patrols have
focused on law-enforcement missions of drug-and-migrant interdiction.

ST. LOUIS —
Boeing has received a one-year contract to continue modernizing the U.S. Navy’s
F/A-18 fleet under the Service Life Modification (SLM) program, the company
said in a May 17 release.

The $164
million contract for fiscal 2019, which also includes a one-year option for
2020, funds the standup of a second SLM line in San Antonio, Texas, complementary
to the line established last year in St. Louis.

“The Service
Life Modification program is making great strides as we’ve already inducted
seven Super Hornets into the program and will deliver the first jet back to the
Navy later this year,” said Dave Sallenbach, the program’s director. “This
program is crucial in helping the Navy with its readiness challenges and will
continue to grow each year with the number of jets we induct.”

The San
Antonio SLM line is scheduled to receive its first Super Hornet in June and a
total of 23 Super Hornets over the course of this contract. The U.S. Navy fleet
consists of more than 550 Super Hornets.

The SLM
program extends the life of existing Super Hornets from 6,000 to 10,000 flight
hours.

In the early
2020s, Boeing is scheduled to begin installing initial updates to the aircraft
that will convert existing Block II Super Hornets to a new Block III
configuration.

The Block III
conversion will include enhanced network capability, longer range with
conformal fuel tanks, an advanced cockpit system, signature improvements and an
enhanced communications system. The updates are expected to keep the F/A-18 in
active service for decades to come.

WASHINGTON
— The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the Navy’s premier science and
technology research squadron, Scientific Development Squadron ONE (VXS-1),
unveiled on May 11 the UV-18 “Twin Otter” as the newest addition to the
squadron’s fleet of aircraft research platforms.

The
UV-18 is the military equivalent of the DeHavilland DHC-6 — a high-wing, unpressurized
twin engine turbine powered aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear.

“The
Twin Otter is a safe, highly maneuverable and extremely versatile aircraft,”
said Cmdr. Erik Thomas, commanding officer of VXS-1. “The fact that it is
unpressurized simplifies modifications and will accelerate our ability to get
projects airborne for the Naval Research Enterprise.”

The
aircraft compliments the VXS-1 “Warlocks” fleet by providing an affordable and
stable research platform with slow flight capabilities and an operational
payload of up to 3,000 pounds.

The
performance capabilities of the UV-18 aircraft offer customers a slow flight
speed of 85 mph, a maximum cruise speed of 190 mph, a nominal service ceiling
of 13,000 feet (higher with supplemental oxygen) and a six-hour flight duration,
depending on payload and flight configuration.

In
addition to the UV-18, VXS-1 operates a varying range of aircraft that include
three NP-3C and P-3C Orions, an RC-12 King Air and 12 TigerShark unmanned aircraft
systems.

The
fleet of squadron aircraft are operated and maintained by the men and women of
VXS-1 and contain an S&T framework to provide power, Ethernet and GPS feeds
as required for temporary project installations and to quickly conduct airborne
research. The squadron has a self-contained configuration and project shop to
assist prospective customers with rack designs, gear installations and flight
clearances.

“Using
our squadron’s aircraft, scientists and engineers can install and test the
latest technology they are developing in an operational environment anywhere in
the world. We truly turn their ideas into reality,” Thomas said.

Providing
proof of concept for the latest technology, VXS-1 enables operational fleet
commands to receive time pertinent technological advances to better execute
their missions and fill critical capability gaps in their theater.

Historically,
the squadron has supported a broad spectrum of research projects, which include
magnetic variation mapping, hydro-acoustic research, bathymetry, electronic
countermeasures, gravity mapping, electro-optical and radar research and remote
measuring of water contained in snow for NASA.

NATIONAL HARBOR,
Md. — As head of expeditionary warfare at the Naval Information Warfare Center
Atlantic, Kevin Charlow constantly is on the lookout for ways to share good
results with as many potential users as possible. 

“We’re focused on
trying to deliver capability to the fleet faster — by leveraging our exercise
and prototype efforts,” Charlow said during a May 7 interview at Sea-Air-Space
2019. 

To that end,
Charlow pointed to a recent case involving a precision navigation unit developed
for a U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) combat craft. It turned out that
the Marine Corps had a need for a similar unit, for use in its Amphibious
Assault Vehicles (AAV). 

“We were able to
take that integrated navigation and control capability — one of our SOCOM
projects – and leverage that with the Marine Corps AAV,” Charlow said.
“Basically, one sponsor funded a solution we’re now sharing with another, and
we have a potential win for the warfighters.”

The Marines are testing
the system now in Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. 

“Pressing forward,
we want to deliver C4ISR [command, control, communications, computer,
intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance], and its system and engineering
services and solutions, to our major sponsors,” Charlow said.   

The Navy, Marine
Corps and SOCOM are primary benefactors, but the Naval Information Warfare center
has helped the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army as well. 

Besides
advances in development of C4ISR prototypes, the center has awarded some $9
million in funding for 20 innovation projects for fiscal year 2019, which began
Oct. 1. Its engineers also built and installed a more robust firewall in the
Marine Corps’ SIPR (secret internet protocol router) network. The center was
able to fulfill an urgent need for the Marines within 10 months.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Arctic continues to present operational and logistical challenges for the agencies that operate there, but studies are providing a clearer picture of how they should be adjusting to climate change, service leaders said during a panel presentation at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space exposition here.

“We are working on how to better understand the Arctic,” said
Rear Adm. John Okon, commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, and
oceanographer and navigator of the Navy.

Noting that climate change is happening — and there are
undeniable changes in sea ice over the last decade— Okon said the use of
unmanned systems could be a force multiplier for missions in the Arctic.

“We know we are going to have to operate [in the Arctic] and
protect the homeland,” he said.

Vice Adm. Daniel Abel, the U.S. Coast Guard’s deputy
commandant for operations, said the risks presented in the polar region are
growing each year. 

“It is undeniable conditions are changing up there … the
change has happened, and the change is happening,” Abel said.

[climate

The Coast Guard’s annual Operation Artic Shield will once
again take place this summer. Arctic Shield’s goal is to increase knowledge of
operating in the region, as the service sends additional personnel and
resources to the area to see how they react.

The Coast Guard has no full-time base in the Arctic, as the
service operates there seasonally. Over the last several years, as sea ice has
melted sooner and shipping lanes have been opened for longer periods of time as
a result, the requirements for the Department of Homeland Security agency have
been more plentiful in the polar region.

Communicating with the Defense Department and allied nations
through automatic identification systems and other means has presented unique
challenges for the Coast Guard, given the harsh climate conditions.

“We are making sure that our requirements work with U.S.
Northern Command, and we have the abilities to communicate at the highest
latitudes,” Abel said.

Jeffrey Hutchinson, commissioner of the Canadian coast
guard, said he hopes the service continues to work closely with its counterpart
agency in the United States.

“We want to strengthen our partnership role,” he said.

Echoing comments from fellow panelist, Hutchinson said
climate change is an issue for the Arctic, and Canada needs to communicate to
get support from allies along with improving its relationship with other
nations that have a stake in the region.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander, U.S.
Northern Command, said the department is working on a unified approach among
all agencies that operate in the polar region.

Noting that they all face common challenges, he said new
technology is important in the Arctic and that continuing to better study the
region will be a focal point going forward.

“The
[Arctic] is a critically important topic,” he said.

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered the National Security Cutter Midgett (WMSL 757) to the U.S. Coast Guard on May 1, the company said in a release. Midgett is scheduled to sail away in June and will be commissioned later this year.

“We have a mission statement in the NSC program that says
during the construction of each NSC we will provide the men and women of the
United States Coast Guard with the finest ship in their fleet,” said Derek
Murphy, NSC program manager. “This excellence will be provided by our
shipbuilders through working safely, attention to detail and ownership of work.
Since the beginning of construction on NSC 8, we’ve seen an amazing
transformation, made possible by the thousands of people who poured their heart
and soul into this ship.”

Ingalls has now delivered eight Legend-class NSCs and has one more under construction and two more under contract. Stone (WMSL 758) is scheduled for delivery in 2020. In December of 2018, Ingalls received two fixed-price incentive contracts with a combined value of $931 million to build NSCs 10 and 11.

“From a homeland security and defense perspective, this ship provides unmatched command and control,” said Cmdr. Brian Smicklas, Midgett’s executive officer and acting commanding officer.

“We’ve reached a number of accomplishments and milestones up to this point. However, there’s more work to do on the water. We have record drug flows in the eastern Pacific, and there are traditional Western Hemisphere missions that our Coast Guard brothers and sisters are conducting on the water every day. We also see a large increase in demand for the geographic combatant commanders for this specific National Security Cutter capability, and we’re excited to fill that and be a part of the national fleet.”

NSC 8 is named to honor the hundreds of members of the Midgett family who have served in the U.S. Coast Guard and its predecessor services. At least 10 members of the family earned high honors from the Coast Guard for their heroic lifesaving deeds. Seven Midgett family members were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal, the Coast Guard’s highest award for saving a life, and three were awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal.