GROTON, Conn. – The Navy celebrated the commissioning of USS Vermont (SSN 792), the first Block IV Virginia-class submarine to enter service, Saturday, Aug. 28, at Naval Submarine Base New London, Submarine Readiness Squadron 32 said in a release. 

“Vermonters have served with valor from the highest mountains to the depths of the ocean,” said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, who served as the event’s keynote speaker and was attending his first ship ceremony as secretary. 

“This vessel has already proven itself in service, not only because it was designed the right way, but because of the exemplary work of the men aboard,” he said. 

Vermont was administratively commissioned on April 18, 2020, but due to restrictions on large gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, no traditional commissioning ceremony was held. To ensure the health and safety of the crew and all those in attendance during the ceremony Saturday, attendance was limited and no public or media tours were held. Masks were required in all indoor spaces and encouraged in outdoor spaces. 

Since its administrative commissioning, USS Vermont has been an active submarine in the U.S. Navy, including participation in anti-submarine warfare exercises alongside the Brazilian navy in the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations in December of 2020. 

In addition to Del Toro, Rear Adm. Douglas Perry, director of undersea warfare on the chief of naval operations’ staff and a Vermont native, was among those who spoke at the Saturday ceremony. 

Perry spoke of the legacies of previous Navy ships with Vermont ties and military heroes from the state’s past, like Ethan Allen during the Revolutionary War and 19th Century Admiral of the Navy George Dewey. 

“The Green Mountain State’s legacy of naval service runs deep,” Perry said. “You join a rich history of honorable service.” 

This is the third U.S. Navy ship to bear the name Vermont, but first in a century. The first was one of nine 74-gun warships authorized by Congress in 1816. The second, Battleship No. 20, was commissioned in 1907 and first deployed in December of that year as part of the “Great White Fleet.” The battleship Vermont was decommissioned June 30, 1920. 

The submarine Vermont was christened in a traditional ceremony at General Dynamics’ Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, on Oct. 20, 2018. 

“She was built by the best, for the best, and is the best of the best,” said Gloria Valdez, the ship sponsor and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy overseeing shipbuilding and modernization. “She is the most technologically advanced submarine in the world.” 

USS Vermont is 377 feet long, has a 34-foot beam and will be able to dive to depths greater than 800 feet and operate at speeds in excess of 25 knots submerged. She has a crew of more than 130 Navy personnel. 

“We get to finally say, ‘The ship’s in commission, thank you so much to everyone who supported us,’” said Cmdr. Charles Phillips, the commanding officer of USS Vermont. “This represents the people of Vermont. We want to make them proud and let them justify their confidence in us as we defend our country.” 

Fast-attack submarines are multi-mission platforms enabling five of the six Navy maritime strategy core capabilities — sea control, power projection, forward presence, maritime security and deterrence. They are designed to excel in anti-submarine warfare, anti-ship warfare, strike warfare, special operations, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, irregular warfare and mine warfare. Fast-attack submarines project power ashore with special operations forces and Tomahawk cruise missiles in the prevention or preparation of regional crises. 

Block IV Virginia-class submarines incorporate design changes focused on reduced total ownership cost. By making these smaller-scale design changes to increase the component-level lifecycle of the submarine, the Navy will increase the periods between depot maintenance availabilities and increase the number of deployments. 

Blocks I-III Virginia-class submarines are planned to undergo four depot maintenance availabilities and conduct 14 deployments. Block IV design changes are intended to reduce planned availabilities by one to three and increase deployments to 15. 

Also speaking at the ceremony Saturday were members of the Vermont and Connecticut congressional delegations: U.S. Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. 

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division successfully completed builder’s trials for guided missile destroyer Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121), the company announced in an Aug. 27, 2021, release. The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer spent three days in the Gulf of Mexico testing the ship’s combat system, which included firing a missile.  

“Ingalls, Navy AEGIS Test Team, the Navy ship’s force, the program office, numerous combat systems participating acquisition managers, and supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair worked together to ensure a successful builder’s trial,” said John Fillmore, Ingalls’ DDG 51 program manager. “A successful builder’s trial sets us up for a final trial prior to delivery. We are proud of the work our shipbuilders have accomplished so far and look forward to finishing strong.”

DDG 121 is named for Frank E. Petersen Jr., who was the U.S. Marine Corps’ first African American aviator and general officer. After entering the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in 1950, Petersen would go on to fly more than 350 combat missions during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Ingalls has delivered 32 destroyers to the Navy and currently has four more under construction including Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123), Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), Ted Stevens (DDG 128) and Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129).Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are highly capable, multi-mission ships and can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management, to sea control and power projection — all in support of the United States military strategy. The guided missile destroyers are capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship contains a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense well into the 21st century.

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The Navy’s Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER) received Milestone C (MS-C) approval Aug. 23, allowing the program to move into its first phase of production, the Naval Air Systems Command said in an Aug. 25 release.

The Navy plans to award the first two low-rate initial production lots over the next several months.

“The combined government/industry team has worked tirelessly over the last few years to reach this milestone,” said Capt. Alex Dutko, Direct and Time Sensitive Strike (PMA-242) program manager. “We look forward to getting this new weapon with its increased capability and lethality out to the fleet as soon as possible.”

The MS-C decision comes just over two years after the Navy awarded the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) contract to its prime contractor, Northrop Grumman. The team conducted the first live-fire event in July to verify system integration and rocket motor performance, as well as initiate modeling and simulation validation.

Captive and live fire flight testing is planned to continue through 2022 and initial operational capability is planned for 2023.

The Navy is integrating AARGM-ER on the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G, and it will be compatible for integration on the F-35.  By leveraging the U.S. Navy’s AARGM program, the AARGM-ER with a new rocket motor and warhead will provide advanced capability to detect and engage enemy air defense systems.

NORFOLK, Va. — USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) departed Aug. 26 for sea trials, marking completion of one of the largest and most complex aircraft carrier availabilities conducted at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), NNSY Public Affairs and USS George H.W. Bush Public Affairs said in a joint Aug. 26 release.

The Drydocking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA), which began in February 2019, marked Bush’s first time out of the water since 2006. The shipyard workforce contributed 762,500 workdays of the 1.3 million workday availability, with the ship’s crew, Alteration Installation Teams and contractors comprising the rest.

The DPIA included a number of complicated planned efforts including a complete shaft and propeller overhaul, rudder refurbishment, catwalk and tank preservation, and modernization and upgrades to electronic and combat systems, catapults, and hotel services.

“At the beginning of this challenging availability I shared with the project team this would be a marathon event due to the large work package and the length of time it would take to return George H.W. Bush to the Fleet,” said Project Superintendent Jeff Burchett. “At that time, we had no idea what we would face with the COVID 19 pandemic and the additional challenges it brought to the team to overcome such a major obstacle on top of the planned work. The team stepped up and worked through it.”

The ship’s commanding officer Capt. Robert “Aggs” Aguilar was complimentary of the collaboration between NNSY and the crew.

“The end of this maintenance period marks the beginning of our team’s ability to execute our primary mission which is to provide combat capability to Fleet and Joint Force commanders whenever and wherever it is needed,” said Aguilar. “We remain grateful for the teamwork with Norfolk Naval Shipyard to get us back to sea. Now the crew of George Herbert Walker Bush will bring the ship to life and return her to full operational capability.”

NNSY implemented process improvement and innovations in several areas of the availability, including the U.S. Navy’s first organic cold spray repairs at any of the four public shipyards to repair components on Bush. Laser scanning was used to facilitate installation of sponsons onboard, supporting first time quality. Additionally, the shipyard’s special emphasis group developed unique weight handling equipment using electric winches for servicing components while in dry dock.

“The team has been all-in with either fixing or elevating any issues as they occurred, with non-stop execution in mind to ensure USS George H.W. Bush was returned to the Fleet,” said Shipyard Commander Capt. Dianna Wolfson. “With such an extensive and challenging availability, it took a daily commitment from our team members in delivering technical excellence and skilled craftsmanship on Bush so it could be ready to excel in its mission and demonstrate Freedom at Work.”

The ship will now complete sea trials and multiple certifications before beginning a pre-deployment training cycle.

“It’s been a unique privilege leading the project team of this availability throughout its entire duration at Norfolk Naval Shipyard,” said Burchett. “When starting the project, we adopted a quote from George H.W. Bush himself: ‘This is my mission and I will complete it.’ It’s taken a lot of teamwork and perseverance, on top of working through unexpected challenges, but today we can say the mission is complete and USS George H.W. Bush—and the Navy—is all the better for it.”

This report was updated on Aug. 27.

ARLINGTON, Va. — A suicide bomber attacked a gate at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 26, killing 13 U.S. military personnel and wounding at least 15 others, U.S. military officials said. 

Killed were 11 Marines and one Sailor, according to official statements as of 27 Aug. A press report said that the 13^th military person killed was a soldier. The service identities of the 15 wounded personnel have not been announced yet, pending notification of next of kin, though some are confirmed to be Marines, according to the HQMC statement. 

The units of the dead and wounded have not been announced. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, staged from the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, had dispatched Marines to Kabul in mid-August as part of the U.S. forces deployed to the Kabul airport to evacuate Americans and certain Afghan nationals who had helped with the U.S. war effort.   

The attack is believed to have been conducted by ISIS-K, rather than the Taliban, said Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander, U.S. Central Command, speaking Aug. 26 via internet link to reporters at the Pentagon. At least 79 other people were killed at the scene of the attack, which included small arms fire as well as a suicide vest. 

A second attack thought to have occurred at the Baron Hotel near the airport turned out not to have occurred, said Army Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor, the Joint Staff’s deputy director of regional operations, in an Aug. 27 briefing to reporters.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III issued the following statement: 

“On behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I express my deepest condolences to the loved ones and teammates of all those killed and wounded in Kabul today.  

“Terrorists took their lives at the very moment these troops were trying to save the lives of others. 

“We mourn their loss. We will treat their wounds. And we will support their families in what will most assuredly be devastating grief. 

“But we will not be dissuaded from the task at hand.  

“To do anything less — especially now — would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan.” 

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday also memorialized in the following statement the Navy and Marine Corps personnel lost in the attacks:  

“This is a solemn day for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps team. Those warriors who died gave their lives to save thousands of men, women and children, Americans and Afghans alike.   

“Their courage and selflessness represent the highest ideals of America. We pay solemn tribute to their sacrifice.  

“To the families and loved ones who grieve — you are not alone. We stand beside you in this pain, humbled by the loss of these heroes, grateful that individuals of such valor chose to serve among us.”  

Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David H. Berger issued the following statement: 

“It is with extremely heavy hearts that we learned several Marines and other service members were killed and wounded in the Kabul attacks today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families as they are notified of this devastating loss.   

“These fallen heroes answered the call to go into harm’s way to do the honorable work of helping others. We are proud of their service and deeply saddened by their loss. As we mourn, we also keep those who are still over there protecting Americans and our Afghan partners at the forefront of our thoughts. Our Marines will continue the mission, carrying on our Corps’ legacy of always standing ready to meet the challenges of every extraordinary task our Nation requires of her Marines.      

“I am continually humbled by the courage and warrior spirit exhibited every day by Marines across the globe. The sacrifices Marines make on behalf of freedom must never go unnoticed or unappreciated. I ask that you keep these Marines and service members, and especially their families, in your thoughts and prayers.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Chinese government’s rapid military buildup across all domains is a “strategic breakout” from its minimum deterrent nuclear posture to one that can coerce other nations, the commander of U.S. strategic forces warned Aug. 25.

Rapid expansion of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos, road mobile ICBMs, six or more Jin-Class ballistic missile submarines carrying nuclear weapons that can reach the continental United States from the South China Sea, and bombers armed with air-launched ballistic missiles have given China a “true triad” of sea, air and land nuclear capability, Adm. Charles Richard, head of U.S. Strategic Command said.

In a virtual conversation with Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, Richard said that amounted to a “final brick in the wall, a final piece of capability designed to build a military that is capable of coercion.”

Given the changing threat environment, “right now is the ideal time” for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s planned reviews of the national defense strategy, nuclear posture and missile defense, Richard said. “We have never before had two peer nuclear-capable opponents [Russia and China] that have to be deterred at the same time, [but] we have to deter differently.”

Russia remains the strategic and nuclear pacing threat “at least for a little bit longer,” with over 2,000 non-treaty constrained warheads and novel capabilities like hypersonic weapons, Richard said.

The United States is developing its own hypersonic weapons. The Navy plans to first deploy Conventional Prompt Strike (CSP) capability hypersonic missiles on Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyers and later, Virginia-class Block 5 submarines. STRATCOM has both strategic deterrence and nuclear deterrence as missions.

“If we had this [hypersonic] capability, it would enable us to accomplish strategic deterrence better than what we can do using the nuclear effect alone,” Richard said.

STRATCOM “will be ready to receive the first service hypersonic capability at intercontinental range the day they make it available,” he said. “We are already working the concepts. I have the targeting. I have the command and control.”

Analysts studying commercial satellite images in recent weeks have discovered the Chinese government is building two large fields of ballistic missile launching silos in the country’s western desert, but U.S. officials including Richard, have not commented directly on the development.

The STRATCOM chief said it is not enough to plan around all the missiles, submarines and other weaponry the People’s Liberation Army already has.

“It would not be a wise assumption to think somehow ‘They’re done,’” Richard said, explaining that officials should not lose sight of “What is the next thing we’re going to find, and where does this end?”

WASHINGTON — Navy Strategic Systems Programs successfully conducted a test of the Second Stage Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) Aug. 25 in Promontory, Utah, as part of the development of the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike offensive hypersonic strike capability and the Army’s Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, Navy SSP public affairs said in an Aug. 26 release. 

This was the initial live-fire test of the second stage SRM and follows a successful test of the first stage SRM on May 27. This test marked the successful testing of both stages of the newly developed missile booster, as well as a thrust vector control system on the SRM. These tests are a vital step in the development of a Navy-designed common hypersonic missile that will be fielded by both the Navy and Army.  

The second stage SRM will be part of a new missile booster for the services and will be combined with a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB) to create the common hypersonic missile.  Each service will use the common hypersonic missile, while developing individual weapon systems and launchers tailored for launch from sea or land. This successful SRM test represents a critical milestone leading up to the next series of Navy and Army joint flight tests and will lead to the fielding of the CPS and LRHW weapon systems. 

The Department of Defense successfully tested the CHGB on March 20, 2020. The services are working closely with government national laboratories and industry to continue development and production of the CHGB. The Navy is the lead designer of the CHGB, and the Army leads production of the CHGB. 

Information gathered from this and future tests will further inform the services offensive hypersonic technology development. The Department of Defense is working in collaboration with industry, government national laboratories, and academia to field hypersonic warfighting capability in the early-to mid-2020s. 

Hypersonic weapons, capable of flying at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5, are highly maneuverable and operate at varying altitudes. In a matter of minutes, Navy and Army warfighters can defeat high-value targets hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Delivering hypersonic weapons is one of the DoD’s highest priorities. 

The common hypersonic missile design for sea and land-based applications provides economies of scale for future production and relies upon a growing U.S. hypersonics industrial base. 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — PteroDynamics, an aircraft design and manufacturing company that develops innovative vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, has secured a contract with Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to deliver three VTOL prototypes for the Blue Water Maritime Logistics UAS program, the company said in an Aug. 23 release. 

In 2018, Military Sealift Command and Fleet Forces Command identified a need for the United States Navy to develop a capability to autonomously deliver cargo with unmanned aircraft to and from ships at sea. Their analysis found that 90% of critical repair cargo delivered at sea by helicopters and V-22 aircraft weighed less than 50 pounds. A VTOL UAS can fill this critical need and free the manned aircraft to perform other higher priority missions. 

“We are honored to be selected for this important project,” said Matthew Graczyk, PteroDynamics’ CEO. “This contract is the start of an important partnership, and we look forward to delivering the prototypes to NAWCAD.” 

“This is an exciting milestone for our distinctive VTOL aircraft,” added Val Petrov, PteroDynamics’ founder and chief technology officer. “Our design is well suited for operations on ships where windy conditions and tight spaces challenge other VTOL aircraft during takeoffs and landings.” 

“Using unmanned, autonomous aircraft for delivery of these critical payloads is an important capability for the Navy to have,” said Blue Water’s project lead, Bill Macchione. “The innovative design of PteroDynamics offers significant potential for both military and civilian missions.” 

The Port of Virginia is something of a little-understood region on the nation’s vast maritime map, and yet is one of the busiest, most strategically important ports in the nation.

Located at Hampton Roads, it ranks seventh among North America’s largest ports, with five major terminals (compared to 25 at the Port of Los Angeles, the largest, and probably best-known port). It’s a neighbor to the world’s largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.

Like much of the nation’s maritime infrastructure, the general public often doesn’t see the mighty industrial lifting done at a port like the Port of Virginia, which employs nearly 400,000 people directly and indirectly and contributes about $92 billion annually to Virginia’s economy. 

Its public profile could increase over time, not least due to the ever-expanding economy in the Mid-Atlantic region that has resulted in a 2.6% compounded annual growth rate since 2015, according to data from the Port of Virginia’s 2020 Annual Report. The primary drivers of Virginia’s transformative growth — which translates into more cargo, new jobs and bigger regional investments — is the arrival or expansion of multinational companies like Amazon, engineering giant Navien and Acesur, which specializes in IT and enterprise security.

Coast Guard Oversight

The 5th District of the U.S. Coast Guard, which has four sectors stretching from New Jersey to South Carolina, advises on how to accommodate this economic growth while making sure the waterways are also safe for traditional maritime uses.

Rear Adm. Laura M. Dickey, 5th District commander, says there have been a host of changes in Virginia and the rest of the region, from adapting to massive container ships to dealing with renewable energy needs and climate-related initiatives.

“There is a tremendous amount going on across the district,” Dickey told Seapower. “In addition to our normal Coast Guard missions, we are really seeing an explosion of growth in the maritime transportation system, in the ports and in trying to keep up with that, making sure that the traditional uses of the waterways, and these new uses — or these growing uses — will work in concert with each other.

“And then where is our role in that? [We are] making sure that we’re prepared for these changes that we’re seeing, and doing our part to evaluate them, and doing so in a holistic way that integrates all the different aspects of what happens in a port, or the approaches to our ports from offshore.”

Dickey said the Coast Guard team in the 5th District is adapting much like their maritime partners to new uses of the waterways, including offshore renewable energy initiatives — mainly wind farms — and, to a lesser extent, preparations for sea level rise.

With new construction in the region, for example, the Coast Guard is tasked with examining these projects and their parameters. It’s more of an advisory role rather than a regulatory or law enforcement capacity, an important distinction given the cross-section of different interest groups and government agencies.   

“The Port of Virginia is going through some amazing expansion, [and] there is a tremendous amount of activity going on,” Dickey said. “We have our traditional [missions] but we also have some unchartered territory and this explosive growth that all has to be harmonized … so that these activities in these ports happen safely and are done in a way that supports the economy but also takes into consideration all of the other traditional uses of our waterways.”

Dickey said wind farms are at the center of new development throughout the 5th District. There are at least eight projects in development potentially in the Mid-Atlantic region. In Virginia, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is in its initial phase. Located about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, the pilot project consists of two 12-megawatt turbines that cost about $300 million and are expected to generate enough electricity to power 3,000 homes. It is the second off­shore wind farm operation in the United States after Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island.

“Wind farms are huge,” Dickey said. “It is an emerging area, and it is one where the Coast Guard is not responsible for signing off on the permit, but we do play a role in advising the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and others. Our role is to review the projects and see how they fit with traditional uses of the waterways to make sure that we are able to do our own missions.”

The Coast Guard works with multiple partners, interest groups and fellow federal agencies on wind farm programs, having done so in the Northeast for more than two decades to support the construction of wind farms in Block Island and Nantucket Sound (the latter was rejected by local interest groups in 2017). Communication, transparency and sharing knowledge are the key to successfully executing such projects.

“If you have wind farms that are too close together, can you still do search and rescue properly in there, or do they run into traditional fisheries grounds, or are they in the way of traditional or necessary fairways so that commerce can come in and out?” Dickey said.

“There are an awful lot of these projects. It is the wave of the future, and it is something that we are having to rapidly adjust to make sure that we’re looking at things in a holistic way. We are working with headquarters and everybody to make sure that we come up with a process that is repeatable and standardized in a sense but is also flexible to adjust to the particulars of each project.”

Dickey cited several port deepening projects, among them the Ports of Wilmington, North Carolina and Delaware Bay, where ongoing deepening and dredging of ports and harbors is essential for handling the increasingly larger container vessels coming daily through the port to one of the area terminals.

Dickey described a constant cycle of challenges in keeping up with growing trade volume at the Port of Virginia, which is the No. 1 exporter of vegetables and soybean products, and a leader in recycled wastepaper and animal feed exports.

Fewer, but Larger, Ships

In late May of this year, the CMA CGM Marco Polo, the largest container ship to call on a U.S. East Coast port, arrived at Virginia International Gateway, marking a milestone for the Port of Virginia. The vessel is nearly 1,300 feet long and can carry 16,022 20-foot equivalent units.

“[Trade] is such a huge part of our economy and globalization and the Coast Guard has got to make sure that it happens safely, and how do we do that,” said Dickey. “The Coast Guard is agnostic on all of this. Our job is to make sure that maritime activity occurs safely and is deconflicted.” 

Also underway are tunnel and road expansions at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and with the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) Expansion Project. In a ground­breaking ceremony in October 2020, officials kicked off the $3.8 billion HRBT Expansion Project, which will add twin, two-lane bored tunnels and widen portions of Virginia’s Interstate 64 to reduce congestion and ease access to the Port of Virginia and Naval Station Norfolk. The project, which gets underway in 2022, is the largest infrastructure project in the commonwealth’s history. 

“The [projects] are going on across the Mid-Atlantic region as these ports all try to remain competitive,” Dickey said. “It is an interesting thing where the volume of ships goes down because [the vessels] are able to carry so much more. But you need to accommodate these large ships, and what does that do for the safety of ships as they try to pass each other in channels? Does it shut down things?”

Dickey said her team in the 5th District is doing is Port Access Route Studies, or PARS, which ensure, in part, that new projects and construction are integrated with the potential future uses of areas.

“How do we make sure that the waterways and approaches to our ports are deconflicted with all the different types of things that people want to do?” Dickey said.

“We are reviewing the access to ports. How do we get ships moving in and out of our ports and navigating here in the safest manner, and then what is the impact of a wind farm? Where can those even be permitted to be leased, [and] does that fit with access to the ports? That entails outreach to all the stakeholders, whether that is private industry, the DoD, recreational users, commercial fishing users and environmental groups,” she said.

“We are well postured, because we are very tightly [linked with] our port partners in each location. We have area maritime steering committees and consulta­tive groups where we know most of the folks, so we get a sense of what’s going on and what the impact might be, and then we take a look at these projects.”

General Dynamics Mission Systems recently introduced its new Badger software-defined radio at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Symposium in National Harbor, Maryland.

The Badger is based on the company’s established AN/USC-61(C) Digital Modular Radio (DMR) providing secure communications aboard U.S. Navy surface combatants, aircraft carriers and submarines as well as fixed sites at shore installations. General Dynamics has delivered more than 900 DMR radios to the Navy.

According to Stan Kordana, vice president of Surface Systems at General Dynamics Mission Systems, Badger meets a customer need for a radio offering the same waveforms, security and flexibility of the four-channel DMR, but with a more compact footprint. The two-channel Badger is a quarter of the size of DMR, and provides the same level of Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore voice and data communications.

“The reduced size, weight and power make it ideal for smaller platforms across multiple domains that only require two channels, and at the same time simplifies logistics and reduces costs,” Kordana said.

According to Kordana, “Badger is the only radio available that provides high frequency, very high frequency, ultra high frequency and SATCOM Mobile User Objective System [MUOS] waveform capability. The integration of MUOS significantly enhances beyond line-of-sight, or satellite voice and data communications.”

Bill Rau, vice president, Surface Ship Warfare System, said Badger has programmable embedded NSA certified Type 1 encryption that secures communications and simplifies the system architecture.

“It has MILS capability which enables it to communicate simultaneously at multiple levels of security on each of the radio’s two channels — and each one can be tuned to a broad range of frequencies. Furthermore, Badger’s software-defined, flexible open architecture enables future next-generation communications including waveforms, encryption algorithms and advanced network connectivity to be easily incorporated as needs evolve.”

The first DMR units were delivered to the Navy in the early 2000s, Rau said, adding, “we’re expecting to hit the 1,000^th delivery in the coming months.”

According to Rau, DMR is the first software-defined radio to become a communications system standard for the U.S. military.

“It’s on every class of surface ship, aircraft carrier, submarine and shore installation. DMR is a compact four-channel radio. With only a few DMRs, ships can essentially replace an entire ‘radio central’ room of legacy radios and equipment on older ships.”

Because these are software defined radios, Rau said, “In many cases, waveforms and features can be updated by adding software, without needing to send the radio back to a depot.”

Badger doesn’t replace DMR. “It’s a newer, smaller version based on the DMR but with two channels instead of four.” Rau said. “Badger takes the goodness of the DMR and puts it into a smaller package with a modern voice-over internet protocol interface to the ship systems so it can be used on even more platforms, including unmanned surface vessels.”

DMR and Badger are produced at the General Dynamics Mission Systems facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.