CAMP KISARAZU, Japan — Bell Boeing delivered the first V-22 Osprey to Camp Kisarazu in Japan on July 10, the company said in a release. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) is the first operator of the V-22 outside of the U.S. military. 

“The delivery of the first Japanese V-22 is an important milestone and represents our strong partnership with the government of Japan,” said Shane Openshaw, Boeing vice president of Tiltrotor Programs and Bell Boeing deputy program director. “The Osprey’s ability to carry out the toughest missions in the most challenging operating environments will reshape what is possible for the Japan Ground Self Defense Force.” 

The V-22 can conduct multiple missions not possible with traditional rotorcraft or fixed-wing aircraft, improving mission efficiency and reducing logistic costs. Japan’s V-22 has a unique configuration with a customer-specific communication system. The marinized design resists corrosion and reduces the cost of long-term maintenance. JGSDF service members have been training with U.S. Marines for the last month to gain aircraft proficiency before delivery of their first V-22.  

“We have had the pleasure of working with the JGSDF state-side to produce, develop, train and maintain their initial fleet of aircraft,” said Marine Corps Col. Matthew Kelly, program manager for the V-22 Joint Program Office (PMA-275). “This arrival marks a key step in standing up its V-22 fleet, and more importantly, the continued collaboration between our nations.” 

Japan joins the U.S. Marines, Navy and Air Force in operating the V-22. These aircraft support multiple missions, including the transportation of personnel, supplies, and equipment; humanitarian support and search and rescue missions; long-range personnel recovery. With more than 500,000 flight hours, the V-22 is one of the most in-demand platforms in military aviation, providing safe, survivable, combat-proven mission success only capable with the tiltrotor range, speed and versatility of the Osprey.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Teledyne Technologies Inc.’s subsidiary, Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., was awarded a $6 million contract from Northrop Grumman Corp. to manufacture the first production unit of the Surface-to-Surface Missile Module (SSMM) for the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship (LCS), the company said in a July 13 release.  

Teledyne Brown Engineering will manufacture, assemble and test the SSMM at the company’s main facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The company will then integrate launch-control assemblies along with other equipment into the modules. Teledyne Brown Engineering, along with Northrop Grumman and the Navy, will validate the system using SSMM-specific software and emulators. The company will then perform Factory Acceptance Testing, leading to delivery of production units. 

The SSMM is a modular weapons system, which fires Longbow Hellfire Missiles and compliments the Gun Mission Module (GMM), also manufactured by Teledyne Brown Engineering. Along with the GMM, the SSMM will provide additional capabilities to the LCS as part of the Surface Warfare Package. The SSMM is an integral part of the LCS’ that are used for defense against swarming Fast Attack Craft/Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FAC/FIAC), counter-piracy, maritime interdiction, and security missions. 

“This award is a testament to the successful collaboration between Teledyne Brown Engineering and Northrop Grumman,” said Jan Hess, president of Teledyne Brown Engineering. “We have built and delivered 25 Gun Mission Modules, and we are proud to be supporting the U.S. Navy’s efforts to enable a broader mission scope.” 

This contract continues the decade long relationship between Northrop Grumman and Teledyne Brown Engineering supporting the LCS Mission Modules Design Engineering, Production and Sustainment program. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard’s Atlantic and Pacific area commanders have praised the service’s fleet of Legend-class national security cutters (NSCs) in their role as platforms for drug interdiction. 

Speaking July 14 at a webinar co-sponsored by the organization, NatSec 2020: Coronavirus and Beyond, sponsored by the Navy League of the United States, the Association of the United States Army and Government Matters, were Vice Adm. Linda L. Fagan, commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area, and Vice Adm. Steven D. Poulin, commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area.  

The NSC “is game-changing for us in countering the narcotics flow in the eastern Pacific,” Fagan said. 

She said the interdiction of drugs at sea is especially advantageous because they are seized in large quantities before the drug supply chain can break the loads into smaller quantities. 

Speaking of the “incredible capability” of the NSCs, Poulin said, “I’ve seen that time and time again. The capacity, the technological edge that those Coast Guard cutters bring to the fight … that is an incredible platform.” 

Poulin said the Coast Guard also is looking forward to accepting delivery of the future offshore patrol cutter, 25 of which will replace the service’s medium-endurance cutters, some of which are more than 60 years old.  

NSCs are built by Huntington Ingalls in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The Coast Guard has accepted delivery of nine, with two more under construction. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy and civilian firefighters combatting the blaze on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego have isolated the fires to two separate locations, the Navy said. 

In an 11 a.m. Pacific time July 14 news conference streamed on Facebook, Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, said that two fires remained on the ship, one forward and the other aft. 

“We have investigated the four main engineering spaces and found no major damage,” Sobeck said. “There is no threat to the fuel tanks, which [are] well-below any active fires or heat sources. The ship is stable and the structure is safe.” 

He said the firefighters are “combatting from both within and outside the ship from multiple access points.”  

He said that so far 61 personnel — 38 Sailors and 23 civilian firefighters — had been treated for minor injuries and smoke inhalation. None remained hospitalized. 

The admiral praised the MH-60S helicopter crews of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 3, who have dropped more than 1,000 large buckets full of water on the fires in the ship’s superstructure, “cooling the superstructure and flight deck, enabling fire crews to get onboard internally to fight the fire.”  

Tugs also continue to provide water streams to assist the firefighters. 

Sobeck thanked “the people of San Diego, National City, Coronado, and all the other communities in San Diego County for their continued support. For more than 48 hours brave Sailors from commands all across San Diego have been working tirelessly alongside Federal Fire San Diego to get this fire under control.” 

“I’d like to also thank our partners from state and county as well as the Coast Guard for monitoring the potential impacts to the environment,” he added. “As we continue to fight the fire, we remain cognizant of environmental concerns regarding the water and air quality.”  

“Going forward, the Navy will do a thorough investigation of the incident to include assessing the cause of the fire and damage to the ship, but right now our focus remains on putting out the fire and keeping people safe,” the admiral said.  

The fire broke out at about 8:30 a.m. Pacific time on July 12 while the Bonhomme Richard was pierside at Naval Base San Diego for a maintenance availability. About 160 Sailors of the crew of about 1,000 were on board at the time, according to the Navy, which has not officially linked the fire to a cause, though several media outlets have reported there was an explosion aboard Bonhomme Richard.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The U.S. Air Force has joined the U.S. Navy’s Tactical Combat Training System Increment II (TCTS Inc. II) program, making it a collaborative effort to field a next-generation air combat training solution, Collins Aerospace said in a July 13 release. 

Developed and built by Collins, TCTS Inc. II is a scalable and flexible multiple independent levels of security (MILS)-based open architecture system that enables highly secure air combat training between U.S. and international aircraft, including advanced 5th-generation platforms. Collins Aerospace is a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp.  

By making it a collaborative effort, the Air Force leverages investments already made by the Navy to deliver a significant leap in training capabilities sooner and at less cost. The Air Force will call this the P6 Combat Training System (P6CTS), which will significantly improve training realism in simulated, contested combat environments and allow pilots to “train as they fight.” 

“This capability can’t be overstated,” said Heather Robertson, vice president and general manager of integrated solutions for Collins Aerospace. “The TCTS Inc. II and P6CTS programs will enable joint tactics, techniques and procedures in a secure environment against a peer adversary threat, unlike anything the services have been able to do in the past. We’re excited about the potential.” 

P6CTS fills gaps from currently fielded air combat training equipment such as encrypted time, space, position information, multilevel security, and mesh networking waveform enabling services to move faster toward next-gen capabilities that will increase mission readiness. This collaboration lays the digital foundation for bringing secure, cross-service air combat and joint Live, Virtual, and Constructive training to the United States and its allies in 2022. 

With an open systems architecture that is conformant with the Future Airborne Capability Environment standard, TCTS Inc. II ensures interoperability between platforms, reducing test time and ultimately increasing rapid, affordable deployment of the solution.  

Collins Aerospace recently announced the completion of the first pre-production TCTS Inc. II training pod, a key component of the solution that provides connectivity to and from the aircraft for data and weapons activity during training exercises. This pre-production maturity will enable early Air Force fielding of P6CTS to all 55 training ranges.

MAYPORT, Fla. — The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Detroit returned to Mayport on July 11 following its maiden deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations, Lt. j.g. Miranda Rossum, U.S. 4th Fleet/U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command public affairs, said in a release. 

Detroit, along with a detachment from the “Sea Knights” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22, deployed on March 15 to conduct U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South’s enhanced counter-narcotics operations missions in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. 

During their deployment, Detroit, with their embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET), disrupted an estimated 1780 kilograms of cocaine, worth over an estimated street value of $124 million. 

“I could not have asked for more from the crew over the past several months. Our Sailors and Guardsmen have overcome equipment casualties, COVID-19 challenges, and losses back home to ensure the success of USS Detroit while deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations,” said Cmdr. Jiwan Mack, Detroit’s commanding officer. “I am proud to be a USS Detroit Blue Iron Warrior and can’t wait to sail with this extraordinary unit again in the near future.”  

Just as Detroit deployed, the crew adjusted quickly to the new COVID-19 environment. Detroit’s crew met the changes in guidance and procedures due to the pandemic, safeguarding Sailors while still meeting counter-drug mission requirements. 

“Detroit did a fantastic job while deployed, sending strong messages to our partners and our adversaries that the United States Navy operates globally and in all conditions,” said Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander U.S. 4th Fleet. “Detroit did a great job adapting to our changing world, and their operational successes set a high bar for the next round of deployments. We are both grateful for and proud of Detroit’s accomplishments.” 

Detroit joined other U.S. Navy warships, numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security cooperating in the effort to combat transnational organized crime. 

The Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with allied and international partner agencies, are all playing a role in counter-drug operations.

ARLINGTON, Va. — An official of the Navy League of the United States has delineated what the organization considers five key policy points for the sea services going forward in fiscal 2021. 

Sinclair Harris, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and current national vice president of military affairs for the Navy League, spoke in a July 13 webinar co-sponsored by the organization, NatSec 2020: Coronavirus and Beyond. It also was sponsored by the Association of the United States Army and Government Matters. 

“The Navy must — I repeat, must — maintain a position of dominance in the undersea domain,” Harris said, underscoring the need for the second Virginia-class attack submarine in fiscal 2021 (the budget only calls for one), the Columbia-class ballistic-missile sub, and other undersea platforms, manned and unmanned. “We can’t drop away from undersea dominance.” 

He said that sealift is critical for the nation’s ability to project power and influence in times of war or peace. “The [Marine Corps] commandant’s guidance is bold, innovative and creative and has to be supported going forward in order to meet the ever-evolving challenges that we see our global strategic environment.”  

Harris also stressed the need for allies and partners as an important part of the National Defense Strategy. 

He also emphasized the need for transparency in future force structure planning.  

“Transparency between the Pentagon and Congress builds trust,” he said. “And between government and industry, that allows industry to make proper plans so the industrial base can respond with what is needed. The industrial base is very fragile right now. 

Harris commented on the issue of the legislated goal of a battle force size of 355 ships.  

“We can see that when you don’t have a sufficient-sized fleet, you run the risk of over-burdening the fleet and the personnel that are operating it,” he added. “I served in the Navy 34 years. I’ve been there.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has selected L3 Technologies to design and build its first medium unmanned surface vehicle (MUSV). 

According to a July 13 Defense Department contract announcement, Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded to L3 Technologies Inc. of Camden, New Jersey, a $35 million fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract for the detail design and fabrication of a prototype MUSV. 

The MUSV is envisioned as a warship in the Navy’s future family of USVs to augment the fleet with sensor capabilities. It is intended to be an autonomous vessel that will be able to operate with a strike group and be capable of being refueled at sea. 

The prototype will be used to develop technology and concepts of operation for USVs and to refine the design for production. 

This contract includes options for up to eight additional MUSVs, logistics packages, engineering support, technical data, and other direct costs, which, if exercised, will bring the cumulative value of this contract to $281 [million],” the announcement said.    

L3 is one of five companies that bid on the contract. Most of its MUSV work will be performed at Morgan City, Louisiana, and the prototype MUSV is expected to be completed by December 2022.

At least two U.S. Marine Corps bases on Okinawa are reporting clusters of COVID-19 infections, leading Marine leaders to reinstitute stringent protective measures on the Japanese island, home to numerous U.S. military installations.

“After months with no confirmed COVID-19 infections on Okinawa, this week the Marine Corps experienced two localized clusters of individuals who tested positive for the virus,” Okinawa-based Marine Corps Installations Pacific (MCIPAC) announced.

The installations where personnel tested positive were identified as Camp Hansen and Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, both on the southern part of the island. All personnel who tested positive for the novel coronavirus are in isolation, the announcement stated.

In keeping with Defense Department policy, the Marine Corps did not disclose how many Marines and Sailors were infected, but media outlets, quoting local officials, placed the number in the 90s.

On July 10, Marine Forces Japan — also known as III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF)  — reintroduced Health Protection Condition “Charlie” to limit the spread of the virus by further restricting off-base activities, including prohibiting personnel from using non-military public transportation, eating in off-base restaurants and going off base for nonessential services.

In response to the increased health protection directive, the next day MCIPAC ordered an enhanced lockdown at all Marine installations across Okinawa. This included closing all nonessential facilities. Dining will be take-out only at mess halls, exchanges, commissaries, base restaurants and food courts. Personnel will have to get permission from a Marine colonel or a Navy commander for off-base activities. The new restrictions apply to all uniformed and civilian III MEF and MCIPAC personnel.

U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Joel Carey, commander of the 18th Air Wing at Kadena Air Base, ordered the base to transition from Health Protection Condition Bravo back to the more rigorous Charlie, effective immediately. The U.S. COVID-19 cases have primarily been Marines assigned to MCAS Futenma and Camp Hansen, Carey said.

“Patients have been a mix of both travel-related and those with origins we’ve yet to be able to identify, indicating the potential of a re-emergence of community spread,” he said. COVID-19 may already be spreading. “We have confirmed the presence of COVID-19 aboard the air station,” Col. Lance Lewis, commander of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, announced July 12 on the facility’s Facebook page. He added there was no risk to the base.

“COVID was brought here from overseas travelers. As we planned, the positive travelers were contained within their quarters, and our social distancing and strict adherence to [restriction on movement] worked.” The air base is still operating under HPCON Bravo and all liberty policies remain the same, Lewis said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The chairman of the House Armed Service Committee reiterated his support for increasing construction of submarines for the U.S. Navy, as reported in the committee’s mark-up of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. 

“There were some concerns about some shortages in the shipbuilding budget that came out of the president; we restored that,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chairman of the committee, said in a July 13 webinar, NatSec 2020: Coronavirus and Beyond, sponsored by the Navy League of the United States, the Association of the United States Army and Government Matters. 

Smith was referring to the addition of a second Virginia-class attack submarine for fiscal 2021.  

Also speaking was Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), also a member of the House committee, who said that it is important to make sure “that we are building and enhancing our undersea strike capabilities, adding the additional Virginia-class submarine, making sure we provide stability and the assurances that we are building the next two Columbia-class [ballistic-missile] submarines. Long lead-time purchase there helps maintain the industrial base, creates certainty there.” 

Wittman also emphasized sealift, “getting the Army and Marines where they need to go,” including recapitalizing the Ready Reserve Force. 

He also said the nation’s tanker fleet needs to be secured.  

Wittman also stressed the need for Congress to exercise strict oversight of the Navy’s plans to build large unmanned surface vessels. 

“Let’s make sure we get it right, how to integrate those into the fleet,” Wittman said. “As we’ve seen in other ship classes, if you build too many too quick, and they’re not quite doing what you expect them to do, you’re going to have a lot of ships that may not be useful. That has to happen at the right pace. We are going to make sure that happens the right way.”