ARLINGON, Va.— A senior Navy admiral defended the 2022 budget proposal to decommission seven guided-missile cruisers (CGs) and noted their missile cells numerically could be replaced by those on the future Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV).  

The Navy is proposing to retire seven Ticonderoga-class CGs during fiscal 2022, including two — USS Hue City and USS Anzio — which were not previously planned for retirement. The material condition of the cruisers’ hull and mechanical systems has attracted considerable concern while the cost of keeping the cruisers in service has risen.  

Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, deputy chief of naval operations for Warfighting Requirements and Capabilities, testified June 17 before the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. He recounted that when he was a carrier strike group commander in 2017, his air-and missile-defense ship, USS Lake Champlain, missed one third of its deployment because of maintenance issues such as tank-top cracking. He also cited USS Vela Gulf, which missed a month of its previous deployment and 2.5 months of its current deployment. 

“All of that in my mind has to go into the mix when we factor the availability and reliability of those ships,” Kilby said. “Those missile tubes will only count if they’re underway alongside the carrier.” 

“The seven cruisers alone have more missile capacity than the entire British fleet,” said Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, the ranking member of the subcommittee, in his opening statement. “We’ve already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ensuring these cruisers are returned to the fleet. Yet now we find that we’re going to retire them. While this administration is fiddling, the administration indicates they cannot afford a second destroyer [in the 2022 budget], a critical platform to deter maritime conflict. While we’re retiring other surface combatants, we’re saying we’re going to exacerbate that by now not building an additional destroyer.”  

The seven cruisers deploy a total of 910 missile cells. The Navy plans to use LUSVs as missile arsenals, with each carrying 64 cells, Kilby said. A total of 14 LUSVs would be required to match the missile load of the seven cruisers.  

“I don’t want to dismiss the value of 122 missile cells [on a CG] or an Aegis cruiser,” Kilby said. “[The] average age of our cruisers in 32 years. They were built for 30 years. Four of four [CGs] are over 34 years. So, I’m really trying to look at the most valuable ship that we can fund, the most valuable program within our budget, to make our force equal across all functions — air, surface and subsurface — to align to the threats as we see them.” 

Kilby said retaining the seven CGs would cost roughly $5 billion across the Future Years Defense Plan. Retaining the ships for two years would cost more than $2.87 billion. He said the cost to modernize Hue City and Anzio alone would cost approximately $1.5 billion. 

Extending the service lives of the cruisers “is costing more than we thought it would be,” he said. “Initially it was $2.4 billion, but we’re adding a lot of money to do that.”  

Kilby said the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) will replace the CGs as platforms for the strike group’s air- and missile-defense commanders and will be commanded by skippers with the rank of captain. The Flight IIA and earlier DDGs are commanded by officers with the rank of commander.  

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s 2022 budget includes funds for a cruise missile that will be new to the Navy but has been in production for the U.S. Air Force.  

The 2022 budget proposes a procurement of 25 AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER) cruise missiles. 

“The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER)/AGM-158B will initially deploy on the F/A-18E/F. It will eventually be integrated on F-35C and future Navy strike fighter aircraft,” said Lt. Cmdr. Stephanie Turo, a Navy spokeswoman. 

The Navy’s budget overview book said the JASSM-ER is being procured “to enhance long-range strike and offensive anti-surface warfare (OASuW) capability. In FY 2022 the JASSM program will award the 20th production lot in which the U.S. Navy, along with the U.S Air Force, will procure 25 assets for the first time.” 

The Navy, along with the Air Force, both already operate the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), which is a derivative of the JASSM. The Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter is armed with the LRASM, which also is programmed to be deployed on the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft. In April, the Navy awarded Boeing a contract to integrate the LRASM on the P-8A. 

Both the JASSM-ER and LRASM are built by Lockheed Martin. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard has established a Reserve Enlisted Aviation Workforce. 

In a 10 June message released by Rear Adm. Todd C. Wiemers, assistant commandant for Capabilities (CG-7) and assistant commandant for Reserve (CG-R), the Coast Guard formally established the program, which is “designed to create an aviation surge and mobilization capability, retain aviation technical expertise, and develop a career path for aviation personnel in the Reserve Component.” 

Enlisted personnel eligible for the program are those in the three aviation ratings: Avionics Electrical Technician, Aviation Maintenance Technician, and Aviation Survival Technician. 

“The workforce’s primary objective is to develop a ground-based aviation maintenance and aviation life-support equipment maintenance capability,” the message said.  All Reserve Aviation personnel must have earned a Basic 
Aircrew designation and must have separated from Active Duty within the last two years. 
     

ARLINGTON, Va. — The admiral in charge of developing and sustaining the U.S. Navy’s strategic weapons said the service needs to have the new Trident D5LE2 ballistic missile ready to deploy in fiscal 2039 on the ninth hull of the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine. 

“It is imperative that we start the work on a future missile and corresponding weapon system now, said Vice Adm. Johnny Wolfe, director, Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), testifying June 10 before the Strategic Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. “This next generation of the current D5LE missile — a missile in service in 1989 and boasting a remarkable history of 182 successful flight tests —called the D5LE2, will yield multiple benefits in missile performance to include extending its service life. D5LE2 is required to completely outload out Columbia SSBNs and ensure that Trident remains credible in the face of a dynamic threat environment. A D5LE2 missile must be developed, tested and produced with the lead time sufficient to deploy on Columbia class hull 9 in FY39 and be backfitted for the first eight hulls of the class.” 

The D5LE2 effort is one of four SSP lines of effort (LOEs) in the coming years.  

“First, we must maintain the current D5LE missile inventory and provide the necessary operational support to sustain Ohio-class submarines through their service lives,” Wolfe said. “This is being accomplished through an update to all of our subsystems. All of our life-extension efforts remain on track and our current program will support the deployment of all existing warheads. We must also recapitalize all of our strategic weapons facilities to continue to support and sustain SSBN operations that enable our continuous at-sea presence.” 

Wolfe said the second LOE is to continue to work Program Executive Office-Columbia “to ensure that the transition between Ohio-class and Columbia-class submarines stays on schedule. For SSP, this requires a seamless transition of the current D5LE weapon system and missile inventory onto the new Columbia class. During this time of transition, we will ensure that the Navy’s portion of the nuclear triad remains credible by introducing the W93 [warhead]/Mark 7 [re-entry body] to rebalance the stockpile of W76 and W88 [warheads] and meet [U.S. Strategic Command] requirements.” 

The admiral said that his fourth LOE is, as the U.S. project officer for the Polaris Sales Agreement, to “continue to support the U.K. sovereign deterrent for today’s Vanguard-class submarines and their successor, the Dreadnought class.  

“For decades, U.S. policy has recognized that the independent nuclear deterrent adds to global stability,” Wolfe said. “Under the 1958 mutual defense agreement and 1962 Polaris Sales Agreement, the United States has provided assistance and material consistent with international law to the U.K. deterrent program. Without this assistance, the cost and schedule risk to maintain the U.K.’s independent deterrent would rise significantly, thus creating additional challenges for the U.K. in sustaining its nuclear contribution to NATO alongside the U.S.”   

ARLINGON, Va. — The vice chief of naval operations (VCNO) told Congress that the Navy’s experiment with an alternate ship availability maintenance concept based on the Forward Deployed Naval Force model is worth pursuing. 

The concept, called Task Force Greyhound, was conceived by Rear Adm. Brad Cooper, then-commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, as a way to provide fleet commanders “a predictable and sustainable model to maximize warships ready for operational tasking,” according to a March 5 Navy release.  

VCNO Adm. William K. Lescher, testifying June 9 before the Readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and responding to a question from Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Virginia, about the model, Task Force Greyhound, said the concept is about responding “to an operational need for readiness in our cruiser-destroyer ships in Norfolk [Virginia] and Mayport [Florida] with a small pilot [program].” 

The pilot is a departure from the Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP) by providing more frequent but smaller, incremental availability periods for ship maintenance and upgrades. The model is similar to the maintenance plans for Navy ships forward deployed to Japan and Spain, for example.  

“We will move forward to do this tailored maintenance, this excursion from OFRP, both to generate some increased operational availability in [cruisers and destroyers] and then to learn,” Lescher said. “It is not a complete no-brainer. There is some learning to be involved in terms of what it means to the executability of the maintenance.  

“But we think it’s a strong approach and it reflects, to your point, much of the conversation we had about other excursions off the OFRP baseline,” he told Luria.  

Lescher said “from a budget perspective, it [the Task Force Greyhound concept] is essentially budget neutral.”  

Luria, a former naval surface warfare officer, said she was encouraged by the Task Force Greyhound idea. 

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) and U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), the ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, have expressed deep concern following reports that the acting secretary of the Navy plans to cancel a Nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N).  

The lawmakers noted the decision comes “after submission of the fiscal 2022 budget and before the completion of a Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).” 

Their statement reads: 
   
“Reports that an Acting Secretary of the Navy would cancel a new Nuclear Sea Launched Cruise Missile after submission of the FY22 budget, and before a Nuclear Posture Review has been started — much less completed — is bewildering and short-sighted. The Biden administration has decided to project weakness ahead of a summit with Vladimir Putin – another gift to our adversaries. We have serious questions for senior Pentagon leaders on this reported decision and how it was reached.”   

Rogers, speaking March 22 during a webinar of the Defense Writers Group, was asked by Seapower about the future of the planned SLCM-N called for in the Defense Department’s 2018 NPR.  

The NPR said “SLCM will not require or rely on host nation support to provide deterrent effect. They will provide additional diversity in platforms, range, and survivability, and a valuable hedge against future nuclear ‘break out’ scenarios.”  

The review said the “SLCM will provide a needed non-strategic regional presence, an assured response capability. It also will provide an arms-control-compliant response to Russia’s noncompliance with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, its nonstrategic nuclear arsenal, and its other destabilizing behaviors.”  

The HASC chairman, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington, has stated his opposition to the low-yield warhead and SLCM as being destabilizing to the nuclear balance. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Marine Corps is trying to solve the challenge of providing air defense for its future anti-ship cruise-missile forces that will be helping the U.S. Navy to maintain sea control in a contested expeditionary environment. 

“Those forces that are distributed to launch anti-ship missiles, to sense what is going on, to pass data, have to be protected from air threats,” said Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, deputy commandant For Combat Development and Integration, testifying June 8 before the Seapower subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the proposed fiscal 2022 budget, noting that the Marine forces “haven’t had a real air threat since World War II. 

“Our challenge is: we have to be highly mobile,” Smith said. “If we’re not internally, organically transportable, by our C-130s, our CH-53s, our [MV-22] Ospreys, our L-class Navy ships, and the future Light Amphibious Warship, then we lose value to the combatant commander. So, the balance for us is the range of [an anti-air] missile system and the size. When you start getting into a missile system that is, let’s just say, beyond 13 feet, that’s a challenge.” 

Smith said the Corps currently is “spending money on our MADIS [Marine Air Defense Integrated System] and on GBAD — Ground-Based Air Defense, trying to find the sweet spot, sir, between range, lethality and mobility. That is a wicked problem for us to solve and we have not yet solved it.” 

The four major GBAD programs being developed or deployed by the Corps are: 

MRIC – Medium-Range Interceptor Capability 
MADIS – Marine Air Defense Integrated System  
L-MADIS – Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System  
Advanced MANPADS/Stinger  

The MRIC is likely to be a vehicle-mounted missile system with a 360-degree fire-control radar to handle aircraft and cruise missiles at medium ranges.   

“MADIS is the only system that has brought something down against a hostile threat,” Smith said. “We acknowledged that it had good effect against Iranian drones. That system is highly capable, but we need longer ranges in the expanse of the Pacific. There comes a point when the system size limits what you can carry and obviously the size of the missile system you can carry limits the range.” 

The MADIS is mounted on a pair of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, one with a turret launcher for four Stinger missiles and a 30mm cannon, as well as an optical sensor and shoulder-fired Stingers. The second vehicle is equipped with an RPS-42 360-degree radar, a 7.62mm M134 minigun, and electro-optic/infrared sensors, as well as shoulder-fired Stingers. On both vehicles is the Modi II dismounted electronic countermeasures system, which can be used to disrupt enemy drones, communications, and radio-controlled improvised explosive devices.  

The L-MADIS is a counter-UAS electronic attack system mounted on a Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicle. It features a 360-degree radar, a direct-fire capability, radio frequency jammers and electro-optic/infrared sensors. The L-MADIS is credited with downing an Iranian drone that flew in the close vicinity of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in July 2019.  

Smith said he recently met with a couple of industry partners on how to extend that range or put a different missile system onto the Stinger-equipped MADIS. 

“So, we are struggling through that conundrum right now with our Navy partners and with our industry partners,” Smith said. “But we are committed to protecting those forces and then being able to do something in a more offensive manner for that combatant commander to break air formations.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy has awarded a contract for the completion of a modified Pathfinder-class oceanographic research ship for the Military Sealift Command. 

The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded Halter Marine a $149 million fixed-price incentive contract modification “for the detail design and construction of one oceanographic survey ship (T-AGS 67),” according to a Defense Department contract announcement. 

Halter Marine was awarded an earlier contract in November 2018 for functional design engineering, procurement of long-lead-time material and limited advanced production of the ship. 

Six Pathfinder-class ships were delivered from 1994 to 2001 to operate in an oceanographic survey-support capacity, gathering underwater data in the deep ocean and coastal waters. A seventh, the USNS Maury, was delivered in February 2016. The Maury is 25 feet longer than its sister ships and is equipped with a moon pool for operating unmanned underwater vehicles. The USNS Sumner (T-AGS 61) was inactivated in August 2014 and transferred to the Maritime Administration. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made aviation history on June 4 with a successful air-to-air refueling of another aircraft. Boeing’s MQ-25 Demonstrator, T1, refueled a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighter, a major step in the MQ-25A Stingray’s journey to become the Navy’s carrier-based aerial refueler. 

Boeing’s T1 and the F/A-18F, flown by a crew from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23, joined up and the MQ-25 passed a total of 325 gallons of fuel to the Super Hornet in two separate refueling events. 

The MQ-25 carried a Cobham-built refueling store with a drogue refueling hose, the same type currently used in the fleet by Super Hornets. The Navy plans to use the MQ-25 in the refueling role to free more Super Hornets for combat operations, for which it was designed.    

During a June 7 media roundtable, Boeing’s MQ-25 program manager, Dave Bujold, described the sequence of events for the historic flight (a video summary is here). The F/A-18 flew in formation to observe the dynamic characteristics — particularly the stability — of the MQ-25. With the safety evaluation completed, the F/A-18 closed and T1’s ground controller streamed the drogue. For about 30 seconds, the F/A-18 crew conducted a wake survey and noted the wake to be very stable and benign. While the chase plane filmed, telemetry was collected, and the F/A-18 made a “dry” connect without the transfer of fuel.

The F/A-18 backed away and then reconnected for a transfer from 300 pounds of fuel in the refueling pod. (T1 is not plumbed for transfer of fuel from the airframe, which will be a capability of the production MQ-25.) The two aircraft made another dry connect at 15,000 feet and then joined for another successful transfer of 25 pounds fuel. The fuel transfer rate was 220 gallons per minute during the 4.5-hour flight. 

Bujold noted that the F/A-18 crew commented on the quietness of the rendezvous, which with two F/A-18s is very noisy.   

“The test flight will provide important early data on airwake interactions, as well as guidance and control, Reed said in a Navy release. “The team will analyze that data to determine if any adjustments are needed and make software updates early, with no impact to the program’s test schedule.”  

“The milestone comes after 25 T1 flights, testing both aircraft and ARS aerodynamics across the flight envelope, as well as extensive simulations of aerial refueling using MQ-25 digital models,” Boeing said in a release. “MQ-25 T1 will continue flight testing prior to being shipped to Norfolk, Virginia, for deck handling trials aboard a U.S. Navy carrier later this year.”  

Capt. Chad Reed, the Navy’s MQ-25 program manager, said those deck handling tests for T1 are slated for December, depending on availability of a carrier. Without a tailhook, T1 cannot conduct landings on a carrier.”  

The seven test MQ-25s being built by Boeing will be used for multiple tests by the Navy in beginning with ground testing in the fall of 2022, including field catapult launches and arrested landings prior to flights from an aircraft carrier. Reed said testing is likely to include refueling an E-2 Hawkeye battle management aircraft in the future, including manned/unmanned teaming. 

“This is our mission, an unmanned aircraft that frees our strike fighters from the tanker role, and provides the Carrier Air Wing with greater range, flexibility and capability,” Reed said. “Seeing the MQ-25 fulfilling its primary tasking today, fueling an F/A-18, is a significant and exciting moment for the Navy and shows concrete progress toward realizing MQ-25’s capabilities for the fleet.” 

“This history-making event is a credit to our joint Boeing and Navy team that is all-in on delivering MQ-25’s critical aerial refueling capability to the fleet as soon as possible,” said Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, in the Boeing release. “Their work is the driving force behind the safe and secure integration of unmanned systems in the immediate future of defense operations.” 

“This flight lays the foundation for integration into the carrier environment, allowing for greater capability toward manned-unmanned teaming concepts,” said Rear Adm. Brian Corey, program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons. “MQ-25 will greatly increase the range and endurance of the future carrier air wing – equipping our aircraft carriers with additional assets well into the future.” 

The Navy has switched plans to a Lockheed Martin-built ground control station for the MQ-25, not just for cyber protection but to have the architecture for the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept.   

The Navy will rely on multiple communications links to control and execute missions for the MQ-25, Reed said. The list includes the Lockheed Martin Mobile User Objective Satellite for over-the-horizon control. 

Currently under production by Boeing are the first test MQ-25A and the first static test airframe. Initial operational capability for the MQ-25A is slated for 2025. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — A June 4, 2021, ceremony marked the U.S. Navy’s official establishment a program office for the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG(X)), the ship that will follow the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class DDG in Navy service.  

The program office, designated PMS 460, is now part of the Program Executive Office (PEO) – Ships. Its stand-up was approved on April 22 through a memo by the acting secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition approving the establishment of the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG(X)) program office, said Alan Baribeau, a spokesman for the PEO. 

The DDG(X) program office includes “16 headquarters billets supporting PMS 460, including 11 incumbent billets from PMS 320 focusing on Integrated Power Systems and other Electric Ships initiatives.  

Below is the Navy’s statement on the establishment of PMS 460: 

“The Acting Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition has approved the establishment of the Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG(X)) program office within Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. Capt. David Hart is assigned as the Major Program Manager and Katherine Connelly as the Deputy Program Manager. DDG(X) leadership is tasked with developing an acquisition strategy, a design/technical data package and ship construction, testing, fleet introduction and sustainment plans. 

“The Guided Missile Destroyer will provide the flexibility and margins necessary to succeed the DDG-51 class as the Navy’s next enduring large surface combatant combining the DDG 51 FLT III combat systems elements with a new hull form, an efficient Integrated Power System and greater endurance reducing the fleet logistics burden. 

“In conjunction with this establishment, PEO Ships’ Electric Ships program office will transition into the DDG(X) program office. Electric Ships was established to generate and execute an integrated power system development and transition plan. DDG(X) is the embodiment of that vision. This integration will further utilize the expertise that has been cultivated within the Electric Ships portfolio.”  

The Navy said a further statement that a “formal acquisition strategy for DDG(X) is being developed to ensure a smooth transition between Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) Class and DDG(X). Preliminary through Detail Design for DDG(X) will be accomplished through a collaborative, multi-disciplinary Navy-industry effort composed of the surface combatant shipbuilders, suppliers, ship design agents and other subject matter experts. Through FY21, Navy continued Conceptual Design efforts for DDG(X) and began collaboration with DDG 51 shipyards to achieve the Chief of Naval Operations cost, schedule and performance targets. These collaborative efforts will continue into FY22 with the start of Preliminary Design. The PB22 budget request funds transition from Conceptual Design to Preliminary Design, brings industry teams fully onboard, and continues Integrated Power System and hull form land-based test activities to ensure program risk reduction. FY22 preliminary design will lead to FY26 Detail Design and FY28 construction start.”