NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A key to alleviating the chronic challenge of better maintainability and sustainability of increasingly complex naval ships is earlier and constant collaboration between the services acquisition officials and industry, starting with upfront dialogue on requirements for new systems, a panel of service and industry leaders said Wednesday.

Those problems have been acerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the shipbuilding work force and supply chain, the lack of clarity in the Navy’s future shipbuilding plan, the cybersecurity threat and the reoccurring budget uncertainty, the panel members agreed. But help may be in sight with the push for artificial intelligence, which could improve predictability of component failures and demand for spare parts, the leaders told a Navy League Sea-Air-Space expo forum.

“Success for us is working with our industry partners,” looking for feedback, starting with setting requirements for new programs and “getting it right up front,” said Tom Rivers, executive director Amphibious, Auxiliary and Sealift programs at PEO Ships.

Among the top priorities for the Coast Guard is interoperability and “life-cycle engagement with industry and our sister services,” said Rear Adm. Douglas Schofield, Assistant Commandant for Acquisition.

Improving efficiency and savings depends “a lot on collaboration and feedback with the services,” said Larry Ryder, vice president Business Development and External Affairs, Austal USA. “We have put forward ideas that can reduce cost, increase reliability. But we need to work with the services.”

To avoid logjams in major maintenance, “we need industry to tell us where those tricky spots are. … Tell us up front so we knew” how to schedule the work, Rivers said. If they get “feedback up front from industry” where they expect problems, ‘we’ll change our requirements.

 “New programs have a lot of requirements” and we need to “work with industry from the start to get right, Rivers said. “We really need to build ships faster.”

Rivers said the Navy also is making internal change, including adopting a plan for data analysis of systems and creating a “war room” that will provide focus and contact with industry partners. And they are designing for maintainability and flexibility in new ships. “We’ve never done that before.”

The Navy major new start is the DDGX, the next-generation major surface combatant, Rivers said. It will draw heavily on technologies and lessons learned from the Arleigh Burke DDG-51 program, he said. His office is engaged in developing the new light amphibious ship to meet the Marine Corps’ need for a cheaper, more mobile platform for its distributed operations in contested littoral. And to alleviate a serious lack of dry dock capacity on the Pacific coast, Rivers said the Navy will put out a contract this year for a new dry dock.

The three officials agreed that there are concerns with the fragility of the shipbuilding and repair industrial base, with major problems with the second- and third-tier suppliers, some of whom went out of business because of a slowdown in orders during the pandemic. Ryder said industry needs greater stability in demand from the services in order to build and retain a work force.

Schofield raised the new threat of cyberattacks, saying the Coast Guard is working with its service partners and industry on cybersecurity, “making sure industry can facilitate security,” a concern echoed by the other two speakers.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Naval Air Systems Command is testing out a new unmanned cargo delivery platform that can transport small amounts of cargo between Navy ships, and a NAVAIR official said Wednesday he expects it to become a program of record soon.

A team at NAVAIR was able to take the Skyways unmanned aerial vehicle and demonstrate it aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78) after just a few months, and the Navy is highly interested in going beyond that, Tony Schmidt, director of rapid prototyping, experimentation, and demonstration, said at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland.

Schmidt said his team was initially approached by Military Sealift Command, who had discovered that about 80% of the parts they were transporting by helicopter were less than 10 pounds.

“So we said let’s see if we can use a Group 2 or 3 UAS to transfer parts back and forth,” Schmidt said.

Despite having very little money or resources, Schimdt’s team met with industry to identify possible solutions and settled on the Skyways UAV. They delivered the prototype in October 2020. Once Rear Adm. John Meier, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, caught wind of the program, he asked them to deliver the aircraft for testing aboard CVN-78 just three months later.

Meier said the team missed that deadline by only a week. “Pretty awesome,” he said.

Interest in the effort only grew after that. In July, the team took the UAV on a ship-to-ship mission from the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) to the USNS Joshua Humphreys (T-AO-188). In recent weeks, they’ve been in conversations with Navy officials and Schmidt said he is “pretty sure it’s going to get picked up as a program of record.”

While the new program won’t necessarily use the Skyways drone, it will take lessons from it. The team is looking at a delta wing design instead of a standard wing size, and they will experiment to see what works best in a carrier environment, as well as determine how to extend the range of the aircraft.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy no longer has a monopoly on key technologies as it did at the end of the Cold War and now must turn to tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to gain an advantage over adversaries, a top Navy official said Wednesday.

The key challenge the Navy faces in the coming years is finding that advantage at the tactical level with communications and unmanned assets, Vice Adm. Scott Conn, deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities (N9), said during a panel discussion at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland.

“When I say the tactical level, I’m talking at the numbered fleet level, at the task force level, at the task group level,” Conn said. “The world is a different place. At the end of the Cold War, there was an anomaly in history that the U.S. had a monopoly on the key critical technologies, and that’s no longer the case.”

This is particularly true in the areas of range and precision of strike weapons, he said.

“Because of that, we need to expand our operational reach — our ability to sense, make sense and act,” Conn said.

Part of accomplishing that is through better communication and initiatives like Project Overmatch, and another part is using unmanned systems in the air, on the surface and in the sea to identify warfighting advantages at the tactical level.

It is of critical importance for the Navy to master these areas, Conn added.

“This is not about in times of crisis, competing — this is about winning,” he said.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The nation’s sealift components are used to operating in peaceful seas and permissive environments but must prepare now for times when control of the seas is not assured, a panel of maritime leaders said.

Speaking Aug. 4 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo at National Harbor, Maryland, were Douglas Harrington, deputy associate administrator for Federal Sealift at the Maritime Administration (MARAD); Christopher Thayer, director, Maritime Operations, Military Sealift Command (MSC); and Adam Peterson, of the government business development team at APL. The panel was moderated by Erica Plath, director, Strategic Mobility/Combat Logistics, Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy.

Thayer pointed out that sealift “capability today is far more than it was in 1990” when large numbers of sealift ships were activated for Operation Desert Storm. He said that sealift was again at an inflection point, with the Navy’ preparation for distributed maritime operations in contested environments.

He said that, during distributed operations, the nation’s maritime logistics forces may not always have escorts or overwatch and must “be prepared to operate and evade the enemy.”

Thayer also stressed the need for counter-UAS systems, anti-jam capabilities for GPS, the need for cybersecurity and the ability to operate under emissions control.

Communications is “a huge vulnerability,” Thayer said, noting that mobile communications capabilities are being deployed on some ships with tactical advisers.

Harrington also stressed the need for improved, more resilient communications capabilities for MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force (RRF). He noted the current reliance on satellite communications and the effect on morale that emissions control would have on the crews. 

To adapt to providing logistics in a contested environment, Thayer said that MSC was working on concepts such as re-loading missiles in vertical launch cells while ships are underway, underway replenishment using unmanned aerial vehicles and refueling the combat logistics ships from commercial ships using modular CONSOL (consolidated cargo replenishment) adapter kits.

Harrington discussed the need for recapitalization of the RRF MARAD’s Ready Reserve Force and new, comprehensive strategy for equipping strategic sealift with new technology and regulations. He noted the increasing size and weight of defense cargoes. He advocated building increased resilience as well as cybersecurity.

He also said the government must “recall and re-focus on naval operations in a contested environment.”

Peterson pointed out the dramatic decline of the U.S.-flag merchant marine since 1960, now less than 0.5% of the 43,000 ships (displacing 1,000 or more gross weight tons) in international trade. He stressed that the government needs to develop more incentives to keep commercial vessels available in peacetime and war.

Harrington praised the “significant period of recapitalization,” which includes the construction of first of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels, which will replace older ships and train mariners with modern technology now found on many merchant ships.

Asked about the Navy’s plans to operate autonomous unmanned ships in its fleet, Thayer noted that it is “hard to refuel an autonomous ship at sea.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Coast Guard celebrated its 231^st birthday on Aug. 4 and Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz and service officials said it is increasing cooperation with international partners, working with industry on energy projects such as wind farms and making changes to increase diversity and guard retention.

“I think it’s an exciting time for us,” Schultz said, telling the audience at Sea-Air-Space 2021, “let us figure out where we can team up with you.”

Ann Castiglione-Cataldo, director of international affairs and foreign policy, said the service is working to build capable partnerships around the world to tackle such issues as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and climate change.

“All coast guards are grappling with this,” she said.

Rear Adm. John Mauger, assistant commandant for prevention policy, said his office is working to maintain safe use of the waterways for all users, which includes working with states and localities on installing coastal wind farms and assisting with commercial space launch operations.

There are currently only five wind turbines active off of Rhode Island and two in Virginia, Mauger said, but many more projects are in the works, and the service is advising on their location to help maintain access to waterways.

Commercial space launches are also coming to the fore. The Coast Guard helps keep waterways clear near launch sites. In the old NASA days, that just meant monitoring areas in Florida and Texas, but commercial space launches can occur from many more places, including floating platforms.

The Coast Guard has had issues with retaining female Coast Guard personnel, said Michel Godfrey, the director of civilian human resources, diversity and leadership. At one point, retention rates past the 15-year mark for women lagged behind men by 10%, but recent efforts have cut that to 3%.

One such effort is the parental leave program, which pulls in Coast Guard reservists to temporarily replace service members on maternity leave.

“They come back and they are a stronger member of the Coast Guard,” Godfrey said.

Schultz said, “Talent management is where we win or lose in the Coast Guard.”

After the presentation, Navy League National President David Reilly and CEO Mike Stevens presented Schultz with the Admiral Arleigh Burke Leadership Award, the Navy League’s highest honor. He then celebrated the Coast Guard’s founding by Alexander Hamilton with a cake.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy plans to order a second Low-Rate Initial Production lot of the ALQ-249 Next-Generation Jammer-Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) in 2022, a Navy official said.

Capt. Michael Orr, the Navy’s program manager for speaking at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo in National Harbor, Maryland, said the Navy plans to order five shipsets of the NGJ-MB in fiscal 2022. One shipset includes two jamming pods for an EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft.

The NGJ is a program to augment and eventually replace the ALQ-99 jamming pod, which first was deployed in 1971 on EA-6B Prowler aircraft in 1971 for combat in the Vietnam War.

The Navy ordered three shipsets of NGJ-MB on July 2 under Low-Rate Initial Production Lot 2.

The NGJ-MB, designed and built by Raytheon, is the first of three planned increments of the jammer. The NGJ-Low Band, designed by L3Harris, entered Engineering and Manufacturing Development in December 2020. The Navy ordered four test articles and eight operational prototypes. The NGL-LB shipset will consist of one pod. The selection of L3Harris for the program currently is under protest.

NGJ-High Band is still in concept development.

Orr said the NGJ-MB has completed 145 test flights and more than 3,000 hours of testing in an anechoic chamber and in laboratories.

The Royal Australian Air Force, which also flies EA-18Gs, has been a cooperative partner in the NGJ-MB and -LB development since June 2020.

Orr said the Navy will continue to upgrade the antennas and transmitters of the ALQ-99 pods. He said that, in his opinion, the ALQ-99 will continue to serve through the life of the EA-18G.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy is only weeks away from its goal to achieve a mission-capable rate for its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based command and control aircraft of 28 aircraft, a Navy program official said.

The Navy also is aiming for 22 of those 28 E-2Ds hitting and sustaining full mission capability by Sept. 1, said Capt. Pete Arrobio, the Navy’s E-2D program manager, speaking Aug. 3 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo at National Harbor, Maryland.

Attaining full mission capability is no small task. Arrobio pointed out that the E-2D has 11 major mission systems to be maintained in operating condition for the aircraft to reach full mission capability.

Arrobio said the Navy has a detailed plan to add and improve capability to the E-2D fleet over time. He stressed the need in the future to move faster in upgrading the aircraft software and systems to keep them relevant to high-level warfare. Future needs include cyber hardening; connectivity to the joint all-domain command and control environment; sensor improvement; more space, weight and power capacity; improved reliability of components; and integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning where appropriate.

Northrop Grumman has delivered 48 E-2Ds to the Navy so far, out of 52 ordered so far. The U.S. Navy’s program of record calls for 86 E-2Ds. The aircraft delivered so far equip five airborne command and control (VAW) squadrons and one fleet replacement squadron, with the fleet squadrons deploying with five aircraft each. Two of those VAW squadrons have completed transition to an aerial refueling capability. Four fleet squadrons are still equipped with the E-2C Hawkeye.

Three of nine ordered by Japan have been delivered. France has signed a letter of agreement to procure three E-2Ds to replace its E-2Cs. Taiwan and Egypt, which operate E-2Cs, also are potential customers for the E-2D.

There are 26 E-2Cs remaining in the U.S. Navy’s inventory and they are scheduled for phase out by 2026. Japan, France, Taiwan and Egypt operate a total of 28 E-2Cs, which Arrobio’s office helps to sustain with program support.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy is only weeks away from its goal to achieve a mission-capable rate for its E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based command and control aircraft of 28 aircraft, a Navy program official said.

The Navy also is aiming for 22 of those 28 E-2Ds hitting and sustaining full mission capability by Sept. 1, said Capt. Pete Arrobio, the Navy’s E-2D program manager, speaking Aug. 3 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo at National Harbor, Maryland.

Attaining full mission capability is no small task. Arrobio pointed out that the E-2D has 11 major mission systems to be maintained in operating condition for the aircraft to reach full mission capability.

Arrobio said the Navy has a detailed plan to add and improve capability to the E-2D fleet over time. He stressed the need in the future to move faster in upgrading the aircraft software and systems to keep them relevant to high-level warfare. Future needs include cyber hardening; connectivity to the joint all-domain command and control environment; sensor improvement; more space, weight and power capacity; improved reliability of components; and integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning where appropriate.

Northrop Grumman has delivered 48 E-2Ds to the Navy so far, out of 52 ordered so far. The U.S. Navy’s program of record calls for 86 E-2Ds. The aircraft delivered so far equip five airborne command and control (VAW) squadrons and one fleet replacement squadron, with the fleet squadrons deploying with five aircraft each. Two of those VAW squadrons have completed transition to an aerial refueling capability. Four fleet squadrons are still equipped with the E-2C Hawkeye.

Three of nine ordered by Japan have been delivered. France has signed a letter of agreement to procure three E-2Ds to replace its E-2Cs. Taiwan and Egypt, which operate E-2Cs, also are potential customers for the E-2D.

There are 26 E-2Cs remaining in the U.S. Navy’s inventory and they are scheduled for phase out by 2026. Japan, France, Taiwan and Egypt operate a total of 28 E-2Cs, which Arrobio’s office helps to sustain with program support.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Raytheon is expecting a five-year contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command for hardware production and sustainment of all variants of the SPY-6 shipboard radar, a company official said.

Raytheon anticipates the contract award in September 2021 which will cover up to 59 radars, said Scott Spence, director of Naval Radars for Raytheon, speaking to Seapower Aug. 3 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo at National Harbor, Maryland.

Raytheon now is in full-rate production of the SPY-6 family of radars, building at a rate of one per month, Spence said.

The company has been able to sustain a solid rate of production despite the COVID pandemic. Mike Mills, Raytheon’s SPY-6 program director, said the company delivered 12 SPY-6 arrays in a 13-month period. 

Raytheon has delivered the first two shipsets of the SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), one for the first Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, the future USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) and the second, DDG 128. Spence said the company is starting deliver of parts for a third DDG.

Delivery of the first production SPY-6(V)2 rotating Enterprise Air-Search Radars (EASR) is planned Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, the future America-class amphibious assault ship USS Bougainville (LHA 8) and the future San Antonio-class amphibious platform dock ship USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29). Installation on the latter two ships will be made post-construction, Spence said.

The fixed-face EASR, the SPY-6(V)3, is in the engineering development phase for the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) and subsequent carriers of that class. It also will be the EASR for the new Constellation-class guided-missile frigate.

Spence also said the expected contract will cover backfit of some Flight IIA Arleigh Burke DDG with the fixed-face SPY-6(V)4 version during the ships’ mid-life upgrades. The company already submitted the technical data package for the back-fit to the Navy.

The SPY-6 is scheduled to achieve Initial Operational Capability on the Jack H. Lucas in 2024, according to Spence.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Marine Corps’ drastic changes in force size, composition and weapons to meet the emerging threats, primarily from China, is going to be “wicked hard,” but the Corps’ top officer driving those changes said it is both essential and achievable.

“We have to find out how to go after a pacing threat that is moving. How a small force can hold something at risk. … We have divested what we can divest. We will produce the force we need by 2030,” Lt. Gen. Eric Smith, commanding general Marine Corps Combat Development Command and Deputy Commandant for Combat Development and Integration, said Aug. 3.

Smith added that the Marines’ effort to rebuild a smaller, more mobile but lethal force by the date set by Gen. David Berger, the Marine Corps Commandant, will depend on “stable funding.” A continuing resolution on defense funding, which is expected, “is a gift to an adversary,” he told Sea-Air-Space 2021.

Smith and the Marine Corps headquarters are rapidly shedding legacy systems, including the M-1 Abrams main battle tanks, much of its tube artillery and other heavy weapons to produce a much lighter force capable of sending small units into dispersed locations, most likely in western Pacific littoral regions, to counter China’s area-denial, anti-access capabilities that could nullify the Navy’s power projection efforts.

“The Corps’ purpose is to support the naval forces efforts,” Smith said. “It’s all about supporting the naval force in a conflict with a major adversary.”

Under intense questioning by moderator Dakota Wood, a retired Marine officer now a senior military analyst with the Heritage Foundation, Smith rejected the idea the Corps is sacrificing heavy systems, such as tanks, that would be useful in other parts of the world to focus solely on the Indo-Pacific theater and China. Smith noted recent experiments that used a mobile rocket artillery system mounted on a Humvee to hit distant targets.

“I can recreate the ability to kill armor,” he said. But “we have to get it there … we have to move things,” he said.

Challenged on how the Marines would support their dispersed light forces in a contested area, Smith said, “the first thing about having the logistical enterprise able to support you is need less. Why do I need water in the Indo-Pac theater?”

Smith was supported in his confidence in the Corps’ dramatic redesign efforts by William Williford, executive director of the Marine Corps Systems Command, which is fielding the new weapons and systems needed for the new force, and by Scott Lacy, executive director of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, which is running extensive wargames and experiments to develop and test the new formations and gear.

“Starting with the individual Marine, we are putting resources out there to make the Marine more lethal.” Wilford said.

“Don’t bet against us. If there is a concern it’s that the adversary will move faster than us,” Lacy said.

Smith also rejected Wood’s challenge the Corps is putting pressure on the other services to make up for the Marines’ cut in heavy forces, stating the Navy is all in on this and the Corps is working closely with the Army and Air Force to develop and field the right equipment. He also denied the Marines are sacrificing their ability to deal with current threats.

“You have to be able to fight today. I think we’re capable of doing that today,” he said, and noted that he and at least 14 other Marine generals, including Berger, “have skin in the game” by having sons currently serving in the Marines.