BALTIMORE — Northrop Grumman Corp. has delivered the AN/SLQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP) Block 3 Engineering and Development Model (EDM) to the U.S. Navy for land-based testing, the company said in a June 11 release. The official transfer was marked at an event with company and Navy program officials at Northrop Grumman’s systems integration facility in Baltimore, Maryland. 

“The AN/SLQ-32(V)7 EDM delivery to the U.S. Navy for continued government land-based testing following formal qualification testing is a significant achievement for the SEWIP Block 3 program,” said Capt. Jason Hall, the Navy’s Major Program Manager of Above Water Sensors and Lasers. “SEWIP Block 3 provides a critical electronic warfare capability to the Fleet to pace the evolving anti-ship missile threat.” 

Northrop Grumman successfully completed SEWIP Block 3 system integration and formal qualification testing as part of the engineering, manufacturing and development contract. This milestone indicates that the system is ready to transition to the U.S. Navy for formal land-based testing at the Naval Sea Systems Command Surface Combat Systems Center in Wallops Island, Virginia. 

“This delivery represents the next step in a multi-year effort to take SEWIP from the laboratory to the hands of the warfighter,” said Mike Meaney, vice president, land and maritime sensors, Northrop Grumman. “Providing the comprehensive hardware-defined, software-enabled system to the Navy proves out the final design and signifies the end of the engineering, manufacturing and development phase.” 

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.”   

The Department of Defense’s Naming Commission — technically the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America — has begun its work to examine bases and ships with names tied to the Confederacy and make recommendations for renaming them.

The eight commissioners, chaired by retired Navy Adm. Michelle Howard, were sworn in on March 2 and have begun biweekly meetings. Howard told the press the commission has developed an initial charter to guide the process and is developing renaming procedures and criteria.

The Naming Commission was mandated by Congress under Section 370 of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and charged with assigning, modifying or removing anything that commemorates the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederacy. 

The military services were already contemplating the appropriateness of the eight bases named for Confederate generals who voluntarily fought against the United States — Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Bragg, Fort Lee, Fort Rucker, Fort Benning, Fort Gordon, Fort Hood, Fort Polk and Fort Pickett. A ninth base, Fort Belvoir, was previously named Camp A. A. Humphreys after Civil War Union Army Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys. It was later named for the plantation that existed at that location, which was operated with enslaved people. The commission will investigate if the renaming of that installation was done to possibly commemorate the Confederacy. 

Howard said the commission will be visiting the bases throughout the summer and fall and meeting with local stakeholders to gain perspectives and local opinions in regards to renaming assets.

Congress required a commission be appointed, with four of the commissioners to be appointed by the secretary of defense and four by the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

In his last days in office, then-Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller announced his picks, but shortly after taking office Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III replaced Miller’s appointees with his own. In addition to Howard, Austin appointed retired Marine Corps Gen. Bob Neller, Dr. Kori Schake, director of Foreign & Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, emeritus professor of history, U.S. Military Academy.

Beyond the Army bases, there are Navy ships named for Confederate leaders or victories, including the oceanographic ship USNS Maury (T-AGS 66) and guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), named for the 1863 battle led by Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Both those generals were honored by the Navy with the naming of now-decommissioned ballistic missile submarines — USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN 601) and USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN 634).

Other Navy ships have honored Confederate officers in the past, including guided missile destroyers USS Tattnall (DDG 18), USS Semmes (DDG 18) USS Buchanan (DDG 14) and USS Waddell (DDG 24); guided missile frigate USS Richard L. Page (FFG 5); and submarine tenders USS Dixon (AS 37) and USS Hunley (AS 31).

Matthew Fontaine Maury, for which USNS Maury is named, is less known for his Confederate service than he was for his work before the Civil War as a student of the environment and its impact on navigation. He published “The Physical Geography of the Sea” in 1855; was superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory; headed the Navy’s Depot of Charts and Instruments; and wrote the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic. His method and format of collecting oceanographic observations became a global standard.

According to Howard, the commission’s mandate is limited to defense assets with names tied to the Confederacy. That means that bases, ships or facilities honoring officials who owned slaves or were segregationists would not fall under the purview of the commission. USS Carl Vinson, for example, is named for a lawmaker who was a staunch support of the Navy, but also a segregationist.  USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002) is named for a former president and naval officer who initially supported segregation but later championed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In addition to bases, the legislation calls for comprehensive inventory of military assets, such as buildings, street names, parks, ships, aircraft and equipment that in some way commemorate the Confederacy. Grave markers, museums or artifacts within museums are not part of the commission’s mandate, but it may examine displays that may glorify the CSA.

The commission will brief the secretary of defense on its progress and recommendations, and is required to brief the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on its progress by Oct. 1. The commission’s final report is due Oct. 1, 2022.

MIAMI — Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo’s crew repatriated 82 Cubans to Cuba, Tuesday, following eight interdictions south of the Florida Keys, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a June 8 release. 

A Station Islamorada law enforcement team launched at approximately 11 a.m., May 30, after a good Samaritan reported seeing three people on a blue, 16-foot vessel. All three were transferred to the station’s boat and reported in good health. One person was brought to shore for additional screening. 

A Coast Guard Cutter Valiant law enforcement team launched at approximately 3:30 a.m., June 3, and interdicted a blue, 20-foot vessel with 31 people aboard. They were transferred to the cutter and reported in good health.  

A Station Marathon law enforcement team launched at approximately 1:30 p.m., June 3, after a good Samaritan reported seeing a yellow and white 14-foot vessel with three people aboard. All three were transferred to the station’s boat and reported in good health. 

A Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore law enforcement team launched at approximately 4:30 a.m., June 4, and interdicted a vessel with seven people aboard. The people were transferred to the cutter and reported in good health. 

A Coast Guard Cutter Valiant law enforcement team launched at approximately 6:30 a.m., June 4, and interdicted a vessel with 23 people aboard that was taking on water. The people were transferred to the cutter and reported in good health. One person was brought to shore for further investigation. 

A Coast Guard Cutter Valiant law enforcement team launched at approximately 9:30 a.m., June 4, and interdicted a vessel with 10 people aboard. They were transferred to the cutter and reported in good health. 

At approximately the same time June 4, a Station Key West law enforcement team launched for a 15-foot vessel with four people aboard. They were transferred to the station’s boat and reported in good health. 

A Station Marathon law enforcement team launched at approximately 1:30 p.m., June 4, after a good Samaritan reported seeing a white and brown vessel with three people aboard. All three were transferred to the station’s boat and reported in good health. 

“The repatriation of these migrants highlight the unity of effort required with many of our key partners as we work together to intercept these unsafe migration attempts into the United States,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jason Neiman, Coast Guard Seventh District public affairs officer. “These voyages are often on very unseaworthy vessels and the dangers of these trips can be deadly.” 

Since Oct. 1, 2020, Coast Guard crews have interdicted 399 Cubans compared to: 

5,396 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2016 
1,468 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2017 
259 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2018 
313 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2019 
49 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2020 

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. Throughout the interdiction, Coast Guard crew members were equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to any possible case of COVID-19. 

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Legend-class national security USCGC Hamilton (WMSL 753) and crew returned to Charleston, South Carolina, June 4, following a historic 97-day deployment to Europe working with U.S. Navy 6th Fleet, allies and partners, the Coast Guard Atlantic Area said in a release. 

“By operating with 6th Fleet, we expand the Coast Guard’s global reach and advance our Nation’s Tri-Service Maritime Strategy,” said Capt. Timothy Cronin, commanding officer of USCGC Hamilton. “This deployment also reinforced our commitment to freedom of navigation in international waters while building capacity and partnerships with nations that have shared interests and threats in the maritime domain.” 

After departing North Charleston, South Carolina, Feb. 28, the crew of Hamilton stopped in Puerto Rico and then headed toward Rota, Spain, with two Sentinel-class fast response cutters, USCGC Charles Moulthrope (WPC 1141) and USCGC Robert Goldman (WPC 1142) in the trans-Atlantic leg of the fast response cutters’ 9,000-mile voyage to homeport in Bahrain and service at Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. 

After escorting the cutters and departing Spain, Hamilton then visited Italy, Georgia, Ukraine, and Malta. The crew conducted various operational exercises with the maritime components of each country and forces from Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria. 

“The U.S. Coast Guard’s bilateral engagements with partner services play a critical role in our overall diplomatic engagement with those states,” said Philip T. Reeker, acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the Department of State. “They complement our on-shore diplomacy in building enduring partnerships that focus on joint approaches to common problems. They also reinforce our global effort to uphold the rules-based international order.” 

Hamilton entered the Mediterranean Sea April 15 and the Black Sea April 27 to support NATO Allies and partners. Hamilton was the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to visit the Black Sea since 2008. The last U.S. Coast Guard cutter in the Black Sea was USCGC Dallas (WHEC 716), which sailed to the Black Sea twice, once in 2008 and 1995. 

Since leaving the Black Sea on May 14, Hamilton’s crew visited Valletta, Malta, and conducted engagements at sea with the armed forces of Malta. They also made a brief logistics stop in Rota, Spain, on May 23. Hamilton transited out of the Mediterranean Sea, concluding the crew’s recent operations in 6th Fleet’s area of responsibility, May 24. 

“The relationships we build are fundamental for establishing maritime safety and security worldwide,” said Lt. Cmdr. Taylor Kellogg, operations officer of USCGC Hamilton. “Working together with our NATO allies and partners, we advance the rule of law on the sea, ensuring free and open access to the maritime domain.” 

The U.S. Coast Guard, as demonstrated by this deployment, is a welcome presence and critical contributor to maintaining maritime safety, security, and stability in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Hard-earned and long-lasting partnerships in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean give the Coast Guard unique access to vital partners. These efforts build unique partnerships thanks to a broad suite of specialized maritime capabilities, competencies, and authorities. The U.S. Coast Guard multi-mission mandate as a law enforcement agency, a regulatory agency, and a military branch makes the Service’s comparative advantage unique and unparalleled. 

“All nations benefit from free and open access to the maritime domain,” said Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, commander U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “We seek to foster a united, global effort to safeguard this access. Allies and partners are integral to protecting our shared interests, preserving our competitive multilateral advantage, and upholding the rules-based international order. Hamilton’s tremendous efforts strengthen our alliances and partnerships by developing interchangeable capabilities, combined operations, theater security cooperation, and capacity-building measures. Together we defend sovereignty from malign influence and coercion.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced on June 9 the establishment of a new Department of Defense Regional Center, the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies. The center will bring increased cooperation on the unique challenges and security concerns related to the Arctic region.   

Defense Department Regional Centers are international academic venues for bilateral and multilateral research, communication, and training with the goal of building strong, sustainable international networks of security leaders. The Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies will develop collaborative insights with allies and partners.  

“The center will support the U.S. Interim National Security Strategic Guidance direction to work with like-minded partners and across the interagency to pool our collective strength and advance shared interests,” Secretary Austin said. “It will address the need for U.S. engagement and international cooperation to strengthen the rules-based order in the region and tackle shared challenges such as climate change.” 

The Ted Stevens Center will provide a new venue to collaborate with our allies and partners to advance shared interests for a peaceful and prosperous Arctic. The Department is currently determining the appropriate location for the center. 

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. 

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division has been awarded a contract with a potential total value of $724 million for planning yard services in support of in-service amphibious ships, the company announced June 8. 

“Ingalls has a 40-year history of providing planning yard services to ships in active service,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. “We consider this a core competency and a critical part of our mission to support the Navy in meeting fleet commitments around the world.” 

Planning yard services provided will be in support of amphibious transport dock (LPD 17), assault (LHD 1 and LHA 6), command (LCC 19), and dock landing (LSD 41/49) classes of ships. The contract includes options over a seven-year period and covers fleet modernization availability planning; engineering, design and logistics support; material procurement; program and configuration data management; and on-site technical support through established homeport and planning yard offices and resources. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, will provide logistics and repair services for all U.S. Marine Corps ground equipment under a five-year, $495 million contract, the company announced in a June 8 release. 

The company will deliver more than 10,000 repaired parts per year to sustain the Marines’ combat and tactical ground equipment, ranging from armored vehicles to ground radars and communications systems. 

“We provide logistics support for deployed systems around the globe,” said Bob Williams, vice president of Global Training & Logistics for Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “Our job is to ensure no mission is ever delayed because of a needed repair or missing part.” 

This contract is an expansion of work the company has supported for 17 years, nearly doubling the anticipated amount of equipment being managed and expanding the company’s support to every major Marine Corps installation in the world.