SAN DIEGO — General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced that the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) have been cleared for shipboard launch and recovery of all currently deployed naval aircraft types aboard USS Gerald R. Ford…
Coast Guard Offloads $338 Million of Cocaine in San Diego
SAN DIEGO — The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro offloaded nearly 20,000 pounds of cocaine Feb. 10 seized from known drug-transit zones of the eastern Pacific Ocean worth about $338 million, according to the Coast Guard’s 11th District. Eight interdictions were made between mid-November and…
Navy’s 2021 Budget Cuts Marines Corps Funding, End Strength
The U.S. Navy is seeking to shave $1.4 billion from the Marine Corps fiscal year 2021 budget request and to reduce the active-duty force by 2,100, according to new Defense Department budget documents. The Marines’ piece of the Navy Department’s…
Navy 2021 Budget Relatively Flat; Only 8 Ships Funded, Ship Retirements Accelerated
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S Navy’s 2021 budget seeks funding for only eight battle force ships, financed by $19.9 billion of a $207.1 billion Department of the Navy budget that is only slightly larger than the $205.2 billion budget enacted for fiscal 2020. The Future Years Defense Plan also forecasts some accelerated retirements or reductions…
Navy, Marines Say Readiness Improving in Pacific After Fatal Air, Sea Crashes
WASHINGTON — Stating that command readiness is their top priority, senior U.S. Navy and Marine Corps leaders told Congress they are improving manning, training and maintenance procedures in the wake of three fatal sea and air accidents. In a joint…
First Navy V-22 arrives in Patuxent River
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The first U.S. Navy CMV-22B Osprey arrived at Patuxent River on Feb. 2 after completing its ferry flight from Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas, Naval Air Systems Command said. This is the first of two CMV-22B…
Navy Orders Two MQ-4C Triton UAVs Plus Operating Base
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered another two MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles from Northrop Grumman Corp. According to a Feb. 6 Defense Department contract announcement, Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $172.4 million contract modification for the two…
Laser-Guided Excalibur S Munition Aces Navy Test
YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz. — Raytheon’s new Excalibur S precision-guided munition scored direct hits on moving targets in a U.S. Navy test, the company said in a Feb. 5 release. Testing validated the projectile’s ability to survive the shock and…
Coast Guard Repatriates 64 Migrants to Dominican Republic
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 64 migrants to the Dominican Republic between Feb. 5 and Feb. 6 following the interdiction of an illegal migrant voyage on Feb. 3 about 51 nautical miles north of Punta Cana, the according to the Coast Guard’s 7th District. The interdiction…
Components of Northrop Grumman AQS-24B Mine-Hunting System Now Made in Australia
CANBERRA, Australia — Northrop Grumman Corp. has started to manufacture components of the AQS-24B towed mine-hunting system with Marand Precision Engineering in Australia, at the company’s Moorabbin, Victoria, facility. The AQS-24 mine-hunting system includes an operational high-speed synthetic aperture sonar (HSSAS) and an optical laser line-scan sensor. The system performs high-resolution detection,…
