MANAMA, Bahrain — USS Sioux City (LCS 11) arrived in the U.S. 5th Fleet region May 28, marking the first time a littoral combat ship has deployed to the Middle East, NAVCENT Public Affairs said May 29. 

The ship and crew of 75 personnel are currently sailing in the Red Sea after departing Mayport, Florida, in April. Sioux City is operating in support of a newly established multinational task force, Combined Task Force (CTF) 153, focused on maritime security and partner capacity building in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden. 

“We’re excited to welcome a littoral combat ship to the Middle East for the first time,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. “Sioux City’s arrival is not only historic but essential to regional maritime security given its immediate integration with our new multinational naval task force.” 

CTF 153 is one of four multinational task forces organized under Combined Maritime Forces, the largest international naval partnership with 34 nations. Led by the United States, Combined Maritime Forces is headquartered in Bahrain with U.S. 5th Fleet. 

Littoral combat ships are versatile, enabling them to support a broad spectrum of fleet missions and operate alongside regional navies and coast guards. 

Last year, Sioux City operated in the Caribbean Sea where it seized 600 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $24 million from drug traffickers in April. In October, the ship seized nearly 500 kilograms of cocaine worth $20 million in the Caribbean. 

“We’re thrilled to have Sioux City join our team,” said Capt. Robert Francis, commander of CTF 153. “They’ve worked collaboratively in bringing enhanced capabilities to other regions and that’s certainly what we’re looking forward to here in the Middle East while operating with our international partners.” 

The U.S. 5th Fleet region includes 21 countries, the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb and Suez Canal. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy will commission the future USS Oregon (SSN 793), the newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, during an 11 a.m. EDT ceremony on Saturday, May 28, at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, the Defense Department said in a release. 

The future USS Oregon is the third U.S. Navy ship launched to bear the name Oregon, but the first in more than a century. The first was a brig in service from 1841 to 1845. The second was an Indiana-class battleship commissioned in 1896, serving in the Spanish-American War, and ultimately decommissioned for the final time in 1919. 

The principal speaker is Gov. Katie Brown of Oregon. Additional speakers include U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut’s 2nd District; Tommy Ross, performing the duties of assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition; Adm. James Caldwell, director, naval nuclear propulsion program; and Kevin Graney, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat. 

The submarine’s sponsor is Dana L. Richardson, wife of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and a native of Corvallis, Oregon. Oregon was christened at General Dynamics Corp.’s Electric Boat shipyard in Groton on Oct. 5, 2019. Mrs. Richardson will give the order to “man our ship and bring her to life.” 

“There is no doubt the importance this boat, named after the great state of Oregon, will play in the future of our nation’s security,” said Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro. “This crew is vital to our undersea mission, and I look forward to all of their successes.” 

Oregon is the second Block IV Virginia-class submarine to enter service, designed to carry out the core missions of the submarine force: anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface warfare; delivery of special operations forces; strike warfare; irregular warfare; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; and mine warfare. These capabilities allow the submarine force to operate anywhere, at any time, and contribute to regional stability and the preservation of future peace. 

Oregon is 377 feet long, has a 34-foot beam, and will be able to dive to depths greater than 800 feet and operate at speeds in excess of 25 knots submerged. It has a crew of approximately 136 Navy personnel. 

The ceremony will be live-streamed at: https://www.dvidshub.net/webcast/28517. The link will become active at 9:45 a.m. EDT. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Orca extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle (XLUUV) being built by Boeing for the Navy will carry a large payload module for covertly deploying sea mines and other payloads, a Navy official said. The Navy also will have an extra vessel built for test purposes. 

Capt. Scot Searles, the Navy’s program manager for Unmanned Maritime Systems, speaking May 25 in Monterey, California, at the 15th International Mine Technology Symposium of the Mine Warfare Association, said the payload module is 34 feet long, designed to be carried by an Orca to an area at which to lay the mines. 

Boeing is building five Orcas, the first of which will begin in-water testing later this summer, Searles said. The first Orca was placed in the water in April. 

The 80-ton Orca XLUUV is an open-architecture, reconfigurable UUV that will be modular in construction. The XLUUV core vehicle will provide guidance and control, navigation, autonomy, situational awareness, core communications, power distribution, energy and power, propulsion and maneuvering, and mission sensors. The Orca, too large to be carried by a submarine, will be pier-launched. Mine laying will be the first role for the XLUUV. 

“Getting that large, unmanned diesel submarine put together and then putting it in the water is a big deal,” Searles said. “It’s an important step in the development of the program to be able to have the components together, do a fit check and then an in-water check. We will continue populating the hull and begin to do in-water testing later this summer, all driving program maturity forward.” 

The Orca is based on the smaller Echo Ranger UUV built by Boeing.  

“Leveraging that technology, we’ve decided to add another EDM [engineering development model] into that program as well,” he said. “We’re calling it XLE-0. It’s a risk-reduction asset in addition to the five articles that we will deliver to the fleet, [so] we’ll also have that test asset as well.” 

Searles pointed out the speed of the development of Orca as a first-of-class ship. 

“That capability is going to deliver in less than five years to the fleet,” he said. “There is no first-of-class ship out there that is going from concept to requirements development to fielding in that kind of timeline.” 

Searles praised “the very tight collaboration” between the science and technology community, academia, the defense industry and its internally funded research, and the various Navy research and acquisition offices for the rapid development of the Orca. 

LONDON — The commander for U.S. naval forces in the Middle East discussed the role of unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in naval operations at an international security conference in the United Kingdom, May 24, NAVCENT Public Affairs said May 25. 

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, spoke to an audience of nearly 800 international defense and industry leaders during the Combined Naval Event at the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre. 

“We are on a path to build the world’s first international unmanned surface vessel fleet,” Cooper said. “Three weeks ago, we surpassed 10,000 total sailing hours for unmanned surface vessels throughout the region. Additionally, two vessels each exceeded 100 consecutive operating days at sea.” 

U.S. 5th Fleet is currently fielding multiple unmanned systems with artificial intelligence across the Middle East after establishing Task Force 59 in September. The task force works closely with members of industry and academia as well as other experts to provide operator feedback and help drive the innovation process forward. 

“The goal is a distributed and integrated network of systems, operated with our partners, to significantly expand how far we can see,” said Cooper. 

Over an eight-month period, the task force stood up operating hubs for unmanned systems and artificial intelligence in Bahrain and Aqaba, Jordan while deploying new unmanned systems to a half-dozen bilateral and multilateral exercises. Additionally, some of the systems are currently contributing to daily operations in regional waters by enhancing maritime surveillance. 

“Every partner and every sensor offers new information that can be added to what we call the ‘Digital Ocean,’ an intelligent synthesis of around-the-clock inputs encompassing thousands of images,” Cooper said. “Putting more eyes above, on and below the water’s surface enhances our picture of the surrounding seas and enables us to position our crewed ships to react more rapidly.” 

Earlier this year, U.S. 5th Fleet announced the goal of forming a multinational fleet of 100 unmanned surface vessels by the summer of 2023. 

“A network of partners can increase shared maritime domain awareness by 30 or 40 times, through an interconnected mesh of sensors and real-time data fused together,” Cooper said. “This is an ambitious goal, but it is achievable because of our incredibly talented team.” 

U.S. 5th Fleet led the world’s largest unmanned maritime exercise in February when 10 nations fielded more than 80 unmanned systems during International Maritime Exercise 2022. The exercise enabled operators employ advanced unmanned systems during 14 different operational scenarios. 

“We are clearly more capable when we operate together, which is why strengthening partnerships and accelerating innovation are intertwined,” said Cooper. “It is not just about the technology. It is our people who have us on a path to realizing this vision together with our partners in the region.” 

The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. The region is comprised of 21 countries and includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy put in another order for Tomahawk cruise missiles May 24, but this order also includes, for the first time, Tomahawks for the Marine Corps and Army.  

Raytheon Missiles and Defense, of Tucson, Arizona, was awarded a $217.1 million fixed-price-incentive, firm-fixed-price contract for 154 full-rate production Block V Tactical Tomahawk All-Up Round Vertical Launch System missiles, including 70 for the Navy, 54 for the Marine Corps, and 30 for the Army, the Defense Department said May 24. The full-rate production Lot 18 missiles are scheduled to be delivered by 2025. 

“This is a major accomplishment for the program as we move forward into a new era for the Tomahawk Missile System,” said Capt. John Red, Tomahawk Weapons System program manager (PMA-280), said in a May 24 release from the Naval Air Systems Command. “We look forward to delivering this capability not only to the fleet, but to our Marines and Soldiers around the globe.” 

The Lot 18 missiles will be of the Block V configuration, which has the capability for inflight course guidance and target location updates.  

“Future Block V capabilities will include the Maritime Strike Tomahawk variant and the Joint Multiple Effects Warhead System,” the release said.  

The Marine Corps is developing and fielding a ground-based Tomahawk launcher, which will be operated by ground units in support of Expeditionary Advance Base Operations.  

The Navy’s Tomahawk program office “worked closely with the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office to execute the contract in an effort to deliver the missiles on an accelerated schedule,” the Navy said. “The Army is leveraging PMA-280’s ongoing modernization efforts, investment strategies, and joint test events for its Mid-Range Capability program, a system that is on track to be delivered to its first Army unit in FY23.” 

The same day, according to the Defense Department, Raytheon was awarded a $22.6 million contract modification that “provides for the production of the Navy/Marine Corps Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) Naval Strike Missile (NSM) Launcher Unit (NLU) and Weapon Control System (WCS) Production Representative Models. NMESIS is a land-based missile launcher platform that provides the Fleet Marine Force with an anti-ship capability. NMESIS integrates an NLU, capable of launching two NSMs, onto a remotely operated ground unit for Expeditionary Fires carrier. The NLU is controlled by the WCS located externally in a command-and-control vehicle.”  

ARLINGTON, Va. — The head of the Navy’s Unmanned Task Force said a control system common for aerial, surface and underwater unmanned systems is still the goal as the Navy develops and fields unmanned systems for the fleet, and is critical to enabling artificial intelligence for data management.

“Certainly,” said Michael Stewart, leader of the Unmanned Task Force, speaking to reporters May 25 at the Pentagon, when asked if the Common Control System is progressing to operate for all three domains.  

“If you’re going to enable AI [artificial intelligence], if you’re going to have multiple sensors, you have to solve the open-architecture data management problem and you have to have a common control system so that you can take all of this sensor data and then put it in something where you can run algorithms,” Stewart said.

“We’ve talked with some of our allies of their journey through that it only highlighted that that is the critically important thing,” he said. “When I showed up at NATO at first, some people were talking about standards and open architecture, I really didn’t understand the importance of it.

“Now that I’ve seen it in operation with some of the allies, I understand critically why it’s important and why we have to go do that right, because if you want to make AI a thing with a whole bunch of different sensors, you’ve got to be able to do that,” he said.

The Unmanned Task Force is a team of teams with the mission of “bending the curve” of fielding unmanned systems to solve operational problems and deliver solutions more rapidly.

“We’re doing unmanned to solve operational problems; we’re doing artificial intelligence to solve operational problems,” Stewart said. 

He also said funding had to be very agile to move funding around portfolios to achieve rapid development where it is needed most.

Stewart said the task force wants experimentation to establish the relative value of various unmanned concepts and systems while “dispelling the mythology of unmanned and AI.”

“Let’s let them prove what we think they can do,” he said.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s mine countermeasures mission packages will be available not only to littoral combat ships but to other vessels and units, a Navy official said.   

Capt. Mike Egan, branch head for mine warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, speaking May 24 in Monterey, California, at the 2022 International Mine Warfare Technology Symposium of the Mine Warfare Association, said the MCM mission package is on track to achieve initial operational capability in the fall of 2022 and the Navy plans to procure a total of 24 packages. 

The Navy plans to equip 15 Independence-class littoral combat ships with the MCM mission package, which will leave an additional nine mission packages for use elsewhere.  

Egan said those excess mission packages won’t be sitting around in a warehouse. 

“We’re going to put them on vessels of opportunity, put them ashore, we’re going to integrate them into ExMCM [expeditionary MCM] companies to use those and try to make sure [to] step up MCM capability to be expeditionary, to be scalable [and] modular,” he said. “That’s where we’re headed.”    

The Navy’s expeditionary sea-base ships, which already host MCM forces, are considered likely vessels of opportunity for an MCM mission package. These ships host MH-53E MCM helicopters and mine-hunting craft and unmanned underwater vehicles. 

The Navy has commissioned three Lewis-B. Puller-class ESBs and has two more under construction. 

PEARL HARBOR — The U.S. Navy has released the command investigation into the USS Connecticut (SSN 22) grounding that occurred Oct. 2, 2021, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said May 23.

USS Connecticut grounded on an uncharted seamount while operating submerged in a poorly surveyed area in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region. The investigation determined the grounding was preventable. Specifically, the grounding resulted from an accumulation of unit-level errors and omissions in navigation planning, watch team execution and risk management, all of which were deemed to fall far below U.S. Navy standards. 

The investigation and endorsements describe what happened, promulgate lessons learned, memorialize completed corrective actions, document accountability actions and delineate pending actions that must be finalized with a sense of urgency.

In addition to addressing the unit-level errors that caused the grounding, the investigation highlighted specific areas for improvement in the deployment training and certification process, and the Navy is urgently implementing these improvements across the Submarine Force. This investigation delineates 28 corrective actions, of which 14 actions are complete, 13 actions are in progress, and one is enduring. 

In implementing these significant improvements, the Navy said it will become a more effective fighting force.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Raytheon Missiles & Defense has been awarded a $423 million contract to continue to produce SPY-6 radars for the U.S. Navy, the company said May 23. This is the first option exercised from the March 2022 hardware, production and sustainment contract that is valued up to $3.16 billion over five years. 

“SPY-6 is the premiere surface naval radar in the world, and contracts like this ensure Sailors across the fleet will be equipped with the information, tracking and detection it provides,” said Kim Ernzen, president of Naval Power at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “SPY-6 radar arrays have already been delivered to multiple ships with installation ongoing.” 

The SPY-6 family of radars can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hostile aircraft and surface ships simultaneously. They provide several advantages over legacy radars, including significantly greater detection range, increased sensitivity and more accurate discrimination. Their scalable and modular radar arrays reduce cost and sustainment needs, while meeting the mission requirements of seven classes of ships. 

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — Airbus has signed a follow-on contractor logistics support contract with the U.S. Army to provide spare parts, material, and engineering support for the Army’s entire UH-72A and UH-72B Lakota fleet of 482 utility and training helicopters. The fleet includes several UH-72As on loan to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. 

The contract includes a six-month base and 4.5 option years, with a potential total value of more than $1.5 Billion. Airbus will provide support across 67 Lakota sites in the U.S. and overseas. This includes National Guard bases in 43 states, and Fort Rucker in Alabama, where the UH-72A performs the Army’s Initial Entry Rotary Wing mission. 

The CLS contract with the U.S. Army is the largest helicopter performance-based support contract managed by Airbus worldwide.      

“Airbus has provided exceptional product and support services in the UH-72A for nearly two decades,” said Col. Calvin Lane, U.S. Army Utility project manager. “This contract underscores the Army’s trust in the aircraft’s  capabilities, and we look forward to the continued support this contract provides to the UH-72 fleet.” 

The contract will be managed by Airbus U.S. Space & Defense. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.