SAN DIEGO — Northrop Grumman Corp. has been contracted by the U.S. Navy to prototype and reduce the risk of integrating sense and avoid (SAA) capabilities into the high-altitude, long-endurance MQ-4C Triton autonomous system, the company said in a May 10 release. This capability will allow the Triton to safely operate in shared airspace with manned aircraft. 

“Sense and avoid will help ensure our customers can safely operate Triton out of almost any airfield or airport in the world, in full compliance with current and emerging aviation regulations around the globe,” said Doug Shaffer, vice president and program manager, Triton programs, Northrop Grumman. “Incorporating SAA capability will add tremendous flexibility to the Triton system and how the U.S. Navy, Royal Australian Air Force and potential future customers seamlessly integrate Triton into their concepts of operation.” 

A key partner in the development of SAA is Aviation Communications & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) LLC, a joint venture of L3Harris and Thales. 

“As a leader in integrated Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems, we are actively driving innovation in operational efficiency and airspace safety for the emerging unmanned aircraft platforms,” said Steve Alwin, ACSS president and vice president of engineering. “Our sense and avoid solutions enable active collision avoidance, empowering them to operate safely in commercial airspace.” 

Northrop Grumman and ACSS have been collaborating closely with Naval Air Systems Command for more than five years in the development and evaluation of SAA technology, and have worked together to contribute to the development of SAA-related industry standards. 

Sense and avoid is a focus of the next developmental increment of the MQ-4C system, and a critical element of the cooperative development program requirements defined between the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered five more of its new utility landing craft (LCU) for its amphibious warfare forces.   

Naval Sea Systems Command awarded Swiftships of Morgan City, Louisiana, a $59.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract “to exercise an option for the construction of five Landing Craft, Utility (LCU) 1700-class transportation boats (1707 through 1711),” the Defense Department said in a May 7, 2021, announcement. Delivery is expected by November 2023. The funds will come from the fiscal 2021 budget.  

In February 2019, the Navy ordered LCU 1701 and 1702 under a $26.7 million contract modification. The craft will follow the prototype of the LCU 1700 class. In April 2020, the Navy ordered LCUs 1703-1706 under a $50.1 contract.  

“The LCU 1700 class will recapitalize the LCU 1610 capabilities and have a design life of 30 years,” the Naval Sea Systems Command said. “LCU 1700 craft will be a highly reliable and fuel-efficient heavy-lift platform whose capability will be complementary to the faster air cushion landing craft, which have a significantly shorter range, smaller payload capacity, no habitability and operating hour limitations.”  

The Navy’s amphibious warfare ships equipped with well decks routinely deploy with LCUs embarked. The Navy plans to procure a total of 32 LCU 1700 craft.  

BAHRAIN — The guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) seized an illicit shipment of weapons from a stateless dhow in international waters of the North Arabian Sea on May 6-7, 2021, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs said in a May 8 release. 

USS Monterey and its embarked U.S. Coast Guard Advanced Interdiction Team (AIT) discovered the illicit cargo during a routine flag verification boarding conducted in international water in accordance with customary international law. 

The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades launchers.  Other weapon components included advanced optical sights. 

The original source and intended destination of the materiel is currently under investigation. The materiel is in U.S. custody awaiting final disposition. Assessment of the findings will be an interagency effort. 

Monterey provided more than 36 hours of over watch and security for its boarding teams and the interdicted vessel throughout the two-day operation. 

After all illicit cargo was removed, the dhow was assessed for seaworthiness, and after questioning, its crew was provided food and water before being released. 

The U.S. Navy conducts routine patrols in the region to ensure the free flow of commerce for legitimate traffic, disrupt the transport of illicit cargo that often funds terrorism and unlawful activity, and safeguard the rules-based international order.   

ARLINGTON, Va. — The admiral in charge of Project Overmatch said the Naval Operational Architecture (NOA) being developed by the Navy is necessary to preserve free access to the seas and hold adversaries at risk with fully netted, distributed force. 

Rear Adm. Douglas Small, commander, Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), said the U.S. Navy, which enjoyed unfettered maritime supremacy since the Cold War, can no longer take that supremacy nor freedom of navigation for granted, especially with the rise of China and its navy which is rapidly improving in capability and capacity. 

He spoke May 7 at a webinar jointly conducted by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies and sponsored by Huntington Ingalls Industries.  

Small said the Navy’s Project Overmatch is charged to “deliver the Naval Operational Architecture,” a capability to enhance distributed maritime operations by imposing “risk over a wider expanse.” 

Small said the goal of the architecture is for it to be the connective tissue for the Navy’s sensors, weapons, and command structure, to operate near and far, at every axis and in every domain, and synchronize those effects to form a widely distributive force. 

The admiral said the system of systems the Navy relies on for warfighting can be increasingly vulnerable to Chinese intrusion or countermeasures and the United States needs to maintain an overmatch to minimize such vulnerability, taking the system of systems “to a higher level.” 

That overmatch is not only necessary to put potential enemies at risk but to assure allies and partners, he said.   

NOA is the naval component of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control architecture. 

The Navy will commission its newest expeditionary mobile base, the future USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5), during a 10:00 a.m. PST ceremony Saturday, May 8, at Naval Air Station North Island, Coronado, California, the Defense Department announced in a May 7 release. 

Due to public health and safety concerns related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the commissioning ceremony is private with a limited audience. 

Adm. Craig Faller, commander, U.S. Southern Command, will deliver the commissioning ceremony’s principal remarks. Mrs. Eliadora Delores Keith, Lance Cpl. Miguel Keith’s mother, is the ship’s sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when Eliadora Keith gives the order to “man our ship and bring her to life!” 

Capt. Troy A. Fendrick, a native of Tempe, Arizona, is the ship’s commanding officer and leads a crew of roughly 100 military officers and crew, alongside 44 Military Sealift Civil Service Mariners. The ship is 785 feet in length, has a beam of 164 feet, and a navigational draft of approximately 39 feet. 

The ship, named in honor of Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Lance Cpl. Miguel Keith, was built in San Diego by General Dynamics NASSCO and was delivered to the Navy on Nov. 15, 2019. 

USS Miguel Keith is the third Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB). ESB was previously known as Afloat Forward Staging Base. These vessels are highly flexible platforms that provide logistics movement from sea to shore supporting a broad range of military operations. The ESB is designed around four core capabilities: aviation facilities, berthing, equipment staging area, and command and control. 

USS Miguel Keith will be part of the Forward Deployed Naval Force operating from Saipan. 

The event will be livestreamed for the general public and media to view. Livestream transmission will begin at 9:50 a.m. PST at: https://allhands.navy.mil/Live-Stream for those unable to attend. 

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Navy completed an Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range (AARGM-ER) captive carry flight on an F/A-18 Super Hornet April 22 at Patuxent River in support of the first live fire event this spring, the Naval Air Systems Command said in a May 7 release. 

This flight marked the first time the AARGM-ER weapon demonstrated it could communicate with the F/A-18 E/F aircraft. The Separation Test Vehicle (STV) used its hardware and software to facilitate the controlled free flight.  

“Data collected from this testing will support expansion of flight testing with AARGM-ER to the full performance envelope of F/A-18 Super Hornet,” said Capt. Mitch Commerford, program manager for Direct and Time Sensitive Strike program office (PMA-242). “This flight represents a significant step in the AARGM-ER engineering and manufacturing development phase.” 

During the test, the F/A-18 Super Hornet conducted a series of aerial maneuvers in order to evaluate compatibility of the AARGM-ER with the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The test points completed during this flight test event substantiated F/A-18 carriage compatibility. 

AARGM-ER is being integrated on the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G and will be compatible for integration of the F-35. By leveraging the U.S. Navy’s AARGM program that’s in full-rate production, the AARGM-ER, with a new rocket motor and warhead, will provide advanced capability to detect and engage enemy air defense systems. 

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Adm. Samuel J. Paparo assumed command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, May 5, the fleet’s public affairs office said in a May 6 release. He relieved Adm. John C. Aquilino, who became the 26th commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith in Halawa in a ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam’s Kilo Pier, April 30. 

Paparo, a native of Morton, Pennsylvania, comes to the historic Pearl Harbor headquarters from Manama, Bahrain, as Aquilino did in May 2018. Both commanded U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces immediately before arriving in Hawaii. 
 
“I am honored and humbled to follow and serve in the footsteps and on the shoulders of giants in this critically important region accounting for 60% of world trade and 52% of the world’s population in 36 countries and an area spanning 14 time zones,” said Paparo. “The U.S. remains committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific that can only be achieved by the teamwork of like-minded partners, all working with a common commitment to upholding international law and the rules-based, international order.” 
 
Paparo is the 37th commander since the fleet’s Pearl Harbor headquarters was established in February 1941. He is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and has flown the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagles and F-A-18 Hornet, among other aircraft. His full bio is available at https://www.cpf.navy.mil/leaders/samuel-paparo. 
 
U.S. Pacific Fleet is the world’s largest fleet command with an area of responsibility that encompasses 100 million square miles, nearly half the Earth’s surface, from Antarctica to the Arctic Circle and from the West Coast of the United States into the Indian Ocean. The U.S. Pacific Fleet consists of approximately 200 ships/submarines, nearly 1,200 aircraft, and more than 130,000 Sailors and civilians. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — Despite serious propulsion problems with the newest Freedom-class littoral combat ships (LCS), Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday says he is “very bullish” about the small surface combatant.

“We’ve got 33 of them. We’ve got to wring the most operational availability that we can out of those ships,” Gilday told a livestreamed edition of the United States Navy Memorial’s SITREP speakers series May 6.

To that end, Gilday said, the Navy will place the long-range Raytheon-Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile on all the LCS, and in about 18 months, start delivering either anti-submarine warfare or mine counter measures modules to the ships — once a defect with the Freedom variant’s combining gear is corrected.

In 2020, problems with the combining gear, which links two gas turbines to the ships’ two diesel-powered engines, enabling acceleration to 40 knots, sidelined the USS Detroit (LCS-7) and USS Little Rock (LCS-9). Both are assigned to the 4^th Fleet, a component of U.S. Southern Command.

In January, the Navy said it would not accept any more of the odd-numbered Freedom ships until the Lockheed Martin-led manufacturing team fixed the design flaw in the complicated mechanism. The Freedom variant is manufactured by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. Even-numbered Independence-class LCS are built at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.

“The vendor is doing land based testing,” Gilday said, “and once that new design is proven, we will first install those new combining gears in the ships delivering out of Wisconsin, and then we’ll back fit some of the older hulls.”

There is plenty of work for the LCS to do, whether it is in SOUTHCOM or the Western Pacific, Gilday said. “I’m very bullish about the LCS,” he said. ‘We intend to put them forward  in the 5^th Fleet and, of course, in the 7^th Fleet. They were designed to operate inside, close to land and transit at high speed. You better believe we’re going to make use of that capability in the Western Pacific.”

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division May 6 to start its refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) after years of advance planning. 

“For the last three years, we have planned each step of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis’ RCOH, including procuring long lead-time materials, conducting shipboard inspections and readying our facilities for this extensive engineering and construction project,” said Todd West, Newport News’ vice president, in-service aircraft carrier programs. 

“We look forward to continuing our work with the ship’s crew and our 579 vendors across 36 states that provide material and services which brings stability of this industrial base and is critical to our ability to continue to build and maintain the Navy fleet our Navy and nation needs,” West added. 

Stennis is the seventh Nimitz-class carrier to undergo this major mid-life availability, representing 35% of all maintenance and modernization completed during its 50-year service life. Over the next four years, Newport News will perform hull and freeboard blast and paint, repairs to its propellers, sea chests, shafts, and rudders and defueling and refueling of its power plant. 

This effort, which will continue through late 2025, will produce a recapitalized carrier capable of supporting current and future warfare doctrine while continuing to operate as the centerpiece of the Navy fleet and national defense for another 25 years. 

WASHINGTON – Last week, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, introduced the SHIPYARD Act of 2021, which would provide $21 billion to make upgrades to the U.S. Navy’s four public shipyards and $4 billion for private shipyards in the U.S. that support the Navy fleet, the senator’s spokesman said in a May 6 release. The legislation is now sponsored by eight senators, including Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, Susan Collins, R-Maine, Angus King, I-Maine, Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire. 

The senators’ legislation has been praised by Navy leaders, scholars, and private industry as a promising investment in the nation’s defense infrastructure. 

Here is what they are saying: 

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Harker – “I believe the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan – right now, it’s a 20-year plan that’s upward of $20 billion – is something that we could look at accelerating if additional funds were available. … I know there’s been talk by different folks on the Hill about putting that into the infrastructure bill. It’s something that we would appreciate the opportunity to accelerate that program because it is very critical to our success moving forward.” – USNI News, April 29, 2021 

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday – “As the secretary said – this is a once-in-a-century opportunity to upgrade these facilities. And we have to. We’re putting new submarines in the water – Virginia-class Block IIIs and Block IVs – they’re larger submarines. We need to be able to get them in dry docks.” – USNI News, April 29, 2021 

Matthew Paxton, president, Shipbuilders Council of America – “As China and Russia are aggressively building their commercial and naval fleets to directly compete with the U.S., bolstering America’s naval defense capabilities is more vital now than ever to protect our national security. The SHIPYARD Act will provide much-needed investment into critical shipyard infrastructure and the U.S. industrial base that builds, maintains and repairs our Navy. We applaud Sens. Wicker, Kaine, Collins, King, Shaheen, Blumenthal, Cotton, and Hassan for working in a bipartisan manner to strengthen our domestic and national security through the SHIPYARD Act.”  

Mike Stevens, National Executive Director of the Navy League of the United States and 13th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy – “Investment in the Navy’s four public shipyards is essential to the sustainment of our nation’s nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines. Investment in new construction and repair shipyards is vital to expanding and maintaining a seafaring force capable of competing in a new era of great power rivalry. The SHIPYARD Act provides these necessary investments at a critical moment in American naval history.” 

Former Sen. Jim Talent and Lindsey R. Neas – “A bipartisan group of legislators has sponsored a bill that has the potential to address at one stroke a first-order priority for American national security: upgrading and expanding the nation’s shipyards. … The bill would fund in one year the Navy’s $21 billion recapitalization plan for shipyards, enabling the Navy to authorize shipyard improvements as capacity became available to make them and to do so with flexibility and therefore in the shortest possible time…The SHIPYARD Act is an outstanding first step on the path to revitalizing America’s sea power.” – National Review, May 3, 2021 

Brent D. Sadler and Maiya Clark, Heritage Foundation – “If we are going to make an investment in America, the four government-owned, government-operated Navy shipyards are great candidates for infrastructure spending. … One bipartisan proposal by Sens. Roger Wicker, Tim Kaine, Susan Collins, Angus King and Jeanne Shaheen (with companion legislation in the House by Reps. Rob Wittman and Mike Gallagher) would use the Defense Production Act to fund the entire SIOP with a one-time, $21 billion payment to the Navy. Such a move would provide the Navy access to consistent funding it needs to ensure it can bring its shipyards up to date. … Efforts to reverse the slow erosion of the nation’s shipyards are a welcome change to decades of divesture of naval infrastructure.” – The Heritage Foundation, May 4, 2021 

Dr. Jerry Hendrix, Captain (Ret.) U.S. Navy – “I am so pleased that leaders such as Sen. Wicker are looking at the shipbuilding industrial base as a critical component of our national security infrastructure in this time of great power competition.”