MAYPORT, Fla. — The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) with embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) team seized over 120 kilograms of suspected cocaine July 24, U.S. 4th Fleet/U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Public Affairs said in an Aug. 11 release. 

While on routine patrol approximately 200 nautical miles southwest of Jamaica, a helicopter assigned to the “Wolf Pack” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75 located the vessel and Pinckney soon arrived on scene. After coordination with the government of Colombia and the Colombian navy, the vessel was searched and six suspected drug smugglers were detained. The mariners are now in Colombia’s custody. 

Upon examination, Pinckney personnel determined one detainee required medical assistance, and a medical evacuation was necessary for the patient to survive. That individual was transported further medical treatment.   

Pinckney and the embarked LEDET recovered an estimated 120 kilograms of suspected cocaine worth an estimated wholesale value worth over $4.5 million. 

USS Pinckney is deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations conducting U.S Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South’s enhanced counter drug operations missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered 24 Harpoon Block II+ Harpoon cruise missiles from Boeing Defense, Space & Security, the Defense Department said in an August 12 announcement. 

The Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Boeing a $15.6 million firm-fixed-price order for the 24 missiles plus 25 captive air training missiles (CATMs). 

The Harpoon Block II+ includes a new GPS guidance kit, improved weapon reliability and survivability, and a new data-link interface that enables in-flight updates and improved target selectivity. Fleet introduction of the Block II+ was achieved in 2017 on the F/A-18E/F followed by the P-8A in 2019.  

A CATM is installed on the weapon pylon of an aircraft and gives the electronic signals of a live missile without an actual launch.  

The order is expected to be completed in August 2023. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official said the Columbia ballistic-missile submarine is on track and ready for a fiscal 2021 official construction start. 

Speaking Aug. 12 in a teleconference with reporters, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said the Columbia SSBN program went through a review Aug. 11 with program and shipyard teams. 

“The design maturity of Columbia is exceeding 86% right now,” Geurts said. “We’re focusing on converting that design into manufacturing plans, instructions, [and] material parts. Advance construction is continuing on all of the super-modules.”  

The Navy announced on June 22 a contract modification with Electric Boat that featured an option — that already has been fully priced by the Navy — that would start construction of the first Columbia, SSBN 826, in October (the first quarter of fiscal 2021) and fund advance procurement, advance construction and 2024 construction start of the second Columbia sub, SSBN 827.  

Geurts said at the time that the work of the Navy to price out the two SSBN contract options will help the service keep on schedule and achieve economies on materials and advance procurement for the Columbia class.   

“We’ve got the Build 1 contract in place,” he said in the latest teleconference. “We’re ready to exercise that upon appropriation and authorization in fiscal year 2021. … We’re continuing to ensure that Columbia stays on track as our highest priority program.” 

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic “has not impacted Columbia in terms of readiness to proceed.”

MAYPORT, Fla. — The U.S. Navy commissioned the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS St. Louis on Aug. 8, Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 2 said in a release. 

Due to public health safety concerns and restrictions of large public gatherings related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Navy commissioned St. Louis at a private event. 

“Nearly 200 years after the first ship to bear the name was launched, today we commission the seventh USS St. Louis,” Navy Secretary Kenneth J. Braithwaite said. “Much like that sloop of war did in 1828, LCS-19 and her crew will protect the U.S. and our interests near and abroad.

Video from the commissioning ceremony is here on Facebook 

“Whether conducting counter-narcotic operations in the Caribbean or working to enhance interoperability with partners and allies at sea, USS St. Louis will provide maneuverability, stability and lethality in today’s era of Great Power Competition.” 

Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said littoral combat ships, like the St. Louis, have played an important role supporting operations in his command’s geographic area of focus. 

“The littoral combat ship has proven to be an effective and adaptable platform capable of multiple missions in our area of responsibility,” Faller said. “It has become an end-game enabler for U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement authorities who disrupt transnational criminal organizations and the smuggling of deadly narcotics. Adding the LCS to our enhanced counter-narcotics operation is helping save lives.”  

Rear Adm. Brad Cooper II, commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic, welcomed the ship, which brings capabilities to counter diesel submarine, mines, and fast surface craft threats. 

“St. Louis brings speed and agility to the fleet,” Cooper said. “Congratulations to St. Louis’ captain and crew for all of your hard work to reach this milestone. You join a proud surface force that controls the seas and provides the nation with naval combat power when and where needed.” 

Barbara Broadhurst Taylor, the ship’s sponsor, offered congratulations to everyone who played a role in delivering USS St. Louis to service.  

“To witness the skill and commitment of the officers and crew of USS St. Louis as they brought our magnificent ship to life has been one of the greatest honors of my life. All of us in the great city of St. Louis are proud to be part of our ship’s historic legacy and extend our appreciation and lasting friendship to the crew and their families,” Taylor said. “Your patriotism and dedication to preserving peace and freedom inspires us. May God bless our ship and all who sail her.” 

Charles Williams, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations, and environment, expressed gratitude to the ships sponsor for their commitment to the Navy. “I want to express the Navy’s deep appreciation to the Taylor family. Much of what they do is anonymous but believe me when I say they are the preeminent philanthropic family of the St. Louis community and a donor to Navy causes,” Williams said. 

St. Louis’ commanding officer, Cmdr. Kevin Hagan, reported the ship ready. 

“I’m incredibly proud of the work the crew of St. Louis put in to get this ship ready to sail. I am absolutely honored to lead this crew through all of the trials required of a brand-new ship in the fleet,” Hagan said. “Their perseverance and dedication will set the foundation for our crew and for all future crews that will call USS St. Louis their home.”  

St. Louis is the 22nd LCS to be delivered to the Navy, and the tenth of the Freedom-variant to join the fleet and is the seventh ship to bear the name. The first St. Louis, a sloop of war, was launched in 1828. It spent the majority of its service patrolling the coasts of the Americas to secure interests and trade. In addition, it served as the flagship for the West Indies Squadron working to suppress piracy in the Caribbean Sea, the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico region.

BAHRAIN — U.S. Navy warships assigned to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), escorted two U.S. Army Frank S. Besson-class logistics support vessels (LSV), assigned to U.S. Army Central Command (ARCENT), as they transited out of the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, in July and August, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs said in an Aug. 5 release. 

The two LSVs, Major General Charles P. Gross (LSV 5) and Specialist 4 James A. Loux (LSV 6), had been forward deployed to the region for 20 years in support of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) tasking and were departing Kuwait as a result of an Army-wide restructuring and asset allocation. 

Over the past two decades, U.S. naval ships regularly escorted the Army vessels as they transited the Persian Gulf, delivering supplies to U.S. Army units in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from their forward deployed homeport in Kuwait. 

“The importance of U.S. and partner forces operating together in the region while supporting our shared maritime security goals continues to be vital,” said Brig. Gen. Dianne Del Rosso, Deputy Commanding General, 1st Theater Sustainment Command. “The Logistics Support Vessels have been critical to training exercises and operations in the CENTCOM area of operations [AOR] for both the joint force and our strategic partners in the region.” 

Escort ships during the outbound transit included at various stages, USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), USS James E. Williams (DDG 95), USS Stout (DDG 55), patrol coastal ships assigned to CTF 55 and Mark VI patrol boats assigned to CTF 56. 

NAVCENT forces regularly participate in joint operations with assets from ARCENT and other component commanders. Recent examples have included U.S. Navy warships conducting live fire exercises with U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters assigned to ARCENT, and U.S. Air Force AC-130W Stinger II gunships assigned to Special Operations Command Central. 

“The joint operations we conduct with other component commands in the CENTCOM AOR is crucial in supporting U.S. and partner nation interests in the region,” said Vice Adm. James Malloy, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. “I’m proud of the work we’ve been able to do with our ARCENT counterparts, and I look forward to what our joint team will continue to accomplish in the future.” 

The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. The expanse is comprised of 20 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 commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet, whose ships have operated four times in the Arctic since the fleet was re-established two years ago, says that, on initial examination, there is no need for a numbered fleet in the region, but an Arctic naval component command might be worth consideration. 

Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis was responding to a question about a July 17 article posted on Seapower’s website concerning an idea proposed by an Arctic expert at the Naval War College. 

Lewis was speaking at a press teleconference about the start of the upcoming Operation Nanook-Tuugaalik, a Canadian Arctic operation in which units of the 2nd Fleet also will be participating along with a cutter of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area and ships of the French and Danish navies. 

Dr. Walter Berbrick, associate professor at the Naval War College and director of its Arctic Studies Group, speaking July 16 during a CNA webinar, Arctic East vs West: US Strategy in the Atlantic and Pacific Arctic, noted that the 2nd, 3rd and 6th Fleets all have responsibilities in the region, with the Navy “facing a time/space/force problem in the Arctic,” with too many other challenges around the world. 

“Perhaps we should think outside the box and create a new fleet, an Arctic fleet,” Berbrick said, saying that a total Navy battle fleet sized more toward 400 ships rather than 355 would be needed, which would allow for a fleet “permanently spread out across the Arctic region.”  

“It an interesting viewpoint,” Lewis said of Berbrick’s proposal. “I don’t know that I would consider creating a numbered fleet for an Arctic fleet. In the U.S. system, it’s another maneuver arm for the naval component. I don’t really own battlespace per se, as I own mission. If I’m given a mission, in the Arctic, or the North Atlantic or Western Atlantic or Southern Atlantic, I address that mission. 

“The naval component commander is fully responsible for that northern area — that might be something we need to look at, and that would be at the naval component command level. That’s kind of my initial thoughts. I actually pondered that [Seapower] article for quite some time a couple of weeks back.” 

Also speaking at the Operation Nanook-Tuugaalik teleconference was Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area. 

“The question really goes to the heart of how can we ensure maneuverability in the Arctic,” Poulin said. “I think it goes directly to the Coast Guard’s desire and plan to recapitalize the icebreaking fleet. We’re very pleased with the support from the administration and Congress that we’re moving forward smartly to build icebreaking capability to ensure that maneuverability and that presence.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official said the service is focused on sustaining its shipbuilding industrial base and the shipyard workers, critical to avoiding the pain of losing the services of any yard and its highly trained work force.  

“The shipyard workers in that workforce are valuable members of our shipbuilding community and have built great ships and built them well for our Navy,” said James F. Geurts, speaking July 30 to reporters during a teleconference, responding to a question from Seapower about the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, whose production of Independence-class littoral combat ships and Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ships will end in the next few years. 

“I am absolutely interested in ensuring that we don’t lose large chunks of the industrial base such as that shipbuilder or others.”  

Geurts said that “restarting an industrial base that you lose is really hard, really painful, and takes a long time. We are absolutely focused on ensuring we do not lose an industrial base because we don’t have the time or resources to re-generate it later when we need it.” 

He emphasized the value of the Defense Production Act in shoring up the industrial base. “We’ve been working with Austal to enhance their capabilities to be able to be effective for future ships,” he said. “So that work is ongoing as a shared activity between the Navy and the shipbuilder there.” 

He also pointed to the current stimulus bill draft in Congress, noting that “there is certainly opportunity there to look for key capabilities that we can build in the near term that allows us to bridge to future needs.”  

Geurts said he was optimistic about the future of shipbuilding for the Navy, including for Austal. 

“For the entire shipbuilding community, it’ a heck of an exciting time here,” he said. “We have a lot of new ship types that we want to go build, both manned and unmanned, so the critical activity from my perspective is ensuring we’ve got the industrial base — both at the shipbuilder and the supplier — ready to go so we can pivot and continue to expand the number and types of ships we’re building and drive the cost out of those ships.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing two concepts of operations for unmanned ships and other watercraft, the agency’s acting director said July 30. 

DARPA, which successfully developed what is called the Sea Hunter autonomous unmanned surface vessel, now operated by the U.S. Navy, is doing more work on autonomy and other crew-less technology. 

Peter Highnam, acting director of DARPA, who spoke to the Defense Writers Group at a webinar of the Project for Media and National Security of the George Washington University, said the agency is developing the Sea Train and the NOMARS (No Manning Required Ship) concepts. 

Under the Sea Train concept, a group of four or more unmanned vessels, either physically connected in trail or unconnected but sailing in formation, would be able to reduce the resistance of high sea states. They would be linked by command-and-control and navigation systems that could detach hulls for different missions and reassemble in trail or in formation.    

“How do we find a way involving [artificial intelligence] or autonomy?” Highnam asked rhetorically. “How do we put three or four hulls very closely in trail through different sea states to really be very efficient? Think of bike racing, being … up close behind the guy up front. You have to be constantly tracking that. So, there are potentially huge wins in terms of fuel efficiencies in autonomous longhaul work.” 

The NOMARS program involves a vessel designed from the outset to need no accommodations for a crew. “If you were to design a vessel completely from scratch, with no intention of ever having people on it, including perhaps repair at sea, what would you do differently?” he asked. “What I like about is, does the notion of ‘up’ even matter? Think of no [air conditioning], no messing, no staterooms, it’s a very different place to be.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Naval Flight Demonstration Squadron, the aeronautical team known as the Blue Angels, received its first F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter, marking the beginning of a new generation of aircraft for the world-renowned team.

The Super Hornet was delivered July 27 to the Blue Angels at their home base, Naval Air Station Pensacola, according to a spotter.

The Blues have flown the legacy Hornet since 1986, when it replaced the A-4F Skyhawk on the team. Single-seat F/A-18A and two-seat F/A-18B versions were used by the team and have been supplemented by single-seat F/A-18C and two-seat F/A-18D versions.

Boeing, the builder of the Super Hornet, was awarded a contract in August 2018 to convert nine single-seat F/A-18Es and two F/A-18F two-seater versions for the team.

The Super Hornets are receiving more than a new paint scheme. The internal M61 cannon is removed and replaced by a smoke generator is installed. An Artificial Feel Spring is installed on the flight controls to help the pilot in close formation flying. The modified flight software helps the pilot align the demonstration flight path to help give the watching airshow crowd the most advantageous view. The landing gear is modified to allow flight at higher speeds and increased Gs with the gear extended.

This year the Blue Angels also are receiving a new “Fat Albert,” a transport aircraft that flies the team support personnel and equipment to its airshow destinations and also performs at the show demonstrating a Rocket-Assisted Takeoff. The old C-130T was retired and is being replaced by an ex-Royal Air Force C-130J.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and its escorting ships arrived in the U.S. Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility on July 24, where its strike group is relieving the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group (CSG). The Nimitz CSG, like the Eisenhower CSG before it, participated in a Competitive Unit Training Exercise (COMPTUEX) and departed coastal waters on deployment without the normal post-exercise return to port prior to deployment. 

The COMPTUEX is a final exam for a CSG prior to deployment. Traditionally, until recently, a CSG would get a homeport period of a month or so for crew leave and final deployment.  

By combining a COMPTUEX and a deployment on the same at-sea period, the Navy introduces more flexibility and less predictability in deployments, in the spirit of the Dynamic Force Employment concept. 

Another benefit is that the CSG reduces risk of infection by COVID-19 of its crew during the period between COMPTUEX and deployment. 

The Nimitz departed its West Coast homeport on April 27 but remained in the Eastern Pacific its COMPTUEX before turning west in June. The CSG participated in dual-CSG operations with the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Ronald Reagan CSGs and operated in the South China Sea. The Nimitz CSG also participated in exercises with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean while en route to the North Arabian Sea. 

According to a Navy release, the Nimitz CSG, commanded by Rear Adm. James A. Kirk, includes Nimitz and its embarked carrier air wing, CVW-17; Destroyer Squadron 9, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59); and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114). 

The Eisenhower CSG has been deployed for more than six months, having departed the East Coast on Jan. 17. The CSG included the Dwight D. Eisenhower, with CVW-3 embarked; Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Vella Gulf (CG 72); and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS James E. Williams (DDG 95), USS Stout (DDG 55) and USS Truxtun (DDG 103).