PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The U.S. Navy, with support from Northrop Grumman Corp., started flight testing of the MQ-8C Fire Scout equipped with the Leonardo AN/ZPY-8 radar, the company announced in a release.  

“The AN/ZPY-8 radar significantly increases Fire Scout’s detection and tracking of targets. The ability to simultaneously employ multiple modes supports U.S. Navy intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirements,” said Melissa Packwood, program manager of tactical autonomous systems for Northrop Grumman. “This increased capability enables Fire Scout to extend ranges to meet emerging requirements.” 

Operating out of Webster Outlying Field near Patuxent River, the MQ-8C’s first flight with the radar occurred on Feb. 27. Testing began with several weeks of ground test prior to the first flight and continues to progress as the Navy and Northrop Grumman consider mission expansion opportunities for the platform.  

To date, Northrop Grumman has delivered 32 of 38 MQ-8Cs to the Navy, all of which will be retrofit with the AN/ZPY-8 radar. The MQ-8C achieved initial operational capability last June and is set for its first deployment next year.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The attack submarine USS Boise has arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division in Newport News, Virginia, to prepare for its long-delayed overhaul, Naval Sea Systems Command said in a May 8 release. 

The Boise was shifted from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, “to begin pre-maintenance ‘smart start’ activities in preparation for the submarine’s engineered overhaul (EOH),” Bill Couch, a NAVSEA spokesman, said in the release.  

“An EOH is a major multiyear overhaul near the midpoint of a submarine’s service life to perform necessary repairs, maintenance and modernization, to certify the submarine for unrestricted operations and to ensure the submarine is operating at full technical capacity and mission capability,” Couch said. 

The Los Angeles-class attack submarine had been scheduled for an overhaul in 2013, but the work was delayed because of the work backlog at the Navy’s four shipyards that are certified to overhaul nuclear-powered vessels, the Government Accountability Office said in a November 2018 report.   

The Boise completed its most recent deployment in 2015 and had been tied up at Naval Station Norfolk since. It was no longer able to conduct operations by mid-2016 and lost its dive certification in February 2017. The backlog led the Navy to award, in October 2017, a contract to Newport News Shipbuilding, one of two U.S. submarine builders, to overhaul nuclear-powered submarines in addition to its normal work of building submarines. 

The delays in depot-level maintenance cause not only backlogs in the work itself but result in loss of hundreds or even thousands of days in service and reduced availability of attack subs for deployments in support of the requirements of combatant commanders.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The new frigate being designed and built for the U.S. Navy will operate manned and unmanned helicopters from its flight deck and will be able to add new weapon and aviation capabilities as those systems are developed. 

The Navy announced on April 30 that it had awarded a detailed design and construction contract to Marinette Marine of Marinette, Wisconsin, to build the FFG(X) based on Fincantieri’s FREMM frigate design that is in service with the Italian and French navies. Marinette Marine is a Fincantieri company. 

See: Urgency, Discipline Hallmarks of Frigate Selection Process, Geurts Says

“This is going to be a real workhorse for the United States Navy supporting distributed maritime operations in the future,” said Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, the Navy’s deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, speaking April 30 during the teleconference for the contract award. 

“So, we are super excited about this ship, and I can’t think of a better asset to a strike group or strike group commander to give them the flexibility to do what we need to do in the future.” 

Kilby said the frigate “has a requirement for a helo and an unmanned air vehicle but that is not dependent on the landing spot for either one of those. So conceivably, if procured, it could be two helos.” 

James F. Geurts, the Navy’s assistant secretary for research, development and acquisition, who also spoke during the teleconference, emphasized service-life allowance and flexibility in the frigate’s future. 

Geurts said that growth capability was an important element of the source selection and requirements as the program moves forward. 

“That was a design criterion, so we are looking to the future to be able to accommodate all our air vehicles and unmanned vehicles to make this ship what I would call a medium, multimission combatant [so] it can meet all spectrums of potential conflict,” Kilby said. 

The FFG(X) will represent a substantial growth in lethality over the Navy’s previous guided-missile frigates, the Oliver Hazard Perry class. The last of those ships was decommissioned in 2015, but the Perry class could accommodate two H-60 anti-submarine helicopters or one H-60 and at least one MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle.  

“Understanding how fast the threat is advancing means this service-life allowance requirement is so important for us,” Kilby said. “We did not want to define discretely where we’re going in the future so having some margin to include things such as directed energy [weapons] and other systems is why that’s so important.” 

“We have an extensive laser [science and technology] program in the Navy,” he added. “We definitely view it as a requirement for the future as we move into a realm where we want to have our launchers be reserved for offensive weapons and our point-defense systems be rechargeable magazines and the availability for us to sustain them for long periods of time.” 

Kilby also said of the new frigate, “Though it’s classified as a small surface combatant, [the FFX(X)] really falls nicely in between our small surface combatants and our large surface combatants, and I see it doing multiple things.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — A top U.S. Navy official said acquisition and sustainment could emerge stronger, having withstood disruptions during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Speaking May 4 as part of a Navy League webinar sponsored by IBM for small businesses in the defense industry, James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said he views the pandemic as a crucible, where there will be some delays in production and maintenance, but also as an opportunity to strengthen the system. 

See: Potential for 3-Month Slowdown in Defense Acquisition, DoD’s Lord Says

“What new opportunities does that enable for us to leverage?” Geurts asked. “If you would have asked me four months ago, ‘Could the team go 95%-plus telework, increase contract awards 33%, do so with 10% less contracts, and at the same time get their distance learning up by 65%, I would have laughed a little bit. And we’ve [achieved those metrics] in the last seven weeks.” 

“I don’t see it as much as a disruption to our future plans … as an accelerant to our future plans,” Geurts added. “The goal for us is, how do we come out of this stronger than we were, and how do we work now to increase the speed by which we come out of this.” 

Geurts cited the late April award of the FFG(X) frigate contract to Marinette Marine three months ahead of schedule, which brought the total of Navy contract awards $25 billion ahead of the same point last fiscal year. By his recollection, this fiscal year is the first where all financial benchmarks have been exceeded.  

“So, I don’t view it as much as a delay as an accelerant,” he said. “We will continue to adapt as the warfighter requires. I don’t see us having to adapt our programs in a major way. We’re going to have to figure out how to capture in a bottle all the great things that have occurred in the last seven or eight weeks where we’ve gained this operational effectiveness and be thoughtful of where we’re going to have to manage risk downstream. But in terms of drastic changes to programs or schedules, I don’t see that.” 

Geurts said the biggest collective challenge will be how to operate if the virus lingers for a long time. 

“We need to create a system that is resilient to disruptions,” he said. “I’m actually very optimistic that this has been a good learning method for us as an enterprise. It’s tremendously painful, horrible to see what is happening at the human element, and I don’t want to downplay any of that at the individual level or at the national level. 

“What it has done is helped shine some spotlights on where we probably were not as aggressive as we needed to be and where we’ve got an opportunity to be more effective. We’ve got to be able to ride through disruption. That’s what our Sailors, Marines and our nation expect of us, and that’s where we’ve got to be focused.” 

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The H-53 heavy-lift helicopter program office has taken delivery of the first training device for the CH-53K King Stallion helicopter, according to a Naval Air Systems Command release. 

Delivered April 14, the Containerized Flight Training Device (CFTD) is housed at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River in Jacksonville, North Carolina. 

The CFTD, built by Lockheed Martin in partnership with Veraxx, provides realistic in-cockpit system displays (visual resolution, tactile, spatial, audio and functionality) and can simulate weather and tactical environments. The CFTD also can connect with other simulators for enhanced attitude control and other aircraft training scenarios. 

“The CFTD is an amazingly capable training device,” said Col. Jack Perrin, CH-53 program manager. “It is a much less expensive practice than using operational equipment and provides near-aircraft fidelity into a state-of-the-art training simulator for the fleet.” 

The CFTD is the first in a series of new training devices being developed for the CH-53K. All trainers will eventually be located at the Center for Naval Aviation Technology Training at MCAS New River, where all the aircraft’s aircrew and maintenance maintainers will be trained. Delivery of two other CH-53K training devices — the Helicopter Emulation Maintenance Trainer and the Composite Maintenance Trainer — also are expected this year. 

The CH-53K is completing development tests, leading to initial operational test and evaluation in 2021. First fleet deployment will be in 2023 or 2024. The simulation software continuously updates. As the program team makes necessary modifications to the CH-53K into the future, the CFTD also will change. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The secretary of defense noted May 4 that — with a couple of notable exceptions — the U.S. Navy’s ships at sea remain unaffected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

“The statistics show that the safest place to be is on a deployed Navy ship compared to one that’s in port,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, speaking during a webcast sponsored by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Of the 90-plus ships at sea, we only have two that have been affected.”

See: Navy Provides Medical Care to Infected Sailors of USS Kidd, Will Disinfect Ship

See: Navy Opens Deeper Inquiry Into Theodore Roosevelt; Move Delays Decision on Captain’s Reinstatement

The Navy has suffered significant outbreaks of the novel coronavirus on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd. A Sailor off the Roosevelt died from COVID-19 complications in mid-April. 

The cause of the transmission of the virus to the crews of both ships is unknown. The Theodore Roosevelt made a port call to Vietnam soon before Sailors began showing signs of illness. Another possibility: the virus was brought aboard by aircrews and passengers returning to the carrier. 

“We’re not sure where [the USS Kidd] picked [the virus] up,” Esper said. “It may have been through a counter-drug operation.” 

Esper said that “two ships out of 94 is a pretty good record. The Navy has taken a lot of good practices. They’ve learned from the Teddy Roosevelt. Before a ship is deployed it goes through multiple tests of its Sailors. They are quarantined for a couple of weeks. And, of course, we don’t bring a ship back in if it’s being replaced by one that’s going out. So, we’re being very careful of that.”  

The service is keeping the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman away from port following a major deployment to avoid the pandemic. 

“We have had ships that have been portside that have had Sailors infected but that’s not unlike what you might see at an Army base or an Air Force base where you have Sailors out in the community who may get infected by the virus,” Esper said. “Before they go to sea, we bring them in, we test, we quarantine, and we make adjustments to make sure our ships get out on time.”

NORWEGIAN SEA — The U.S. 6th Fleet conducted a bilateral anti-submarine warfare exercise with the U.K. above the Arctic Circle on May 1, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa and the 6th Fleet said. 

Four ships from two nations, a U.S. submarine, and a U.S. P-8A maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft worked together in the Norwegian Sea to conduct training in the challenging Arctic conditions. 

For the exercise, Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyers USS Donald Cook and the USS Porter and fast combat support ship USNS Supply were joined by the Royal Navy’s HMS Kent. The U.S. sub and the P-8A Poseidon from Patrol Squadron (VP) 4 supported the training. This drill reinforced the combined training that the nations received last month while participating in the U.K.’s Submarine Command Course. 

“For more than 70 years, 6th Fleet has operated forces across the region in support of maritime security and stability. Our regional alliances remain strong because of our regular operations and exercises with partner navies, and we welcome this opportunity to work collaboratively at sea, while enhancing our understanding of Arctic operations,” said Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the 6th Fleet’s commander. 

The multinational anti-submarine exercise in the High North, made up of about 1,200 Sailors from the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy, is the latest in a series of U.S. ships operating above the Arctic Circle. 

In 2018, elements of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group operated above the Arctic Circle to support a NATO exercise, Trident Juncture. In 2019, the forward deployed destroyer USS Donald Cook and a SAG from U.S 2nd Fleet led by the USS Normandy and the USS Farragut also operated separately above the Arctic Circle. 

“We are working with our partners to enhance our combined capabilities as we conduct maritime security operations and training in the Arctic region,” Franchetti said. “Our ships must be prepared to operate across all mission sets, even in the most unforgiving environments. This is especially critical in the Arctic, where the austere weather environment demands constant vigilance and practice.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy’s top acquisition official praised the government team that selected and the industry teams that submitted proposals for the design of the Navy’s next-generation small combatant, the FFG(X) guided-missile frigate, the first of which is scheduled to be delivered in 2026. Design of the frigate has begun three months ahead of schedule. 

The Navy announced on April 30 that it had awarded a detailed design and construction contract to Marinette Marine, a Fincantieri company based in Marinette, Wisconsin. 

See: Marinette Marine Wins Guided-Missile Frigate Contract

Marinette is building the Freedom-class littoral combat ships for Lockheed Martin and will turn to building the new frigate that will be based on the Fincantieri FREMM frigate, which is in service with the Italian and French navies.    

“I am very proud of the hard work from the requirements, acquisition and shipbuilder teams that participated in the full and open competition, enabling the Navy to make this important decision today,” said James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, in the Navy’s April 30 announcement. 

“Throughout this process, the government team and our industry partners have all executed with a sense of urgency and discipline, delivering this contract award three months ahead of schedule. The team’s intense focus on cost, acquisition and technical rigor enabled the government to deliver the best value for our taxpayers as we deliver a highly capable next-generation frigate to our warfighters.” 

Geurts noted in a May 1 teleconference with reporters that the selection of the frigate design three months ahead of schedule was accomplished despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Navy and stressed again that the decision was made with “a sense of urgency but also a sense of discipline.” 

He said that by “integrating the requirements, acquisition planning and conceptual design we were able to reduce the span time by six years as compared to traditional shipbuilding programs. … It’s the best I’ve seen in the Navy thus far at integrating all of our teams together and it’s a model we are building on for future programs.” 

The detail design and construction (DD&C) contract awards $795.1 million for the design and construction of the lead ship plus nine separately priced options for up to nine more ships. The contract also provides for “post-delivery availability support, engineering and class services, crew familiarization, training equipment, and provisioned item orders,” the April 30 Defense Department contract announcement said. 

The price of the lead ship, including the design cost, is marked as $1.281 billion, which includes the $795 million for the shipbuilder’s design and construction, with the remainder for government-furnished equipment (GFE) and other items and services. 

The Navy has a cost objective for the follow-on ships of $800 million each and a threshold of $950 million. According to a Navy independent cost estimate, the follow-on ships will cost $781 million (in constant 2018 dollars) on average. If all options are exercised, the contract’s cumulative value for the 10 frigates would be $5.58 billion. The Navy has a requirement for 10 more small surface combatants but has not yet settled on an acquisition strategy for the second set of 10, Geurts said. 

He said that by selecting a proven hull and adding a proven combat system, weapons and sensors, the Navy was able to keep the cost under the objective cost per platform cap of $950 million (in fiscal 2018 dollars).  

“The Navy conducted this competition using a tradeoff process to determine the proposal representing the best value, based on the evaluation of non-price factors in conjunction with price,” the contract announcement said. 

“The Navy made the best value determination by considering the relative importance of evaluation factors as set forth in the solicitation, where the non-price factors of design and design maturity and objective performance (to achieve warfighting capability) were approximately equal and each more important than remaining factors.”  

Construction of the first frigate is scheduled for no later than April 2022, with delivery set for 2026. Initial operational capability is slated for 2029 or 2030 and full operational capability scheduled for 2031 or 2032. The contract calls for final work to be complete by 2035. 

Rear Adm. Casey Moton, program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, who also spoke at the teleconference, said the maturity of the selected design “was one of the non-price factors” that influenced the decision.  

“The parent design really set us up well here,” Moton said of the nondevelopmental FREMM design that was selected. 

He also cited the work that Fincantieri put into and will put into the Marinette shipyard as another non-price factor that was weighed in the selection decision. 

Moton also said he was very comfortable with how the plan for acquisition and integration of government-furnished equipment was proceeding and that the GFE “will be ready on time.”

WASHINGTON — Marinette Marine has won a coveted contract from the U.S. Navy to design and produce the next-generation small surface combatant, the guided-missile frigate (FFG(X), the public affairs office of the Navy’s Program Executive Office-Unmanned and Small Combatants said in an April 30 release. 

The Marinette Marine deal is good for detail design and construction (DD&C) of up to 10 guided-missile frigates, consisting of one base ship and nine option ships. 

See: Potential for 3-Month Slowdown in Defense Acquisition, DoD Official Says

The FFG(X) will have multimission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare and information operations.

“The Navy’s Guided-Missile Frigate (FFG(X)) will be an important part of our future fleet,” said Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday. “FFG(X) is the evolution of the Navy’s small surface combatant with increased lethality, survivability and improved capability to support the National Defense Strategy across the full range of military operations. It will no doubt help us conduct distributed maritime operations more effectively, and improve our ability to fight both in contested blue-water and littoral environments.” 

The new ship will include an Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) radar, Baseline Ten (BL10) AEGIS Combat System, a Mk41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), communications systems, Mk57 Gun Weapon System (GWS) countermeasures and added capability in the EW/IO area with design flexibility for future growth.  

“I am very proud of the hard work from the requirements, acquisition and shipbuilder teams that participated in the full and open competition, enabling the Navy to make this important decision today,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. 

“Throughout this process, the government team and our industry partners have all executed with a sense of urgency and discipline, delivering this contract award three months ahead of schedule. The team’s intense focus on cost, acquisition and technical rigor enabled the government to deliver the best value for our taxpayers as we deliver a highly capable next-generation frigate to our warfighters.” 

The acquisition process for FFG(X) began in 2017. Since then, the Navy has worked with industry to balance cost and capability. The Navy released the FFG(X) DD&C request for proposals to industry last June. Technical proposals were received in August and cost proposals were received the following month. A full and open competition took place with multiple offers received.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — The U.S. Navy will sponsor the 27th Rim of the Pacific exercise, from Aug. 17 to Aug. 31, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a release. 

Hosted by the commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, this biennial maritime exercise will be an at-sea-only event in light of COVID-19 concerns. The theme of RIMPAC 2020 is “Capable, Adaptive, Partners.” 

The at-sea-only construct for RIMPAC 2020 was developed to ensure the safety of all forces participating by minimizing shore-based contingents. Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet crafted the modified RIMPAC plan as a way to conduct a meaningful exercise with maximum training value and minimum risk to the force, allies and partners, and the people of Hawaii. 

The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC is designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships, critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. 

The exercise, which takes place in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands, is a training platform designed to enhance interoperability and strategic maritime partnerships. In 2018, during the last RIMPAC, 26 nations participated in and around Hawaii. 

“In these challenging times, it is more important than ever that our maritime forces work together to protect vital shipping lanes and ensure freedom of navigation through international waters,” said Adm. John Aquilino, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. “And we will operate safely, using prudent mitigation measures.” 

As the U.S. Navy continues to limit the spread of COVID-19, RIMPAC 2020 is not scheduled to include social events ashore. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam will be accessible for logistics support, with a minimal footprint of staff ashore for command and control, logistics and other support functions. 

This year’s exercise will include multinational anti-submarine warfare, maritime intercept operations and live-fire training events, among other cooperative training opportunities. Continued planning will remain flexible as Navy leaders monitor and assess evolving circumstances. 

“We remain committed to and capable of safeguarding allies and partners throughout the Indo-Pacific region,” Aquilino said. “The flexible approach to RIMPAC 2020 strikes the right balance between combatting future adversaries and the COVID-19 threat.” 

RIMPAC 2020 will be led by the commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet, Vice Adm. Scott D. Conn.