ARLINGTON, Va. — Ceremonies and a flyaway May 23 at Eglin Air
Force Base, Florida, marked the deactivation of the Navy’s first F-35C fleet
replacement squadron and its consolidation with the second F-35C FRS as the
service moves to conduct all F-35C flight training at one base.

Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101, the “Grim Reapers,” officially
will be deactivated on July 1, but the deactivation ceremonies were held May
23. The squadron flew out its last F-35Cs on that date to Naval Air Station Lemoore,
California, the home of VFA-125, the FRS that is training future F-35C pilots
and conducting transition training of VFA squadrons to the F-35C.

Reactivated in 2012 at Eglin AFB, VFA-101 has been training
instructor and test pilots to fly the F-35C Lightning II strike fighter. The
Navy decided to reactivate VFA-125 at NAS Lemoore to become an F-35C FRS.
VF-125 conducted the transition of the first fleet F-35C squadron, VFA-147,
which took the F-35C to Initial Operational Capability in February. VFA-147 is
scheduled to deploy on board USS Carl Vinson in 2021.

Although it is not of the lineage of World War II’s Fighter
Squadron 10 (VF-10), VFA-101 adopted the Grim Reaper traditions of the famous
squadron. VF-10 flew the F4F Wildcat and later F6F-3 Hellcat off USS Enterprise
(CV-6) in the Pacific during WWII. The squadron later deployed twice into
combat on board USS Intrepid (CV-11) in 1945, first with F4U-1D and later F4U-4
Corsair fighters. VF-10 was deactivated in 1945.

VF-101 was activated in 1952 at NAS Cecil Field, Florida, and took
on the nickname and traditions of VF-10 “Grim Reapers.” VF-101 flew F4U-4 Corsairs
in the Korean War and went on to operate the F2H Banshee, F4D Skyray, F3H
Demon, F-4 Phantom II and the F-14 Tomcat. VF-101 was deactivated in September
2005.

The squadron was reactivated in May 2012 as the F-35C FRS.
According to a May 23 release from the Joint Strike Fighter Wing, VFA-101 trained
more than 75 Navy and Marine Corps F-35C pilots, accepted more than 30
aircraft, trained more than 1,200 F-35C maintainers and flew nearly 11,000
flight hours.

“The contributions that VFA-101 has made to the F-35C community
will not diminish as this program grows,” VFA-101’s commanding officer, Cmdr.
Adan Covarrubias, said in the release. “The original cadre of maintainers and
pilots have left a legacy that is evidenced in all aspects of this community. Their
influence will continue long after the squadron’s doors are closed.”

WASHINGTON — The
U.S. Senate has confirmed Adm. Bill Moran to become the 32nd chief of naval
operations (CNO).

The chief of
naval personnel, Vice Adm. Robert Burke, also was confirmed for promotion to
admiral and appointment as the next vice chief of naval operations (VCNO), the
Office of the Navy Chief of Information said in a release.

“I am deeply
humbled and honored to be given the opportunity to continue to serve as our
Navy’s next chief of naval operations,” Moran said in a statement released
after his confirmation May 24.

“[CNO] Adm. [John]
Richardson and his wife, Dana, are an amazing team that has consistently
advocated on behalf of our Sailors and their families. My wife, Patricia, and I
are grateful for their service to our Navy and our nation. I look forward to
the honor of leading the men and women of the world’s greatest Navy in service
to our nation.”

Acting
Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan announced President Donald J. Trump’s
nomination of Moran and Burke on April 11.

Moran will be
the first naval aviator to become the Navy’s top officer since Adm. Jay L.
Johnson, who served as CNO from 1996 to 2000. In the years since, three surface
warfare officers and two submariners have served as CNO, according to another Navy
press release.

Moran, a
native of Newburg, New York, also would be the first CNO since Adm. Thomas H.
Moorer, who served from 1967 to 1970, to have been a patrol plane pilot. Moorer
flew PBY Catalina aircraft in World War II. Moran is a P-3 Orion pilot.

At the time
of Moran’s nomination, Richardson said that Moran “is an amazing leader and
good friend. He has been central to the Navy adopting a fighting stance in this
‘Great Power Competition.’ As I turn over and go ashore, I will rest easy
knowing that, pending confirmation, Adm. Moran has the watch.”

Moran served
in Patrol Squadron 44 (VP-44) in Brunswick, Maine, and twice as an instructor
pilot in VP-30 in Jacksonville, Florida. He commanded VP-46 and later Patrol
Reconnaissance Wing Two in Hawaii. He also served on the staff of commander,
Carrier Group 6, aboard USS Forrestal (CVA-59).

As a flag
officer, he has served as commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Group; director,
Air Warfare (N98) on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations; and most
recently as the 57th chief of naval personnel, according to his official
biography. Ashore, he served as executive assistant to the chief of naval
operations; executive assistant to Commander, U.S. Pacific Command; deputy
director, Navy staff; and assistant Washington placement officer and assistant
flag officer detailer in the Bureau of Naval Personnel.

Moran
graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1981 and a
master’s from the National War College in 2006.

Burke is a
nuclear submariner who has served onboard USS Von Steuben (SSBN-632), USS
Maryland (SSBN-738) and USS Bremerton (SSN-698), according to his official
biography.

He commanded
USS Hampton (SSN-767) and later became commodore of Submarine Development
Squadron 12. Burke was recognized by the United States Submarine League with
the Jack Darby Award for Leadership in 2004 and the Vice Admiral James Bond
Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership in 2005.

His staff assignments
include tours as an instructor and director for the Electrical Engineering
Division at Naval Nuclear Power School; junior board member on the Pacific
Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board; submarine officer community
manager/nuclear officer program manager; senior Tactical Readiness Evaluation
Team member at Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; the deputy
director for Operations, Strategy and Policy Directorate (J5) at U.S. Joint
Forces Command; division director, Submarine/Nuclear Power Distribution
(PERS-42); and director, Joint and Fleet Operations, N3/N5, U.S. Fleet Forces
Command.

Burke’s
assignments as a flag officer include deputy commander, U.S. 6th Fleet;
director of operations (N3), U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa; commander,
Submarine Group 8; and director, Military Personnel Plans and Policy (OPNAV
N13). He assumed duties as the Navy’s 58th chief of naval personnel on May 27,
2016.

Burke, from Portage,
Michigan, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from
Western Michigan University and the University of Central Florida,
respectively.

Huntington
Ingalls Industries hosted a ceremonial first-cut-of-steel event today at its
Newport News Shipbuilding division to mark the start of advance construction
for the Columbia-class submarine program, the company
announced in a press release. The event also marked the first class of
submarines that will be built using fully digital blueprints.

“Today is a
historic day,” said Jason Ward, Newport News’ vice president for Columbia-class construction. “It has been a half century
since Newport News Shipbuilding has constructed a ballistic submarine. Today,
we celebrate the decade-plus effort spent working with Electric Boat on the
design of this new class of submarine as we formally transition from design to
material procurement and now to construction execution.”

The Columbia-class boats will replace the fleet of Ohio-class nuclear ballistic submarines. Newport News is
starting its work three weeks ahead of schedule to support its advance
construction efforts, according to the release.

“The first cut
of steel is a major construction milestone that signifies our shipyard and
submarine industrial base are ready to move forward with production,” Ward
said. “We have worked to engage the submarine industrial base and leveraged
lessons learned from the successful Virginia-class
program to building the Columbia-class
submarines in the most efficient and affordable manner to provide the best
value to the Navy.”

Ceremony
participants included Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin; Rear
Adm. Scott Pappano, Columbia’s program executive officer; Capt. Jon Rucker, Columbia’s
program manager; Will Lennon, vice president of the Columbia-class
submarine program for General Dynamics Electric Boat; and shipbuilders.

Construction
of the 12-boat Columbia class will take place in
Virginia, Rhode Island and Connecticut, with Electric Boat assembling and
delivering all of the submarines. The lead boat is scheduled to be delivered to
the Navy in 2027.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — The Navy established a new unit at Naval Base San Diego on May 22 that
will serve as a fount of experimentation for the surface warfare community to
accelerate the lethality and combat readiness of the Navy’s surface warships.

In a May
20 teleconference with reporters, Vice Adm. Richard Brown, commander, Naval
Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said that he was establishing Surface
Development Squadron One (SURFDEVRON ONE) to:

• Execute operational testing and evaluation of new and emerging surface warfighting capabilities.
• Develop material and technical solutions to tactical challenges.
• Coordinate doctrine, organization, training, material, logistics, personnel and facilities requirements for unmanned surface systems.

“We want
to rapidly be able to experiment and move at a faster pace,” Brown said, noting
that the new squadron is modeled in part after the Navy’s submarine development
squadron and unmanned underwater vehicle squadron.

Brown said
the new squadron was a renaming and a repurposing of the “Z-RON”—the squadron
for the two, soon to be three, Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyers.

Brown said
the Zumwalt class DDGs would still deploy with carrier strike groups in
accordance with the Optimized Fleet Response Plan despite their assignment to
the development squadron.

He said
the Zumwalt DDGs were ideal for the squadron because if their advanced
capabilities and potential.

“There is
no reason why a Zumwalt could not control USVs,” Brown said.

He also
said he is working to get the Navy’s Sea Hunter medium-displacement unmanned
surface vehicle (USV) transferred to the squadron from the Office of Naval
Research. The Navy is experimenting with the Sea Hunter in the eastern Pacific
to develop navigation capabilities, concepts of operation and sensor
configurations for USVs. He also plans to assign the second Sea Hunter now
under construction to the squadron.

Brown
expects that the Large USVs (LUSVs) and Medium USVs (MUSVs) that are envisioned
for the fleet in the 2020s will be assigned to the development squadron as
well. The concept of operations of these USVs include the possibilities of
being controlled by another ship, a strike group commander or a fleet
commander.

“The
possibilities are endless,” he said. “We need an organization that is doing
that.”

The growth
of Surface Development Squadron One will be in phases. Phase 1, the name change
from Z-RON and the leveraging of the Zumwalt-class DDGs, will be complete by
the end of fiscal 2019.

Phase 2 will
be about building capacity, Brown said, including the absorption of the two Sea
Hunter USVs.

Phase 3,
expected to begin in 2024, will involve addition of the new LUSV and MUSV.

Brown said
the Navy’s first four littoral combat ships (LCS) — Freedom, Independence, Fort
Worth and Coronado — would be transferred to the development squadron at the
end of Phase 2 or Phase 3. These LCS are currently considered nondeploying test
ships to support development of the fleet of successor LCS and their mission
packages.

Capt. Hank
Adams is the first commanding officer of Surface Development Squadron One. He
will report directly to Brown.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — With the U.S. Navy resuming manufacture of Mk48 torpedoes for its
submarines after a two-decade hiatus, the engineering effort to restore the industrial
capability to build the torpedo has required some resourcefulness on the part
of defense contractors.

SAIC won a competitive contract to build the torpedo’s aft section, consisting of the propulsion section and the propeller, said Stephen Rigdon, SAIC vice president for programs in the Defense Systems Customer Group, speaking to Seapower on May 6 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition in National Harbor, Maryland.

The guidance-and-control
section is being built by Lockheed Martin. Rigdon said the warheads and fuel
tanks in the middle section of the torpedo are on hand in the Navy’s inventory.

“This is a
build-from-scratch program,” Rigdon said. “They haven’t been built since the
mid-90s. The biggest challenge we faced is reinvigorating the supply chain, finding
suppliers that can provide the assemblies that go inside this torpedo.”

He said there
was no new technology in the propulsion sections, dating to the late 1980s and
early 1990s. The Mk48 originally was built by Gould.

“We’re
building this from a government print,” he said. “What we’re finding out in
some cases is that if you build it to the print it doesn’t necessarily work
perfectly. If you go back to the ‘90s, there was a guy that worked for the
company that knew how to do that. That person is retired now. So, it’s been an
engineering challenge to figure those things out.”

“The Navy has programs underway to look at improved engines and things like that,” he said.

SAIC is under
contract to build 95 propulsion sections for the Mk48, with two more options on
the contract.

“The Navy may
buy up to 199 more,” Rigdon said.

SAIC is
building the torpedo assemblies at its facility in Bedford, Indiana.

ARLINGTON,
Va. — Boeing is in the wrap-up stages of a trade study and architecture
assessment of an upgrade — called Block II — to the Navy’s EA-18G Growler
electronic attack aircraft. The upgrade is an effort to enable the EA-18G to
keep up with the dynamic electronic warfare threats.

“It makes
sense that we would take something that was designed in the ‘90s and now
enhance it to be relevant for decades to come,” said Jennifer Tebo, Boeing’s
director of development for the F/A-18 and EA-18G, speaking to reporters May 7
at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition.

“The current
thinking on that is that it is a retrofit program,” Tebo said. “There is no
official new-build Growler Block II. We will continue to work with the Navy to
determine what those needs are, how we might incorporate them into a new build.
We’re thinking of a retrofit program that would deliver capability in the 2025 timeframe.
We’ve already starting work in earnest and early this year got initial funding
from the Navy to start moving to the [System Functional Requirements] phase by the
end of this year to deliver that capability on time.”

Tebo said
that the Growler Block II enhancements will include some of the upgrades of the
Super Hornet Block III program, plus “enhanced sensitivity through the
modernization of the sensors on the platform. … It’s about adaptive and
distributive processing, having big computers to process and be able to react
to the threats that are out there today and into the future.”

“It’s also
about enhancing the crew-vehicle interface,” Tebo added. “As the Growler crews
get more and more information into the cockpit, they’re going to need a way to
reduce the workload to be able to digest and use it effectively. All of that is
accomplished through software-defined radios that are enabled through a
flexible and adaptable hardware architecture.”

Tebo said the
infrastructure and the architecture will “allow us to continually evolve
capability as the threat dynamic changes. The life of the Growler is very, very
long. We’re setting this up for the Navy to be able to continue add capability
rapidly to the Growler.

“It’s been a joint
effort and it will evolve as we pin down the requirements,” she said.

She confirmed
that the Next-Generation Jammer and the mid-band and low-band jammers “are
considered part of the future of the Growler and Growler Block II.”

Boeing’s
concept of Block II includes the conformal fuel tanks being included in the
Super Hornet Block III, but “the Navy will have to decide,” she said.

Also to be
decided is whether the Growler will go through a service life-extension
program. The Super Hornet fleet is going through a service-life extension from
6,000 flight hours to 10,000 hours.

“That is to be decided,”
Tebo said. “The Growler has a 7,500-hour service life compared to 6,000-hour
life of the Super Hornet. [The Growler] has not finished its service-life
assessment program yet.”

PITTSBURGH — RE2 Robotics, developer of human-like
robotic manipulator arms, has received $3 million from the Office of Naval Research
to develop a dexterous, underwater robotic hand with tactile feedback, the
company said in a release.

The program, called Strong Tactile mARitime hand for
Feeling, Inspecting, Sensing and Handing (STARFISH), will create an advanced
end-effector for mine countermeasures and explosive ordnance disposal for expeditionary
forces.

Using next-generation tactile sensing technology and a
multifinger, electromechanical design, STARFISH will allow operators to locate,
identify and neutralize hidden and visible explosive threats on land and
underwater. STARFISH-enabled manipulators will be deployed on both ground-base
and underwater robotic system to defeat explosive threats.

“The development of STARFISH takes underwater robotic
technology to the next level by providing operators with the ability to ‘feel’
and sense the environment around them while remaining at a safe distance,” said
Jorgen Pedersen, president and CEO of RE2. “The use of advanced tactile sensing
and intelligent grasping will improve operational performance by removing
operators from dangerous areas and allowing them to quickly and accurately
respond to explosive threats.”

RE2 will work with researchers at UCLA and the University
of Washington to develop the hand, which will use state-of-the-art tactile skin
and sensorized fingertips that are capable of sensing normal and shear forces.
Operators will command the hand using information provided by external sensing,
such as cameras, sonar or LIDAR, which will then be processed with
machine-learning algorithms to assist the operator in manipulating the object.

“Tactile sensing at the end effector can provide a wealth
of information about the environment to a robotic system and its operator,”
said Dr. Andrew Mor, RE2’s principal investigator. “Using a rich network of
sensing, machine learning and assisted manipulation, STARFISH will be able to
perceive and then share its interpretation of the environment with the
operator, allowing naval expeditionary forces to manipulate and control the
robot at human speed.”

ST. LOUIS —
Boeing has received a one-year contract to continue modernizing the U.S. Navy’s
F/A-18 fleet under the Service Life Modification (SLM) program, the company
said in a May 17 release.

The $164
million contract for fiscal 2019, which also includes a one-year option for
2020, funds the standup of a second SLM line in San Antonio, Texas, complementary
to the line established last year in St. Louis.

“The Service
Life Modification program is making great strides as we’ve already inducted
seven Super Hornets into the program and will deliver the first jet back to the
Navy later this year,” said Dave Sallenbach, the program’s director. “This
program is crucial in helping the Navy with its readiness challenges and will
continue to grow each year with the number of jets we induct.”

The San
Antonio SLM line is scheduled to receive its first Super Hornet in June and a
total of 23 Super Hornets over the course of this contract. The U.S. Navy fleet
consists of more than 550 Super Hornets.

The SLM
program extends the life of existing Super Hornets from 6,000 to 10,000 flight
hours.

In the early
2020s, Boeing is scheduled to begin installing initial updates to the aircraft
that will convert existing Block II Super Hornets to a new Block III
configuration.

The Block III
conversion will include enhanced network capability, longer range with
conformal fuel tanks, an advanced cockpit system, signature improvements and an
enhanced communications system. The updates are expected to keep the F/A-18 in
active service for decades to come.

According to
Vice Adm. Alexandru Mîrşu, chief of the Romanian naval forces staff, efforts to
improve security and stability in the Black Sea region have taken a step back,
thanks to the aggressive activities of the Russian Federation.

The Black Sea
region includes three NATO allies in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey along with
Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, with access governed by the Montreux Convention of
1936.

After the
Cold War, Mîrşu said the region enjoyed a relatively calm security environment
until the Russians illegally occupied and annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine
in 2014. There had been some successful post-Cold War initiatives adopted by
the Black Sea nations to maintain common security and stability, including the
Black Sea Naval Force (BLACKSEAFOR), Black Sea Harmony and the Confidence and
Security Building Measures (CSBM).

Until 2014, BLACKSEAFOR
proved to be successful in bringing the Black Sea nations to the table and
having operational successes to improve interoperability among those countries,
Mîrşu said. Black Sea Harmony facilitated information-sharing among the
littoral countries and included coast guards and border police as well as
navies. Today, only Romania and Turkey participate. The CSBM was an agreed upon
document that addressed cooperation in the naval field — contacts and invitations
to naval bases, exchange of naval information and annual naval exercises.
However, CSBM is now only a “theoretical paper,” Mîrşu said at the Navy League’s
Sea-Air-Space exposition in National Harbor, Md.

Since its occupation
and annexation of Crimea, Russia has continued to behave aggressively toward
NATO navies operating in the Black Sea. The Russian Black Sea fleet has grown
its capabilities with new ships and submarines in just the past four years and
has added such new weapons as Kalibr-missile carrying platforms.

Mîrşu said
the 2016 Kerch Strait incident — when the Russian coast guard prevented three
Ukrainian navy vessels from entering the Sea of Azoz and then fired upon and
seized the vessels in international waters — was “an open, aggressive attack
upon the Ukrainian’s navy ships” and “demonstrates that the will of the
Russians is actually to re-establish a new Iron Curtain into the Black Sea. And
not only into the Black Sea but actually in the whole of Europe,” he said.

Last November,
a Russian SU-27 fighter conducted a provocative and unsafe maneuver when it pulled
directly in front of a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II plane operating in international
airspace over the Black Sea. The Russian fighter kicked in the afterburner as
it departed, buffeting the U.S. plane.

The Montreux
Convention of 1936 only permits warships from non-Black Sea navies to operate
in the Black Sea for 21 days. NATO’s Standing Maritime Force deploys
periodically to Black Sea, along with allies and partners to demonstrate
cohesion and strength of the alliance and that the Black Sea is an
international sea for the use of all. Several U.S. warships have been in the
Black Sea this year.

“The Romanian
navy joins those ships when they enter the Black Sea to show them that nobody
is alone,” Mîrşu said.

The Romanian navy
has stepped up its game. It has a riverine force patrolling the Danube River,
the longest river in Europe. It is acquiring new corvettes and modernizing its
frigates. Romania has established a quasi-permanent presence at sea to send the
message that they are patrolling the maritime domain so that the sea lines of
communication are open and safe, Mîrşu said.

“We represent
a NATO presence,” Mîrşu said. “Our activity is not provocative and is conducted
in such a way as there could not be any misinterpretation.”

Mîrşu said
the Black Sea remains “the soft underbelly of NATO’s southeastern flank.” The
Russian attitude and posture in the Black Sea remains, and the Russian
Federation has established a “new Iron Curtain” dividing the allies and the
rest.

“Our response
is our permanent presence,” Mîrşu said and that we will remain a reliable
partner to our allies in the Black Sea and on the Danube and wherever we are
needed. The Romanian navy will continue to be credible security provider — not
security consumer — in our area of responsibilities.”

The Navy’s current and planned maritime logistical force “is
inadequate” to support the new National Defense Strategy and major military
operations against China or Russia, and failure to correct that deficiency
“could cause the United States to lose a war,” an in-depth study by the Center
for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment warned May 16.

Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer praised the CSBA study and
declare: “We really have to get after it.”

Addressing the CSBA forum that released the study, Spencer said:
“It is key that we focus on this now. Over the past two decades, our naval
logistical enterprises have performed admirably in an environment of truly
expanded responsibility and resources that were constrained. But the world has
changed. The National Defense Strategy (NDS) recognized that and we have to
stay ahead of it.”

The 120-page CSBA report said that although the NDS said
“resilient and agile logistics” was one of the eight capabilities that had to
be strengthened to prepare for the return to great power competition, the
Navy’s latest 30-year shipbuilding plan reduced the funding for maritime
logistical forces and “further reduces the logistical forces as a proportion of
the fleet.” It also noted that “decades of downsizing and consolidation” have
left the maritime logistics forces “brittle” and contributed to the decline of
the U.S. shipbuilding industry and the Merchant Marine,” which is expected to
carry the bulk of military material and equipment for an overseas contingency.

“Failing to remedy this situation, when adversaries have U.S.
logistics networks in their crosshairs could cause the United States to lose a
war and fail its allies and partners in their hour of need. An unsupported
force may quickly become a defeated one,” the report warned.

The report spelled out in detail the shortfalls in the size of the
Navy logistical support fleet of oilers, supply and repair ships that would be
necessary to support and sustain combat formations in a conflict in the western
Pacific, and the even greater deficiencies in the Military Sealift Command’s
and Maritime Administration’s fleets of aged ships that are approaching or
already past a normal service life.

It also highlighted the risks that China’s vastly expanded Navy
and commercial fleet and its ability to interdict U.S. naval forces and forward
support stations would pose to the ability to project and sustain power in a
major conflict.

The report proposed major increases in the numbers and types of
logistical ships, dramatic changes in operational formations and concepts of
resupplying deployed Navy and Marine Corps forces. It estimated the cost of
buying the additional and different ships and capabilities at $47.8 billion
over 30 years, which it said would be $1.6 billion a years above what the Navy
plans to spend on its maritime logistics capabilities.

Spencer noted that the weakness of the Navy’s maritime logistics
was brought up by members of Congress during a visit to Capitol Hill the day
before. He said a member of the Senate Armed Service Committee who was
particularly strong on the issue told him the Navy was not funding what was
needed. “And I said, ‘you’re exactly right, and we have to get after this’.”

 He promised that the
audience was going to hear him and the new chief of naval operations “talking
about the battle. And it’s not steaming to the battle. Our first battle is
getting off the pier. And we have to start addressing this in earnest.”