NATIONAL HARBOR,
Md. — As the naval services tackle the overlapping challenges of trying to
restore their readiness while preparing for a new era of “Great Power Competition,”
perhaps their biggest concerns are receiving adequate funding and recruiting
and retaining the talented personnel they need in the midst of a robust
national economy with low unemployment.

While the money
concerns are high for the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps, after several years
of constrained budgets, the problem is more acute for the U.S. Coast Guard and
the U.S. Maritime Administration, which have not benefited as much from the
last two years of increased funding, officials from those services said in a May
7 session at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition.

The Navy’s biggest
challenge is “maintaining stable and predictable budgets,” said Rear Adm. John
Nowell, director of military personnel plans and policy on the Navy staff.

Compared to low
readiness the Navy endured in 2017 after several lean years, “with the money
Congress has provided since then, we have been able to get at” the readiness low
with higher operating hours, more maintenance and beginning to fill the manning
gaps at sea, he said.

Brig. Gen.
Christian Wortman, commander of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, said
the Corps was challenged in maintaining the high personnel readiness it needed
because of the intense deployment rate of its small force, but was “seeing the
results” in better equipment readiness due to the budget gains in fiscal years
2018 and 2019.

But sustained
funding improvement was needed to support the modernization that would provide
future readiness required to face the Great Power Competition, he said.

“I wish I had the
budget environment you described,” said Rear Adm. Linda Fagan, commander of the
Coast Guard Pacific Region. Because the Coast Guard is part of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, it hasn’t enjoyed the budget boost the branches
under the Defense Department received the last two years, Fagan noted.

She cited a $1.7 billion
backlog in facility repairs as a readiness issue and the “erosion of buying
power every year” from constrained funding. “It is absolutely critical to stop
the erosion of readiness we see today,” Fagan said.0

Shashi Kumar,
deputy administrator of the Maritime Administration, noted the badly aged fleet
of sealift ships that would be essential to supporting any major crisis
deployment of U.S. forces, a shrinking number of commercial vessels MARAD
leases and the growing shortage of qualified civilian mariners to operate those
ships. He also worried about the rising cost of maintaining the ancient ships
with limited funding.

All of the officials
expressed personnel concerns — which for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard
primarily involve attracting young Americans with the intelligence and
technical skills needed for the new era of high-tech warfare when the small
numbers of those who can qualify for military service are in high demand in the
private sector.

Fagan said the
Coast Guard can recruit the talented and diverse personnel it needs but has
trouble retaining its female workforce. Nowell said the Navy still needs to
fill 6,000 billets at sea, less than half its shortfall two years ago. Wortman
said the Marines Corps has been able to sign up the 38,000 recruits it needs
each year but is challenged to retain those with the unique skills — such as
cyber — because of the higher pay that private industry can offer.

Kumar said MARAD’s problems
in finding and keeping qualified civilian mariners is aggravated by the
shrinking American-flagged commercial fleet and the fact that much of the
government fleet was on standby most of the time, limiting the trained
personnel’s ability to stay current.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — George Washington spoke May 6 at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition — by way of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson, who used a famous quote by the Founding Father from 1781 to remind the audience of the necessity today — more than ever — of a “decisive” U.S. Navy.

Washington’s quote is, “Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.”

“The Navy was there at the very beginning. We’re in the
nation’s DNA,” the 31st CNO told the audience, delivering a bit of a history
lesson during a keynote that also touched on Thomas Jefferson’s belief that a potent
Navy was essential to protect trade, commerce and the American economy.

“America depends on the seas,” Richardson said.

Much of the nation’s economy, he reminded the audience, runs through the Far East now. He talks often these days about the resurgent “Great Power Competition” — and the CNO wasted no time doing so again at Sea-Air-Space, reminding the audience of China’s naval expansion and mentioning such events as recent Chinese missile exercises in the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea.

“That’s where your Navy is going to be,” Richardson said,
adding that a third of world trade runs through the South China Sea. “That’s
why the United States Navy is there.”

He also mentioned Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, who believed
the Navy’s role is to deter conflict but still ensure prosperity.

Richardson took part in ceremonies before his keynote address to laud recipients of two Navy League awards — including one that is named after Nimitz and honors an industry leader who has made a major contribution to the nation’s maritime strength.

The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Award for 2019 went to
James Herdt, CEO of Herdt Consulting and a retired Master Chief Petty Officer
of the Navy. “I know my name is on this award,” Herdt said, but in thanking
Navy League he accepted it on behalf of the people of his consulting firm.

The second honor of the day, the Albert A. Michelson Award,
went to Dr. Bruce G. Danly, director of research at the Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL). He credited the men of women of NRL, “who ensure that our forces have
the best technology, unmatched by none.”

Navy League National President Alan Kaplan and Navy League Executive Director Mike Stevens, also a retired Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, the 13th, helped present the Nimitz and Michelson awards. Richardson also spoke about the Navy’s recruiting and retention in a recovering economy and added that the sea service has met its recruiting goals for more than 12 years in a row. “What is it that attracts people” to the Navy? the CNO asked. “Honorable and glorious, no better organization to join than the Navy to espouse those two ideals.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Longtime unmanned aircraft provider
AeroVironment and Kratos Defense and Security Systems announced on March 7 that
they have formed a new partnership to jointly develop and demonstrate unmanned aircraft
systems that could launch from another UAS to tackle near-peer denied
environments — an increasingly important domain in light of the “Great Power
Competition” era, defined by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John M. Richardson.

This collaboration aims at demonstrating the ability to launch,
communicate with and control a small, tube-launched loitering aircraft that
jettisons from a larger, runway-independent UAS. The goal of the is to
coordinate the effects of smaller AeroVironment systems and relay information
back to the mother UAS, developed by Kratos.

The systems-of-systems would communicate back their findings
to a ground-control station or be able to act upon the information they gather
to modify their mission tasks. Kratos has demonstrated the mothership, its Mako
Tactical UAS, which it developed and demonstrated in 2015, and AeroVironment
has made its tube-launched Switchblade since 2012.

“Together, we are developing and will demonstrate the
integration of tube-launched UAS and tactical missile systems into long-range,
high-speed and low-cost unmanned systems for their transport and delivery into
near-peer, denied environments,” said Trace Stevenson, vice president and
deputy general manager of AeroVironment’s UAS business.

“With sufficient onboard autonomy, sensors, payloads and an
integrated system design, we aim to demonstrate the deployment of large
quantities of smart systems that overwhelm and disable enemy systems, while
bending the cost curve to make it financially prohibitive for unfriendly
nations to challenge our armed forces.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.
– Future naval aviation will benefit from the fifth-generation F-35s,
manned-unmanned teaming and the possibility of greatly enhanced rotary wing
aircraft being developed under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, a panel
of Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officials said.

The naval
services also are focusing on improving the readiness of their existing
aircraft, and some types of aircraft are coming close to meeting the 80% readiness
goal set by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the officials told a forum on
the future of naval aviation at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space
exposition May 6.

Lt. Gen. Steven
Rudder, deputy Marine Corps commandant for aviation, said the Corps’ legacy
FA-18 Hornets hit the 80% readiness mark last week and were maintaining
availabilities in the high 70% rate. And the Corps’ new F-35Bs were operating
in the 70% range during their recent deployments in the western Pacific, Rudder
said.

Angie
Knappenberger, deputy director for naval warfare, said the Navy conducted a
study to determine what would be needed to improve readiness and found that “we
wouldn’t get there unless we changed our processes.” They have had to improve
their support infrastructure, which had suffered from the years of reduced
funding under sequestration and on the spare parts supply system, she said.

Looking to the
future, Rudder, Knappenberger and Vice Adm. Daniel Abel, the Coast Guard deputy
commandant for operations and a veteran helicopter pilot, all cited unmanned
systems they were looking to add.

“Autonomy is
really hard, but there are some things you can do,” and they are seeing a lot
of focus on manned-unmanned teaming, Knappenberger said. She cited the Navy’s
teaming of the MQ-8 Fire Scout UAS and MH-60s helicopters in a squadron and
will do the same thing with the MQ-4C Triton long-range UAS and the P-8A patrol
aircraft.

Rudder said the
Marines were narrowing their focus on requirements for their primary unmanned
aircraft program, the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary
system, commonly called MUX, which is to be a large Group 5 rotary-wing UAS
that can operate from amphibious ships. After initially looking at a wide range
of capabilities, including strike, the Marines currently are leaning toward an
early warning platform that could provide over-the-horizon surveillance and
network communications for the expeditionary task forces.

Rudder said the
Marines also are closely monitoring the Army-led FVL program, which is intended
to produce a rotary-wing manned aircraft with much higher speed and range than
current helicopters. Although the two prototypes being produced for the FVL
program are a composite helicopter and a tilt-rotor, Rudder said the Marines’
preference is a tilt-rotor because they know their tilt-rotor MV-22 Ospreys are
fast and they want something that can keep up with them.

Abel said the Coast Guard has been testing
contractor-operated Scan Eagle UAS on their national security cutters and are
looking at other unmanned systems.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The combination of a two-ship purchase and investments in new technologies and facilities at the Newport News shipyard will enable the U.S. Navy to obtain future aircraft carriers with increased survivability and lethality at much lower cost, the carrier program manager said on May 6.

The future Gerald
R. Ford class of nuclear-powered carriers will provide the increased
capabilities needed in the era of “Great Power Competition” — and the two-ship
contract will save an estimated $4 billion, program manager Capt. Philip Malone
told a Naval Sea Systems Command briefing at the Navy League’s annual
Sea-Air-Space exposition here.

Malone is
responsible for the next three of the Ford-class ships, CVN-79, the future John
F. Kennedy, which is under construction, and CVNs 80 and 81, which will be
produced under the dual-ship contract signed in January.

In addition to
the $4 billion estimated savings from that contract, Malone said those two
ships will benefit from the use of an integrated digital shipbuilding system
Newport News is adopting and shipyard improvements that will allow major
reductions in the man hours required.

CVNs 80 and 81
also will be built with greater survivability and lethality from an advanced
radar, greater electrical power generation, integration of the fifth-generation
F-35C Lighting II joint strike fighters and increased aircraft sortie rate over
the legacy Nimitz class carriers, he said.

Malone said the
Navy will acquire the Kennedy under a unique two-phase delivery, with the first
phase providing a carrier that can test its aircraft launch and recovery
systems and basic ship functions followed by a second phase that will install
the advanced air surveillance radar and other combat systems. The unusual
delivery process was necessary to have Kennedy operational in time to replace
the Nimitz, which will hit its 50-year service life later this decade, he
explained.

Malone cited
Newport News’ investments in the digital or 3D computerized shipbuilding
process and in new facilities that will enable more ship components to be
produced out of the weather. Those improvements were made with monetary
incentives from the Navy and will sharply reduce the hours required to build
the ships, he said.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Systems program office is juggling the development of a lot of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles right now, and they expect numerous big developments for several programs in the next year or two.

Capt. Pete Small, Unmanned Maritime Systems program manager, told attendees at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium May 6 that a new draft request for proposals was recently released for a medium unmanned surface vehicle (USV), and the Navy was “aggressively” moving forward with that program.

The Navy is also accelerating a large USV program, and an analysis of alternatives for that effort will wrap up by the end of this year, Small added. The program hopes for a fiscal 2020 start for that platform, and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson personally wants to see the project bear fruit “ASAP,” the captain said.

On the unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) side of the house, the extra-large UUV Orca recently finished the design phase. It will feature a modular payload and the Navy hopes to take delivery at the end of calendar year 2020, with buys continuing through 2022, Small said.

The Snakehead large-displacement UUV is expected to complete its critical design review this quarter, and the Navy hopes to have it in the water by fiscal 2021.

And the Razorback, slated for the fiscal 2020 timeframe, would be hosted on a submarine and the Navy is developing a torpedo tube-launched version. The Navy recently issued a request for information on that project and received some responses from industry.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Sea services leaders expressed unwavering support during a May 6 panel discussion for the nation’s future ventures in space — no matter whether the effort is split among the nation’s existing military branches or a new United States Space Force is created.

The panelists at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2019 reiterated
the need to increase the nation’s space initiatives as rival nations such as
China, Russia, India and Japan build their push toward the stars.

“Space is no longer an uncontested environment,” said
Rear Adm. Christian Becker, commander, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

As other countries stake their spots in space, the U.S.
needs to hold its “ground,” like when the maritime forces were first formed, Becker
explained.

“Space is very much akin to the maritime,” Becker said.
“We first went to sea to trade, and then we went to sea when we realized other
people could stop our trade. … Made sure we can maintain freedom at sea.”

Don’t expect the U.S. Space Force to appear overnight,
however. Services like the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are still evaluating
the personnel needed to staff an agency dedicated to the Final Frontier.

“We are assessing as part of the [Navy Department]
how we can meet the mission needs of the Space Force,” Becker said. “We’re not
there yet at our level of understanding, but that’s what we have to pursue.”

Finding and retaining the talent necessary to develop a
fully operational Space Force is a significant challenge, said Brig. Gen. Lorna
Mahlock, the Marine Corps’ chief information officer.

“It’s exciting to think about space … but we have to make
sure we develop the skill [to maintain a Space Force] and do it right,” Mahlock
said.

However, she emphasized that, no matter the
obstacles, the Marine Corps “embraces building the Space Force” and will offer its
full support.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy and Raytheon conducted a joint test of the Excalibur N5 munition with an eye toward firing it from Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Mk 45 guns, according to a Raytheon official.

The Navy has not made a decision on whether to buy the Excalibur N5 for use on ships, but the test — which took place last September at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona — was a key step forward for the program, said John Hobday, head of Coyote & Rapid Development Programs for Raytheon, in a briefing at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium on May 6.

The Excalibur N5 is based on the M982 Excalibur used by the Army, and it would use the same key parts. It is GPS guided, and Raytheon says it has double the current Mk 45 range (26 nautical miles versus 13).

The N5 reuses the guidance and fusing components from the Block 1B version of the Excalibur.

The Navy is “evaluating where they stand on it,” and Raytheon has provided the Navy with all the necessary information, Hobday said.

The test involved six shots and the accuracy of the rounds and handling were evaluated.

“Excalibur N5 answers the Navy’s need for a sea-launched, precision-guided projectile,” said Sam Deneke, Raytheon Land Warfare Systems vice president, in a statement. “N5 doubles the range of the Navy’s big guns and delivers the same accuracy as the land-based version.”

NATIONAL
HARBOR, Md. — The Navy expects to reach a Milestone C decision in late May for
the VH-92A presidential transport helicopter. Such a decision would mark
approval for the helicopter to enter low-rate initial production.

Speaking to
an audience at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo in National Harbor,
Maryland, Marine Maj. Gen Greg Masiello, the Navy’s program executive officer
for Air, ASW, Assault and Special Mission PEO (A), said the program team has
three VH-92As, two of which it is running through Developmental Test, with the
two alternating flights every other day.

Program
officials have a meeting scheduled May 30 with James F. Geurts, assistant
secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, who has the milestone
decisional authority.

The Navy is
developing the Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky VH-92A as a replacement for the VH-3D
and VH-60N helicopters flown in support of the president and other high-level
government officials by Marine Helicopter Squadron One.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Like every other entity that relies upon technology to do its job, the Navy has to constantly contend with systems that fail or become outdated. When such systems are situated on ships that could be situated anywhere in the world, the challenge potentially becomes even more acute.

Andover, Massachusetts-based Mercury Systems thinks they have the answer to the conundrum. Building on the company’s years of experience working with numerous Navy programs, most notably the Aegis Combat System, they believe that a modular approach offers the best method of ensuring seamless functionality. With that, Mercury Systems introduced its second-generation Intel Xeon scalable processors at Sea-Air-Space 2019.

“Commercial
products go obsolete, and technology changes too fast,” said Rick Studley,
chief of technologies for Mercury Systems Trusted Missions Solutions in
Chantilly, Virginia, during a Monday interview.

Mercury Systems
provides hardware on nearly every surface combatant big-deck ship and submarine
in the Navy. With its modular approach, the company’s products allow for
switching out old or broken components for new ones in complex systems without
changing shock isolation, power or cooling already in place. 

“We can abstract
applications from underlining hardware, making the technology insertion much
easier,” Studley said. 

Moreover, with the
presence of multiple virtual machines, systems can run on smaller sets of
hardware — saving valuable shipboard space. This is done by running “virtual
twin” systems in parallel with existing ones, for example, on a system like
Aegis. The “twin” systems can take passive taps from the actual system — data
from sensors, with the weapon system’s actual code. In simplistic terms, the
“twin” can integrate with the actual server. Over time, tactical servers, which
are bare-metal and redundant, would evolve into fully virtualized systems,
Studley said. 

“The goal is to move away from redundancy and toward resiliency, so that no single element in the system is so important that you can’t afford to lose it [and still function],” he said.

[and still function]

“It’s totally
modularized and virtualized. You accept that failures are going to happen, but
your machine keeps working,” Studley said. “The system heals itself around
these failures.” 

The process allows
for greater sharing of technology across platforms, applications and systems,
Studley said. The Navy would save money by having an infrastructure that is
easily upgraded, managed and deployed, he added.