PASCAGOULA, Miss. – The Navy accepted delivery of the future guided missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) from Huntington Ingalls Industries’

(HII) Ingalls shipbuilding division, Feb. 22, the Program Executive Office – Ships (PEO-Ships) said in a release of the same date.

Accepting delivery of DDG 117 represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. Prior to delivery, the ship conducted a series of at-sea and pier-side trials to demonstrate its material and operational readiness.

The 67th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer honors Paul Robert Ignatius, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; as secretary of the Navy from 1967- 1969; and as assistant secretary of Defense during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.

“Our industry partners have delivered another highly capable platform that will provide our Sailors and Nation with warfighting lethality for the next four decades,” said Capt. Casey Moton, DDG 51 class program manager, (PEO) Ships. “We are proud to accept delivery of Paul Ignatius and look forward to her Commissioning ceremony later this summer.”

The DDG 51 class ships currently being constructed are Aegis Baseline 9 Integrated Air and Missile Defense destroyers with increased computing power and radar upgrades that improve detection and reaction capabilities against modern air warfare and Ballistic Missile Defense threats.

In addition to Paul Ignatius, HII’s Pascagoula shipyard is also currently in production on the future destroyers Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Peterson Jr. (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the first Flight III ship. HII is under contract for an additional six Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, awarded as part of the fiscal 2018-2022 multiyear procurement, that will be constructed in the Flight III configuration with enhanced Air and Missile Defense capabilities.

SAN FRANCISCO — The littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16) was commissioned as the Navy’s newest surface combatant in a ceremony in San Francisco Feb. 16.

The Independence-variant LCS is the Navy’s second ship to be named for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“She truly is an amazing ship and an amazing addition to the fleet, but as impressive as she is, she would be nothing without the Sailors you see lining her deck this morning,” said Cmdr. Drew Borovies, Tulsa’s commanding officer. “And as much as they have already accomplished, they know their true greatness lies ahead as Tulsa enters the fleet and stands ready to answer her nation’s call. They are the finest Sailors our Navy has to offer. They are tough, able and ready to take our nation’s newest warship to sea.”

Indeed, in little more than three years, the ship has progressed from its keel laying in Mobile, Alabama, to its commissioning. Kathy Taylor, ship’s sponsor and former Tulsa mayor, was present for both events and many in between.

“I have gotten to know the crew of this exceptional USS Tulsa, and I know they will fight when they must,’ said Taylor. “I know they will protect this country at all costs, because they know everything they fight for and they protect keeps the promises made to all Americans.”

Current Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum emphasized the bond between the people of Tulsa and the Sailors who serve aboard the Navy’s newest ship.

“Wherever you are in the world, whatever day it might be or whatever hour in that day, we hope you know that there are hundreds of thousands of your fellow Tulsans who are thinking of you, and who are honored to be associated with you and are so proud of you,” said Bynum.

The crew visited the city little more than a year ago to learn more about it and its people. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford recounted some of the characteristics of the city and its people beginning at the city’s founding as the destination of a forced migration of Native American people, through booming growth and cultural turmoil and into a city renowned for its diversity and beauty.

“When you arrive at any port of our nation or any port around the globe, you will bear all of our names and all of our history,” said Lankford. “You are capable of operating in all environments. Your mission is to protect our seas and deter aggression, but when deterrence fails, we also know you are fully capable of restoring the peace. Your actions, your words, your faith, your discipline and your power will reveal to a curious world just who we are as Americans. You are our ambassadors for freedom and you bear the name Tulsa and the United States of America.”

Tulsa will join the fleet at a time of expansion of capability as well as increased demand on the Navy forces.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Geurtz noted Tulsa is the fifth ship the Navy has commissioned in the past 50 days and one of 13 ships slated to be commissioned this year – up from eight a year ago – as part of broader efforts to ensure the nation’s maritime freedom.

“Having the right mix of ships with the right number of ships, to include Tulsa, makes us ready to execute prompt and sustained combat operations at sea to fight and win against any adversary,” said Adm. John C. Aquilino, commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet. “Let there be no doubt, that is what Tulsa is ready to do.”

After the ceremony, the ship will transit to San Diego to join Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1 and eight other littoral combat ships currently homeported at Naval Base San Diego.

Tulsa is the 15th littoral combat ship and the eighth of the Independence variant.

Navy Requests Information for Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture

By RICHARD R BURGESS, Senior Editor

WASHINGTON — The Navy has issued a Request for Information (RFI) from industry concerning unmanned autonomous maritime systems standardization to lead to more commonality in systems architecture.

The RFI, released on Feb. 15 by the Program Executive Office-Unmanned Maritime Systems and Small Combatants, is for Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture (UMAA) for operation of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs).

“The intent of UMAA is to provide overarching standards that various UUVs and USVs can be built to in order to avoid creating multiple conflicting systems in the future,” an official said.

The RFI, posted on the FedBizOps website, invites government organizations and industry “to participate in the development of the Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture (UMAA). The UMAA is being established to enable autonomy commonality and reduce acquisition costs across both surface and undersea unmanned vehicles.”

The RFI said that in 2018 “the Unmanned Maritime Program Office (PMS 406) chartered a cross-organizational team to develop the Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture with the goal of standardizing autonomy interfaces across its growing portfolio of unmanned vehicles. Earlier this year, the team published the UMAA Architecture Design Description providing the initial framework for both service and interface definition. Additional design guidance will be provided through a series of Interface Control Documents (ICDs) in the areas below.

• Situational Awareness,

• Sensor and Effector Management,

• Processing Management,

• Communications Management,

• Vehicle Maneuver Management,

• Vehicle Engineering Management,

• Vehicle Computing Management,

• Support Operations”

An initial industry day will be held on March 4.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Boeing and the U.S. Navy have received U.S. Department of Defense approval to offer the EA-18G Growler to Finland, the company said in a Feb. 18 release. Previously only Australia had been authorized to purchase the airborne electronic attack (AEA) aircraft.

Boeing and the Navy have offered the Growler and F/A-18 Super Hornet in a response to query issued by the Finnish Ministry of Defense as part of their HX fighter program procurement.

“All strike fighter aircraft rely on Growler escort to increase survivability during high-threat missions,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing vice president, F/A-18 and EA-18G programs. “The combination of the Super Hornet Block III and Growler would provide Finland with superior technological capability particularly suited to Finland’s HX mission requirements.”

An F/A-18 variant, the Growler is the world’s most advanced AEA platform and the only one in production today. It’s capable of disrupting, deceiving or denying a broad range of military electronic systems including radar and communication systems.

In addition to the U.S. Navy, the Growler is flown by the Royal Australian Air Force.

WASHINGTON — Despite the continuing problems with some of the advanced technology systems and the extensive overruns in cost and schedule with the next-generation aircraft carrier, “15, 20 years from now, we’re going to be very happy we have that Ford class carrier around. It’s an amazing platform that can do incredible things,” the Navy’s top shipbuilding official said Feb. 19.

“I’m very bullish on [Gerald R.] Ford. We will work our way through the technology challenges we have with that ship” and will have overcome those challenges for the next ships in the class, VADM. Thomas J. Moore, commander Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said.

Moore also said the first Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine is “on track” to meet the critical 2031 operational date to replace the aged Ohio-class boats in the strategic nuclear deterrence mission, but he is concerned about the potential impact the high cost of the 12 Columbias could have on other shipbuilding programs.

And Moore said increasing the capacity and performance of the private ship repair yards in order to keep existing ships in service longer, which could be key to reaching the goal of a 355-ship fleet, “is the number on challenge that I have in NAVSEA right now.”

Moore spent a large part of a breakfast session with the Defense Writers Group answering questions about the Gerald R. Ford, the first of a dramatically redesigned class of nuclear-powered carriers, which has become an example of the problems of attempting too much innovation in a single step.

“This is a completely new ship in almost every aspect beside the design, the shape of the hull. A lot of learning is going on there,” Moore said.

The admiral said the criticism that the Navy attempted too many technology leaps with Ford, designated CVN 78, was “probably a fair assessment. The original plan was not to put all the technology on the first ship, but to build it in stages… We probably bit off an awful lot on Ford, and we see the net result of that.”

Some of the biggest problems that are still being resolved were with the Electro-magnetic Launching System (EMALS) that replaced the traditional steam catapults, the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) in place of the hydraulically restrained system, and the Advanced Weapons Elevators.

Although the Pentagon’s operational test director faulted the performance of the first two systems in a recent report, Moore said: “We did more (aircraft) launches and recoveries than we had planned – almost double – during the shakedown

period. And the components of those systems got better as we learned how to operate them… So I’m not at all concerned that EMALS and AAG will ring out the technical issues and the reliability will go up.”

The Navy certified the first of the 11-planned weapons elevators in December, 18 months after accepting the Ford from Newport News Shipbuilding. Moore said the second one would be accepted “shortly,” and the goal was to have them all installed and tested before Ford finishes an extended yard period this summer.

The main problem was with software for the sophisticated electronic control systems, he said. NAVSEA has recognized that it made a mistake in not creating a land-based test facility to work out problems with the elevators, as it did with EMALS and AAG, and now is building that test site.

The Navy’s top procurement priority is the Columbia SSBN to replace the Ohio class subs that provide 60 percent of the nation’s strategic deterrence capabilities and are considered the most survivable element. Despite a problem with faulty welding on the missile tubes, Moore said, “we’re still on track to deliver the ship on time to start its first patrol” in 2031.

He said Electric Boat is “well on its way” to building the first hull and the powerful electric motor that will drive the sub is being tested at a facility in Philadelphia.

Key members of the congressional seapower panels have expressed concern that the estimated $7 billion cost of the Columbia boats will eat up a large share of the annual shipbuilding account when they go into serial production, starting in 2026.

To avoid that, they created the National Sea-based Deterrence Fund to pay for Columbia. But the Pentagon has not been putting money into the separate fund.

Moore said NAVSEA is a supporter of the Deterrence Fund and noted that when serial production of the Columbia’s start, the Navy also will be building the Flight III DDGs and the new frigates, starting the future surface combatants and committed to a two-ship buy for the aircraft carriers. “It’s an aggressive shipbuilding program and clearly the cost of the Columbia on top of that is a challenge.”

Moore explained that the Navy has determined that it cannot reach its 355-ship goal just by new construction and is working on keeping its existing warships in service for at least 45 years, rather than the normal 30 years. But key to that is regular and on-time maintenance, which is handicapped by the lack of capacity in the private repair yards. Designing policies that will give the private yards the predictability needed to maintain an adequate workforce and improve their facilities is a priority, he said.

ANDOVER, Mass. — Mercury Systems Inc. has received a $3.5 million order from a leading defense prime contractor for rugged servers to be used in a naval subsurface application, the company announced in a Feb. 12 release. The order was booked in the Company’s fiscal 2019 third quarter.

Mercury’s EnterpriseSeries servers are currently deployed on over forty naval programs. Designed from the ground up for mission critical applications where interoperability, longevity, availability and performance are crucial, Mercury’s servers feature commercial leading-edge technologies while providing superior resilience to shock, vibration and temperature extremes.

“We are proud to provide our customers with a wide variety of servers designed for suitability in a variety of military domains, in this case, the demanding environment of our Navy’s subsurface fleet,” said Scott Orton, vice president and general manager of Mercury’s Trusted Mission Solutions group. “With a broad range of surface, subsurface, ground and airborne deployments, Mercury continues to develop and support server solutions that can be optimally configured to meet our customer’s performance, reliability, environmental and security needs.”

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Navy (DoN) released its Education for Seapower report Feb. 12, along with the Secretary of the Navy’s action memorandum, providing the way forward for the new education initiatives for the department, according to a release of the same date from the undersecretary of the Navy’s public affairs officer.

The Education for Seapower study was a clean-sheet review of naval learning and focused on flagship institutions like the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Postgraduate School, and Naval and Marine War Colleges, along with a fresh look at the relationships with civilian academic institutions and corporate learning structures.

Members of the Education for Seapower Executive Board included luminaries such as Adm. Mike Mullen, USN(Ret.), Gen John Allen, USMC(Ret.), Amb. Barbara Barrett, Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, USN(Ret.), and Dr. Harlan Ullman.

“I am convinced, now more than ever before that the intellectual development of our naval leaders is the most critical warfighting capability for our national security,” said the Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. “That is why the Department of the Navy intends to create a Naval University System that further integrates and aligns naval education to the need of the enterprise.”

Highlights from the memorandum include a new secretary of the Navy staff assistant, Chief Learning Officer for naval education, intent to establish a Naval Community College with universal transcripts so enlisted Sailors and Marines can soon earn accredited associate’s degrees in technology-rich fields, and a new Naval University System that retains the strengths of current educational institutions, while aligning strategic intent in order to provide increased agility. While the Department of the Navy is enacting these changes, many initiatives within them will, over the next year, be evaluated for their efficacy before being fully implemented.

“Any success we may enjoy in the future will be enabled by an ever-more-agile force – led by agile people who thirst for knowledge and who are adept at thinking, learning, and processing information quickly,” said Undersecretary of the Navy, Thomas B. Modly. “The development of such a force does not happen by accident. It must be constantly cultivated through a renewed emphasis on education, and the deliberate construction of a learning culture across the entire naval service.”

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy will commission its newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Tulsa (LCS 16), during a 10 a.m. PST ceremony Saturday, Feb. 16, at Pier 30/32 in San Francisco, the Defense Department announced in a Feb. 13 release.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma will deliver the commissioning ceremony’s principal address. Kathy Taylor, former mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the ship’s sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by a time-honored Navy tradition when Taylor gives the first order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”

“This ship is named in honor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, but represents more than one city,” said Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer. “USS Tulsa represents an investment in readiness and lethality and is a testament to the increased capabilities made possible by a true partnership between the Department of the Navy and our industrial base.”

The future USS Tulsa is the second naval vessel to honor Oklahoma’s third largest city. The first USS Tulsa was an Asheville-class gunboat designated as PG 22 that served from 1923 to 1944 before being renamed Tacloban. She earned two battle stars for World War II service. A cruiser to be named USS Tulsa was also authorized for construction during World War II, but the contract was canceled before it was built.

LCS is a highly maneuverable, lethal and adaptable ship designed to support focused mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare and surface warfare missions. The ship integrates new technology and capability to affordably support current and future mission capability from deep water to the littorals.

The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant, designed and built by two industry teams. The Independence variant team is led by Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls). The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin, Marinette, Wisconsin, (for the odd-numbered hulls).

USS Tulsa will join USS Freedom (LCS 1), USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), USS Coronado (LCS 4), USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), USS Omaha (LCS 12) and USS Manchester (LCS 14) in their homeport of San Diego.

The ceremony, using hashtag #USSTulsa, can be viewed on the Navy Live blog at http://navylive.dodlive.mil.

SAN DIEGO — Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) announced it will change the names of its Echelon III systems centers, SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic in Charleston, S.C. and SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific in San Diego, Calif., to Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic and Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, respectively, SPAWAR Public Affairs said in a Feb. 13 release.

The changes will be effective Feb. 18. The new language “Naval Information Warfare Center,” with the acronym NIWC, (pronounced Nī’ wick) will apply to the names of all Naval Information Warfare Center sites falling under NIWC Pacific and NIWC Atlantic worldwide.

SPAWAR Commander Rear Adm. Christian Becker made the announcement Feb. 13 in his address to attendees at the WEST 2019 conference co-hosted by the U.S.

Naval Institute (USNI) and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics

Association (AFCEA) at the San Diego Convention Center.

The name change demonstrates that information is a fundamental element of warfare, an essential concept of the Navy’s Design for Maritime Superiority 2.0.

Use of ‘warfare centers’ in the names reflects the centers’ focus, core capabilities and importance in the full spectrum of warfighting. It also improves clarity of mission and purpose with stakeholders across the fleet and industry and throughout the broader Information Warfare community and Naval Research and Development Enterprise.

The name Naval Information Warfare Center also aligns the centers with Naval Air Systems Command’s air warfare centers and Naval Sea Systems Command’s surface and undersea warfare centers.

The intent of the name change is to recognize the importance of the Information Warfare mission and does not signal a change in SPAWAR’s mission of identifying, developing, delivering and sustaining information warfighting capabilities.

“The advantage information warfare brings to the fight is at the core of our Navy’s ability to compete and win today and in the coming decades,” said Becker. “Recognizing our systems centers as Naval Information Warfare Centers reaffirms our commitment to accelerate the development and delivery of advanced warfighting capabilities to the fleet.”

MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Ocean Power Technologies Inc. (OPT) has been awarded a contract award from the U.S. Navy valued at $125,000, and an additional three options totaling $100,000 for a total potential contract value of $225,000, the company announced in a Feb. 12 release. Under this contract, OPT will immediately begin the development of a buoy mooring system which incorporates fiber optics for the transmission of subsea sensor data to airplanes, ships and satellites. OPT will execute the work under its Innovation and Support Services line and will leverage its many years of experience with marine systems and U.S. Navy programs to address the Navy’s need for reliable and low-cost “optical-mechanical mooring cables.” Importantly, the fiber optic mooring concepts developed under this contract may be incorporated into OPT’s PowerBuoy and Subsea Battery Module product lines.

“We’re very excited for this Phase I award by the U.S. Navy to develop a fiber optic mooring line which may be used for both defense and commercial applications,” said George Kirby, CEO of Ocean Power Technologies. “We believe that this new contract award further validates our technical expertise and experience with ocean energy systems and could also lead to additional future contract awards where we might utilize OPT technologies which are already in advanced stages of development. To date, OPT has earned 28 U.S. government awards, including eight Phase I awards, which led to five Phase II efforts and 15 Phase III efforts, all related to marine systems and applications. We welcome the opportunity that this new contract brings, and this award now allows us to immediately bid on a Phase II contract.”

OPT has submitted several proposals to the U.S. Navy and the Office of Naval Research under its Innovation and Support Services line on topics such as powering acoustic and nonacoustic sensors and improving the persistence of unmanned underwater vehicles through battery recharging and critical data transfer. Additionally, OPT has successfully advanced its anchorless PowerBuoy design under a prior contract with the Office of Naval Research and is seeking to prototype the design for both defense and commercial applications.

“OPT has a long work history on Department of Defense projects,” Kirby said. “Our most recent government effort has been around advancing our anchorless PowerBuoy design, and we’re nearing the prototype stage. The anchorless PowerBuoy design is very encouraging to our customers due to its innovative and patented approach to power generation and also the need for a quick-deploy solution throughout markets such as defense and offshore oil and gas.

“In addition, these markets are undergoing a radical transformation to cleaner and more efficient all electric, all digital and all autonomous subsea operations,” he said. “Rapid deployment of persistent power and real-time subsea data communications is the enabling technology. Thanks to our efforts over the past few years, OPT is positioned and ready to enable this transformation today. In fact, we currently have one PowerBuoy deployed for a global oil and gas operator, another

which is undergoing preparation for deployment, and we have two additional PowerBuoys in various stages of production.