Budget Industry Archives - Page 178 of 212

MARAD Ready Reserve Force Still Faces Readiness, Manning Challenges

6 May 2019

RRF vessel SS Cornhusker State off the coast of Haiti, February 2010. MARAD Photo

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force is still as small and perhaps less ready than this time last year, when a top MARAD official said the RRF was “on the ragged edge” of readiness.

Asked about those comments today at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space conference, MARAD Administrator Mark Buzby said “I could say the same statement again this year, I’m afraid.”

“We have not, in...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/06/marad-ready-reserve-force-still-faces-readiness-manning-challenges

Navy: First MQ-25A Stingray Flight Planned for Later This Year

6 May 2019

MQ-25 Stingray. Boeing Photo

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Later this year, Boeing’s prototype for the Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial tanker will make its first flight from an Illinois airport. When the Stingray will start operating from U.S. carriers is less clear.

On April 28, Boeing moved its MQ-25A prototype from its manufacturing facility near St. Louis, Mo. to the MidAmerica regional airport where it will conduct its first flight later this year, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/06/navy-first-mq-25a-stingray-flight-planned-for-later-this-year

Coast Guard Hopes to Have 3 Polar Security Cutters Fielded by 2028

6 May 2019

A starboard view of the anchored US Coast Guard icebreaker POLAR STAR (WAGB 10).

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Coast Guard hopes to have its first three heavy icebreakers fielded by 2027 or 2028 to replace the one icebreaker that is increasingly struggling to make it to Antarctica and back each year and to increase U.S. presence in the high latitudes, the commandant said today.

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said this morning that the icebreaker program – a planned three heavy...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/06/coast-guard-hopes-to-have-3-polar-security-cutters-fielded-by-2028

NAVAIR: New Presidential Helicopter Production to Start Soon

6 May 2019

A Sikorsky VH-92A lands at the White House during a test on September 22, 2018. The VH-92A will become the new presidential transport helicopter, replacing an aging fleet of VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters. Naval Air Systems Command photo.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Naval Air Systems Command has a handshake deal in place to start production of the Sikorsky VH-92A, the next generation presidential helicopter, officials said on Monday.

NAVIAR has already taken possession of three VH-92A aircraft and the...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/06/navair-new-presidential-helicopter-production-to-start-soon

2019 Pentagon Report to Congress on Chinese Military Development

3 May 2019

The following is the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress, Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2019. The report was released on May 2, 2019.

From the report

WHAT IS CHINA’S STRATEGY?

China’s leaders have benefited from what they view as a “period of strategic opportunity” during the initial two decades of the 21st
century to develop domestically and expand China’s “comprehensive national power.”

Over the coming decades, they are focused on realizing a...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/03/2019-pentagon-report-to-congress-on-chinese-military-development

Report to Congress on Navy Shipbuilding, Force Structure

2 May 2019

The following is the April 30, 2019 Congressional Research Service report, Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress.

From the report

The current and planned size and composition of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy’s shipbuilding plans have been oversight matters for the congressional defense committees for many years.

On December 15, 2016, the Navy released a force-structure goal that calls for...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/02/report-to-congress-on-navy-shipbuilding-force-structure

Royal Navy-Friendly U.K. Defense Secretary Williamson Removed Over Huawei Leak

2 May 2019

Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson in 2018. U.K. Royal Navy Photo

LONDON — British prime minister Theresa May has sacked her defense secretary for leaking sensitive information relating to Chinese involvement in the country’s future telecommunications projects.

Defense chief Gavin Williamson – who fought off proposed cuts to the Royal Navy last year – was dismissed after allegedly telling a journalist that tech firm Huawei would participate in the rollout of the U.K.’s 5G wireless network.

The...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/02/royal-navy-friendly-u-k-defense-secretary-williamson-removed-over-huawei-leak

Navy Taking Major Steps to Prevent Future Physiological Events in Jets

2 May 2019

Capt. Jeffrey Anderson, commander, Carrier Air Wing Three, performs pre-flight checks inside the cockpit of an F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Sidewinders of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 86 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in 2016. US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – With the Navy ruling out contaminated air and focusing on air pressure fluctuations as the cause of many physiological events (PEs), the service is planning a major maintenance event on...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/02/navy-taking-major-steps-to-prevent-future-physiological-episodes-in-jets

Budget Concerns Led Huntington Ingalls to Sit Out Coast Guard Icebreaker Contest

2 May 2019

Ingalls Shipbuilding lands the 700-ton deckhouse on the amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA 7) on July 9, 2016. Ingalls Shipbuilding photo.

The U.S. Coast Guard offered industry the potential for a multi-ship, multi-year, multi-billion-dollar program in its heavy icebreaker competition – but funding uncertainties gave some of the nation’s largest shipbuilders cold feet when it came time to bid.

Mike Petters, chief executive of Huntington Ingalls Industries, said his company opted to pass on...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/02/budget-concerns-led-huntington-ingalls-to-sit-out-coast-guard-icebreaker-contest

Lockheed Martin: Sixth-Generation Fighter Could Have Laser Weapon

1 May 2019

Artist’s concept of a HELIOS laser system aboard a U.S. destroyer. Lockheed Martin Image

ARLINGTON, Va. – Lasers to counter unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors to scan the horizon, scrambling an adversary’s electronic equipment while relaying information to other systems – all packaged in a stealthy airframe – could be possible for a sixth-generation fighter, according to experts at Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin officials provided the media a view of electronic warfare in the near future...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/01/lockheed-martin-sixth-generation-fighter-could-have-laser-weapon

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