Fiscal Year 2020

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

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

CNO Nominee Moran: Navy Needs More Funds to Grow, Crew 355-Ship Fleet

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran speaks to sailors aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55). Navy photo

CAPITOL HILL – The Navy has plans to increase the size of its fleet and the number of personnel in uniform, but paying for it all is a major concern for the nominee to serve as the next Chief of Naval Operations.

Stable, predictable funding is the most important key to fulfilling the Navy’s responsibilities outlined in the National Defense...

https://news.usni.org/2019/05/01/cno-nominee-moran-navy-needs-more-funds-to-grow-crew-355-ship-fleet

Next Chief of Naval Operations Will Lead a Navy Facing Readiness, Personnel, Technology Challenges

Adm. Bill Moran, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, speaks with sailors assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73). US Navy Photo

When Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson took charge of the Navy in 2015, the service was still largely a support element for the larger U.S. effort in the Middle East. When Richardson leaves this summer, his successor will be at the helm of a service that is being grown and reshaped into a key role for the U.S. military’s...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/29/next-chief-of-naval-operations-will-lead-a-navy-facing-readiness-personnel-technology-challenges

Navy, Marine Corps Moving to ‘Zero-Based Budgeting’ to Encourage Reform, Cut Lower Priorities

Navy supply officer takes inventory. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL – In a time of budget uncertainty, the Navy and Marine Corps are taking steps to ensure that every dollar given to them by Congress counts, service leadership said.

Following in the steps of the Army, which did a “night court” deep-dive look at its budget to identify about $25 billion in savings to apply towards emerging warfighting priorities, the Navy plans to move to a “Zero-Based Budget” approach starting in the next budget cycle.

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/17/navy-marine-corps-moving-to-zero-based-budgeting

Panel: Unmanned Surface Vessels Will be Significant Part of Future U.S. Fleet

The Sea Hunter, a Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV). US Navy Photo

The Navy’s next force structure assessment likely will add significant numbers of large and medium-sized unmanned surface vessels to meet the challenges of a new era of Great Power competition, experts in maritime strategy and budget said on Monday.

The emphasis on unmanned for the new shift in fleet composition would show “the urgency with which the Navy is attacking the situation,” even without a concept of...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/15/panel-unmanned-surface-vessels-will-be-significant-part-of-future-u-s-fleet

New Defense Strategy, Commitment to Readiness Drove Major Shifts in Navy Budget

Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group participates in a strait exercise in the Atlantic Ocean on April 7, 2019. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – The Navy’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget request includes tectonic shifts in how the Navy does business – swapping a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier for unmanned surface vehicles and other technologies – and it comes even as the service is reevaluating what sized fleet and what mix of ships the Navy needs to meet future challenges.

Though a force structure assessment...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/09/new-defense-strategy-commitment-to-readiness-drove-major-shifts-in-navy-budget

Navy Sees No Easy Answer to Balance Future Surface Fleet

USS Spruance (DDG-111) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) line up in a formation prior to a replenishment-at-sea with the USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO-199) on March 12, 2019. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – Based on the Navy’s current vision of its future fleet, the service will be too top-heavy in the coming years, having more large combatants than it says it needs and not enough small combatants. But many attractive options exist today to add lethal capabilities to...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/08/navy-sees-no-easy-answer-balance-future-surface-fleet

Navy Betting Big on Unmanned Warships Defining Future of the Fleet

Medium displacement unmanned surface vehicle (MDUSV) prototype Sea Hunter is moored onboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – The Navy has more questions than answers on how it will use unmanned warships in the future, but it knows now is the time to get unmanned surface vehicles into the water and start learning, the Navy’s top requirements officer told USNI News.

The service is so sure that it needs USVs for its future operations that it is pouring $2.7...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/08/navy-betting-big-on-unmanned-warships-defining-future-of-the-fleet

Pentagon Developing Low-Yield Nuclear Cruise Missiles For Submarines

A deck view, looking toward the bow, of the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine OHIO (SSBN-726) with its missile tubes opened during pre-commissioning activities. The submarine, built by General Dynamics Corp., carries Trident C-4 (UGM-96) submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The Pentagon is in the early stages of developing low-yield submarine-launched nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, a senior Department of Defense official told lawmakers Wednesday.

Both Russia and China are making...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/03/42398

After Hearings, Lawmakers Call Truman Carrier Retirement Plan ‘Ridiculous’

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transits the Atlantic Ocean on Dec. 12, 2018. US Navy photo.

CAPITOL HILL – Lawmakers told industry representatives today that, if it wasn’t already clear from their hearings with Pentagon and Navy leadership this week, they had no intention of letting the Defense Department shed an aircraft carrier instead of refuel it.

“I think that’s’ a ridiculous idea,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a retired Navy commander and current representative...

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/28/after-navy-hearings-lawmakers-still-call-truman-carrier-retirement-plan-ridiculous

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