House Armed Services Committe

CNP Nowell: Navy Short More Than 5,000 Sailors for At-Sea Billets

Ensign Sofia Bliek, from Vernon, Conn., on Feb. 6, 2022. US Navy Photo

The Navy has 5,000 to 6,000 gaps for sailors at-sea billets, the service’s senior personnel officer told a House panel on Tuesday.

The Navy currently has 145,000 billets at sea, Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell said during a House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel hearing. Following the fatal collisions of 2017, the Navy added 23,800 sea billets in an effort to buttress manning on surface ships....

https://news.usni.org/2022/02/09/cnp-nowell-navy-short-more-than-5000-sailors-for-at-sea-billets

HASC Lawmakers Forecast ‘Bloodbath’ for Navy FY 2023 Budget

USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) patrols the Philippine Sea in support of Valiant Shield 2016 (VS16). US Navy Photo

ARLINGTON, Va. – Two House Armed Services Committee lawmakers forecast a difficult upcoming budget cycle for the Navy and criticized the service for not coming to Congress with a strategy to build a fleet that can counter China.

Speaking to the annual Surface Navy Association symposium, Reps. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) voiced concern over the Navy’s impending Fiscal...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/12/hasc-lawmakers-forecast-bloodbath-for-navy-fy-2023-budget

SECDEF Austin Warns of ‘Enormous’ Effects of Potential Year-Long Continuing Resolution

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III delivers the keynote address during the 2021 Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Dec. 4, 2021. DoD Photo

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is warning Congress that an extended stopgap bill to keep the government funded would have “enormous” effects on the Pentagon.

In a statement released Monday, Austin argued that a one-year CR would be equivalent to a budget decrease for Fiscal Year 2022.

“While the...

https://news.usni.org/2021/12/06/secdef-austin-warns-of-enormous-effects-of-potential-year-long-continuing-resolution

Naming Commission Still Undecided How To Handle Ships with Confederate Ties

USS Chancellorsville (CG-62), USNS Maury (T-AGS-66) US Navy Photos

A commission tasked with identifying military assets with names tied to the Confederacy has not yet visited two ships that could be renamed.

The Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America, which goes by the shorthand “The Naming Commission,” spent the past summer visiting military...

https://news.usni.org/2021/09/30/__trashed-10

HASC Chairman Sees Future for Aircraft Carriers, Questions Cost

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee, is briefed on the capabilities of the F-35A Lightning II during his visit at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., Oct. 10, 2019. The congressman learned about several aspects of the 56th Fighter Wing F-35 pilot training and how the wing works to enhance lethality and readiness. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jensen Stidham)

Questioning the $12 billion price tag of new aircraft carriers, the chairman of the House Armed Services...

https://news.usni.org/2021/08/31/hasc-chairman-sees-future-for-aircraft-carriers-questions-cost

MDA: US Has Several Options To Defend Guam From Missile Threats

On Nov. 16, U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Navy sailors aboard USS John Finn (DDG 113), an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System-equipped destroyer, fired a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA guided missile that successfully intercepted and destroyed a mock Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii in November 2020. MDA photo.

The U.S. has several options to defend Guam against attack, the director of the Missile...

https://news.usni.org/2021/08/13/mda-u-s-has-several-options-to-defend-guam-from-missile-threats

Navy Creating ‘Sandbox’ to Evaluate Work from Tech Companies

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Alberto Ramirez, an infantryman with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division uses a communication system during Urban Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2018 (ANTX18) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, March 19, 2018. Marines are testing next generation technologies to provide the opportunity to assess the operational utility of emerging technologies and engineering innovations that improve the Marine’s survivability, lethality and...

https://news.usni.org/2021/05/24/navy-creating-sandbox-to-evaluate-work-from-tech-companies

AFRICOM: Chinese Naval Base in Africa Set to Support Aircraft Carriers

Chinese sailors watch a People’s LIberation Army Navy (PLAN) pull into Djibouti. Xinhua Photo

A recently completed pier at the Chinese naval base near the entrance to the Red Sea is large enough to support an aircraft carrier, the top U.S. commander for Africa told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Referring to the Chines naval base in Djibouti, U.S. Africa Commander Army Gen. Stephen Townsend told the House Armed Services Committee that the People’s Liberation Army was expanding its existing naval...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/20/africom-chinese-naval-base-in-africa-set-to-support-aircraft-carriers

House Lawmakers Want Pentagon to Rethink Global Force Deployments

Sailors observe flight operations from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) while conducting dual-carrier operations with the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in the South China Sea on Feb. 9, 2021. US Navy Photo

Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee are urging the Pentagon to reassess how it employs military forces around the world.

In a letter dated today to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the members argue the...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/05/house-lawmakers-want-pentagon-to-rethink-global-force-deployments

Rep Luria Letter to President Biden on Maritime-centric National Defense Strategy

The following is a March 26, 2021 letter from Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) to President Joe Biden calling for a maritime-focused national defense strategy. Luria is a former surface warfare officer and is currently the vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

March 26, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden,

I write at a critical juncture in our nation’s history, as we find ourselves again engaged in a great power...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/01/rep-luria-letter-to-president-biden-on-maritime-centric-national-defense-strategy

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