OPNAV N9

Navy, Industry Still Talking Over What Ship Designs Could Best Support Distributed Maritime Ops

The guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) sails in the Arabian Sea. Bainbridge is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region. US Navy photo.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Navy and industry are still facing a lot of unknowns during a “dynamic” conversation about what ships to build and how to best support future operations, leaders said today.


What they do know, Acting Secretary of the Navy...

https://news.usni.org/2019/12/05/navy-industry-still-talking-over-what-ship-designs-could-best-support-distributed-maritime-ops

Navy, Air Force Reach Handshake Agreement to Develop Joint Battle Network

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) leads a formation of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 5 ships as U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress aircraft and U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets pass overhead for a photo exercise during Valiant Shield 2018 on Sept. 17. US Navy photo

NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy and the Air Force are taking the first tentative steps to create a joint battle network that would allow Navy ships and aircraft to share targeting information with Air Force aircraft, Navy and Air Force...

https://news.usni.org/2019/11/13/navy-air-force-reach-handshake-agreement-to-develop-joint-battle-network

Navy, Marines Wargaming New Gear to Support Emerging Warfare Concepts

Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Jahlil Scantling, from Virginia Beach, Va., assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD-4), stands watch on the bridge as the ship transits the South China Sea on Oct. 12, 2019. US Navy Photo

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy and Marine Corps are busy figuring out what they do – and don’t – need to buy to support their emerging operational concepts for high-end warfare.

Working rapidly to inform the next budget cycle, planners for both services are looking at how to...

https://news.usni.org/2019/10/23/navy-marines-wargaming-new-gear-to-support-emerging-warfare-concepts

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

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

Navy: Next Force Structure Assessment Likely to Require More Small Combatants, Supply Ships

Littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS-4) transits the Bohol Sea on June, 22 2017, US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL – The Navy’s shift to a distributed maritime operations concept and turnover in top operational commands has created “more moving parts” in conducting a new force structure assessment, the Navy’s deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems told lawmakers this week.

Vice Adm. Bill Merz told the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee on Tuesday that the...

Navy Wants Alternative Funding for Columbia SSBNs to Accelerate 355-Ship Fleet

Newport News Shipbuilding placed a 900-ton superlift into dry dock, continuing construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Nearly 90 lifts have been placed in the dock and joined together since the ship’s keel was laid in August 2015. Newport News Shipbuilding photo.

CAPITOL HILL – The Navy continues to push for the upcoming Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine program to be funded outside the normal shipbuilding budget, as opportunities exist to reach a...

https://news.usni.org/2018/11/27/navy-still-pushing-to-fund-columbia-ssbns-outside-shipbuilding-budget-to-allow-faster-growth-to-355

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