Rear Adm. Scott Conn

New 3rd Fleet CO Committed to Operating Forward to ‘Preserve Peace’

Vice Adm. Scott D. Conn delivers remarks during a change of command and retirement ceremony after relieving Vice Adm. John D. Alexander as Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet, aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on Sept. 27, 2019. US Navy Photo

NAVAL BASE CORONADO, Calif. – The Navy’s West Coast-based fleet welcomed a new commander on Friday as Vice Adm. Scott “Satan” Conn took the helm of San Diego-based U.S. 3rd Fleet from Vice Adm. John D. “Sarge” Alexander.

Chief of...

https://news.usni.org/2019/09/27/new-3rd-fleet-co-committed-to-operating-forward-to-preserve-peace

F-35 Software Upgrade Program Will Field Capabilities Sooner, But Delay Purchase of New Fighters

U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Allen Goodyear, the squadron sergeant major for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, signals for an F-35B Lightning II to take off from the flight deck of the USS Essex (LHD-2) during Exercise Dawn Blitz. US Marine Corps Photo

CAPITOL HILL – A move to a continuous upgrade system for the Joint Strike Fighter software will help pilots deploy with the latest and greatest warfighting capabilities, but the move is costing...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/11/f-35-software-upgrade-program-will-field-capabilities-sooner-but-delay-purchase-of-new-fighters

Navy Fighter Readiness Nearing 80 Percent Mission Capable Target

Cmdr. Leslie Mintz, executive officer of the “Blacklions” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 213, inspects an F/A-18F Super Hornet prior to her flight on board Naval Air Station Oceana, Va.. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL – The Navy now boasts its Super Hornet fleet is routinely 63 to 75 percent mission capable, a significant jump from the fall when the Navy struggled to keep half of its F-18s ready to fly.

In September, then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis issued a memo to the service secretaries...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/05/42436

Navy Rules Out Suspected Physiological Episodes Cause While Super Hornet Rates Grow in 2019

F/A-18E Super Hornets from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136 “Knighthawks” fly in formation during a photo exercise over Calif., on March 12, 2019. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL — The Navy has ruled out breathing air contamination as a cause of physiological episodes, but a complex set of conditions – including both cabin pressure issues and human factors – has led to the rates of pilots experiencing PEs this current fiscal year being back on the rise.

Though the service has not yet pinpointed a...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/04/navy-rules-out-contamination-as-physiological-episodes-cause-focused-on-air-pressure-as-super-hornet-rates-still-high

Navy’s Next-Generation Fighter Analysis Due Out this Summer

An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the “Tomcatters” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 31 launches from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on June 9, 2017. US Navy Photo

CAPITOL HILL — Just as the first Block III F/A-18E/F Super Hornets are rolling off the Boeing production line, the Navy is launching a new plan for what comes next, senior aviators told lawmakers Thursday.

The Navy is finalizing its analysis of alternatives (AOA), due within the next two month, Rear Adm. Scott...

https://news.usni.org/2019/04/04/42424

Navy’s COD Transition from C-2A to CMV-22B Accelerated; First V-22 Deployment Set for 2021

Concept art of the CMV-22 follow-on carrier onboard delivery aircraft. Boeing Image

The Navy has accelerated the sunset of its legacy C-2A Greyhound cargo airplanes and the transition to the CMV-22B Osprey, with the new tiltrotor aircraft now set to deliver in Fiscal Year 2020 and deploy in 2021.

The variant of the Marines’ MV-22B Osprey leverages a hot production line and will be able to go through a shorter testing process due to being so similar to an in-use aircraft. In fact, a contract...

https://news.usni.org/2018/10/01/navys-cod-transition-c-2a-cmv-22b-accelerated-first-v-22-deployment-set-2021