U.S. Navy

First SEWIP Block 3 Electronic Attack System Set for Land Testing Later This Year

AN/SLQ-32(V)7 Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program Block 3 array in 2019. Northrop Grumman Photo

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. – With limited and costly ways for a surface warship to physically take out an incoming anti-ship missile, the Navy has been pursuing more ways a warship could use the power of electronic spectrum to splash threats.
To that end, the first array of a massive update of the Navy’s surface electronic warfare systems is preparing for its ground tests later this year. The...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/17/first-sewip-block-3-electronic-attack-system-set-for-land-testing-later-this-year

Submarine Sailor Dies by Apparent Suicide at Pearl Harbor Shipyard

USS Jefferson City (SSN-759) departs Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard after completing an engineering overhaul to prolong the life of the submarine. US Navy Photo

A Navy sailor died by an apparent suicide on Monday at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, the service announced.

The sailor died “from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound” onboard a submarine in the shipyard, the Navy said in a news release.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service will lead an inquiry, the service said.

“We are deeply...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/17/submarine-sailor-dies-by-apparent-suicide-at-pearl-harbor-shipyard

Dual Letters From Congress Signal Hill Headed for Defense Spending Showdown

NASA Photo

A debate between lawmakers over defense spending is brewing, as a group of progressive House members push for cuts to the defense budget while others argue for a boost to shipbuilding.

In a March 16 letter to President Joe Biden, 50 Democratic members of Congress argued for a decreased budget for the Defense Department.

“Recent reporting indicates that your first budget request to Congress will recommend the same level of Pentagon spending as the last fiscal year. While we are heartened...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/dual-letters-from-congress-signal-hill-headed-for-defense-spending-showdown

Navy, Marines Unveil How They Will Buy and Operate Future Pilotless Aircraft and Crewless Ships

Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class Samantha Stluka, left, and Aviation Electrician 2nd Class Wyatt Cutchen, both assigned to the “Wildcards” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, perform maintenance on a MQ-8B unmanned helicopter on the flight deck of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), May 14, 2020. US Navy photo.

The sea services see themselves moving toward a future where they are just as likely to perform a mission with an unmanned platform as...

Luria: Navy Should Not Decommission Ships Early in Favor of New Construction

Guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal (CG-73) transits the Strait of Hormuz, Feb. 8, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

Decommissioning ships that have viable service life at a faster rate than industry can build new ones is not how the Navy should grow the fleet, the vice chairwoman of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday.

Speaking at a Hudson Institute online forum, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said “the math doesn’t work” for the Navy to potentially decommission any ships early.

“I don’t see...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/luria-navy-should-not-decommission-ships-early-in-favor-of-new-construction

Document: Department of the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework

The following is the March 16, 2021, Department of the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework.

From the report

The National Defense Strategy (NDS) defines “the central challenge to U.S. prosperity and security as the reemergence of long-term, strategic competition” posed by Russia and China. It emphasizes that, “America’s military has no preordained right to victory on the battlefield.” The developing abilities of nearpeer competitors drive the need for increased Naval capability distributed over a...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/document-department-of-the-navy-unmanned-campaign-framework

SOUTHCOM’s Faller: China Used Pandemic to Expand ‘Corrosive, Insidious Influence’ in Central, South America, U.S. Influence ‘Eroding’  

Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, visited troops assigned to Joint Task Force-Bravo in Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras on Dec. 11, 2020. US Army Photo

China has used the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly expand its “corrosive, insidious influence” – from money laundering for transnational gangsters to using its own ships to illegally fish protected waters and benefit from illegal logging and mining – “in our neighborhood,” U.S. Southern Command’s top officer said Tuesday.

“I can’t...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/southcoms-faller-china-used-pandemic-to-expand-corrosive-insidious-influence-in-central-south-america-u-s-influence-eroding

Mississippi, Maine Congressional Delegation Letter to Pentagon Leadership on Shipbuilding

The following is the March 15, 2021 letter from the Maine and Mississippi congressional delegation to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Navy shipbuilding. The two naval shipyards that build large surface warships are in Maine and Mississippi.

March 15, 2021

Dear Secretary Austin and Deputy Secretary Hicks:

Congratulations to you both for your recent confirmations to assume the leadership of th Department of Defense (DOD). We write to express our strong...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/16/mississippi-maine-congressional-delegation-letter-to-pentagon-leadership-on-shipbuilding

Panel: ‘Navy Has Done Itself a Major Favor’ in Releasing Thresher Investigation

USS Thresher (SSN-593) in 1961. US Navy History and Heritage Command photo

The rolling release of a previously secret report and investigation of the 1963 loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593), the Navy’s worst submarine disaster, is providing new lessons for today’s sailors and shipbuilders, said the former submarine commander who brought suit to declassify the documents.

Now that the documents are declassified, submarine safety instructors, “can take it home, read it and take it into the classroom,”...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/15/panel-navy-has-done-itself-a-major-favor-in-releasing-thresher-investigation

Schultz: Coast Guard Units Remain in High Demand as Forces Stretches to Meet Needs

Adm. Karl Schultz, the commandant of the Coast Guard, speaks during the 2021 State of the Coast Guard Address in San Diego March 11, 2021. US Coast Guard Photo

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Coast Guard remains in big demand at home and overseas as it continues to modernize the service and develop its force, the service’s top officer said in an annual address last week.

Speaking Thursday in a hangar in San Diego for his third “State of the Coast Guard” address, Adm. Karl Schultz went over operations and...

https://news.usni.org/2021/03/15/schultz-coast-guard-units-remain-in-high-demand-as-forces-stretches-to-meet-needs

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