Navy ‘Struggling’ to Modernize Aging Cruiser Fleet As Tight Budgets Push Pentagon to Shed Legacy Platforms

Guided-missile cruiser USS Hué City (CG-66) was inducted into the Cruiser Modernization program on Oct. 3, 2019. US Navy Photo

A plan to keep the Navy’s guided-missile cruiser fleet operating through the end of the 2030s is struggling as the ships show there’s a very real cost in time and money to keep old platforms around for the sake of having a larger fleet.

The Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers pack a punch with their 122 vertical launching system cells packed with guided missiles, but today...

Status Report: Navy Unmanned Aerial, Subsurface Platforms

The Navy wants to emphasize the development of enablers for unmanned systems – the common interfaces and control stations, the networks, the secure data formats, the autonomy behaviors – as it pursues a hybrid manned/unmanned fleet for the future.

However, the platforms still matter – and most of the ones the Navy wants to leverage in the coming years are still in development.

Several platforms were discussed during a recent House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee...

Lawmakers Question Who Will Shepherd Navy’s Future Unmanned Fleet

Maintainers from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) analyze diagnostics from the MQ-8C Fire Scout on the flight deck of the Independence variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) on June 21, 2018. US Navy photo.

When the Navy moved from a conventionally powered fleet to a nuclear one, Adm. Hyman Rickover oversaw the transitions for decades, remaining in uniform until the age of 82 as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” to ensure the sea service adopted the new technology in a precise...

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...

Navy to Field Early ‘Project Overmatch’ Battle Network on Theodore Roosevelt CSG in 2023

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) transits the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 18, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Navy envisions a future fleet with manned and unmanned ships, submarines and aircraft operating in a dispersed manner and collecting a ton of data to fill in a common operating picture – which operational commanders could then use to, if ever needed, have the best sensor platform send targeting data to the best shooter to attack an enemy. That entire vision, though, would require a robust network that...

Navy Testing Battle Management Aid on Aircraft Carrier

An F-35C Lightning II assigned to the “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) on Dec. 8, 2018. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s plans to test a Battle Management Aid on one of its aircraft carriers, as the service pursues a tactical data network to link up its sensors and weapons.

After years of working on the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air (NIFC-CA) network, the Navy this...

https://news.usni.org/2020/11/26/navy-testing-battle-management-aid-on-aircraft-carrier

After 9 Months of Study, Pentagon’s Fleet Architecture Similar to Original Navy Plan

Defense Secretary Mark Esper tours the avenger class minesweeper USS Devastator, docked at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on Oct. 28, 2020. DoD Photo

At the beginning of the year, the Navy and Marine Corps sent a new fleet plan to Pentagon leaders that called for relying on smaller ships and unmanned vessels to meet future missions and defeat future adversaries. The Pentagon rejected the plan.

Nine-months later, Pentagon leaders reached the same conclusion: the Navy needed to be more distributed...

https://news.usni.org/2020/11/04/after-9-months-of-study-pentagons-fleet-architecture-similar-to-original-navy-plan

Navy’s ‘Project Overmatch’ Structure Aims to Accelerate Creating Naval Battle Network

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) steams in the Gulf of Oman at night on Sept. 8, 2020. Sterett is part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group and is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. US Navy photo.

As the Navy pursues a blueprint for its tactical data network to connect weapons and sensors across the battlefield, the service hopes the structure of its Project Overmatch initiative will help develop requirements for the new effort.

Speaking at a...

Navy Focused on Strengthening Networks to Support Unmanned Operations

Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) Sailors Aviation Machinist’s Mate Second Class Salvatore Green, left, and Aviation Electronics Technician Third Class Jake Price prepare the MC-8C Fire Scout to launch from the Independence variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS-4) on June 21, 2018. VX-1 Sailors embarked Coronado to conduct the first comprehensive Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) for the MQ-8C Fire Scout, the Navy’s newest unmanned helicopter. US Navy photo.

As the...

https://news.usni.org/2020/10/27/navy-focused-on-strengthening-networks-to-support-unmanned-operations