Virginia Payload Module

SECNAV: New Virginia Attack Boat Contracts Still Stalled Over Missile Insurance Issue; Lockheed, Northrop Clear SHypersonic Deal with Navy

Rendering of Block V Virginia-class submarine with Virginia Payload Module. General Dynamics Electric Boat Image

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy and General Dynamics are still at an impasse over an insurance spat that has resulted in the 11-month delay to contracts for two Virginia-class attack submarines, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told USNI News on Wednesday.

The service and the submarine builder disagree on the share of responsibility in the event of an accident occurring either during...

https://news.usni.org/2023/01/11/secnav-new-virginia-attack-boat-contracts-still-stalled-over-missile-insurance-issue-lockheed-northrop-clear-shypersonic-deal-with-navy

Virginia Attack Boat Program Stalled Over Tomahawk, Hypersonic Missile Insurance Rift

Rendering of Block V Virginia-class submarine with Virginia Payload Module. General Dynamics Electric Boat Image

THE PENTAGON — Advanced procurement contracts for two of the Navy’s Block V Virginia-class attack submarines have been stalled for 10 months due to an impasse between the service and its lead submarine builder over insurance related to Tomahawk missiles and future hypersonic weapons, USNI News has learned.

General Dynamics and the Navy are split over which organization should be...

https://news.usni.org/2022/12/15/virginia-attack-boat-program-stalled-over-tomahawk-hypersonic-missile-insurance-rift

CNO: Navy Will Lead DDG(X) Design Effort, Wargames Call for Fewer Large Surface Warships

Notional Navy DDG(X) hull design. PEO Ships Image

The design of the next American guided-missile destroyer will be led by the Navy in move that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday says will reduce technical risk in the program.

The service brought in Ingalls Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to jointly develop DDG(X), the planned follow-on to the Arleigh Burke Flight III, but the Navy will firmly be driving the design, Gilday said speaking at the DefenseOne State of Defense...

https://news.usni.org/2022/09/14/cno-navy-will-lead-ddgx-design-effort-wargames-call-for-fewer-large-surface-warships

Senate, Navy Pushing for Bath Iron Works, Ingalls DDG(X) Destroyer Team Up

Notional Navy DDG(X) hull design. PEO Ships Image

The push to develop the Navy’s next-generation destroyer will be a team effort between General Dynamics Bath Iron Works and HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding if the Navy and the Senate Armed Services Committee have their way.

Instead of competing for the primary contract to build DDG(X), the service wants the two yards to take a page from the teaming agreement between General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding to design and...

https://news.usni.org/2022/07/21/senate-navy-pushing-for-bath-iron-works-ingalls-ddgx-destroyer-team-up

Joint Chiefs Vice Chair, STRATCOM CO Still In Favor of Navy Nuclear Cruise Missile

Navy Adm. Charles Richard, commander, U.S. Strategic Command provides testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in review of the fiscal 2023 budget on March 8, 2022. DoD Photo

The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Strategic Command’s top officer told a Senate panel Wednesday they favored continued development of the Navy’s low-yield Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear capability, despite last year’s guidance the program be abandoned and being zeroed out in next year’s budget.

Test...

https://news.usni.org/2022/05/05/joint-chiefs-vice-chair-stratcom-co-still-in-favor-of-navy-nuclear-cruise-missile

CNO Gilday: Navy Balancing New SSN(X) Attack Submarine Design Against Need For NGAD, DDG(X)

USS South Dakota (SSN-790) stand at parade rest during a change-of-command ceremony onboard Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn., Sept. 27, 2022. US Navy Photo

ABOARD THE NUCLEAR ATTACK SUBMARINE USS SOUTH DAKOTA – A banner over the sonar operators in the control room of one of the Navy’s most technologically advanced submarines declares the attack boat is the service’s “Apex Predator.”

The sign – complete with a portrait of the alien from the 1987 sci-fi adventure film “The Predator”...

Navy Unveils Next-Generation DDG(X) Warship Concept with Hypersonic Missiles, Lasers

Notional Navy DDG(X) hull design. PEO Ships Image

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy wants its next warship to fire hypersonic missiles and lasers that would be ten times more powerful than the service’s existing laser weapons, according to the most detailed outlook to date of the DDG(X) next generation warship issued by the service.

The warship, the largest the Navy’s attempted in more than 20 years, is designed to provide the service with the power to drive a new generation of directed energy weapons...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/12/navy-unveils-next-generation-ddgx-warship-concept-with-hypersonic-missiles-lasers

Lawmakers Question Navy’s Decision to Abandon Nuclear Cruise Missile

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley answer questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 10, 2021. DoD Photo

Pentagon leaders faced tough questions from lawmakers on the Navy’s decision to shelve the development of a sea-launched nuclear cruise missile during a Thursday budget hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Several Republican lawmakers voiced concerns about acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker’s plans to...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/10/lawmakers-question-navys-decision-to-abandon-nuclear-cruise-missile

SECNAV Memo: New Destroyer, Fighter or Sub: You Can Only Pick One; Cut Nuclear Cruise Missile

The Navy only has funds to develop follow-ons either the (top) F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, (middle) Arleigh Burke DDG-51guided-missile destroyer or (bottom) the Virginia-class submarine (SSN-774). Navy Images

The Navy only has enough money to develop either a new next-generation fighter, destroyer or submarine and will have to pick one platform to invest in, according to a recent memo obtained by USNI News.

In a memo dated June 4, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker called on the Navy to choose one...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/08/secnav-memo-new-destroyer-fighter-or-sub-you-can-only-pick-one-cut-nuclear-cruise-missile

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