Navy

The Democrat-led House Appropriations defense subcommittee, still smarting from the Pentagon's recent unilateral budget transfers to build barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border, has drafted a bill that would reduce and restrict the Pentagon’s future ability to reprogram funds.

The Defense Department is looking to enhance information sharing on counter-unmanned aerial system solutions by holding monthly meetings between combatant commanders and service representatives in Pentagon headquarters, with a current emphasis on Afghanistan and Iraq.

A government watchdog is warning of future cost cap breaches in the Navy's Gerald Ford-class aircraft carriers despite the service's efforts to increase construction efficiencies and strike a multiship buy estimated to save $4 billion.

The Marine Corps is "actively experimenting" with unmanned systems, planning to utilize them in an exercise this summer on the East Coast.

The Navy's addition of a third Virginia-class submarine in the fiscal year 2020 budget request is intended to signal its commitment and give contractors time to prepare for an increased production cadence in future years, according to the program manager.

Inspections of critical vendors for the Columbia-class submarine program, born out of welding problems discovered last summer, will continue "in perpetuity," according to the program manager.

The Pentagon had fewer major weapon systems in its acquisition portfolio in 2018 than the previous year, but costs still increased by $8 billion, sparking concern at the Government Accountability Office, which notes many defense contracts are being awarded without competition to a relatively small set of companies.

The Defense Department is requesting congressional authority to award economic order quantity contracts for F-35 production lots 15 through 17 and is still determining whether to pursue a multi-year deal for those aircraft.

Despite an abrupt reversal on plans to retire the aircraft carrier Harry Truman (CVN-75), the program manager responsible for a large portfolio targeted for investment in lieu of the ship's midlife refueling said he's "optimistic" the Navy will not cut his funding.