Navy

The Navy last month transferred administrative control of the trimaran Sea Hunter -- an experimental prototype medium unmanned surface vehicle that helped launch plans for a fleet of medium and large USVs -- from the Office of Naval Research to Surface Development Command One, on behalf of the Unmanned Maritime Systems program office (PMS-406).

An influential Pentagon advisory panel is launching a new study to investigate potential new dimensions of conflict that China and Russia might employ to impose their will on other states beyond conventional military force, and seeks recommendations for a modernization blueprint that, in turn, puts the U.S. military at the vanguard of innovating new forms of conflict.

Defense industry advocates say they expect a busy year as the Pentagon takes up new measures, such as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. However, the coming election could add some uncertainty.

The Air Force this week is spearheading a project with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and industry entrepreneurs to emulate the kind of rapid software and hardware development pioneered by Silicon Valley start-ups in a bid to incubate Joint All Domain Command and Control -- an envisioned technical backbone to link sensors and shooters across air, land and sea.

Congressional appropriators want to allow the Navy to source certain ship components from foreign vendors for the service's new frigate, but have set a time line for when those parts must be domestically produced.

The compromise fiscal year 2020 defense spending bill includes $100 million for the Pentagon to establish a Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, marking a win for Indiana lawmakers who have pushed for the office to oversee a university consortium tasked with accelerating the development of hypersonic technologies and systems.

Congress is poised to vote on a $1.37 trillion appropriations deal this week for fiscal year 2020 that jettisons Democrats' earlier efforts to restrict the Pentagon's ability to reprogram funding, a measure intended to deter President Trump from again unilaterally transferring money meant for military construction and other defense priorities to build barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who has promised major reforms and bold investments, recently said he will soon order U.S. troops be moved from locations of "low-intensity conflict" to areas of "great power competition" in line with the National Defense Strategy, which calls for pivoting away from the Middle East and toward China and Russia.

Huntington Ingalls Industries has been the target of criticism because of delays with weapons elevators on the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford (CVN-78), but the company’s chief executive said the blowback illustrates the challenge the country faces in managing program risks.