Navy

The lead ship in the Navy's new class of aircraft carriers is slated to conduct command and control exercises with a Nimitz-class carrier, as the Gerald Ford (CVN-78) continues working through its post-delivery test and trials period.

Several Senate Democrats are criticizing the Defense Department for spending too little, too slowly to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Pentagon says it intends to send lawmakers a plan today for  using the $10.6 billion in coronavirus relief funds Congress provided in March.

The Navy’s Philadelphia-based surface warfare center is planning to issue a solicitation in August to partner with a consortium capable of providing a range of different technologies for "maritime sustainment."

The National Nuclear Security Administration will deliver to Congress a final report examining recent technical issues associated with the B61-12 and W88 Alteration 370 modernization programs in the coming months.

Final testing in the current phase of the competition to design the Next Generation Jammer-Low Band began recently at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, according to the Navy, a key development in the race between L3Harris and Northrop Grumman for the multibillion-dollar airborne electronic attack modernization project.

As Congress debates whether the Pentagon needs more money to cope with the coronavirus outbreak, Huntington Ingalls Industries' chief financial officer said the Defense Department will certainly need additional funding to cover the increased costs of delayed programs -- even if it opts not to help contractors.

The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program office is seeking ideas for technical enhancements to the vehicle's engine "that can be integrated without significantly altering the design or performance level of the current platform" to inform the JLTV family of vehicles follow-on contract, according to an industry notice.

Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's chief technology officer, said he is concerned that weapon system research and development spending will soon be squeezed as the federal deficit mounts in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak and pressure grows to rein in federal spending -- a view he said should come as no surprise to anyone.

Without fanfare, the Missile Defense Agency in late January posted on the front page of its public website a new organizational chart that marked the culmination of a project last year to retool bureaucratic structures to now account for a wider array of challenges to U.S. forces, allies and the homeland.