The Navy will include 22 additional EA-18G Growler aircraft as well as the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the aircraft carrier George Washington (CVN-73), among other priorities, in a fiscal year 2015 unfunded priority list it plans to send to Congress soon, the service has confirmed.
Ships & Submarines
March 14, 2014
The Navy will not meet its $4.9 billion cost target for the Ohio-class replacement submarine if the program's contracting strategy is not in sync with the Virginia-class program, according to a service official.
March 14, 2014
The Navy is reviewing additional payloads for the Virginia Payload Module other than the required Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and anticipates wrapping up the studies in April, according to a service official.
March 14, 2014
The Navy would need an additional $7 billion from fiscal years 2015 through 2019 in order to keep 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the fleet, money that would pay to refuel, man, operate and maintain the George Washington (CVN-73) and to procure some of the MH-60R Seahawk multimission helicopters in its air wing.
March 14, 2014
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week outlined new details of the service's plan to "lay up" 11 of its 22 guided missile cruisers, telling reporters on Capitol Hill that the vessels will go into the shipyard "all at once" for a hull mechanical and electrical upgrade as well as a combat system upgrade.
March 14, 2014
The Navy today awarded two separate contract modifications to Huntington Ingalls Industries and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works to fund an additional fiscal year 2014 DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, exercising the option to fund this 10th ship in the program's previously awarded multiyear procurement contract.
March 7, 2014
A Connecticut lawmaker is looking to use the 2015 defense authorization bill to drive forward the argument that the Navy's multibillion-dollar Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement program receive funding from outside of the service's shipbuilding budget because it is a national strategic platform.
March 7, 2014
The Navy is analyzing the details of the planned phased maintenance of 11 cruisers, Rear Adm. William Lescher told reporters during a March 4 briefing at the Pentagon, following Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's announcement last month that the vessels would be laid up.
March 7, 2014
Prompted by a January memo from the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, the Navy has imposed a six-month delay on an operational assessment for its Remote Mine Hunting System, integral to the Littoral Combat Ship's mine countermeasures mission package, Inside the Navy has learned.
March 5, 2014
In a testy exchange with lawmakers on Capitol Hill today, U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Samuel Locklear defended the Navy's need for a fleet of 11 nuclear aircraft carriers.
March 4, 2014
The Navy's fiscal year 2015 budget proposal is $15 billion below the level forecast in last year's budget submission, with the cuts falling heaviest in aircraft and weapons procurement programs, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, P-8A Poseidon Maritime Surveillance aircraft, the CH-53K heavy lift helicopter and the Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile, according to details the service released today.
February 28, 2014
The Navy, which has been tasked by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to halt contracting negotiations for the Littoral Combat Ship program beyond 32 ships and to submit proposals for a future lethal small surface combatant, is characterizing these hurdles as a simple and routine pause in a procurement program.
February 28, 2014
The Coast Guard's national security cutter, built by Huntington Ingalls Industries, could potentially fit the requirements of a future surface combatant, HII president and chief executive officer said last week.
February 28, 2014
Despite indications that such discussions have gone nowhere, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week argued that there should be a national debate about funding the Ohio-class replacement ballistic missile submarine outside of the Navy's shipbuilding budget.
February 28, 2014
The Office of Naval Research and the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab are working to develop an innovative captive air-cell technology for use on a possible future landing craft.
February 28, 2014
The chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee took a strong stance last week against the Obama administration's plan to take 11 of the Navy's 22 cruisers out of the fleet for modernization in order to save money.
February 25, 2014
The Navy's plans to perform an overhaul on the aircraft carrier George Washington (CVN-73) are tied to sequestration cuts and the ship's fate will be reflected in the fiscal year 2016 budget, a top service official said today.
February 21, 2014
The debate over whether the Navy will be able to maintain its fleet of 11 nuclear aircraft carriers continues as the Pentagon prepares for its fiscal year 2015 budget roll-out, but cutting the fleet to 10 carriers would certainly have an impact on the industrial base, according to a top Navy official.
February 21, 2014
The Navy is pushing back on reliability criticisms of its new Ford-class aircraft carrier identified in a recent report from the Pentagon's top weapons tester, noting that the methodology of the report cannot conclusively project reliability.
February 21, 2014
The Navy anticipates awarding the largest planned shipbuilding contract in history, the Virginia-class submarine Block IV contract, worth an estimated $30 billion, before April 15, according to a service official.