United States Navy (USN) : News & Discussions

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Navy IDs Aviator Killed in E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Crash Near Wallops Island​

The Navy has identified the sailor killed in a Wednesday crash of an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye on Chincoteague Island, Va., just south of the Maryland border, the service announced on Friday.

Lt. Hyrum Hanlon, assigned to the “Greyhawks” of Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 120, was one of three sailors aboard the Advanced Hawkeye when it went down after operating near the Navy and NASA base at Wallops Island, Va., at 7:30 P.M.

The two other sailors were rescued from the wreck by Maryland State Police, the Navy said earlier this week. Richmond station WRIC said the two surviving crew members suffered broken legs.

“Two crew members were found injured on the top of the partially submerged wreckage. They were rescued and transported to the Wallops Flight Facility airport. Both were then transported to Tidal Health Hospital in Salisbury with non life threatening injuries,” reported Shore Daily News.

Hanlon commissioned in 2017 from the ROTC program at Arizona State University, according to his releasable bio provided to USNI News. He joined VAW-120 in June after serving in training commands in Florida and Texas.

“It takes a courageous and patriotic person to devote their life to the selflessness of serving in the armed forces,” said VAW-120 commander Cmdr. Martin Fentress.
“Hyrum embodied those characteristics and will be truly missed by his family and the Hawkeye community.”

The aircraft was partially submerged near Wildcat Marsh on the north part of Chincoteague and the Navy and local authorities are in the process of salvaging the aircraft.

“The U.S. Navy continues to coordinate with state and local officials on the salvage planning efforts of the E-2D aircraft. The health and safety of the local community is a top priority during recovery efforts; overflight aircraft confirmed no pollution or discharge of fuel in the area. Salvage operations are expected to proceed in accordance with standard procedure,” reads a Friday statement from Naval Air Force Atlantic.

The cause of the mishap is under investigation.
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Rest in peace.
 
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The US Navy will use the French-designed Thales CAPTAS-4 sonar system on the Constellation-class frigates, instead of the Raytheon AN/SQS-62.


 

Navy’s new shipbuilding plan offers three paths to Congress

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s new long-range shipbuilding plan this year presents lawmakers with three potential procurement profiles for how the service could build the future fleet, depending on the funding Congress provides.


The document, which Breaking Defense obtained ahead of its public release, provides two procurement profiles that assume no real growth in the service’s budget, while a third alternative includes up to “$75B real growth beyond” the next five years.


“Evolving operational concepts and rapid technological changes make single-point predictions after approximately 10 years unreliable,” the service writes in explaining their choices. “Accordingly, [the shipbuilding plan] highlights a potential range of options for key fleet platforms beyond 10 years.”



The Navy’s decision to present multiple procurement files is in contrast to previous shipbuilding plans, which outlined a single profile the service had selected as its chosen path.


“Without real budget growth, the two low range options achieve 305-307 manned ships in FY2035, and ultimately 318-322 manned ships in FY2045,” according to the document. “The higher range achieves 326 manned ships in the mid-2030s, and ultimately 363 manned ships in FY2045.” A brief footnote in the document states, “the ability of the industrial base to support [the profile including real growth in the budget] has not been independently assessed.”


The document also lays out the service’s arguments for decommissioning numerous additional in-service ships beyond planned reductions from previous years.


Regarding five guided missile cruisers, the service writes the once “premier air defense command and control platforms” now average 35 years old and would give “little return on investment” by continuing to maintain them.



“The ships have a large vertical launch capacity; however, the substantial cost of repairing the poor material condition of these ships due to their age, and ongoing concerns with overall legacy sensor, and [hull, mechanical and electrical ] system reliability, outweighs the potential warfighting contributions of these platforms over their limited remaining service life,” according to the report.


The service in recent years has made several attempts to decommission its cruiser fleet ahead of schedule, and it has been consistently met with resistance from lawmakers.


As Breaking Defense previously reported, the service is seeking to retire nine Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships and intends to eliminate the anti-submarine warfare mission package for LCS.


“Eight Freedom-class ships are planned for decommissioning in FY2023 which correlate with the eight ASW MPs,” according to the shipbuilding plan. “LCS-3 is also decommissioned as it remains a non-deploying test ship that is no longer needed given the termination of the ASW MP.”


Concerning the four dock landing ships up for decommissioning, the Navy writes the vessels are in “poor material condition due to their age and require significant resources to continue to maintain and operate.”
 

Navy Puts Forth 9-ship Multi-Year Deal for Arleigh Burke Destroyers​

The Navy is pursuing a nine-ship multi-year procurement plan for its next batch of Arleigh Burke Flight III destroyers, according to service budget documents.

While the current proposal is to buy nine destroyers, the Navy has the option to purchase an additional ship to make it a 10-ship buy across the five-year spending plan.

“The Navy is requesting authority to award Multi-year procurement (MYP) contracts for FY 2023 – FY 2027 for nine ships. The FY2023 budget also includes one option ship for a total procurement profile of 10 ships in FY 2023 – FY 2027,” the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget documents read. “The FY 2023 budget request reflects estimated savings for nine firm ships associated with [economic order quantity] procurement and an MYP strategy.”

The service’s Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) shows the Navy buying two destroyers per year from FY 2023 through FY 2027, amounting to 10 ships.

But Republican lawmakers may push for a third destroyer in the FY 2023 defense policy bill, a legislative source told USNI News. Should that plan move forward, lawmakers would want the Navy to buy 11 ships in the multi-year procurement, USNI News understands.

Rear Adm. Paul Schlise, the Navy’s top surface warfare requirements office (OPNAV N96), has said he is committed to buying two large surface combatants per year to help the service move from the Flight III Arleigh Burkes to its next-generation destroyer, or DDG(X).

The Navy is seeking $49.7 million in research and development money for DDG(X) concept development in FY 2023, according to the budget documents. The service is also asking for another $176.6 million to create an Integrated Power and Energy System Test Facility at Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division so the Navy can use a land-based testing site for the DDG(X) propulsion system as it works on the ship design.

“DDG(X) will integrate non-developmental systems into a new hull design that incorporates platform flexibility and the space, weight, power and cooling (SWAP-C) to meet future combatant force capability/system requirements that are not achievable without the new hull design,” according to the documents. “The DDG(X) platform will have the flexibility to rapidly and affordably upgrade to future warfighting systems when they become available as well as have improved range and fuel efficiency for increased operational flexibility and decreased demand on the logistics force.”

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, argued earlier this year that the service needs to buy two large surface combatants per year for the next decade as a cushion while the Navy develops DDG(X).

“What I propose is the department should commit to funding two large surface combatants a year for – let’s say 10 years – during which the transition from Flight III … to DDG(X) occurs,” Gallagher said at a January conference. “Congress in turn will commit to fully funding the DDG(X) program and from there, the Navy will need to provide a plan to both Congress and industry to move forward from two Flight IIIs per year to two DDG(X)s per year over a three to five year transition. I know that the next-gen DDG won’t be online for a 2020s fight, but my point here is you can build a battle force 2025 without neglecting our longer term modernization priorities.”

The new multi-year procurement plan for more Flight IIIs would also follow the previous multi-year, in which the Navy bought two ships per year between FY 2018 and FY 2022.

Former acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker first disclosed plans to pursue another multi-year procurement for the destroyers last summer during hearings over the FY 2022 budget proposal. At the time, the Navy only sought one destroyer despite a contract to buy two that year to finish that last multi-year procurement contract. Congress added the second destroyer back in when it wrote the FY 2022 defense spending and policy bills.
 
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The U.S. Navy has confirmed that the three stealthy DDG 1000 Zumwalt destroyers’ inactive and never-fired 155mm Advanced Gun Systems (AGS) will be removed for the installation of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile vertical launch tubes in their places.
I would not have parked that there at this time.