U.S. Navy News

The Corps’ Force Design 2030 represents a thinking shift for the Corps as it looks toward future threats likely to involve a clear need for amphibious, multi domain operations with vast expanses of ocean, islands and coastal areas.

“The EPF is designed to transport 600 short tons of military cargo 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots in Sea State 3.”

Early conceptual and computer simulation work on the Glide Phase Interceptor is being done in coordination with an emerging technology called Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HTBSS).

The massive expansion of drones is consistent with the Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations strategy which calls for a highly networked, force of manned and unmanned systems.

The Navy’s emerging fleet of undersea drones ranges from small semi-autonomous mine-hunting undersea drones up to the “Extra”-large Diameter Unmanned Undersea vehicles (XLDUUV) which are submarine-like and potentially armed with torpedoes.

Clearly a big part of the impetus here is to close a submarine gap with China.

The flashpoints for potential conflict are numerous, ranging from Chinese-Japanese disputes over the Senkaku Islands to Chinese pressure on Taiwan to a possible clash in the South China Sea.

A close reading of the text would clearly seem to suggest that 6th-generation stealth fighter aircraft may well launch from carriers much like the F-35C.

Flight III destroyers are engineered to ensure the US Navy fleet stays in front of the competition as the world threat equation evolves and China continues to quickly build a new fleet of high-tech Type 055 semi-stealthy destroyers.

The largest factor in this decision may well pertain to China.

The mixture of manned and unmanned platforms aligns fully with the Navy’s rapid development of a new fleet drone vessels to include Unmanned Surface Vehicles, Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicles and Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles.

“Fire Scout is the Navy’s only unmanned helicopter with the ability to deploy from a ship or land with ISR&T at the extended range required for future warfighting,”

The Navy and its industry partners are sharpening focus on its larger, more-capable successor ... the MQ-8C Fire Scout variant.

SINKEX featured a tightly synchronized sequence of live-fire events, demonstrating the joint forces' capability to deliver fires and effects in the maritime environment.

The USS Chesapeake (FFG 64) will be tasked with destroying small swarming boat attacks, supporting carrier strike groups and attacking enemies with over-the-horizon missiles.

Expeditionary Sea Base ships can function as command and control hubs or motherships in position to dispatch small, high-speed attack units or even launch drones.

The DDG X Destroyer Warship envisions two 600kw lasers firing from the back of the ship, Rolling Airframe Missiles and the powerful long-range radar, the A/N SPY 6 v1 system.

The Pentagon explains its now emerging Columbia-class submarines are the number 1 acquisition priority across the DoD

Looking at the ship’s exterior, there are very few observable sensors, weapons, antenna or other structures, something which aligns with engineering techniques used to build stealth aircraft.

The exercises, which included US units from Commander, Destroyer Squadron 15 (DESRON) and Japan’s JS Teruzuki, sought to solidify the US-Japanese deterrence posture in the Pacific theater

Block IV Virginia-class submarines are an interesting bridge between the massively upgraded Block III boats and the in development Block V Virginia Payload Modules boats

The Army plans to field its ground-mobile Long Range Hypersonic Weapon by 2023 and the Navy says its on track to deploy its Conventional Prompt Strike on destroyers by 2025.

A Warrior Maven Exclusive Interview with Industry Experts: David Forster, Chairman, Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition & Rick Giannini, Chairman, Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition

The Constellation will come in at 496 feet and displace 7,300 tons. The frigate’s size and weight are, by design, intended to fit between littoral combat ships and DDG 51 destroyers