Navy

Fly Triton! US Navy’s new BAMS aircraft makes first flight

By Christopher P. Cavas in Acquisition, Aircraft, Drones, Navy No Comments

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An MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System — previously known as the Broad Area Maritime System (BAMS) — took to the air for the first time Wednesday, completing an 80-minute flight around southern California.

The aircraft, developed from Northrop Grumman’ s Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system, reached an altitude of 20,000 feet during the flight in restricted airspace near Palmdale, Calif., according to a press release from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

The event marked the start of several months of flight tests in California. This fall, the aircraft will move to the Navy’s aircraft test facility at Patuxent River, Md., where several BAMS-D demonstrator aircraft have been flying.

The aircraft is expected to reach its initial operational capability in 2016.

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The Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft seen during its first flight on May 22. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Bob Brown)

The MQ-4C Triton aircraft comes in to land at Northrop Grumman facility in Palmdale, Calif., on May 22, completing its first flight. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman photo by Alex Evers)

The Triton just before touching down May 22 at Northrop's manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Daniel Perales)

Two Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAVs on the tarmac at a Northrop Grumman test facility in Palmdale, Calif. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Chad Slattery)

Two Triton UAVs at Palmdale on May 21. The two-tone paint scheme is intended to keep the aircraft cooler in hot temperatures. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman by Chad Slattery)

HASC Subcommittees to Kick Off 2014 NDAA Sausage-Making

By John T. Bennett in Acquisition, Air Force, Army, Budget, Capitol Hill, DIA, DoD, Drones, F-35, Industry, Intelligence, Intercepts, Navy, New Tech, Policy, Sequestration, Shipbuilding, Space No Comments

Military officers wait for members to arrive for a House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee hearing on Feb. 28. The same room will host multiple HASC subpanels as they build their parts of 2014 Pentagon policy legislation. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images)

It’s that time again: National defense authorization act season. (Just loosen your tie and take a deep breath, nervous defense wonk, Intercepts is mildly confident your program is going to survive. Probably.)

Following long-held custom, the House Armed Services Committee kicks things off this week with a series of subcommittee mark ups as the panel begins building its 2014 Pentagon policy bill.

The subcommittees should give defense wonks a look at their initial bills as soon as today (Tuesday), before each issue-specific subpanel makes changes on Wednesday or Thursday. As we reported May 6 in our defense authorization preview, armed drones, base closures and what to do about sequestration will be top-shelf issues.

Though not specifically the purview of Defense News readers, add to the top-issue list the sexual assault epidemic that’s plaguing the military. Full subcommittee-by-subcommittee schedule, after the jump. More

First Vertical Takeoff by the F-35B Marine Corps JSF

By Christopher P. Cavas in Acquisition, F-35, Intercepts, Marine Corps, Navy No Comments

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Who needs short-takeoff when you can just rise straight up into the sky?

The latest development with the F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) version of the Joint Strike Fighter took place May 10 when BF-01 performed the first-ever vertical takeoff by one of the test and evaluation aircraft.

The flight took place at the U.S. Navy’ s naval air test station in Patuxent River, Maryland.

The Marine Corps doesn’t intend for the aircraft to regularly takeoff vertically on operational missions. According to a Lockheed Martin press release, “VTOs are required for repositioning of the STOVL in environments where a jet could not perform a short takeoff.  In these cases, the jet, with a limited amount of fuel, would execute a VTO to travel a short distance.”

New Ship News

By Christopher P. Cavas in Coast Guard, Intercepts, Navy, Shipbuilding No Comments

First MLP Delivered

Design of the Montford Point, seen at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, is based on a commercial tanker also built at NASSCO. (Photo courtesy NASSCO)

The first mobile landing platform ship, USNS Montford Point (MLP 1), was delivered to the U.S. Navy May 14 in San Diego, not quite two years since construction was ordered from the General Dynamics-National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO).

The enormous, 83,000-ton, 785-foot-long ship however, is not yet complete. It will move up the west coast to Portland, Ore., where Vigor Marine will install the core capabilities set, a series of fittings and modules that will enable it to load and unload vehicles, moor small ships alongside, and transfer gear between other large ships.

A second ship, the John Glenn (MLP 2), is under construction at NASSCO.

Pending Congressional approval, the Navy plans to have the Lewis B. Puller, initially ordered as the third MLP, completed as an afloat forward staging base, a major modification which would include a large flight deck, hangar, and accommodations for several hundred troops.

The MLPs will be operated by the Military Sealift Command.  More

Parade Magazine Can’t Say “Navy” on the Cover?

By Christopher P. Cavas in Navy 3 Comments

 And what’s with the German battleship?

Sunday mornings reading Parade magazine has been a favorite pastime of mine for more years than I care to mention. Even though Walter Scott is long gone, I still keep the habit of ripping open the newspaper’s Sunday supplement package and going straight to Parade.

This morning’s May 19 issue doesn’t feature a hot actress or a feature on what people earn. Refreshingly, it features a senior chief petty officer of the United States Navy, Derrick Davenport — named Chef of the Year by the Pentagon — and uses him to highlight the impressive renaissance of turning military chow into something that legitimately aspires to be called cuisine.

But the headline, “How Do You Feed An Army?” didn’t reference senior chief culinary specialist (SS)’s naval service. And when I turned to the story beginning on page 7, there was a nice headline, “Top Gun Chef,” surrounded by cool graphics of naval things and kitchen implements.  More

An American Warship In Israel

By Christopher P. Cavas in Intercepts, International, Israel, Marine Corps, Navy, Operations No Comments

Tourism Trumps Terror in the Gulf of Aqaba, Where Israel and Jordan Vie for Visits from US Warships

The amphibious assault ship USS KEARSARGE berthed at the commercial port in Eilat, Israel on May 15. The Jordanian shore is visible across the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. (photo by Barbara Opall-Rome)

By BARBARA OPALL-ROME

EILAT, Israel — Old Glory waves alongside Harrier jump jets on the aft deck of the USS Kearsarge docked just a short distance below my rooftop apartment in the Red Sea port town of Eilat. On the other side of this flagship of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, hosting the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on an 8-month deployment in the region, the zoom on my Iphone can make out a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys and a few other rotary wing aircraft.

I tried to get a closer look by driving down to the dock, but security guards quickly waved me away. Turns out my rooftop vantage offers one of the best views not only of the first visit of a U.S. warship here in 14 years, but of the dynamics at play in the Gulf of Aqaba between Israel and Jordan, its precarious peace partner of nearly 19 years.

Across these inviting aquamarine waters, Israel and its Hashemite neighbor strive on multiple fronts to shield bilateral relations from the spillover of escalating regional tensions. Here, in the Gulf of Aqaba, tourism and commerce trumps the war on terror as the two nations vie for revenue from merchant vessels, travel agencies and the right to host the U.S. 5th Fleet for rest, relaxation, maintenance and repair services.  More

Photo of the Day: May 17, 2013

By John T. Bennett in Air Force, Army, DoD, Marine Corps, Navy, Obama, Policy No Comments Tags:

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with Pentagon leaders on Thursday in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Obama met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, service secretaries, and service chiefs to discuss sexual assault in the military. The U.S. military is dealing with a wave of sexual assault cases, the latest being a soldier who worked in a rape prevention program who is accused of forcing a subordinate into prostitution. The latest revelation marked the second time in a week that a member of the military assigned to work in its sexual assault prevention program has been placed under investigation for alleged sexual crimes. Notably, the president has not yet fired any uniformed officer nor a senior civilian Pentagon official due to the military's sexual assault crisis. (AFP PHOTO/Mandel Ngan/Getty)

CAPE Director Christine Fox Leaving Pentagon

By Marcus Weisgerber in Acquisition, Budget, DoD, Intercepts, Navy, Policy, Sequestration No Comments

Christine Fox (DoD Photo)

Christine Fox, the director of DoD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office (CAPE), is leaving the Pentagon at the end of June, a defense official tells Intercepts.

Fox’s departure will follow the completion of the Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR), in which she plays a key role. The review will present options for areas to trim the Pentagon budget in the coming years. More

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