Navy announces plans for its Reduction in Force (RIF).

Wow.

Another unintended consequence.

You're about to put several thousand service men from each service out in the cold...with an economy that has a real unemployment rate of 18%...with a veteran unemployment rate of over 23%...

Things are about to go from bad to worse.  Read it about it here....

VX-31 Dust Devils showcase Centennial of Naval Aviation (CoNA) retro-painted Hornet

Sea Shadow off to the junk heap.

I wonder what, if anything, they learned from this ship.  Read the details at FoxNews.

T-6

A Hawker Beechcraft T-6A Texan II Turboprop Trainer aircraft used to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots and Naval flight officers sits near the seawall at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., May 19 after undergoing a wing-off structural inspection and receiving a vintage WWII paint scheme at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast. (U.S. Navy photo by Vic Pitts/Released)

Vehicle Transfer at Sea.

Sea Basing is becoming a reality.  The night time ops in Sea State 4 is particularly impressive.

Pony Express..Navy Style---plus pics of the day June 21, 2010.

U.S. Navy shooters launch a C-2A Greyhound aircraft assigned to Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 from aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) June 11, 2010, while conducting training operations in the Atlantic Ocean. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel S. Moore, U.S. Navy/Released)

The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), rear, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force Osumi-Class amphibious assault ship JDS Kunisaki (LST 4003), center, and two Japanese landing craft, air cushion hovercraft steam through the South China Sea during a photo exercise June 14, 2010. Mercy is deployed as part of Pacific Partnership 2010, the fifth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet humanitarian and civic assistance endeavors to strengthen regional partnerships. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Husman, U.S. Navy/Released)

U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. David Carter rappels from an HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 14 June 16, 2010, during helicopter rope suspension training on the flight deck of USS George Washington (CVN 73). Carter is from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5. George Washington is under way in the Pacific Ocean in support of security operations. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Adam K. Thomas, U.S. Navy/Released)

Two CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters from USS Peleliu (LHA 5) fly off the coast of Dili, Timor-Leste, June 20, 2010. Sailors from the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group and Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit are participating in Marine Exercise 2010, a multilateral exercise promoting cooperation through civic action programs and training with the Timor-Leste and Australian militaries. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Michael Russell, U.S. Navy)

Information Request.

Major Hat Tip to Elgatoso for catching this in the photo.  Can you identify the airplane just in front of the island behind the AH-1W and to the left (as you look at the pic) of the H-60?

It's in blue camo has a red star on its tail and I would assume that its used for aggressor training.  Problem is I don't see it listed in squadron service.

If you can ID the airplane and the purpose it serves and the unit it belongs to I'd appreciate it!


UPDATE 1.

Commenter John identified the airplane for me.  He stated that its an Aero L-29 Delfin and provided a link to an acrobatic team that flies them in the comments section.

OK, I've gotten the aircraft ID, now I need to know why its on a big deck amphib! 

LCS-1 headed to RIMPAC.

via US Navy.

USS Freedom Departs San Diego for RIMPACBy Lt. Ed Early, USS Freedom Public Affairs SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The Navy's first Littoral Combat Ship, USS Freedom (LCS 1), departed Naval Base San Diego today to participate in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010, the world's largest maritime exercise.

During this year's RIMPAC, the 22nd in the biennial exercise series, Freedom will operate in and around the Hawaiian Islands with air, land, and maritime forces from 13 other nations.

"RIMPAC is a tremendous opportunity to build upon and to refine Freedom's known surface warfare and maritime security capabilities and to break new ground in LCS employment," said Cmdr. Kris Doyle, commanding officer of Freedom's Blue Crew. "We have several 'first-of' events scheduled, ranging from air defense to anti-submarine to fire support exercises. Every day, we will be stretching ourselves to learn more about what LCS brings to the fleet and how we integrate in a multinational environment."

Freedom recently arrived in San Diego at the conclusion of a historic maiden deployment to the U.S. 3rd and 4th Fleet areas of responsibility. During deployment, the ship conducted counter-illicit trafficking (CIT) operations, making four successful seizures that yielded more than five tons of cocaine, two "go fast" drug vessels, and nine suspected smugglers taken into custody. In addition to independent operations, Freedom successfully integrated with the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Carrier Strike Group for a re-fueling at sea, high-speed operations, surface gunnery events, and Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure evolutions. The ship also completed three theater security cooperation port visits to Cartagena, Colombia; Panama City, Panama; and Manzanillo, Mexico.

The first ship of the revolutionary LCS program, Freedom is a fast, agile, and maneuverable ship designed to compliment the Navy's larger multi-mission surface combatants in select mission areas, including combating submarines, mines, and fast-attack craft threats in the littorals.

Embarked aboard Freedom for RIMPAC are Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 22, Detachment 2, based in Norfolk, Va., and the first tailored LCS Surface Warfare Mission Package (SUW MP), based in San Diego.

When in doubt send in the Military?

Via the American Spectator.

Ray Mabus long-term Gulf Coast restoration plan. Well, okay, but... why the Secretary of the Navy?Isnt the Navy important enough? If Mabs is to do that, it should be his only job, and somebody else should be Sec-Navy. Frankly, this is an outrage. And what does the Navy have to do with Gulf Coast shore restoration anyway?!?!?!?!?!?!?

They said it better than I could.  This is just plain sad.  I have recently learned that the Netherlands, and several other European countries offered technology to clean up the oil spill and they got no response from our government!

But a bigger mystery to me is why select the Secretary of the Navy to perform this mission?  Maybe because the President finally understands that is the only competent section of the US government.  Maybe because he looked at the heads of his other agencies and realized that they're not up to the job.

Either way, the Secretary of the Navy has personnel in harms way.

He does not need this additional duty.

LCAC vs. the Ground Combat Vehicle.

Riedel Ship to Shore Connector

The good people at the Marine Corps Sea Basing Website are stressing the importance of the Sea Base being able to support not only Marine Corps Units but also US Army Combat Brigades and Allied Forces.

But Houston, we have a problem.

The Ground Combat Vehicle or for that matter the next generation Stryker/Bradley A3 will strain our current and interim Ship to Shore Connector...the LCAC.

The LCAC's are in the middle of a service life extension and are due to serve for another 10-20 years until the Navy gets around to replacing them.

The problem is this.  The LCAC is capable of carrying 74 tons at 35 knots over a distance of 25 nm or greater (pg 7 of the brochure).

That means that carrying the future Ground Combat Vehicle will be the equivalent of moving a Main Battle Tank for every sortie.  And with the future growth in weight of the Stryker and Bradley (once the Army gets around to recapitalizing it!) will place the Bradley close to the 35-40 ton range and the Stryker close to the 30 ton threshold.  Similar in weight to the EFV----but those systems can't swim!.

The US Army Heavy Brigade Combat Teams and to a certain extent the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (the middle weight force) are moving away from use in the Assault Echelon.  Before I hear howls of protest understand that the HBCT or the SBCT were not to be part of the first wave but were to be launched in a non-permissive environment.

With current vehicle growth they will be too heavy to move in any environment except one thats highly permissive---this also means that it will have to be an administrative movement---not combat.

Weight is going to be an issue and might keep the Army on the sidelines in the future.  Its obvious that the Army isn't taking into account strategic mobility or employment in their future vehicle force structure.  Infantry will once again rule ----whether Airborne, Air Assault, or Ranger---every other part of the Army force will be too heavy to get into the fight. 


*Note*
The US Army has virtually discarded what they called "Light" Infantry -read that to mean  Non-Airborne or Air Assault Infantry formations.

They're either Heavy or Stryker.  That means that the US Marine Corps will have to bear the burden of the fight if conflict erupts in Jungles....heavily urbanized areas or even in the arctic.  The 82nd or the 101st can deploy and fight as Light Infantry but they are tasked organized for short duration missions (especially the 82nd).  They aren't formed or equipped to last more than a couple of days in an active combat zone without support.

Large Ship Vulnerability.

I've heard the arguments regarding the vulnerability of large ships in the littoral zone.  

I've heard pundits wax on about swarm attacks by small boats.  

I've read how antiquated it is to build US warships to warship standards...and why it would be better to copy the example of our European allies and to build them to mercantile standards.

Bullshit.

Do you remember this from a few years ago?  Large ships don't go quietly into the night. After absorbing all that damage and without the benefit of Damage Control Parties, this ship still had to be destroyed by controlled INTERNAL explosives.

This from the Navy Site. DE

The photos below were taken on July 13, 2006, and show the BELLEAU WOOD being sunk by EOD set off bombs. On July 12, 2006, the ship had already taken Harpoon hits and gunfire from the USS MOBILE BAY (CG 53) but refused to sink. Thanks to Mario Silva-Hernandez for contributing the potos.

Note* The results of US Navy test sinkings of aircraft carriers are still classified. If an LHA is this robust then imagine how much damage a modern aircraft carrier could absorb. Maybe the Chinese are signaling the truth by the desperate attempt to target our capital ships with ballistic missiles. Perhaps they've run the simulations and realize how difficult it would be and how much damage THEY would have to absorb in order to destroy a large US combatant conventionally!

LPD-22 San Diego.

They are pumping these ships out like candy from a pez dispenser.  With the next generation LSD to be built on the same hull this is good news.  It appears that production has finally smoothed out and with these ships having demonstrated the ability to keep up with other ships in the fleet (read DDG-51's), they will be an asset for at least 2 decades...

From the Department of Defense

...Designated LPD 22, San Diego is the sixth amphibious transport dock ship in the San Antonio class. As an element of future expeditionary strike groups, the ship will support the Marine Corps "mobility triad,"� which consists of the landing craft air cushion vehicle, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft...

...San Diego will provide improved warfighting capabilities, including an advanced command and control suite, increased lift capability in vehicle and cargo-carrying capacity and advanced ship survivability features. The ship is capable of embarking a landing force of up to 800 Marines...

...The 24,900-ton San Diego is 684 feet in length, has an overall beam of 105 feet and a navigational draft of 23 feet. Four turbo-charged diesels power the ship to sustained speeds of 22 knots.

Forgotten Concepts. Cormorant UAV.

The US military has a history of pushing forward exciting new concepts and then letting them die on the vine.  The Cormorant UAV is one such concept.  This from Aviation Week...back in 2005!

A new contract to Lockheed Martin marks the beginning of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to study the feasibility of deploying an unmanned aerial vehicle from submarines, a DARPA spokeswoman said.
The UAV, called Cormorant, after the sea bird, would "provide close air support for vessels such as the Littoral Combat Ship and SSGN," a specialized version of the Trident ballistic missile submarine, Jan Walker said. "This is the very first award ... this is the beginning of the program," she said.
Its aim, she said, is to "explore concepts that launch from both the sea surface and submarines."

But since then not a word, not an official update on the program.  You can read the Lockheed Martin page on the program here.

Amazing.  The video advertisement is exciting and if it could deliver just half of what is on it then subs would become a viable part of Air-Sea Battle.  A very viable part. 

New Crane for Sea Basing.

If you're a fan of the Sea Basing Concept then you might enjoy what the Office of Naval Research has been doing.  ONR coupled with Advanced Technology and Research Corporation to develop a new Naval Crane.  What's really exciting about this is that its applicable to Navy operating doctrine of the future.  You see ISO containers, I see mission modules.  The transfer of vehicles at sea is still iffy in my opinion and this crane could prove to be a very nice backup...if that method proves troublesome.

Chris got it half right!

Chris Rawley of Information Dissemination got it half right in his article on "USMC expands CAS capabilities".  In the comments section (where some of his assertions are questioned) he makes this statement...

It was a suggestion, not a mix-up. Why not arm the Greyhounds? What other sea-based long dwell armed ISR does the navy currently employ? Land-based armed ISR is fine until host-nation country ABC decides it doesn't want to base platforms flying strike ops into country XYZ.

Well he's right to want more carrier based ISR.  He's right to want to utilize platforms that we do have for a variety of missions.  Where he's wrong is the platform he suggests.  The C-2 Greyhound?  Really?  Seriously?

We had...and have the perfect platform for the emerging threats that we're facing.  We simply retired them too soon. Way too soon.

What was that platform?

The S-3 Viking and the ES-3A Shadow.  The Viking was capable of carrying out air support (at least as its being done now...at 15000 feet with smart bombs)...anti-surface warfare...it carried harpoons regularly....aerial refueling...it carried buddy tanks and freed up Hornets and Super Hornets for strike and air defense missions...and in its latest and greatest form, it was a capable ISR platform.

Chris was right...he just picked the wrong airplane!

More JHSV's.

CONTRACTS

NAVY

               Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $99,557,548 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-08-C-2217) for long lead time material (LLTM) for ships four and five of the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) program.  This contract provides LLTM for main propulsion engines, aluminum, waterjets, reduction gears, generators and other components to support construction of JHSV ships four and five, commencing in fall 2010.  Work will be performed in Detroit, Mich. (38 percent); Chesapeake, Va. (18 percent); Henderson, Australia (13 percent); Gulfport, Miss. (10 percent); Ravenswood, W.Va. (9 percent); Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (4 percent); Mobile, Ala. (3 percent); Auburn, Ind. (2.6 percent); Winter Haven, Fla. (1 percent); Gardena, Calif. (1 percent); and Davenport, Iowa (0.4 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2011.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity

Isn't it amazing how widely separated the work is?  From Detroit to Australia?  Everyone is getting a piece of this pie.  No wonder these ships are so popular.

Amphibious Assault Exercise-Dawn Blitz.

NAVAIR developing infrastructure for FireScout.

NAVAIR press release.

In the future, FRC East will repair approximately 60 of the Fire Scout’s components. Artisans are receiving hands-on training by working with the FST and Northrup Grumman engineers.
The Navy will field 121 Fire Scouts, once the platform is fully deployed. The inventory currently stands at seven – one trainer, two at Northrup Grumman for developmental testing, and four the Navy flies during operational evaluations.
The two MQ-8B’s at FRC East should be back in the Fleet about mid-June.

I wonder if this is a done deal.  I had thought that the other UAV helicopter types might have a chance to bump the FireScout out of Navy service.  This article indicates that is not the case.

CBO report on Navy/Marines fighter gap.

Hat tip to the Navy Times (go to there site here..for the article).  This report (below) is a light read and it lays out 4 options for dealing with the fighter shortfall.  Alternative 1 is a no brainer and will probably be followed.  But you can bet Boeing and their Congressional delegations will be pushing for more F/A-18E/F's.
05-27-FighterInventories

Center for American Progress slams Navy/Marine Corps Budget allocations.

The Center for American Progress has published a write-up of the latest from the House Armed Services Committee.  Suffice it to say that they're not pleased with continued funding of many of the service's programs.  Read more here.

The HASC bill also includes $65 billion for Navy and Marine Corps procurement despite Secretary Gates’s recent speech before the Navy League calling on the service to reexamine its force posture in the current operating environment. As Gates noted, the United States will maintain 11 carrier strike groups through 2040 when no other country has more than one. The $65 billion includes $5.1 billion to fund two Virginia class submarines—the first time the committee has ever authorized two of these boats in one year. And the committee’s FY 2011 authorization includes $1.7 billion in advance funding toward the purchase of two more Virginia class hulls in FY 2012. Including funding for the advanced purchase of these two submarines creates a strong incentive for lawmakers to allow the program to proceed in next year’s budget, which essentially ensures that the same misguided spending evident in this year’s markup will continue in FY 2012.
The list goes on. The HASC bill includes $361 million over what the administration requested for funding for ballistic missile defense despite the fact that the Pentagon already increased the budget by over $300 million from a year ago. The increased funding, which then-Senator Obama campaigned against, would fund missile defense at George W. Bush administration-levels if approved by the House and the Senate. HASC also revived funding for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, an unnecessary and deeply flawed amphibious vehicle that is vulnerable to the types of improvised explosive devices used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm not sure about many of the issues raised here.  What I do know is that the statement regarding the EFV is false.  It has been re-engineered to survive IEDs similar to those encountered in Iraq/Afghanistan.  I wonder what else they got wrong.