Trump's Navy

[AdamG]

Writing in the Naval Institute’s “Proceedings” magazine this month, Aucoin takes issue with how Navy leadership characterized the shortcomings in a comprehensive review and strategic readiness review done in the wake of the disasters. “The Comprehensive Review (CR), Strategic Review (SR), and some media reporting could lead one to the impression my staff and I were oblivious to or unconcerned about the manning, training, and maintenance deficiencies affecting my ships and their ability to carry out their assigned missions,” Aucoin writes. “That was not the case.”

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-...ain-collisions

[AdamG]

Washington (CNN) Amid heightened tensions with Russia, the US Navy announced Friday the re-establishment of the US Second Fleet which will be responsible for Naval forces along the East Coast and in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The areas are seen as critical to counter the rising threat of Russia and the new US defense strategy that focuses more on great power rivalry, according to multiple US defense officials.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/polit...ons/index.html

[AdamG]

The escalating territorial disputes in the Pacific between China and America’s allies create an ever-more-urgent need for U.S. sea power. But even as China rapidly expands and modernizes its navy, the Trump administration has not proposed enough funds to maintain America’s maritime advantage. Beginning with the coming 2019 federal budget, the president and Congress must commit to funding a full, modern fleet—or risk ceding essential U.S. and allied interests.

Adm. Phil Davidson, nominated to lead the U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate in April: China “is no longer a rising power but an arrived great power and peer competitor.” He added that “China has undergone a rapid military modernization over the last three decades and is approaching parity in a number of critical areas; there is no guarantee that the United States would win a future conflict with China.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/america...eas-1526338043

[AdamG]

Competition is heating up in the race to build the Navy’s next warship, with foreign and U.S. manufacturers vying for a multibillion-dollar opportunity.

In February, the Navy announced it had shortlisted five shipbuilders for the FFG(X) program, which calls for a replacement for the littoral combat ship.

Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Huntington Ingalls, Austal and Fincantieri were awarded research-and-development contracts this year, and the service expects to pick a single company to oversee the program in 2020.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...c2f_story.html

[AdamG]

This is exactly how you wind up with Iron Bottom Sound Part II, should events on the world stage go South.

WASHINGTON — A three-month internal review conducted by senior U.S. surface fleet leaders found some or significant concerns with the ship handling skills of nearly 85 percent of its junior officers, and that many struggled to react decisively to extricate their ship from danger when there was an immediate risk of collision, according to an internal message obtained by Defense News.

Led by the Surface Warfare Officer School, officer of the deck competency checks were conducted on a random selection of OOD-qualified first-tour division officers (the newest officers in the fleet) in underway bridge navigation simulators fleet-wide between January and March. Of the 164 officers who were evaluated, only 27 passed with “no concerns.” Another 108 completed with “some concerns,” and 29 had “significant concerns,” according to the message, which was released by the Navy’s top surface warfare officer Vice Adm. Richard Brown.

Brown, who leads Naval Surface Force Pacific, termed the results “sobering.”

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/20...ic-seamanship/

[AdamG]

Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) to undertake research in support of autonomous unmanned marine vehicle platforms for coastal surveillance, coastal surveys, target tracking and protection of at-sea assets. The five-year project will entail developing unmanned surface vehicles that serve as "motherships" for unmanned underwater vehicles and aerial drones, thereby enabling multi-vehicle, multi-domain capability that may serve as a mobile coastal monitoring system, as well as training and education of graduate and undergraduate students in ocean engineering.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...u-fa052218.php

[AdamG]

Chinese government hackers have compromised the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare — including secret plans to develop a supersonic anti-ship missile for use on U.S. submarines by 2020, according to American officials.
The breaches occurred in January and February, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The hackers targeted a contractor who works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a military organization headquartered in Newport, R.I., that conducts research and development for submarines and underwater weaponry.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...2b1_story.html