ANNAPOLIS, Md.  The massive hurricane that slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast killing at at least 27 has also taken a chunk out of the Air Force and Navy’s most advanced weapons. The Air Force is still evaluating about 17 F-22s left behind at Tyndall Air Base, but the nearby Naval Surface Warfare Center at Panama… Keep reading →

SURFACE NAVY ASSOCIATION: The Littoral Combat Ship is finally about to get the capabilities envisioned for it at the start, 15 years ago, Navy leaders told the annual conference here. The four much-criticized ships now in service have boast little firepower: a 57 millimeter deck gun; two 30mm autocannon, and a MH-60 helicopter (with varying… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Even as the Navy solicits designs for its future frigate, it is ardently defending its current Littoral Combat Ship. A memo obtained by Breaking Defense lists about three dozen pro-LCS attributes, followed by a mention of the frigate. Upgraded Littoral Combat Ships, of course, are the underdog contenders for the frigate. “This is an attempt by… Keep reading →

ANNAPOLIS: The Navy’s new plan to put mine-hunting gear on a wider range of warships could finally break mine warfare out of its ghetto — or it could keep mine-hunting the same redheaded stepchild but spread it across more decks. The Navy has experimented with integrating Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) onto ships that weren’t minesweepers before,… Keep reading →

ANNAPOLIS: There are maybe half a million sea mines in arsenals around the world. To find and clear them, rather than rely solely on a small fleet of small Littoral Combat Ships, the Navy now wants at least some mine-hunting gear on a vessels ranging from modified oil tankers to catamarans to aircraft carriers. The… Keep reading →

NATIONAL HARBOR: How much firepower can fit on the Navy’s smallest warship? With the Chinese and Russian navies on the rise, American admirals want more “distributed lethality” from everything in the fleet, especially the controversial Littoral Combat Ship. Here at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference, the manufacturers of the two very different versions of… Keep reading →

QUANTICO: A hovercraft that shoots salvoes of rockets. A speedboat that turns into a submarine. A mobile 3D printing factory. A big wooden box with wings (yes, really). And, of course, more drones than you can shake a stick at (because they swarm). These are just a few of the roughly 100 technologies the Marine… Keep reading →

SAN DIEGO: Trump’s promised defense budget boost probably won’t materialize, the former Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said today, so we can’t afford to grow a larger military. Instead of more ships and troops, retired Adm. James Winnefeld said in a rare public appearance, the military should prioritize investment in new ideas. His own service,… Keep reading →

The US Navy needs to get better at hunting sea mines. The Royal Navy needs to get better at robots. So the two fleets are joining forces off Scotland in what the Brits are calling “the largest demonstration of its type, ever,” Unmanned Warrior 2016, with “more than 50 unmanned vehicles from over 40 organizations.”… Keep reading →

UPDATED with Lockheed response WASHINGTON: The Navy will scrap the troubled RMMV drone meant to hunt mines from its controversial Littoral Combat Ships, replacing it with a different type of robot boat, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said today. That’s a decision a more responsive acquisition system would have made long ago, added Chief of Naval… Keep reading →