Big Topics For Quiet August: Give Us Your Ideas!
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Dear Reader, with Congress close to irrelevant (and out of town anyway), the Defense Department bracing for the coming end of the world (slight exaggeration) and so many of DC’s denizens out of town and recharging for the September onslaught, this August probably will be particularly quiet. So we are experimenting with that terribly au… Keep reading →
Will Sequester Scuttle Navy’s Surface Ship Comeback?
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CAPITOL HILL: Just when the Navy’s surface fleet had started pulling itself out of a 10-year, $2 billion hole, budget dysfunction may kick it right back in. We’ve written a great deal about the damage done to all four armed services by the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. But what is happening to the… Keep reading →
Maturing Of The Osprey; First V-22 Pilots Awarded DFCs
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The story of what two Marine aviators did to be the first V-22 Osprey pilots awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses is simple, elegant, and and tactically telling. The double-DFC incident underscores how the Marines are using the unique tilt-rotor aircraft — which can take off and land like a helicopter, then fly long distances at high… Keep reading →
Untold Tale Behind USS Guardian Reef Grounding: NGA’s Map Was Wrong By 8 Miles
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WASHINGTON: The January grounding of the minesweeper USS Guardian in a Philippine coral reef was caused in large part by a National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) map that was, quite simply, wrong by eight nautical miles, Breaking Defense has learned. “It really was just a terrible fluke that caused the error,” NGA spokeswoman Christine Phillips said… Keep reading →
LCS Kerfuffle: Navy, GAO May Be In ‘Violent Agreement’ After All
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CAPITOL HILL: Bark, it turns out, does not necessarily correlate with bite. The Government Accountability Office is infamous for its often scathing reviews of Pentagon programs, and its latest report on the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship — one of GAO’s favorite targets — says Congress should “pause” LCS procurement until key systems are more adequately tested. But,… Keep reading →
LCS: GAO Says ‘Whoa,’ But It May Be Too Late, Cost Too Much To Slow
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WASHINGTON: The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program is moving so fast it may be too late to hit the brakes without LCS going entirely and expensively off the rails. In a 72-page report to Congress that will be publicly released this morning, the Government Accountability Office makes a strong case that the Navy is buying… Keep reading →
Navy To GAO On LCS Report: Nuts! Mostly.
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The Navy defended its troubled Littoral Combat Ship in advance of a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on a forthcoming GAO report that advises putting the LCS program on pause and rejected the report’s key recommendation to slow procurement of Littoral Combat Ships to a “minimum,” Rear Adm. Thomas Rowden said. And the service only “partially concurs” with the… Keep reading →
Navy’s Official Statement On LCS Freedom’s Latest Power Outage
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[Updated with new information from the Navy] After we posted our article on the electrical problem that left the USS Freedom “briefly” unable to navigate, the Navy provided us this detailed official explanation from Lt. Cdr. Clay Doss: USS Freedom (LCS 1) returned to Changi Naval Base July 21 after experiencing a problem with the… Keep reading →
Top Naval Expert Calls For Outside Review After Power Loss Hits First Littoral Combat Ship In Singapore
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WASHINGTON: Talk about timing. As Congress gears up to grill Navy officials on the much-criticized Littoral Combat Ship program, the fleet’s first LCS suffered yet another power outage that “briefly” shut down its engines near Singapore, where the USS Freedom recently deployed for its first foreign tour. [Click here for the Navy’s detailed official explanations].… Keep reading →
Fewer Ships At Sea, Fewer Missions, Less Training: CNO’s Sequestration Damage List
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PENTAGON: The Navy has 10 fewer ships worldwide compared to just a few months ago. It has no warships at all off South America to help combat the drug trade. And training cutbacks will force many units to specialize in a sub-set of their assigned missions instead of getting ready for the full range of… Keep reading →