LCS Test Vs. Fast Attack Boats ‘Unfair’: Missile Missing, Navy Says

LCS Test Vs. Fast Attack Boats ‘Unfair’: Missile Missing, Navy Says
LCS Test Vs. Fast Attack Boats ‘Unfair’: Missile Missing, Navy Says

PENTAGON: “Unfair!” That, in a word, is the Navy’s response to a Director of Operational Test & Evaluation report saying the controversial Littoral Combat Ship had trouble defending itself against Iranian-style swarms of fast attack boats. Yes, a Navy official told me, in the test some “enemy” boats got dangerously close to the USS Coronado…

LCS Can Too Fight Russia, China: Navy Leaders

LCS Can Too Fight Russia, China: Navy Leaders
LCS Can Too Fight Russia, China: Navy Leaders

WASHINGTON: Is the Littoral Combat Ship a real warship? That question has bedeviled the small, sleek, lightly armed ships for years. Now it’s taken on new urgency as the Defense Department and the Navy both refocus on high-intensity, high-tech warfighting against “great powers” — i.e. China and Russia. Defense Secretary Ash Carter wants to cut…

Navy’s Dilemma: What Kind Of Presence?

Navy’s Dilemma: What Kind Of Presence?
Navy’s Dilemma: What Kind Of Presence?

WASHINGTON: “I guess I’m going to have to attack your question on almost every aspect,” Adm. John Richardson told me. As an analyst, it’s unnerving to have the Navy’s top admiral tell you to your face, albeit politely, that you’re just plain wrong. (I’d politely disagree, though I did miss some important nuances in an earlier story). I had asked…

Carter’s LCS Cut: Second Thoughts At OSD

Carter’s LCS Cut: Second Thoughts At OSD
Carter’s LCS Cut: Second Thoughts At OSD

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s decision to curtail the controversial Littoral Combat Ship program may not be the last word, according to several well informed sources. Those sources independently told Breaking Defense that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is divided over the decision cut LCS from 52 ships to 40. So is the Navy, which has had pro-…

CNO: Warfighting Trumps Presence; ORP, EW Win; LCS Likely Loser

CNO: Warfighting Trumps Presence; ORP, EW Win; LCS Likely Loser
CNO: Warfighting Trumps Presence; ORP, EW Win; LCS Likely Loser

[UPDATED with Rep. Forbes & Robert Martinage comments] WASHINGTON: Presence? What’s “presence”?” Once a primary measure of naval power and a driving factor in shipbuilding decisions, the word “presence” appears not once in the new Chief of Naval Operations’ strategic vision, out today. Instead, Adm. John Richardson‘s eight-page “Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority” mentions “war,”…

Navy 2016: Stress, Shortfalls, & The Spectrum

Navy 2016: Stress, Shortfalls, & The Spectrum
Navy 2016: Stress, Shortfalls, & The Spectrum

2016 will be challenging for the Navy. At sea the fleet will continue to face demands that exceed its supply of forces, while at home the fiscal 2017 budget is likely to make difficult choices that prioritize high quality over adequate quantity. Most significantly for sailors, the supply-demand mismatch will get worse next year. While…

Polmar’s Navy: Trade LCS & Carriers For Frigates & Amphibs

Polmar’s Navy: Trade LCS & Carriers For Frigates & Amphibs
Polmar’s Navy: Trade LCS & Carriers For Frigates & Amphibs

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter wants to cut the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program to buy more missiles, aircraft, and upgrades to ships. That’s good as far as it goes, eminent naval historian and analyst Norman Polmar told me this morning — “in my opinion the decision should have been five years ago” — but it’s…

Navy Fights For 52 LCS After SecDef Cuts To 40: Presence vs. Warfighting

Navy Fights For 52 LCS After SecDef Cuts To 40: Presence vs. Warfighting
Navy Fights For 52 LCS After SecDef Cuts To 40: Presence vs. Warfighting

UPDATED: Adds SecDef Carter Memo, Rep. Forbes Questioning Carter Decision, Navy Statement WASHINGTON: The Navy is not yielding to Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s memo cutting the Navy’s much-maligned Littoral Combat Ship program from 52 of the small ships to 40 and dumping one of the two shipyards building them. Carter plans to use the savings for other…

Congress Makes Navy Sweat On Carriers, UCLASS, LCS, & Cruisers

Congress Makes Navy Sweat On Carriers, UCLASS, LCS, & Cruisers
Congress Makes Navy Sweat On Carriers, UCLASS, LCS, & Cruisers

WASHINGTON: The conference version of the defense policy bill for 2016 puts the Navy on notice in multiple high-priority programs. In three areas — carriers, the UCLASS drone, and LCS — Sen. John McCain‘s tough positions prevailed over the House, albeit with some compromises around the edges. In a fourth — Ticonderoga-class cruisers — it was a House leader,…

Johnson Tapped For Top Navy Uniformed Acquisition Officer

Johnson Tapped For Top Navy Uniformed Acquisition Officer
Johnson Tapped For Top Navy Uniformed Acquisition Officer

WASHINGTON: When the Navy named its next top sub-builder, Rear Adm. Michael Jabaley, back in July, I wondered where the submariner he was replacing would surface. Now we know: The Pentagon announced late yesterday that Rear Adm. David Johnson will pin  on his third star and become the top uniformed acquisition official in the Navy…

McCain, Reed Push To Replace LCS Mine Drone

McCain, Reed Push To Replace LCS Mine Drone
McCain, Reed Push To Replace LCS Mine Drone

WASHINGTON: In a letter obtained by Breaking Defense, senators John McCain and Jack Reed slam a key component of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship as unreliable and urge the Pentagon to explore alternatives to the Remote Mine-Hunting System. In their Aug. 31 letter to the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, Frank Kendall, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, and outgoing Chief…

LCS: Production Surges, Price Drops

LCS: Production Surges, Price Drops
LCS: Production Surges, Price Drops

Once, the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship was a nightmare of cost overruns, schedule slips, and design flaws. That was especially true of Lockheed Martin’s LCS-1, the Freedom, with its hull cracks and electrical failures. Eight ships later, the design is fixed and the price has dropped by a third . Production is moving at such a…

More Ships, More Missiles, Less Waiting: Rep. Forbes Talks 2016 NDAA

More Ships, More Missiles, Less Waiting: Rep. Forbes Talks 2016 NDAA
More Ships, More Missiles, Less Waiting: Rep. Forbes Talks 2016 NDAA

CAPITOL HILL: More ships. More weapons. Less waiting. That’s the essential philosophy of Rep. Randy Forbes, chairman of the House subcommittee on seapower. In the draft National Defense Authorization Act headed for mark-up next week, he certainly seems to have gotten his way — on amphibious assault ships, submarines, land-based cruise missiles, and more. “My…

From Sailors To Robots: A Revolution In Clearing Mines

From Sailors To Robots: A Revolution In Clearing Mines
From Sailors To Robots: A Revolution In Clearing Mines

This is the third in our exclusive series on the crucial but neglected question of sea mines and how well — or not — the United States manages this global and very real threat. Here we’re looking at the most promising technologies, ships and aircraft that can give the United States the edge in this crucial and complex battle.…