By Jen DiMascio The same week Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) called for an increase in the size of the Navy’s fleet, members of the House Shipbuilding Caucus mulled over ways the service could better afford its current plans. Discussion about shipbuilding comes as the House and Senate are reconciling differences between the chambers’ different versions […]
By Geoff Fein While the Navy and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) continue to work on reliability issues with the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS), the cost of future ASDS hulls may make the program unaffordable, according to SOCOM. "The original requirement for a small fleet of manned dry submersibles is unchanged, but it is […]
The Marine Corps awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $52 million contract to develop Combat Convoy Simulators (CCS), the next generation of convoy simulators that will provide training for a variety of vehicles, the company reported. "We have transformed our proven technology in an evolutionary way that meets the most urgent needs of the warfighter," Jim […]
By Geoff Fein Two members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) are asking the Navy to explore whether the service needs a medium heavy-lift helicopter to conduct a variety of missions from airborne mine detection to battlefield medical evacuation. Of concern is that the Navy may be unable to conduct some missions if it […]
By Geoff Fein The Marine Corps will have to go through an "expeditionary filter" to return to being a lighter, hard-hitting force, according to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Addressing attendees at the 18th International Seapower Symposium at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., Gen. James Conway said the service is closer to […]
The Navy has issued a sources sought notice for the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Prototype Acceleration Project. The project consists of two spirals: the first is mainly focused on the fielding of existing MDA tools and capabilities with high technology maturity levels; and the second, which is the subject of the current solicitation, is to […]
By Geoff Fein The Navy is undertaking a number of measures to make sure it can keep its fleet of Northrop Grumman [NOC] EA-6B Prowler’s flying until at least 2012 and as far out as 2018 for the Marine Corps, according to a Navy official. The Marine Corps is also planning to add Northrop Grumman’s […]
By Geoff Fein Delores Etter, the Navy’s acquisition chief, resigned Friday to return to teach at the United States Naval Academy, where she had been a professor before taking the job as the service acquisition czar. "She informed her staff of her intentions to resign," a Navy official said. "She intends to return to the […]
By Geoff Fein Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is in the midst of an effort with 11 of its largest industry partners to examine why some programs are facing cost and/or schedule issues. In July, Navy officials, including Delores Etter, the service’s acquisition chief, and Rear Adm. Allen Myers, director air warfare division (N88), briefed […]
The Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Thermo Fisher Scientific [TMO] a $28.5 million contract modification to provide for an increase in identiFINDER quantities from 160 to 362. Work will be performed in Germany and is expected to be completed by June 2012. The identiFINDER is a lightweight, handheld device use to identify isotopes when […]
