Current Events in the Americas

From Navy Times Converted Ohio ready for sea trials By Christopher Munsey Times staff writer The guided-missile submarine Ohio, the first of four former Trident ballistic missile boats undergoing conversion to the new SSGN mission, is scheduled to start sea trials soon. Ohio recently finished a nuclear reactor refueling and conversion process at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington, said Kevin Sykes, a Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman. Four former Trident submarines, including Ohio, Georgia, Florida and Michigan, are being converted to SSGNs, at a total cost of approximately $4 billion. Instead of Trident nuclear-warhead tipped missiles, the n…

Corps to delete low-altitude air defense MOS By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Jun 27, 2007 15:20:12 EDT After the Corps’ last stinger missile battalion closes shop at the end of this fiscal year, every Marine with a low-altitude air defense military occupational specialty must pick a new job, according to a June 22 Corps-wide message. When 1st Stinger Battery, headquartered at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, deactivates Sept. 30, what’s left of the MOS’s structure “will be deleted” and “every effort” will be made to train its Marines in another specialty if they stay on active duty, according to MarAdmin 381/07. First-term Mar…

From Marine Corps Times Corps weighs gunship firepower options By Trista Talton - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Apr 24, 2008 21:21:53 EDT JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — More brains. More brawn. Now, maybe, firepower. With their digitally upgraded cockpits and larger load capacity, the Marine Corps’ growing fleet of KC-130J Super Hercules refuelers has been hailed as a major step up from its predecessors. But the question of whether these aerial gas stations should be outfitted with weapons systems is a concept still on the drawing board. A brief obtained by Marine Corps Times highlights various ways the KC-130J can be outfitted with firepower. Written by a major …

Cost of LCS rises again Staff writer - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Feb 6, 2008 8:05:37 EST The price to buy each of the Navy’s first two Littoral Combat Ships has crashed through the $500 million barrier, and the final tab to deliver the ships is well over $600 million apiece, according to service budget documents released Feb. 4. Soaring cost growth has severely disrupted the program, which once envisioned the purchase of a series of relatively inexpensive, $220 million warships that would take about two years to build. Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics (GD) are building ships to very different designs in a competition to be decided in 2009. In Ja…

Could New SSBN Program Sink U.S. Navy? (The Diplomat, Flashpoints blog)

Course-changing missiles tested for LCS By Kris Osborn - Staff writer Posted : Thursday Dec 6, 2007 6:24:42 EST FORT BLISS, Texas — The Army has begun initial test firing of prototypes of a next-generation precision land missile that is able to be redirected toward new targets while in flight and can hit targets on-the-move up to about 24 miles (40 kilometers) away, Army officials said. The Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS), slated to field with other Army Future Combat Systems’ so-called spinout technologies by 2010, is designed with both GPS and infrared guidance systems. Tested at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., the NLOS-LS launcher carries 15 Pre…

Interesting site with a lot of details: http://jproc.ca/rrp/rrp3/cp140_electronics.html

Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress (pdf, Congressional Research Service)

Cruiser, amphib test Aegis today in shootdown By Audrey McAvoy - The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Jun 5, 2008 8:01:30 EDT HONOLULU — The U.S. military plans to intercept a ballistic missile in its first sea-based missile defense test since the cruiser Lake Erie shot down an errant satellite in a real-world mission earlier this year. The test, off Kauai, is the latest test of the Aegis ballistic missile defense program. The military will fire a Scud-like missile, which has a range of a few hundred miles, from the decommissioned amphibious assault ship Tripoli. The Lake Erie will fire two interceptor missiles at the target with the intention of shooti…

Pre-Commissioned ??? 10 January 2009 (nice photos): http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=109216 Also: http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=109171 But I only see an usual octuple Mk 29 (ssb) mount in the first place photos and not VLS, and I guess the "24 missiles ESSM" is the total, with reloads, in each mount. And the launching of ESSM from Mk 29 mount from CVN 74: http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=40222 I've replaced an Mk 29 mount with ESSM in my personal database in the entry 2367 Theodore Roosevelt And the doubts about her "pre-commission": http://www.smartbrief.com/news/aia/storyDe...33-B731892E1489 htt…

Good choice, I'd say.

Dangerous waters: Ignoring operational art at sea could doom U.S. maritime strategy BY MILAN VEGO armedforcesjournal The new U.S. maritime strategy to be unveiled this fall is expected to fill the lack of a clear and well-articulated vision of the role of U.S. maritime forces in defense and protection of the national interests at sea and of those of its allies and other friendly nations. However, the lack of sound theory and doctrine for the employment of maritime forces at the operational level of war might pose some serious limitations and ultimately doom the execution of the new U.S. maritime strategy. This situation might not be acute in the case of the empl…

DARPA seeks supercavitation submarine UPI WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for a really fast, really small submarine. It's also seeking a major breakthrough in physics: making supercavitation actually work on a large scale. Supercavitation refers to a process of displacing water around a submerged vessel so that it travels in a gaseous or vaporous cavity. Theoretically, that can be done either by propelling a blunt-nosed vessel at a very high speed -- its nose forces the water out of the way -- or by injecting gas into a partially developed cavity, according to DARPA. The U.S. Navy has experimented with…

A possible future hypersonic strike weapon: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/sto...10/02/04/02.xml

Here's a link to the newly issued strategic plan for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): DARPA Strategic Plan 2007

Defense Aerospace DD(X) Quarter Scale Model Underwater Explosive Testing Successful (Source: DD(X) National Team; issued Jun 1, 2005) ABERDEEN, Md. --- The DD(X) National Team, led by Northrop Grumman and in partnership with Raytheon, General Dynamics, United Defense and Lockheed Martin, announces the successful completion of Underwater Explosion (UNDEX) testing on the DD(X) Quarter Scale Model. This test provided a critical step in demonstrating that the DD(X) wave piercing tumblehome hull form fully meets the operational requirements set forth by the U.S. Navy. The primary purpose of the testing was to determine the DD(X) hull form's reaction to an …

DDG 1000 Preps for Heavy Weather Trials (DOD Buzz) Fingers crossed ...

DDG 1000 program will end at two ships By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer Posted : Wednesday Jul 23, 2008 7:04:43 EDT The once-vaunted Zumwalt-class DDG 1000 advanced destroyer program — projected in the late 1990s to produce 32 new ships and subsequently downscaled to a seven-ship class — will instead turn out only two ships, according to highly-placed sources in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. Instead of more 1000s, the Navy will continue to build more Arleigh Burke-class DDG 51 destroyers, construction of which had been slated to end in 2012. Top Navy and Pentagon brass met Tuesday to make the decision, which means the service will ask Congress t…

From DefenseNews DDG 1001 Named for MoH Recipient Monsoor By christopher p. cavas and philip ewing Published: 29 Oct 18:06 EDT (22:06 GMT) One of the Navy's largest new surface warships will bear the name of a Navy SEAL who received the nation's highest award for valor. "DDG 1001, the second ship in our newest class of destroyers, will be named after Michael Monsoor," Navy Secretary Donald Winter said remarks prepared for an address to be given Oct. 29 in New York. "Michael Monsoor's name will now be linked with one of our nation's most visible examples of military power - a U.S. Navy warship," Winter said in the address prepared for a Navy SEAL Warrior …

Somebody doesn't like the DDG-1000.