Current Events in the Americas

From Navy Times San Francisco heads to yard By Christopher Munsey Times staff writer The attack submarine San Francisco, damaged during a collision with an undersea mountain earlier this year, departed Guam Aug. 17 for a surface transit across the Pacific for permanent repairs at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington. San Francisco will make a stop in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii during its voyage back to Washington, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, spokesman for Commander, Submarine Force Pacific. Including the time spent in Hawaii, the transit is expected to take “a few weeks”, Davis said. San Francisco will not submerge during the transit, but will make the …

To Save the Submarines, Eliminate ICBMs and Bombers (Defense One)

The May 2008 ieee Spectrum magazine had an engaging article describing some attempts to prevent sabotage of military electronic components as more and more of those components originate outside of government production facilities and outside of US facilities. I've finally gotten around to tracking down the online version. You can find it at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/may08/6171 The topic really crosses a number of my interests, electronic design, weapons systems, Harpoon... So far I can't imagine how one goes about modelling cyber attacks in our games, let alone faulty chips. Is there a 1 in 1000 chance that all of your F-22 are going to become unuseable in a scena…

Randomly happened upon this when looking through the Navy Laser Testing blog post. http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2008...vy/2008arci.pdf Is that not a frank and earnest evaluation or what! Insufficient testing before sending submarines to sea. How does it feel when you are tailing an Akula II and the sonar computers crash? Even more telling may be some of the conclusions reached about the program not improving performance even beyond the goals established in 1998.

From Defense Aerospace Small Diameter Bomb Makes Combat Debut (Source: US Air Force; issued Oct. 5, 2006) SOUTHWEST ASIA --- The Guided Bomb Unit-39/B small diameter bomb was flown into combat for the first time Oct. 5 by members of the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. The unit, deployed to the Southwest Asia area of operations, launched a two-ship formation of F-15E Strike Eagles at 1:30 a.m. EDT carrying the new air-to-ground bomb on a mission to provide close-air support for ground troops operating in Iraq. "Today, we added an extraordinary capability to our warfighter's arsenal," said Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, the Combined Forces Air Component …

From Defense Aerospace Seabasing to Transform Marine Deployments, Commandant Says (Source: US Department of Defense; issued June 9, 2005) WASHINGTON --- The "seabasing" capability being developed for the Marine Corps will enable the service to deploy 15,000 troops anywhere in the world in as little as 10 to 12 days, according to the commandant of the Marine Corps. "And when you are able to respond that fast, it is going to change the calculus of the battlefield," Gen. Michael W. Hagee explained during an interview with the Pentagon Channel. The concept, expected to be in full swing within the next 10 to 15 years, involves pre-positioning ships with cr…

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report February 10, 2006 SEALs-Friendly Submarine Returns To Navy Fleet The first of four converted U.S. submarines, specifically designed to help special forces perform covert missions, returned to the Navy's fleet for service on Feb. 7. The USS Ohio, converted by General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat unit, is the first of four nuclear-powered ballistic missile subs (SSBNs) to be converted into cruise missile-laden, special forces-friendly SSGNs. The other three -- the USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia -- are slated to rejoin the fleet by 2007. Ohio was returned to service at a ceremony in Bangor, Wash. "Ohio's …

Seawolf arrives at new base in Bremerton The Associated Press. Posted : Monday Jul 23, 2007 21:42:21 EDT BREMERTON, Wash. — Serenaded by a five-piece Navy band and greeted by balloon-toting children, the fast attack submarine Seawolf arrived at its new base Sunday. Seawolf was nudged into the pier by tugboats, the first of two fast attack subs to arrive at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton from Groton, Conn. With a crew of 140, the 353-foot sub is the first to be based in Bremerton, although many others have visited the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for maintenance, overhauls and repairs. Chief Petty Officer Arnulfo Salinas, winner of the traditional first kis…

SECNAV Names Navy’s Future Class of Guided-Missile Frigates (Seapower)

From Ares [excerpt]

From Defense Aerospace Northrop Grumman's Second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Pilot Production Aircraft, Delta Two, Completes Successful First Flight (Source: Northrop Grumman Corp.; issued Dec. 19, 2007) ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. --- The second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye development aircraft, known as Delta Two, built for the U.S. Navy by prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation, completed its first flight in just over two hours from the company's Florida manufacturing and flight test center Nov. 29 followed by a second flight Dec. 4. “The first flight of our second development aircraft signals another major program performance milestone for the E-2 program and for Tea…

From Defense Aerospace Multimission-Capable Sub Readies for Full Operation (Source: US Navy; issued April 12, 2006) NAVAL SUBMARINE BASE KINGS BAY, Ga. --- The guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728) arrived at its new home of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga., April 11, completing the sub’s three-year refueling and conversion at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. Florida is the second Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine the Navy has reconfigured, replacing its 24 Trident missiles with nearly 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, switching the boat from a nuclear deterrent to a source of more conventional firepower in the global war on terrorism…

Secret Nuclear Redesign Will Keep U.S. Subs Running Silently for 50 Years (Wired, Danger Room blog)

Senate panel cuts 1 of 3 LCS ships, backs FCS By William Matthews - Staff writer Posted : Tuesday Sep 11, 2007 17:59:18 EDT The Senate subcommittee that oversees the U.S. military budget eliminated one of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships Sept. 11, leaving the program with just two ships. Each remaining vessel is a different design, and the subcommittee said it expects the Navy to pick one as the winner in a contest between Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics to build as many as 55 ships for the Navy. In documents prepared by the subcommittee, senators said the two ships should be delivered to the Navy by next summer and the Navy should evaluate them…

From Air Force Magazine, October 2007 issue October 2007 , Vol. 90, No. 10 The Navy plans to build many more flattops, and they won’t be “Gary Hart carriers.” Seven New Carriers (Maybe) By Otto Kreisher Today’s Navy leaders are in a bind. With the size of the fleet at 277 warships, and with a stated requirement for 313, the service faces a broad, long-term, and expensive shipbuilding task. Senior officers are struggling to find the money, with no assurance of success. In the midst of all this, however, there is at least one certainty. Navy leadership is staunchly committed to buying many more big-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers—the most powerf…

Ship named in honor of 9/11 to be christened By Alan Sayre - The Associated Press Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 16:21:38 EST AVONDALE, La. — Standing before the massive New York, Jennifer Adams seemed moved by the spirits of the 2,750 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center. “Our angels will watch over the men and women serving on this ship so the events of Sept. 11 will never happen again,” said Adams, who co-founded an association of family members and friends of 2,974 people who died when terrorist-hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, and of survivors, recov…

Ships flagged for lack thereof Navy custom not observed by some By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Jul 8, 2007 10:23:48 EDT NORFOLK, Va. — Eight ships of the 2nd Fleet caused a few internal fireworks July 4. A message from 2nd Fleet command to units of 2nd Fleet reminded all that “on President’s Day and on Independence Day every ship of the Navy in commission, not underway, shall full-dress ship.” It then tersely noted that the cruisers Cape St. George and Vella Gulf, destroyers Arleigh Burke, The Sullivans, Porter, James E. Williams, Forrest Sherman, and the dock landing ship Shreveport — all of which were in port for the holiday — were not…

Shock tactics to destroy torpedoes 06 October 2005 NewScientist.com news service Paul Marks THE US navy wants to protect its warships with a system that will destroy incoming torpedoes by firing massive underwater shock waves at them. The ships would be equipped with arrays of 360 transducers each 1 metre square - effectively big flat-panel loudspeakers - running along either side of the hull below the waterline. When the ship's sonar detects an incoming torpedo, the transducers simultaneously fire an acoustic shock wave of such intensity that the torpedo either detonates early or is disabled by the pulse's crushing force, according to the Defence Advanced R…

From Aviation Week's ARES Blog Shore duty for the SM-3 Posted by Amy Butler at 7/16/2008 8:47 AM CDT The Missile Defense Agency is considering a land-based variant of the Standard Missile-3, says Ed Miyashiro, deputy general manager of Raytheon's Missile Systems sector in Tucson, Ariz. Driving the need is Israel, which wants the ability to engage ballistic missiles in the exoatmosphere farther away from its own territory. Iran fired multiple medium- and long-range ballistic missiles July 9 during a military exercise. The long-range Shahab could reach Israeli territory. SM-3 prime contractor Raytheon is examining a range of options -- including a moveable,…

Showdown Ends in Cancellation U.S. Navy Scraps LCS 3 After Dispute With Lockheed By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS DefenseNews The U.S. Navy’s abrupt decision to cancel construction of a Lockheed Martin Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) leaves many wondering what it means to Lockheed, the LCS program, shipbuilders, service acquisition and the fleet itself. Navy Secretary Donald Winter, who has pledged to use any method at his disposal to hold down shipbuilding costs, has repeatedly urged industry to modernize and find new ways to build ships. But shipbuilders are digging in, tired of the badgering from Navy officials and lawmakers alike. They say too little attention is giv…