Tag: US Navy

Today, the Middle East's International Maritime Exercise (IMX) 2022 began. It is the region’s largest maritime exercise and the world's largest unmanned exercise with more than 80 unmanned systems from ten nations participating.

The U.S. Navy recently completed a portion of developmental testing of the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) electronic warfare (EW) pod. Moving to flight testing with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 by late June or early July 2020, the program is scheduled to reach Milestone C by the end of this fiscal year and expected to become operational in 2023.

The US Navy awarded Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC) a contract to design and produce the next generation small surface combatant, the Guided Missile Frigate (FFG(X)). The FFG(X) will be based on the successful ‘European multi-purpose frigate’ designed by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and the French Naval Group. Ships of this design are already operated by the French, Italian, Egyptian and Moroccan and will also be supplied to Brazil.

The Boeing Company was selected to develop and build the Stingray MQ-25A, the first unmanned refueling aircraft to be operated by the fleet. The...

The IRST will enable the Navy fighters to target adversaries beyond visual and radar range, and enhance survivability in radar denied environment, operate against existing and emerging air threats.

Australia commits to buy six Northrop Gruman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drones, to be fielded beginning in 2023, at an investment of $1.4 billion. The Tritons will operate with manned aircraft to enhance Australian anti-submarine warfare, maritime strike, and search and rescue capabilities.

The planned arrival of amphibious support ship USS Wasp (LHD-1) in the Pacific Ocean introduces a new capability for amphibious support ships carrying the F-35B fifth-generation stealth fighters without relying on large aircraft carriers. Apart from the American LHD, both Japan and South Korea are interested in the new potential mating STOVL fighters with flat-deck helicopter carriers. Both countries already acquired the conventional take-off variant (F-35A), and consider operating the Short Take-Off / Vertical Landing (STOVL) B version from ships.

Lockheed Martin successfully launched production-configuration Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) from a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bomber. to be integrated onboard the U.S. Air Force's B-1B in 2018 and on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F in 2019, LRASM will fulfill the US Navy's Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) Increment I requirement.

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of first aircraft carrier of the new Ford class - the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). Ford will be commissioned into the fleet this summer, formally placing the ship into active service. Ford is expected to be operational in 2020 following achievement of initial operational capability.

The Airborne Electronic Attack Systems and EA-6B program office (PMA-234) of the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) completed a critical design review (CDR)...

The U.S. is bolstering its naval force operating off the Yemen coast and in the Bab El Mandeb straits connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The main concern is that the Houthis will try to block the narrow maritime lane with mines. "We’ve seen evidence that the Houthis are laying mines in the waters outside at least one of their ports. We officially have great concern for the freedom of navigation there" Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told Stars & Stripes.

New capabilities introduced to the new batch of Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM) are transforming the weapon of the 1980s into a smarter, more versatile 21st century weapon. The U.S. Navy is planning to rapidly deploy the modernized, retargetable Block IV land attack missile on board ships as a dual-mission 'Maritime Strike Tomahawk'.

The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is being awarded an $82 million to deliver 12 Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems for the F/A-18E/F aircraft. The IRST system developed and built by Lockheed Martin is a long-wave infrared (LWIR) detection system housed in a centerline pod. The IRST acts like a passive radar and targets airborne vehicles in a radar-denied environment.

A US Navy guided missile destroyer launched a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles against three Yemeni radar sites along the red sea shoreline, in response to recent attacks on U.S. ships in the region.