Free Republic

WASHINGTON — A war averted more than a decade ago may be pointing the way toward 21st-century warfare for the U.S. Navy. In September 1994, a U.S. flotilla positioned itself off the coast of Haiti to help restore a democratically elected president to power. The flagship, the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, was stripped of its fighter planes and turned into a landing hub for Army helicopters and barracks for 2,000 soldiers. Operation Uphold Democracy, as it was called, ended in a few weeks and the Norfolk-based Eisenhower headed to the Mediterranean for a more conventional deployment. But Navy leaders...

Northrop officials say destroyer program changes ahead PASCAGOULA, Miss.—A Northrop Grumman Ships Systems official says changes in the Navy's shipbuilding program could force the defense giant into direct competition with Bath Iron Works. Ship Systems President Phil Dur, speaking Tuesday to a business group in Pascagoula, said depending on how the Navy changes its DD(X) destroyer program, Northrop could go from building three of the next generation warships to building all or none. Ship Systems is scheduled to build the first three ships of the cutting-edge class in Pascagoula, with the Bath, Maine, shipyard building two. Recent changes in the...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's plan for the Navy calls for buying fewer ships, while China, a potential security hot spot, is increasing and repositioning its fleet. It's a prospect that concerns some lawmakers. The plan is contained in Bush's 2006 budget proposal, which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday defended, saying the military was closely watching China's moves but that the U.S. Navy remains the pre-eminent fleet. "The United States Navy ... is the Navy on the face of the Earth that is a true blue water navy," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "On the other hand,...

The U.S. Navy is preparing to break ground on a program dedicated to testing the science behind electromagnetic rail guns. The Navy will begin the construction of a new building devoted to the project this summer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Va. The Navy said it hopes it can develop an electromagnetic rail gun by 2010, and possibly deploy it aboard the electric-powered DD-X destroyer. Rail guns require a pulse power system to get instant electrical charges needed to accelerate projectiles to hypersonic velocities. Its rapid flight time and 200-kilometer range make these guns a tempting option...

U.S. Navy Selects Northrop Grumman-Led Gold Team For DD(X) System Design Contract $2.9 Billion, Four-Year Program Will Produce Designs for Next-Generation, Transformational Surface Combatants LOS ANGELES, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC - news) announced today that the U.S. Navy has selected a team led by the company to complete the system design for the Navy's advanced, 21st century surface combatant, DD(X). Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector will lead the system design, engineering prototype development and testing of the DD(X) System under a $265 million contract awarded today by the Navy. The team includes Raytheon Company (NYSE:...