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ARLINGTON, Va. — A small company is offering to the Navy a small, high-speed craft that it says can take on some of the missions of the littoral combat ship (LCS) in regional operations. The Ghost, a small waterplane-area twin-hull (SWATH) craft designed by Juliet Marine Systems Inc. of Portsmouth, N.H., has been tested in prototype form at sea and has been demonstrated to potential customers, including the U.S. Navy, said Greg Sancoff, chief executive officer of Juliet Marine. The Ghost is designed to perform anti-surface (ASUW) and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and mine countermeasures (MCM), the three intended roles of...

The US Navy's second Independence-class littoral combat ship (LCS) Coronado (LCS 4) is set to test launch Kongsberg's naval strike missile (NSM) off Point Mugu, Southern California, US, in September. Marking the first firing of a surface-to-surface missile from an LCS, the upcoming trial follows the successful launch of the NSM from the Norwegian frigate Fridtjof Nansen during RIMPAC exercises. NAVSEA spokesperson lieutenant Kurt Larson was quoted by the NavyTimes as saying: "The planned September live-firing demonstration aboard USS Coronado (LCS 4) of the naval strike missile under the foreign comparative testing programme will test the ship's feasibility to execute...

We sat at the end of the runway, our F-14's GE-110 motors humming, awaiting our clearance to begin what would be the last F-14 Demonstration ever. The Air Boss's voice crackled over the radio: "Tomcat Demo, you're cleared to five miles and 15k feet. The air show box is yours" At that very moment, I distinctly remember what my Commanding Officer told us before the show: "Fellas, make it a memorable one… just not too memorable!" LCDR Joe "Smokin" Ruzicka was the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) to fly the last F-14 Demonstration before the Tomcat's final demise in 2006. Commander...

Five months after the first pictures surfaced in February 2014, the Type 055 cruiser testing rig at Wuhan has taken significant steps towards completion. The advantages of a land based test rig allow Chinese naval engineers to make cheaper adjustments and modifications to the electronics, compared to rebuilding an expensive cruiser on sea trials. Once launched, the Type 055 cruiser will be among the world's most powerful surface combatant warships, giving the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) a multipurpose warship useful for both blue water expeditionary warfare and anti-access/area denial missions. While much scaffolding remains, the photos show recent additions...

Navy Recognition has learned that the U.S. Navy is beginning environmental and integration analysis of the UK’s combat proven Dual Mode Brimstone missile for F/A-18 Super Hornets. This activity is funded and being managed by the US Navy. Additionally, two recent positive reports from committees of the U.S Congress have expanded the funding in Fiscal Year 2015 by $10M for Dual Mode Brimstone on F/A-18s and asked for the Secretary of Defense’s views on dual mode missile technology. This news is matched by the UK MOD funding BAE Systems 5M British Pounds to begin an integration analysis of Dual Mode...

Missile Has a Range Exceeding 150 Nautical Miles, and is Designed to be Difficult to Spot by Radar FARNBOROUGH, England— Raytheon Co. RTN +0.64% is teaming up with Norways's Kongsberg Gruppen AS KOG.OS -0.73% A to build a new anti-ship weapon as it deepens its battle with Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT +0.50% in the market to sell high-end missiles to the Pentagon. Kongsberg is developing the Joint Strike Missile for use with Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to attack ships and land targets from great distance. Under the deal being announced today at the Farnborough air show, Raytheon will...

Undermanned and overworked crews can’t keep Littoral Combat Ships running Did you ever work a job that required two people, but your stingy employer insisted that one was enough? Then you understand the problem with the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship. One of the LCS’s supposed advantages is its much smaller crew compared to other vessels. Where a Navy frigate might have 200 sailors, the frigate-size LCS has just 40—although, to be fair, two different 40-person crews take turns running the ship. LCS is a jack-of-all-trades warship that can carry different modules for various missions—anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare or mine-hunting. The...

In an article written for the Washington-based military website, War on the Rock, Robert Haddick, an American military analyst said that the People's Liberation Army Navy's YJ-12 anti-ship cruise missile is the most dangerous threat to the US Navy in the Western Pacific. On page 40 of the Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2014 published by the Pentagon for congress indicated, this cruise missile provides an increased threat to naval assets, due to its long range and supersonic speeds. In addition, the YJ-12 is capable of being launched from PLA Navy Air Force's H-6 strategic...

During the underway period, John Paul Jones also conducted its first ballistic missile tracking exercise while simultaneously tracking two supersonic and two subsonic missile targets. This event fully demonstrated the capabilities of Aegis Baseline 9C and of John Paul Jones as the first Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) destroyer Over the course of three days June 18-20, the crew of Guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) successfully engaged six targets off the coast of Southern California, firing a total of five missiles that included four Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) missiles and one Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) missile. One of...

PH1 (AW/NAC) Michael Moriatis/Wikimedia Commons The U.S. military is relying on sub-hunting tech that’s decades old. Meanwhile, the targets they’re trying to find are getting quieter and more invisible by the day. Submarines are getting quieter, stealthier, and better armed. And that could mean major trouble for the U.S. Navy and its aging fleet of sub-hunters. The tactical balance between the surface warship and the submarine has strategic impact. The submarine is not made for a show of force. Its principal weapon is designed not to damage a ship, but to sink it—rapidly and probably with much loss of life....

A major engine upgrade for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet is being seriously considered by the US Navy for a programme launch in Fiscal Year 2016. GE Aviation and the navy jointly funded a one-year study – which kicked off last October – to examine the details of implementing a nearly 15-year-old proposal to upgrade the F414-GE-400 with the “enhanced durability engine” (EDE) kit. Following a decade of component and rig testing and several false starts on the export market, the study may be GE Aviation’s best hope of salvaging a programme that could improve the thrust of the...

Ever since 1986′s Top Gun, music and the carefully-choreographed mayhem that happens on a carrier’s flight deck have gone together like peanut butter and chocolate. But if you thought such confections are limited to the U.S. Navy, you’d be wrong. Not only does China have a new carrier, with another on the way, it now has a video showing off some of what its existing flattop, the Liaoning, and its J-15 fighters can do. The video celebrates the 65th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. It was produced by AVIC—the Aviation Industry Corporation of China—a state-owned aerospace and defense...

Finmeccanica is proposing that the OTO Melara 76mm gun be configured onto the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship as part of an effort to improve the lethality and survivability of the shallow-water , multi-mission vessel. The naval artillery piece would replace the existing 57mm weapon now on board the LCS, per the existing proposal, said Eric Lindenbaum, vice president of Navy and Maritime programs for DRS Technologies. OTO Melara and DRS Technologies are both subsidiaries for the Italian defense company, Finmeccanica SpA. Amidst an ongoing effort to develop alternative proposals for a new small surface combatant, Navy officials are busy exploring...

At the Sea-Air-Space 2014 Exposition, Huntington Ingalls Industries has on display its Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) concept ship. Based on the "Flight II" variant of the San Antonio LPD class, the BMD ship is Ingalls Industries vision of a surface platform dedicated to BMD missions. A single BMD ship could replace and accomplish ballistic missile defense missions of several Burke class destroyers allowing them to conduct their "traditional" missions. HII's BMD ship at Sea-Air-Space 2014 Speaking to Navy Recognition during Sea-Air-Space 2014, Mike Duthu (Director of LPD Program at Ingals Shipbuilding) explained the growth potential for a BMD configured LPD...

The Talk Shows March 30th, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Angus King, I-Maine; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Michael Leiter, former White House adviser on counterterrorism.FACE THE NATION (CBS): NCAA President Mark Emmert; Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency; Michael Morrell, former deputy CIA director and member of NSA Surveillance Review Group; Cmdr. William J. Marks, U.S. Navy 7th Fleet, which is involved in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines jet.THIS WEEK...

NORFOLK, VA. – A base spokeswoman says two people were killed in a shooting at Naval Station Norfolk. Terri Davis says the shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. Monday at Pier 1 on the base...

Unconfirmed news reports claim the Russian Navy is deploying land-based ‘Bastion’ anti-ship missile systems as a response to the recent U.S. move entering two naval vessels to the Black Sea. The two American Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG-103) crossed the Bosphorus Strait Friday, headed into the Black Sea, as tensions simmer over Ukraine’s Crimea region. The Russians also moved two naval combatants from the Mediterranean Task Force back to the Black Sea Fleet. Tension is mounting in the Crimea Peninsula with the preparations for a referendum on independence from Ukraine later this week. As of today, the Truxtun...

One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction. It’s time to tell a chunk of that story, complete with the relevant documents. Over the last several weeks, I worked with NBC News to publish a series of articles about “dirty trick” tactics used by GCHQ’s previously secret unit, JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group). These were based on four classified GCHQ documents presented to the NSA and the other three partners in...

Rejections by India and more recently Brazil – combined with the looming end to a multi-year procurement deal for the US Navy – mean that the pressure is mounting on Boeing to secure extra orders for its versatile Super Hornet. As things stand, the last F/A-18E/F or EA-18G Growler will roll off the line in St Louis, Missouri before the end of 2016, with the USN and Royal Australian Air Force the buyers so far. As you can read in my colleague Jon Hemmerdinger’s report on the situation, that’s not a major problem for the manufacturer for now, but Washington...

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. — The Navy’s Infrared Search and Track (IRST), a passive, long-range sensor that searches for and detects heat sources, successfully completed its first flight aboard an F/A-18 Super Hornet on Feb. 11, from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The system can simultaneously track multiple targets and provide a highly effective air-to-air targeting capability, even when encountering advanced threats equipped with radar-jamming technology. Because IRST is passive, unlike radar systems, it does not give off radiation and is harder to detect. “Adding an advanced infrared sensor to the Super Hornet broadens the Navy’s warfighting...