[Lusitano89]

[Lusitano89]

America's Newest Supercarrier • PCU Ford Starts Sea Trials

America's Newest Supercarrier, PCU Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) departs Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding for builder’s sea trials on April 8, 2017. The Ford is currently designated a pre-commissioning unit (PCU), expected to be commissioned in 2017.

[Lusitano89]

[mafets]

Também este?  https://www.navytimes.com/articles/things-have-gone-from-bad-to-worse-at-the-navys-flight-school

The head of naval aviation has extended a three-day grounding of all the Navy's T-45 training jets indefinitely after a  group of instructor pilots refused to fly the aircraft.

After a visit from Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker Friday to the Navy's flight training school in Meridian, Mississippi, the Navy put out a press release announcing that the three-day pause in T-45 flights has been extended while Navy engineers try and figure out what's causing a spike in dangerous physical symptoms in pilots brought on by a drop in oxygen in the cockpit.

"The Navy implemented an operational pause for its T-45C fleet Wednesday at the direction of Shoemaker in response to the T-45C pilots’ feedback about the potential for PEs," the release said. "That operational pause has been extended to allow Naval Aviation Leadership time to review the engineering data and developing a path forward for the fleet that will ensure the safety of its aircrew."

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[Lusitano89]

Worlds Biggest & Most Expensive Aircraft Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford Begins With Sea Trials

[Lusitano89]

[Cabeça de Martelo]

HII's LPD-Based Future Surface Combatant Concept Could Replace Ticonderoga-class Cruisers

During the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition held recently near Washington D.C., Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) was showcasing its "Future Surface Combatant" based on a LPD-17 / San Antonio-class hull form.


HII's Future Surface Combatant at Sea Air Space 2017.
        
According to an HII representative, the scale model is representative of what a future surface combatant could look like based on future fleet architecture studies by the US Navy and various think tanks. "It is increasingly clear that they are going to need a combatant with a very large radar to help take the fight to the enemy. Something to operate outside of threat waters but with a radar large enought to see over the horizon" said Steve Sloan, director and program manager for LPD 28/LX(R) programs.

The scale model on display was actually unveiled as the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) concept ship at Sea Air Space 2014. As we reported at the time, the LPD-based BMD ship was showing an impressive may be fitted with 288 Mk 41 vertical launch systems (or 144 Mk 57 as an alternative which are the VLS currently fitted on DDG1000 class).

The "Future Surface Combatant" now shows a reduced number of 96 VLS, "That's because the Navy told us they didn't need that many cells" Navy Recognition was told. The Ticonderoga-class cruisers are currently fitted with 122x Mk 41 VLS cells.


HII's Future Surface Combatant at Sea Air Space 2017.
        
The Ticonderoga-class cruisers will reach their retirement age of 35 years between 2021 and 2029, although the U.S. Navy may use upgrades to extend their lives to 40 years. The class was first ordered and authorized in the 1978 fiscal year. HII believes its LPD-based concept would be the right solution to replace the ageing cruiser class.

HII's concept ship offers many advantages. The huge (35') fixed S-band radar for starters, which is said to be 2000 times more sensitive than the current SPY-1. An X-band radar sits on top of the mast. A 3-face radar is available as an option to replace the large cubic radar. We were told that the LPD 17 hull form offers signiticant volumes to support other missions: There is provision for an elevator and below deck hangar, both large enought to accommodate V-22 tilt rotor aircraft. There is so much space in the boat valley and hangar space that the VLS cells may potentially be reloaded while at sea. If the aircraft elevator is not needed, the well deck may be retained to support special forces or other needs.

The model on display at the show was fitted with an optional 32MJ rail gun (forward, as main gun), a Mk110 57mm and a RAM launcher back aft for self defense.

In this configuration, the HII's "future surface combatant" is 209 meters (684ft) in length with a beam of 32 meters (105 ft) and a max. displacement of 27,000 tons. The speed is 20+ knots and expected crew is 161 sailors (a significant drop compared to the 300+ crew complement aboard the Ticonderoga-class).

Navy Recognition comment:
While the LPD 17 hull form is slower than the current CG class, the potential of a surface vessel fitted with the maximum size variant of the AN/SPY-6 AMDR radar and a 70+ day mission endurance (without resupply) sounds like a major capability step forward. Add to the mix a likely affordable design (because of the reduced crew and the hot production line) plus the ability to accomodate large, long endurance helicopters (an AEW variant of the V-22 or CH-53 would be ideal) to act as remote sensors, and you have what looks like a very promising CG replacement solution.


II's Future Surface Combatant at Sea Air Space 2017.

http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/news/naval-exhibitions/2017/sea-air-space-2017-show-daily-news/5114-hii-s-lpd-based-future-surface-combatant-concept-could-replace-ticonderoga-class-cruisers.html

[Vitor Santos]

Realmente eles jogam pesado

[Lusitano89]

[Lusitano89]

[perdadetempo]

Como não construir um porta-aviões....

President Trump used the Navy’s next generation aircraft carrier, the CVN-78 USS Gerald R. Ford, as a backdrop to unveil his vision for the next defense budget in March 2017. The moment was meant to symbolize his commitment to rebuilding the military, but it also positioned the President in front of a monument to the Navy’s and defense industry’s ability to justify spending billions in taxypayer dollars on unproven technologies that often deliver worse performance at a higher cost. The Ford program also provides yet another example of the dangers of the Navy’s and industry’s end-running the rigorous combat testing that is essential to ensuring our fighting men and women go to war with equipment that works.

The Navy had expected to have the ship delivered in 2014 at a cost of $10.5 billion. But the inevitable problems resulting from the concurrency the Navy built into developing the Ford’s new and risky technologies, more than a dozen in all, caused the schedule to slip by more than three years and the cost to increase to $12.9 billion—nearly 25 percent over budget.

For all this time and money, “poor or unknown reliability of the newly designed catapults, arresting gear, weapons elevators, and radar, which are all critical for flight operations, could affect CVN-78’s ability to generate sorties, make the ship more vulnerable to attack, or create limitations during routine operations. The poor or unknown reliability of these critical subsystems is the most significant risk to CVN-78.”...(continua)

http://www.pogo.org/straus/issues/defense-budget/2017/how-not-to-build-a-ship-uss-ford.html

[mafets]

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2017-06/navy-today-aircraft-carriers-move

n the Western Pacific

The  USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group  is under way – operating off the northern Philippines.  The USS Reagan  (CVN-76) just finished a six-month maintenance period in Japan.  As the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Japan, she normally covers the forward presence requirements in the western Pacific. When the Reagan undergoes scheduled maintenance periods, normal practice is to “cover” the requirement by deploying another carrier to the western Pacific. The USS Carl Vinson  (CVN-70) and her strike group were deployed in the Western Pacific to fill this role.

Her job done, the  USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group  is headed home to San Diego.

In the Eastern Pacific

The  USS Nimitz   Carrier Strike Group  left San Diego on Tuesday and is headed west.  The USS  Nimitz  (CVN-68) is the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 11, which includes guided-missile destroyers USS Shoup (DDG-86) and USS Kidd (DDG-100) from Naval Station Everett, Washington, guided-missile destroyers USS Howard (DDG-83) and USS Pinckney (DDG-91) and guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton  (CG-59) from San Diego, and all the aircraft squadrons that compose Carrier Air Wing 11.

Carrier Air Wing 11 composition:

The Lemoore, California-based “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147, “Black Knights” of VFA-154, “Blue Diamonds” of VFA-146
The San Diego-based “Death Rattlers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323
The Whidbey Island-based “Gray Wolves” of Electronic Attack Squadron 142
The Point Mugu, California-based “Blue Tails” of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 121
The San Diego-based “Eightballers” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 8, “Wolfpack” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75, and “Providers” of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 30.
*Note that one of the four fighter/attack squadrons in the wing is a Marine Corps squadron – VMFA 323.  Marine fighter squadrons are carrier-capable and some Marine fighter squadrons integrate into Navy carrier-based wings for deployment.

The  Nimitz   Carrier Strike Group  will sail across the Pacific, and likely will continue to sail all the way to the Persian Gulf.  The  Nimitz is homeported in Bremerton. She sailed from there to San Diego to join with the other strike group elements before heading west.

The  USS America Amphibious Ready Group and the 15 th  Marine Expeditionary Unit  are completing their final training and certifications prior to deploying later this year.

In the Persian Gulf

There currently is no U.S. aircraft carrier in the Gulf.

The USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit  is in port in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.  The USS Bataan (LHD-5) Amphibious Ready Group with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived in theater in March.

*Depending on how it plays out, the situation in Qatar could have great impact. There are some 10,000 U.S. personnel there – mostly U.S. Air Force.  Almost all U.S. land-based aircraft in the region currently fly out of Qatar. If the operations in Qatar are interrupted and those land-based aircraft cannot fly, it will increase pressure and demand on sea-based assets.

In the Mediterranean

The  USS George H W Bush Carrier Strike Group  just transited the Suez and is operating in the Mediterranean. The  USS George H W Bush  (CVN-77) is headed to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia.

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[Lusitano89]

Life Aboard USS Zumwalt

[mafets]

Devem-se seguir os IOWA...  https://news.usni.org/2017/06/13/cno-navy-taking-hard-look-bringing-back-oliver-hazard-perry-frigates-ddg-life-extension-options-build-355-ship-fleet

Studies are underway to “take a hard look” at putting eight mothballed Oliver Hazard Perry frigates back into service as well as extending the life of existing Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyers to help the Navy reach its goal of a 355-ship fleet, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said on Tuesday.

Speaking before an audience at the U.S. Naval War College, Richardson said service leaders were looking at “every trick” to put more platforms into the fleet including bringing back some Perrys into service.

We’re taking a hard look at the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates. There’s seven or eight of those that we could take a look at but those are some old ships and everything on these ships is old… a lot has changed since we last modernized those,” Richardson said in a response to an audience question on how the Navy’s inactive reserve fleet could be used to grow the fleet.
“It’ll be a cost benefit analysis in terms of how we do that. The other part is how we do life extension and how do we plan to keep them out of mothballs longer. That’s going to be money in the bank if we do that.”

He said early looks at extending the planned service life of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers could help the service reach a 355 total ten to 15 years faster.

“If we plan now, for instance, to extend the life Arleigh Burke DDGs beyond the current projections, the initial returns are we could buy ten to 15 years to the left in terms of reaching that 350 ship goal,” he said.

In follow-up tweets to his remarks at the Current Strategy Forum, Richardson and a Navy spokesperson stressed the service was still in the early stages of formulating how it would reach the 355 ship goal and that the progress on the life extension program was more mature than reactivating the frigates.

he service – currently at 275 ships – determined late last year that it needed to grow to 355 ships by the mid-2020s to keep a U.S. advantage over adversaries like Russia and China.

“It’s clear to get beyond that we’re going to have to start building, we’re going to have to build ships,” Richardson wrote in a white paper issued last month.
“And we’re going to have to look at extending the life of ships, we’re going to have to look at just about every way we can to increase our inventory of ships in the United States Navy.”

One naval analyst told USNI News on Tuesday considering reactivating the frigates was a sign of the stress the current fleet is under.

“The fact that this is being considered speaks to the strength and utility of the Perry-class frigate design, as well as the strain being felt by the fleet,” Eric Wertheim, author of U.S. Naval Institute’s Combat Fleets of the World, told USNI News on Tuesday.
“While increasing maintenance and shipbuilding funding could help alleviate some of these challenges in the future, near term gaps still need to be addressed more immediately. Returning retired vessels to the fleet could potentially be one near-term solution, and it sounds like it is now being considered – among other options.”

Cumprimentos

[NVF]

Iowa's não digo, mas...

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/11316/us-navy-looking-at-bringing-retired-carrier-uss-kitty-hawk-out-of-mothballs