Department Of Defense News

The U.S. Navy’s Fleet Weather Centers are piloting Sofar’s Wayfinder platform and data from its global network of ocean sensors to advance the Navy’s capability to ensure safe and efficient ship routing for the U.S. Fleet.Sofar Ocean announced the partnership with the U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command’s (CNMOC) Fleet Weather Centers in Norfolk (FWC-N) and San Diego (FWC-SD).FWC-N and FWC-SD, the Navy’s two primary weather forecasting centers, are piloting Sofar’s Wayfinder platform to support the routing of naval vessels at sea.

Leidos has been awarded a follow-on contract by the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC PAC) to bolster unmanned and automated systems aimed at improving maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. Valued at approximately $248 million, the contract spans five years and underscores the growing emphasis on advanced technology in naval operations."This award enables Leidos to accelerate the technology needed to enhance ISR capabilities and harden the foundation for Navy operations," said Dave Lewis, Leidos senior vice president for sea systems.

Iridium Communications said that U.S. Space Force Colonel (Ret.) Kalliroi Landry has joined Iridium as Government Programs Director. Col. Landry will engage Department of Defense (DoD) communities to help drive business.At the Space Development Agency Col. Landry was the Chief of the Support Cell and oversaw planning, acquisition and fielding of ground and user-terminal systems and launch services that underpin the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. Her military career has included various space acquisition assignments spanning developmental planning, research and development, satellite operations, range management, acquisition policy and program management.

Alternative fuels are not top of the list of naval requirements for gensets, but they are inching their way up.The naval world is largely exempt from the decarbonization pressure faced by commercial shipping, but it can’t ignore it entirely. As a famed naval strategist once said: “Fuel stands first in importance of the resources necessary to a fleet.”Navies must therefore consider their fuel supply options carefully given that commercial shipping is currently rewriting supply and demand dynamics.Indeed…

Electric motor startup H3X on Tuesday announced it has raised $20 million through an oversubscribed Series A round led by Infinite Capital, with participation from Hanwha Asset Management, Cubit Capital, Origin Ventures, Industrious Ventures, Venn10 Capital, and follow-on investors that include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Metaplanet, Liquid 2 Ventures and TechNexus.Denver-based H3X manufactures high power density electric motors for aviation, marine, industrial and defense applications.

Australian shipbuilding group Austal announced it has delivered the seventh of 10 Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats (ECCPB’s) it is building under contract to the Royal Australian Navy.Officially handed over at Austal’s Henderson, Western Australia shipyard, ADV Cape Solander is the first of two Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats scheduled for delivery to the Royal Australian Navy in CY2024.“The Austal Australia team are continuing to demonstrate outstanding capability, productivity and efficiency with the Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boat Project…

The United States' Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro on Monday announced a federal, state and local partnership intended to help rebuild the maritime industrial base workforce required to support the Navy.The so-called Michigan Maritime Manufacturing Initiative (M3) will establish training pipelines and programs to meet the Navy’s need for thousands of new workers and jobs across the state and the broader Great Lakes region. With an initial focus on submarine production skillsets before expansion to other types of ships…

Russia and China are increasingly cooperating in the Arctic region, which could impact regional stability, the U.S. military said as it released its strategy for the Arctic region on Monday.Russia has reopened hundreds of Soviet-era military sites in the Arctic, the report said. China, which describes itself as a "near-Arctic" state, also has ambitions there and has said it intended to build a "Polar Silk Road." China has its eye on mineral resources and new shipping routes as ice packs recede with rising temperatures."Increasingly…

Wireless carrier T-Mobile said in June it has been selected by the U.S.

Australian shipbuilder Austal announced that the Australian Government has ordered two additional Guardian-class Patrol Boats from Austal Australia, valued at approximately A$39 million.The 39.5-meter, steel-hull patrol boats, to be constructed at Henderson in Western Australia and scheduled for delivery in 2026, are in addition to the 22 Guardian-class Patrol Boats previously ordered by the Australian Government under the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement Project (SEA3036-1) since…

Advances in autonomous vessels – from R&D to regulatory policies to actual work – are moving rapidly. AVs include a range of vessel types and missions, from freight to law enforcement to research to defense. There are many acronyms. Some examples –AV stands for autonomous vessel.AUV is autonomous underwater vessel.MASS stands for “maritime autonomous surface ship.”NOMARS is a U.S. Department of Defense term for “no manning required ship.”Different…but maybe not so differentSurface…

The latest high-tech rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) from Annapolis, Md. based boatbuilder Ocean Craft Marine (OCM), the 11.5-meter Offshore Interceptor, is the result of an innovation push involving some of the industry’s top players.“The design itself is an evolution of existing designs we've done, but taking it to the next level,” said Todd Salus, OCM vice president of operations. “It’s the latest and greatest innovation.”The company’s founder and CEO, Roy Nouhra, said the boat’s origins trace back a few years to a design OCM developed for a “very secretive organization” within the U.S.

A bipartisan, bicameral group is emerging in Congress as the thought leaders for future maritime policy. On January 30, 2024, Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL-6) led a letter to President Biden, joined by 17 other members of Congress, urging the White House to embrace a “bold and clear vision” for the future of U.S. sea power. Among other recommendations – including establishing an interagency maritime policy coordinator – the Congressional group urged President Biden to issue a Presidential Determination to establish “commercial…

With the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard FY 2025 budget requests offering uninspiring news for traditional shipbuilders, industry observers might be forgiven for checking out and dismissing 2024 as just another dull year in the frustrating business of government shipbuilding.But with an election season underway and an increasingly disorderly sea, the year may end up being far more exciting for industry than most U.S. shipbuilders expect.In fact, it might even be time to prepare for a “Remember the Maine” moment.

The Spaceport Company (TSC) has been awarded a contract by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an office within the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), to deliver cargo and enable greater access to space by leveraging a unique, seagoing mobile space launch complex. This prototype is intended to demonstrate delivery to a mission-designed orbit and test autonomy-like features of the sea launch vessel.The ability to rapidly re-constitute space-based capabilities or resupply time-sensitive cargo at precise locations on-orbit or terrestrially is a critical but presently under-developed capability…

The U.S. Department of Defense announced that Fincantieri Marinette Marine was awarded a contract valued at more than $1 billion to build the fifth and sixth Constellation-class Frigates for the U.S. Navy. FMM received the contract for the lead ship of the Constellation-Class in April 2020, and the Navy has since exercised five options for follow-on vessels. This two-ship option, for FFG 66 and FFG 67, is valued at $1,044,529,113, the Pentagon said.Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced this week that FFG-66 will be named USS Hamilton.

The Military Sealift Command’s Maritime Prepositioning Ships (MPS) and Auxiliary Crane Ships (ACS) were built 50 years ago to pre-position vehicles and supplies in forward locations and load or unload them in undeveloped or damaged port facilities. I serve with MSC’s Taluga Group, charged with finding innovative solutions to pressing problems. One of those challenges is meeting the MPS and ACS mission as the current ships continue to serve past their expected service lines.To…

The U.S. Navy's efforts to build a fleet of unmanned vessels are faltering because the Pentagon remains wedded to big shipbuilding projects, according to some officials and company executives, exposing a weakness as sea drones reshape naval warfare.The lethal effectiveness of sea drones has been demonstrated in the Black Sea where Ukraine has deployed remote-controlled speed boats packed with explosives to sink Russian frigates and minesweepers since late 2022.Yemeni-backed Houthi rebels have employed similar vessels against commercial shipping in the Red Sea in recent months…

Founded as the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) and renamed Military Sealift Command in 1970, MSC today not only support the Navy, but we are the Department of Defense's provider of all sealift. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently interviewed Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, U.S. Navy, for insights on the service today and it’s needs to grow in the future.What makes MSC so vital to the Navy’s fleet and our military forces around the world?When we  look at the history of contested logistics in World War II…

“Wind Turbines: The Bigger, the Better” -USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, August 24, 2023Last December the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published a proposed sale notice regarding new development areas for utility scale wind projects in the central Atlantic Ocean. The notice includes an upfront issue: the need to mitigate conflicts with U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) activities. BOEM explains that in certain areas the Air Force has set an airspace floor of 1,000 feet above sea level and the Air Force asked BOEM to keep structures below that height.

The Maritime Risk Symposium is an annual three-day conference in which government and maritime industry leaders, port representatives, researchers, and solution providers convene to examine current and emerging threats to maritime security. MRS2024 is scheduled to take place June 11-13 2024 at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, CA.A look @ Panel 5: Facilitator: Eric “Coop” Cooper, CAPT, USCG (retired)This panel will inform participants and generate discussion to improve understanding of the risk of gray zone activities pose to the economy…

U.S. shipbuilder Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc (ESG) on Wednesday announced it is teaming up with Dutch shipbuilding group Royal IHC to design and construct a highly automated hopper dredge for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).The diesel-electric vessel, contracted for the Department of Defense, will be constructed at ESG's Allanton and Port St. Joe facilities in Florida for scheduled delivery in 2027.The new 6,000-cubic-yard-capacity medium-class hopper dredge (MCHD) will be based at the Corps’ Philadelphia District…

With a fleet of nine U.S.-flag RoRo ships, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), is the U.S.’ premier commercial RoRo carrier of U.S. government and military cargo. As the world becomes an increasingly contentious place, Eric P. Ebeling, President & CEO, ARC, discusses the vast capabilities of the ARC fleet and logistics network, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead for U.S.-flag ships in the international trade.By the numbers’ is a simplistic means to gauge the size and shape of any shipping company…