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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy sealed the deal on a 10th ship in its latest iteration of the Virginia-class attack submarine, issuing a $2.4 billion adjustment on a contract initially awarded in December 2019. The original contract was for nine boats with an option for a 10th, which brings the total cost of the contract with Prime Contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat to $24.1 billion dollars. The net increase for the contract is $1.89, according to a General Dynamics release. Huntington Ingalls Newport News is GDEB’s partner yard in the program.

The U.S. Navy is now officially looking into what it would take to arm its Zumwalt class stealth destroyers, also referred to as DDG-1000s, with hypersonic missiles. The service has also now disclosed that it is looking to field these missiles loaded into an Advanced Payload Module, or APM, that has "a three-pack configuration."

Mar 2021 Sailor to Sailor Newsletter

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps combat veteran, is calling on Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and other top officials to strip benefits from active-duty service members, veterans and military retirees who took part in the deadly siege of the Capitol. “Many of the veterans and service members who attacked their own government actively and enthusiastically enjoy special benefits given to them by their fellow citizens,” Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote to McDonough in a letter dated March 18. “This situation is unjust. Any veteran or service member who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 forfeited their moral entitlement to privileged benefits at the expense of the people of the United States,” wrote Gallego, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

In December, the MQ-25 Stingray successfully made its first flight with an aerial refueling store, carrying a Cobham ARS under its left wing for about 2.5 hours. The flight was intended to test the drone's aerodynamics with the same system used by the Navy's F/A-18s for aerial-refueling missions. Capt. Chad Reed, the Navy's Unmanned Carrier Aviation program manager, said the test was "one big step closer in our evaluation of how the MQ-25 will fulfill its primary mission in the fleet — aerial refueling."

A trove of recently declassified files on the tragic 1963 sinking of the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Thresher confirm the U.S. Navy didn’t cover up the mysterious accident—and, in fact, there was no single event or error that caused the sub to sink. Last year, a retired Navy submarine commander won a lawsuit forcing the service to release its report on what happened to the Thresher, which sank during diving tests in April 1963, claiming the lives of the entire 129-person crew. The Navy has since released several sets of documents that shed new light on the sinking.

A Pentagon project to upgrade the F-35 jet with new capabilities every six months has seen about $2 billion in recent cost growth and continued delays as the result of an unrealistic schedule, according to congressional auditors. The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin Corp. haven't been able to follow their plan for "Block 4" upgrade work on the next-generation fighter, the Government Accountability Office said Thursday in a new annual report on the almost two-decade, $398 billion program.

WASHINGTON — The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday evening that would order the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer vaccinations to any veteran who wants one, regardless of whether they are enrolled in VA health care. Under the Saves Lives Act, veterans’ spouses and caregivers would also become eligible for vaccines through the VA. The department is currently vaccinating only employees and veterans enrolled in VA health care, as well as some veteran caregivers.

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan may also be home to supernatural activity, according to a couple who claim to help anyone dealing with paranormal disturbances to rid their homes of unwanted spirits. Chaplain (Capt.) Lance Brown, of Yokota’s 374th Wing Staff Agency, and his wife, Karen Brown, who is working on a master’s in counseling, have been performing home cleanses, or anointings, for the past eight years in homes where “odd things occur.”

WASHINGTON — A newly released federal report found the number of homeless veterans in the United States increased from 2019 to 2020, stoking concern among advocates that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will add to an already regressive trend. On a single night in January 2020, 37,252 veterans were experiencing homelessness — an increase of 167 veterans, or 0.4%, from January 2019, according to the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report released Thursday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This marks the first increase in veteran homelessness since 2017. However, since 2009, veteran homelessness is down about 50%.

Why would it not be?

FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — A sailor died Monday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound while on duty aboard a submarine at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, the Navy said in a news release Tuesday. “Out of respect for the family the name will not be released until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified,” Cmdr. Cindy Fields, a spokeswoman for Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in a statement to Stars and Stripes. “This is to provide adequate time to notify and care for the family prior to public announcement. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Sailors’ family, friends and shipmates.”

The Navy is overhauling its Sea Shore Flow policy and wants Sailors’ opinions on what might entice them into taking and staying in critical sea duty billets. Your chance to sound off starts March 17th and your response just might impact the rest of your career and those of Sailors coming up the ranks behind you. Balancing the needs of the Navy with the desires of Sailors has long been the goal but was always difficult to achieve due to more gaps at sea than Sailors available to fill them. The result has been multiple overhauls and sea tour length updates over the last three decades, all in attempt to better man the Fleet and provide Sailors a reasonable work/life balance. The Navy needs to give commands higher manning levels maintained throughout the entire Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP) cycle, including the maintenance and training phases, while also rewarding Sailors for assignment to high-value jobs at sea. Your input will help the Navy identify new opportunities and incentives Sailors value most. Options such as increased advancement opportunities, as well as monetary and non-monetary incentives, are all being considered. These could end up as packages of perks offered Sailors during the detailing process. If you have an idea or an opinion, now's your chance to make a difference. The survey takes roughly 30 minutes and is available at https://go.max.gov/dod/seashore. Some Sailors, such as those in the 22 most sea intensive ratings, will also get an email request to take the survey. This will come from Max.gov and is not a phishing attempt. The link in the email will take you to the same survey site. The survey is only open to active-duty Sailors. To access the site, they must enter their Department of Defense ID number located on the back of their ID card to prove their active component status. Once in the survey, all responses are confidential. Leadership wants candid responses, so none will tracked back to individual Sailors. Only aggregated responses from Sailor opinions and ideas will be in the final report. The survey results are expected to be released later this fiscal year and the Navy hopes to field its new policy as soon thereafter.

Decommissioning ships that have viable service life at a faster rate than industry can build new ones is not how the Navy should grow the fleet, the vice chairwoman of the House Armed Services Committee said Monday. Speaking at a Hudson Institute online forum, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said “the math doesn’t work” for the Navy to potentially decommission any ships early.

The rolling release of a previously secret report and investigation of the 1963 loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593), the Navy’s worst submarine disaster, is providing new lessons for today’s sailors and shipbuilders, said the former submarine commander who brought suit to declassify the documents. Now that the documents are declassified, submarine safety instructors, “can take it home, read it and take it into the classroom,” James Bryant, a retired Navy captain who served on three Thresher class submarines, said on Saturday. The former commander of USS Guardfish (SSN-612) added that graduate engineering students can also glean the material that has been declassified to better understand how to prevent future accidents from becoming disasters that sank Thresher.

VICENZA, Italy — The Navy is offering a 10,000 euro reward for information in the hit-and-run death of a Sigonella sailor in July. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service put out flyers Friday in both English and Italian offering the reward to help identify the driver and the vehicle that killed Seaman Arturo Rivera.

I very much agree with this. This is also how they should have done the fighter jets. (Hornet, Superhornet, xx.) Instead we made a leap to an aircraft that is considered a dud. Vice Adm. William Galinis, Naval Sea Systems Command commander, points to the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer program as an example of how the service should acquire more ships. “If you think about the DDG-51 class and how we have evolved that since the concept first came about back in the 1980s and where we are today … it really is kind of a model program,” he said at the Surface Navy Association’s annual conference. The evolutionary type design versus the revolutionary approach has made it combat relevant throughout its life and continues to do so, he said. Whether it is the current goal of a 355-ship Navy or the even higher 500-plus ship fleet proposed by Mark Esper in the waning days of his tenure as defense secretary, the Navy has a lot of vessels to build over the next couple of decades.

An Army reservist charged with storming the US Capitol was a well-known White supremacist and Nazi sympathizer at the Navy base where he worked as a contractor, and was even rebuked for sporting a distinctive "Hitler mustache," prosecutors said in new court filings. Federal prosecutors revealed Friday that the Navy conducted its own internal investigation into Timothy Hale-Cusanelli that uncovered numerous incidents where he promoted racist and sexist views. The Naval Criminal Investigation Service interviewed 44 of his colleagues and 34 of them said he held "extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish people, minorities and women."

By Center for Information Warfare Training's Language, Regional Expertise, and Culture Team PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Center for Information Warfare Training-managed foreign language testing sites in Everett, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Pensacola, and San Diego will resume foreign language testing services at a reduced capacity in compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Defense (DoD) COVID-19 mitigation policies, April 2021. Sites will administer the Defense Language Aptitude Battery (DLAB) and Defense Language Proficiency Tests (DLPT) by appointment only, so testing will not be available on a walk-in basis. Personnel may schedule an appointment to take a DLAB or DLPT by visiting the following portal: https://www.mnp.navy.mil/group/training-education-qualifications/appointment-scheduler Test control officers (TCO) will manage site testing schedules and prioritize testing as necessary. If you have an urgent, mission-driven need to complete a test (e.g., to certify foreign language proficiency for a pending assignment to a billet coded for foreign language skills), but cannot identify an open appointment slot using the scheduler link, please contact the site TCO directly for assistance using the following information: Everett, Washington - email: CIWT_CRRY_Lang_Testing_Everett@navy.mil Jacksonville, Florida - email: CIWT_CRRY_Lang_Testing_Jacksonville@navy.mil Norfolk, Virginia - email: CIWT_CRRY_Lang_Testing_Norfolk@navy.mil / Ph.: 757.444.9245 Pensacola, Florida - email: CIWT_CRRY_Lang_Testing_Pensacola@navy.mil / Ph.: 850.452.4579 San Diego, California - email: CIWT_CRRY_Lang_Testing_San_Diego@navy.mil / phone.: 619.556.3246 On testing days, TCOs will screen all examinees in accordance with current Commander, U.S. States Fleet Forces Command/ U.S. Naval Forces Northern Command guidance and may deny entry to the testing facility based on unfavorable screening results (e.g., elevated body temperature). While in the testing facility all personnel are required to wear DoD-approved personal protective equipment properly (i.e., mask covering nose and mouth) and maintain six feet of separation from others at all times. We look forward to supporting your language testing needs. Welcome back! To learn more about LREC along with their products and services, visit: https://www.netc.navy.mil/CIWT/NavyLREC/ With four schoolhouse commands, a detachment, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan, CIWT trains over 22,000 students every year, delivering trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services. CIWT also offers more than 200 courses for cryptologic technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians, and officers in the information warfare community.

The US Navy put the stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt to the test by sailing it straight into a storm with waves as high as 20 feet, Naval Sea Systems Command announced recently. Navy engineers tested the destroyer in storms off the coast of California and Alaska in the fall as part of the second phase of the Rough-Water Trials, which test seakeeping, structural response, and operability. The ship did well in Sea State 6 conditions with waves as high as 20 feet.

Women in the military deliver more than babies, senior military leaders said after Fox News host tucker carlson said on his show that pregnant women “are going to fight our wars” and make a mockery of the U.S. military. “Women lead our most lethal units with character. They will dominate ANY future battlefield we’re called to fight on,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston said on Twitter on Thursday, adding that Carlson’s comments hours earlier were divisive and “don’t reflect Army values.”

Always love this NAVADMIN UNCLASSIFIED// ROUTINE R 112047Z MAR 21 MID600050363881U FM SECNAV WASHINGTON DC TO ALNAV INFO SECNAV WASHINGTON DC CNO WASHINGTON DC CMC WASHINGTON DC BT UNCLAS ALNAV 020/21 MSGID/GENADMIN/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC/-/MAR// SUBJ/2021 CAPTAIN EDWARD F. NEY MEMORIAL FOOD SERVICE AWARD RESULTS// RMKS/1. It is a pleasure to announce the results of the Fiscal Year 21 Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial Awards Program recognizing excellence in food service. My personal congratulations to all the outstanding food service teams listed below. a. Captain Edward F. Ney Afloat General Messes, representing the Navy's Undersea Enterprise, Surface Warfare Enterprise, and Naval Aviation Enterprise: (1) Submarine Category Winner: USS JIMMY CARTER (SSN 23) (2) Small-Medium Afloat Category Winner: USS MCFAUL (DDG 74) (3) Large Afloat Category Winner: USS IWO JIMA (LHD 7) (4) Aircraft Carrier Category Winner: USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER (CVN 69) b. Captain Edward F. Ney Ashore General Messes representing Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC): (1) West Coast General Mess Category Winner: Trident Inn, Naval Base Kitsap, WA (2) East Coast General Mess Category Winner: Gator Inn, Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, VA (3) OCONUS General Mess Category Winner: Ristorante Bella Etna Dining Facility, Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy 2. These annual awards encourage excellence in Navy food service programs with the objective of improving the quality of life for our Navy personnel. I commend the Navy Undersea Enterprise, Surface Warfare Enterprise, Naval Aviation Enterprise, CNIC, and individual commands for their hard work and commitment to excellence. 3. Commands will be contacted via separate correspondence for awards information. 4. Released by the Honorable Thomas W. Harker, Acting Secretary of the Navy.// BT #0001 NNNN UNCLASSIFIED//

WASHINGTON — Like all the branches of the U.S. armed forces, the Navy has made clear it will not tolerate extremism in the ranks. It has announced its plans for a 60-day stand-down to get that message to everyone in the service. Initially ordered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a February 5 memo to the individual services, the Navy has now announced its expectations for a "period of reflection" that all commands must complete by April 2.

The crew of the fast-attack submarine Connecticut has been subjected to a bed bug infestation in their racks, and sailors assigned to the sub allege that the boat’s command has been slow to fix the problem.

US NAVY Plank - PRT