The US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) completed the First Production Unit (FPU) of the W76-2 warhead Feb. 22 at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. The W76-2 is a modification of the W76-1 warhead to provide a low-yield, sea-launched ballistic missile warhead capability.
Construction on the future USS Canberra (LCS 30) began on Feb. 22 in Austal USA’s module manufacturing facility. Dave Growden, native Australian, LCS Program Director and a 30-year member of Austal USA’s team, had the honor of pushing the button to start the router that cut the first piece of aluminum, signalling start of construction for the 15th Independence-variant littoral combat ship.
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) to the U.S. Navy on 22 February with shipbuilders, ship’s force and representatives of Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Gulf Coast in attendance.
Navalnews.com visited the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in early January 2019. Enjoy the video as former Navy Seal Ken Corona takes you around the museum.
Spanish shipyard Navantia opened a new business office in Washington DC to support its ongoing bid for the U.S. Navy FFG(X) frigate competition.
The U.S. Navy issued its Request for Information (RFI) document for the future Large Surface Combatant (LSC). The LSC is set to replace the ageing Ticonderoga-class of guided missile cruisers.
The littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16) was commissioned into the U.S. Navy during a ceremony in San Francisco Feb. 16. USS Tulsa is the 15th littoral combat ship and the eighth of the Austal-built Independence-class.
Boeing won a $43 million contract for the fabrication, test, and delivery of four Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs) and associated support elements.
US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II aircraft conducted milestone flight operations with externally-loaded inert and live ordnance in expeditionary strike training from the USS Wasp (LHD 1) in the Philippine and East China Seas, Jan. 26 through Feb. 6, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit PAO announced recently.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $59 million US Air Force contract for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS)-Modernization, or EGI-M, technology. The EGI-M will be integrated into multiple platforms across all of the services and exportable versions will be developed for international customers. The lead platforms for EGI-M are USAF F-22 and US Navy E-2D.
