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(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship would be ineffective at hunting for mines because an underwater drone made by Lockheed Martin Corp. that’s supposed to find them often fails to work, the Pentagon’s weapons-testing office found.

8 Over the years it’s become commonplace for writers to sex up their descriptions of guided-missile destroyer (DDG) Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy’s newest surface combatant. Commentators of such leanings depict the ultra-high-tech DDG-1000 [4] as a battleship. Better yet, it’s a “stealth [5] battleship [6]”—a fit subject [7] for sci-fi [8]! Not so. And getting the nomenclature right matters: calling a man-of-war a battleship conjures up images in the popular mind of thickly armored dreadnoughts bristling with big guns blazing away at one another on the high seas, pummeling shore targets in Normandy or Kuwait, or belching smoke and flame...

The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) departed the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine on Monday for its first at-sea tests and trials in the Atlantic Ocean.

The U.S. Navy’s new stealth warship DDG 1000 headed down the Kennebec River and out to sea for the time Monday for a series of sea trials.

So long,Littoral Combat Ship. We hardly knew ye. Lockheed Martin's USS Freedom (LCS 1) was the Navy's first littoral combat ship. New vessels of the same basic shape and size will henceforth be dubbed "frigates." Say goodbye to the "Mobile Landing Platform," the "Afloat Forward Staging Base," and the "Joint High Speed Vessel," as well. As of this year, the United States Navy has done away with all four of these clumsy, elongated, ad hoc ship classes, replaced each with a new name -- and introduced a new theme for U.S. war-planning in the process. Henceforth, LCSes will be christened...

Within walking distance of Tesla Motors' Palo Alto headquarters and across the street from Hewlett-Packard, Ford Motor Co. has set up a new Silicon Valley outpost. With a team of 100 reporting to a former Apple engineer, the Detroit giant is researching how humans experience machines, running autonomous-vehicle driving simulations and testing software that examines how bicycles and cars interact. "For 100 years, automobiles have been a mechanical engineering industry," said the center's director, Dragos Maciuca, who on his morning commute drives past a nearby research center of German automotive electronics and parts supplier Bosch. "Now, there is the shift...

Published November 09, 2015FoxNews.com Facebook1838 Twitter386 livefyre1375 Email Print Now Playing DHS reportedly botched digitization of immigration docs Never autoplay videos A Department of Homeland Security agency spent more than $1 billion in taxpayer money to digitize immigration paperwork -- and after a decade of work, only has managed to put one document online. The Washington Post reported Monday that officials at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services still are only able to offer a single form -- out of nearly 100 -- for online applications, and make a single fee payable electronically. All other forms can still only be...

In November 2008, California voters narrowly approved Proposition 1A, which provided $9.95 billion in government money for a statewide bullet-train network. The initiative passed, even though the California High-Speed Rail Authority had been legally required to release a detailed, updated business plan by October 1 of that year, so that voters would have time to learn exactly how the state planned to finance what was then billed as a $43 billion project—and no updated plan was in view. Rail officials failed even to release a preliminary report before the election, claiming that state legislators’ long delay in passing the fiscal...

Saudi Arabia will buy up to four Littoral Combat Ships from the US in a deal that could be worth $11.25bn as the kingdom seeks to modernise its navy, Bloomberg has reported. The agency quoted an unnamed American official as saying that the US State Department has approved the sale under the Foreign Military Sales program, which will allow the Saudis to negotiate contracts for the ships. The Littoral Combat Ship is designed in two versions by defence manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Austal. According to Bloomberg, the US is offering a version of the ship called the ‘Multi-Mission Surface Combatant’,...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Whereas a high sprint speed was a driving factor in designing the Littoral Combat Ship, the follow-on frigate will instead be optimized for lethality and survivability, the Navy’s frigate program manager said Thursday. As the LCS program transitions to a multimission frigate, the 40-knot sprint speed requirement will go away to allow for more armor, more weapons, an over-the-horizon missile and full-time anti-torpedo protection, Capt. Dan Brintzinghoffer said at an American Society for Naval Engineers event. This change, he said, is a recognition of simple physics. “If we don’t change anything [in the hull design] and add...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Officials with the Pawtucket Red Sox say the baseball club will end its pursuit for a proposed stadium on waterfront land in downtown Providence. PawSox Chairman Larry Lucchino said in a statement Saturday that the group tried hard to make the deal work, but Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo determined the land was not suitable for a new ballpark. A spokesman for House speaker Nicholas Mattiello said Friday that negotiations between the state and the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox had stopped. “It is disappointing that negotiations have ended at the I-195 property. I thought...

Zumwalt: The Navy's massive, high-tech destroyer is here (pictures) The cutting-edge warship finally enters the water, chockablock with an all-electric integrated power system, an advanced gun system, radar-reflecting angles, and a striking inward-sloping tumblehome hull. Next-gen Zumwalt-class destroyer General Dynamics Bath Iron Works launched the first of the Navy’s next-generation Zumwalt-class destroyers on Monday at its Bath, Maine, shipyard. The 610-foot-long ship is chockablock with new technologies including radar reflecting angles, a striking inward-sloping tumblehome hull, an all-electric integrated power system, and an advanced gun system.

WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia is in advanced discussions with the US government about buying two frigates based on a coastal warship that Lockheed Martin Corp is building for the US Navy, and could reach agreement by the end of the year, according to sources familiar with the talks. The frigate sale, valued at well over $1bn, will be the cornerstone of a long-delayed multibillion dollar modernisation of the Royal Saudi Navy’s Gulf-patroling eastern fleet of ageing US warships and would include smaller patrol boats. It underscores the strong business and military ties between the two countries, despite tensions over the US-led...

Finally, at long last, someone has gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch — Boston 2024. There is a God. The lesson here is from Abraham Lincoln: You can’t fool all of the people all of the time — even in Massachusetts. It’s a great victory for the people, but it could easily have gone the other way. What if Marsha Coakley had been elected governor? The state would already be on the hook for $5 billion in cost overruns. Like most flim-flams, the Boston Olympics collapsed abruptly. Perplexing,...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced Monday that a new ship will be named the USS Kansas City. The ship will be the next Independence variant littoral combat ship, a type designed for a variety of missions that include mine warfare, surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. It will be 419 feet long and can travel up to 40 knots. It will be built in Mobile, Alabama. A similar ship, the USS Independence, is shown above. Mabus made the announcement at Kauffman Stadium before the Royals game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. A Navy replenishment oiler was also named after...

The U.S. Navy's newest combat ship, the USS Little Rock, slid into the waters of Marinette Marine Shipyard in Wisconsin on Saturday morning. .. the 378-foot-long, 3,000-ton littoral combat ship with only a 13-foot draft is ideal for the missions the Navy faces in shallow waters around Pacific Rim, where the Navy is increasing presence as it keeps an eye on China, which is expanding its naval forces and its presence in the South China Sea. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the launching of the Little Rock is emblematic of the Navy's commitment to have a fleet of 304 ships...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps' top aviator flew to an Arizona air base this week as part of a final effort to certify the combat-readiness of an initial squadron of 10 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35B fighter jets, their pilots and technicians. Marine Corps officials were due to brief Lieutenant General Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, on a week-long review which included operational and simulator flights in five core mission areas, an inspection of the maintenance department, and academics for both pilots and technicians. If Davis is satisfied, he will brief Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph Dunford, who...

Delays in the construction of the first two of three next-generation Zumwalt-class (DDG-1000) guided missile destroyers at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard are partially to blame for slowing work on two Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) destroyers being built at the Maine yard, USNI News has learned. Several sources told USNI News that due to myriad reasons — including the size of the yard, the composition of the workforce at BIW and continued setbacks in the delivery of the first two next-generation Zumwalts — production of the future Burkes Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) and Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) have been delayed by...

Three years behind schedule and some $200 billion over its original budget, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is finally set to become operational this month. The fighter jet has been in development for nearly 15 years, weathered half a dozen years of testing and experienced myriad hardware malfunctions and software glitches along the way. Once it's declared ready for combat, it will be the most expensive weapons system in world history. It will also be the most advanced in the sky. The F-35, also referred to as the Joint Strike Fighter, is touted as the most lethal and versatile...

The city of St. Petersburg in Florida is to gain an exciting new public space. The St. Petersburg Pier will be redesigned as a hybrid pier-park accommodating a variety of outdoor activities and facilities for entertainment and public events. The Pier-Park is located in the city of St. Petersburg in Florida, US The Pier-Park will retain the inverted pyramid that already exists The Pier-Park will have a large welcome plaza The Pier-Park will be a redevelopment of the existing St. Petersburg Pier Although unusual, the pier-park concept is not unprecedented. New York's planned Pier 55, for example, is designed to...