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As US Navy shrinks, China launches more, better war ships HONG KONG — As looming budget cuts force the Pentagon to plan for a smaller US navy, China is accelerating the launch of new, increasingly capable warships as part of a sustained drive to become a major maritime power. Shanghai's Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Company late last month launched the fourth of China's new 071 amphibious landing ships according to reports carried by Chinese military web sites and the state-controlled media. While most attention has been drawn to the ongoing sea trials of China's first aircraft carrier, military analysts say the...

Britain had to plead with US to take part in Iran flotilla Britain was forced to plead with the US to take part in the flotilla challenging Iranian power in the Gulf after American commanders decided the Royal Navy had nothing to contribute to the mission. Defence sources have revealed that the Americans only relented and allowed a Royal Navy frigate to join the mission following an intervention from Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. The revelation that US defence chiefs saw little military value in UK participation will raise new questions about Britain’s international clout after Coalition defence cuts. Amid...

WASHINGTON -- In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News. American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and a 60-year-old Dane, Poul Thisted, were working for a Danish relief organization in northern Somalia when they were kidnapped last October. U.S. officials described their kidnappers as heavily armed common criminals with no known ties to any organized militant group. According to the U.S. officials, two teams of Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held. As the...

Battle for control of Asia's seas goes underwater YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — It's getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Andrew Peterson commands one of the world's mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away. Super high-tech submarines like Cmdr. Peterson's USS Oklahoma City have long been the envy of navies all over the globe — and a key component of U.S. military strategy. "We really have no peer," Peterson told The Associated Press during a recent port call in Japan. But America's...

‘Iran stealth subs could lie in wait to hunt hostile aircraft carriers’ TEHRAN – The deputy commander of the Armed Forces has said that Iranian stealth submarines are able to lie in wait in the Persian Gulf to target hostile aircraft carriers that are moving near them. “If an ordinary submarine submerges in the Persian Gulf, it could be the worst threat to the enemy. It is one of the Americans’ fears because our submarines are covered with coatings that do not allow sound to travel through them and do not reflect sound waves sent by (enemy vessels’) sonar systems,”...

A Changed Way of War in Afghanistan’s Skies By C. J. CHIVERS INSIDE STRIKE FIGHTER VENGEANCE 13, over Kandahar Province, Afghanistan — Cmdr. Layne McDowell glanced over his left shoulder, through the canopy of a Navy F/A-18, to an Afghan canyon 9,000 feet below. An American infantry company was down there. The soldiers had been inserted by helicopter. Now a ground controller wanted the three strike fighters circling overhead to send a sign — both to the grunts and to any Taliban fighters shadowing them as they walked. Commander McDowell banked and aligned his jet’s nose with the canyon’s northeastern...

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County investigators trying to determine a motive behind a New Year's Day murder-suicide involving two Navy pilots and two other people are looking at whether jealousy may have played a role. Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said Thursday investigators are looking at all aspects, including whether there was a relationship between one of the pilot's sisters who was also killed and the Navy pilot who committed suicide. John Robert Reeves, 25, shot himself in the head, and the three others with him were murdered, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said, citing autopsy results. Fellow Navy...

A shooting in Coronado, Calif., that left four people dead, including two Navy pilots and one of their sisters, is being investigated as an apparent murder-suicide. The New Year's Day shooting in a condo there claimed the lives of siblings David and Karen Reis, 25 and 24, respectively, as well as David's roommate, John Reeves, 25, and a fourth unknown man. David Reis and Reeves were both pilots in the Navy, and shared the condo home in Coronado, sources told ABC affiliate KGTV. The other dead man is a 31-year-old civilian who lives in Chula Vista, according to the county...

China Takes Aim at U.S. Naval Might . The USS Gerald R. Ford was supposed to help secure another half century of American naval supremacy. The hulking aircraft carrier taking shape in a dry dock in Newport News, Va., is designed to carry a crew of 4,660 and a formidable arsenal of aircraft and weapons. But an unforeseen problem cropped up between blueprint and expected delivery in 2015: China is building a new class of ballistic missiles designed to arc through the stratosphere and explode onto the deck of a U.S. carrier, killing sailors and crippling its flight deck. Since...

Teaming up with the Department of Agriculture (which has a cheery Rotary Club ring to it), the Navy has purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for about $16 a gallon, or about 4 times the price of its standard marine fuel, JP-5, which has been going for under $4 a gallon. You won’t be surprised to learn that a member of Obama’s presidential transition team, T. J. Glauthier, is a “strategic advisor” at Solazyme, the California company that is selling a portion of the biofuel to the Navy. Glauthier worked – shock, shock – on the energy-sector portion of the 2009...

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — A snafu marred the critical moment of silence Wednesday at the Pearl Harbor ceremony observing the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack.... ...But on Wednesday, emcee Leslie Wilcox was still speaking at 7:55 a.m., even as the Hawaii Air National Guard's F-22's roared overhead on schedule 42 seconds later.

US Government Urges American Citizens to Leave Syria as US Aircraft Carrier Approaches As the violent crackdown against Syrian dissidents continues, the US government is warning all American citizens in the country to leave immediately, according to CBS. Turkish citizens are also being warned to stay out of the country. The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was pulled from that country last month. The U.S. embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available,” began a statement released Wednesday on the embassy website. “The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly...

Milestone marked on stealthy destroyer under construction at Maine's Bath Iron Works DAVID SHARP Associated Press BATH, Maine — Two daughters and son of the late Adm. Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt helped Bath Iron Works mark a milestone Thursday in construction of the largest ship to be built in more than two decades at the shipyard. The ship's co-sponsors, Ann Zumwalt and Mouzetta Zumwalt-Weathers, were accompanied by their brother, retired Marine Lt. Col James G. Zumwalt, at a ceremony marking the "laying of the keel," a Navy tradition dating to the days of sail, when the ship's keel served as the...

Capt. Tushar R. Tembe, commander of the USS Harry S. Truman died Tuesday in Norfolk, Va. During the Texas Tech football game against Oklahoma State University on Saturday, there will be a moment where all the screaming and cheering will pause. No fans in the stadium will make a sound. All conversations and instruments will remain quiet as a moment of silence will be conducted for a Tech alumnus who died Tuesday while serving as commanding officer of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Va. The Tech flag currently flies at half-staff above...

NEW DELHI: Having weighed in on the Pakistani side during the 1971 war, the Americans refused to relent on their anti-India stance, aggressively snooping on Indian Navy ships and submarines, declassified government files show. The scale of these hostilities, thus far unknown, could have jeopardized the sensitive security scenario. Aggressive surveillance sorties from America's newly-acquired Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia kept getting more and more frequent and hostile through the seventies and the declassified files give instances of US military planes provoking Indian vessels. On November 21, 1975, defence secretary D R Kohli wrote to foreign secretary Kewal Singh:...

LCS "Ugly Duckling" Turning Into A Swan 17:17 GMT, October 26, 2011 Until recently, the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) has struggled to overcome the impression that it was the U.S. Navy's "ugly duckling." There were questions regarding the mission for the LCS -- operations in littoral waters, the possibility of building warships in commercial shipyards according to commercial standards, and the plausibility of equipping the LCS with plug-and-play mission modules. There were complaints about the designs of both variants. There was the crisis of rising prices as the cost for each ship rose when the builders were required to meet...

The Return of the Zumwalt Guided-Missile Destroyers Mackenzie Eaglen October 3, 2011 at 12:25 pm Artist rendering of the Zumwalt class destroyer The U.S. Navy has approved contracts to finish building the hulls of the second and third ships of the Zumwalt class of guided-missile destroyers being constructed at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine. The $1.8 billion contract will also fund systems integration of the DDG-1001 Michael Monsoor and DDG-1002. The second ship of the class is named after the late Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, who received the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life for his...

Raytheon passes major Navy destroyer radar milestone Daniel Terdiman September 19, 2011 Raytheon said today that its Gallium Nitride-based radar technology passed a major milestone in its bid to win a multi-billion dollar Navy contract. (Credit: Raytheon) Raytheon this morning said that it has passed a major milestone in its bid to win a multi-billion dollar U.S. Navy radar contract. The Tewksbury, Massachusetts military contract is currently competing against Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the lucrative contract to provide next-generation Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) technology for the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. As part of its efforts to...

American aircraft carriers remain essential to commanding the seas By Robert O'Brien 1:09 PM 09/16/2011 Last month, the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis rendezvoused in the Pacific with Carrier Strike Group-3, which is composed of the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay and the USS Pinckney, USS Kidd, USS Dewey and USS Wayne Meyer. Carrier Strike Group-3 will soon take up station in the Arabian Sea to support American combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. En route, the carrier and its escorts have shown the flag in the Philippines and Malaysia and sailed boldly through the South China Sea, which...

Save the Lightning Why we need the F-35 By Thomas Donnelly The Weekly Standard Tuesday, September 6, 2011 Thanks to the provisions of the Budget Control Act and the subsequent directions of President Obama's budget director, Jack Lew, the Department of Defense is figuring out how to trim $1 trillion from its current and planned budgets. Perhaps the principal target in the sights is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program (aka the Lightning II)—a fact that neatly encapsulates the Pentagon's severe budgetary, programmatic, operational, and strategic problems. It's only modest hyperbole to conclude that as fares the Lightning, so fares...

Chilean Stealth Sub Visiting San Diego By Matt Potter | Posted September 2, 2011, 3:56 p.m. The Chilean navy's Carrera, a diesel-electric submarine, has arrived for a training mission with the 3rd Fleet in San Diego, Navy Times reports. The latest generation of diesel-electric subs, with their unusual stealthiness and relatively low price have become troublesome for U.S. defense planners. As smaller countries acquire more of them, safe access for U.S. ships to world coastal areas and the high seas could be jeopardized, the Pentagon argues. "Once they have powered up their batteries, the submarines can sail to the bottom...

"Stealth" Boat Could Revolutionize Naval Warfare Designer is working with defense contractor on 150-foot model By Greg Wilson A stealth boat that moves through water at high speeds and with near invisibility could revolutionize the Navy's ability to carry out special operations on water. The craft, called The Ghost, moves by generating a layer of gas around submerged surfaces, greatly reducing friction. It's unique design makes it ideal for special operations, according to DiscoveryNews. The ship can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour and has a shape designed to reduce its visibility to radar, similar to the Navy's "Sea...

A 2006 Bonny Eagle graduate who joined the Navy right out of high school found himself amid a dramatic piracy rescue last month off the coast of Yemen. Hollis native Lucas Alderette, an electronics technician serving aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, said a pre-dawn alarm led to the rescue of the crew of the Brillante Virtuoso, an oil tanker that had been attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden and set ablaze on July 6. "When we showed up, it was of course still very dark out, but the tanker was easily visible because large sections were...

U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, secure the area after existing a Chinoonk helicopter, Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, in this Sunday, June 18, 2006 file photo. Insurgents apparently shot down a U.S. military helicopter Saturday Aug. 6, 2011 similar to this one shown during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Usama bin Laden, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said. An Afghan official says there is fighting in the area where a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter was apparently...

KABUL, Afghanistan — In the deadliest day for American forces in the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on Saturday, killing 30 Americans, including some Navy Seal commandos from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, as well as 8 Afghans, American and Afghan officials said.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents shot down a NATO Chinook helicopter during an overnight operation in eastern Afghanistan, killing 37 people on board, a military official said on Saturday.

President Obama praised the sacrifice of 31 U.S. troops who died early Saturday morning in helicopter crash in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. The Taliban has claimed it shot down the aircraft with a rocket-propelled grenade. Seven Afghan soldiers on board the helicopter also died. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the Americans who were lost earlier today in Afghanistan,” Obama said in a statement. “Their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan.” Obama said...

WASHINGTON -- The Associated Press has learned that more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden were among those lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/06/afghan-president-31-americans-killed-in-helicopter-crash/#ixzz1UGZcWiEh

Twenty-five U.S. special forces killed early Saturday in Afghanistan were on a mission to rescue another team of military personnel pinned down by insurgents, a U.S. military official told CNN. The helicopter that went down in eastern Afghanistan carried 30 U.S. military members, including 22 Navy SEALs and three other special forces. They were part of a "quick reaction force" sent in to pick up others engaged in a fierce firefight, the official said. In the single deadliest incident since the start of the decade-long Afghan war, the Army Chinook carrying a team of U.S. special forces and U.S. and...

Navy Commemorates 2,000th Tomahawk Shot 8/3/2011 The Navy is scheduled to hold a commemorative ceremony aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) for the 2,000th Tomahawk cruise missile combat launch Aug. 5 at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The event will recognize the USS Barry crewmembers for their role in launching the milestone missile March 19, against an air defense target in Libya, during Operation Odyssey Dawn. “It was a great feeling to have taken part in the 2,000th missile launch,” said Fire Controlman 3rd Class (SW) Luizous Houser, aboard USS Barry (DDG 52). “There were a lot of...

Cost, quality problems dog Navy's LCS warship The littoral combat ship Freedom (LCS-1) has been undergoing maintenance and upgrades at BAE Ship Repair San Diego. — Earnie Grafton A decade-old, multibillion-dollar attempt by the Navy to develop a radically different family of warships is reeling from cost overruns, structural problems and doubts about the design, staffing, role and survivability of the speedy new vessels. This month, a bipartisan group of seven U.S. senators demanded that the Pentagon explain why Freedom, the first of the new littoral combat ships, suffered a small but worrisome crack in its hull and had to...

Top architect proposes new type of frigate for the Navy The nation’s leading independent naval architectural firm has been quietly gauging whether senior Navy officials are interested in a new class of frigate that would be smaller and lighter replacement for the aging ships now being phased out of service. The new 3,500-ton "light frigates" would be more heavily armed than previous models and be capable of carrying out a variety of missions over a wide area of the world’s oceans. Gibbs & Cox of Arlington, Va., says it has produced concept drawings for a roughly 400-foot steel-hull, twin-propellor, diesel-powered...

Boeing, US Navy Mark Harpoon Missile System’s 40th Anniversary By NewsDesk Harpoon is the Navy’s all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile system. Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Navy recognized the 40th anniversary of the Harpoon Missile System today at a ceremony near the company’s St. Charles facility. “After four decades of cooperation with our Navy partners, Boeing’s dedicated and talented Harpoon team continues to find innovative ways to meet the needs of warfighters on today’s ever-changing battlefields,” said Debbie Rub, vice president and general manager for Boeing Missiles and Unmanned Airborne Systems (MUAS). “Throughout the life of this legacy program, Boeing...

US fleet may quit troubled Bahrain Hugh Tomlinson From:The Australian THE US Navy is looking at plans to move its Fifth Fleet away from Bahrain amid fears over violence and continued instability in the Gulf kingdom. Sources in Washington and the Gulf have confirmed a growing consensus around the idea of relocating the fleet after the recent crackdown on anti-government protests that left at least 32 dead. Politicians in Washington are concerned the navy's continued presence a few kilometres from the centre of the capital Manama lends tacit support to Bahrain's suppression of the opposition, amid allegations of systematic human...

According to the USS Enterprise's website the ship is the eighth to bear this name, and it is the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It is also the world's largest active warship.

Navy Department could face $10 billion in budget cuts By John T. Bennett - 07/13/11 08:43 PM ET The Navy could be forced to slash its annual budget by $10 billion as the Pentagon pares its spending, defense insiders tell The Hill. White House officials have ordered the Pentagon to begin slashing its budget starting in 2013 to meet President Obama’s goal of $400 billion in national security cuts. Pentagon and Navy Department officials have yet to make final decisions about how much the department (which includes the Navy and Marine Corps) will trim from its annual budget, or about...

Testing the next-generation Super Hornet By Mike Gerzanics Nearly 11 years ago, I had the chance to fly a Boeing F/A-18F at NAS Lemoore, in California's central valley. During my familiarisation flight, I was able to sample first-hand the Super Hornet's capabilities. To reduce risk and speed up delivery to the US Navy fleet, the initial (Block I) Super Hornet's avionics suite was the same as that of the then operational F/A-18C/D. The aircraft I flew had a Raytheon APG-73 radar and an inertial navigation system that could be augmented with a GPS receiver. Although not previewed on my flight,...

The Balisle Report recommended that over 6,500 billets be restored to the fleet. Only 2,200 were approved, with another 3,900 slated for FYDP accessions. The fine print never makes the headlines in All Hands, or the Navy Times. At this time we are told to cut the Navy by 9,000 Sailors. We have to cut solid performers who happen to be in overmanned ratings, while we should cut those who don’t meet standards, or are marginal performers at best. Why must we do this? Because personnel costs, and the billions of healthcare dollars those personnel require for readiness and recovery,...

Navy enters twilight era of its once famous frigates By Gary Robbins Originally published 1:22 p.m., June 8, 2011 When it first took to the seas in the late 18th century, the U.S. Navy sailed frigates that became famous for their speed and maneuverability, and for the cunning of their commanders. More than two centuries later, the commanders are just as cunning. But the modern Navy is steadily phasing out the last of its frigates to make room for littoral combat ships, a new type of vessel designed to be faster and more versatile than the ships it will replace....

A heavy duty LCS for foreign navies. Maybe. Lockheed Martin says its second littoral combat ship, the USS Fort Worth, is 87 percent complete. It’ll start work on its third and fourth ships over the coming year. The U.S. Navy wants at least 55 LCSes. From the defense contractor’s standpoint, Lockheed’s return to shipbuilding looks like a success: It is moving toward steady production of a stable design and will likely be able to book many hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the program. (Lockheed’s first LCS, the Freedom, didn’t go so smoothly, and it cost much,...

Skipper Westbook is having an interesting day. Via Tim Colton's blog, The future USS Spruance, (DDG 111), recently returned from sea trials, sustained extensive damage yesterday when the engine controls failed during a test and poured fuel into a hot engine. Not an easy business. Seems like everyone is OK though. Good new is - you can't buy training like this! I think we could have a caption contest on this. Mmmm. OK, this is the image that the CHENG saw as he looked up from his crackberry while heading to the ship. The CHENG said, ...... Hat tip Byron.UPDATE:...

ABOARD THE GUNSTON HALL In the middle of a busy day training off the Virginia coast, about two dozen sailors stop what they're doing, change into their dress whites and gather in the well deck - a cavernous space at the rear of their ship that opens to the sea and the sunlit sky. Five small metal containers sit on a table, holding the ashes of four men and a woman. The sailors know nothing about them except their name and rank. They've gathered in response to a simple command: "All hands, bury the dead." Osama bin Laden is perhaps...

The next U.S. Navy cargo ship will be named after civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, the Secretary of the Navy officially announced Wednesday afternoon at a Barrio Logan ceremony. The news was met with pride by members of the Chavez family who were on hand at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard for the announcement, but it was not without controversy as it drew fire from a Southern California congressman. Navy secretary Ray Mabus stood alongside members of the Chavez family and the current president of the United Farm Workers of America to acknowledge the naming of the USNS Cesar Chavez,...

The Navy's weighing a decision to name a cargo ship now under construction after labor activist Cesar Chavez has drawn sharp criticism from one veteran lawmaker who says that a military war hero should receive the honor instead. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he understands the Navy's desire to honor Hispanic leaders, but the Navy may want to skip the politically divisive names and opt for an outstanding service member. "If this decision were about recognizing the Hispanic community's contribution to our nation, many other names come to mind, including Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael...

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The Navy is considering naming a cargo ship that's being built after farmworker activist Cesar Chavez. James Gill, a spokesman for General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, said Monday the company suggested the name to honor its mostly Hispanic work force and the mostly Hispanic neighborhood, Barrio Logan, where the boat builder is located.

High ticket F-35 aircraft ready to redefine air warfare for military branches by: D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer Saturday, May 14, 2011 5/14/2011 5:48:30 AM Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the Swiss Army knife of combat weapons versatility and lethality. At $65 million to $112.5 million per aircraft at its drive-the-car-off-the-lot cost and $382 billion in total program costs, the F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program (see "Figuring F-35 costs" on E2). But at more than twice the price of the newest commercial airliner, the fifth generation fighter may be worth it: more impervious to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under pressure from more than five dozen House lawmakers, the Navy late Tuesday abruptly reversed its decision that would have allowed chaplains to perform same-sex unions if the Pentagon decides to recognize openly gay military service later this year. In a one-sentence memo obtained by The Associated Press, Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, chief of Navy chaplains, said his earlier decision has been "suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination." The Navy said its lawyers wanted to do a more thorough review of the legal decision that allowed Navy chaplains to receive...

Raytheon delivers first of ship-defense missiles David Wichner Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 12:00 am | Comments Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has delivered the first production copy of its next ship-defense missile to the U.S. Navy for final testing. The first Standard Missile-6, a longer-range version of the Standard Missile-2 series of ship-defense weapons, was delivered on time and on budget in March after five years of development, the company said Monday. The first SM-6 was delivered after final assembly at the company's plant in Camden, Ark. The weapon will undergo operational testing...

U.S. Navy celebrates 500th Super Hornet, Growler program delivery 14:04 GMT, April 21, 2011 ST. LOUIS, Mo. | The U.S. Navy and its industry partners marked the 500th delivery of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft during a celebration at the Boeing facility here yesterday. “Today is another significant milestone for a program that has by any measure exceeded expectations for cost, schedule and performance. The PMA-265/Hornet Industry Team has consistently delivered capable and reliable aircraft to our fleet customer,” said Capt. Mark Darrah, F/A-18 and EA-18G program manager (PMA-265). Industry partners Northrop Grumman, General Electric Aircraft Engines...

Navy Cutting Time To Produce Virginia Subs Apr 7, 2011 By Michael Fabey The U.S. Navy is approaching its 60-month construction goal for its Virginia-class submarines, despite a recent redesign of the bow to accommodate larger and more versatile weapon tubes, according to Capt. Michael Jabaley, Virginia-class program manager. The sub-building contractor team of General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding is now producing each sub within about 65 months and should get the next sub pair closer to the 60-month mark, Jabaley told Aviation Week. The sub construction time reduction is ahead of schedule, he...