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“Absent the pressures described [in my affidavit], I would have disapproved the findings in this case,” Lorge wrote in his affidavit. For Lorge, the pressure came from President Barack Obama’s White House and also the Senate. “At the time, the political climate regarding sexual assault in the military was such that a decision to disapprove the findings, regardless of merit, would bring hate and discontent on the Navy from the President, as well as senators including Senator Kirstin Gillibrand,” Lorge wrote in his affidavit. Lorge believes that based on his conversations with senior officials in the Navy, he was essentially...

Hillary Clinton plans to attend the launching ceremony of a warship. And not just any warship, but the USS Gabrielle Giffords, named for the liberal congresswoman who was shot in the head. For Hillary, every decision is still about wimmen and grrrls. But her decision raises the larger question about whether it is appropriate to name a warship after Giffords. After all, Giffords was viewed as a helpless victim. That doesn't make for a very intimidating name for a warship. Giffords is called a hero because she survived. Does surviving make her a hero? I think surviving makes her a...

Photo Illustration by Elena Scotti/Jalopnik/GMG President Donald Trump seems to like big, “bold” ideas. Throw nukes around? Sure. Rip up the deck of an aircraft carrier to install the “goddamned steam?” Okay, fine. But what if we brought back one of the biggest military statements America has ever had—what if we brought back the battleship? It’s not that the current American capital ship, the aircraft carrier, is obsolete. But the the Gerald R. Ford-class of aircraft carriers are remarkably, enormously expensive, and potentially vulnerable to many kinds of attack. Many of the Navy’s other surface ships exist essentially in order...

ABOARD THE BUNKER HILL — Less than an hour after a recent dawn rolled west into the Pacific Ocean, Capt. Joe Cahill sat in his starboard chair, a lined face pointed toward a line of warships wheeling north around San Clemente Island. In the lead, the destroyers Halsey and Higgins cut through the waves in a tight turn toward land, trailed by the looming flattop Theodore Roosevelt and the destroyer Sampson in its wake. And in the far rear, like a bear protecting her cubs, was the San Diego-based Bunker Hill, the 10,000-ton cruiser that orchestrates the air defenses for...

U.S. President Donald Trump will unveil the largest single American weapons sale to Saudi Arabia to date during his trip to the kingdom, which began on May 19, 2017. The deal will include weapons and equipment for the Royal Saudi air and land forces, which have been critical in Riyadh’s intervention in Yemen, as well as ballistic missile defense systems essential to for the country to counter Iran's missile forces during a conflict. However, it may be new support for the relatively small Royal Saudi Navy that speaks more to the country’s desire to project even greater power in the...

[UPDATED with Sec. Stackley comments] WASHINGTON: The Navy is seriously considering derivatives of foreign designs and the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter for its new frigate, after three years pursuing an upgraded version of its current Littoral Combat Ship. The shift has shaken up the industry, panicking some players, while others quietly reposition: Wisconsin’s Marinette Marine, which currently builds the 3,500-ton Freedom variant of the LCS, may instead offer an Americanized version of the FREMM, a 6,000 to 6,700-ton frigate built for the French and Italian navies by Marinette’s parent company, Fincantieri. If so, Marinette would probably part ways with...

A former foreign policy adviser to President Trump’s election campaign says his phone may have been tapped in 2016, apparently implying that such action would support claims that Trump Tower was under surveillance. Carter Page, works near Trump Tower in New York and was a frequent visitor during the campaign. In a letter to the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday, he lays out a case for why he thinks he may have been swept up in any surveillance related to the Trump operation, the Guardian reported Thursday. “Having spoken in favor of some of Mr. Trump’s policies on...

During the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition held recently near Washington D.C., Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) was showcasing its "Future Surface Combatant" based on a LPD-17 / San Antonio-class hull form. HII's LPD-Based Future Surface Combatant Concept Could Replace Ticonderoga-class CruisersHII's Future Surface Combatant at Sea Air Space 2017. According to an HII representative, the scale model is representative of what a future surface combatant could look like based on future fleet architecture studies by the US Navy and various think tanks. "It is increasingly clear that they are going to need a combatant with a very large radar to...

While military aircraft boneyards are nothing new, the YouTube display of the hulks of some ex-Navy fighters in an undeveloped area of Temple, Texas, may be causing some concerns at the Pentagon. A video has emerged of the scattered remains of two F-14 Tomcats and an F-4 Phantom. The aircraft have been stripped of just about everything that can be carried away but exactly how they ended up on private property is the subject of much online speculation. According to a Google Earth image, there is a scrap metal dealer nearby but the aircraft parts are not in their yard....

Austal USA frigate design. Austal USA image THE PENTAGON – The Navy is considering increasing its future frigate’s anti-air firepower and may open up the frigate design competition to hulls beyond the current two small surface combatant , the service told USNI News on Wednesday. An ongoing study will balance the original frigate requirements – to up-gun the existing Littoral Combat Ship designs with additional anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities – with the desire for anti-air firepower equivalent to a guided-missile frigate. The study, set to be completed this spring, will also evaluate other design beyond the Lockheed Martin Freedom-variant (LCS-1)...

Leave it to MSNBC anchor and serial liar Brian Williams to step in it on night of breaking news. On Thursday night after the U.S. military fired over 50 missiles at a Syrian military base, Williams whined about the cost of the missiles and complained that it endangered Americans. Williams was speaking to NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel when he suggested they “look at it in brass tax terms” because “we just spent $30 million tonight.” Additionally, he complained that the operation “endangered in launching these things, as you know, every time one of these clears the tube...

At the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2017 exposition currently held near Washington D.C., Austal USA rolled out an updated LCS Frigate design called the "Austal Frigate". The main modifications consist in a slightly shortened flight deck in order to fit anti-ship missile launchers and a variable depth sonar in order to add capabilities to the ship's aft. The new Austal Frigate features a redesigned stern to add capabilities to the ship's aft. According to Austal USA, the Austal Frigate possesses increased lethality and high-speed shallow draft multi-mission combatant capabilities on a seaframe nearly identical to the Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship. This...

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — Boeing is working to help the Navy resolve the strike fighter shortfall through three programs for its F/A-18 Super Hornets and is offering a substantial increase in the fighter’s capability with a Block III upgrade, a company official said April 4. In a significant shift in tone, the officials who briefed reporters at the Navy League’s 2017 Sea-Air-Space Exposition talked about the Super Hornet providing “complementary capabilities” to the Lockheed Martin F-35s. Recently, Boeing officials have been describing the Super Hornets as a cheaper alternative to the fifth-generation Lightning II. The initial effort to close the...

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has raised a few eyebrows with some of the names he has picked for naval ships. Why, critics questioned, would he name a ship in honor of the late gay rights leader Harvey Milk or after former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when there are plenty of military heroes to choose from?

"President Donald Trump's nominee for Navy secretary, Philip Bilden, has withdrawn his name from consideration. Bilden said in a statement he informed Defense Secretary James Mattis of his decision."...

Congressional panel directs Navy to rescind policy barring 'sectarian' prayers A Navy chaplain court-martialed for wearing his uniform during a public event in which he prayed in Jesus' name is declaring victory after a congressional conference committee agreed on a compromise rescinding a Navy policy that barred "sectarian" prayers. "This is a tremendous victory for religious liberty," said Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt in an interview with WND. "Chaplains are free again to pray in Jesus name." The conferees, working out differences between House and Senate versions of the Defense Appropriation Act, are directing the secretary of the Navy to rescind...

Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill., died after he was wounded during a nighttime raid on an al-Qaeda-held village in southwestern Yemen on Saturday.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The extended-range (ER) Block II+ version of Boeing’s AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile will be fired in test shots this year, a Boeing official said. The Block II+ER features an upgraded fuel system and a better warhead that enable it to achieve twice the range — at least 130 nautical miles — of a Block 1C version, the missile currently in the operational inventory. The upgrades fit inside the existing missile airframe, allowing the Navy to avoid the cost of more separation testing. The existing Block 1C missiles can be upgraded to the Block II+ER configuration. Troy...

When last we heard from the USS Zumwalt, the Navy had admitted that the brand-new stealth destroyer couldn't fire because its custom ammo was too expensive. Now, the service may have settled on a replacement to get the vessel and its brethren back in business. The U.S. Navy says its Zumwalt-class destroyers, state-of-the-art ships designed to bombard targets on land, could be equipped with the Excalibur precision-guided artillery round originally developed for land forces. The three Zumwalt-class land attack destroyers were designed around the Advanced Gun System (AGS). The 155-millimeter AGS gun, paired with the brand-new Long Range Land Attack...

The ‘Independence’-class Littoral Combat Ship USS ‘Coronado’ in October 2016. U.S. Navy photo The Navy’s $29 billion Littoral Combat Ship program provides a step-by-step case study in acquisition failures and the costs and risks of unacceptable levels of concurrency. Its design requirements were poorly conceived, the manpower planning was wildly unrealistic, Navy leadership and program managers repeatedly circumvented acquisition rules — increasing concurrency and cost risk — and production was approved despite poor and rushed analysis. Production milestones were approved despite glaring program failures. Moreover, the program is an example of how unwilling Congress is to step in and hold defense acquisition programs accountable....