Aircraft Carriers III

Dec 8, 2018
I think more interesting is why the Wasp leaves that quickly (I mean the real, yet unknown, reason)
now inside
US Navy’s new assault ship to bolster aviation component in Japan
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

:

"Heading back to the United States ... the amphibious assault ship Wasp, which will change its home port to Norfolk, Virginia, to undergo scheduled maintenance."

[the point is she's been deployed for about one year:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
]
 
Today at 7:03 AM
Mar 28, 2019
and inside
CNO Warns Forum of Challenges of ‘Great Power Competition’
Posted on
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

:

“What is more relevant for the future? Is it the Harry S. Truman or something else,” he said, noting that revolutionary technologies “are just around the corner.”

The CNO was responding to a question about the Navy’s fiscal 2020 proposal to retire the aircraft carrier Truman at midlife — rather than refueling her — to free up funds to develop the future technologies.
now though
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Trump White House reverses course on decision to decommission the carrier Truman
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The White House has canceled plans to
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
25 years as a cost savings measure, a plan that
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
.

Vice President Mike Pence made the announcement to sailors on board the
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
, which was to be decommed instead of going into its midlife refueling, according to video posted by a Hampton Roads local news reporter on Twitter.

The proposal met with a wave of skepticism on Capitol Hill from lawmakers. The proposal also came before the Navy had completed a force-structure assessment due out by the end of the year, or an ongoing needs assessment from the geographic combatant commanders, leading to some questions as to why the Navy would propose the move without the benefit of those studies.

The news also coincides with news that Robert Daigle, the head of the Pentagon’s powerful Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office, would be stepping down in mid-May. Daigle played a key role in the decision to decommission Truman in favor of investments in long-range fires and unmanned technologies.

The proposal to decommission Truman kicked off a public debate about the utility of aircraft carriers, which took center-stage in Tuesday's confirmation hearing for the incoming chief of naval operations, Adm. Bill Moran.

Faced with questions about the aircraft carrier’s relevance in light of Chinese and Russian long-range anti-ship missiles, Moran gave a forceful defense of the platform.

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran responded to a question from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, saying that the Navy was conducting a force structure assessment to address questions about the right capabilities to field, but said the carrier was still relevant.

"We have for years evaluated the threats to our aircraft carriers and the other ships in the strike group to be able to deal with those [threats]," Moran said. "The aircraft carrier is the most survivable airfield that we have today -- anywhere. And we project it will remain that way well into the future."

It was just one of several from the senators concerning aircraft carrier, a conversation spurred by the Navy’s now-defunct decision to propose decommissioning the carrier Harry S. Truman to avoid paying for its midlife refueling.

Moran then went on to offer a "highly classified" brief to the senator and his staff to discuss the investments the Navy is making in the carrier to make it more survivable.

Moran defended the Truman proposal as necessary to free up money for investments in new technologies and experimentation.

Later, Moran said that he was comfortable with an air wing of E-2Ds, Growlers, Hornets and F-35s, but that the weapons needed to be addressed.

"The combat lethality of the air wing extends from the air wing," Moran said. "Where we are trying to regain our superiority is in the weapons that are carried by that airwing: Longer range, more networked, all the things that will make us more effective against a tough adversary at the high end."

Moran is expected to sail through confirmation. He will be the first Naval Aviator to serve as CNO since Adm. Jay Johnson retired in 2000.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!



Navy Recognition said:
The South Korean MoD on Tuesday, April 30, approved plans to build three Aegis-equipped destroyers worth 3.9 trillion won ($US 3.3 billion). The plan also includes upgrading submarines to enhance the military's operational capabilities, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said to local media.

The Defense Project Promotion Committee passed the plans to construct the second batch of three destroyers, called Gwanggaeto the Great Ⅲ, by 2028with a budget of around 3.9 trillion won (US$3.3 billion), Yohhap news said quoting DAPA.

The new destroyers are to be equipped with an upgraded US Aegis defence system which will allow them to intercept ballistic missiles. The Block 10 version of the Lockheed Martin’s Aegis system heralds a new era in detection and tracking as it can simultaneously track and defend against missiles, aircraft and enemy ships.

The Defence Projects Promotions Committee also approved a plan to build the next-generation indigenous submarine, the Jangbogo Ⅲ. The Jangbogo Ⅲ project refers to building three 3,450-ton submarines by 2028 that will be equipped with ballistic missile launchers, under a budget of 3.4 billion won, according to the DAPA.

Three more Se Jong the Great AEGIS destroyers which are really cruisers, with 144 VLS cells. And new subs with ballistic missile launch capability...not to mention adding another Dokdo Carrier and having them both loaded up with F-35Bs!

Now South Korea and Japan will both have two carrier, each with 20-24 F-35Bs and plenty of excellent escorts to defend them.

Not to mention the US LHA/:HDs able to operate in an escort carrier role with up to 20 or 24 F-35Bs, which the US used last week when the USS Wasp. LHD-1 cruised, with its AEGIS Burke escorts through the south china Sea with 12 F-35Bs on its decks.

Wasp-F-35-02.jpg

...and the Japanese Izumo class with F-35Bs. They are going to add a ski-jump to each as shown in the second picture.

Izumosx2.jpg

DDH-183-00.JPG
and then the Korean Dokdo doing the same:

Dokdo-01.jpg
Dokdo-04.jpg

See the following two Videos:


Japanese two carrier group Carrier Strike Group:


US LHD-7, USS Iwo Jima outfitted as a carrier.


The US has already deployed three of its LHD/LHA on missions with larger numbers of F-35Bs than what they used to deploy with Harrier IIs.

1. The USS Wasp is forward deployed in Japan with up to 24 F-35Bs. It recently sailed through the South China Sea with 12 of them aboard as shown above.

2. The USS Essex, LHD-2 was sent on its latest Mission to the Persion Gulf with 12 F-35Bs.

3. The USS America ahs been deployed recently for several months training F-35Bs in opwerations off of her decks with up to 20 F-35Bs.

That's, in essence, three more carriers the US is deploying by simply doing what it started practicing during Desert Storm whe it outfitted three Wasp class LPDs with 22 Harriers each.

The US is seriously working up and training operationally to operate seveal LHD/LHAs as escort carriers with 20-24 F-35Bs...even while they continue to build the new Ford class nuclear carriers. And, Trump recently decided not to decommission the USS Truman nuclear carrier as it approaches its mid-life maintenance as numbers of Democratic congressmen desired to save money for socakl programs.
 
Yesterday at 8:32 PM
Today at 7:03 AM
now though
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Trump White House reverses course on decision to decommission the carrier Truman
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
related is
Pence: No Early Retirement for USS Harry S. Truman
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The White House budget proposal to skip a scheduled refueling of aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) appears to have lost support in the Trump Administration, according to Vice President Mike Pence.

While touring Truman Tuesday, Pence addressed the crew in the ship’s hangar bay and quickly stated the plan to retire the carrier two decades early was now quashed, according to several media accounts.

“As I stand before you today, I know the future of this aircraft carrier is the subject of some budget discussions in Washington, D.C. And as we continue to fight Congress to make sure that our military has the resources you need to accomplish your mission, President Donald Trump asked me to deliver a message to each and every one of you on the deck of the USS Truman. We are keeping the best carrier in the world in the fight. We are not retiring the Truman,” Pence said. “The USS Harry S. Truman is going to be giving ‘em hell for many more years to come.”

Lt. Lauren Chatmas, a Navy spokesperson, referred questions about the plan for refueling Truman to the White House.

The proposal for Truman to skip its upcoming scheduled refueling and complex overhaul, essentially ending its life 25 years early, was included in the Trump Administration’s
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
sent to Congress.

The retirement decision occurred in concert with a new two-carrier purchase agreement for two Ford-class carriers. The Pentagon said the combined savings derived from the Truman retirement and buying the two carriers at once would be routed to new capabilities that include unmanned systems and high-energy weapons.

On Capitol Hill, the proposal was immediately met with bipartisan skepticism that not refueling Truman would result in significant savings or increase the readiness and lethality of the fleet,
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
.

“I think that’s a ridiculous idea,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a retired Navy commander representing the district that includes Naval Station Norfolk, said shortly after the budget proposal was made.

“That math doesn’t work,” said Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), the ranking member of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, who also represents part of the Hampton Roads region.

In a late Tuesday statement provided to USNI News, Wittman praised the announcement from Pence.

“This is the right choice and I am glad to see the administration make this correction. I have been adamant since the beginning that retiring the USS Truman halfway through its expected service life would be strategically and fiscally irresponsible. Aircraft carriers are the nation’s preeminent power projection platform and the cornerstone of the US Navy. Completing the USS Truman’s Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) is critical to reaching our 12-carrier requirement,” he said.
“I will continue fighting to keep the USS Truman’s RCOH on schedule and properly funded. We must continue to make the investments now, not only to maximize naval power as a deterrent force but also to combat and defeat our adversaries if conflict is required.”

Luria applauded the move in a statement to USNI News late Tuesday.

“I’m glad that the administration reversed itself because this would have been an awful decision for Hampton Roads and America,” Luria said. “As someone who served two years on the USS Harry S. Truman, I have firsthand knowledge of its value and ability to bring sustained power anywhere on Earth.”
 
Today at 10:15 AM
Yesterday at 8:32 PM
related is
Pence: No Early Retirement for USS Harry S. Truman
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
and
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The Pentagon and Navy leadership say the USS Harry S. Truman must retire so modernization might live. The White House wants to blow that plan up.
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

:

Hours after top Navy officials explained to skeptical lawmakers why
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier 25 years early, Vice President Mike Pence surprised everyone by delivering the opposite message to sailors aboard the ship.

Standing on the deck of the massive nuclear-powered carrier at its home port of Norfolk, Va., Pence announced that “we are keeping the best carrier in the world in the fight; we are not retiring the Truman.”

If Pence’s reversal becomes real, the service will need to find $3.4 billion over the next five years — the projected savings from doing away with the Truman — to fund a series of modernization efforts it deems critical to meet the challenge of growing Chinese power in the Pacific.

And according to what Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month, it could
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
the plan to acquire two new Ford-class carriers at the same time. Instead of refueling the Truman, workers at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Virginia could focus on the Ford carriers and modernizing submarines “The workforce, when we look at what is in the shipyards — the combination of submarines, new carriers and then maintenance — all that is done in the same shipyard and that workforce moves from project to project,” he said. “When we look at the total employment, the total employment goes up in the period of time we’re building the two carriers.”

Pence’s statement drew applause from several lawmakers, including one prominent Democratic Senator, who happens to represent Virginia, the state the Truman calls home.

In a statement, Sen. Tim Kaine said he has “pushed hard against the Administration’s plans to mothball the Truman at the midpoint of its working life. I am gratified that the Administration listened and is now committed to the refueling. This is the right call for our national security.”

Rep. Elaine Luria, a 20-year Navy veteran, also praised the move, saying: “I’m glad that the administration reversed itself because this would have been an awful decision.” The congresswoman served two years aboard the Truman.

Virginian Rep. Rob Wittman also called the move “the right choice,” while Rep. Joe Courtney added he’s “glad to learn that the Trump Administration has finally joined a broad and bipartisan range of opponents against the Trump Administration’s own plan to retire an aircraft carrier that is only about half-way through its planned service life.”

Courtney, chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, then gave a hint at the budget wrangling to come on the Hill this summer.

“So far, my subcommittee has received no further information about any formal revision to the budget request for 2020, or to the Navy’s long-range fleet inventory plans and Aircraft Carrier force structure reflecting this change in position,” he said. “I can only hope that we now have the Administration’s strong support as we prepare to mark up the 2020 defense authorization bill in the coming weeks and move ahead with our planned restoration of the refueling for the USS Harry S. Truman.”

As Courtney’s statement made clear, the budget is in the hand of lawmakers now, and there will be an effort on Capitol Hill to move more money into the Navy’s 2020 budget submission to keep the big deck. But for the moment, any decision over the fate of the Truman remains largely out of the White House’s hands.

Adm. William Moran appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee just hours before Pence spoke. The nominee to become next Chief of Naval Operations defended the carrier’s retirement, saying “we needed to find money” in the current budget to invest in new technologies like unmanned systems, lasers and other high-end assets.

The decision to forgo the ship’s mid-life refueling and subsequently retire her —
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
— has been a subject of intense debate since the announcement was made earlier this year. Every member of the Navy’s leadership, as well as Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, have stood behind the decision, painting it as a necessary cost-cutting move. The Navy has assessed that cancelling the mid-life overhaul will save $3.4 billion over the five-year defense plan. But the savings over the 25 years the ship would have been at sea were huge: $20 billion. “Truman is a big bill,” Moran said.

Asked by Sen. Tom Cotton if the Navy would turn down the money to refuel the carrier if Congress offered it, Moran said, “we wouldn’t decline more money,” but offered a note of caution over future budget uncertainty, saying the Navy has to keep a “mindful eye” on where it spends its money given the new classes of frigates, nuclear-capable Columbia-class submarines, and Ford-class carriers it plans to bring into the fleet in coming years.

Speaking at a New America event on Monday, current CNO Adm. John Richardson stood behind the Truman decision. “One thing that characterizes success and failure, I think, is our ability to just move,” he said. “So, we’re trying to move, and that is exactly the decision dynamic with respect to what’s more relevant for the future.” In the coming decades, “is it going to be the Harry S. Truman and its air wing where there’s a lot of innovation taking place, or is it something else? Think lasers, high-powered microwaves. Electromagnetic energy in a focused way that can deliver kinetic or non kinetic effects.”

On Tuesday, Moran praised the Navy’s carrier fleet in general, saying, “the aircraft carrier is the most survivable airfield that we have today — anywhere. And we project it will remain that way well into the future.”

Pence’s comments come more than a month after the White House and Pentagon submitted its fiscal 2020 budget request to the Hill, along with its annual five-year projection of what the services plan to spend in the coming years. In that sense, Pence and the White House are largely subject to what Congress wants to spend on defense.

The White House has often surprised the Pentagon with last-minute demands, from President Trump’s call for a ban on transgender service members to his Tweet that the US would pull troops out of Syria, which led to the resignation of then-Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Navy spokesman Capt. Danny Hernandez referred questions about communications between the Navy and the Executive branch back to the White House.

The vice president’s speech adds a new wrinkle to the debate over navy modernization overall. See our story tomorrow morning for details.
 
Today at 11:43 AM
Today at 10:15 AM
and
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The Pentagon and Navy leadership say the USS Harry S. Truman must retire so modernization might live. The White House wants to blow that plan up.
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

:
plus now noticed
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

·
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I am overriding the Decommission Order of the magnificent aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, built in 1998 (fairly new), and considered one of the largest and finest in the world. It will be updated at a fraction of the cost of a new one (which also are being built)!
 
Jul 17, 2018
Jul 12, 2017
now noticed 2022 repeated

("As of now, Ford is expected to be ready for deployment in 2022, Couch said.)

inside Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford Enters Year-Long Post-Shakedown Maintenance and Upgrade Period
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
while now (inside
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
)
:
"... the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Pete Visclosky ...
stressed the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the first in its class of aircraft carriers, is not expected to be operational until 2023, nearly five years later than expected because of numerous construction deficiencies.

The chairman wanted to know how the cost of correcting those flaws was divided between the Navy and its contractors, noting that GAO indicated the government has been paying 96 percent. Spencer promised to provide the data."
 
Top