Largest U.S. Military Shipbuilder Begins Independent Operations

DefPro News

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. has begun operating as a new, independent and publicly traded company as trading of its shares commenced yesterday morning. Huntington Ingalls Industries, America’s largest military shipbuilder, was previously a business sector of Northrop Grumman until effectively separating on March 31, 2011, in a spinoff.

“Our strategy,” said Mike Petters, president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries, “is to better align our business with the U.S. Navy’s priorities and to continue improving our shipbuilding performance while meeting our customer commitments. Operating as an independent company will allow us greater focus and agility to accomplish these important objectives, which should create significant value for our shareholders.”

The Huntington Ingalls Industries name reflects the long-standing legacies of the two shipbuilding business divisions of the new entity: Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding. Collis P. Huntington founded Newport News Shipbuilding in 1886, and Ingalls Shipbuilding was established in 1938 by the Ingalls Iron Works of Birmingham, Ala., a company founded by the Ingalls family.

“Incorporating the names of our founding families and legacy companies into our new enterprise will build upon our 125-year tradition of demonstrated commitment to quality, customer focus and building the best military ships in the world,” Petters said. “I am very excited about our future, about the strength and depth of our leadership team, and the skill and dedication of our shipbuilders.”

Work today at Huntington Ingalls includes the construction of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, the refueling and complex overhaul of Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, construction of Virginia-class submarines, submarine design and life-cycle management, as well as fleet services for naval ships all over the world. The company is also constructing San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships and an America-class multipurpose amphibious assault ship and has built 28 of 62 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with long-lead materials awarded on the first two ships in the continuation of the program. Recently, the company was awarded a fourth National Security Cutter construction contract for the U.S. Coast Guard, with the third ship expected to be complete by year’s end.

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MMRCA Updates...

F-18 and Eurofighter was never considered earlier for MMRCA Tender : Offical 

IDRW News Network

What could be quite a revelation ,Indian air force official have informed idrw.org ,that until end of 2005 , F-18 and Euro-fighter was never considered for MMRCA Tender since  they did not fit into air forces requirements  then , Initially Air force wanted aircraft in medium weight category that included offers from French on Mirage-2000-5 ,Lockheed martin with their F-16 C/D and Russian offer of upgraded Mig-29SMT .

But opening of the Tender to multiple vendors by then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherji in UPA-1 Government insured that tender became larger ,and Medium Weight category was no longer mandatory since heavier class fighter aircrafts entered the race .

Official also told that opening of the tender surely lead to further delays and set back whole process by 5 years ,which was considerable amount of time lost to procure aircraft’s for a shrinking air force fleet , he also pointed out that  Request for Proposal (RFP) actually favoured single engine fighters due to its emphasis on life cycle costs,since life cycle costs of a single engine fighter are substantially lower than that of twin engine fighter.

With Pak-FA and AMCA 5th generation fighter deal all done and work on them have already began and IAF is all set to procure and operate them by turn of this decade , official admitted that MMRCA tender and the aircraft’s have lost all its shine and will be a second fiddle to MKI and PAK-FA in near future in IAF fleet .

Russia ready to equip 1st Borey class sub with Bulava missiles

A missile production plant in southern Siberia has produced enough Bulava ballistic missiles to complete its tests and arm the first Borey class strategic submarine, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Monday.

"A batch of missiles sufficient to finish the tests and equip one submarine has been produced already. Larger production would cause the missiles to stock up," Ivanov said after a meeting of defense industry officials in the southern Siberian republic of Udmurtia.

The Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missile carries up to 10 MIRV warheads and has a range of over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles).

Despite several previous failures, officially blamed on manufacturing defaults, the Russian military has insisted that there is no alternative to the Bulava and pledged to continue testing the missile until it is ready for service with the Navy.

Russia is planning to conduct at least four Bulava test launches this year and deploy it on the new Borey class strategic submarines.

The tests launches will most likely be conducted from the Yury Dolgoruky.

The Yury Dolgoruky, which has recently completed sea trials in the White Sea, is expected to enter service with the Russian Navy in the near future, pending the outcome of the Bulava testing.

Three other Borey class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky, the Vladimir Monomakh, and Svyatitel Nikolai (St. Nicholas) are in different stages of completion. Russia is planning to build eight of these subs by 2015.

Strikes Degrade Libya's Defenses, but Threats Remain

DefPro

While the attacks on Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system have been successful, thousands of anti-aircraft artillery emplacements and portable missile launchers still pose threats to coalition air crews, the director of the Joint Staff said on Sunday. On the second day of Operation Odyssey Dawn, Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney said the coalition cruise missile strikes against selected air defense systems and facilities were successful, and that coalition ships and submarines launched 124 Tomahawk missiles against these targets.

“We judge these strikes to have been very effective in degrading the regime’s air defense capability, to include their ability to launch many of their SA-5s – their long range missiles – their SA-3s and SA-2s,” Gortney said during a Pentagon news conference.

Moammar Gadhafi’s regime has not launched aircraft, and the coalition has not detected any radar emissions from the air defense sites targeted, the admiral said.

“There has been a significant decrease in the use of all Libyan air surveillance radars,” he added. “These seem to be limited to the areas around Tripoli and Sert.” 

US F-15E Jet Goes Down in Libya

IDRW

SOURCE : voanews.com

Heavy ground fighting was reported in several cities across Libya Tuesday, the fourth day of a U.N.-backed effort to establish a no-fly zone across the north of the country.  U.S. confirmed one of its jets crash-landed while taking part in that effort.The international coalition plans to extend the zone from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in the east to the capital, Tripoli, 1,000 kilometers to the west. 

Loyalist forces in Tripoli sent up anti-aircraft fire in an attempt to ward off strikes by fighter jets sent by the U.S., France and Britain.  The U.S. said Tuesday that one of its jets crash-landed in Libya the day before.  The military said the likely cause was mechanical problems, not hostile fire.

The U.S. military says both crew members have been rescued.Despite the expanding no-fly zone coverage – part of a U.N. resolution to protect civilians from Libyan government attacks – opposition sources in two western towns report continuing fighting.  Residents said pro-Gadhafi forces are on the offensive in both Misrata and Zintan, and report civilian casualties.  Those claims could not be independently confirmed.

Strains in international backing for the mission increased Tuesday, with China joining the list of dissenters.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Beijing wants an immediate cease-fire and seeks a peaceful resolution to the conflict.  China, like fellow critic Russia, abstained from backing the U.N. resolution authorizing the attacks, but did not veto the measure.

The Arab League, which initially supported the U.N. move, has also expressed reservations.  All say they are concerned about possible civilian casualties and a humanitarian crisis – exactly what the measure aims to prevent.

Speaking in Moscow, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioned those concerns.

“It’s perfectly evident that the vast majority, if not nearly all civilian casualties have been inflicted by Gadhafi,” said Gates.  “Most of our targets, virtually all of our targets are isolated, non-populated areas.”

He called Colonel Moammar Gadhafi’s claims of civilian casualties “outright lies.”  Libyan officials say dozens of people have been killed in coalition attacks, which began Saturday.  Those figures have not been independently confirmed.

A Tripoli resident, who prefers to give just his first name, Ali, said by telephone Tuesday that much of the capital was functioning normally.

Ali said the situation is good:  the shops are open, there is traffic.   He adds he has not been out of the capital, but in Tripoli, it’s fine.

The effort to set up the no-fly zone appeared to be helping the rebels in the east.  Opposition forces had been pushed out of territory it once claimed, with fighting Saturday reaching the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi.  The rebels have since been pushing back, and were engaged in heavy ground fighting with pro-Gadhafi forces Tuesday near the town of Ajdabiya.

The United Nations revealed Tuesday that, farther east, in Tobruk, the special envoy for Libya had met with rebel leaders.  The Monday meeting was to elicit opposition views on the situation in Libya.  It follows a visit by the envoy last week to Tripoli where he met with government leaders.

Navy keen on AMCA Project

VINAYAK SHETTI Security Editorial Panel

Not to be left out of the countries 5th generation fighter program, Indian navy has asked for a briefing on the AMCA project which ADE is heading and they were briefed on AMCA project by the ADE which was attended by Navy’s high ranked officers.

Navy earlier had shown interest in American made F-35 for their 5th gen platform requirements but it seems that Navy has decided to stick with Indigenous program. Navy will join the program once AMCA begins its Technological demonstration phase after its first flight somewhere near end of this decade.
 

Navy is keen that N-LCA program is successful so that they can move to N-AMCA project soon after its completion. N-LCA had some issues with its landing gear which needed to be redesigned to operate on an aircraft carrier and survive hard deck landing .N-LCA NP-1 is almost ready for its first flight and will have its first flight in mid or end or March if Ground and taxi trials are conducted in time.

Our sources have confirmed that Navy has received a Briefing and also a copy of ASR (Air Staff Requirements) issued by Indian air force on AMCA aircraft , Navy is also working out how N-AMCA will fit its doctrine and into its plans of operating larger aircraft carrier from IAC-2 onwards .

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