Month: August 2023

Source: United States Navy

The intelligence integration coincided with the carrier strike group’s maritime exercises in the Indian Ocean with the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) and Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Perth (FFH 157).

The CSG’s participation in Talisman Sabre also included coordinated air exercises involving the embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, as well as elements from the U.S. Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force.

“Talisman Sabre gives us another opportunity to maintain and improve upon our ability to integrate seamlessly with our Australian allies to execute complex, multi-domain missions across a vast area,” said Rear Adm. Pat Hannifin, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5. “In addition to our advanced air and sea exercises, this event provides us valuable space to share best practices with specialists from the Australian intelligence community, building relationships and shared awareness that will pay dividends deep into the future.”

The embarked Australian intelligence team was led by Cmdr. Darryl Scott of the Royal Australian Navy Information Warfare Force.

“Interoperability is of great importance to our two Navies,” said Scott. “We’re getting an even better understanding of how many ways we can support each other. Our ability to share intelligence, share reporting and share data allows us to better prepare for future operations, either interlinked with American forces or actually embedded with a strike group like this.”

In addition to the Australian intelligence team, the USS Ronald Reagan and CSG staff hosted a group of Australian Sailors from the crew of HMAS Perth.

The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group also includes the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) and USS Antietam (CG 54).

Talisman Sabre is taking place over multiple weeks from mid-July through early August, involving more than 30,000 Australian, U.S. and other international military personnel.

Conducted biennially since 2005, Talisman Sabre is the United States’ largest military exercise with Australia. This exercise demonstrates the strong U.S.-Australia alliance, which has sustained cooperation and trust throughout decades of operating, training, and exercising together.

Jointly sponsored by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and Australian Defence Force Headquarters Joint Operations Command, this year’s exercise is the 10th iteration of Talisman Sabre, and incorporates U.S. Space Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, and Australian Defence Forces, as well as other government agencies from each country. Participating nations include: Australia, Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Tonga, United Kingdom, and United States.

Source: United States Navy

USS Ramage (DDG 61), homeported in Norfolk, VA, and USS Benfold (DDG 65), based in Yokosuka, Japan, have been extended by five years to FY 2035 and FY 2036, respectively. 

USS Mitscher (DDG 57), also homeported in Norfolk, and USS Milius (DDG 69), homeported out of Yokosuka, have been extended by four years to FY 2034 and FY 2035, respectively. 

These extensions follow the March 2023 extension of USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) by five years through FY 2031.The extension puts each destroyer beyong their estimated service life of 35 years.

 “These service life extensions demonstrate the Navy’s commitment to ensuring the surface fleet has the right capability and capacity,” said Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, director of Surface Warfare (N96)  “Adding 23-years of service life cumulatively over the last six months is a significant investment in surface warfare.  These extensions align to Secretary of the Navy Del Toro’s commitment to Congress during the FY-24 posture hearings to analyze service life on a hull-by-hull basis and extend the correct ships in order to be good stewards of resources invested in the U.S. Navy by the American people.” 

Each of these ships have received Aegis baseline nine upgrades through the DDG Modernization program.  The program provided a comprehensive mid-life modernization to these destroyers, ensuring they have the right systems to remain capable and reliable to the end of their service life.  Based on analysis by the Navy’s technical community, these extensions were feasible because each ship properly adhered to lifecycle maintenance plans and were well maintained in good material condition by their crews. 

 “These DDGs bring the right capability and capacity to our operational commanders in an affordable manner maximizing the Navy’s targeted return on investment for these ships,” Pyle added.  “Each of these extensions takes into account where these ships are in their lifecycle maintenance schedules.  Extending Mitscher and Milius by an additional year to five years would require each ship to spend a year of that extension in a docking availability, which would not be a prudent use of resources entrusted to the Navy.”

The surface community will continue to evaluate the service life of each surface ship based on combat relevance, reliability data, and material condition. Currently, the Navy has 73 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in service and is continuing to modernize the class with the latest technologies and capabilities. 

For more information on the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, please visit: https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Fact-Files/Display-FactFiles/Article/2169871/destroyers-ddg-51/

Source: United States Navy

Underway Recovery Test (URT) 10 was the tenth in a series of tests and the first time NASA and its partners from the Navy and Air Force put their Artemis II recovery operations to the test.

“The U.S. Navy has many unique capabilities that make it an ideal partner to support NASA. Amphibious transport dock ships, such as ours, provide the capability to embark helicopters, launch and recover small boats, monitor three-dimensional air space and provide high-end care through our advanced medical facilities,” said Capt. Doug Langenberg, commanding officer of USS John P. Murtha. “Each organization that participated in this mission underwent extensive training – our ability to work together demonstrates our maritime recovery experience and capabilities.”

Working in support of U.S. Space Command, additional U.S. Navy units included Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit (EODESU) 1, Amphibious Construction Battalion (ACB) 1, and Strike Group Oceanography Team San Diego, with support from U.S. Air Force’s First Air Force, Detachment 3, and U.S. Space Force’s 45th Space Launch Delta Weather Squadron.

After last year’s successful recovery of the Orion spacecraft from the Artemis I mission using the amphibious transport dock USS Portland (LPD 27), and with the addition of crew for the Artemis II mission, the recovery teams have begun modifying their timelines and procedures to ensure the astronauts will be safely on the recovery ship less than two hours after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

Once the crew splashes down, a group of Navy divers will approach Orion and ensure it is safe for the astronauts to exit the spacecraft. The divers will then open the spacecraft hatch and help the astronauts exit one by one onto an inflatable “front porch.” This raft wraps around the capsule and allows for the crew to be picked up via helicopter and flown back to the recovery ship. Once the astronauts are on board the recovery ship, teams will secure Orion with a series of lines and slowly tow it back inside the ship, just as they did during the Artemis I mission.

During the test, the team practiced the Artemis II recovery procedures, releasing and recovering the crew module test article, a full-scale mock-up of Orion.

Prior to URT-10, Navy dive teams were trained at NASA Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a large pool where astronauts train for spacewalks and engineers refine procedures.

“We are experts in mobile salvage and towing as well as open water, small boat operations,” said
Senior Chief Navy Diver Ryan Crider, a master diver assigned to EODESU-1 who oversaw his unit’s tactical participation. “This mission is an example of how the explosive ordnance disposal community has evolved over time and a glimpse of what EODESU-1 hopes to achieve in the future alongside NASA and Fleet partners.”

Before the underway test, Artemis II astronauts U.S. Navy Capt. Reid Wiseman, U.S. Navy Capt. Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Jeremy Hansen visited Naval Base San Diego to meet with the recovery team and learn more about the recovery vessel and testing that will help bring them safely back to shore.

The recovery team will capture lessons learned and apply them to future underway tests to make sure they are ready to recover the Artemis II crew and bring them home safely.

“The crew module retrieval operation following Orion’s flight is part of a Department of Defense effort that integrates combatant command and service capabilities to determine best practices for safely retrieving spacecraft and crew, in both nominal and contingency scenarios,” said Lt. Col. David Mahan, Director of Operations for First Air Force, Detachment 3, which provides DoD Human Space Flight Support to NASA. “URT-10 is the first time that the DoD and NASA have exercised the additional recovery requirements critical to future crewed missions. This event allowed NASA and the Department of Defense to put their years of training into practice to safely recover the capsule and simulated crew. Lessons learned from URT-10 will ensure that recovery for subsequent crewed Artemis flights be safe and effective.”

Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 3 comprises three amphibious squadrons, 15 amphibious warships, and eight naval support elements including approximately 18,000 active-duty and reserve Sailors and Marines. As the deputy commander for amphibious and littoral warfare, U.S. 3rd Fleet, the ESG 3 commander also oversees Mine Countermeasures Group 3 and the 15 littoral combat ships and two subordinate divisions under Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1. ESG 3 is postured in support of U.S. 3rd Fleet as a globally responsive and scalable naval command element, capable of generating, deploying, and employing naval forces and formations for crisis and contingency response, forward presence, and major combat operations focusing on amphibious operations, humanitarian and disaster relief and support to defense civil authorities, and expeditionary logistics.