Broader role for JHSV

The Navy has stepped up deployments of its Joint High Speed Vessel in exercises around the world as a broader effort to expand operational use for the platform. Initially envisioned as a high-speed transport, JHSVs have shown a broader range of applications – from logistical support, counter-trafficking and medical operations in conjunction with larger ships. ”It is truly a joint vessel to be delivered to combatant commanders as a fast, sizeable transport. The JHSV can help provide security cooperation support and counterterrorism assistance,” said Johnny Michael, Navy spokesman. There are plans to put JHSVs in every combatant commander’s area of responsibility. (Source: DOD Buzz 06/29/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: The Navy has contracted for a total of 10 JHSV vessels with the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. To date, five JHSVs have been built. The sixth and seventh are to arrive in 2016.

Contract: AAI, $11M

AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Md., is being awarded a $10,966,798 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-6322) to exercise options for engineering services for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) program. The UISS is one of the systems, which will allow the Littoral Combat Ship to perform its mine warfare sweep mission. UISS will target acoustic, magnetic, and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types only. The UISS Program will satisfy the U.S. Navy's need for a rapid, wide-area coverage mine clearance capability, required to neutralize magnetic/acoustic influence mines. UISS seeks to provide a high area coverage rate in a small, lightweight package with minimal impact on the host platform. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley (72 percent); Slidell, La. (24 percent); Hauppauge, N.Y. (2 percent); Columbia, Md. (1 percent), and Lemont Furnace, Pa. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2016. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 06/29/15) One of the two Littoral Combat Ship types are built in Mobile, Ala.

MS Red Snapper season

BILOXI, Miss. – Mississippi Department of Marine Resources’ Executive Director Jamie Miller announced June 26 that fishermen will be allowed to harvest Red Snapper in state waters from July 16 through Oct. 31. The bag limit is two Red Snapper per person with a minimum size of 16 inches. (Source: MDMR 06/25/15)

MDA biz trip to Central America

The Mississippi Development Authority will lead a state delegation of companies on a business development mission to Central America from Sept.19-25. The trip is designed to connect businesses that want to expand trade and create new business relationships with qualified buyers in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. The multi-industry mission trip will highlight the following sectors as potential prospects: Port and shipbuilding equipment; automotive parts and service equipment; security and safety equipment; and telecommunications equipment. (WDAM 06/23/15)

VT Halter Marine chief retires

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Bill Skinner has decided to retire after two decades at VT Halter Marine. Skinner's career in shipbuilding spanned 46 years. Jack Prendergast was named as the CEO and new president by the board of directors. Prendergast spent three decades in the Navy and rose to the rank of rear admiral. He worked for Lockheed Martin before joining VT Halter Marine. (Source: Sun Herald, 06/18/15)

Contract: Multiple, $35M

The Columbia Group Inc., Panama City, Fla. (N61331-15-D-0016); Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., Virginia Beach, Va. (N61331-15-D-0017); EDO Corp., Panama City (N61331-15-D-0018); and Piping Systems International Inc., Bay Minette, Ala. (N61331-15-D-0019), are being awarded a $35,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award supply contract for the provision of hardware, materials and supplies to support the expeditionary warfare and maritime programs. Examples of programs being supported include the Landing Craft Air Cushioned vehicles, Deployed Joint Command and Control systems, dive and life support systems, Seal delivery vehicles, and Navy Experimental Dive Unit projects. Under the terms of the contract, the companies will compete for individual delivery orders over a five-year period. At the time of award, The Columbia Group is being awarded $10,000; Atlantic Diving Supply is being awarded $10,000; EDO is being awarded $10,000; and Piping Systems International is being awarded a delivery order for $126,968 and a delivery order for $20,035. Work will be conducted in various Navy ship homeports and is expected to complete in June 2020. These contracts were competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 06/15/15)

LCS christening slated

MOBILE, Ala. -- The Navy will christen its tenth littoral combat ship (LCS), the future USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), during a ceremony Saturday, June 13 at Austal USA shipyard. LCS 10 is named after former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The LCS class consists of the Freedom variant and Independence variant, each designed and built by different industry teams. The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin and the Independence variant team is led by General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works and Austal USA. (Source: DoD, 06/11/15)

Aiding Gulf storm predictions

All five Gulf Coast states may be more prepared than ever for hurricane season thanks to new local-state-federal partner funded tools and ports that could enhance the capabilities and accuracy of information about storm predictions and ship navigation. The tools – GPS Continually Operating Reference Systems (CORS) and Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) - provide the foundation of the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS). The new CORS stations are being put into place through the newly formed Gulf Coast Spatial Reference Consortium - a partnership among the Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Louisiana State University's Center for Geoinformatics, University of Southern Mississippi's Mississippi Spatial Reference Center and the Alabama Department of Transportation. When fully implemented, CORS stations will cover some 16,000 miles of coastal shorelines, bays and estuaries. To date, four stations in Florida and five in Texas have been installed; six additional CORS stations will be installed in Florida, Alabama and Louisiana in 2015, with the remainder in 2016. The new Louisiana PORTS were installed at Port Fourchon, which services 90 percent of the Gulf's deepwater oil and gas industry. (Source: Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System 06/11/15)

CG rescues fishermen from GoM

NEW ORLEANS – A Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans helicopter crew rescued four sports fishermen from a Gulf of Mexico platform after their vessel sank about 40 miles east of Venice, La., on June 9. Watchstanders with the 8th Coast Guard District received a call from one of the sports fishermen with their location. The CG launched two MH-65 ‘Dolphin’ helicopter crews to the scene, hoisting the fishermen aboard; and flying them back to CGAS New Orleans. There were no reported injuries. (8th Coast Guard District 06/08/15)

Textron buys NOLA shipyard

Textron Systems has purchased a 600,000-square-foot shipyard in New Orleans from Trinity Industries for $1.9 million, according to Textron spokesman Tom Williams. The company had leased the yard for the last 30 years, but decided to buy it after winning a Navy contract in April worth about $84 million. Textron also got a $213 million Navy contract in 2012 to build the next generation of ship-to-shore connectors military hovercraft. The company's military vehicle manufacturing plant in Slidell is currently under contract to produce 500 tactical armored patrol vehicles for the Canadian army. (Source: Times-Picayune 06/10/15)

Newest NSC delivered

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Ingalls Shipbuilding delivered the National Security Cutter James (WMSL 754) to the U.S. Coast Guard Friday. The ship will sail in mid-July to Boston for an Aug. 8 commissioning. It's the fifth Legend-class ship built for the Coast Guard by Ingalls. The NSC class is 418 feet long and has a top speed of 28 knots and a range of 12,000 miles. The ship will have a crew of 120. (Source: HII, 06/05/15)

MCM packages readying for evals

The mine-countermeasures mission (MCM) package for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is scheduled for initial operational test and evaluation beginning in July. Successful testing could mean the MCM warfare package could reach operational capability in the first half of FY 2016. The initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) – which will be done in four increments - will be a major test for the mission package and its modules. Increment 1 of the MCM mission package completed its final phase of developmental testing in October 2014. Increment 2: Beach zone mine detection with the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle. Increment 3: Sustained influence sweep capability with the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) boat – towing a submerged magnetic-field-generating cable with an Mk104 acoustic generator to detonate mines. Increment 4: Feature the Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle, a 10-foot-long Bluefin 21, with a side-scan sonar for buried mine-detection capabilities. The MCM detachments for LCS will be part of LCS squadrons and integrate with the ship crews for deployment. The Navy’s current program calls for 24 MCM mission packages - two per year will be procured from 2016-19, plus one in 2020. (Source: Seapower Magazine 06/15) Gulf Cost Shipbuilding: UISS will be tested at the Textron facilities in Slidell, La., before it is turned over to the Navy’s mine warfare testing center at Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Fla.

Mabus defends strategy, shipbuilding

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus combined the fleet’s forward deployment and the strategy of maximizing shipbuilding on his watch. The Navy has to have these “big gray hulls on the horizon” world-wide to provide a presence that gives the nation’s leadership options, he told an audience June 2 at the American Enterprise Institute. The Navy and Marine Corps forward deployments are ways to maximize the use of that force, especially with the nation’s pivot toward the western Pacific Ocean. The key to SENAV’s strategy is maximizing shipbuilding. Under his watch over the past five years, the Navy has put 70 ships under contract - 27 ships were under contract over the previous five-year period. Mabus has pledged to defend shipbuilding in the face of budget caps. Shipbuilders, such as the Gulf Coast’s Huntington Ingalls Industries and Austal USA, require stable designs, mature technology and certainty of orders to meet fleet needs. In return, the Navy needs to invest in infrastructures and train work forces for each subsequent ship class in order to drive down costs. Mabus also stressed the need to reduce overhead and duplication costs and make acquisition processes “more simple (and) more accountable.” (Seapower magazine 06/02/15)

Contract: KOAM, $15M

KOAM Engineering Systems Inc., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $15,057,815 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for marine design and engineering services to support the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., for ship repair and conversion. This contract includes an eight-month base period and four one-year option periods, which if exercised, will bring the contract value to $76,130,261. Work will be performed in Portsmouth (95 percent); San Diego, Calif. (2 percent); Jacksonville, Fla. (1 percent); Bremerton, Wash. (0.5 percent); Pascagoula, Miss. (0.5 percent); Sasebo, Japan (0.5 percent); and Yokosuka, Japan (0.5 percent). Work is expected to be completed by January 2016; if all options are exercised, work will be completed by January 2020. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity (N00189-15-D-0015). (Source: DoD, 06/02/15)

Contract: Lockheed, $31M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $31,015,536 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-5104) to exercise options for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS Baselines through Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 12. The contract provides for Aegis shipboard integration engineering, Aegis test team support, Aegis modernization team engineering support, ballistic missile defense test team support, and AWS element assessments. This contract will cover the AWS ship integration and test efforts for five new construction DDG 51 class ships, and the major modernization of five DDG 51 class ships. It will additionally cover the integrated combat system modifications and upgrades for all current ships with all AWS baselines up to and including ACB 12. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Miss. (28 percent); Bath, Maine (28 percent); Norfolk, Va. (25 percent); San Diego, Calif. (15 percent); and Moorestown (4 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2017. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 06/02/15)