Tag Archives: training

Can we just acknowledge the tonnage deployed on Epic Fury?

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The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) sails in the Atlantic Ocean, April 12, 2026. The George H. W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, comprised of nearly 5,000 Sailors, provides combatant commanders and America’s civilian leaders with increased capacity to underpin American security and economic prosperity, deter adversaries, and project power on a global scale through sustained operations at sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class John R. Farren)

Right now, as noted by open sources (Centcom releases, USNI’s Marine Tracker, etc), we have three carrier strike groups– built around USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)— as well as two ARGs (USS Boxer and Tripoli), either in the region or steaming there. Tripoli is also deployed with USS New Orleans (LPD-18) and Rushmore (LSD-47) with the 31st MEU embarked, while Boxer is sailing with USS Comstock (LSD-45) and Portland (LPD-27) as well as the 11th MEU.

Centcom confirms this is the first time they have had three CVNs in their area of operation since 2003, and greater than 20,000 assorted Bluejackets and Marines are afloat.

They have no less than 18 Burkes supporting:

  • USS Mitscher (DDG-57)
  • USS Gonzalez (DDG-66)
  • USS Milius (DDG-69)
  • USS Ross (DDG-71) (Bush CSG)
  • USS Mahan (DDG-72) (Ford CSG)
  • USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) (Bush CSG)
  • USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) (Ford CSG, Air Defense Commander)
  • USS Bulkeley (DDG-84)
  • USS Mason (DDG-87) (Bush CSG, Air Defense Commander)
  • USS Pickney (DDG-91)
  • USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) (Ford CSG)
  • USS Spruance (DDG-111) (Lincoln CSG)
  • USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112)
  • USS John Finn (DDG-113)
  • USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115)
  • USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) (Ford CSG)
  • USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119)
  • USS Frank E. Petersen (DDG-121) (Lincoln CSG, Air Defense Commander)

For those keeping count, that is roughly 300K tons of carriers, 250K tons of ‘Phibs, and 165k tons of destroyers, with the Silent Service’s SSNs and SSGNs not publicized and keeping very silent indeed, and the logistics tail, which never gets any love except from Sal. 

So, pushing just shy of a million tons, with three carriers, 18 tin cans, six Gators, and AO/AOE/SS undetailed. Truth be told, that is one serious naval force.

Sadly, there are no Ticos forward deployed to Centcom. Looks like the old girls are sitting this one out, and all the CSGs are using upgraded SM-3 carrying DDGs for the group’s Air Defense Commander roles.

Combat air squadrons embarked include a homogenous 11 F/A-18E/F units (VFA-14, VFA-31, VFA-37, VFA-41, VFA-83, VFA-87, VFA-103, VFA-105, VFA-131, VFA-151, and VFA-213), three of EA-18Gs (VAQ-130, VAQ-133, and VAQ-142) and a single F-35C squadron– the Black Knights of VMFA-314.

Ironically, this puts the Marines, which by trope are given the obsolete stuff the Navy doesn’t want any longer, with the most advanced fighter in squadron service during Epic Fury– leaving the Navy to push 14 assorted squadrons of Rhino! Of further note, there are no F-18C/D models deployed, with the 5-6 legacy squadrons that use these are all stateside Marine dirt-dets, as the last carrier deployment for those little birds was with VMFA-323 in 2021 on Nimitz.

Still, somewhere around 400 embarked aircraft when all the MH-60s aboard the DDGs and the MEU’s air units are counted.

In other sad news, the Navy’s minesweeping solution, the mine module equipped LCSs (USS Canberra, Santa Barbara, and Tulsa) were all pulled out of Bahrain in March and have been notably MIA while two aging Avenger-class sweepers based in Sasebo, USS Chief (MCM-14) and Pioneer (MCM-9), are “speeding” towards the Hormuz, a short 6,600nm jaunt away, a sail of 20 days at their typical 14 knot cruising speed. Of course, that doesn’t include stops to refuel and flirt with monkeys.

What’s left for the rest of the world?

What does this leave for other contingencies?

A MH-60S Sea Hawk, attached to the “Indians” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6, transports stores to Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during a vertical replenishment-at-sea in the Pacific Ocean, April 23, 2026. Nimitz is deployed as part of Southern Seas 2026, which seeks to enhance capability, improve interoperability, and strengthen maritime partnerships with countries throughout the region through joint, multinational, and interagency exchanges and cooperation. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Johnathan McCune)

Well, of the country’s CVNs, Nimitz is in her slow-motion final cruise around Latin America to begin her deactivation, Stennis is in RCOH (where she has been for five years) and isn’t expected back in the fleet until at least October 2026, Reagan is in DPIA until at least August of 2026, Harry S. Truman (which the Navy wanted to decommission in 2019!) is set to begin her much needed RCOH in June, and JFK won’t commission until the summer of 2027 (a date likely to be pushed back after the lessons learned during Ford’s now epic deployment and saga of underway mechanical casualties).

This leaves on the East Coast the 49-year-old Ike— which is just wrapping up sea trials after a yard stint that was completed early (yes, Virginia, it is possible) and is set to retire in 2028 but probably won’t (see Ford/JFK)– Vinson and Teddy R on the West Coast, and George Washington forward deployed to Japan from where the Navy will keep her as a hedge against China/NorK.

Only four CVNs (USS Carl Vinson, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt) can handle the F-35C as they have cooled jet blast deflectors and a hangar bay that is reconfigured to support their maintenance (i.e., ODIN data centers).

Further, speaking to big-deck LHD/LHAs, the Navy only owns nine after the Bon Homme Richard fire, and two are deployed to Epic Fury as noted above. Iwo Jima is assigned to operations off Venezuela right now (delaying a planned $200 million update to operate F-35s), and two others, Essex and Kearsarge, are working up on the East and West coasts, respectively. Of the other four, two are in fairly poor material shape, with Bataan currently receiving heavy maintenance after a fire last December during her two-year-long modernization, and America is undergoing a DSRA at NASSCO until at least July 2027.

Meanwhile, only five big deck ‘phibs (USS Wasp, Essex, America, Makin Island, and Boxer) have had their decks shielded to operate short take off/vertically landing F-35Bs.

The new construction big deck phibs, the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8), Fallujah (LHA-9), and Helmand Province (LHA-10) have had their delivery dates pushed back to July 2027, July 2031, and September 2034, respectively.

Afloat in the Pascagoula River proper is the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8), the first Flight I America-class Lightning carrier, circa March 2026. She still has another 15 months of fitting out and trials to come. Chris Eger

For reference, Bougainville was laid down in March 2019, which would give her an eight-year construction cycle. The first steel on Helmand Province hasn’t even been cut yet, so even 2034 may be optimistic (although Wasp is set to retire that year). Even if Helmand Province arrives in the fleet in 2034 as planned, class leader America (LHA-6) will be 20 years in service then, while the Wasp-class LHDs will be edging to age 40, which is never a good look on a gator (the longest serving Tarawa class, the very high-mileage Peleliu, only spent 34 years and five weeks in commission).

And the beat goes on…

Negative, Dragones, the pattern is full

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Not a lot of times you see an Ecuadorian fighter buzzing a CVN with a Rhino of Strike Fighter Squadron 137 (VFA-137) “Kestrels” as a wingman.

You know that Hornet is pushing stall speed to get this photo! Credit: Navy Lt. William Shortal, VIRIN: 260408-N-NO803-9035

Official caption: “Blue on Blue” An Ecuadorian Air Force Embraer A-29 [EMB 314] Super Tucano flies alongside a U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet above the USS Nimitz during a bilateral maritime engagement in the Pacific Ocean, April 8, 2026. The USS Nimitz is deployed as part of Southern Seas, an exercise designed to enhance capability, improve interoperability, and strengthen maritime partnerships with countries in the region through joint, multinational, and interagency exchanges and cooperation.

If you are interested, it looks like the Sidewinder carrying 18E above is the Falcon 12 CO bird 301, BuNo 168866, carrying the NA tail code of CVW-17. It is a Block III circa 2013 bird, construction number E243, and used to belong to VFA-97 until the latter went Lightning.

The Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana’s 2311th Squadron (La Escuadrilla de Combate 2311 “Dragones”) operates all 17 of the country’s Tucanos, purchased in 2009 to replace Ecuador’s elderly fleet of Vietnam-era Cessna A-37 Dragonflies, and is the country’s only combat aircraft type.

Devil Dog Icicle

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Talk about dramatic. Check this one out.

Official caption: “Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Sebastian Gutierrez-Quiroz and Sgt. Matthew Blake shoot a FIM-92E Stinger missile at a simulated hostile counter-unmanned aircraft system during Arctic Edge near Fort Greely, Alaska, March 7, 2026. The exercise was designed to improve readiness, demonstrate capabilities, and enhance joint and allied force interoperability in the Arctic.”

Credit: Marine Corps Sgt. Aaron Torres-Lemus, VIRIN: 260307-M-UQ888-1037M

Replacing the old Redeye and British Blowpipe systems– which never worked well– Stinger has been the go-to NATO MANPADS since 1981 and earned its first combat kill before it was a year old with SAS commandos in the Falklands.

Little Rock Med New Year Greetings

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Happy New Year, gentlemen!

From the January 1969 deck log of the Cleveland-class gun cruiser/converted to Galveston-class guided missile cruiser USS Little Rock (CLG-4), a traditional New Year’s Day poem, in true bluejacket style:

Commissioned just 10 weeks before VJ Day, Little Rock was still on her shakedown cruise when the Big Show ended. Nonetheless, after her missile-slinger conversion, she was configured as a fleet flagship and served as one for the next two decades.

It should be pointed out she was the Sixth Fleet flag at Gaeta in the above deck log entry.

USS Little Rock (CLG-4) photographed circa mid-1960s. USN 1109531

Only decommissioned in 1976, she was one of the last two (with sister Oklahoma City) active 6-inch gunned cruisers in the U.S. fleet.

USS Little Rock (CLG-4) fires her 6″/47 Mk 16 guns during exercises on the Salto di Guirra missile range, off Sardinia, 23 April 1975. K-108728

She is preserved at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park, one of just three American cruisers who linger as museum ships, and the sole light cruiser.

View from Above, Electric Acorn 105 edition

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This is a really great shot of what looks like an M119A2/A3 (L118) 105mm howitzer slung under a UH-60 Blackhawk, one of the few modern guns light enough– just 5,100 lbs– for such lifts.

Soldiers move a howitzer during a joint field training exercise with Marines at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, on May 4, 2021. The exercise enhanced partnership, interoperability, and readiness. Photo By: Army Spc. Jessica Scott VIRIN: 210504-A-PO701-870M

SPC Scott, on the same day, took this image, which gives a pointer as to the unit– the historic 3d Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment. Formed in 1916 as the 7th’s old Battery C, they have been part of the 25th (Tropic Lightning) Infantry Division (Light) since 1986.

Schofield Barracks, HI — Soldiers from Alpha Battery, 3-7 Field Artillery, 25th Infantry Division Artillery conducted their M119 Howitzer night live-fire Table VI certification to set conditions for future artillery operations at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, May 19, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jessica Scott)

Note the “Allstate” tube name.

You’re in good hands…

You know the C20, eh?

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The Colt Canada-produced C20 semi-automatic Intermediate Sniper Weapon is being acquired for the Canadian Army in small numbers.

Produced domestically by Colt Canada in Kitchener, Ontario, the semi-automatic C20 has an 18-inch barrel with a 1-in-10 twist and is reportedly pretty friggen accurate. Testing showed the rifle to fire 8,000 rounds with no stopping and deliver an average of .66 MOA over 144 five-round groups using 175-grain Federal Gold Medal Match.

The overall length on the C20 is 38-inches while weight is 9.1-pounds. It has a 46-slot continuous MIL-STD-1913 top rail and a handguard with M-LOK accessory slots in the 3-, 6-, and 9-o’clock positions. (Photo: Colt Canada)

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Inside the CMP, and the word on M1s coming back from overseas and possible 1911s…

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To see just what the non-profit has on the shelf, I visited the Civilian Marksmanship’s South operations in Anniston. Co-located near the Anniston Army Depot — which is actually in nearby Bynum — and stores much of the Army’s stockpile of guns and items not needed for current operations, the CMP has a series of warehouses dotting the rolling hills of the area.

Unfortunately, most of them are nearly empty.

While now-retired CMP boss Orest Michaels told me back in 2010 the organization had 125,000 M1 rifles on hand including complete rifles, stripped receivers, and welded drill rifles, the group is coy about just what the numbers are today after several years of brisk sales and surging interest in U.S. martial rifles.

As Jim Townsend, CMP’s business development officer, walked me through a tour of their largest warehouse, he swept his arms over a large expanse of empty floor space and said, “When I first started here, this whole side of the building was full of M1s.” Repurposed crates that once contained M1s returning from allies in Greece and Denmark now hold everything but.

Repurposed crates that once contained M1s returning from allies in Greece and Denmark now hold everything but.

Why keep the empty space?

Check out my column at Guns.com for the answer.

Disneyland for Shooters…

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I recently had the opportunity to visit the immaculate ranges used by the Civilian Marksmanship Program to support public firearms training.

The CMP is a federally-chartered non-profit corporation tasked with promoting firearms safety training and target practice. It originated as the Office of the Director of Civilian Marksmanship in 1903 under orders from Congress to improve the country’s marksmanship skills to minimize training in case of war.

Split off from the U.S. Army under the Clinton-administration in 1996, it still conducts training courses and holds shooting competitions and clinics nationwide but draws its primary source of funding through the sale of surplus firearms to qualifying members of the public which were donated to the organization by the Army.

With an eye to see just what all those M1 Garand sales have helped pay for, I visited the CMP’s Alabama operations to get a better idea about what they offer the public:

How about a covered 54-positon 600-yard range with targets at 100-200-600, all electronically scored with a monitor at your station…

15 different clays stands on golf-course quality grounds..

Olympic-quality 10m airgun ranges set up for 80 competitors at a time– also with electronic targets

It’s almost like they are into civilian marksmanship training or something…

More in my column at Guns.com.

An aspect not much seen

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Inside a Paladin gun tube

U.S. Army Soldiers from Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion 29th Field Artillery Regiment at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., inspect the 155mm gun tube for calibration on the Paladin Vehicle to prepare for Decisive Action Rotation 14-10, Sept. 11, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Charles Probst)

The special Navy Seal gun you never hear about

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For the past half-decade the U.S. Naval Special Warfare community has quietly used a device unique to its service– the Battelle Plummet Gun– and its half-Batman, half-Star Wars, and all-cool.

The problem

While after the recent activities in the Global War on Terror in which we see Navy Seals roping out of choppers and moving around on land a lot, they are actually first and foremost combat swimmers. These fighting frogmen, who evolved from the old Underwater Demolition Teams of World War II and Korea, are tasked with taking over suspect ships at sea, sinking the bad guy’s ships in port, and seizing offshore islands and structures such as oil platforms.

Commonly termed Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations, its these actions from small boats against platforms and vessels at sea that sometimes put these special operators behind the proverbial 8-ball as the bad guys often don’t leave a ladder down to allow the frogmen easy access.

U.S. Navy SEALs board a ship from a Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat as they conduct a joint Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) exercise alongside U.S. Marines assigned to Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Raid Force, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), during composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) in the Atlantic Ocean, July 20, 2015. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Andre Dakis/26th MEU Combat Camera/Released)

U.S. Navy SEALs board a ship from a Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat as they conduct a joint Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) exercise alongside U.S. Marines assigned to Force Reconnaissance Platoon, Maritime Raid Force, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), during composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) in the Atlantic Ocean, July 20, 2015. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Andre Dakis/26th MEU Combat Camera/Released)

This means special devices such as a backpack-sized magnetic ship-climbing device that would “drive” up the side of a ship’s steel hull to the top, where an operator would anchor it and drop a rope ladder to the other team members below.

NSW ship climbing device at the U.S. Navy Seal/UDT Museum, Image by Chris Eger

NSW ship climbing device at the U.S. Navy Seal/UDT Museum, Image by Chris Eger

However, these are big and bulky– not to mention noisy and complicated to employ.

What would be ideal would be a grappling hook gun like the one Luke Skywalker used to escape the Stormtroopers on the Death Star with Leia in tow, or that Batman used repeatedly. Hey, about that…

Meet the 25 pound Battelle Plummet Gun, and yes, it is as big as the M60 shown next to it for scale. Image via Chris Eger

Meet the 25 pound Battelle Plummet Gun, and yes, it is as big as the M60 shown next to it for scale. Image via Chris Eger

So suffice it to say, this is one piece of kit you aren’t going to add to your turn out bag just yet.

Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk

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