Defense

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is working on a new wartime response plan that would affect how ships and crews prepare and deploy for combat, according to the head of U.S. Fleet Forces Command. This comes as the Navy experiences firsthand in the Middle East what it requires to sustain a fighting force at sea. The Navy has pushed additional destroyers into the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean…

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Operational and environmental challenges in Middle Eastern waters are hindering the pace of innovation around unmanned surface vessels, according to the chief of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. “You bring things out, they look good on a PowerPoint, they look good when they are tested back in the middle of America,” Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said during a…

Thirteen years ago, the current head of the Navy’s surface fleet was captaining the destroyer Carney. Even in 2010, airborne drones were a threat for which his ship had tactics and munitions at the ready, Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, now the head of Naval Surface Forces, told reporters earlier this month. “We had a specific tactic to go after it, with a specific munition that we could shoot out…