The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command has joined the Army Futures Command and rebranded the name to the Combat Capabilities Development Command during a ceremony on Jan. 31. CCDC’s science and technology advisers met with cross functional teams and the Modernization Task Force to prepare for the command’s transition to AFC, the Army said Thursday.Â

As part of the AFC, CCDC will perform engineering, analysis, scientific research and technological development efforts supporting the military service’s modernization initiatives.

“As we wind down and come out of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan the message is very, very clear, we need to re-focus on large-scale, ground combat and we need to re-focus on the future,” said John Murray, commanding general at AFC.

CCDC started a campaign plan seeking to secure operational visibility through the reorganization of management structures and the command’s portfolio in line with the Army’s modernization efforts. The Army Materiel Systems Activity also joined AFC and changed its name to Data & Analysis Center.

Adm. John Richardson, U.S. Navy chief of naval operations, announced that the service is reconsidering its proposed 355-ship fleet after a series of changes to the Pentagon’s security efforts, Defense One reported Friday.

The service announced its plan to increase the number of its warships from 287 in late 2016. However, Richardson said the evolving security environment and updated National Defense Strategy encouraged the Navy to re-evaluate its goal and conduct another force structure assessment. He said the Navy might lower its target but the goal to increase the number of its warships will remain. 

“I will tell you, the security environment has only gotten more sporty,” Richardson said. “We’ll take that into account.”

The admiral also said the Navy may change its definition of “warship” to include unmanned platforms.

“Technology is starting to come to play, so what counts as a naval platform is going to be an interesting discussion in this new force structure assessment,” he said.

The U.S. Navy held a keel-laying ceremony for future USS Carl M. Levin at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine, the Naval Sea Systems Command said Friday.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, designated as DDG 120, is intended for missions such as anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, maritime security, missile defense and command and control. The vessel is designed with a Flight IIA configuration and fitted electronic countermeasures technology, an Aegis baseline 9 combat system and an integrated air and missile defense feature. 

General Dynamics is constructing four guided missile destroyers and expects to produce six more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with a Flight III configuration. 

Carl M. Levin is slated for delivery to the Navy in fiscal year 2021. DDG 120 is named after a U.S. senator who spent 36 years in government service, making him the longest-serving senator in Michigan’s history.

Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, military deputy for the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, has said he has ideas of how the service would move forward with the light-attack experiment, Defense News reported Friday.

“We are planning to broaden the experimentation out and carry the experimentation forward, and I think when our budget hits, you’ll understand more of what we’re doing,” he said Friday at an Air Force Association event.

Bunch said the experiment has helped the service verify the requirement for a light-attack aircraft designed to fight threats posed by violent extremism in a low-cost manner.

He noted that he considers the experiment a success because it enabled the Air Force to build a partnership with industry.

“We learned a lot, and we got to the point where we weren’t ready to make a large buy decision at this stage. I still believe that is learning,” Bunch added.
 

President Trump has signed a new executive order encouraging companies to “buy American” products as they receive contracts to work with the federal government on infrastructure projects. The White House said Thursday that the policy’s goal is boosting the use of U.S.-made goods, products and materials. In particular, iron, steel, aluminum and cement, in federal contracts and financial assistance programs.

Trump said the order comes as the result of the growing number of jobs in the manufacturing sector that is expected to reach 700,000 in the near future. He also highlighted the recent growth seen by the steel industry in the U.S. 

“We want American roads, bridges and railways and everything else to be built with American iron, American steel, American concrete and American hands,” said Trump. 

The “buy American” executive order requires all heads of federal departments and agencies to provide a report to President Trump detailing their plans to encourage industry partners to use products produced in the U.S. in every contract, subcontract, purchase order or sub‑award. Officials have 120 days from the release of the order to submit the report.