The U.S. Marine Corps will acquire smartphones for fiscal year 2017 in a push to update the service branch’s capacity for fire support in support of efforts to bolster mobility and tactical capacity to address threats, C4ISR & Networks reported Monday.

Mark Pomerleau writes air controllers, forward observers and joint terminal attack controllers will be given an updated portable system called the Target Handoff System designed to help dismounted Marines call for close-air support, locate targets and pinpoint GPS coordinates.

“With the new version, Marines will obtain a lightweight device equipped to provide immediate situational awareness on where friendly and enemy locations are, and the ability to hand off target data to fire support,” said Jesse Hume, Marine Corps Systems Command project officer for THS version 2.

THS version 2 will utilize commercial off-the-shelf smartphones which will reduce the acquisition time for the new technology as well as the entire system weight to approximately 10 pounds.

The Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft plant has published on its website new photos of a prototype of Russia’s T-50 fighter aircraft, RT.com reported Sunday.

The pictures show the fighter jet, which costs approximately $50 million per aircraft, undergoing initial test flights.

The report noted that Russian company Sukhoi develops the aircraft to replace the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet.

Yury Borisov, Russia’s deputy defense minister, said in September that the country’s defense ministry will begin mass production of T-50 in 2017 with a plan to acquire at least one squadron of the aircraft by next year, RT.com added.

The T-50 single-seat aircraft is comparable to the U.S.’ F-35 and F-22 jets as well as China’s J-20 plane, according to a report by Brad Lendon for CNN.

The twin-engine fighter jet has a 30mm cannon designed to fire 1,800 tracer and incendiary rounds per minute at land-based targets at a range of up to 1800 meters.

Another version of T-50 is under development phase for export to India’s air force, Lendon added.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has offered updates on the littoral combat ship program and other efforts to build up the service branch’s fleet size.

Mabus told Defense News senior naval reporter Christopher P. Cavas in an interview published Sunday how the military branch worked to address capability, cost and schedule issues with the LCS program, which he says provides “capabilities that no other ship does.”

He noted that three aircraft carriers and two amphibious ships are in the construction phase and that the Navy has started to procure 10 destroyers and 10 submarines over a period of five years in an effort to address the declining number of ships.

“You better have an eye on 15 years down the road because if that secretary of the Navy in 2021 who is bragging on the fact that he or she grew the fleet isn’t doing the same thing then whoever the secretary in 2031 is going to be in rough shape and is going to get pounded for it,” Mabus said.

He told the publication that the service branch has begun to move forward with the amphibious ship program, LXR, as a replacement for the landing ship dock.

Mabus also discussed the Navy’s aircraft acquisition, efforts to protect research and development funds, personnel initiatives and biofuel adoption.

Vincent Viola, founder and executive chairman of electronic trading firm Virtu Financial, will be nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to the no. 1 civilian post at the U.S. Army, the transition team said Monday.

Viola led multiple high-performing teams during his time with the Army as an infantry officer and supported national security efforts even after he retired from military service.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1977, served in the 101st Airborne Division and remained an Army Reserve member after he left active duty.

He also helped establish the Combating Terrorism Center in West Point, New York, as part of his post-9/11  philanthropic support to the service branch.

His private-sector career also includes time as a trader and chairman at the New York Mercantile Exchange as well as founder of various companies that include Pioneer Futures and the Independent Bank Group.

The U.S. Navy has unveiled a new shipbuilding plan that seeks to increase the service branch’s battle force fleet to 355 ships within the next three decades, USNI News reported Friday.

Sam LaGrone and Megan Eckstein write the 2016 Force Structure Assessment represents a 47 increase in combat vessels from the targeted fleet size of 308 ships set by the military branch in its 2014 FSA.

The Navy called the 355-ship goal a “minimum force structure” in order to comply with the Defense Department’s strategic guidance.

The new plan calls for the service branch to add 18 attack submarines, 16 large surface combatants, eight additional auxiliary ships, four amphibious assault ships and one more aircraft carrier to the current 308-ship requirement, LaGrone and Eckstein report.

The 2016 FSA would retain the 2012 requirement for small surface combatant vessels such as littoral combat ships and frigates at 52, USNI News added.

Several General Dynamics subsidiaries such as Bath Iron Works, Electric Boat and NASSCO are likely to experience an increase in shipbuilding work if the Navy advances its plan for additional attack submarines, destroyers and support vessels, according to a report by Kevin Miller for Portland Press Herald.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the 2016 FSA seeks to recognize the need for a larger fleet in order to protect the U.S. and its strategic interests, support counterterrorism efforts and deal with threats posed by Russia and China, Miller reported.

Hugh Lessig also reports for Daily Press that a new Congressional Research Service report says a fleet size of 350 ships would require the addition of $4 billion in annual funds to approximately $16.3 billion in shipbuilding budget.

Lessig notes that Huntington Ingalls Industries is another shipbuilder that would likely see a rise in ship construction work under the service branch’s fleet expansion plan.

Beci Brenton, a spokeswoman for HII, said in a statement that the company would leverage its suppliers and production lines to “build the full range of warships that our nation may require,” the report added.