The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to demonstrate a positioning, navigation and timing system that will use very low frequency band signals as backup in case military forces lose access to GPS networks.

Lin Haas, DARPA strategic technology officer, discussed the Spatial, Temporal and Orientation Information in Contested Environments project at DARPA Demo Day, the U.S. Army said May 19.

DARPA plans to demonstrate the STOIC system by fiscal year 2018 or 2019 while an at-sea demo will be conducted this year.

Haas said the agency is working with the Army Communications Electronics Research Development and Engineering Command to develop STOIC as a backup PNT system that will provide global coverage and support application for naval surface and aviation.

There are VLF stations in fixed locations across the globe and the U.S. Navy uses VLF signals to communicate with submarines.

Haas showed a video wherein a vehicle’s route was tracked through a combination of inertial navigation and a VLF signal.

The Army said the line that tracked the route moved “erratically” but stayed near the vehicle and Haas explained these movements as the effect of magnetic interference from things in the area.

Haas added DARPA is working to address the interference and it does not affect aerial or at-sea tracking.

The U.S. Navy has assigned the name USS Arkansas to SSN 800, a Virginia-class attack submarine scheduled for construction in 2018.

The Defense Department said Wednesday the submarine is the fifth naval ship to bear the name and is scheduled to enter the military branch’s fleet in 2023.

“She will sail the world like those who have gone before her, defending the American people and representing our American values through presence,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

Submarines under the Virginia class feature stealth surveillance and special warfare systems designed to help the Navy conduct various missions.

Virginia-class warships are designed to attack targets ashore with the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles and to perform surveillance on land areas, littoral waters and sea-based forces.

General Dynamics’ Electric Boat subsidiary and Huntington Ingalls Industries division Newport News Shipbuilding will collaborate to build SSN 800 under a teaming agreement.

NNS will be responsible for the delivery of the submarine to the Navy.

Adm. Bill Gortney, former commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, has officially retired from his 39-year military service.

The U.S. Navy said Tuesday a ceremony was held aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington for Gortney, who recorded more than 5,300 flight hours and completed 1,265 carrier-arrested landings in his career.

Gortney’s career includes leadership of several Navy organizations such as U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Central Command area of operations, where he provided support to maritime security and combat operations.

Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, also gave Gortney’s wife Sherry a Distinguished Public Service Award for her support to military members and their families.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said U.S. military forces in Afghanistan will deliver added firepower support and advise ground and air troops of the Afghan military, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes President Barack Obama approved plans to provide additional flexibility for U.S. forces in Afghanistan to proactively support local conventional forces through firepower, close-air support as well as ground and air advisory support.

“In practical terms, this means U.S. forces will have more opportunities to accompany and enable Afghan conventional forces, just like we have already been doing with Afghan special operations forces,” Carter said at a news conference in Brussels.

The report added that U.S. and NATO counterparts’ defense budgets will include funding for national defense and security forces stationed in Afghanistan through 2020.

Carter also indicated other NATO countries have committed to deploy forces to Afghanistan beyond 2016 as part of the coalition’s Resolute Support mission.

DoD said the U.S. also works with allied countries to defeat the Islamic State militant group through NATO operations in western and northern Iraq as well as northern Syria.

Gen. Mark Welsh, chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force, has said the joint force needs to prioritize planning and resources as the U.S. tackles multidomain and transnational threats, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Jim Garamone writes Welsh, who is scheduled to retire by the end of June after a 40-year military career, gave the remarks at a Defense Writers Group event held in Washington Wednesday.

“The chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] really has to be the one, along with the Joint Staff, to do that direction and prioritization,” he said, according to the report.

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. also reports for Breaking Defense that Welsh told event attendees that he would like the service branch to have a new close air support plane that would replace the A-10 “Warthog” jet aircraft as well a sixth-generation fighter jet designed to combat hostile air defenses.

“Eventually, I think the right close air support replacement is something that’s overhead for ground forces all the time,” Welsh said.

Welsh noted that the service branch does not have funds and enough manpower to build and fly a new CAS aircraft, Freedberg reports.

“The A-10 has never been the issue… The issue is the Budget Control Act,” he added.