– War Zone – 33 years after the F/A-18’s first cruise, the Navy’s Legacy Hornet fleet has made its last scheduled deployment aboard a carrier.

– Breaking Defense – In one of the largest coordinated international air operations in years, over 100 American, British and French guided missiles slammed into three Syrian chemical weapons facilities early Saturday morning, launched from an armada of aircraft, submarines, and ships offshore.

– CNN – The United States combined with the armed forces of the United Kingdom and France early Saturday to carry out airstrikes against the chemical weapons facilities maintained by the regime of Syria. Here are some of the weapons they used.

– War Zone – The strikes come after days of conflicting reports, rapid diplomatic exchanges, and threats of retaliation from Russia.

– USNI News – The Navy hopes to eventually make unmanned systems just one tool among many for commanders to pick from. However, to get to that point the service will have to get unmanned systems into the hands of warfighters to work out the kinks.

– USNI News – The Navy will keep every one of its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in service for 45 years, extending the life of the entire class. The move allows the Navy to reach a 355-ship fleet by 2036 or 2037.

– Defense News – Whether it’s 355 ships or 342, the Navy is getting bigger. And as it looks to expand its fleet, the service is looking to its Virginia-class program as a model for success.

– USNI News – The Navy’s dock landing ship replacement program officially has a name: San Antonio-class LPD Flight II.

– Defense News – This year, Northrop Grumman will begin manufacturing the first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft built from the ground up with an aerial refueling capability.

– Defense News – Buoyed by rapid progress on the next-generation Frigate, the U.S. Navy’s top officer is ready to quickly move out on the long-debated replacement for the Navy’s aging cruisers.

– War Zone – The sad thing is, the whole idea originally was for the Navy to get a stealth drone, but it ended up getting a flying gas can.

– Defense News – Bright yellow underwater drones were a visible highlight on the exhibition floor here at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition. Among the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) featured: a new high-speed, micro-sized vehicle by Hydroid and a subsea drone refueling station by Teledyne Energy.

– Defense News – Seven months have passed since 10 of McCain’s sailors were killed in a preventable collision, a loss made all the more shocking by the fact that it came just a few weeks after a collision between the destroyer Fitzgerald and a container ship claimed seven lives. While much work and many months lie ahead before McCain will go back in the water and on patrol in the Pacific, the wound in her port side is being healed. Seventh Fleet is healing as well.

– CIMSEC – Now is the time for every agency, department, and service in the executive branch to ask itself hard questions and consider decisive change.

– USNI News – After years of requirements churn and program uncertainty, the signal to companies vying to build the Navy’s first operational unmanned carrier aircraft is crystal clear: the Navy wants the MQ-25A Stingray as soon as possible.

– Defense News – It could be several years before the Navy can deploy persistent, around-the-clock surveillance using its new high-flying surveillance drone.

– Defense News – The long awaited upgrade of Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter with weapons remains effectively on hold as the Navy determines what munitions the littoral combat ship will carry in its armory going forward.

– USNI News – nvestigations into a recent string of fatal aviation mishaps across the joint force are ongoing, but Navy and Marine Corps leaders said the spate of events clearly points to an overworked force.

– War Zone – Boeing’s MQ-25 has a classically problematic but low-observable flush-mounted intake, yet there are no low-observable requirements for the program.

– Defense News – The vice chief of naval operations had to see the issues for himself…What the sailors here told Adm. Bill Moran during a February visit would sound familiar to those who have followed the issue: long waits for spare parts, contracting delays, and the increasingly complex problems associated with maintaining aircraft that have well exceeded their planned flying hours.

– Defense News – The Block III Super Hornet is getting a marginal increase in stealth capability, but if you’re expecting the invisible aircraft of President Donald Trump’s dreams, think again.

– Defense News – The U.S. surface fleet is setting its sights on restoring readiness, an effort led by a new boss who is laser-focused on a force that was twice battered in 2017 by deadly collisions in the Pacific.

– War Zone – There’s plenty of paid for S-3s that can be converted to do the job and a dedicated Viking tanker variant has already been engineered and flown.

– War on the Rocks – The Trump administration has offered a strong vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, but without a bold set of policy and budget initiatives to make it real, it risks becoming yet another empty concept.

– Army Times – Boeing is expecting an important delivery this week: the arrival of the first Super Hornet slated to undergo a service life extension at the company’s production line in St. Louis, Missouri. The work will kick off a decade long “service life modification” effort that will increase the lifespan of the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F aircraft from 6,000 to 9,000 flight hours, but also transform them into the newest Block III configuration.