From the News Desk

SAN DIEGO – Oct. 16, 2019 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announces the launch of a new talent pipeline program in San Diego that provides community college students enrolled...

The Coast Guard has entered into an agreement with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego to establish a Blue Technology Center of Expertise (COE). The...

A contractor could start dredging Anaheim Bay toward the end of the year, kicking off a $154 million endeavor by the Navy that will allow larger ships to dock at...

Military leaders, active-duty personnel and civilian partners gathered at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday morning for the unveiling of a new command at the base that is expected to...

The Association of Defense Communities’ Regional Events Series kicked off its 4th Annual California Defense Leadership Summit yesterday with a keynote address by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to community and industry leaders gathered to gain the latest on state, DOD and Capitol Hill developments, and their impacts across California. The Sacramento-based event, hosted by the California Governor’s Military Council, is an opportunity for leaders on both sides of the installation line to partner for solutions and ensure that their communities remain resilient and ready to support the needs of their local installations. The Summit convenes the commanding officers of each of California’s military bases as well as local leaders of community-based support organizations across the state. It presents a unique opportunity for local leaders to hear from other nearby community leaders facing similar challenges and share best practices. The defense leadership summit features a number of keynote sessions and speakers including Gov. Newsom, California Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D), and Lucian Niemeyer, Acting Assistant Navy Secretary for Energy, Installations and Environment. Featured sessions have included: Education and Workforce Development in the California Defense Industry; Best Practices on Military-Civilian Support Organization Collaboration; Opportunities in Military Housing; and Emerging Themes of Military Value. In his keynote address, Gov. Newsom stressed the close relationships between military installations and their surrounding communities by revisiting the historical importance of the defense industry in fueling California’s powerful economy. He emphasized the economic advantage of nurturing a strong defense base saying, “the middle class of California was built on supporting the defense industry, such as aerospace” which helped secure thousands of good-paying jobs and became a primary driver of growth in communities. Newsom also highlighted the importance of valuing California’s installations as he recalled growing up in San Francisco and seeing installations like The Presidio and Treasure Island close down. “We stopped investing in our lead, but BRAC was a wake up-call,” he stressed to the leaders. More than 30 major defense installations are located in California, incorporating all military services, topping more than double of any other state, according to a Governor’s Office news release. Each

The California Assembly has passed Senate Bill 644, which limits the amount that those currently in the military will pay for rental security deposits. Under SB 644, active duty military will only need to pay a security deposit equivalent to one month’s rent. If it’s a furnished apartment it can be no more than two. This will be a significant change from the current law, which states that it cannot be more than 2 months for a deposit, or 3 months if the unit is furnished. Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) introduced the bill earlier this year. He supports the bill because many active duty servicemen have been unable to find affordable places to live in the Bay Area. Specifically he was influenced by Dublin, California-based Camp Parks Garrison Commander Jennifer Nolan, who had asked him to limit security deposits for service members because it was hard to find a place to live. “It’s really hard for us to find places to live off base around there,” said former Army serviceman Derek Kuhn, who had served at Camp Parks. “The security deposit wasn’t the only hang-up for us. Really, the rents were the main killer. But having to pay less of a security deposit would have been enough for some of us to find a place.” SB 644 has also received support from housing advocates, anti-poverty groups, and Veterans organizations such as the California Association of Veteran Service Agencies. Opponents of the bill have included landlords and building owners, who fear that this can lead to a loss of money. Carlos Guerra, who is part of a landlord organization in Southern California, gave the view of many landlords who rent to service members. “This is bad,” Guerra told the Globe. “We need a deposit of a few months for a lot of these apartments because of how much damage can be done. It’s not a greed thing. Deposits we literally have to give back pending any repairs. This

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – Aug. 28, 2019 – At Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) in Redondo Beach, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Spacecraft Element (SCE) and Optical Telescope Element/Integrated Science...

Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan announced Sept. 16 that the B-21 Raider is being produced in Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, California, facility - the same location as the...

LOS ALAMITOS — Brig. Gen. Laura Yeager, a Fountain Valley native who early in her career served as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter aeromedical evacuation pilot, will become the first...

The Department of Veterans Affairs signed a 20-year, $148 million lease on an approximately 100,000-square-foot building in Kearny Mesa, which it will convert into a VA outpatient clinic — billed...

A cemetery Orange County officials want to build using sprawling land on Anaheim’s eastern end could be history making, with space included for those who fought alongside American forces in...

What is it? Army Directive 2019-18, Reimbursement for State Licensure and Certification Costs for the Spouse of a Soldier Arising from a Permanent Change of Station, establishes policy to reimburse qualified...

Air shows are returning to Edwards Air Force Base, as its leadership is partnering with the five-year-old Los Angeles County Air Show to offer world-class events that will alternate sites between the storied base and Gen. William J. Fox Field in Lancaster, the show’s home since 2014. Officials with the 412th Test Wing at Edwards and Los Angeles County Air Show, Inc. announced they are working on an agreement for a formal four-year partnership to conduct the air shows, which paves the way for a return of the popular events to the base where they have been absent since 2009. “We’re very excited to put Edwards Air Force Base back on the air show map as ‘the center of the aerospace testing universe’,” Brig. Gen. E. John Teichert, 412th Test Wing Commander, said. “This

After weeks of delay, the Pentagon on Monday provided Congress with a list of more than 400 military construction projects around the globe, including dozens in California, that it could...

More than a dozen nonprofit organizations have formed the California Defense Communities Alliance (CDCA). CDCA held its inaugural meeting Tuesday in Sacramento. The new alliance includes groups with the shared mission...

The Naval command that oversees all of the service’s shore installations across six states welcomed its new commander to San Diego on Friday as Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar assumed the...

The Coast Guard plans to base four of its new Sentinel-Class Fast Response Cutters (FRC) in Southern California within the next year. The Coast Guard Cutter Forrest Rednour is slated to arrive this summer with formal commissioning in the fall. Three additional FRCs are scheduled to arrive and be commissioned by summer of 2019. The ships will be based in San Pedro but will operate throughout the 11th Coast Guard District, which includes all of California and international waters off of Mexico and Central America. “The public deserves our best effort to serve them, and the men and women of the Coast Guard who risk their lives to protect our nation deserve the best tools and training we can provide,” said Capt. Art Snyder, the chief of response operations for the 11th Coast Guard District. “These new cutters will strengthen our security, safety and law enforcement operations in addition to improving our ability to respond to maritime emergencies and safeguard our nation’s National Marine Sanctuaries.” FRC’s are 154-foot multi-mission ships designed to conduct: drug and migrant interdictions; ports, waterways and coastal security operations; fisheries and environmental protection patrols; national defense missions; and search and rescue. To date, the Coast Guard has accepted delivery of 29 FRCs. Each ship is designed for a crew of 24, has a range of 2,500 miles and is equipped for patrols up to five days. The FRCs are part of the Coast Guard’s overall fleet modernization initiative. FRCs feature advanced command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment as well as over-the-horizon response boat deployment capability and improved habitability for the crew. The ships can reach speeds of 28 knots and are equipped to coordinate operations with partner agencies and long-range Coast Guard assets such as the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutters. FRCs are named in honor of Coast Guard enlisted leaders, trailblazers and heroes. The four California-based FRCs are scheduled to be: Forrest Rednour (WPC-1129) - Rednour aided in the rescue of 133 people during the sinking of the U.S.A.T. Dorchester, Feb. 3, 1943. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions. Rednour lost his life in the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba in June 1943. Robert Ward (WPC-1130) - Ward operated beach-landing boats during the Normandy invasion. He landed his craft on the Cotentin Peninsula and rescued two stranded boat crews in the face of a heavily fortified enemy assault. Terrell Horne III (WPC-1131) – Horne was murdered by suspected drug smugglers who intentionally rammed the boat he and fellow Coast Guardsmen were aboard during law enforcement operations near Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast in December 2012. Horne pushed one of his shipmates out of the way of the oncoming vessel attack and sustained fatal injuries. Benjamin Bottoms (WPC-1132) – Bottoms was part the Coast Guard aircrew that rescued an Army aircrew from a downed B-17 off the west coast of Greenland in 1942. Bottoms and the pilot conducted the first landing of a cutter plane on an icecap and commenced a two-day rescue over a rugged arctic terrain that required multiple flights. During the second day of rescue operations, radio contact with Bottoms’ plane was lost and he was declared missing in action. More information