Firestorm Labs manufactured more than 1,000 parts and 12 of its proprietary 3D-printable first-person view Squall drones aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex as it transited toward RIMPAC 2026 in Hawaii, according to a release.

“Every part xCell printed on deck is one that doesn’t need to be flown or shipped across contested waters — cutting the fuel, aircraft hours, and personnel it takes to keep a ship operational,” a social media release said. “Repairs that once meant days or weeks waiting on a resupply run can now happen in hours, on station.”

Firestorm Labs created the xCell as a factory-in-a-box that can be deployed aboard U.S. Navy vessels to churn out unmanned aerial systems and spare parts for expeditionary warfare.

As waves as high as 12 feet crashed against the ship, service members assembled drones that were later flown as adversary aircraft during a counter-drone exercise at RIMPAC 2026 in Hawaii.

The service members also helped print mechanical test components that assessed the efficacy of the 3D printer used for drone production and fabricated military repair parts that crew members of the USS Essex needed.

The Defense Department, and Navy in particular, is laser-focused on building out modular payload capabilities that can deliver mission-ready assets for the service.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle announced the “containerized capability campaign plan” in March at the McAleese Defense Programs conference.

Caudle outlined a vision in which transportable containers housing defense capabilities such as drones and weapons can be deployed to any region in the world.

In May, the Pentagon announced framework agreements with defense companies Anduril, CoAspire, Leidos and Zone 5 to acquire more than 10,000 containerized missiles over three years beginning in 2027.

The move signaled the launch of the “Low‑Cost Containerized Munitions (LCCM) program.”

The service changed the designation for 19 boats equipped with the Virginia Payload Module from “fast-attack submarines” to “guided missile submarines.”

“Reclassifying Virginia Payload Module-equipped submarines as SSGNs accurately reflects the extraordinary strike capacity, operational flexibility, and global reach these platforms bring to the fleet,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle. “These submarines will provide our nation with a powerful and persistent deterrent, expand options for our combatant commanders, and ensure the Navy remains ready to fight and win whenever and wherever called upon.”

The Virginia Payload Module will install four diameter payload tubes onboard each Virginia-class submarine, each of which can carry seven Tomahawk cruise missiles, totaling an extra 28 missiles for each submarine.

The first submarine to receive the added capabilities of the VPM is the second Block V Virginia-class submarine, USS Arizona, which is scheduled for delivery in fiscal year 2029.

The reclassification will apply to planned Block V and Block VI submarines, which are scheduled to be delivered through 2038.

The new categorization comes after the Navy announced on Wednesday that it is awarding $42.1 billion to General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding to build nine Virginia-class Block VI submarines.

In addition to these, 10 Block V Virginia-class submarines will incorporate the new VPM, according to the Navy.

There are currently 26 active Virginia-class submarines and 23 more Virginia-class submarines in total planned for construction.

The Navy separates the Virginia-class into blocks that delineate an upgrade in technology, munitions capabilities and design.

“The submarine force is defined by our ability to operate undetected and strike without warning,” said Vice Adm. Rick Seif, Commander, Submarine Forces. “By integrating high-volume precision strike capabilities into these stealth platforms, these SSGNs serve as the ultimate enabler for Distributed Maritime Operations, giving our warfighters the overwhelming, flexible firepower required to win decisively in any theater.”

Cmdr. Joseph Sammur was relieved due to a “loss of confidence in his ability to command” and was reassigned to Submarine Group 10. Sammur assumed command of the submarine on Aug. 14, 2025.

“The relief of the CO does not impact the ship’s mission or schedule,” the Navy said.

Submarine Squadron 20 Deputy for Training Cmdr. Luke Kelvington will take over as interim commanding officer.

The West Virginia is currently undergoing maintenance in port at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia.

The Navy did not specify the reasons or circumstances that led to the ousting, but the service generally uses “loss of confidence” as a blanket statement when dismissing senior leadership.

In June, the Navy fired three top officials at an overseas maintenance center after losing confidence in their ability to command.

And in February, the Navy relieved the commanding officer of the destroyer USS Mason for the same reason.

The Defense Department is granting a collective $76.6 billion to General Dynamics Electric Boat for five Columbia-class submarines and to both General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding for nine Virginia-class submarines to be built in the coming years.

“This historic investment underscores the department’s continued commitment to undersea superiority and the recapitalization of our nuclear triad,” said Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, director of submarine programs. “By securing the continuous production of both the Columbia and Virginia classes, we ensure we will continue to deliver the world’s most lethal, survivable and resilient combat platform.”

The contract includes $29.5 billion for Columbia-class Build II submarines, $42.1 billion for Virginia-class Block VI submarines and $5 billion for investments in nuclear shipbuilding programs and shipbuilding infrastructure for both shipbuilders.

The Navy currently has seven Columbia-class submarines under contract, 26 active Virginia-class submarines and 23 more Virginia-class submarines in the pipeline for future construction, the service said.

The Navy has made its newest submarine class a top priority over the last several years.

The Columbia-class has big shoes to fill: the boats are being built to replace Ohio-class submarines as they phase out of service.

The latter continues to play a big part in underwater military operations. An Ohio-class submarine participated in military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer on June 22, 2025.

The Columbia-class is expected to surpass the missile payload and stealth capabilities of the Ohio-class, as well as harness the Trident II D5 Strategic Weapons System and hypersonic missiles.

While construction began on the Columbia-class in 2020, the Virginia class has been around for some time, with the launch of its lead boat in 2003.

Virginia-class submarines, which were designed to replace Los Angeles-class submarines, can host special operation forces undergoing long deployments onboard in a reconfigurable torpedo room.

Despite Columbia-class fabrication beginning six years ago, the program has faced delays.

The lead submarine in its class was originally slated for a 2027 delivery but has since been pushed back to 2028 after delivery postponement involving steam turbines and the submarine’s bow and stern, according to USNI News.

Government watchdogs initially predicted a rocky construction timeline for the newest addition to the silent service.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report from January 2023 expressed concern that the building process would encounter hiccups because the submarine’s contractor, General Dynamics Electric Boat, hadn’t conducted a “schedule risk analysis.”

The latter practice, which is recommended by the GAO and is part of the Defense Department’s guidelines for large acquisition programs, helps set expectations for a program’s completion.

The Navy’s fiscal 2027 budget request for $378 billion includes money for the purchase of one Columbia-class submarine and two Virginia-class submarines.

The ship, along with over 5,000 sailors, sailed from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea last week, several days after a July 20 hostile incident between the China Coast Guard and Philippine Navy in which Chinese personnel aboard an inflatable boat struck a Philippine Navy service member with a wooden baton, injuring the individual.

Four days later, hostilities continued between the two nations when the China Coast Guard attacked Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels with water cannons in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal.

U.S. State Department officials have criticized the escalatory actions by China and reiterated U.S. support for its Pacific allies.

A spokesperson for the department called for China to “immediately cease its destabilizing conduct.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on July 23 during the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meetings in the Philippines that the U.S. was “not going to abandon [its] allies” after appearing to reference the July 20 incident between China and the Philippines.

The USS George Washington, meanwhile, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, was accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 5 during its port call.

“While our ship represents the high-end capabilities of the U.S. Navy, our visit here to Vietnam supports a U.S.-Vietnam relationship that continues to grow stronger across an increasingly broad range of subjects, reflecting our shared interest in a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Capt. Nicholas DeLeo, commanding officer of the George Washington, said in a release.

Military personnel who are being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct, sexual assault or stalking, in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, will now only be permitted for brief relocation to shore commands.

Previous policy stipulated more broadly that service members under investigation for a crime could be temporarily transferred from their parent command to another command.

“This revision was taken as a result of reviews by the Navy in the wake of the murder of Petty Officer 3rd Class Angelina Resendiz by a fellow sailor,” said William Speaks, spokesperson for the Chief of Naval Personnel.

Petty Officer Jermiah Copeland was sentenced on June 9 to 44 years in prison for the murder of Resendiz, who he strangled to death in a barracks building after a disagreement.

Copeland, who enlisted in the Navy in 2023, was linked to several other sexual assaults at the time of the murder.

Copeland was charged with aggravated sexual contact, abusive sexual contact and aggravated assault through strangulation for an alleged crime that transpired in the summer of 2024 on board the USS Harry S. Truman.

He was also charged with two counts of sexual assault for two other alleged incidents that reportedly occurred while he was assigned to the USS James E. Williams, one of which took place in November 2024 and the other in May 2025.

Copeland was assigned to the USS James E. Williams at the time of the murder, but the ship was stationed at Naval Station Norfolk.

According to the new policy, commanders are in charge of transferring a sailor to another command and must receive the approval of the new command and the advice of the servicing staff judge advocate and must be in dialogue with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service or whichever law enforcement agency is conducting the investigation.

Commanders must also regularly communicate with NCIS agents, sexual assault and response coordinators and the new command until the sailor is officially transferred out of their purview.

Service members previously known as information professionals will now be referred to as communications systems warfare officers.

“The title ‘information professional’ no longer captures the strategic reality of a community charged with stewarding our digital environment and delivering the maritime information advantage from seabed to space,” a Navy administrative message reads.

The career field, which has been around for 25 years, must adapt to the ever-evolving character of international conflict, and the title redesignation is a “direct warfighting imperative,” the service said.

Sailors serving in the position will continue to help secure network infrastructure, supervise the flow of critical data and “enable the kill.”

To be considered for a communications systems warfare officer commission, interested sailors must complete Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, as well as several additional courses that prepare them to integrate into the information warfare community.

The service continues to focus on bolstering its technological depth with service members who can wield their unique expertise.

Professionals from the commercial sector who are adept at cybersecurity, offensive or defensive cyber operations and software engineering can now directly commission as an officer in the Navy Reserve in exchange for their talent, the Navy announced in June.

The focus on growing the service’s innovative sectors and wielding them to combat enemies goes back many years.

In 2022, the Navy created the Navy Innovation Center at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, devoting energy toward the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning as adversaries invested in the now-seminal fields.

The service published a Request for Information on Friday asking industry partners to help provide solutions for how to address a shortage of several thousand beds and build unaccompanied housing for sailors who will need a place to stay while their living quarters are modernized.

“Improving living conditions is a top priority for the Navy, but comprehensive upgrades require significant structural work,” the service said in an emailed statement. “Utilizing temporary housing, which are often referred to as swing space, is a critical step. It allows the Navy to proceed with massive construction projects on schedule while ensuring Sailors are not displaced into subpar accommodations during the transition.”

The request says that possible housing quarters may include prefabricated units, containerized units, RVs, leased commercial apartments, hotels or houseboats, among other options.

Ensuring service members are comfortable in their homes has been front of mind for the Defense Department.

The military created the Barracks Task Force in October 2025 to address unaccompanied housing requirements and improve living conditions across all services.

And the Navy announced in December 2025 that it was directing $375 million it received through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act toward barracks improvements at 56 installations.

Less than a month later, Naval Support Activity Bahrain began a $15.8 million unaccompanied housing modernization project.

Looking toward the future, the Pentagon proposed a $26.8 billion military construction budget for fiscal 2027 that includes $21.5 billion for barracks for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force. The haul of money is intended as an investment to address long-needed maintenance and repairs.

Navy leadership continues to prioritize housing improvements.

Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao recently toured the barracks at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, speaking with sailors and Marines and viewing unaccompanied housing modernization efforts.

The USS George Washington transited the Luzon Strait on July 22 after being deployed to the Philippine Sea and participating in the June Valiant Shield exercise alongside Japanese warships.

“The USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group’s advanced capabilities, including the F-35, are upholding freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea,” said Lee Lipton, U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. “We challenge excessive maritime claims around the world.”

The China Coast Guard on July 20 deployed an inflatable boat to the disputed territory of Second Thomas Shoal. The boat approached and surveilled a Philippine Navy vessel, which in turn deployed its own boats to deter Chinese forces, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

China Coast Guard personnel on the inflatable boat struck a Philippine Navy personnel with a wooden baton, injuring the service member.

The U.S. publicly condemned China’s actions, claiming they threatened regional stability.

Several days later, on July 24, the China Coast Guard attacked Philippine Coast Guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels with water cannons in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.

Amid the flareups, Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the U.S. commitment to assisting the South Asian nation against Chinese aggression while speaking to the press on July 23 during the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meetings in the Philippines.

“We’re committed to supporting our treaty partners, and obviously we’ve already done quite a bit,” Rubio said. “In fact, there was a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in the region at the time that this happened and actually helped stand between the two sides and allowed the individual who was injured to be rescued and brought back for medical treatment.

“We’re already here, we’re already present, we have a role, and we’re not going to abandon our allies,” he noted. “We’ve made that abundantly clear.”

The directive comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in April that flu vaccinations for all active-duty, reserve and civilian personnel would be optional.

“The influenza vaccine is highly encouraged to prevent outbreaks that can degrade unit readiness, disrupt training schedules, and deployment execution, which adversely impacts mission,” a Friday Navy administrative message read.

Personnel who are required to receive the annual influenza vaccine include the following groups:

• Service members enrolled in initial entry training programs, such as Officer Candidate School, academy preparatory school, United States Naval Academy, Officer Development School, other officer accession programs, and officers who are directly commissioned
• Navy personnel who work in healthcare and interact with patients
• Navy personnel deployed to countries or theaters that have influenza vaccination requirements
• Navy civilian personnel working in child development and youth services programs
• Navy reserve personnel who administer care to patients and reserve service members who are not involved in patient care but run the risk of exposure to infectious diseases
• Navy reserve personnel who are employed by the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Enhanced Response Enterprise
• Navy reserve personnel operating under Title 10 orders, or those activated for federal active-duty service, who are deployed to theaters requiring vaccination
• Navy reserve personnel on Title 10 orders for “formal military and/or nominative training” in close proximity to areas where service members live or work, such as bases

The administrative message says that service members may be granted vaccine exemptions in accordance with religious accommodations and the discretion of local commanders.

In April, Hegseth said that the cancellation of the previous requirement to receive the flu vaccine was a way to enable the “freedom” of service members, promising that past requirements like the COVID-19 vaccination wouldn’t happen again.

The Defense Department required service members to get the COVID-19 vaccine between Aug. 24, 2021, and Jan. 10, 2023.

More than 8,000 service members who refused the vaccine were involuntarilyy discharged but have been allowed to rejoin the military under the Trump administration.

Two months after Hegseth’s announcement, over 220 trainees at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas were sickened by an influenza outbreak.

A basic military trainee from the 737th Training Support Squadron died on June 16 at Brooke Army Medical Center as a result of the flu, a Texas official said.

Following the outbreak, the Air Force received an exception to vaccinate all trainees.