Naval Air Systems Command boss Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, whose office oversees Ospreys in use across the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, said a review that is probing whether the enterprise has adequate manning, training and equipment, will last another six to nine months.

“As we have findings from the comprehensive review, I will take the necessary actions to ensure continued safe flight operations,” Chebi told the panel of lawmakers.

The command allowed the Osprey to begin returning to the air — with flight restrictions in place — in early March, three months after the fleet was grounded in early December following an Air Force CV-22 crash off the coast of Japan that killed all eight airmen on board.

Ospreys can be flown like an airplane and take off and land like a helicopter, making them useful for aircraft carrier landings as well as for special operators entering austere environments.

The Marine Corps operates hundreds of the aircraft, while the Air Force and Navy own around 50 and 30, respectively. Marine Ospreys are starting to reenter the fray; 10 aircraft from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 headed to Hawaii in May in preparation for a training exercise in Australia, while the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is using them in Sweden as part of Exercise Baltic Operations.

The Navy’s CMV-22 fleet remains sidelined from performing its carrier support mission at sea, service officials said Wednesday. Despite getting the green light to resume regular missions, the services are barred from flying more than 30 minutes from an airfield where they could land in case of an emergency, according to Military.com.

Osprey crews at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, have begun rebuilding their skills in anticipation of returning to normal ops, and other squadrons are getting close to flying again, Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse told Air Force Times.

An investigation into the Air Force’s Nov. 29 CV-22 crash is nearing completion, with briefings for families expected in the coming weeks. The military has said that accident was the result of a material failure that hadn’t been seen before on the Osprey.

Ospreys have suffered a string of fatal crashes since the U.S. military introduced them into special operations more than two decades ago, including four mishaps that have killed 20 service members since March 2022. The military grounded the Ospreys in 2022 and again in 2023, after a series of “hard clutch engagements” that occurred when the input quill assembly, which attaches the Osprey’s engine to its proprotor gear box, wore out earlier than expected.

On Wednesday, Chebi and Gary Kurtz, program executive officer for anti-submarine, assault and special mission programs including the Osprey, told lawmakers that a redesigned clutch is expected to begin testing soon.

“We anticipate that we will have a new clutch fielding in the mid-2025 timeframe,” Kurtz said.

Faced by Gold Star families who held photos of loved ones during Wednesday’s hearing, lawmakers questioned the aircraft’s mishap and readiness rates, the latter of which have struggled in recent years due to woes like corrosion issues and a lack of available parts.

For example, the Air Force CV-22 fleet’s mission-capable rate, or the percentage of time that the aircraft can perform at least one of its core missions, hovered around 50% between fiscal years 2020 and 2022, according to data provided to Air Force Times.

Members of the House Oversight Committee also pushed for more transparency, saying the military wasn’t sharing enough about the findings on its recent crashes.

Some on Capitol Hill are running out of patience.

Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called for the entire fleet to be grounded while the military works works out a fix for the clutch.

“If another Osprey goes down, we’re done,” Lynch said. “This program’s done.”

The Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy will immediately start refreshing troops’ training and changing maintenance procedures as prerequisites for resuming normal operations, leaders from each of the services told reporters Wednesday.

But they acknowledged it will be months before the tiltrotor aircraft are fully back to flying real-world missions.

The Ospreys will receive no equipment modifications before they return to the air.

Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor, the V-22 joint program manager, told reporters his office and the services “have high confidence that we understand what component failed and how it failed.” It’s still unclear why the part in question did not perform as intended.

Taylor and other service officials declined to say which component’s failure caused an Air Force Special Operations Command Osprey to crash into the sea during a training mission Nov. 29, killing all eight airmen aboard. They also declined to answer whether the aircraft would be restricted from flying under certain conditions or in certain areas due to the risk of a repeat problem.

The accident is still under investigation. The Air Force has shared its findings with the joint program office — which manages V-22 acquisition and maintenance for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps — and the other services to better understand the material failure that led to the crash.

Because the wreckage of the Osprey sat under the Pacific Ocean for about a month before being recovered, the drive system is corroded such that engineers may never understand why the unnamed component failed, Taylor said. But investigators created a “fault tree” to map out potential causes, which are addressed in the services’ mitigation plan.

The main change will increase the frequency of an inspection that is already done on the aircraft — like upping the number of oil changes on a car, Taylor said. He said the change gives the component a greater “perimeter of safety” during operations.

Though Taylor repeatedly declined to offer information about the component, he said it is not the input quill assembly that attaches the Osprey’s engine to its proprotor gear box — the component that began wearing out early and caused a series of clutch malfunctions for Marine Corps and Air Force pilots in 2022. A portion of the Air Force and Marine Corps fleets were grounded in 2023 as those services studied how to mitigate the risk of so-called “hard clutch engagements” and when to replace worn-out parts.

NBC reported Feb. 19 the November crash may have involved “chipping,” where tiny pieces of metal wear off during use and can damage the engine. Taylor did not specify whether chipping played a role in the crash, but characterized it as a normal phenomenon for a mechanical system and said the V-22 has a sophisticated monitoring system that looks for small metal bits and alerts the pilot if any are detected.

Taylor made clear the November crash was unrelated to other previous V-22 mishaps.

“This is the first time that we’ve seen this particular component fail in this way, and so this is unprecedented” in the 750,000 flight hours amassed over the life of the V-22 program, he said.

Due to that long track record, Taylor said: “We are confident in the system.”

The ‘Gundam 22′ crash

The Nov. 29 accident was the deadliest Air Force mishap since 2018, and the fourth fatal Osprey crash in a two-year span. Twenty U.S. troops have died in Osprey incidents since March 2022.

The downed crew of “Gundam 22″ included Osprey pilots Maj. Jeff Hoernemann, Maj. Luke Unrath and Capt. Terry Brayman; medical personnel Maj. Eric Spendlove and Tech. Sgt. Zach Lavoy; flight engineers Staff Sgt. Jake Turnage and Senior Airman Kody Johnson; and airborne linguist Staff Sgt. Jake Galliher.

Six were stationed at Japan’s Yokota Air Base; two worked at Kadena Air Base. All were assigned to the Air Force’s 353rd Special Operations Wing.

The weeks-long, multinational search effort successfully recovered the bodies of all but Spendlove.

The U.S. military now flies hundreds of V-22s, largely operated by the Marines. The tiltrotor aircraft is known for its towering nacelles that allow it to launch and land like a helicopter, and speed forward like a fixed-wing plane. Troops use the unique aircraft to slip in and out of areas without established runways, where fixed-wing planes may not be able to land with troops and supplies.

The Marine Corps owns nearly 350 Ospreys; the Air Force and Navy operate smaller fleets at around 50 and 30 aircraft, respectively.

Beyond the safety and accident investigation boards studying the most recent crash, Air Force Special Operations Command is also conducting a deep-dive into its CV-22 Osprey program to determine whether it provides adequate training, resources and other factors to ensure airmen’s safety.

The Government Accountability Office and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have also launched their own probes into the V-22. On Wednesday, Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House oversight committee, said it had not yet received information from the military as it looks into the aircraft’s safety and performance.

“Serious concerns remain, such as accountability measures put in place to prevent crashes, a general lack of transparency, how maintenance and operational upkeep is prioritized, and how DOD assesses risks,” Comer said in a statement. “We will continue to rigorously investigate the DOD’s Osprey program to attain answers to our questions on behalf of American taxpayers and protect U.S. service members defending our nation.”

Marines prepare

As the biggest user of the V-22 platform by far, the Marine Corps has been most affected by the monthslong grounding. It relies on the Osprey to move people, supplies and weapons, and operates from ship decks and from ground bases.

Brig. Gen. Richard Joyce, the assistant deputy commandant for aviation, told reporters the Marine Corps has focused on keeping up troops’ proficiency on the Osprey since the grounding began in early December so the service could resume flights as quickly as possible.

“Our simulator utilization has been maximized to keep proficiency as much as possible in the virtual environment,” he said.

The service has gone as far as sending MV-22 pilots in Djibouti thousands of miles away to use simulators in Japan, and shipping MV-22 pilots who are deployed to the Middle East with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit back home to North Carolina for simulator training.

Now that the program office has cleared the aircraft to fly, the Corps’ most experienced pilots and aircrew will begin maintenance-check flights to get the Ospreys up in the air, then retrain on “core and basic skills,” Joyce said. Once those top personnel have brushed up on the fundamentals, they’ll pair with junior pilots and crew for additional basic training.

Joyce said it would take about a month for a squadron to get everyone back up to speed basic skills.

However, it will take more time for the personnel to retrain on more advanced skills and mission-specific tasks for combat assaults, transport flights and other missions.

The general said it would take until late spring or early summer to get back to pre-grounding readiness levels.

V-22 squadrons will go through more consumable parts, like filters, as they take on additional inspections and maintenance, he said. Those parts and training support will first go to deployed units, followed by squadrons with upcoming deployments, squadrons participating in key exercises or service-level training events, and eventually to test-and-evaluation units and those farthest from a future deployment.

The amphibious assault ship Boxer and the 15th MEU are set to deploy from California this spring, and Joyce said it’s not clear yet if they’ll be ready to bring the V-22 along. It’s one of the most pressing decisions related to resuming V-22 flight operations, he said.

Air Force’s ongoing studies

Airmen have done the work required to keep the Air Force’s Osprey fleet healthy during the three-month standdown, but “there’s only so much they can do with aircraft that are not flying,” Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind told reporters Wednesday.

He described a 12-week road map to getting the Ospreys back in the air that adds new maintenance requirements and allows experienced airmen to lead the way. The service will deviate from that plan as needed if work isn’t progressing on schedule.

Returning the aircraft to service begins with ground and simulator training that will include new safety controls and briefings, a review of aircraft maintenance records and refining squadron-level training plans to implement the new safety protocols, Bauernfeind said.

The Air Force did not elaborate on what new safety protocols will be introduced. AFSOC held an all-hands for Osprey crews Feb. 22-23 at Hurlburt Field, Florida, to explain the new safety protocols.

“We received very positive feedback that it was very beneficial to the crews,” Bauernfeind said.

The second phase will focus on returning air crews and maintainers to basic proficiency, initially targeted at senior aviators, instructors, evaluators and weapons officers. Simulator training has helped keep skills sharp during the standdown.

The phased approach gives the service time to absorb findings from the service’s initial safety investigation, an internal report meant to root out the cause of a mishap and prevent future occurrences. Bauernfeind received and accepted the findings of the safety board March 1.

He expects it will take the service more than three months to reach the level of proficiency it had on the Osprey before the Nov. 29 crash.

Bauernfeind said he’s confident in the service’s ability to safely resume Osprey operations before wrapping up two ongoing investigations. The Air Force has kept the families of the downed crew informed about the process, but has not told them the results of the recently completed safety investigation board.

“I have confidence that we know enough now to return to fly,” he said.

Navy’s path to at-sea missions

The Navy will take a similarly cautious approach to resuming its flights, putting only its most experienced personnel in the air first for basic flights in daytime-only conditions, Commander of Naval Air Forces Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever told reporters.

Those top personnel will then pair with junior sailors and eventually resume night operations and other, more complex training. The Navy will lastly resume training new pilots and aircrew at the fleet replacement squadrons.

But Cheever warned that returning to flight wasn’t the same as returning to mission: It may be several more months until the Navy sees its CMV-22Bs flying operational missions to haul cargo and people to aircraft carriers at sea.

Cheever said the Navy would avoid long, over-ocean flights until all personnel had built up sufficient proficiency. But when asked about any restrictions on the aircraft regarding duration of over-water flights, he deferred to NAVAIR. Taylor, from the V-22 program office under NAVAIR, declined to say whether there were or were not any operational limitations for the planes under the new return-to-flight plan.

Cheever highlighted the Navy’s flexibility and said all carriers at sea had fared well during the V-22 grounding. The Navy relied on its C-2A Greyhound, which is set to sundown in 2026 as it’s replaced by the CMV-22B, to resupply carriers at sea, including the Theodore Roosevelt deployed in the Indo-Pacific today.

He said the Navy also relied more heavily on its replenishment ship fleet and looked to load more goods onto carriers when they were in port.

But he noted the importance of getting the CMV-22 back to its mission, saying it can conduct medical evacuations and haul large F-35C engine components — unlike its aging predecessor.

In the six weeks since the tiltrotor Osprey went down in the sea off southern Japan during a Nov. 29 training mission, killing all onboard, a multinational search party comprised of more than 1,000 personnel, 46 aircraft, 23 maritime vessels and 21 unmanned aerial and underwater drones scoured more than 60,000 square kilometers of the ocean’s surface and 29 square kilometers of ocean floor, the Air Force said.

The around-the-clock hunt successfully recovered the bodies of seven members of the Japan-based Osprey’s crew and most of the aircraft’s fuselage. But despite their extensive resources, the search team proved unable to secure the remains of Maj. Eric “Doc” Spendlove, a flight surgeon and medical operations flight commander at Kadena Air Base’s 1st Special Operations Squadron.

“While it is with tremendous deep regret that we were unable to find our last teammate, Maj. Eric Spendlove, the combined joint efforts of our Japanese allies and U.S. military forces has been inspiring to see the lengths our forces will go in order to attempt to bring a teammate home,” said Rear Adm. Jeromy Williams, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific.

“After over a month of exhausting air, surface, sub-surface and modeling and simulation assets, we have ruled out all identified possible options to recover our teammate,” he added. “Our thoughts remain with the families and squadron mates of our CV-22 aircrew and we extend our sincerest gratitude to every asset who assisted in the search.”

The Air Force is investigating what caused the wreck and has said that a system malfunction is likely to blame. The accident marks the deadliest Air Force mishap since 2018.

The crash is the latest in a deadly string of Osprey incidents that have killed twenty U.S. troops since March 2022, prompting the military to indefinitely ground its entire fleet of hundreds of V-22 aircraft across the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. It has also spurred investigations by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Government Accountability Office.

“The efforts of the joint force and our Japanese allies since Nov. 29 have been exceptional,” Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind said. “As we move forward, we remain focused on supporting the families and air commandos impacted by the loss of ‘GUNDAM 22,’ as well as completing the ongoing investigations to prevent future mishaps.”

The Government Accountability Office’s managing director for congressional relations, A. Nicole Clowers, confirmed the probe in a Dec. 19 letter in response to a request from House Armed Services Committee members Reps. Mike Waltz and John Garamendi. Air Force Times obtained the letter Wednesday.

“GAO accepts your request as work that is within the scope of its authority,” Clowers wrote to Waltz, a Florida Republican who chairs HASC’s readiness subcommittee, and Garamendi, a California Democrat who serves as the panel’s ranking member. The pair urged the watchdog to look into the Osprey’s safety history Dec. 7.

Waltz and Garamendi asked the office to consider trends among the tiltrotor aircraft’s multiple accidents over the past three decades; maintenance and supply issues that may hurt the Osprey’s mission readiness; and risk management across the fleet, which spans the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

“We believe an assessment of the above issues, and any recommendations GAO may have, will assist us as we conduct oversight on DOD to ensure our military is achieving the required level of readiness while keeping our service members safe,” the lawmakers wrote.

Chuck Young, a GAO spokesperson, told Air Force Times Wednesday that the agency expects the probe to begin soon but did not say how long the work may take.

The Nov. 29 crash of a Japan-based Air Force CV-22, which went down during a training mission off of Japan’s Yakushima island, is the latest in a deadly string of Osprey incidents that have killed twenty U.S. troops since March 2022.

The Air Force has said that an aircraft malfunction, not a mistake by the crew, likely caused the crash. The accident marks the deadliest Air Force mishap since 2018.

The incident prompted the U.S. military to indefinitely ground its entire fleet of hundreds of V-22 Ospreys while the Air Force searches for answers about the latest fatal incident. It has also prompted the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to launch its own investigation into the Osprey program.

A multinational search effort has recovered the remains of seven airmen from the crash so far; a search for the eighth airman, Maj. Eric Spendlove, is still ongoing, Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse said Wednesday.

The Air Force announced Jan. 3 that it had recovered the intact flight data recorder, or “black box,” from the downed Osprey. The service has not yet released any details of its contents.

An administrative message released late Tuesday announced the move, citing the ongoing spread of the new strain of coronavirus and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance for social distancing.

While most exams for E-6 and E-5 were taken earlier this month, the E-4 test was scheduled for Thursday. That exam has now shifted to May 21.

Substitute exams for E-4 through E-6 must be taken by June 12.

Reservists testing for E-4 to E-7 will see their exams moved to May 22, or the first available drill weekend following that date. Reservists have already seen their drill weekends postponed as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

The message also hints at the possibility for more shifts, if necessary.

“As the COVID-19 situation becomes clearer, we will continue to reevaluate the timeline for each exam,” according to the message from Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral John B. Nowell, Jr.

Results, which are typically announced around Memorial Day for active duty and reservists, are expected in July.

The unidentified person tested positive Monday, and is currently following medical guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while remaining at home in Virginia Beach, the 2nd Fleet said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The person had returned from official travel to Germany on March 10 and immediately self-quarantined at home.

“U.S. 2nd Fleet is following the guidelines set forth by the Department of Defense, and all personnel who traveled overseas are currently isolated for the 14-day self-observation period,” the Navy said in a statement.

The 2nd Fleet’s headquarters is on Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, located adjacent to Norfolk Naval Station.

Cmdr. Ashley Hockycko, a spokesperson for the 2nd Fleet, said she did not know details about the person’s travel and for privacy purposes declined to say whether the patient is an active duty or a civilian employee.

Upon returning from Germany, the individual “never came into contact with anybody, never came into the office,” Hockycko said.

The individual is the first person with ties to the Navy in Hampton Roads to be officially diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

The Virginia Department of Health has reported 67 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus, including four in Virginia Beach.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam urged the public to restrict gatherings to ten people or less.

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported Tuesday evening that the European country has confirmed more than 9,200 COVID-19 cases, including 24 deaths.

Arwen FitzGerald, a spokesperson for Navy Region Southeast, told Navy Times in an email that the individuals are considered under investigation for COVID-19 and are receiving “supportive and medical care in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local guidelines.”

The base did not have any “presumptive positive” cases as of early afternoon Tuesday, FitzGerald said.

She did not provide a breakdown of whether the cases were related, or how many were active duty, civilian employees or their family members.

Kaylee Larocque, a spokesperson for NAS Jacksonville, said the tests performed at Naval Hospital Jacksonville.

The base is in “Health Protection Condition Bravo ‘Moderate,’ which means all personnel must follow strict hygiene,” Laroque said in an email.

That means common areas are being disinfected. There are no handshakes. Those with symptoms of the coronavirus or who have been exposed to those with it are told to self-isolate and contact their medical care provider.

“We are continuing with our mission of supporting the warfighters, which means keeping the airfield open and will do so as long as possible,” Laroque said in an email. “We are prepared to limit staff personnel by allowing them to telework, however some personnel cannot telework in their current job positions.”

As of Tuesday, the Florida Department of Health had reported a total of 192 cases among residents and non-residents.

Duval County, in which Jacksonville is located, had reported six cases, with patients ranging in age from 57 to 91, with one of those cases confirmed as travel-related.

This is a breaking story. It will be updated as additional information becomes available.

An All Hands memo from yard commander Capt. Dianna Wolfson indicated that four other individuals there tested negative for COVID-19 infection.

Although Navy Times sent the command a list of questions, officials said they would be unable to answer them until Tuesday.

It remains unclear if the individuals are service members, civilian Department of Defense employees or contractors or whether any of the test results came back later on Monday.

It’s also unknown whether those who have been tested are isolated in their residences or quarters while self-monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19.

“PSNS & IMF leadership continues to meet daily to evaluate the situation and assess the need for further action in coordination with Naval Sea Systems Command and U.S. Pacific Fleet,” read a prepared statement from the command emailed to Navy Times on Monday evening.

“The health and safety of our workforce and community is – and always will be – the shipyard’s top priority. The shipyard’s efforts and planning are focused on ensuring we are aligned with DoD guidance, implementing (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations and fulfilling our critical national security mission. This has been a dynamic and quickly-changing environment, and we are working to keep the workforce informed. The health of our people is our primary concern.”

With more than 14,000 employees, the sprawling yard in Bremerton, Washington, repairs ships for the U.S. Pacific Fleet while a sister site, the Trident Refit Facility, is the largest command at Naval Base Kitsap – Bangor, about 18 miles away.

The Monday message did not indicate where the 14 individuals worked.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is the largest of the nation’s four public yards and is the only location on the West Coast that can make significant repairs to an aircraft carrier.

Preserving the health of the workforce there is vital to national security but Puget Sound is at the epicenter of a coronavirus outbreak in the Pacific Northwest.

By Sunday afternoon, the Washington Department of Health had recorded 769 positive cases of COVID-19, including 42 deaths, the bulk of them in King County.

The shipyard’s Kitsap County is to the west of King County, separated by Puget Sound. Kitsap health authorities have counted only seven confirmed cases so far, plus 113 negative results.

“Unfortunately, we expect to see more cases of COVID-19 in our county in the coming days and weeks, especially as testing becomes more available,” Kitsap Public Health District Health Officer Dr. Susan Turner said in a prepared statement late Friday.

“We need to work together as a community to slow the spread of this illness and protect our neighbors who are most at risk. We are asking all Kitsap residents to stay calm, stay informed and take steps to protect their health and the health of those around them. It is very important to stay home when you are sick and we encourage community members to assist friends and family who may need to stay home.”

To combat the spread of coronavirus at the yard, Wolfson’s message indicated that 2,000 cleaning kits had been prepared for employees to disinfect their work spaces.

Following a travel ban instituted by the Pentagon late Friday, Wolfson wrote that officials will approve travel orders only projects considered important to the mission.

That means no travel will be approved for conferences or training through May 11, but commanders will okay travel that directly supports ship maintenance, such as the Japan-based aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan or its sister Nimitz-class flattop Abraham Lincoln, which made a homeport shift to Naval Air Station North Island on Jan. 20.

Service members are restricted to local leave, unless granted waivers by commanders.

Wolfson wrote that her command is urging those employees who can telework to do so while leaders explore alternative work schedules, like shift changes.

“This one is especially tough because the school closures just got announced fully on Friday,” she said. “As a command, we need to see where we stand with available workforce and go from there.”

On the other side of the country, Terri Davis, the spokesperson at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, told Navy Times that the installation has cancelled all non-mission events.

No one has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Hampton Roads yard, but officials did not know if anyone had been tested.

The shipyard is encouraging good hygiene and supervisors are increasing the number of inspections work spaces.

Work at the shipyard in the time of COVID-19 is an “extremely fluid situation,” she said.

In the wake of news that Fincantieri’s shipyards in Italy has suspended operations for two weeks to help stem the spread of the illness, US shipyards have responded with more modest changes: suspending international travel, limiting domestic travel and suspending participation in conferences and trade shows for shipyard employees.

Yards are also changing leave policies to allow workers time to adjust to restrictions that have closed schools and businesses across the country.

While to date the changes have been minor, several company officials told Defense News that the situation was evolving and more could be coming down the pike as the government responds to the unfolding crisis that has rocked the country over the past week.

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ president and CEO Mike Petters addressed employees in a video message posted to the company’s website Monday. Peters said he is meeting regularly with division leadership and the company has posted links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he urged employees to check for the most accurate information.

Employees who are experiencing symptoms or believe they may have been exposed should let the company know, he said.

“Now more than ever we need to work as a team and look out for each other,” Petters said.

Also on Monday, HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division president Jennifer Boykin extended “liberal leave” policies through second shift on March 20. In a post on the company’s website, Boykin added that work would be “minimized” during the weekend and that with some exceptions, parking lots at the yard – the nation’s only aircraft carrier manufacturer – would be open through Friday with no reserved spaces.

Newport News Shipbuilding spokesperson Duane Bourne said the health and safety of workers remained the primary focus, calling it “premature to speculate on the impact of COVID-19 on our contracts.”

“We are having ongoing discussions with our customers and will continue that dialogue in preparing contingencies and future plans,” Bourne wrote in an email.

Fincantieri’s Marinette shipyard in Wisconsin has suspended all international travel, all noncritical domestic travel and has suspended intracompany travel to prevent any potential spread between shipyards, said Eric Dent, the company’s spokesperson.

However, to date the company has seen no delays in operations.

“So far, we have experienced no production delays,” Dent said. “Obviously like other businesses and shipyards, we have to balance force health protection and production as we work through this.”

At General Dynamics’ shipyards, both Bath Iron Works and submarine builder Electric Boat are continuing work, though they – like all the other yards – are allowing anyone who can work from home to do so, said Jeff Davis, a GD spokesperson.

GD has likewise curtailed travel and ceased company participation in trade shows, Davis said.

Electric Boat spokesperson, Liz Power, said the submarine builder is following all government recommendations.

“Electric Boat remains open for business,” Power said. “Our ongoing mission is to provide our Navy with the high-quality submarines they require to complete their missions.

“We have initiated all government-recommended measures to mitigate spread of the disease and continue to work closely with our employees, customers, suppliers, stakeholders and our community to keep them informed.”

The ship repair industry is also taking precautions.

Colonna’s Shipyard Vice President Bob Boyd said the company is also asking its estimated 700 employees to follow the CDC’s guidelines and advising anyone who feels sick to stay home. The company is doing additional screening with non-employees at its entrance, asking about recent travel and contacts, and talking with subcontractors about policies, Boyd said. With schools closed throughout Virginia, Colonna’s “just taking it day-by-day.”

Dock landing ship Gunston Hall left Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk last week and the company is currently working on Coast Guard vessel as well as Military Sealift Command’s expeditionary fast transport ship Burlington, Boyd said. He said he couldn’t speculate on what an order to stop work to counter the spread of the virus could mean for federal contracts.

“Obviously, if they’re shut down or we’re ordered not to perform work, then you know, we’ll follow those orders and resume work once we’re cleared, but you know, it hasn’t happened,” Boyd said. “We can’t speculate that it will. So, we don’t really know what will happen if and when those types of decisions are made, but so far they have not. “

Lt. Aaron Jones’ avatar, “Viktorous,” ran inside a barn and thrashed his way through hay bales with a machete, grabbing guns and ammo along the way.

“I need a gun,” Personnel Specialist 1st Class Keith Cherry, 34, called out over the squad’s headsets.

His avatar, “KillswitchReborn,” was already taking fire.

“I’m on my way now,” Jones said as his avatar pulled a firearm from a backpack and made his way outside.

A fellow shipmate on the Goats and Glory team announced his first kill as the squad of four players made their way through fields at Frenzy Farm, one of several locations in the multi-player online video game Fortnite Battle Royale.

Tensions spiked as the battle moved to the farmhouse’s roof. Navy teammates exchanged gun fire with their enemies.

In less than four minutes, only Viktorous remained alive. That wouldn’t last. Jones’ avatar was shot once. And as he crawled into an attic, the online combatant followed.

“Oh, he just got me,” Jones, 28, announced.

Fortnite’s fantasy landscape might not have been the Navy Esports team’s forte during a demo by a few inaugural members in early February but winning in the competitive online realm isn’t necessarily the main goal.

The sea service sees Goats and Glory as a tool to recruit from a group of young people that grew up online and are more used to streaming content than they are watching traditional broadcast programming. The Navy plans to tap from its own talent pool of gamer-sailors to reach them.

Gone is the stereotype of gamers as unfit, underemployed slackers — mostly young men who hang out in their parents’ basements.

It’s a social environment. The gamers who inhabit it can gain valuable skills in building teams, resolving conflicts, communicating and strategy, the sorts of habits that can be applied to making warfighters, Mark Deppe — director of the Esports program at the University of California at Irvine — told Navy Times.

“All those things are things that employers and the military are probably really interested in,” Deppe said.

Technology consulting firm Activate estimates that global viewership for Esports will reach 700 million by 2023. A quarter of Esports followers in the U.S. are aged 18 to 24, Activate said in its 2020 media and technology outlook. Just 7 percent of people in that age group follow the National Football League.

Esports is big business with many entities wanting a piece of the action, and the Navy announced its intentions to join the cyber fray with a Feb. 26 message.

It’s part of the Navy’s “big picture marketing strategy,” Capt. Matt Boren, chief marketing officer for Navy Recruiting Command told Navy Times.

“We’re always there and we want to be where our audience is,” Boren said. “One thing the military really tries to do is show that we’re relatable. We want to show that the military is relatable to our target audience, which is predominantly 17 to 24-year-olds and that these relatable people do relatable things.”

That can help to combat “misconceptions” among possible recruits, Boren said, including those who “think they couldn’t fit to serve, or the Navy’s not right for them.”

“We can show them how it might be aligned to provide training opportunities and even a career.”

The Navy’s inaugural Esports team is comprised of players drafted from the sea service’s roster of recruiters. During the next few months, the team, whose members are spread out across the country, will fill roles as ambassadors and travel to gaming competitions and conventions to gain visibility. In the meantime, the service will build a new 10-person team from across the fleet.

Those new team members will train to work as recruiters at the Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, Tennessee. From there, they will operate out of a specialized facility for gaming, so the team can stream content and develop followers on platforms like Twitch, an online channel that allows people to livestream their games while others tune in, watch and chat.

A handful of sailors will remain with their commands and work as team alternates.

The squad will travel and compete at conventions, attend Navy Week events nationwide and work with high schools, many of which already have their own Esports teams, Boren said.

The sea service’s new group of gamers is the latest entry from an all-volunteer force that’s trying to reach young players where they are.

The Army started its Esports team in 2018 after leaders realized its traditional recruiting approach wasn’t working as well as it previously had, Lisa Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Army’s Recruiting Command, told Navy Times.

Ferguson said about 70 percent of people aged 21 to 30 spend as many as nine hours a day playing or watching video games, while half of today’s youth admitted knowing little about military service.

The Army’s Esports team has attended various conventions as well as the first Call of Duty Endowment Bowl, Ferguson said.

The ground service’s roster has several sub-teams, including a Warhammer 40,000 Team, where players engage each other on a tabletop war game. They use miniature models of warriors and combat equipment on top of a battlefield layout.

The Army doesn’t track its leads all the way to contracts. But its Esports team collected more than 3,500 leads in fiscal 2019, and more than 8,500 in the first four months of the federal fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.

Ferguson mentioned one prospect who played with the team at a convention in March 2019. That player had a scholarship from a college Esports team and continued to game online with Army team members.

When that player lost his scholarship and decided to leave college, Army gamers re-engaged with him through Discord, a text app for gamers, and connected him with a recruiter.

He shipped to basic training in February, Ferguson said.

And Army’s Esports recruiting team isn’t alone. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point announced in January that an Esports team of cadets had been recognized at the club level. The U.S. Air Force Academy already has a team, too.

U.S. Naval Academy spokeswoman Maddie Darbie told Navy Times that Annapolis doesn’t have an Esports club team and the idea hasn’t been floated, but it might be only a matter of time.

Michael Brooks, executive director of the Kansas City, Missouri-based based National Association of Collegiate Esports, has witnessed a lot of growth since the association launched in 2016 with six members.

It’s now more than 200. The association governs varsity collegiate Esports teams, much like the National Collegiate Athletic Association regulates student athletes. Though the association has not worked with the military, each of the branches have been in touch about joining events, he said.

“Esports at the varsity level is exactly the same except for they’re not competing on the field or the court anymore,” Brooks told Navy Times. “They’re competing in an Esports lab and they’re competing online against other institutions where their students are doing the same exact thing so that the competition is remote now. It’s online. It’s not in person but the idea is very much the same.”

Brooks sees parallels between the embrace of Esports by universities and the military. First is the obvious value as a recruitment and retention tool. There’s also an academic connection with some universities now offering classes in Esports because of its links to business and software development.

The Navy has partnered with Twitch, ESL and DBLTAP to help promote its initiatives, Cmdr. Dave Hecht, a spokesperson for the Chief of Naval Personnel, told Navy Times.

According to information provided by Hecht, the sea service will spend $34 million of its $64.9 million marketing and advertising budget on digital media in 2020.

None of that money will go to broadcast television.

Contrast that with 2019, when the Navy spent $3.4 million on TV and $17.9 million on digital media out of an entire marketing and advertising budget of $48.7 million.

A year earlier, the Navy spent $22 million on television and $28.5 million on digital from a $71.8 million marketing and advertising budget.

Capt. Boren said going digital allows the Navy to maximize coverage while overcoming geographic boundaries. As a recruiting method, it’s one more way for the service to lean on its experts, much like the Leap Frogs or the Blue Angels.

“I call it no blind spots,” Boren said. “We’ll be able to better connect with America’s youth to help talk to them about opportunities in the Navy.”

A career naval flight officer for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, Lt. Jones is serving as an instructor at Navy Orientation Recruiting Command in Pensacola. Though he hasn’t attracted any recruits by gaming yet, he streams from his personal Twitch channel for three hours nightly and four hours on Saturday mornings. Video games are a “passion” that allow Jones to communicate with others, including friends he’s made through the platform.

“I think it’s more of a way to interact with people and show them, ‘The Navy, we play video games, we’re exactly the same. We love the same things,’” Jones said.

As far as his pitch when talking to high schoolers, the Navy “sells itself,” he said

“The first thing they ask is, ‘How long have you been in and what do you do?’” Jones said, trailing off as he continued to play Fortnite. “After they ask me that, usually I tell them I’ve had the pleasure of flying in the back of a Hawkeye. I’ve got to launch off a carrier. I’ve got 100 traps and takeoffs on a carrier. The Navy has been amazing.”

Personnel Specialist 1st Class Cherry, who is assigned to Navy Recruiting District Atlanta, said he’s been mentoring a young player from Georgia that he met online while training for Esports.

“He’s getting ready to graduate high school and looking for something better to do in the future,” Cherry said. “So, we started talking about the Navy.”

Cherry enlisted in the Navy 15 years ago, and began playing Esports heavily around 2015 to unwind and pass the time. He said he’s found a sense of community through playing that makes him feel connected to “something bigger.” His encounter with the soon-to-be high school graduate was happenstance, he said.

“It happens to me a lot more often than you’d think,” he said. “I’ll come across somebody on a gaming community page and like, ‘Hey, can I get some training in with you?’ We’ll sit down and we’ll train and it just starts the conversation because, when I train with people, and I mentor them, I like to have that one-on-one time and get to know them as a person so that it’s more relatable and they feel a little more comfortable accepting the information that I’m giving them.

“Once you start to talk to people and get to know them on that personal level, they start to ask questions. ‘Well, how old are you? What do you do and how did you get into it? Where do you intend to go from there? And that’s kind of how I met this young gentleman.”

Aviation Maintenance Administration 1st Class Heather Roche, 28, is a member of the Navy’s inaugural team while assigned to a recruiting command in Washington. She’s new to streaming on Twitch but she’s not new to gaming. She grew up playing video games and now uses them to keep up with Navy buddies scattered across the planet.

The gaming world is dominated by young men but she’s been welcomed by the younger generation.

“The community is teaching me all kinds of things,” Roche said. “I feel really at home.”

The Navy’s window to apply to join the Esports team is March 15 through May 1. To be eligible, you must be a third class petty officer or above and have passed three years of physical fitness assessments.

The 10-sailor team will focus its competitive play on the multiplayer first-person shooter game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and will be trained by the Seattle-based Esports team Evil Geniuses, Hecht said.

A six-part series documenting their training will appear on multiple digital platforms, and a special Navy Twitch channel is slated to be launched later this spring. The team is also expected to appear at TwitchCon in San Diego, California in late September.

Boren is bracing for thousands of applicants. Expect fierce competition.

“The first thing, we’ll do the talent search to see how competitive they are,” Boren said.

Next, they’ll be screened to see if they have the right personality to excel as recruiters.

“They’re going to be, you know, the face of the Navy in a lot of places,” Boren said. “We want to make sure they’re qualified, not just as a gamer but as a representative of the Navy, who, you know, could be in very high profile situations.”