UP FRONT.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

Military Investigating UFO Sightings

* The Pentagon has not yet identified the mysterious drones that loitered near U.S. warships off the coast of California in 2019, said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday.

The incident recently came to light when it was reported on by the news outlet The Drive.

"I am aware of those sightings, and...there have been other sightings by aviators in the air and by other ships" around the world, Gilday told reporters recently. "Those findings have been collected and they still are being analyzed."

Northern Command Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck was asked if he has noticed an increase in "unidentified aerial phenomena"--more commonly known as UFOs--near the homeland.

"I'm not seeing an uptick...and I would be candid with you" about that, he told reporters. "Would I be concerned? Certainly I would be, but I'm not seeing that."

The intelligence community and the Pentagon are expected to provide a report to Congress in June on the reported sightings.

Navy Focused on Readying Littoral Combat Ship

* Navy leaders are determined to get their fleet of littoral combat ships back on track after last year's setbacks.

Issues with the combining gear--the main engineering challenge for the small surface combatants--will be fixed to prepare the ships for deployment, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said.

"It seems to be the element that fails the most," he said. "It's not the only one, but it's the key one right now."

After the ships undergo shore-based testing in April, engineers will "hopefully" install the redesigned combining gear at Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard, he said.

Pandemic Pushes Digital Twins to the Fore

* Digital twins--virtual models of physical objects such as infrastructure, cars or aircraft--was one of the advanced engineering technologies being pushed by former Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper. Now, their use is taking off across all...