[RYAN ROBERTSON]
HELLO AND WELCOME TO WEAPONS AND WARFARE. FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M YOUR HOST, RYAN ROBERTSON, AND WE ARE COMING TO YOU FROM NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND, FOR THE NAVY LEAGUE’S ANNUAL ‘SEA, AIR, SPACE 2025’ EXPOSITION, WHERE AMERICA’S MARITIME LEADERSHIP HAS GATHERED TO TALK ABOUT HOW TO TRANSFORM THEIR SERVICES TO PREPARE FOR FUTURE CONFLICTS. JUST AHEAD IN THIS EPISODE;
WE VISIT WITH ADMIRAL JAMES KILBY, THE ACTING CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, TO GET HIS THOUGHTS ON HOW THE NAVY IS MODERNIZING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE. AND HE WEIGHS IN ON THE FUTURE OF THE NAVY’S SIXTH-GEN FIGHTER-ATTACK AIRCRAFT, THE F/A-X-X.
PLUS, I SLIP ON SOME HEADGEAR AND CLIMB INTO THE COCKPIT TO SEE HOW ONE COMPANY IS WORKING TO PREPARE FUTURE NAVAL AVIATORS AS THEY TRAIN TO TAKE OVER THE TIP OF THE SPEAR.
BUT FIRST, SOME HEADLINES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED.
MEET THE NEW BOSS, DEFINITELY NOT THE SAME AS THE OLD BOSS. THE NEW SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, JOHN PHALEN, IS A CAREER BUSINESSMAN WITH NO MILITARY EXPERIENCE. HE USED SEA, AIR, AND SPACE AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO DELIVER HIS FIRST MAJOR SPEECH, DURING WHICH HE PROMISED TO SHAKE UP THE NAVY’S OLD WAYS THAT HE SAYS ALLOWED CHINA TO GAIN GROUND ON THE U.S.
[JOHN PHELAN]
“While we’ve been mired in bureaucratic inertia, budgetary gridlock in Congress, and chronic shortfalls in shipbuilding investment, our adversaries have been building and getting better. China constructed more ships alone last year than we have since World War II.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
CONFIRMED BY THE SENATE LAST MONTH, PHELAN REPLACES NAVAL ACADEMY GRADUATE AND RETIRED NAVY COMMANDER CARLOS DEL TORRO. SINCE HIS CONFIRMATION, PHELAN HAS BEEN VISITING FACILITIES IN QUONSET POINT, RHODE ISLAND, AND GROTON, CONNECTICUT. THE NAVY LEAGUE SPEECH WAS HIS FIRST MAJOR ADDRESS IN D.C., ASIDE FROM HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING.
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE CEREMONY WITH YOUR CIRCUMSTANCE?
ON THE FINAL FULL DAY OF THIS YEAR’S EVENT, CONGRESSMAN JOE COURTNEY OF CONNECTICUT CHRISTENED THE ‘BLUE BOTTLE’ UNMANNED SURFACE VESSEL (USV). BUILT BY AUSTRALIA’S OCIUS TECHNOLOGY, AND NOW EQUIPPED WITH A TOWED SENSOR ARRAY AND RELATED TECHNOLOGY FROM CONNECTICUT-BASED THAYERMAHAN, THE VEHICLE IS THE FIRST OF SIX TO BE DELIVERED FROM OCIUS TO THAYERMAHAN, AND IT’S NOW READY TO FILL A NEED FOR PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCE IN THE OPEN WATERS OF THE PACIFIC.
[MIKE CONNOR]
“This vessel we took to host our sonar on, we found it to be best in class in a worldwide search, and so the bring a best of breed vessel and we bring a best of breed sonar, array, it’s a tremendous package.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
THE U-S-V, NOW NAMED THE THAYER-MAHAN OUTPOST, IS ONE OF SIX PLANNED FOR USE. THE SECOND USV SOLD TO THAYER-MAHAN IS ALREADY IN THE U.S. WITH THE THIRD ON ITS WAY, WHILE THE LAST THREE ARE PROJECTED FOR DELIVERY BY THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
THE NAVY IS ADDRESSING THE RISING COSTS OF COUNTERING HOUTHI DRONES BY DEPLOYING TWO SYSTEMS—ANDURIL’S ROADRUNNER AND RAYTHEON’S COYOTE—ON DESTROYERS THIS SUMMER.
TALKING TO REPORTERS, ADMIRAL DARYL CAUDLE, COMMANDER OF UNITED STATES FLEET FORCES COMMAND, RECENTLY TOLD THE GROUP THIS DEPLOYMENT WILL ENHANCE UAV TARGETING.
SINCE LATE 2023, CONCERNS ABOUT THE EXPENSE OF USING COSTLY MISSILES AGAINST CHEAPER DRONES EMERGED, KNOWN AS THE “COST-CURVE PROBLEM.” IN 15 MONTHS, THE NAVY LAUNCHED 220 MISSILES, COSTING MORE THAN $500 MILLION.
FOR THE UNINITIATED, THE ROADRUNNER IS A LOITERING DRONE, AND THE COYOTE IS A LAUNCHABLE INTERCEPTOR, BOTH TESTED AT SEA. THE NAVY IS ALSO EXPLORING LASER WEAPONS FOR DRONE DEFENSE, BUT PROGRESS ON THAT FRONT HAS BEEN SLOW.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
THANKS TO THE DEMANDS OF THEIR VARIOUS JOBS, IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO GATHER AMERICA’S MARITIME LEADERSHIP IN ONE PLACE TO TALK ABOUT WHERE THE NAVY IS, AND WHERE IT’S GOING. WHICH IS WHAT MAKES ‘SEA, AIR, SPACE’ SUCH AN IMPORTANT EVENT ON THE CALENDAR.
THE ACTING CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, ADMIRAL JAMES KILBY, MET WITH THE MEDIA, AND MODERATED A PANEL WITH FIVE DIFFERENT NAVY COMMANDERS WHERE THEY ADDRESSED SOME RECENT WINS, AND AREAS WHERE THEY HAVE TO GET BETTER AS THEIR BRANCH CONTINUES TO MODERNIZE IN THE FACE OF A GROWING ARRAY OF THREATS.
AMID THE POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE THAT’S THE NORM AT EVENTS LIKE THE NAVY LEAGUE’S SEA, AIR, SPACE, WERE PLENTY OF QUESTIONS FOR THE ACTING CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, ADMIRAL JAMES KILBY, AND FIVE OF HIS OPERATIONAL AND SYSTEMS COMMANDERS. ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT, HOW CLOSE IS THE BRANCH TO MEETING ITS GOAL OF 80% COMBAT SURGE READINESS? IN 2018 WHEN THEN-DEFENSE SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS TOLD THE NAVY TO GET ITS F/A-18 SUPER HORNET FLEET BACK UP TO SPEED, BUMPING UP THE NUMBER OF READY JETS FROM 250 TO 341. THE NAVY REVAMPED ITS MAINTENANCE PRACTICES AND HIT THE TARGET.
[VADM DANIEL CHEEVER]
“The truth is, it took well over a year to get there, and now to sustain it takes a all hands, effort, all the time with the naval aviation enterprise, op, nav, sec, nav staff, the whole the whole team. It’s pretty exciting.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
INSPIRED BY THAT, OTHER PARTS OF THE NAVY, INCLUDING SURFACE AND SUBMARINE FORCES, HAVE ALSO STARTED CHANGING THEIR MAINTENANCE AND LOGISTICS TO BOOST THEIR READINESS.
AND THE NUMBERS SHOW THEY’RE GETTING THERE, THE CLOSEST TO THAT 80% GOAL IS THE BRANCH’S AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AT 70%, WHILE SUBMARINES AND SURFACE WARSHIPS ARE SITTING AT 67% AND 68% RESPECTIVELY.
OF COURSE, ONE OF THE BIGGEST HURDLES FACING THE KILBY AND THE REST OF NAVY LEADERSHIP IS TWO-FOLD, TOO MANY BOATS STILL IN THE PRODUCTION PIPELINE, OR SITTING IN NEED OF LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE.
[VADM BRENDAN MCLANE]
“The last part is partnering with industry, which we hear here too. We can’t do it by ourselves. I meet with industry on a weekly basis to talk about which avails are not going well, and the path that my predecessor, Admiral Kitchener started with, our North Star of 75 mission capable ships, has segued very well into our 80% combat search ready goal.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
AFTER THE OPENING PANEL, ADMIRAL KILBY STEPPED AWAY FROM THE FESTIVITIES TO FIELD QUESTIONS FROM A SELECT GROUP OF MEDIA IN ATTENDANCE. WHILE COVERED A WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS, THE WAS ONE THAT WAS AT THE TOP OF OUR LIST.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
“Speaking of timelines and things that the service branch needs, do you have any update on F/A-XX and how that’s going?”
[ADM JAMES KILBY]
“Yeah, I don’t want to get ahead of the contract decision, but I will tell you, we need fax in the United States Navy, just like the Air Force does. I mean, we’re talking about a fight in the Pacific. We fight together as a joint force, so having that capability is very important for us.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
“Follow up, question is, what is the service like, what is left to be done before the contract decision is announced? I mean, there were rumors it was going to get announced a couple weeks ago. Weeks ago. What was the Navy waiting on?”
[ADM JAMES KILBY]
“Yeah, it’s a decision at the secretary level and above and and they’re working that now.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
ANOTHER AREA OF CONVERSATION, HOW TO HANDLE THE THREAT OF THE HOUTHIS AND OTHER BAD ACTORS IN A COST-EFFECTIVE MANNER, PARTICULARLY THE DRONE THREAT NOW POSED BY ANYONE WITH A LITTLE MONEY AND BAD INTENTIONS.
[ADM JAMES KILBY]
“As a former N9 I was focused on a high-end laser, 500 kilowatts to one megawatt. And I have regret for that, that I had not been thoughtful enough to think about UAV threat, where I think a much lesser power weapon would have done what we needed to do. We are putting on capabilities on the Ford Strike Group. Who’s intercom 2x today, that it will be a much more cost effective way to deal with the UAV threat in particular. But we have to get after the industrial base, or munitions industrial base in the same manner we have to get after our ship building industrial base to increase more munitions.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
WHEN PRESSED ON THE SUBJECT OF LASERS AS A SOLUTION, KILBY SAID IT’S THE KIND OF INVESTMENT THAT NEEDS TO BE FULLY FLESHED OUT.
[ADM JAMES KILBY]
“I don’t want to abandon it, but I’m not, I’m not ready to go all in yet on buying these things until I can have a relatively sure output in an action”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
TO POINT A POINT ON THE PROBLEM, IN JANUARY VICE ADMIRAL BRENDAN MCLANE, THE HEAD OF NAVAL SURFACE FORCES, TOLD ATTENDEES OF THE SURFACE NAVY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, THAT OVER THE PREVIOUS 15 MONTHS, THE U.S. NAVY’S SURFACE FLEET LAUNCHED NEARLY 400 MUNITIONS IN THEIR FIGHT AGAINST IRAN-BACKED HOUTHI REBELS IN THE RED SEA. THAT INCLUDED 120 S-M-2 MISSILES AT A COST OF $1.2 MILLION PER, 80 S-M-6 MISSILES AT $4 MILLION PER, ALONG WITH A TOTAL OF 20 EVOLVED SEA SPARROW MISSILES AND SM-3 MISSILE, A NUMBER THAT WOULD LIKELY COST IN THE NINE DIGIT RANGE.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
ALL RIGHT, FOLKS, FOR OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK THIS WEEK, WE HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOU JOINING ME NOW TO TALK ABOUT IT IS STEVE HELMER WITH TEXTRON. STEVE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. THANKS FOR HAVING ME SO CALL SIGN JOE. JOE. THAT MEANS YOU’RE A PILOT, NAVAL AVIATOR. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT A NEW POTENTIAL NAVAL TRAINER WALK ME THROUGH THE STEPS.
[STEVE HELMER]
“So what we have here is the M-346-N which is the most visible part of a training system that we’re offering the Navy as a potential T 45 replacement.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
AND WHEN YOU SAY IT’S THE MOST VISUAL PART, IT’S A SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS, RIGHT? I MEAN, WE HAVE THE SIMULATOR BEHIND YOU, BUT THAT TIES INTO THE ENTIRE TRAINING SYSTEM AS A WHOLE.
[STEVE HELMER]
“That’s exactly right. So everything from the smart chair you see behind me to the operational flight trainers to the aircraft can all be networked together. And then we can utilize Live, Virtual, Constructive environments to simulate Air to Air, air to ground, any training environment, really, and work all the way from beginning stages of familiarization all the way up to large force exercise training.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
SO HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT THAN WHAT HAPPENS TODAY?
[STEVE HELMER]
“Well, that allows us to bring a lot of advanced training concepts such as radar intercepts in the air to air environment, and precision guided munitions in the air to ground environment into the training command. So things that currently students aren’t doing in the T 40, I’m sorry, in the in the F 35 or the F 18, they’re now going to be able to do in the Training Command they’re going to show up to their fleet jet with a lot more advanced knowledge.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
AND WHAT DOES THAT BRING TO THE SERVICE WHEN YOU’RE ABLE TO TRAIN THE AVIATOR WITH MUCH MORE, YOU KNOW, EXQUISITE SYSTEMS, MORE COMPLEX SYSTEMS, EARLIER ON IN THEIR CAREER, WHEN THEY’RE READY TO GO, WHAT DOES THAT BRING TO THE SERVICE AS A WHOLE, QUALITY OF TRAINING? AND WHAT DOES THAT LIKE? WHAT DOES THAT TRANSLATE INTO.
[STEVE HELMER]
“What that really translates into is more war fighter readiness at a lower cost.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
ALL RIGHT, SO WALK ME THROUGH THE PACES ON WHAT’S BEHIND YOU RIGHT HERE THAT IT’S THE CHAIR, IT’S A SIMULATOR. WHAT ALL CAN A PILOT WHO’S WHO’S USING IT, WHO’S TRAINING TO BECOME A NAVAL AVIATOR? WHAT CAN THEY DO WITH THIS SYSTEM?
[STEVE HELMER]
“Well, what we can do here is we can simulate field landings, aircraft carrier landings, Air to Air and air to ground mission sets. And we can bring in virtual wingmen when we’re networked together, we can actually have the simulator and the aircraft networked such that I’m in the aircraft and you’re in the simulator, and we can actually fly with each other or against each other. So there’s a whole range of mission sets that we can simulate with the system.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
WHEN YOU WERE COMING UP YOUR TOP GUN GRAD, RIGHT WHEN YOU WERE COMING UP THROUGH THE SYSTEM. HOW MUCH WOULD IT HAVE BEEN HAVE HELPED YOU IF YOU HAD A SYSTEM LIKE THIS?
[STEVE HELMER]
“Well, I’m not a Top Gun grad, I’m actually a Navy Test Pilot School graduate, but this system would have helped tremendously, particularly in the in the environment of learning radar intercepts, a lot of those basics just simply how to read a radar scope, where to put the bogey on your scope to get in a certain position relative to that bogey is a skill that I had to learn in the fleet replacement squadron. I in the F 18. So I was doing that at that, you know, 20 to $30,000 per flight hour in that airplane, and needing to do a lot of study offline. And that took several months of my training. So if you can bring all that training into the training command now, a student shows up to that airplane at that 20 to $30,000 per flight hour, with the basic skill sets already laid down, they’re going to be able to pick up a lot more, a lot quicker, and be able to get out to the fleet as a higher quality aviator.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
ALL RIGHT, JOJO, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?
[STEVE HELMER]
“No thank you very much for your time.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
A YEAR AGO AT THIS VERY EVENT WE TALKED TO THE C-E-O OF FAIRBANKS MORSE DEFENSE ABOUT SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY IS HAVING TO NAVIGATE IN MEETING THE NEEDS OF TODAY’S NAVY, COAST GUARD AND MARINES.
FAST FORWARD 12 MONTHS AND F-M-D IS BACK AT SEA, AIR, SPACE WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT COULD HELP CALM SOME VERY CHOPPY WATERS.
AND WITH JUST A FEW PEN STROKES THE PICTURE CLOUDING THE NAVY’S NEED FOR SHIPBUILDING AND LONG DELAYED MAINTENANCE ISSUES POTENTIALLY GOT A LITTLE CLEARER.
[GEORGE WHITTIER]
“This is really exciting. Hyundai Heavy is the largest ship builder in the world. We are the largest supplier of equipment to the US Navy. Most of our business, 90% of our business, is in the US. Their business is obviously global. This is a chance for us to say, Hey, how can we expand outside of the US into Korea, the second largest shipbuilding country in the world? And then for them, they don’t do a lot in the US. And then what are the opportunities that we can share with them, for them to develop business in the US. So this is a really big day for both of us.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
IT WAS SOME OF THE BIGGEST NEWS COMING OUT THIS YEAR’S SEA, AIR, SPACE CONFERENCE; FAIRBANKS MORSE DEFENSE AND SOUTH KOREAN SHIPBUILDING GIANT H-D HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES ANNOUNCING A NEW PARTNERSHIP TO EXPLORE POTENTIAL COLLABORATION ON INTERNATIONAL NAVY PROGRAMS.
FMD’S CEO, GEORGE WHITTIER, SAYS THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING REFLECTS A GROWING TREND OF U.S. MARITIME COMPANIES TEAMING UP WITH FOREIGN SHIPBUILDERS, PARTICULARLY FROM SOUTH KOREA AND JAPAN.
[GEORGE WHITTIER]
“We feel that we know everyone in the market. They clearly know everyone in the market on the Korean side, so valve companies, motor companies, things like that, for us, for on this side, it’s, how do we introduce them to folks in the Navy? How do we introduce them to folks in the US ship building industry, so that we can kind of grow and collaborate and mutually go after opportunities in both countries.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
THIS MARKS FAIRBANKS MORSE’S FIRST MAJOR INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP SINCE IT BECAME INDEPENDENT FROM ENPRO INDUSTRIES IN 2020.
THE COMPANY HAS BEEN FOCUSED ON BUILDING ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS FOR NAVAL SHIPS AND HAS MADE SEVERAL ACQUISITIONS IN RECENT YEARS, BUT MOST OF ITS WORK HAS BEEN WITH U.S. CLIENTS.
[GEORGE WHITTIER]
“It’s really interesting that it’s coming together. Now, the first meeting we had with them was actually about 18 months ago. So these things always take a little bit of time to germinate. But if you don’t have that first meeting, then you don’t end up kind of where you are today. But that first meeting, the introductions I was in Korea, had a chance to sit down and talk to them, kind of frame something out. And then now we’re taking a look where the US Navy is. They just did some overhaul work on the Wally Schirra in Korea. Within the last month or two. There’s clearly more of a emphasis on doing more international work from a US Navy standpoint. So this is really, kind of really opportune for us to be talking about this at this point in time.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
FOR THEIR PART, HD HYUNDAI’S LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTED THEIR LONG HISTORY OF SHIPBUILDING EXCELLENCE AND EXPRESSED CONFIDENCE THAT THEIR EXPERTISE COULD HELP THE U.S. NAVY, POINTING TO THEIR ACTIVE PARTNERSHIPS WITH U.S. DEFENSE FIRMS H-I-I AND ANDURIL.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
ALRIGHT FOLKS–THAT’S ALL THE STORIES WE HAVE FOR YOU THIS WEEK–
BUT REST ASSURED, THERE IS PLENTY MORE CONTENT ON TAP IN THE WEEKS AHEAD FROM THE NAVY LEAGUE’S SEA AIR SPACE 2025 GLOBAL MARITIME EXPOSITION.
TO MAKE SURE YOU STAY UP TO DATE ON ALL THE LATEST FROM THE SHOW–
OR TO CATCH UP ON SOME OF OUR PAST REPORTING–BE SURE TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE TO ALL OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS–AND SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS!
FOR MY WRAP THIS WEEK–I WANT TO SPEND SOME TIME TALKING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPARATION, SPECIFICALLY IN TERMS OF NATIONAL DEFENSE.
AT THIS YEAR’S EXPO–JUST LIKE IN YEARS PAST–THERE WERE REPRESENTATIVES NOT JUST FROM THE UNITED STATES BUT HER ALLIES AROUND THE WORLD.
SOUTH KOREA–JAPAN–AUSTRALIA–THE UNITED KINGDOM– FINLAND–NORWAY–THE LIST GOES ON. ALL OF THESE COUNTRIES COMING TOGETHER IN PREPARATION FOR CONFLICTS THEY HOPE NEVER HAPPEN. BUT HOPE ISN’T A STRATEGY.
AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH AMERICA AND HER ALLIES MAY WANT TO AVOID CERTAIN CONFLICTS–LIKE IN THE INDO-PACIFIC OR THE NORTHERN TIER–
OUR ADVERSARIES GET A VOTE IN THE MATTER AS WELL.
I READ YOUR COMMENTS ON OUR SOCIAL FEEDS, SO I KNOW THIS NEXT LITTLE BIT ISN’T GOING TO SIT WELL WITH SOME OF YOU, BUT IT’S THE TRUTH AND IT NEEDS TO BE TOLD.
UNLESS SOMETHING DRASTIC ALTERS THE COURSE OF CURRENT AFFAIRS–
IN THE NEXT FIVE TO TEN YEAR–THE UNITED STATES MILITARY WILL BE INVOLVED IN A MILITARY CONFLICT WITH CHINA IN THE PACIFIC OR RUSSIA IN THE ARCTIC–OR BOTH. I HOPE I’M WRONG. I’M SURE PLENTY OF MILITARY LEADERS AND ANALYSTS HOPE THEY’RE WRONG TOO–BUT AGAIN–HOPE ISN’T A STRATEGY.
SO, AMERICA AND OUR ALLIES NEED COMPANIES LIKE ANDURIL, BOEING, HII AND MORE–MAKING THE WEAPONS AND VEHICLES THAT WILL WIN A WAR. WE NEED COMPANIES LIKE FAIRBANKS MORSE WORKING WITH COMPANIES IN ALLIED NATIONS–FORGING NEW PATHS.
I’M NOT A WAR-MONGER AND I’M NOT ON A DEFENSE CONTRACTOR’S PAYROLL,
BUT LET’S BE HONEST FOLKS. IF THE U-S GETS INTO A FIGHT WITH CHINA OR RUSSIA–WE NEED TO WIN. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION. AND AS THE OLD SAYING GOES– IF WE FAIL TO PREPARE–WE’RE PREPARING TO FAIL.
FOR SENIOR PRODUCER BRETT BAKER, VIDEO EDITOR BRIAN SPENCER, GRAPHICS ARTIST DAKOTA PITEO, AND OUR PHOTOGRAPHER EXTAORDINAIR DICKON MAGER–I’M RYAN ROBERTSON WITH STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS SIGNING OFF.
