The Naval Brief: More parental leave; Carriers sailing with unmanned vessels; Dangerous encounters; and more...

Welcome to The Naval Brief, a weekly look at the news and ideas shaping the sea services’ future. 

Three weeks of parental leave. Marines and sailors now have 21 days, or an additional week, of leave to be with their newborn or adopted child, Defense One reports. The change puts the naval services in line with the Army and Air Force and gets them ready for anticipated changes to the leave program later this year.

Unmanned future. In five years, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday wants medium and large unmanned platforms to be sailing alongside carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups, Defense One reports. He believes a crawl-walk-run approach with unmanned will get the Navy prepared to scale these deployments into the 2030s.

Naval officials meet in San Diego. The WEST 2022 conference just kicked off, and Defense One’s Bradley Peniston is on the ground covering the event. Watch his recent conference wire here and keep checking Defense One for more stories to come.

Too close for comfort. The airspace above the Mediterranean Sea was tense over the weekend when U.S. and Russian jets flew dangerously close to one another three times, the Wall Street Journal reports. The close encounters involved Russian Su-35 fighter jets crossing the flight paths of a U.S. Navy P-8A surveillance aircraft. 

Sign up to get The Naval Brief every Thursday from Caitlin M. Kenney, Defense One’s military services reporter. On this day in 1945, a wounded Lt. Rufus Herring took control of his severely damaged landing craft infantry gunboat while under attack during the pre-invasion of Iwo Jima, keeping it in the fight and calling on his men to help the wounded. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.

From Defense One

The U.S. Needs More Military Arms Makers, Says Pentagon No. 2 // Caitlin M. Kenney

Defense firm consolidations have killed competition for government contracts, a White House-ordered study finds. The industrial base must expand, says Hicks.

Satellite Images and Experts Challenge Russian Withdrawal Claims // Patrick Tucker

Photos show attack helicopters, jets, troops moving toward forward positions near Ukraine in the midst of aggressive legislative actions in the Russian assembly.

Biden, Putin Commit to Diplomacy; Russia Claims to Start Withdrawal as Cyberattacks Hit Ukraine // Jacqueline Feldscher

President says invasion is still possible, warns Moscow 'we are prepared to respond' to cyber attacks on Americans or allies.