Barents Observer – Ukrainian drones have destroyed two Russian Navy long-range aircraft, including a specialised Tu-142MR strategic communications-relay aircraft that plays a key role in maintaining contact with Russia’s nuclear-armed submarines.
Containerized Variant Of Navy’s Drone-Swatting HELIOS Laser Being Pushed By Congress
The War Zone – HELIOS is the only laser able to down drones installed on an active Navy warship, and putting it in a container would open up new deployment possibilities.
Stop, Police Sanctions! New Ukrainian Surface Drone (USV) Involved In Attack
Covert Shores – Another new attack by Ukrainian USVs (uncrewed surface vessels) reveals yet another previously unreported type. On May 28th three Russian-linked tankers attacked by USVs in southern Black Sea near the entrance to the Bosporus. The Tanker James II (IMO: 9253909) was struck, the tanker Velora (IMO: 9290373) was also hit but the two USVs failed to explode, and the Altura (IMO: 9292199) damaged. Video of the attack on the Velora shows the new USV.
Maritime aviation transformation – the Royal Navy’s plan for a hybrid air wing
Navy Lookout – Speaking at the Combined Naval Event 2026, Commodore Steve Bolton, Deputy Director Aviation Programmes and Futures, outlined the latest progress on the RN’s Maritime Aviation Transformation (MaTX). The journey is well underway, but the hardest challenges are ahead on the way to developing an integrated hybrid air wing.
Specialized Group of 1,300 Marines, Sailors Take Over SOUTHCOM Duties As 22nd MEU Heads Home
USNI News – A specialized group of Marines operating in SOUTHCOM will now support Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. campaign to stop maritime drug trafficking, as the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit heads home.
HII, Saronic Included in First MUSV Navy Prototype Tests
USNI News – Seven companies have been identified by the Navy as supporting the first round of medium unmanned surface vessel prototyping, the service said on Friday.
Rebuilding U.S. Missile Inventory: A Multiyear Project
CSIS – The 39-day bombing and air defense campaign against Iran depleted inventories of key U.S. munitions stockpiles, as a previous CSIS analysis detailed. The United States has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict. The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern.
China’s New Type 054B Frigate Makes Carrier Strike Group Debut in Western Pacific
Naval News – Japan confirms first operational integration of the PLAN’s Type 054B / Jiangkai III-class frigate into a carrier strike group formation.
L3Harris Delivering Clandestine Submarine-Launched AUVs to the U.S. Navy
Naval News – L3Harris is pushing forward with production of its Iver4 900 autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) under a previously unknown Defense Innovation Unit effort that is looking to deliver a torpedo tube launch and recovery (TTL&R) autonomous drone to the U.S. Navy’s attack submarine fleet.
Leading in the Dark: How Submarine Commanders Think Under Uncertainty
War on the Rocks – The unique lessons of undersea command can be applied to other contested and information-degraded environments in modern warfare, including land, air, and maritime operations. In each of these domains, information is becoming increasingly fragmented, and the consequences of waiting are indistinguishable from the consequences of acting.
Chinese Use Electronic Warfare Attacks on Dutch Warship in South China Sea, Says PLA
USNI News – Chinese naval and air forces drove off a Dutch air defense frigate near a disputed archipelago using warnings and electronic interference, Beijing’s South China Sea command said Wednesday.
A Sea Control Revolution?
War on the Rocks – Sea control has changed. In recent years, there has been a quiet revolution in maritime strategy that has seen navies increasingly expected to exert greater levels of control over more of the world’s oceans, more of the time. Whether it is NATO forces protecting critical maritime infrastructure in the Baltic, Pacific Island nations requiring maritime domain awareness to protect against illegal fishing, or Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels occupying features in the South China Sea, navies across the globe are confronting major challenges and are being forced to operate in new and novel ways. Behind all of this is a change in the value that states place upon the seas. Drawing on work from my recent article in Comparative Strategy, I show how — for many countries — growing areas of the world’s seas and oceans now have considerable economic significance, and value in terms of sovereignty and identity. This newfound value has generated the demand for a new form of sea control, which is radically different from that set out in classical maritime strategy.
RNZN benefits from growing Kiwi defence budget
Naval News – The New Zealand government unveiled its defence budget for FY2026/27 on 28 May. It promised investment of NZ$5.491 billion (US$3.23 billion) in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) for the coming year, compared to NZ$5.064 billion last year. This represents an 8.43% year-on-year increase, despite what the government calls “a challenging fiscal position”.
U.K. Mine Countermeasures Mothership Leaves Gibraltar for Potential Strait of Hormuz Mission
USNI News – The Royal Navy’s mine countermeasures mothership RFA Lyme Bay (L3007) departed Tuesday from Gibraltar as the U.K. and France prepare to launch a multinational military mission to ensure freedom of navigation through the strait.
Rebuilding Faslane to secure the future of Royal Navy nuclear submarine operations
Navy Lookout – HM Naval Base Clyde is now the sole operating base for the Royal Navy’s entire submarine flotilla. A newly framed Clyde Transformation Programme is an ambitious upgrade project that must rebuild many aspects of the facility while at the same time sustaining ongoing submarine operations.
China’s “Bohai Sea Monster” Reappears With Apparent Weapons Hardpoints
The War Zone – New details add weight to the idea that the “Bohai Sea Monster” has a kinetic role to play, although the general concept could be supersized for other missions.
South Korea Unveils Historic Plan to Build First Nuclear-Powered Submarine
Naval News – On Tuesday, May 26, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense announced the “Basic Plan for the Development of the Republic of Korea Nuclear-Powered Submarine.”
Seabed Warfare Landscape: China deploys world’s first proper Offshore Data Centre
Covert Shores – China went operational with the world’s first underwater data centre on 15th May 2026. Placed in shallow water in the Lin-Gang Special Area off the coast of Shanghai.
First Sea Lord insists no alternative to Hybrid Navy
Naval News – The Royal Navy (RN) has no choice but to pivot to an increasingly uncrewed and autonomous hybrid fleet if it is to achieve the lethality, survivability, persistence and mass necessary for warfighting in the North Atlantic and High North, the head of the service has said.
“Quiet As A Baby Dolphin”: Britain’s Astute-Class Submarine Has A Message For The U.S. Navy
1945 – Britain’s Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarine is so quiet that sonar operators have mistaken its acoustic signature for a baby dolphin or ambient ocean background noise. Engineered around raft-mounted machinery, anechoic tiles, and a pump-jet propulsion system, the boat runs on a Rolls-Royce PWR2 reactor that lasts the submarine’s entire operational life and reaches 30+ knots submerged.
Navy Selects 7 MUSV Designs to Enter Prototype Phase
USNI News – Seven designs have been tapped by the Navy to develop medium unmanned surface vessel prototypes as part of the sea service’s foray into robotic systems.
Dragon Adds More Air-Defence Firepower to French Carrier Strike Group
Naval News – The UK Royal Navy (RN) Type 45 air-defence destroyer HMS Dragon has integrated into the French Navy’s FS Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group (CSG), as the CSG operates in the Gulf of Aden/Horn of Africa region. Both the CSG and Dragon have deployed to the region to provide pre-positioned capability, should regional security conditions potentially permit international efforts to re-open the Strait of Hormuz and secure freedom of navigation, following the recent US/Israel versus Iran war.
Modular Construction Key to Battleship Effort, Navy Official Says
USNI News – Spreading the construction of the Trump-class battleship across several different manufacturing locations is key to the Navy’s current plan to build the almost three-football-field-long warship, a service official said this week.
The US Navy is full speed ahead on building a laser fleet
Defense News – Operation Epic Fury may have strengthened the case for directed energy weapons, but the U.S. Navy’s dream of putting “a laser on every ship” may take significantly longer than expected to realize.
Beehive may be another Dreadnought moment
UK Defence Journal – Project Beehive is the £12.3 million programme putting Kraken USVs into the hands of the Coastal Forces Squadron and 47 Commando Royal Marines. It was designed as a proving ground, somewhere to test ideas with real hardware in real conditions, and Ballard is open about the uncertainty on where this will lead, telling me, “I have this phrase when I walk around Navy command headquarters. Let’s have some humility and go, I don’t know.”
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