UK Ministry of Defence – Royal Navy Sea Kings ‘bag’ intelligence over Helmand
The Royal Navy’s unique airborne surveillance and control helicopters, known as ‘Baggers’, have recently deployed to Helmand in Afganistan for the first time, where they are detecting, following and intercepting insurgent activity.
(Thanks to Justin for the pointer…)
Reuters – A Call to Allow Women to Serve on Submarines
Top Pentagon officials are calling for an end to the military’s historical ban on allowing women to serve in submarines.
BBC – Navy seizes cocaine ‘worth £240m’
The Royal Navy says it has seized its largest haul of cocaine, with an estimated street value of £240m.
New York Review of Books – A Black and Disgraceful Site
A review of the book “Island of Shame: The Secret History of the US Military Base on Diego Garcia.” An interesting take on the history of Diego Garcia as a US base in the Indian Ocean.
The Diplomat – Why China Military Watchers Got It Wrong
The publication last month of a monograph by the RAND Corporation, which dramatically overturns longstanding assumptions about the defense of Taiwan, should make sobering reading for US policymakers.
Defense Technology International – German and Greek Tiff Over Submarines
Germany and Greece are having words over the decision early this week by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW) GmbH, the ThyssenKrupp (TKMS) unit that makes Germany’s non-nuclear submarines, to cancel two submarine contracts with the Greek Defense Ministry because it has not been paid €524 million euros ($765 million dollars) … even though the submarines are ready for delivery.
Washington Post – McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure’
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure.” Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”
The Times – Britain’s nuclear overture – we will cut Trident fleet
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is preparing to surrender one of Britain’s four Trident submarines to help to cut nuclear arsenals around the world.
US Naval Institute Proceedings – To Fight and Save
The modernization of the U.S. Coast Guard must include instilling the guardian ethos espoused by Commandant Admiral Thad Allen.
Air Force – Fighting Under Missile Attack
The Air Force hasn’t thought about air base defense for a while. Now, things are changing. A look at how China could strike first at US air bases in the Pacific.
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Getting Inside their Heads
Mounting psychological and behavioral problems are a growing concern for the military as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq enter their ninth year.
DefenseTech – Cross Strait Relations Changing
Norman Polmar downplays the threat of war between China and Taiwan.
Wall Street Journal – Sea-Based Missiles to Target a Redefined Threat
The U.S. plans to deploy sea-based SM-3 interceptor missiles in 2011 as part of its plan to rely on a mix of small, relatively inexpensive defensive systems to counter an evolving Iranian threat.
The White House confirmed Thursday that it would abandon efforts to build a large-scale missile-defense system in Eastern Europe, canceling a program that had become a source of Russian anger. The plan, still in the blueprint stage, would have built a large radar array in the Czech Republic and deployed 10 interceptor missiles to Poland.
Instead, the U.S. plans the SM-3 deployment, followed by a more advanced version of the system in 2015 that would include defensive missiles that could be launched from both sea and land.
The Times – Arctic Sea ‘arms ship’ has been cruising off West African coast
The mystery of the hijacked cargo ship allegedly carrying missiles to Iran deepened yesterday when it emerged that, far from limping back to a Russian port as the Kremlin had claimed, the vessel had been cruising around the Canary Islands.
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Heavy Weather Ahead for the Coast Guard
Aging cutters, budgets stretched too thin, and ever-expanding requirements are pushing the service to a moment of truth.
Associated Press – Russia to Detain Georgian Ships Off Abkhazia
Russia heightened tensions with Georgia Tuesday by warning that it will detain Georgian ships entering the territorial waters of Abkhazia, a breakaway province allied with Moscow.
DefenseTech – A Threat to America Or?
Norman Polmar on the two Russian nuclear-propelled attack submarines that appeared off the U.S. East Coast.
BBC – Underwater laser pops in navy ops
US military researchers are developing a method for communication that uses lasers to make sound underwater.
Economist – Attack of the drones
Smaller and smarter unmanned aircraft are transforming spying and redefining the idea of air power.
Daily Telegraph – Incoming Tokyo government threatens split with US
A split is emerging between the United States and Japan over the new Tokyo government’s anti-globalisation rhetoric and its threats to end a refueling agreement for US ships in support of the war in Afghanistan.
New York Times – Black Sea Port Is Flash Point for Georgia and Russia
Rising tensions between Russia and Georgia over shipping rights to a breakaway Georgian region have opened a potential new theater for conflict between the countries, a little more than a year after they went to war.
CBC – Pirate-plagued Somalia graduates naval recruits
Somalia took a tentative step toward policing its own waters on Tuesday with the graduation of its first 500 naval recruits, though officials say international funds are needed to make the navy a force against piracy.
San Francisco Chronicle – Click, click … counting down to Cyber 9/11
John Arquilla writes that when it comes to national security, our leaders are overly focused on nuclear weapons of mass destruction; more thought should be given to the looming threat of cyber “mass disruption.”
New York Times – Halted ’03 Iraq Plan Illustrates U.S. Fear of Cyberwar Risk
It would have been the most far-reaching case of computer sabotage in history. In 2003, the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies made plans for a cyberattack to freeze billions of dollars in the bank accounts of Saddam Hussein and cripple his government’s financial system before the United States invaded Iraq. He would have no money for war supplies. No money to pay troops. “We knew we could pull it off – we had the tools,” said one senior official who worked at the Pentagon when the highly classified plan was developed. But the attack never got the green light. Bush administration officials worried that the effects would not be limited to Iraq but would instead create worldwide financial havoc, spreading across the Middle East to Europe and perhaps to the United States.
Daily Telegraph – Arctic Sea ghost ship ‘was carrying weapons to Iran’
The Arctic Sea cargo ship that disappeared for almost a month earlier this summer, was carrying weapons to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to reports.
Daily Telegraph – ‘Hijackers’ of Arctic Sea ghost ship in murky waters
How did petty thugs, drunks and drug dealers get arrested on a hijacked freighter and become linked to espionage, gun running and the Russian Mafia?
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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