Monthly Archives: March 2010

US Navy – Navy brings new $2.3 billion submarine to life in Norfolk

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Virginian Pilot – Navy brings new $2.3 billion submarine to life in Norfolk

It’s been months since shipbuilders tightened the final bolts and completed the last welds on the Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine, the New Mexico. But the final piece didn’t fall into place for the New Mexico’ s new Navy career until Saturday, when the ship’s sponsor, Cindy Giambastiani, gave the order: “Officers and crew of USS New Mexico, man our ship and bring her to life!” With that cue, the crew of about 130 ran onto the submarine, marking its official entry into active service.

US Marines – On Guam, planned Marine base raises anger, infrastructure concerns

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Washington Post – On Guam, planned Marine base raises anger, infrastructure concerns

This remote Pacific island is home to U.S. citizens who are fervent supporters of the military, as measured by their record of fighting and dying in America’s recent wars. But they are angry about a major military buildup here, which the government of Guam and many residents say is being grossly underfunded. They fear that the construction of a new Marine Corps base will overwhelm the island’s already inadequate water and sewage systems, as well as its port, power grid, hospital, highways and social services.

US Navy – More ships to Florida? Navy may snub Hampton Roads on new combat ships

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Virginian Pilot – More ships to Florida? Navy may snub Hampton Roads on new combat ships

As Hampton Roads’ leaders try to fend off plans to move a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier to Mayport, Fla., a top naval officer said the Florida base also has the upper hand to get another prize that Norfolk hoped to share. Mayport Naval Station “is the primary site we’re looking at” for the East Coast homeport of the new littoral combat ships, Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, told a congressional panel.

Canadian Navy – Canada's Naval Gap

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Defense Technology International – Canada’s Naval Gap

Canada has a total of thirty-three warships and submarines doing everything a first-world Navy should be doing—patrolling its home coast, performing humanitarian missions in places like Haiti, and participating in the multinational Task Force 150 off the coast of Somalia and Yemen. But to hear the country’s top military officers tell it, Canada’s ships are too old, too few, and have some significant technological gaps that the country is struggling to fill.

Geopolitics / Oceania – Engaging Oceania

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US Naval War College Review – Engaging Oceania

The fourteen island nations of Oceania are weak by any traditional measure of state power. They are mostly small and poor, with zero military muscle and little diplomatic clout. On a map of the Pacific these microstates appear almost like tossed sand, widely dispersed and hardly noticeable in the great blue expanse between the Western Hemisphere, Asia, and Australia. But the small size and gross domestic products of these states conceal a disproportionate economic, political, and military potential.

Information Warfare – Cyber Warriors

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The Atlantic – Cyber Warriors

When will China emerge as a military threat to the U.S.? In most respects the answer is: not anytime soon—China doesn’t even contemplate a time it might challenge America directly. But one significant threat already exists: cyberwar. Attacks—not just from China but from Russia and elsewhere—on America’s electronic networks cost millions of dollars and could in the extreme cause the collapse of financial life, the halt of most manufacturing systems, and the evaporation of all the data and knowledge stored on the Internet.

Royal Australian Navy – Australia's 2009 Defense White Paper – A Maritime Focus For Uncertain Times

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US Naval War College Review – Australia’s 2009 Defense White Paper – A Maritime Focus For Uncertain Times

As a significant medium power in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia inescapably is a participant in the most politically, economically, and strategically dynamic part of the world. The region is a vast and politically complex area, one that is increasingly prosperous, confident, volatile, and potentially dangerous in almost equal parts. Situated at the nexus of the Pacific and Indian oceans, Australia must share in both the opportunities and challenges thrown up by these two great maritime stages for geopolitical interaction.

Piracy – Garacad, the nastiest place you’ve never heard of — but will

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Best Defense – Garacad, the nastiest place you’ve never heard of — but will

Last week brought promising news of a first step in denying pirates the use of ports such as Garacad, along the middle of the Somali coastline. The ministers of the defense of the European Union announced an expansion of the mission of EU’s Operation Atalanta to “include control of the Somali ports where pirates are based as well as ‘neutralizing’ mother ships that allow the pirates to operate over 1,000 kilometers from the coast.”

US Navy – Adm. Roughead on Subs; Canadians on the Arctic Arms Race

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Defense Technology International – Adm. Roughead on Subs; Canadians on the Arctic Arms Race

Speaking at the Conference of Defense Associations’ gathering in the Canadian capital this morning, the U.S. Navy’s Adm. Gary Roughead stressed the need for the U.S. Navy to work with regional allies to protect the global commons from both state and non-state actors who seek to disrupt trade on the surface, and disrupt lines of communication and resource extraction on the ocean floor.