CIMSEC – U.S. Navy and Department of Defense bureaucratic and acquisition practices have frustrated innovations promoted by Chiefs of Naval Operations and the CNO Strategic Studies Groups over the past several decades.1 The Navy could have capabilities better suited to meet today’s challenges and opportunities had it pursued many of these innovations. This alternative history presents what the Navy could have been in 2019 had the Navy and DoD accepted the kinds of risks faced during the development of nuclear-powered ships, used similar prototyping practices, and accepted near-term costs for longer-term returns on that investment.
Monthly Archives: July 2021
On the Eve of Destruction
National Review – Jerry Hendrix on why a troubling new report on the Navy’s surface-warfare capabilities and culture matters.
Navy Adjusts F-35C Squadron Size to End Fighter Shortfall by 2025
USNI News – By 2025, the Navy will have solved its strike fighter shortfall in part by changing how it will field the F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter. Instead of two squadrons per air wing with 10 tails, the Navy will now field a single squadron with 14 tails.
Changing Taiwan ocean conditions could affect PLA’s submarines
South China Morning Post – The Chinese military has been warned that changes to the currents and temperatures off Taiwan’s east coast mean it will have to adapt its submarine warfare plans in the event of an invasion.
(Thanks to Alain)
Undersea Red: Captain Eric Sager on the Submarine Force’s New Aggressor Squadron
CIMSEC – CIMSEC shared questions with Captain Eric M. Sager to discuss the Submarine Force’s new Aggressor Squadron (AGGRON). In this conversation, Capt. Sager discusses what AGGRON is doing to enhance undersea lethality, the vital importance of connecting adversary doctrine to submarine force development, and how a dedicated Red team makes for much more realistic high-end combat training.
Here’s Our Best Look Yet At The Navy’s New Laser Dazzler System
War Zone – The Navy’s Optical Dazzling Interdictor, or ODIN, was photographed installed on the USS Stockdale during a replenishment in the Pacific.
New MQ-25 warrant officer specialty now open to sailor and civilian applicants
Navy Times – The Navy is poised to start selecting sailors and civilians this summer to become warrant officers and operate the MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based refueling drone.
British Carrier Joins Forces With U.S. Flattop And Amphibious Assault Ship In Gulf Of Aden
War Zone – HMS Queen Elizabeth joined American and Dutch warships in the Gulf of Aden, an important maritime crossroads.
Overcoming the Diego Garcia Stalemate
War on the Rocks – The lack of convergence in the interests of Mauritius, the United Kingdom, the United States, and India has produced a stalemate over the status of the Chagos Archipelago.
A New U.S. Maritime Strategy
CIMSEC – This article outlines the path that led to the U.S. Navy’s current strategic deficit and proposes a framework for a new maritime strategy, one that should be immediately developed along with the corresponding force structure assessment. With a modest 5% additional investment in the Navy over the next five years, 90% of the changes required by this strategy can be achieved.
Lawmakers Survey: 94% of Sailors Say ‘Damaging Operational Failures’ Related to Navy Culture, Leadership Problems
USNI News – The Navy’s surface warfare community is weighed with a culture that values administrative chores over training to fight, ship commanders that are micromanaged and an aversion to risk, according to a new survey overseen by a retired Navy admiral and Marine general at the behest of a group of Republican lawmakers. That culture was at least partially responsible for a string “of high-profile and damaging operational failures in the Navy’s Surface Warfare community,” the report found.
Strategic Failures Are Often Failures of Imagination
USNI Proceedings – The Washington Naval Treaties had different effects on interwar innovation in Britain, Japan, and the United States.
Naval Special Warfare Programs Update With USSOCOM At SOFIC 2021
Navy News – In a year’s time, progress has been made in all programs ranging from Combat Crafts to mini submersibles to Unmanned Underwater Vehicles as USSOCOM gears towards peer nation challenges. Naval News presents a summary of the NSW programs discussed at Virtual SOFIC 2021.
Marines Train With Handheld Swarming Drones That Can Also Be Fired From 40mm Grenade Launchers
War Zone – Images shared online show Marines conducting training exercises with the Drone40, a tiny quadcopter that can carry a wide variety of payloads.
Is the Moskva-Class Helicopter Cruiser the Best Naval Design For the Drone Era?
CIMSEC – A variety of factors, including the long range capabilities of modern artillery, the evolution of drones and missiles, together with the need for stand-off and distributed lethality, have combined to make space in the world’s navies for a great comeback of helicopter cruisers.
Wanna Know How To Stop China From Being A Bully? Watch A Christmas Story
1945 – Some opine that Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping bears a striking resemblance to Winnie the Pooh. Nah. He’s Scut Farkus, the bully from the 1983 comedy classic A Christmas Story.
Ballistic Missile Submarine USS Tennessee Emerges From Refit Sporting A Flank Sonar Array
War Zone – The three-decade-old submarine appears to have received a big addition to its sonar system during a protracted refit.
China reveals secret programme of unmanned drone submarines dating back to 1990s
South China Morning Post – A research team in China has unveiled an underwater drone that can recognise, follow and attack an enemy submarine without human instruction.
For America and Japan, Peace and Security Through Technology, Part 2
CIMSEC – The broader DOD (USN) and MOD (JMSDF) must better leverage emerging technologies and developing concomitant warfare concepts (doctrines) to adapt to the new way of fighting. Otherwise, the United States and Japan risk ceding the technology domain and consequently military superiority in the Indo-Pacific to revisionist China and revanchist Russia.
Remembering the Geography in Geopolitics and Indo-Pacific Discourse
Strategy Bridge – While a global superpower like the United States is capable of rapidly deploying small forces abroad, the logistical demands of sustaining such a force incurs greater costs and requires greater international acquiescence than that of a state within the same region. Thus, it remains an imperative that the United States cultivate and support regional allies as meaningful security partners, a fact made even more crucial as it enters a new era of great power rivalry.
Egypt Inaugurates A New Naval Base Near The Libyan Border
Naval News – Egypt inaugurated its newest naval base close to the Libyan border on July 3. The new naval base, “3rd of July Base”, is located in Gargoub on Egypt’s northwest coast, around 255 kilometers (160 miles) west of the Alexandria port.
VOA – L’Egypte inaugure une base navale stratégique en Méditerranée
(Thanks to Alain)
The Royal Navy Will Add 50 Percent More Surface-To-Air Missiles To Its Existing Destroyers
War Zone – New missiles, and more of them, are set to enhance the Daring class, especially in its vital role of protecting British aircraft carriers.
The Glutted Mariner Shortfall
CIMSEC – Based on data from the recent Maritime Workforce Working Group Report, there is an estimated 2,000 U.S. mariner shortfall for sustaining sealift in support of a major national mobilization lasting more than 6 months. This number could be even higher due to double counting mariners that are actively sailing and also serving as strategic sealift officers.
Clandestine Cargo: Hiding Sealift in Plain Sight
CIMSEC – To pace threats and ensure sealift survivability, America could relatively safely “smuggle” a certain amount of clandestinely loaded military materiel across contested oceans and through contested chokepoints, until reaching friendly offload destinations in theater.
South Korea Conducts Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Test
Naval News – South Korea tested for the first time a submarine launched ballistic missile from a submerged barge last week.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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