CIMSEC – The intense focus on acquiring new and better combat capabilities with which to establish overmatch vis-à-vis emerging high-end competitors may have hampered Pentagon leadership from recognizing the fact that without sufficient strategic sealift, many modernization efforts may be for naught.
Yearly Archives: 2021
Photo tour of the nuclear-powered submarine “Kazan”
Military Informant – (Thanks to Alain)
American Strategic Sealift in Peer-To-Peer Conflicts: A Historical Retrospective, Part 1
CIMSEC – If the United States finds itself engaged in peer-to-peer competition and conflict, as it has in the past during the First World War, the Second World War, and during the Cold War, it will find itself in a position that it has not been in for over a century; of a nation lacking a dedicated sealift force and a merchant marine only a fraction of a percent necessary to carry its own commerce.
HMS Defender: Russian jets and ships shadow British warship
BBC – More than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships have shadowed a British warship sailing near Crimea.
China’s Latest Submarine Seems To Have Lifted Its Sail Design From Sweden’s New A26 Class
War Zone – The Type 039C Yuan submarine looks set to build on China’s existing, highly capable fleet of diesel-electric attacks subs and is likely even quieter.
Across the Expanse: The Sealift Dilemma in a War Against China
CIMSEC – China’s growing navy and increasingly hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific have the potential to disrupt alliances and create a unique logistical problem for expeditionary U.S. military operations.
US Navy facing early challenges in modernizing dry docks for submarine maintenance
Defense News – One of the U.S. Navy’s first major projects under a 20-year shipyard modernization effort is facing cost-overruns and schedule slips, an unexpected circumstance which the Navy is hoping to learn from as it continues through the $20-billion Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program.
Do U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officers Need A New Career Path?
1945 – James Holmes says yes.
F-35B Jets From HMS Queen Elizabeth Have Joined The Fight Against Daesh
Aviationist – UK Carrier Strike Group launching F-35B missions in support of Operation Shader from the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Positions of Two NATO Ships Were Falsified Near Russian Black Sea Naval Base
USNI News – The tracking data of two NATO warships was faked off the coast of a Russian controlled naval base in the Black Sea while the actual ships were moored 180 miles away.
The Fourth Arm of Defense: America’s Merchant Mariners
CIMSEC – From its earliest days when the American colonies were dependent on trade with Europe, the United States has been reliant on merchant shipping.
Russia Practices Destroying Enemy Carriers In Pacific Drills Sending U.S. Alarm Bells Ringing
War Zone – Russia has provided more details about its recent sea and air drills conducted in the central Pacific, which included mock attacks on a simulated aircraft carrier strike group.
Marines explain vision for fewer traditional amphibious warships, supplemented by new light amphib
Defense News – The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have finessed their requirement for amphibious ships and are now asking for 28 to 31 traditional amphibious ships that could flow in to support other expeditionary forces already operating during a conflict.
Synthetic Bioweapons Are Coming
USNI Proceedings – The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed critical weaknesses in the human domain of warfare at just the moment technology has emerged that gives bad actors new power to exploit those weaknesses. Developments in synthetic biology will create next-generation bioweapons, “human-domain fires” that will fundamentally change the strategic environment and create a threat naval planners must consider now, before it is encountered at sea.
Attack Class Submarine : French President And Australian PM Confirm Strong Partnership
Naval News – French president and Australian prime minister confirmed the strategic partnership the two nations share, and the importance of the Attack Class Submarine.
Navy Struggling to Retain Surface Warfare Officers; SWOs Want More Training, Specialization
USNI News – Surface warfare officers are leaving the Navy at a higher rate than other unrestricted line officers despite reforms in training the service has instituted since two fatal collisions in 2017.
U.S. Marines Experimenting With Tomahawk For Land-Attack And Anti-Ship Missions
Naval News – According to the United States Marine Corps’ (U.S.M.C.), Fiscal Year 2022 Unfunded Priority List Request PDF, line one requests funds for 35 Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) for the unmanned JLTV “ROGUE Fires” NMESIS program, and line three requests $96 million infunds for 48 Tactical Tomahawks.
Defeat is Possible
War on the Rocks – If the United States is to have a reasonable hope of winning a war, it needs to think very seriously about what it would be like to lose.
Does Biden Have The Right Naval Strategy To Take On Russia And China? History Has An Answer.
1945 – Having endured setbacks during the War of American Independence, Great Britain found wise political leadership—leadership that prepared the empire for tests to come during decades of war with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Congress and the Biden administration should take note. If the United States genuinely means to keep its commitments to allies across the globe while acting as custodian of freedom of the sea, it must field maritime forces adequate to those purposes. Otherwise, its interests and world standing will suffer—perhaps grievously so.
Navy releases long-range shipbuilding plan that drops emphasis on 355 ships, lays out fleet design priorities
Defense News – The Navy submitted an update to Congress to its annual long-range shipbuilding plans, one that takes a step back from the much-talked-about standard of a 355-ship fleet and instead lays out priorities for a future distributed naval force.
Made in Latin America: Domestically Manufactured Ecuadorian and Peruvian Ships Meet in the Pacific
CIMSEC – The era of “Made in Latin America” ships is here.
Russia’s Newest Submarines Are “On Par With Ours” According To Senior American General
War Zone – The head of U.S. Northern Command says that Russia’s Yasen class submarines are set to present a “persistent proximate threat” to the United States.
For America and Japan, Peace and Security Through Technology, Part 1
CIMSEC – This is part one of a two-part series on the urgent need for a bilateral technology roadmap to field and sustain a lethal, resilient, and rapidly adapting technology-enabled Joint Force that can seamlessly conduct high-end maritime operations in the Indo-Pacific.
The Army Lays Out Plans For Its New Intelligence Gathering Jet
War Zone – The U.S. Army has an ambitious scheme for a new surveillance aircraft to pick out ground targets at extended ranges.
Countering China’s Maritime Insurgency With Coast Guard Deployable Specialized Forces
CIMSEC – Losing the green water sea control challenge in the South China Sea could sideline US-led efforts in Asia. The US Coast Guard’s Deployable Specialized Forces can step up to provide strategic support for INDOPAC command.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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