Breaking Defense – While the Navy’s modernization efforts lead the list of concerns Pentagon leadership is looking to tackle, the service’s top admiral is mapping a plan to get hypersonic missiles and lasers on ships as quickly as he can. 

1945 – The question put to me for today is: what are some aspects of the Western way of maritime war that opponents can exploit?

CIMSEC – The future of aviation is unmanned aircraft – whether remotely piloted, autonomously piloted, or a combination. There is simply no reason that a human needs to be in the cockpit of a modern, let alone next-generation aircraft. AI technology is progressing rapidly and consistently ahead of estimates. If the Navy waits to integrate AI into combat aircraft until it is mature, it will put naval aviation a decade or more behind.

War on the Rocks – This is a hell of a way to run a Navy. The Department of the Navy’s revolving door of senior civilian leadership over the past four years, including two secretaries and three acting secretaries, has done a disservice to U.S. national security. New leadership will soon arrive, but the department should not squander precious time on restarting strategic studies, force assessments, and process improvement programs. Instead, steady and strategic civilian leadership is required to make progress in the marathon implementation of integrated force redesign.

War Zone – A strong naval service operating routinely around the world has historically been viewed as the prerequisite for a liberal international order. Data support this idea, showing that maritime conflicts between countries are less frequent and managed more effectively when the U.S. achieves sea power dominance and helps to maintain naval parity in allies’ conflicts. Even eloquent advocates of moderating U.S. foreign policy ambition view the Navy as the military capability most essential for protecting America’s national interests.

War Zone – The Navy hopes that small resupply drones could revolutionize its at-sea logistics chains for carriers and other warships.

War on the Rocks – The United States should give up its quest for command of the maritime commons in the Western Pacific. The struggle is based on a false premise — that if the United States loses command of the seas, China will step in the fill the vacuum. In fact, even if the United States loses command of the maritime commons, China is not positioned to gain it. However, by positioning China as an existential threat, the United States is boxing itself in politically. The United States courts disaster when it overextends itself 

1945 – James Holmes asks does countering Iran promise exceptional rewards for the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon, do the U.S. armed forces command decisive superiority over China and Russia, and can the armed forces keep up a Gulf aircraft-carrier presence without running grave risks in the strategic competition with those great-power rivals? Unless the answer to all three questions is a throaty yes, the Biden Pentagon should rethink the U.S. military posture in the Middle East.

Naval News – Admiral Burke gave a webinar presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held in February, 2021 regarding the U.S. Navy’s presence and influence in the Atlantic and the Arctic oceans. Admiral Burke presented a different perspective compared to the tensions in the INDO-PACOM region and the Pacific Ocean.