Center for Maritime Strategy – Bipartisan, bicameral legislation is now in play on Capitol Hill to give U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry the boost it needs to both compete with China and better serve national security needs.
Yearly Archives: 2024
China’s Military Power: The Capability Forest Beyond Corruption Trees
1945 – This week, the Department of Defense released its twenty-fourth annual China Military Power Report (CMPR). Here are the most important revelations from its 182 pages that informed professionals need to know.
Serious About Building Maritime Capacity in the High Latitudes? Look South
CIMSEC – If the United States is serious about building capacity to operate at-sea in the high latitudes, it is time to look south.
What the Pentagon’s New Report on Chinese Military Power Reveals About Capabilities, Contest and Consequences
War on the Rocks – China’s military is both corrupt and increasingly capable. Yesterday, the Pentagon released its 24th China Military Power Report since Congress initiated its mandate in 2000, offering revelations unavailable elsewhere. The document reveals new details of the most dramatic military buildup since World War II, ongoing challenges that Chairman Xi Jinping and his party army are addressing with determination, and context to interpret what it all means. The bottom line: endemic corruption and lingering personnel and organizational weaknesses must be weighed against the Chinese Communist Party’s unrivaled ability to marshal resources and its ongoing production and deployment of advanced military systems on an unmatched industrial scale. Xi commands a system riven by brutal elite power struggles, but he is determined to pursue control over Taiwan with an increasingly potent toolkit. With deadly seriousness, he continues to advance sweeping organizational reforms to maximize relevant warfighting capabilities in fulfillment of his Centennial Military Building Goal of 2027, even at the cost of short-term churn and challenges.
Pentagon Warns Of China’s Increasing Capacity To Project Naval Power Far From Home
The War Zone – China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has expanded its global reach and moved more regularly and in greater mass beyond its regional waters in the past year as it continues to roll out warships and logistics support vessels that provide the force with greater range. That’s one finding from the unclassified version of an annual Pentagon’s report to Congress on China’s military that was released Wednesday.
What a NATO-Skeptic U.S. means for NATO Maritime Security
Center for Maritime Strategy – NATO must project power to continue to deter its great power adversaries. European maritime security will depend on NATO states’ ability and willingness to invest in the naval assets necessary to project power, such as aircraft carriers, submarines, and large surface combatants. The tension perceived by NATO defense planners between maritime and continental strategic priorities is an illusion. Decreased reliance on the United States can even be beneficial for the future of the alliance.
Russia to receive newest nuclear submarine Arkhangelsk with Kalibr Missiles in summer 2025
Army Recognition – According to information published by Russian sources on December 6, 2024, the Russian Navy is preparing to enhance its underwater warfare capabilities with the addition of the Arkhangelsk, a multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine, slated for delivery in the summer of 2025. This submarine, part of the modernized Project 885M Yasen-M class, is being constructed by Sevmash, a division of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).
(Thanks to Alain)
Navy’s Cruiser Modernization A Lesson In How Not To Run Such A Program: GAO Report
The War Zone – For the cost of adding relatively short extra service life to its three modernized cruisers, the Navy could have nearly bought two brand-new destroyers.
India to Build Two Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarines at New Visakhapatnam Facility, Construction to Begin by End of 2029
Defence.In – India has approved the construction of two indigenously designed nuclear attack submarines.
(Thanks to Alain)
Landing Ship Medium Program Stalled Over Price, Navy Cancels Industry RFP
USNI News – The development of a new landing ship key to the Marines Corps’ island-hopping strategy in the Western Pacific is on hold due to Navy concerns over cost.
Russia Testing NATO’s Baltic Security
Reuters – Russia is disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers will respond, a Polish admiral overseeing the area said.
(Thanks to Alain)
World First: Ukraine’s Newest Naval Drone In Unique Attack On Russian Positions
Naval News – The pace of innovation in the drone war in Ukraine is like aviation during the first world war. In the same way that the aircraft of 1914 are incomparable to those of 1918, the drones of today are so much more sophisticated and capable than those of 2022. This is especially true in the naval war in the Black Sea. The latest Ukrainian surface drone (USV) pushes the envelope even further.
Collins-class submarines return to Projects of Concern list over sustainment worries
PSNews – The Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of six Collins-class conventional submarines has been placed on the Federal Government’s Projects of Concern (POC) list over questions about the boats’ sustainment.
(Thanks to Alain)
Stopping Flow of Weapons to Houthis Key to Halting Merchant Attacks, Says Fleet Forces Commander
USNI News – Stopping Flow of Weapons to Houthis Key to Halting Merchant Attacks, Says Fleet Forces Commander
Interdicting the flow of missiles, drones and other weapons and parts from Iran to the Yemen-based Houthis is key to keeping Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea safer for merchant shipping, Fleet Forces commander said Thursday. Adm. Daryl Caudle, speaking at a Navy League event, said, “we just can’t cede that chokepoint” to the Iranian-backed Houthis in what had been one of the most trafficked commercial sea lanes.
The Royal Navy’s fading presence in the Middle East
Navy Lookout – Until recently, the RN maintained a meaningful force of at least 6 ships based in Bahrain. For a variety of reasons, this force may soon just comprise of two ships.
Chinese Amphibious Warfare: Taiwan Targeted, Scenarios Swirling
The Diplomat – Part two of a two-part series detailing China’s amphibious warfare and the implications for Taiwan.
China’s Amphibious Warfare: History, Doctrine, and Forces
The Diplomat – Part one of a two-part series detailing China’s amphibious warfare and the implications for Taiwan.
Constellation Frigate Design Will be Ready in May, Second Yard Could Come in FY 2027
USNI News – The Constellation-class frigate’s design should be mature enough for the shipbuilder to enter continuous production by May, the Navy’s top acquisition executive said this week.
Counter-Drone Systems For Yachts Are Growing In Popularity
The War Zone – The growing threat of surveillance and even attacks by drones are pushing the richest among us to equip their yachts with counter-drone tech.
Israel Launches Reshef-Class Corvette Program
Naval News – Israel’s Ministry of Defense today inked the contract to start the Reshef-class corvette program. Five vessels are being procured for the Israeli Navy. They will be built locally by Israel Shipyards but some hull modules will be fabricated overseas by a U.S. shipbuilder.
‘LCS is Back’ with Firepower Upgrades Including New Missile Launchers, Says SECNAV Del Toro
USNI News – The Navy is planning a lethality upgrade on both classes of the Littoral Combat Ship that includes the ability to launch larger missiles like the SM-6.
BRACOLPER at 50: A Model Multinational Riverine Exercise
CIMSEC – Multinational naval exercises occur frequently across the globe. They are effective confidence-building mechanisms that promote integration, cooperation, and trust while improving the participating personnel’s capabilities and expertise. The most prominent naval exercises in the Western Hemisphere are the US-sponsored UNITAS, SOLIDAREX, and TRADEWINDS. However, naval exercises do not solely occur at sea but also occur in inland bodies of water. Enter the multinational riverine exercise BRACOLPER, which, as the name suggests, brings together the navies from Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.
Why the U.S. Navy Must Fight Rust as Hard as Rivals
National Interest – The U.S. Navy’s failure to maintain a clean, rust-free appearance on vessels like the USS Green Bay risks undermining its strategic credibility. In the global competition for perceptions, visuals of professionalism inspire confidence among allies and deter adversaries.
USS Stockdale, USS O’Kane Shoot Down Houthi Weapons While Escorting U.S. Merchant Ships, Says CENTCOM
USNI News – U.S. destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG-106) and USS O’Kane (DDG-77) shot down a number of Houthi weapons in the Gulf of Aden between Monday and Tuesday.
Archipelago of Resistance – The Philippines is Rising to Meet the China Threat But It Has a Crucial Year Ahead
War on the Rocks – Of all the flashpoints facing the Trump administration on Jan. 20, 2025, China’s campaign of intimidation and maritime occupation in the South China Sea may prove the most concerning for U.S. interests and preventing war in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing has spent decades occupying, building, and militarizing islands in those resource-rich waters through which trillions of dollars of trade pass annually. China’s incessant maritime incursions have ignored the sovereignty of its neighbors, violated international law, and given it strategic footholds for exercising political, economic, and military leverage. The aggressiveness of China’s expansionism has spiked in the last 18 months, with the Philippines as the focal point of its ire. Beijing’s timing is not coincidental. The Philippines, a mutual defense treaty ally of the United States, is entering a pivotal 12-month period in which a convergence of critical issues promises seismic implications for not only its national security, defense, and foreign policy trajectory but also its internal stability. As Beijing has pushed the region to the brink, it has dragged the Philippines to center stage.
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