– War on the Rocks – The Commandant says the Marine Corps is not optimized to meet the bold demands of the National Defense Strategy.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
5 takeaways: The US Navy’s new top officer issues his orders
– Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s top officer released his first planning guidance Wednesday, the first major document released since ascending to the office earlier this year.
Warship seizes Iranian missile components
– Navy Times – A Navy warship has seized a “significant cache” of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.
U.S. Navy Plans To Stop Buying P-8 Poseidon Sub Hunters Despite Growing Undersea Threat
– Forbes – The U.S. Navy’s 2021 budget proposal apparently will request no new money to purchase the service’s only long-range anti-submarine aircraft, despite a growing undersea threat and a shortfall in aircraft designed to cope with that threat.
The Future of Aircraft Carriers: Consider the Air Wing, Not the Platform
– CIMSEC – Robert Rubel asks what is it that the air wing, irrespective of the range of its aircraft, is supposed to do? That is a function of the ability of aircraft to penetrate to a launch point, and the ability of the weapons they deliver to achieve the effects needed. A valid discussion of those factors involves much more than just “bombs on target.”
China’s New Surveillance Blimp In The South China Sea Is Likely Just The Beginning
– War Zone – Tethered sensor-laden aerostats are a low-cost way for China to expand its situational awareness in the region and to help defend its island outposts.
US Navy awards largest-ever shipbuilding contract to Electric Boat for new attack submarines
– Defense News – The U.S. Navy on Monday awarded its largest-ever shipbuilding contract to General Dynamics Electric Boat for construction of nine Virginia-class attack submarines, eight of which will have 84-foot section that boosts the boat’s strike missile capacity.
The Moor-pedo: A Strategic Underwater Weapon to Re-shape Naval Conflict
– USNI Blog – A new breed of strategic underwater weapons unmanned has the potential to re-shape not just mining but also anti-submarine and surface warfare.
USS Harry S. Truman Enters U.S. 6th Fleet Region After Delayed Deployment Start
– USNI News – USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) crossed into the eastern Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, entering the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility as part of a deployment widely believed to include relieving USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in the Middle East.
Spencer’s firing is latest in string of disasters for US Navy leadership
– Defense News – Last week’s ouster of Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer marked the latest in a string of leadership disasters for a beleaguered service, one that has seen a slew of admirals and senior captains reprimanded, fired or had their careers cut short for everything from ethics violations to poor performance on their watch.
A Bump in the Belt and Road: Tanzania Pushes Back Against Chinese Port Project
– CIMSEC – China’s Maritime Silk Road ambitions suffered a setback after Tanzanian officials refused to budge over stalled negotiations to build what would be the largest deep-water port in Africa.
U.S. Shoulders Steep Price to Protect Merchant Ships in Strait Of Hormuz
– USNI News – The Navy pays a steep price keeping an aircraft carrier with escorts on station to deter attacks on oil tanker traffic operating in and around the Persian Gulf as part of the United States’ “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.
German Navy chief of staff: The naval force is preparing for challenges beyond 2020
– Defense News – The German government’s 2016 defense whitepaper picked up on the fragility and volatility of the political and security landscape around Europe shown in recent years and provided a new strategic outline for the German armed forces and the German Navy. Strategically we have to equally balance collective and national defense with the tasks of international crisis management.
Inside China’s “People’s War” Plan for the South China Sea
– National Interest – James Holmes writes that China is rushing ahead with preparations to ensure it would gain the upper hand in any armed conflict over its territorial claims.
War Studies Primer
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China and Japan Went to War 125 Years Ago (Beijing Is Still Trying to Reverse the Results)
– National Interest – James Holmes writes that in a day’s fighting, then, the Imperial Japanese Navy upended the region’s Sinocentric pecking order. In turn, the Sino-Japanese War set in motion a maritime strategic contest—sometimes peaceful, sometimes not—that persists to this day.
The Icebreaker Gap Doesn’t Mean America is Losing in the Arctic
– War on the Rocks – Using relative icebreaker fleet sizes as a key metric for the state of strategic competition in the Arctic is flawed. While they are an important platform, icebreakers do little to create or address the most commonly identified defense challenges in the region. Instead, analysts should focus on the nature of the military risks in the Arctic, the role of allies and partners, and economic interests in a broader geopolitical context rather than comparing specific capabilities.
Chinese ships and radar boost navies of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
– South China Morning Post – China is reported to be boosting its arms links with South Asian nations, with further supply of an advanced anti-stealth radar to Pakistan as well as frigates to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
China, Russia and South Africa team up for first joint naval drill
– South China Morning Post – The Chinese navy has joined its Russian and South African counterparts in a joint exercise near Cape Town, expanding its reach to the southern tip of Africa for the first time.
The First Narco Submarine Ever Seized Off A European Coast Is A Monster
– War Zone – This is the first time authorities in Europe have intercepted one of these vessels, which have been a staple in Latin American drug smuggling.
US Navy Lab Investigates Innovative Non-Lethal Boat Stopping Technology
– Naval News – Maritime Vessel Stopping Occlusion Technologies, or MVSOT, is a promising non-lethal tool for the warfighter to significantly slow or stop an on-coming target vessel. The MVSOT team specifically focuses on technologies that limit or remove the ability of a propulsion system to provide thrust to a boat, but in a reversible manner.
Warmaking by Remote Control Is a False Choice
– National Interest – So it seems remote war is easy to wage, hard to win, and carries hidden moral hazards. Beware the allure of the latest gadgetry. It cannot exorcise the ghosts of wars past—or present.
Boxer ARG, 11th MEU Wrap Up 5th, 7th Fleet Deployment
– USNI News – After an eight-month deployment to the Middle East and Indo-Pacific, one thing the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit won’t offload this week is a platoon of M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.
The commissioning of the submarine B-274 “Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky” project 06363
– BMPD – On November 25, 2019, the flag was solemnly hoisted on the large submarine B-274 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky of project 636.3 (serial number 01614) , built by Admiralty Shipyards JSC in St. Petersburg for the Pacific Fleet.
(Thanks to Alain)
