– War Zone – China’s navalized version of its Black Hawk clone breaks cover. Its capability is badly needed within the growing People’s Liberation Army Navy fleet.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
About-face: US Army embraces ocean fleet
– Defense News – After years of talk of divestiture, the U.S. Army may be resigning itself to recapitalizing its watercraft fleet, which would be used to unload supplies and gear from ships in areas with destroyed or unimproved ports.
Despite rising awareness of critical US sealift shortfalls, solutions are elusive
– Defense News – America’s sealift fleet is responsible for providing the military with transportation across oceans, but despite seemingly universal acknowledgement that the fleet is in trouble, the current recapitalization plan significantly lags behind what the military needs to avoid a collapse in capacity, projected to start in 2024 if the current situation holds.
Will ground-based hypersonic missiles replace aircraft carriers in the defense budget?
– Defense News – A debate on the future of aircraft carriers is roiling the U.S. Department of Defense, and it is increasingly spilling out into the open.
How Worried Should the U.S. Navy Be About Chinese Sea Mines?
– National Interest – Many threats can hide beneath the sea.
A U.S. Navy Nightmare: What If China Built a ‘Battleship’?
– National Interest – S’pose China built a battleship. What would such a sea creature look like, and how would it fare in the bare-knuckles world of naval diplomacy and warfare? This is no mere flight of fancy.
Sea Training: An Oft Overlooked Strategic Asset
– RUSI – Rumours abound that the Royal Navy is to gut its globally respected Operational Sea Training organisation in order to reallocate cash across defence. It is not simply the UK’s martial reputation that would be at stake; the evidence states that operational sea training is a crucial asset on which the Royal Navy should not skimp.
Now is Not the Time for a FONOP in the Arctic
– War on the Rocks – Russia and the United States have started a game of chicken in the Arctic that could lead to an unnecessary military conflict.
CBO: Navy Shipbuilding Plan Off — By $200 Billion
– Breaking Defense – The Navy faces huge hurdles in trying to get to 355 ships – but a new shipbuilding plan due in coming weeks could change the whole calculus.
The Lethal and Affordable Three-Tier Fleet
– USNI Blog – It is well known that the current, largely homogeneous, surface combatant fleet is not an affordable force structure for the future…One potential solution to this problem is to go beyond the current high-low framework to a three-tier, high-medium-low fleet.
Confederate Sea Denial and Tactics of Asymmetric Naval Warfare
– CIMSEC – The future U.S. way of war must innovate beyond the Second World War strategy of out-producing adversaries, since the U.S. has fewer shipyards and its rivals may have greater industrial capacity. The Confederate States Navy provides an excellent example of an under-industrialized innovative underdog struggling to defend itself against an industrial juggernaut.
The Counterrevolution in Naval Affairs
– National Interest – Navy officials must formulate a concept that combines U.S. Marine and Navy forces, scatters them around the world, and yet preserves their unity as fighting forces despite physical distance and hostile efforts to fragment them.
The Secretary of Hyperwar
– USNI Proceedings – This fictional vignette, with an analytical intermission, explores the role of the Secretary of Defense managing a high-intensity conflict with China during the late 2020s.
The Man Who Couldn’t Take It Anymore
– The Atlantic – “I had no choice but to leave,” General James Mattis says of his decision to resign as President Trump’s secretary of defense.
With the Osprey Waiting on Deck, Delivery Service to Carriers is About to Change
– Air and Space – Farewell to the Grumman C-2 Greyhound, which has been running supplies at sea for more than 50 years.
Russia’s New Submarines Are Dangerous. But How Would They Be Used in War?
– National Interest – Where the Russian navy is all but abandoning the production of new aircraft carriers, cruisers and other “blue-water” surface warships, it has recommitted to sustaining a large fleet of big, long-range submarines. Why?
U.S. Intelligence Agency Eyes The Navy’s MQ-25 Drone For Maritime Surveillance Missions
– War Zone – The Navy’s primary task for this unmanned aircraft will be aerial refueling, but it’s clear that there is interest in expanding its mission set.
Top Marine’s Force Changing Plans Prompt Talk Of Smaller Ships, F-35 Buy Changes
– War Zone – The Commandant of the Marine Corps has a vision for a new way of fighting future wars and making regular deployments abroad.
Marine 2030 Force Design Is Nearly Complete; Concepts Now Being Modeled, Tested
– USNI News – The Marine Corps is nearly done drawing out what its 2030 force will look like, and the service will spend the next month or so doing a significant amount of modeling and simulation to ensure they’ve got it right, the commandant said.
North Korea tests submarine-capable missile fired from sea
– BBC – North Korea has confirmed it test-fired a new type of a ballistic missile, a significant escalation from the short-range tests it has conducted since May.
Marines Focused on China in Developing New Way to Fight in the Pacific
– USNI News – The Marine Corps continues its drive to become a more agile and maritime-focused force that can respond to tensions quickly and buy decision space for military leaders and diplomats, the commandant said.
China unveils new H-6N bomber with extended range, extra capabilities
– Global Times – China’s latest bomber, the H-6N with refueling capability, made its debut at the National Day parade in Beijing on Tuesday, and Chinese military analysts said that the new bomber’s ability to take aerial refueling can give it a much longer operational range compared to its predecessor H-6K.
Philippine minister takes to Twitter to order diplomatic protest over Chinese ships
– South China Morning Post – Beijing is stepping up its activities in the disputed South China Sea amid a swell of patriotic pride sparked by National Day celebrations, and it wants the world to see.
Swedish navy returns to vast underground HQ amid Russia fears
– The Guardian – Sweden’s navy HQ is returning to a vast underground cold war fortress designed to withstand a nuclear attack, in what has been seen as a defensive move against a resurgent Russia.
China Showcases Stealthier Sharp Sword Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Configuration
– War Zone – The rear of the design on display during a parade to mark the 70th founding of Communist China is completely different from an earlier prototype.
