CIMSEC – The U.S. Navy is now at a force design and readiness crisis point not seen since Admiral Elmo Zumwalt took the helm in 1970. Admiral Lisa Franchetti should take the initiative to develop a comprehensive, operational level of war maritime strategy that will determine fleet missions, which will subsequently inform a specific fleet size and force design.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
Philippines to remove barrier placed by China in South China Sea
Reuters – The Philippines will take “all appropriate actions to cause the removal of barriers” in a disputed area of the South China Sea, the country’s national security advisor said on Monday. The Philippines on Sunday shared images of a floating barrier blocking fishing vessel access in the Scarborough Shoal with Chinese coast guard ships nearby, and said it would protect the rights of its fishermen.
South Korea To Develop New VLS And SLBM For Its Submarines
Naval News – According to the request for proposal posted by the South Korean Agency for Defense Development, the new VLS prototype’s Required Operational Capability involves delivering a submarine launched ballistic missile with an ejection weight of at least 10 tons.
The shadowy Chinese firm that owns chunks of Cambodia
BBC – Fifteen years after it began, there is still not much to see of the Dara Sakor Seashore Resort in southern Cambodia.
Greyzone Lawfare: Russia and the Voyages of the SPARTA IV
RUSI – Russia’s likely use of the SPARTA IV, an alleged civilian vessel, to transport military materiel from Tartus, Syria to its port in Novorossiysk is yet another example of Moscow’s penchant for manipulating international law to satisfy its wartime agenda.
Navy Destroyer Looks Significantly Different After Major Upgrade
War Zone – The SEWIP Block III alters the Arleigh Burke destroyer’s appearance fairly dramatically via huge new extensions onto its superstructure.
Royal Navy nuclear deterrent submarines conducting increasingly long patrols
Navy Lookout – On 11th September a Vanguard-class submarine returned home to Faslane following a patrol lasting 195 days. Here we look at the background and implications of these extended periods at sea.
Ukraine Strikes Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet HQ in Latest Attack on Crimea
USNI News – Ukrainian forces attacked Sevastapol, Crimea, Friday, damaging the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Navy brings unmanned vessels to Japan to bolster fleet integration
Defense News – Four unmanned ships are now operating out of Japan for the first time, as part of the U.S. Navy’s Integrated Battle Problem 23.2 exercise aimed at folding these unmanned vessels into routine fleet operations.
The corvette “The sharp” was put into operation
BMPD – On September 14, 2023, a solemn ceremony of raising the flag of the Russian Navy was held in Vladivostok on the corvette “The Sharp” of the modified project 20380 (plant number 2104), built by PJSC “Amur Shipyard” (ASZ, part of JSC “United Shipbuilding Corporation”) in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. This is the fourth corvette of project 20380 built on the ASH for the Pacific Fleet. (In Russian)
(Thanks to Alain)
PLA conducts blitz drill led by aircraft carrier Shandong around Taiwan island
Global Times – With the return of the Shandong aircraft carrier group and other warships, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has seemingly wrapped up its five-day blitz exercise around the island of Taiwan, which analysts said on Saturday was characterized by its large scale, joint operations and short duration in what could be a new tactic.
Germany, Norway Begin Construction of Identical Submarines
The Defense Post – Germany and Norway have begun constructing identical submarines to boost their maritime defense and strengthen military collaboration.
(Thanks to Alain)
Alexa Write My OpOrd: Promise and Pitfalls of Machine Learning for Commanders in Combat
CIMSEC – If used unwisely, without a solid understanding of what decisions machine learning (ML) will support, the joint force may be playing a rigged game against a peer adversary. ML-enabled capabilities can absorb large amounts of data, process and organize it, and generate insights for humans who work at a relative snail’s pace. However, these nascent tools cannot reason and interpret words or events as a competent military professional can. As strategic competition between the United States and China intensifies over Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Russian-Ukraine war, and other geopolitical issues, American political and military leaders must develop a better understanding of when and how to use ML to support joint force planning, execution, and assessment in combat, lest U.S. service members pay an ungodly sum of the butcher’s bill.
Further Analysis Of North Korea’s New Missile Submarines
Covert Shores – A major question is whether ‘Hero Kim Gun-ok’ is the same submarine which was showing in 2019 when Kim Jong Un visited Sinpo. That boat, known in the West as Sinpo-C, was undergoing conversion to carry missiles. The temptation is to say that it is probably the same submarine. However, a comparison if the available imagery identifies significant and numerous differences.
(Thanks to Alain)
At-Sea Political Officers Could Pose Problems for Chinese Navy in War, Experts Say
USNI News – While the Chinese Navy has made progress operating at sea, institutional issues between its military and political leadership could pose problems in a wartime scenario.
Cargo Ship Crew Evacuated after Explosion Near Romanian Danube Port
MarineLink – The crew of a Togo-flagged general cargo ship bound for one of Ukraine’s Danube river ports was evacuated early on Wednesday after an explosion on board near the Romanian port of Sulina.
(Thanks to Alain)
Tumult in the Deep: The Unfolding Maritime Competition Over Undersea Infrastructure
War Zone – With an average depth of about 4,000 meters (or about 2.5 miles), most of the ocean and seafloor are out of sight and out of mind. However, trends suggest that the deep ocean and seabed are poised to rise in importance – both physically and as a venue for Information Warfare (IW) – due to the intertwined nature of critical infrastructure, resources, and national security. Undersea infrastructure is rapidly growing and populations are becoming ever more dependent on its utility. This infrastructure growth is posing novel challenges and opportunities for competition and national security. Navies must astutely follow the development of undersea infrastructure as they may be called upon to defend, attack, or influence it.
Special Ops C-130s Using Beaches As Runways Eyed For Pacific Fight
War Zone – MC-130s operating from beaches could provide critical logistics in the Pacific where runways are few in number and under threat.
Revamping Fleet Design and Maritime Strategy – An Integrated Naval Campaign for Advantage
CIMSEC – The robotic age of warfare enables a much closer relationship between international partners using smaller, more numerous systems for maritime security and creating a lethal warfighting advantage by increasing surveillance, targeting, and weapon capacity in critical regions.13 Leveraging this relationship is the basis for a maritime strategy to maintain integrated forces with partners forward, while retaining major elements of the traditional fleet to preserve sea control along the ocean’s logistics lines. It can become the maritime component of a maritime nation’s national strategy, executed through a well-planned and worldwide integrated naval campaign.
Russian Submarine Shows Massive Damage After Ukrainian Strike
War Zone – Photos of major damage to a Russian Navy submarine attacked while in dry dock in Crimea point to the boat being a complete write-off.
American coast guard vessel is sailing into Russian Arctic waters. Almost at same time, Moscow launches naval exercise in the area
Barents Observer – Only few days after U.S icebreaking coast guard ship Healy sailed through the Bering Strait and into the Chukchi Sea as part of a 7-week westbound voyage along the Russian Arctic coast, the Russian Navy started drills in the area on “protection of the Northern Sea.”
A Korean Expansion: The Future Of The Philippine Fleet
Naval News – From sales to donations and even upgrades of older vessels, South Korea has taken the lead role in modernizing the Philippine Navy.
The B-21 Raider Is Far More Than Just A Stealth Bomber
1945 – James Holmes writes that if successful, in short, the B-21 will present U.S. and allied commanders the opportunity to exploit command of the air before winning it.
The future of underwater warfare
Council on Geostrategy – Professor Andrew Lambert writes that while the prospect of AUV submarines powered by AI roaming the deep ocean, striking submarine cables, ships and land targets at will may add a frisson of uncertainty to current anxieties, the technology is costly and offers limited return for continental powers focused on sea denial and area defence. It is more likely that, in the short term, AUVs develop into effective components of mixed underwater and three-dimensional security and combat forces which will enhance sea control, rather than challenge it. AUVs operating as fugitives in a hostile ocean will find it difficult to achieve tactical, let alone strategic effect.
Ukraine Situation Report: Rumors Swirl Of New Attacks On Black Sea Fleet
War Zone – Two Russian warships appeared in Sevastopol under tow but without clear signs of damage, while others remain unaccounted for.
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