RUSI – Russian and, particularly, Chinese capabilities now pose greater threats to Western air power than in 2020.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
Chinese, Russian, Iranian Warships Gather Near South Africa for Multilateral Drill
USNI News – Warships from China, Russia and Iran amassed in the waters off South Africa to kick off a weeklong drill alongside the South African National Defense Force.
Latest Pentagon Report: China’s Military Advancing Amid Churn
War on the Rocks – Simultaneous disruption and progress, with a relentless Taiwan-focused capability development deadline.
That’s the overriding theme of the 25th edition of the Department of Defense’s China Military Power Report, released on Dec. 23, 2025. Despite extensive leadership purges and ongoing disciplinary investigations across China’s military and defense industry, the 2025 report concludes that China continues to make progress toward General Secretary Xi Jinping’s 2027 “Centennial Military Building Goal” and associated warfighting capabilities against Taiwan.
Big Chinese drones, European fighters: the 2026 combat-aircraft outlook
ASPI – Bill Sweetman’s military aviation predictions for 2026.
Ukraine Gets Latvia’s Fog Surface Drone
Covert Shores – Ukraine has received the Fog surface drone (USV) from Latvian firm NEWT21. The small vessel is intended primarily for patrolling and surveillance, search and rescue missions, and has a offensive possibility. It is marketed for both sea and riverine use, and both offensive and defensive missions.
What Would Mahan Think About Trump’s Venezuela Strategy?
National Interest – James Holmes writes that naval theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan would likely be baffled by Trump’s war on drugs—but would be instantly familiar with his broader geopolitical motives in the Caribbean.
Italian Navy discloses Maritime Counter-Terrorism Training and more SF activities
Naval News – With the rising concern about sabotages to critical infrastructures at sea, terrorism and maritime security, the training activities and participation to operations of the Italian Navy special forces operational group known as Gruppo Operativo Incursori (GOI), have surfaced in more occasions in the recent past. The GOI together with the Divers Operational Group (GOS), represent the two souls of the COMSUBIN (COmando raggruppamento SUBacquei e INcursori) “Teseo Tesei” command based in the Gulf of La Spezia.
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Russia-bound tanker reportedly attacked in Black Sea
Lloyds List – A Russia-bound tanker was reportedly attacked on Wednesday while sailing off the Turkish coast in the Black Sea.
CMSI Note 18: Flooding the Zone: The Use of Civilian Landing Craft (LCTs) in PLA Amphibious Operations
China Maritime Studies Institute – In July and August 2025, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) employed a unique type of civilian deck cargo ship known as a Landing Craft Tank (LCT) to transport military vehicles directly to shore as part of an amphibious landing exercise. While civilian deck cargo ships of this type have been observed in previous PLA over-the-shore logistics exercises, they had only been used to transport vehicles and equipment from port-to-port—simulating the transport of forces into a captured port—not directly to an unimproved beachhead. If the PLA develops the ability to coordinate and employ significant numbers of civilian LCTs to transport forces directly onto Taiwan beaches, it could significantly improve its over the-shore assault capacities and logistics capabilities.
Electric Boat receives new floating dry dock to support Columbia-class submarines
Naval News – The new dry dock, designated “Atlas” was announced as received by General Dynamics Electric Boat’s primary shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The primary purpose of Atlas is targeted towards supporting the construction of the Columbia-class of Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBN) currently under construction.
Is This Russian Rescue Ship Really “Putin’s New Yacht?”
The War Zone – There are longstanding rumors that the Project 23700 class ship may have a secondary function as a luxurious leisure vessel.
Coast Guard Seizes Russian-flagged Tanker in North Atlantic, Second Tanker in Caribbean
USNI News – A U.S. Coast Guard team and additional federal law enforcement, with support from the U.S. military, seized a Russian-flagged oiler tanker that the U.S. says violated American sanctions, coinciding with the seizure of a second tanker in the Caribbean.
SWO Specialization – Specialize By Platform Groups To Win The High End Fight Part 1
CIMSEC – To win the fight against a peer adversary, the navy’s surface warfare officer (SWO) community must display a level of warfighting proficiency – one of excellence – not yet seen in many years. The collisions of 2017 and continued near misses and actual mishaps since, such as the grounding of USS Howard (DDG 83) in 2023 and the Harry S. Truman (HST) Carrier Strike Group (CSG) friendly fire incident in 2024, reveal that the surface force lacks a high level of operating proficiency, in terms of both shiphandling and tactical skill. However, while sweeping reforms were swiftly implemented to increase shiphandling proficiency, the SWO community has not shown the same kind of fervor to implement the sweeping changes needed to dramatically increase tactical proficiency.
Italy’s DDX Destroyer Tender Path Starts Now
ItaMilRadar – Italy has formally set the procurement machinery in motion for two new-generation destroyers—labelled DDG in official language and widely referred to as DDX. This is not just another shipbuilding line item. By signalling a negotiated procedure run through OCCAR and already framing Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (OSN) as the unavoidable industrial counterpart, the Ministry of Defence is effectively locking in the governance, the industrial architecture, and the strategic intent of Italy’s next “high-end” surface combatants.
(Thanks to Alain)
Design of floating dry docks for Royal Navy submarines underway
Navy Lookout – The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that project EUSTON is progressing towards a future manufacturing contract, subject to completion of detailed design work and a procurement process.
The Russian cargo shipwrecked in the Mediterranean a year ago was transporting nuclear reactors for North Korea
Le Parisien – Is the mystery surrounding the sinking of the Ursa Major about to be solved? A little over a year ago, this Russian cargo ship had sunk into international waters, somewhere between Spain and Algeria. On December 23, 2024, the ship was hit by three explosions in the engine room, a “terrorist attack”, according to its owner, the company Oboronloguistika under the Russian Ministry of Defense. Two sailors were then reported missing.
This cargo ship, under US sanctions since 2022, had left St. Petersburg two weeks earlier and was to reach the port of Vladivostok, located in the Russian Far East. At the time, Oboronloguistika had explained that the ship carried mostly empty containers, Liebherr cranes, as well as hatch covers for icebreakers. But according to the investigation by the Spanish authorities, revealed by the media La Verdad, the latter are in fact the envelopes of two VM-4SG nuclear reactors of nearly 65 tons each.
(In French) (Thanks to Alain)
Russia reportedly sends submarine to escort ‘shadow fleet’ tanker being pursued by US
The Guardian – Russia has dispatched naval assets to escort a “shadow fleet” oil tanker being pursued by the US across the Atlantic, according to reports, as tensions over the vessel escalate.
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seen Pursuing Fleeing Russian Oil Tanker For First Time
The War Zone – The pursuit of the tanker Marinera comes as the U.S. continues pouring aviation assets into the U.K. ahead of a potential boarding effort.
The Commanding Officer Must Be A Fighting Engineer: Surface Warfare and Generalism
CIMSEC – While keeping the generalist approach, the surface navy should still continue to create more opportunities to specialize — to build more tactical and technical proficiency — across an officer’s career.
Philippine Navy scrambles to shield vital undersea cables from spies
Defense News – The Philippine Navy is exploring ways to monitor subsea cables as part of larger efforts to protect underwater infrastructure from sabotage and spying.
Containing the Threat of Containerized Missiles
War on the Rocks – In any war over Taiwan, American commanders will face a problem that barely existed a decade ago: China can hide lethal military systems inside standard commercial shipping containers. These “containerized” missile launchers are modern renditions of an old U.S. Navy concept first marketed in the Russian Club-K and are now reportedly fielded in Chinese variants. They ride on the decks of merchant ships, blend into global commerce, and give Beijing the ability to forward-deploy precision weapons without visibly deploying a single warship.
China’s Q-Ship Containerized Weapon System
Covert Shores – Putting weapons onto a merchant vessel is nothing new of course, and the concept of containerized missiles in standard ISO 40ft (12m) is very much in vogue. Iran, Israel, Turkey and Russia are among the countries to have already done this, or at least proposed it. Yet it remains novel and the latest Chinese vessel stands out in several important ways.
The Royal Navy’s future Large Uncrewed Surface Vessels and the cultural obstacles to autonomy
Navy Lookout – In this guest article, Matthew Bell, an officer in the Royal Australian Navy, considers the cultural challenges may be a bigger barrier to the RN’s adoption of Large Uncrewed Surface Vessels (LUSVs) than technical issues such as satellite bandwidth or artificial intelligence. Bringing LUSVs into service will mean changing long-standing maritime traditions, not just updating technology.
Maduro, Wife Captured by American Forces; U.S. to Oversee Venezuela Ahead of New Government, Trump Says
USNI News – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are in U.S. custody following his capture in the capital of Caracas early Saturday morning, President Donald Trump said during a midday Saturday press conference.
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