USNI News – Russia’s latest super-sized submarine, Belgorod, has been a conundrum for interested observers. While its existence is far from secret, Moscow has gone to great pains to keep certain key details out of the public domain. While navies traditionally hide the screw, or propeller, from the cameras, in Belgorod’s case the reverse was true: the screws were on display at the 2019 launch ceremony, but no photographs of the forward section were ever published.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
Navigating the Shoals of Renewed American Naval Power: Imperatives For The Next Secretary of the Navy
War on the Rocks – This is a hell of a way to run a Navy. The Department of the Navy’s revolving door of senior civilian leadership over the past four years, including two secretaries and three acting secretaries, has done a disservice to U.S. national security. New leadership will soon arrive, but the department should not squander precious time on restarting strategic studies, force assessments, and process improvement programs. Instead, steady and strategic civilian leadership is required to make progress in the marathon implementation of integrated force redesign.
Stinger SAM-Armed Marines Riding In Rubber Rafts Were Featured In Recent Pacific Exercise
War Zone – A recent exercise on and around the Japanese island of Okinawa featured U.S. Marines armed with FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles riding in rubber rafts. This offers a look into how the Marine Corps might incorporate short-range air defense capabilities into their new distributed and expeditionary warfighting plans.
Japan warned not to provoke China as media hypes up possibility of conflict in Diaoyu Islands after Galwan Valley clash
Global Times – While Chinese people mourn the four martyrs killed in the June 2020 border conflict with Indian troops at Galwan Valley, Japanese media made a “wild and groundless” guess that a similar conflict is very likely to be provoked in the sea with Japan next time, referring to China’s Diaoyu Islands, where the two countries have had a long sovereignty dispute.
Chinese surveillance plane test flight hints at advanced aircraft carrier design
South China Morning Post – There are stronger signs that China’s next aircraft carrier will be fitted with an advanced type of aircraft launch system, with official confirmation of a test flight of a carrier-based early warning plane.
PLA Navy expedition group crosses equator
Global Times – A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy expedition group led by a Type 052D destroyer recently crossed the equator as it sailed further into the open sea, and such missions enable the PLA to get familiar with the high seas as China eyes to build a blue-water navy.
China, Singapore hold joint naval exercise
ChinaMil – The 36th Chinese naval escort taskforce held a joint naval exercise with the Singapore navy in waters near Singapore on February 24.
A Liberal Case For Seapower?
War Zone – A strong naval service operating routinely around the world has historically been viewed as the prerequisite for a liberal international order. Data support this idea, showing that maritime conflicts between countries are less frequent and managed more effectively when the U.S. achieves sea power dominance and helps to maintain naval parity in allies’ conflicts. Even eloquent advocates of moderating U.S. foreign policy ambition view the Navy as the military capability most essential for protecting America’s national interests.
Russia’s Project 09852 Special Mission Submarine ‘Belgorod’ Prepared For Sea Trials
Naval News – The Belgorod nuclear-powered special mission submarine of project 09852 is preparing to sail out for the first time.
Murphy’s Law: Iranian Submarine Crises
StrategyPage – Another look at Iran’s current submarine problems.
(Thanks to Alain)
Navy Tests Autonomous Aerial Supply Drone From Its Newest Supercarrier
War Zone – The Navy hopes that small resupply drones could revolutionize its at-sea logistics chains for carriers and other warships.
The Sino-American War of 2025
The Spectator – A future history / future war scenario.
Don’t Knock Yourself Out: How America Can Turn the Tables on China By Giving Up the Fight For Command of the Seas
War on the Rocks – The United States should give up its quest for command of the maritime commons in the Western Pacific. The struggle is based on a false premise — that if the United States loses command of the seas, China will step in the fill the vacuum. In fact, even if the United States loses command of the maritime commons, China is not positioned to gain it. However, by positioning China as an existential threat, the United States is boxing itself in politically. The United States courts disaster when it overextends itself
French Carrier Strike Group Begins ‘Clemenceau 21’ Deployment
Naval News – The French Navy Carrier Strike Group set sail on Sunday (21 February) for a long operational deployment named “Clemenceau 21”. Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle and its escort set course for the Eastern Mediterranean before sailing to the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.
Focus U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers On China, Not Persian Gulf
1945 – James Holmes asks does countering Iran promise exceptional rewards for the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon, do the U.S. armed forces command decisive superiority over China and Russia, and can the armed forces keep up a Gulf aircraft-carrier presence without running grave risks in the strategic competition with those great-power rivals? Unless the answer to all three questions is a throaty yes, the Biden Pentagon should rethink the U.S. military posture in the Middle East.
France Launches Third Generation SSBN Program – SNLE 3G
Naval News – French Minister for the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, on Friday 19 February announced the launch of the full-scale development phase of the SNLE 3G program which calls for the construction of France’s third-generation nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines.
There and Back Again: The Fall and Rise of Britain’s ‘East of Suez’ Basing Strategy
War on the Rocks – “You can’t repeat the past,” Nick Carraway cautions in The Great Gatsby. The U.K. government today is flirting with that hypothesis as it reestablishes military bases in the Persian Gulf and farther afield. On a visit to Bahrain as foreign secretary, Boris Johnson declared that “Britain is back East of Suez.”
U.S. Navy Reports On Arctic And North Atlantic
Naval News – Admiral Burke gave a webinar presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held in February, 2021 regarding the U.S. Navy’s presence and influence in the Atlantic and the Arctic oceans. Admiral Burke presented a different perspective compared to the tensions in the INDO-PACOM region and the Pacific Ocean.
The Prelude to All-Encompassing Maritime Competition Between China and the U.S. is about to Begin-An Appraisal of America’s Newest Maritime Strategy
USNI News – The following is a translation of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies assessment of the recently released U.S. maritime strategy, Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All-Domain Naval Power.
China Maritime Report No. 13: The Origins of “Near Seas Defense and Far Seas Protection”
China Maritime Studies Institute – This report traces the origins and development of China’s current naval strategy: “Near Seas Defense and Far Seas Protection.” Near Seas Defense is a regional, defensive concept concerned with ensuring China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. Its primary focus is preparing to fight and win informatized local wars within the first island chain. Far Seas Protection has both peacetime and wartime elements. In peacetime, the Chinese navy is expected to conduct a range of “non-war military operations” such as participating in international peacekeeping, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, evacuating Chinese citizens from danger, and engaging in joint exercises and naval diplomacy. In wartime, the PLAN could be tasked with securing China’s use of strategic sea lanes and striking important nodes and high-value targets in the enemy’s strategic depth. Nears Seas Defense and Far Seas Protection is rooted in the ideas of Alfred Thayer Mahan and Mao Zedong.
The FC-31, China’s ‘Other’ Stealth Fighter
The Diplomat – A look at the jet with many names – and its carrier-based future.
Defense Strategy and the Empire State of Mind: How Preparing for the Best Can Leave Washington Vulnerable to the Rest
War on the Rocks – At a time when the United States is on the hook to deter four rivals across three theaters, all of its military services, including the sea services, are busy refocusing their attention on great-power competitors and reorienting their concepts, equipment, and operating patterns to deny aggression. Unless the United States scales back commitments or spends enough on defense to enjoy a surplus of power, overstretch is a very real possibility under these conditions.
Marines Defend ACV Development as Program Matures
USNI News – The Marine Corps’ 20-year odyssey to replace its 1970s-era amphibious vehicle has hit more than a few roadblocks, but after months of operational testing, the service says the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle program is on its way to joining the fleet in earnest.
French Amphibious Ready Group Set Sails For The Indo-Pacific
Naval News – The “MISSION JEANNE D’ARC 2021” will take the LHD and frigate all the way to Japan. The ARG will transit the South China Sea twice.
How Columbia’s Drug Cartels Almost Bought a Soviet Submarine
Sandboxx – What may surprise you is that amateur submarines were really a consolation prize for drug smugglers out of Colombia. Their first choice? An actual Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine. What’s even crazier, however, is that the Russians seemed to be more than happy to sell them one.
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