USNI News – This week a squadron of Marine F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters wrapped up nearly two months of training aboard the U.K. Royal Navy HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), paving the way for U.S. and U.K. fighters to operate interchangeably when the British aircraft carrier leaves on its first deployment.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
Marine Corps receives first amphibious combat vehicle
Marine Corps Times – The first shipment of amphibious combat vehicles hit the fleet Nov. 4, according to the Marine Corps.
Annual project for U.S. Marines to train Taiwanese troops goes ahead
Focus Taiwan – A group of U.S. Marine Corps instructors are visiting Taiwan as part of an annual project to help train Taiwanese troops to beef up their combat preparedness.
Royal Canadian Navy Unveils New Details On CSC Frigates
Naval News – The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) released the latest details on the configuration of its next generation frigates: the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC). They will be heavily armed, featuring Naval Strike Missiles, Tomahawk and both ESSM and Sea Ceptor.
Two Russian Spy Ships Operating Near Important Military Base In Scotland
Naval News – Two Russian Navy intelligence gathering ships have taken up position off the British coast.
Shipbuilding: Here today, gone tomorrow
Defense News – In the coming months, defense planners at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill should converge on what kind of Navy they want and devise a plan to get there. Because until there is a steady, reasonable and workable plan, industry seems unlikely to invest in expansions to meet the latest here-today, gone-tomorrow shipbuilding plan.
Dust
Over the Horizon – Science Fiction has always been a vehicle to the future. In the modern era of conversations about complexity, AI, human machine interfaces, and other exotic ideas, the genre can provide a way to stitch things together. We can take all of these disparate developments, operating concepts, and fuzzy ideas and combine them the same way our ancestors made sense of the word: with a story. At the strategic level, the two nations in conflict here have taken a markedly different approach to developing today’s technological trends. The enemy nation of Donovia has invested heavily in autonomous systems and artificial intelligence (AI), taking a bet that they can teach and grow better algorithms. Christopherson’s side, however, has taken a more balanced approach to integrating AI and autonomy by preserving man-on-the-loop for action and keeping their strategic level AI providing intelligence fusion. Different strategies will influence the future of technology development, but more importantly strategy will dictate how we use those technologies.
Army Picks Tomahawk & SM-6 For Mid-Range Missiles
Breaking Defense – Instead of picking a single missile to be its thousand-mile Mid-Range Capability, the Army has chosen to mix two very different Navy weapons together in its prototype MRC unit: the new, supersonic, high-altitude SM-6 and the venerable, subsonic, low-flying Tomahawk.
Littoral combat ship Detroit is being towed into port after another engineering failure
Defense News – The littoral combat ship Detroit suffered another engineering casualty on its return trip to its home port in Florida and is being towed into Port Canaveral, the U.S. Navy confirmed Friday.
Marine Corps Boss Has Big Plans To Get Into The Business Of Hunting And Killing Submarines
War Zone – Marines could find themselves searching for and attacking enemy submarines, as well as indirectly supporting other anti-submarine operations.
French navy begins broad revamp of its mine-hunting abilities
Defense News – France is to entirely overhaul its mine countermeasures systems, armed forces minister Florence Parly has confirmed, replacing all current equipment ranging from the Éridan class of mine-hunting ships to sonars by 2029.
First Sa’ar 6-Class Corvette Expected In Israel For December
Naval News – The Israeli Navy first Sa’ar 6-class corvette, INS Magen, will arrive in Israel in December, the country’s MoD said on . Within the coming year, three more Sa’ar 6 ships will be transferred to Israel from thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) Kiel shipyard, Germany.
Israel shifts naval doctrine with new Sa’ar 6 warships
Defense News – Israel will receive the first of four Sa’ar 6 ships in December as part of a broad shift in naval doctrine that will see the country defend more areas at sea at a longer distance for a longer period of time, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
East China Sea: Japan’s plan to counter Beijing in Diaoyus with jetfighter upgrades hits money snag
South China Morning Post – Rising costs have significantly delayed Tokyo’s plans to deploy F-15 fighter jets capable of launching cruise missiles against ships or land targets, with Beijing’s ongoing activities close to disputed islands in the East China Sea underlining the importance of the new deterrent to the Japanese military.
After 9 Months of Study, Pentagon’s Fleet Architecture Similar to Original Navy Plan
USNI News – At the beginning of the year, the Navy and Marine Corps sent a new fleet plan to Pentagon leaders that called for relying on smaller ships and unmanned vessels to meet future missions and defeat future adversaries. The Pentagon rejected the plan. Nine-months later, Pentagon leaders reached the same conclusion: the Navy needed to be more distributed and weighted towards small combatants and unmanned craft. What did that additional effort really get the sea services? Not much, according to some officials involved in both processes.
Analysis: 155mm Wheeled Mobile Howitzers Could Become Anti-Ship Artillery
Naval News – The concept of 155mm tracked Self-Propelled Howitzers (SPHs) acting as mobile coastal artillery isn’t particularly new; however, the reality of implementing this concept recently got much better with new advances in GPS precision-guided rocket-assisted projectiles and Hypervelocity shell technology.
Why the Arctic is Not the ‘Next’ South China Sea
War on the Rocks – Overall, the South China Sea and the Arctic are very different maritime regions with distinct geopolitical characteristics. China is clearly borrowing from the great-power exceptionalism playbook in the South China Sea. Yet while Beijing has articulated a clear strategic interest in the Arctic, a replication of its South China Sea play book in the Arctic is highly unlikely.
China Maritime Report No. 10: PLAN Force Structure Projection Concept, A Methodology for Looking Down Range
China Maritime Studies Institute – Force structure projections of an adversary’s potential order of battle are an essential input into the strategic planning process. Currently, the majority of predictions regarding China’s future naval buildup are based on a simple extrapolation of the impressive historical ship construction rate and shipyard capacity, without acknowledging that the political and economic situation in China has changed dramatically.
Navy Prepares For Integration Of MQ-25 Tanker Drones With E-2 Hawkeye Squadrons
War Zone – The MQ-25s will be attached to E-2 squadrons during deployments and Hawkeye crews will cross-train to also fly the Stingrays.
‘The Quad’ Kicks Off Malabar 2020 Exercise in Bay of Bengal
USNI News – The U.S., Indian, Japanese and Australian navies on Tuesday kicked off the Malabar 2020 naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, bringing the four nations together for the annual drill for the first time in over a decade.
United States Approves Possible FMS Of MQ-9B SeaGuardian To Taiwan
Naval News – The United States’ State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Taiwan of four “Weapons-Ready MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft and related equipment” for an estimated cost of $600 million. The system has “anti-submarine strike capabilities” meaning it is the SeaGuardian variant of General Atomics’ MQ-9B.
Making Waves: Militant Maritime Operations Along Africa’s Eastern Coast
War on the Rocks – Maritime activities are an important aspect of the modern militant’s portfolio. Though there are technical and logistical barriers to entry, coastal and oceanic waters offer militants opportunities for both operational and financial gain.
Here’s the latest on the next US supercarrier
Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s next Ford-class supercarrier, the John F. Kennedy, will be delivered to the fleet with its full suite of advanced electronics and with the ability to support the carrier-launched F-35C aircraft, a change from a planned two-phase delivery devised in the original contract.
Creating a Global Accelerator Network to Launch the Digital Ocean
CIMSEC – Uniting the fast-paced innovation ecosystem that flourishes within accelerators with the support and guidance of NATO, with its seven decades of experience and unparalleled resources, can be the driving force that unlocks the disruptive technologies we need to tackle the seemingly unsolvable problems in our oceans.
Will the Marines take on submarine-hunting?
Marine Corps Times – The Marine Corps wants in on the submarine-hunting game, according to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger, including the role of helping the Navy identify, track and even sink submarines.
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