– CIMSEC – In order to make revolutionary advancements in our ability to counter mines, a shift from direct, operational/tactical-level thinking to indirect, strategic-level thinking needs to occur.

– Virginian Pilot – The USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment has been extended for an unspecified amount of time as the aircraft carrier that was supposed to take its place has been stuck in Norfolk undergoing repairs.

– CIMSEC – To achieve successful swarm-based MCM, the Navy will need to develop a mindset around large groups of swarming technologies that are low cost and, perhaps, expendable…

– USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps recently tested out the “Lightning Carrier” concept of packing an amphibious assault ship with F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jets, and they will likely continue to expand and exercise this capability.

– USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps are busy figuring out what they do – and don’t – need to buy to support their emerging operational concepts for high-end warfare.

– CIMSEC – Because ships and sailors operate daily in harm’s way, we need to embrace an unmanned solution to dealing with deadly mines. We have the components for such a system, and it can reach fruition in the near-term.

– Forbes – It is time for the Navy to publicly commit to shocking the USS Ford in the next year or so.

– USNI News – USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) may not be ready to deploy until 2024, further complicating the Navy’s persistent problems of generating deployable carriers from the East Coast.

– CIMSEC – Greater U.S. Navy presence in Europe means greater involvement in NATO; and greater involvement in NATO requires greater use of NATO doctrine, some of which is not currently practiced by the U.S. Navy. One such doctrine is the Allied Worldwide Navigational Information System, or AWNIS, which is crucial for conducting military operations at sea, especially mine warfare, while minimizing disruption to merchant shipping.

– USNI Proceedings – At this year’s Tailhook Convention, a panel of eight tactics instructors from across the naval aviation enterprise delivered a tough message: We are not ready for the peer fight.

– National Interest – James Holmes writes: “Do not content yourself with improving on existing boats, or even on long-cherished ideas about what a submarine is or how it ought to do business.”

– CIMSEC – By harnessing unmanned systems and machine learning, the U.S. Navy can bridge the gap between its own mine countermeasures capability and the growing mine warfare threat.

– War Zone – The system being moved represents a big leap in ship-based directed energy capabilities and is slated to be tested aboard USS Portland.

– Defense and Aerospace Report – Chris Cavas writes that the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is the most expensive ship ever built by the US government, and quite possibly by any government…The ship is a long way from being ready to take to the seas in defense of the nation.

– War on the Rocks – Claude Berube writes that for the Navy’s intelligence community, the most appropriate historical precedent isn’t Pearl Harbor — it’s the Battle of Jutland. A cyber Pearl Harbor suggests a surprise attack. The United States is already in the midst of a great power competition with China and Russia, and the pieces are already moving on the ocean’s chessboard. Jutland was a famous WWI naval clash where capable British forces were hamstrung by tradition and conservatism, and ultimately proved unable to strike a decisive victory over the German High Seas Fleet. Today’s naval intelligence faces a similar set of challenges.