– CIMSEC – Undersea warfare is entering an era of profound transformation due to the increasing sophistication and proliferation of unmanned systems.

– CIMSEC – A lot has been written about the troubles of the U.S. Navy’s surface force, but two underlying institutional problems have not been fully addressed. The failure to address these flaws promises that the U.S. Navy’s surface force will continue to risk generating less capable Sailors who are more risk averse and less tactically astute.

– War Zone – The U.S. Navy has reportedly deployed the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Nitze to the northern end of the Persian Gulf ostensibly to help shore up Saudi Arabian air defenses in the wake of unprecedented mass cruise missile and suicide drone attacks on sites critical to the country’s oil industry.

– Breaking Defense – The Navy is sending two high-altitude MQ-4C Triton drones to Guam on their first overseas deployment, placing the sophisticated surveillance platform deep within the Indo-Pacific at a time of rising tensions with China and stepped-up Navy patrols through the Taiwan Strait.

– USNI Proceedings – The first installment of Professor James Holmes’ new regular column “Strategy Matters”.

– USNI News – In the high latitudes, where presence increasingly equals power, the U.S. Coast Guard shoulders much of today’s mission load. But experts think the Arleigh Burke destroyers of the future could share the operational burden.

– Defense News – The command in charge of U.S. military logistics worldwide on Tuesday triggered one the largest surges of its aging sealift ships in decades, a critical test of the country’s ability to move heavy equipment overseas in the event of a major conflict.

– USNI News – General Dynamics Electric Boat broke ground on a Columbia-class submarine assembly facility at its Groton yard on Friday, kicking off one of the final facilities improvement projects the company needs ahead of a massive increase in submarine construction work in the coming decades.

– National Interest – They’re cheap, defensible, and punch above their weight in the right setting—what’s not to love?

– National Interest – Over at The Drive, the redoubtable Tyler Rogoway relates the feel-good story of the summer, an instant classic: the defense firm BAE Systems says it has developed an “adaptable deck launcher” (ADL) that can be bolted onto any ship of war with deck space to spare. Weaponeers can load up the four-cell launcher with the same missile canisters used in the Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS), the standard launcher installed aboard U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers and ships from a handful of allied navies. BAE’s add-on deck launcher is a mundane piece of kit with strategic promise.

– USNI News – The Royal Navy’s metamorphosis from a provider of lone warships to the world’s maritime hotspots into a service deploying carrier strike and amphibious task groups will be accompanied by an equally transformation in command and control (C2).

– USNI News – The U.S. Marine Corps has been refining a pair of related concepts, Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) and the overarching Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment, for the past couple years.

– War Zone – The unit will now begin training aircrews to make use of the plane’s new capabilities ahead of plans to begin converting operational units next year.