– National Interest – When Chinese officers go to bed at night, what do they fear most? Despite all the hard work, all the billions of dollars spent, no Chinese sailor wants to tangle with the U.S. Navy. As one retired Chinese senior defense official told me in late 2014: “The 3 A.M. crisis ‘call’ I feared the most is that we were at war with your navy.”
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
US Navy’s Unmanned Jet Could Be a Tanker
– Defense News – One of the biggest questions facing the future of US Navy carrier-based aviation is what will be the primary mission of its new unmanned jet. Some believe the aircraft – to be produced by the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program – should be a stealthy strike jet able to penetrate an enemy’s defenses without risking a pilot. Others want a spy plane, able to launch from a carrier and produce high-quality, real-time intelligence…Now it would seem a decision has been made between strike and recon. The winner? Aerial refueling.
Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO’s Eastern Flank: Wargaming the Defense of the Baltics
– RAND – Russia’s recent aggression against Ukraine has disrupted nearly a generation of relative peace and stability between Moscow and its Western neighbors and raised concerns about its larger intentions. From the perspective of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the threat to the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — former Soviet republics, now member states that border Russian territory — may be the most problematic of these. In a series of war games conducted between summer 2014 and spring 2015, RAND Arroyo Center examined the shape and probable outcome of a near-term Russian invasion of the Baltic states. The games’ findings are unambiguous: As presently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members. Fortunately, it will not require Herculean effort to avoid such a failure. Further gaming indicates that a force of about seven brigades, including three heavy armored brigades — adequately supported by airpower, land-based fires, and other enablers on the ground and ready to fight at the onset of hostilities — could suffice to prevent the rapid overrun of the Baltic states.
Sea Power 2016 Almanac
– Sea Power 2016 Almanac – The Sea Power 2016 Almanac, an excellent guide to the US Navy and US Coast Guard, can be freely downloaded as a PDF.
South China Sea: US warship sails near disputed island
– BBC – A US warship has sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea to challenge efforts to limit freedom of access. The vessel passed close to Triton Island in the Paracel Islands, a statement said.
Invisible Bullets: The Navy’s Big Problem In Future War
– Breaking Defense – In the brutal naval battles of the future, the first clash of arms will be a clash of electrons. If you don’t win the invisible battle of the airwaves, you can’t win the visible battle of missiles.
U.S. Navy Confirms ‘Abnormal and Unprofessional’ Iranian UAV Recon Flight Over Carriers Truman, Charles de Gaulle
– USNI News – Officials at U.S. 5th Fleet confirmed to USNI News Iranian forces flew an unmanned aerial vehicle over French carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) earlier this month.
Type 45 destroyers: UK’s £1bn warships face engine refit
– BBC – The Royal Navy’s most modern warships are to be fitted with new engines because they keep breaking down.
Many Ships = Few Wars: The Case For A Big Fleet
– Breaking Defense – Think of international conflicts as earthquakes. Many little ones are better than one “Big One” — a global war. Social science suggests that the more often two rival powers interact, the more likely they are to resolve their differences through many small, manageable conflicts rather than one violent conflagration. That makes naval presence worldwide a very desirable capability.
Can China Copy the U.S. Marine Corps?
– National Interest – Much has been reported about the recent structural reforms undertaken by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA)—the end goal being a leaner and meaner military force, capable of undertaking a broad spectrum of missions under modern, high-tech conditions. Part of this drive towards a “new-age” PLA has been efforts to modernize the PLA Marine Corps (PLAMC).
Robot Subs, Electronic Warfare & Cyber: Navy’s Role In Offset Strategy
– Breaking Defense – As the Pentagon prepares to roll out its 2017 budget, one strategically crucial piece is the so-called Third Offset Strategy. That’s the US military’s high-tech, high-stakes plan to keep our edge over Russia, China, and other rapidly advancing rivals. This morning, the Chief of Naval Research outlined some of what the Navy’s piece of that strategy would be.
US Navy Sharpens Stealth Tactics Against Russia
– Defense News – The US Navy in Europe is going dark. The four destroyers in Rota, Spain, and ships operating in 6th Fleet are switching off their radars and sensors to operate with more stealth and train for fighting cyber and electronic attacks
This Could ‘Sink’ the U.S. Navy: Lethal Stealth Submarines
– National Interest – Thanks to advances in modern, ultra-quiet conventional diesel-electric submarines, Washington will need to adjust its tactics if it were to tangle with any nation sporting these increasingly sophisticated weapons of war.
Textron’s CUSV In Production As Minesweeping Vehicle, May Take On Minehunting Soon
– USNI News – Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV) program has moved into the production phase and will begin delivering its minesweeping capability to the fleet by early next year, even as the program is also situating itself to enter the minehunting, patrolling and other surface warfare mission areas.
LCS Can Too Fight Russia, China: Navy Leaders
– Breaking Defense – Is the Littoral Combat Ship a real warship? That question has bedeviled the small, sleek, lightly armed ships for years. Now it’s taken on new urgency as the Defense Department and the Navy both refocus on high-intensity, high-tech warfighting against “great powers” — i.e. China and Russia.
280 Special Purpose MAGTF Marines Set to Return Home From Europe, Africa Deployments
– USNI News – 280 Marines serving with the Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis-Response Africa (SPMAGTF-CR-AF) are set to return home to Camp Lejeune, N.C., later this week after a six-month deployment to Spain and Italy.
Pakistani Naval Modernization Appears Stalled
– Defense News – Pakistan’s naval modernization program appears stalled, with no discernible progress being made on efforts to modernize and expand the surface and sub-surface fleet. This comes amid moves ensure the security of the deepwater port of Gwadar, and fears of mass obsolescence vis-a-vis arch rival India.
Breakdowns leave 2 of Navy’s newest ships stuck in port
– CNN – The past two months have been anything but smooth sailing for the U.S. Navy’s newest class of warship, the littoral combat ship. Troubles for the ships, which cost around $360 million apiece, began in December, when the USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), broke down off the East Coast and had to be towed 40 miles to a naval base in Virginia…Just a month after the Milwaukee mishap, its sister ship, the USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), is tied up at a dock in Singapore with what the U.S. Pacific Fleet calls “a casualty to the ship’s combining gears.”
Cautious US gives Japan edge in subs
– The Australian – Serious doubt that Washington will be willing to provide the US Navy’s most advanced combat systems to Australian submarines if they are built by Germany or France is emerging as a trump card for Japan in the three-way battle to construct the new boats.
U.S. weighs making Hawaii missile test site operational
– Reuters – The U.S. military has stepped up discussions on converting its Aegis missile defense test site in Hawaii into a combat-ready facility that would bolster American defenses against ballistic missile attacks.
Navy launches carrier group powered partly by biofuels
– AP – The Navy is launching a carrier strike group to be powered partly by biofuel, calling it a milestone toward easing the military’s reliance on foreign oil.
China on ‘High Alert’ to Prevent Japan from Entering South China Sea Disputes
– USNI News – Chinese officials claim to be on “ high alert against Japan’s attempt to poke its nose in the issue of the South China Sea,” following an interview published Sunday in which Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for the international community to “raise its voice” against Chinese encroachment.
How FP Stumbled Into a War With China — and Lost
– Foreign Policy – Our intrepid reporters tried to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in the East China Sea. They ended up igniting a war in Asia.
Europe’s New Medieval Map
– Wall Street Journal – Robert D. Kaplan writes that if you look at any map of Europe from the Middle Ages or the early modern era, before the Industrial Revolution, and you will be overwhelmed by its dizzying incoherence — all of those empires, kingdoms, confederations, minor states, “upper” this and “lower” that. It is a picture of a radically fractured world. Today’s Europe is, in effect, returning to such a map.
Undersea Lawfare: Can the U.S. Navy Fall Victim to This Asymmetric Warfare Threat?
– US Naval War College Review – It is possible for a competitor or potential enemy to use systemic American vulnerabilities to wage a campaign of misinformation and legal challenges to reduce US military and antisubmarine-warfare readiness. In particular, this article focuses on how adversaries could use environmental lawfare covertly to wage war against the use of active sonar during testing, training, and operations. Allowed to proceed unchecked heretofore, this use of undersea lawfare may already be providing potential adversaries an inexpensive way of reducing the antisubmarine-warfare capabilities of the US Navy and its allies. This article is intended to stimulate action by warfighters and policy makers to identify, assess, and address this threat.
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