– Aviation Week – As the Bell/Boeing team that produced the MV-22 eyes its next possible U.S. sale to the Navy for a C-2 replacement, the industry team is hoping to drive home the idea that the tiltrotor is multifunctional. The team is confident the tiltrotor can safely refuel F/A-18s midair after conducting the first proximity test between the two last week.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
US Navy – A Couple Nerds Are Trying to Save the Navy’s Killer Drones
– War is Boring – The U.S. Navy had a vision. A robotic vision, in which swarms of super-smart, far-flying drone warplanes ranged across the vast Pacific Ocean from steel aircraft-carrier decks, extending the reach of American military might against the growing arsenal of an increasingly belligerent China…
US Navy – US Navy, GAO at Odds Over Carrier Issues
– Defense News – Concerns and criticisms about the past, present and future of the US Navy’s new Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers permeate a report released Sept. 5 from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress.
Russian Navy – Russian Ships off Syria Will Likely Do Little
– USNI News – Is the Russian Navy off of Syria actually going to do anything?
US Navy – Marines Pushing Navy to Scrap One of Its Most Important Planes
– War is Boring – Vital carrier cargo plane stands in way of Marines’ controversial tiltrotor.
Geopolitics / Syria – Syria And Byzantine Strategy
– Forbes – Robert D. Kaplan on the current state of affairs in Syria.
Russian Navy – Russia bolsters naval presence near Syria, will continue to aid Assad
– Chicago Tribune – The three Russian ships en route to the region include two amphibious landing vessels, the Novocherkassk and the Minsk, and the Priazovye reconnaissance ship. Another landing vessel, the Nikolay Filchikov, was headed to the Russian port of Novorossiysk to collect unspecified cargo for Syria. A guided-missile destroyer was also expected to join the fleet in the region.
Miscellaneous – Asian Carriers By the Numbers
– USNI News – The Asia-Pacific region recently has seen a rise in construction of multipurpose, aviation-capable ships by major area powers. Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand all have built ships with full-length flight decks with a variety of purposes: some as helicopter carriers, some as amphibious assault ships. Only one, China’s Liaoning, was built to accommodate traditional fixed-wing aircraft carrier operations, but many others, such as Japan’s Izumo-class of helicopter destroyers could conceivably carry some form of vertical or short takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
The aircraft carrier building spree has been highlighted by the recent turn in world attention to Asia. Reports characterizing the development of these ships as an “arms race” miss an important point: although there has been a considerable ramping up of tensions in Asia among its major powers, construction of all of these vessels predates such tension. The construction of carriers could be considered a logical expansion of seapower by the nations involved, especially those whose economies rely on overseas commerce.
US Navy – LCS Mission Packages: The Basics
– USNI News – The beating heart of both variants of the littoral combat ship (LCS) is the series of three mission packages the Navy is developing to handle some of the service’s most dire needs in the littorals.
US Navy – Destroyer USS Mahan Leaves Eastern Mediterranean
– USNI News – The guided missile destroyer USS Mahan (DDG-72) has left the Eastern Mediterranean en route to its homeport at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. Mahan’s departure leaves four destroyers left to undertake an anticipated limited strike on Syria.
US Navy – Boeing Pitches Advanced Super Hornet
– USNI News – Boeing is touting an upgraded version of its Super Hornet fighters to extend the relevance of the airframe into 2030.
US Navy – Pentagon Altered UCLASS Requirements for Counterterrorism Mission
– US Naval Institute News – Pentagon leaders altered the Navy’s vision of creating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of striking defended targets thousands of miles away from the sea into a less-capable platform more suited for hunting terrorists.
US Navy – Corralling Conops
– Aviation Week – A naval ship design expert asked early on in the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program to review the design for the vessels used to joke, “I had a ‘Jaws’’ moment – you know, in the film, when the guy says, ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat.’” But what the U.S. Navy brass is trying to get across now is this: with LCS it’s not size that counts, but it’s the way they plan to use the ship – the concept of operations or conops – that will make all the difference.
US Navy – USS Nimitz carrier group rerouted for possible help with Syria
– US Navy – USS Nimitz carrier group rerouted for possible help with Syria – The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and other ships in its strike group are heading west toward the Red Sea to help support a limited U.S. strike on Syria, if needed.
US Navy – Navy Works to Develop Sea Sparrow Block 2
– DOD Buzz – The U.S. Navy is working with NATO allies and other countries to develop a next-generation ship-based Sea Sparrow missile engineered with an improved, high-tech guidance system.
Egyptian Navy – Egypt attack on Suez Canal ship 'foiled'
– BBC – Egyptian officials say they have foiled an attack on a container ship which was aimed at disrupting shipping in the busy Suez Canal.
US Navy – F-35B DT 2 Update: A few hours on the USS Wasp
– Aviation Week – The U.S. Marine Corps invited the media Aug. 28 to visit the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship where the second set of developmental test trails for the F-35B are taking place. Being the savvy PAs that they are, USMC shipped us out and back on their newest rotorcraft, the Bell/Boeing MV-22 to see their newest fighter. (They also happen to be the Pentagon’s most expensive rotorcraft and fighter).
Taiwanese Navy – ROC Navy unveils "High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran" at TADTE 2013 show
– Navy Recognition – At TADTE 2013, the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition, ROC Navy (Republic of China – Taiwan) unveiled a vessel currently under construction by the Lung-De Shipbuilding Corporation dubbed the “High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran (WPC)”
US Navy – U.S. deploys fifth warship near Syria
– Los Angeles Times – The Pentagon is moving a fifth warship armed with cruise missiles to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, giving the U.S. more firepower for a possible attack on Syria in response to alleged use of chemical weapons, a defense official said. The guided-missile destroyer Stout is expected to arrive in the area Thursday, joining four other missile-carrying U.S. destroyers within range of Syria.
Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – Is It a Duck? Is It an Aircraft Carrier? No! It’s Japan’s ‘Helicopter Destroyer’
– War is Boring – A skeptical look at Japan’s newest helicopter carrier.
US Navy – LCS Missionaries
– Aviation Week – U.S. Navy officials acknowledge sailors are now getting better with Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) launch-and-recovery operations. LCS program officials say they are no longer seeing the damage they used to see. And the whole system is much more reliable, they say. All of that is important – the RMMV is one of the stars for LCS mine-warfare operations.
US Navy – Obama Weighs ‘Limited’ Strikes Against Syrian Forces
– New York Times – President Obama is considering military action against Syria that is intended to “deter and degrade” President Bashar al-Assad’s government’s ability to launch chemical weapons, but is not aimed at ousting Mr. Assad from power or forcing him to the negotiating table, administration officials said Tuesday.
Singaporean Navy – The Submarine Race in the Malaccan Strait
– The Diplomat – Three nations—Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia— sit atop the Malaccan Strait, which is just 1.7 miles (2.7 km) wide at its narrowest point. While foreign navies like the United States have traditionally operated in the area, and China’s navy has increasingly taken a strong interest in doing so, the naval forces of these littoral states should not be overlooked. Indeed, taking stock of their strategic location, all three countries have acquired submarine forces, with Indonesia in particular possessing considerable subsurface ambitions for the future.
US Navy – U.S. destroyers, subs on standby for strike order on Syria
– Washington Times – Four U.S. Navy destroyers remain ready in the Eastern Mediterranean for President Obama’s call to strike the Syrian regime’s military assets, each equipped with up to 90 Tomahawk cruise missiles, defense officials said Monday. The USS Mahan, USS Gravely, USS Barry and USS Ramage are “poised and positioned should any options be taken,” a defense official said…Defense officials say the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which recently entered the Mediterranean, is not expected to be part of any military campaign on Syria and would focus on operations in Afghanistan. Also in the Mediterranean are submarines armed with cruise missiles. Their positions are classified because they carry special operations troops.
US Navy – A US Navy With Only 8 Carriers?
– Defense News – At first, the statement is shocking. “Reduce the number of carrier strike groups from 11 to 8 or 9, draw down the Marine Corps from 182,000 to between 150,000 and 175,000.” But those words July 31 from US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel brought into the open some of the behind-the-scenes discussions that have been going on at the Pentagon for months. Senior Defense Department officials continue to stress no decisions have been made out of the Strategic Choices and Management Review (SCMR), but the everything-is-on-the-table nature of the discussions is becoming clearer.
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