Miscellaneous – Naval Operations in Peacetime – Not Just Warfare Lite

– US Naval War College Review – The role of naval power in peacetime today is much different from what it was in the days of Mahan, but unfortunately naval theory has not kept up…This article argues that naval theorists and practitioners should rethink their approach to naval activities other than war and that they should recognize the importance of fully understanding the source, nature, and implications of the authorities invoked for action during peacetime. A framework is offered as a step toward a reconceptualization of the continuum of naval operations from peace to war.

US Navy – Abandon the Littorals . . . To Robots!

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Littorals are increasingly dangerous to naval forces. The proliferation of sophisticated shore- and ship-launched antiship missiles, asymmetric tactics such as the fast-boat swarm, and sophisticated anti-access/area denial technologies, makes these areas more difficult to penetrate and dominate. Though few groups or nations can challenge or threaten the U.S. Navy on or below blue water, the risks presented today to our manned warships by the green and brown waters of the world are neither negligible nor cheap to mitigate.

DoD Sheds First Clear Light On AirSea Battle: Warfare Unfettered

– Breaking Defense – Like the Holy Trinity or the designated hitter rule, the concept known as AirSea Battle has been much discussed but little understood. The Defense Department released an official and unclassified summary of the concept for the first time this evening on a Navy website . AirSea Battle would break down longstanding barriers: barriers to cooperation among the four armed services, barriers separating domains of conflict like submarine warfare and cyberspace, and, most problematically, barriers that have kept past crises from escalating to greater destruction and even, ultimately, to nuclear war.

US Navy – Navy ships form first line of missile defense

– Virginian Pilot – The USS Stethem is one of two warships in the western Pacific that are responsible for detecting, tracking and, if necessary, shooting down a ballistic missile launched by Pyongyang. And they represent the first line of defense for U.S. allies and territories in a region that has become increasingly nervous as North Korea has ratcheted up its rhetoric and threats in recent months.

US Coast Guard – Coast Guard To Navy: Arctic’s Covered; White House OKs Arctic Icebreaker

– Breaking Defense – While the Navy pivots to the Pacific, the Coast Guard has got their northern flank: the once icebound but now rapidly opening waters of the Arctic Ocean, with its new opportunities for oil, gas, and trade through the fabled Northwest Passage. For the chronically underfunded and “oversubscribed” service, however, the challenge is rebuilding Arctic skills and capabilities that have atrophied for decades – including construction of a new heavy-duty icebreaker that might cost up to a $1 billion, said Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Robert Papp.

Spanish Navy – Spain just spent $680 million on a submarine that can’t swim

– Quartz – One of Spain’s largest defense splurges may also be one of its most embarrassing. After spending nearly one-third of a $3 billion budget to build four of the world’s most advanced submarines, the project’s engineers have run into a problem: the submarines are so heavy that they would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

US Navy – The Ford-Class Carrier, The F-35C and ‘Spider Web’ War At Sea

– Breaking Defense – An aircraft carrier is nothing without aircraft, and a Navy aircraft is worth little without a carrier. It’s ships and planes in synergy that revolutionized war at sea in the 1930s and with new systems now entering service – the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter and the Ford-class carrier – they can do it again. On April 30, we sat down with Rear Admiral Bill Moran, the Director of Air Warfare on the Navy staff (OPNAV N98) and co-author of a recent article on future carriers, to discuss the transition to the Ford and JSF. While the new carrier can still perform its traditional role as the centerpiece of a mobile island of concentrated naval force, Moran said, the Ford class, the evolving air wing, and an array of other new capabilities will allow the carrier to play a much more flexible and distributed role.