The War Zone – U.S. Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighter has for the first time operated aboard Japan’s biggest in-service warship, the Izumo class ‘multifunctional destroyer’ Kaga. We have previously reported on the significant modifications made to this ship to ensure it can operate the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) jets, which Japan is also acquiring. At the same time, there are signs that Japan may also be looking to expand the fixed-wing capabilities of this class of vessel, including drones and potentially other crewed platforms.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
Part 2: In Defense of Conventional Punishment: Why Japan’s Defensive Realism Requires Offensive Capability
Center for Maritime Strategy – Japan’s shift toward acquiring offensive capabilities is a necessary response to the increasingly complex security environment in the Indo-Pacific. The blurred distinction between offensive and defensive capabilities, particularly in naval warfare, makes it crucial for Japan to enhance its deterrence posture. Restricting Japan’s military to purely defensive measures ignores strategic realities and risks undermining its security. To safeguard both Japanese and broader regional security, Tokyo must prioritize acquiring offensive capabilities that pave the way for effective deterrence by denial and punishment in the long term.
RFA Tidesurge spends two months supporting Royal Navy and NATO warships in the North Atlantic
Navy Lookout – While the RFA is struggling to get ships to sea, the most active vessel in its fleet, RFA Tidesurge has been sustaining allied warships in the Atlantic and High North.
Russia Designing Nuclear-powered Submarines to Transport Gas from the Arctic
MarineLink – Russia has begun designing nuclear-powered submarines to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic to Asia to try to nearly halve the journey time along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), a senior state official has said.
(Thanks to Alain)
Our First Look At Land-Based Aegis Missile Defense System In Guam
The War Zone – Elements of the land-based version of the Aegis system are now in Guam, but they are just part of a very ambitious air defense upgrade for the island.
SSGNs and SSKs? Imagining an expanded Royal Navy submarine service
Navy Lookout – A recent paper produced by the Council on Geostrategy suggested that the RN should buy at least one additional Dreadnought-class submarine reconfigured as an SSGN to launch conventionally armed missiles. Here we consider this proposal and other options for increasing the submarine force strength.
U.S. Navy Resumes At-Sea Testing Of BAE Systems’ Hypervelocity Projectile
Naval News – U.S. Navy work on a guided hypersonic projectile for air defense has resumed with at-sea testing as concerns grow over missile expenditure and costs in the Red Sea.
Russian Pacific Fleet Redux: Japan’s North as a New Center of Gravity
War on the Rocks – The fact that Japan is a neighbor of Russia is often overlooked, especially in the West. In fact, Japan has had no land border with Russia for 79 years. But Japan has always faced Russia across the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, and until 35 years ago was at the forefront of the Cold War in Asia. Now, as the geopolitical conflict between Russia and the West reemerges, Japan is once again on the front line.
Iran hosts joint naval drills with Russia, Oman in Indian Ocean
VOA – Naval drills hosted by Iran with the participation of Russia and Oman and observed by nine other countries began in the Indian Ocean on Saturday.
Carriers from space (part 2): Contemporary use of satellite imagery for open source intelligence
The Space Review – Although the availability of commercial satellite imagery has proven to be a boon to Western open-source intelligence analysts, there is also reason to believe that China is taking advantage of it as well.
Mexico navy seizes more than eight tonnes of illicit cargo in record drugs bust
The Guardian – Six boats among impounded assets worth at least $100m off country’s south-west coast, navy says, after arresting 23 people
How one warship thwarting a Houthi attack a year ago changed the Navy
Defense News – The men and women aboard the Navy destroyer Carney could be forgiven for thinking they were headed toward a quiet cruise on Oct. 7, 2023, as the warship steamed east across the Atlantic Ocean to begin its latest deployment. But that day heralded the start of a great upending for the U.S. Navy, after Hamasmilitants streamed into Israel and murdered more than 1,200 people, sparking a war that continues to threaten to engulf the Middle East to this day.
Carriers from space (part 1)
The Space Review – Reconnaissance photos of shipyards and port facilities and even carriers at sea were common during the Cold War. And in fact, they remain highly useful tools today, for both the intelligence community and the proliferating community of amateur and professional open source—“OSINT”—intelligence analysts.
Army watercraft readiness precipitously declined over past 4 years: GAO
Breaking Defense – Readiness rates for the US Army’s fleet of watercraft have steadily declined over the past four years, highlighting a significant weakness in the service’s ability to move personnel and equipment as it prepares for a fight in the Indo-Pacific, according to a new independent government audit.
CMSI Note #10: China’s Summer of 2024: The Missing Chapter
China Maritime Studies Institute – In the summer of 2024, two Chinese oceanographic survey ships—the Xiang Yang Hong 01 and Kexue—conducted marine scientific research activities in the Bering Sea. Their actions represented a significant expansion of PRC marine data collection in this region.
The Bering Sea is a key segment in the sea lanes connecting China with the Arctic Ocean. Thus, the operations of these two vessels should be understood as part of the unprecedented ramp-up in Beijing’s Arctic endeavors that occurred in 2024.
The main purposes of the two Bering Sea cruises are unknown. However, both ships were built to meet military requirements, at least in part. Even if they were just conducting basic marine science, the data they collected is inherently dual-use and will be shared with the Chinese military, improving its awareness of the operating environment.
The Xiang Yang Hong 01 operated in Russia’s EEZ and visited a Russian military port, demonstrating a high degree of Russian support for PRC activities in the region.
Both ships conducted marine scientific research in waters above the U.S.-claimed extended continental shelf. If their operations involved surveys of the seabed, they would constitute a direct challenge to the U.S. maritime claim.
China Isn’t Giving Up on the South China Sea
National Interest – James Holmes says that once upon a time, China went out of its way to allay anxieties roused by its power and ambition. Then it stopped. Its new charm offensive would prove likewise perishable, to be scrapped once the party felt at liberty to resume its campaign for sovereignty within the nine-dashed line.
Japan Joins European Efforts For Railgun Research Project
Naval News – The French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL) in charge of research and development for railgun technology has seen mid-April the visit of an ATLA delegation – Japanese Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency – paving the way for an agreement for further cooperation on electromagnetic gun technology.
The Houthis and Hybrid Maritime Warfare
Wavell Room – The Houthis’ actions perfectly align with what leading US defence intellectual Frank G. Hoffman once called hybrid maritime warfare. Hoffman has defined hybrid maritime warfare as ‘a form of warfare combining asymmetric naval tactics, sophisticated weapons, and terrorist activity’. He argued that Iran and Iraq’s systematic attacks against merchant vessels in the late 1980s, which became known as the Tanker War, exemplified maritime hybrid warfare.
Australia Invests Heavily To Expand Shipbuilding Precinct In The West
Naval News – Australia will plunge billions of dollars into a revamped defence shipbuilding precinct in Western Australia. A government announcement on 16 October said the Henderson precinct would gain infrastructure suitable for building new landing craft and general-purpose frigates, as well as depot-level maintenance for nuclear-powered submarines.
In Defense of Conventional Punishment: Why Japan’s Defensive Realism Requires Offensive Capability – Part 1
Center for Maritime Strategy – Japan must recognize that purely defensive technologies are insufficient to ensure its own security and uphold the rules-based regional order. To credibly deter revisionist powers armed with offensive capabilities, Japan must move beyond the flawed mindset that draws a sharp distinction between offensive defense and defensive defense and strategically shift towards the acquisition of counterstrike capabilities that can impose significant costs on potential aggressors.
The UK’s Surrender of Chagos is a Symptom of Strategic Ineptitude
RUSI – The UK has made a foolish trade of hard power for soft, which will quickly evaporate, and gained nothing in return.
PLA Navy eyes recruiting more carrier-borne pilots with loosened criteria
Global Times – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has loosened the criteria for recruiting pilots for carrier-based aircraft by including young candidates who have received vision correction surgeries.
First ex-Royal Navy nuclear submarine to be disposed of enters final dismantling phase
Navy Lookout – Work has started on the third and final phase of the project to dismantle ex-HMS Swiftsure. As the demonstrator project for the dismantling programme, she will be the first former RN SSN to be fully disposed of.
Army Looking To Shrink Typhon Missile System After Lessons Learned From First Deployment
The War Zone – The U.S. Army is already interested in scaling down its new Typhon ground-based missile system, if possible, to help make it easier to deploy and operate. The service only sent Typhon, which currently uses large tractor-trailer launchers to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 multi-purpose missiles, overseas for the first time to the Philippines earlier this year.
Russia rolls out last 636.3 Project submarine, the ‘Yakutsk’
Bulgarian Military – The last of the Russian Navy’s six Project 636.3 submarines for the Pacific Fleet, Yakutsk, was launched today, October 11. Yakutsk is of the Varshavyanka class, and this class already includes the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Volkhov, Magadan, Ufa, and Mozhaisk submarines. They were all built at Admiralty Shipyards JSC.
(Thanks to Alain)
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