USNI News – The Navy wants to buy six battle force ships and decommission 19 ships in the next fiscal year, according to the service’s latest budget request.
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
Focus on the Fundamentals: The Siren Song of Technology in Maritime Security
CIMSEC – Instead of being wooed by “game-changing” technologies, maritime security professionals should focus on ensuring their organizations can perform critical functions first. Similarly, professionals who partner with chronically under-resourced organizations should focus on assisting with basic functions instead of dangling “silver bullets” that promise to solve all their woes.
Ukraine war: The sea drones keeping Russia’s warships at bay
BBC – Ukrainian sea drones have revolutionised naval warfare over the last few years, relentlessly hunting down Russian ships in the open sea and even at naval bases. Group-13, a secretive unit of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, was behind the Sergey Kotov attack last week, and the BBC has been given rare access to its operations.
DragonFire – pathway to a Laser Directed Energy Weapon for the Royal Navy?
NavyLookout – In late 2023 an aerial target was destroyed during a successful test firing of the UK’s DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) technology demonstrator. Here we look at DragonFire and the possibility of operational derivatives.
A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Center for Maritime Strategy – Putting a U.S. military beachhead into the middle of the region’s worst war in a generation will only make U.S. forces the #1 target for terrorists in the region, and without a U.S.-led distribution plan, it is unlikely that aid will reach those in need.
Red Dragon Rising: Insights From a Decade of Wargames
CIMSEC – China and the United States see each other as the pacing challenge, with Taiwan the obvious potential flashpoint. Correspondingly, different governments and think tanks repeatedly featured the Taiwan conflict in wargames. However, results from these studies varied significantly, ranging from swift Taiwanese capitulation and pyrrhic United States victories to bloody Chinese failures. This review compares several studies, explaining differences in the objectives, outcomes, and implications. As such, it is the first review to collate findings from a broad sample of wargames held over eight years between 2016 and 2023. It identifies a clear, regressive trend in the United States and Taiwanese chances of victory over the period and crucial factors influencing the outcomes for the People’s Liberation Army, the Republic of China, the United States, and allied forces. It concludes with recommendations for future wargame iterations.
Red Sea Turkey Shoot: Allied Warships Down Dozens Of Drones Within Hours
The War Zone – Allied warships and aircraft repulsed a mass drone attack in the Red Sea, but it’s still an ominous sign that the Houthis aren’t backing down.
First kills for Sea Ceptor. HMS Richmond downs 2 attack drones
Navy Lookout – Serving as part of a coalition force that repelled multiple attack drones launched by Houthi rebels, HMS Richmond destroyed 2 aerial drones with her Sea Ceptor missile system.
Indian Navy Conducts Dual Carrier Operations
Naval News – In the past three weeks, the Indian Navy showcased both of its aircraft carriers at exercise MILAN 2024 and at a biannual naval conference.
Vital Russian Supply Lines In Black Sea Cut By Ukrainian Drones
Naval News – Ukraine’s maritime drones are shaping the war in the Black Sea. These robotic boats, termed USVs, have sunk an impressive number of Russian Navy ships. But their mere presence is having a greater, possibly more strategic, impact. Russia is having to shift its supply lines. And as the invasion of Ukrainian has shown, supply lines are key.
US military ship heading to Gaza to build port
BBC – A US military ship is sailing towards the Middle East, carrying equipment to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, the army says…but it could take up to 60 days to build the pier.
Imagining a Much Bigger Australian Surface Combatant Fleet
RUSI – Australia’s latest defence review – addressing the renewal of the country’s navy – charts a vision for a larger fleet over the coming decades. But it will take time, and even the best laid plans can go awry.
V-22 Osprey fleet will fly again, with no fixes but renewed training
Defense News – The U.S. military will allow its fleet of V-22 Ospreys to fly again, three months after it grounded the entire inventory of more than 400 aircraft following a fatal crash off the coast of Japan in November.
The New Age of Naval Power
Time – In a contested maritime century, we should start thinking about navies as the ultimate national security insurance policy. Like any insurance, they demand regular investments against risks that are unlikely but potentially grave. Navies work best to deter would-be aggression, but the industrial base to generate their capabilities underwrites military credibility. Crucially, when all else fails, that credibility stands to make certain that in the hour of need, the hardest challenges will be met and overcome.
Sea Drone Swarms – Can NATO’s Navies Avoid Russia’s Fate?
CEPA – Recent sinkings of Russian naval vessels by Ukrainian maritime drones are raising stark questions about tactics and competence.
Pentagon abandons effort to scale down amphibious ship design
Defense News – The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps will move forward with the existing design of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship in fiscal 2025, a top leader said, after the Defense Department last year raised the specter of scaling down the ship’s design or not buying any more at all.
Japan Commissions Third Taigei-Class Submarine
Naval News – The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has commissioned the third of its Taigei-class diesel-electric attack submarines, which feature better underwater endurance than its older boats.
Indian Navy Stands Up First MH-60R Anti-Submarine Helo Squadron
USNI News – The Indian Navy activated its first MH-60R Sea Hawk squadron on Wednesday at INS Garuda in Kochi, marking an expansion in the service’s antisubmarine warfare capability.
Extending the life of HMS Victorious
Navy Lookout – HMS Victorious arrived in Devonport to begin a multi-year Deep Maintenance Period (DMP) in May 2023. Here we provide a some background and detail about the project.
The Aircraft Carrier Faces An Uncertain Future
National Interest – If new defensive and offensive technologies come to fruition, the aircraft carrier could resume its habitual functions as a capital ship, raider, and offshore airfield. If not, the carrier confronts a dour future.
A Russian Lake – Has the West Ceded the Black Sea to Russia?
CIMSEC – In 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa called the Black Sea a “Russian Lake” and encouraged NATO to do more to counter Russia’s efforts to exert control over it. Never was that control shown to be more complete than last August, when the Russian Federation Navy stopped and boarded Palau-flagged freighter Şükrü Okan in the southwest portion of the Black Sea, about as far from the Russian coast as you can get, delaying its journey and menacing its crew at gunpoint before determining that it was not carrying contraband and allowing it to proceed. This incident may be seen as the canary in the coalmine indicating imminent suffocation of freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
Italian Nanotechnology: A submarine full of innovation
El Snorkel – The need was to eliminate the formation and sedimentation of sea salt in the periscopes. (In Spanish)
(Thanks to Alain)
Navy Personnel Leaders Tie Uptick in Sailor Stress to Manning Shortfalls
USNI News – It is a truth universally acknowledged by Navy leadership that the sea service has a manning problem , and a stress one. Manning and stress are linked problems.
Myanmar’s Mystery Submarine
Covert Shores – The Myanmar Navy has acquired two patrol submarines in recent years. Firstly an KILO Class submarine from India, and then a MING Class submarine from China. But there is another third boat. The brown water of the Yangon River hosts this unknown submarine.
(Thanks to Alain)
What We Know (And Don’t) About Multiple Cable Faults in the Red Sea
Telegeography – We’re now seeing reports that a ship dragging an anchor was likely to blame. If so, that wouldn’t be surprising — accidents with ship anchors account for the second most common cause of submarine cable faults.
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