DefenceWeb – Reports coming out of the Middle East suggest the Houthi militia may have had a hand in scuttling the drifting UK-owned bulk carrier Rubymar.
(Thanks to Alain)
Author Archives: Naval Open Source Intelligence (NOSI)
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Australian Personnel Already Training With New Smart Sea Mines
Naval News – Australia has already received its first batch of smart sea mines which have already been put to use during exercises.
US Navy Works To Strengthen ‘Non-Kinetic’ Shield
Naval News – The US Navy is advancing its efforts to roll out a next-generation of non-kinetic ‘soft-kill’ anti-ship missile defense capabilities to the fleet.
Navy expeditionary forces eye counter-drone, offensive unmanned ops
Defense News – The Navy Expeditionary Combat Command enables the rest of the fleet, providing port security, naval construction, mine clearance, salvage diving and more. But as the community thinks about how to modernize to keep up with evolving technology and unpredictable threats, it’s mulling adding a new tool to the toolkit: operating offensive, lethal drones.
Netherlands plans four new air-defense frigates
Defense News – The Netherlands plans to order four new air-defense frigates for more than €3.5 billion (U.S. $3.8 billion) to replace its current fleet, Dutch State Secretary of Defense Christophe van der Maat said in a letter to parliament Friday.
Navy’s surface readiness groups expand waterfront influence
Defense News – The Navy in December stood up a network of Surface Readiness Groups, or SURFGRUs, to put proven leaders in a position to focus solely on getting ships through maintenance and basic training on time, before turning them over to operational squadrons.
White House Calls for $20B Maritime Infrastructure Investment, Domestic Crane Production
USNI News – The White House on Wednesday announced a multi-billion dollar maritime infrastructure plan that would restart the domestic production of container cranes to address the cybersecurity threat from Chinese-made cranes operating in ports around the United States.
U.S. Navy Building Robust Logistics Framework in Indo-Pacific
USNI News – The Navy’s Indo-Pacific logistic command is building a more robust and responsive logistic sustainment framework to support theatre operations, its commander said earlier this week.
Philippines Starts Latest Naval Modernization Attempt Amid South China Sea Tensions
USNI News – Amid increasing tensions in the South China Sea with China and fears of how a conflict over Taiwan could jeopardize the country’s territories in the Luzon Strait, the Philippines is looking to prioritize its naval forces in a revised military modernization plan.
The Royal Navy’s future vision for the underwater battlespace
Navy Lookout – Here we look at how the RN is developing its vision for fighting in the increasingly contested undersea domain in the next two decades.
U.S. Coast Guard Poised To Buy Badly Needed Private Icebreaker
The War Zone – The Coast Guard is far from meeting ice-breaking mission demands in the strategic Arctic region and currently only has one heavy icebreaker.
Italian Destroyer Guns Down Houthi Drone With 76mm ‘Super Rapid’ Cannon
The War Zone – As part of the European Operation Aspides, Italy has become the fifth country to engage Houthi threats over the Red Sea.
Ukraine war: Russian Black Sea fleet ship sunk in drone attack, Kyiv says
BBC – A Russian patrol ship has been sunk in the Black Sea after being attacked by sea drones, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Cable Attack: New Undersea Threat Is Starting To Reshape Naval Wars
Naval News – The way that maritime drones are reshaping naval warfare is becoming clear in the Black Sea. But the extent to which their underwater cousins, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), will influence future wars is less so. One arena where they are likely to shine is in seabed warfare, itself mysterious and little understood.
US Navy orders Swiftships to stop work on its landing craft program
Defense News – The U.S. Navy has ordered the builder of its Landing Craft Utility 1700 program to stop work and moved to terminate the contract, the shipbuilder Swiftships told Defense News, following years of challenges and disagreements on the program.
Red Sea Shocks and the New More Stable Normal
War on the Rocks – You can’t choke a dead horse. Anyone who has studied geopolitics, particularly in the context of energy, has learned that control over waterways — most notably the Suez Canal — translates into influence, as actors can threaten to disrupt energy supplies. But they also know that leverage is limited: Commerce invariably adjusts to disruptions and markets stabilize around a new normal. The crisis in the Red Sea demonstrates this effect, though in an unexpected way. Months of Houthi attacks on shipping, followed by a significant U.S. and British military response, has done little to move oil prices, while the impact on supply has been negligible. Markets, in effect, shrugged off the Red Sea disruption.
Sub Boise will begin its overhaul nine years late, with $1.2B contract
Defense News – The Navy on Friday awarded HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding a $1.2 billion deal to begin a maintenance overhaul on attack submarine Boise, which hasn’t operated at sea since 2015.
HMS Diamond prepares to return to the Red Sea
Navy Lookout – HMS Diamond returned to Gibraltar on 10th February following two intense months deployed in the Red Sea, including action in combat. Here we summarise her time in Gibraltar and the current situation.
In South Korea, Del Toro courts major shipbuilders to set up shop in US
Breaking Defense – During a recent trip to South Korea, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro pitched two of the country’s major shipbuilders to potentially set up shop stateside, according to statement from Del Toro’s office.
Houthis knock out underwater cables linking Europe to Asia
Jerusalem Post – The successful targeting of the four cables, which are believed to belong to the AAE-1, Seacom, EIG, and TGN systems, marks a serious disruption of communications between Europe and Asia.
On Naval Theory
US Naval War College Review – Too many naval officers mistrust, neglect, or even ignore the importance of naval theory, instead placing too much reliance on advanced technologies. Yet without full understanding of naval theory, it is very difficult to have the broad outlook necessary to develop naval doctrine, train one’s naval forces, and employ those forces successfully in a war.
Drifting Away? Russia’s Dissatisfaction With the Law of the Sea
RUSI – Should Russia withdraw from UNCLOS, this would spell the start of the end of the current near-global consensus on the governance of the oceans.
Do Nothing: An Alternative Opinion on Critical national Infrastructure and Seabed Warfare
Wavell Room – The aim of this paper is to reflect on some key questions around the problem of seabed infrastructure defence and explore what the ‘Do Nothing’ (or at least very little) option would look like.
Coordinating and Deconflicting Naval Operations in the Western Indian Ocean
RUSI – With the Houthi threat, the recent resurfacing of piracy, and continuing patterns of blue crime contributing to growing insecurity in the Western Indian Ocean, fresh efforts are needed to coordinate and deconflict the patchwork of naval operations in the region.
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