Background – Piracy – Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to conduct joint naval patrols in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, to combat piracy and the threat of terrorist attacks on cargo ships.
US Marines – A look at how the Marines prepared for operations in Kosovo
Remember that starting tomorrow, NOSI will have a slightly different appearance???
Indian Navy – India starts to overhaul its Sea King helicopters in order to respond to Pakistan’s new submarine threat.
Background – Piracy – As leaders of the NATO military alliance head for a summit at which new measures against shipborne terrorism will be on the agenda, there are worries that world trade may be disrupted by new anti-terror rules for ports and ships that are about to come into force
Background – NATO – What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or Nato, really for? It’s a question that has dogged the alliance ever since the ending of the Cold War.
Background – Iraq – John Keegan on what America must do in Iraq.
US Navy – Should the number of US attack submarines be decreased?
Background – Iraq – A look at what Lt. General David Petraeus is currently doing in Iraq. Petraeus, the former commander of the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom, was featured in Rick Atkinson’s book entitled “In the Company of Soldiers.”
Royal Marines – 40 Commando is returning to Iraq.
Royal Navy – HMS Exeter makes a port call in China.
US Navy – A key House committee sharply rebuked the Navyís shipbuilding program on Wednesday, complaining that ìcontinued shiftingî in the serviceís plans has created ìconfusion and frustrationî in the industry and among lawmakers.
US Marines – A look at what makes a good leader.
Background – Military Strength – James F. Dunnigan ranks the world’s armed services.
NOSI is taking a break and will next be updated on Monday June 28. Here are the readings for this weekend.
Background – History – John Ericsson’s effect on the Royal Navy.
Background – Geopolitics – Ralph Peters writes that in the US military, the danger of accepting the traditional wisdom has become part of the traditional wisdom. Despite our lip service to creativity and innovation, we rarely pause to question fundamentals. Partly, of course, this is because officers in todayís Army or Marine Corps operate at a wartime tempo, with little leisure for reflection. Yet, even more fundamentally, deep prejudices have crept into our militaryóas well as into the civilian worldó that obscure elementary truths. There is no better example of our unthinking embrace of an error than our rejection of the term ìwar of attrition.î The belief that attrition, as an objective or a result, is inherently negative is simply wrong. A soldierís job is to kill the enemy. All else, however important it may appear at the moment, is secondary. And to kill the enemy is to attrit the enemy. All wars in which bulletsóor arrowsófly are wars of attrition.
Background – Leadership – A review of the book “The Modern Prince: What Leaders Need to Know Now.”
Background – Diego Garcia – Former residents of Diego Garcia are again refused the right of return to their home.
US Marines – Training pays off as Marine artillery, aviation, and sister Service fire support assets silenced Iraqi indirect fires capability.
US Army – An overview of where the US Army is headed.
US Navy – A look at the Seaglider Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.
Background – Piracy – The Strait of Malacca, through which a quarter of the world’s maritime trade passes, makes a tempting target for terrorists and pirates.
Malaysian Coast Guard – Malaysia will form its own Coast Guard.
US Navy – Naval aviation lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Background – Empire – Niall Ferguson, the author of Colossus, laments the emasculation of American imperialism.
US Navy – The U.S. Navy has awarded a Boeing Co. subsidiary a $3.89 billion contract to develop a long-range patrol plane to replace Lockheed’s P-3 Orion submarine hunter.
US Navy – Naval news from around the fleet.
US Marines – This is the second article outlining the automatic rifle assessment conducted by 2d Battalion, 7th Marines (2/7).
Background – Iran – Is Iran developing a nuclear weapons program? Whose job is it to know? How can they know? And what’s to be done if the answer is yes?
Please Note – On July 1, the appearance of the articles posted daily in NOSI will change slightly for the reader. When this happens, the 30 day archive of articles on NOSI’s home page will temporarily be reduced to 1 day; it will then be built back up to a 30 day archive over the next month.
The reason for this change is that it will allow NOSI to automatically generate a valid Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed. More on what an RSS feed is and why you may find it useful when it happens.
North Korean Navy – The navies of North and South Korea communicate for the first time since the Korean War.
International Navies – The latest naval news from New Zealand, Chile, Finland, Portugal, and Greece.
Background – Geopolitics – A review of Bernard Lewis’ writings on the Middle East.
US Navy – The drive to develop pilotless aircraft that can replace manned planes on the most dangerous, or the tedious, combat missions has produced some important technological advances. However, while they may be unmanned, the authority for them to release weapons is likely to remain in human hands.
US Navy – In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin undertook to build one of the worldís largest navies, a Soviet fleet of battleships and battle cruisers. He did so in the face of well known impediments and shortfalls of geography, finances, and industrial capacity and capabilityóand in the absence of an obvious and compelling strategic rationale. Why?
Background – US Bases – America is reducing its troop levels in Germany and South Korea, two long-time allies, and is considering repositioning other forces too. Will improved strategic flexibility come at the cost of worsening already-strained relationships?
US Navy – With its sophisticated guidance package, long range and ability to be fired from a variety of platforms, the Joint Common Missile (JCM) will give Army, Navy and Marine Corps aviation crews a powerful new weapon from the air.
Background – History – The Marines hit Saipan hard and found, for the first time in the Pacific, what combat in the cities was all about.
Background – Transformation – The purpose of the present article is to describe the consequences of overreliance on technologically advanced systems over the course of a single war.
Background – 4th Generation Warfare – William Lind reviews the 4 generations of warfare.
Background – Iraq – Thomas Ricks reflects on the casualties in Iraq.
Swedish Navy – The Swedish Navy is testing out a new ship which is believed to be the most “invisible” yet. The Royal Navy and the US Navy both have plans of their own for similarly futuristic “stealth” ships.
Royal Navy – A large naval exercise is occuring in the Atlantic.
US Marines – William Lind says the Marines are dividing into two camps – the fighting troops and the Beltway Bandits, and it will eventually lead to the end of the Marines.
US Navy – The two top contenders for a novel Navy program to buy robotic planes for ocean surveillance are offering substantially different aircraft ó and operating philosophies ó to earn a larger stake in the militaryís market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
US Marines – An interview with the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.
Background – Empire – Niall Ferguson reviews Why Globalization Works by Martin Wolf.
Please note that the shows mentioned yesterday on C-SPAN can be viewed live on the television or later on the Web via streaming video, for which RealPlayer is required.
Israeli Navy – Israel acquires its first cruise missile.
Royal Navy – Royal Navy experts are preparing secret designs for a new generation of multi-purpose nuclear submarines to replace Britainís Trident fleet at the end of the next decade.
US Navy – Naval surveillance experts envision a future of broader, more persistent coverage of the oceans, faster search and localization of targets, and more lethal response, provided by a smaller force with less manpower and lower life-cycle operational and maintenance costs.
Background – Geopolitics – Thomas P.M. Barnett’s latest article on our strategy in Iraq.
A Viewing List: – Booknotes on C-SPAN1 and BookTV on C-SPAN2 every weekend have at least one interesting interview with or reading by an author / historian related to their recent books related to geopolitics, world history, or military history. An outstanding resource, check their weekly programming schedules!
US Navy – At a time when the Navy is making deep cuts in uniformed personnel, the ìbottom lineî is not a number but a ìrevolutionaryî concept in how the service matches its sailors to its needs, according to the chief of naval personnel.
Background – China – Interesting yearly look at the Chinese military, with a small amount of information about the Chinese Navy in it.
US Navy – An interview with Rear Adm. John M. Kelly, head of the Navy Warfare Development Command.
US Marines – In Operation Iraqi Freedom, Marine Corps aviation was integrated into a joint force as never before.
Background – – William Arkin says the truth about this administration’s policies is obscured by a barrier of secrecy.
Royal Navy – The UK is interested in the Littoral Combat Ship.
US Navy – With Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) ships at its heart, and protective strike groups at its perimeter, the sea base is envisioned as the operational corpus for U.S. tactical forces of the future. Its various parts will be bound together by the major arteries of the sea base; the logistics management systems that will make the difference between success and failure of the entire concept.
Background – Transformation – An excellent PBS documentary on transformation. It asks the question – can the US military’s high tech weaponry prevail against insurgents? Read the individual interviews (especially the ones for and against transformation) and the Program Transcript.
Background – History – John Keegan on D-Day.
US Navy – More on the new “Fleet Response Plan.”
Russian Navy – An important, troubling, and unresolved legacy of the Cold War is the remaining stock of nonstrategic tactical nuclear weapons, many of them obsoleteóa complex matter beyond the reach of traditional arms control or cooperative threat reduction, and that Russia, with the predominance of such weapons, is particularly reluctant to address. The West can reduce the threat in a free market manner: by simply buying Russiaís excess weapons and disposing of them.
Background – Geopolitics – Thomas P.M Barnett interviewed on CSPAN this week. Watch the program or read the transcript.
Israeli Navy – Israel wants to procure an amphibious assault vessel.
US Navy – The US navy is planning an unusual task force deployment off the West African coast.
US Marines – The Marines prepare to pull out of Haiti.
Background – Geopolitics – Thomas P.M. Barnett feels that we should encourage Russia, China, and India to join us as allies in Iraq???
Background – History – “The title of my paper is a ‘Trinityí of sortsó”John Ericsson”, “the Monitors”, and “Union Naval Strategy”óand each element is part of, a consequence of, the other. It is inappropriate to discuss Ericsson in any symposium without addressing his most notable, if not crucial invention (arguably), the ironclad U.S.S. Monitor; impossible to make note of that particular warship and her follow-ons without acknowledging Ericssonís central role in their construction; and altogether bad history to explore the naval strategy of the Union during the great American Civil War of 1861-1865 without stressing the utter reliance of the United States and its Navy upon both the monitors and Ericssonóupon its front-line fleet of ironclads, and one man.”
Background – History – A look at the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
Background – Foreign Policy – Sandy Berger says that by stressing unilateralism over cooperation, preemption over prevention, and firepower over staying power, the Bush administration has alienated the United States’ natural allies and disengaged from many of the world’s most pressing problems. To restore U.S. global standing–which is essential in checking the spread of lethal weapons and winning the war on terrorism–the next Democratic president must recognize the obvious: that means are as important as ends.
US Navy – The lack of “connectors” ó aircraft and ships ó to ferry troops and supplies from the sea base to tactical units ashore is one of the biggest gaps in the Navyís sea basing concept.
Background – 4th Generation Warfare – William Lind looks at Psychological Operations and 4th Generation Warfare.
Background – Geopolitics – Another interview with Thomas P.M. Barnett.
US Navy – The carrier Harry S. Truman sailed Wednesday in a test of the Navy’s ability to have seven of its 12 carriers away from port simultaneously, a major shift from the way carriers have traditionally been used.
A second Norfolk-based carrier, the Enterprise, was expected to leave Thursday to participate in the exercise, dubbed “Summer Pulse 04.”
US Navy – Sea basing is built upon jointness.
US Marines – Sometimes logic dictates that we change the way weíre conducting day-to-day business. Here the author recommends that the Marine Corps hire civilians to manage on-base businesses.
Background – Intelligence – An interesting look at how to apply John Boyd’s OODA loop to intelligence.
Background – Geopolitics – More on Thomas P.M. Barnett and his theories.
Please note: – The address http://nosi.org now points to this site!
Singaporean Navy – What role will the US play in assisting in patroling the Strait of Malacca?
US Navy – Our adversaries in the global war on terrorism will not fight us at sea or in the air or on traditional naval terms. They will intermingle with innocent civilians and continue to choose symbolic soft targets. ìSea Power 21î is the wrong strategy for the times.
US Navy – Ten days to the next world hot spot. That goal sums up a vision of the future shared by Navy and Marine Corps officials who intend to revolutionize the way the United States manages its forces, plans its operations and projects power ashore.
Background – History – John Keegan on how modern media excel at ignoring the lessons of history.
Background – Geopolitics – Thomas P.M. Barnett’s first article, describing his strategy for fighting the war on terror. A landmark article, in my estimation, that attempts to replace the Cold War global strategy of containment with a War on Terror global strategy of connectivity and globalization.
US Navy – At look at the latest gadgets from the Office of Naval Research.
Background – Geopolitics – An introductory look at Thomas P.M. Barnett, who has developed an interesting strategy on how to fight and win the war on terror. We will be looking at his work in depth this week.
Background – Iraq – Thomas Ricks compares the war in Iraq to other US wars.
Background – Intelligence – An interesting look at how hard it is to report on intelligence matters, in this case the intelligence of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Gives perspective to the difficulty of reporting intelligence issues in the press.
Background – History – The big-gun battleships softened the German defenses and made for dramatic newsreel footage 60 years ago. But the spunky destroyers in the Normandy Invasion came within less than 1,000 yards from the shore, providing direct gunfire support for troops on the beach.
Background – History – The Navy had an obvious role in the June 6, 1944, D-Day landings 60 years ago in Normandy, France, by performing the pre-invasion shore bombardment, follow-on gunfire support, plus transporting and landing many of the Army troops who stormed ashore. Less known are the heroics of Navy Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) that preceded the invasion force to disable obstacles planted along the French coastline.
US Navy – Newly available Russian sources suggest that the superpower naval confrontation during and immediately after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War was more dangerous than has been generally appreciated, and that the Soviet Navy had made remarkable progress in correcting the deficiencies revealed in the Cuban missile crisis only a decade before. The episode is a cautionary case study for the U.S. Navy, which today has another ìupstartî navy to consider.
NOSI will next be updated on Tuesday June 1. See you then!
US Navy – The USS Ronald Reagan sails for its new homeport in San Diego.
US Navy – Naval news from around the fleet.
Background – Iraq – Fascinating analysis of the current situation in Iraq.
US Navy – An interview with Vice Adm. Gary Roughead who commands U.S. Second Fleet and NATO Striking Fleet Atlantic, and is responsible for executing the fleet readiness program (FRP), a major restructuring of the Navyís maintenance, training, scheduling and deployment processes to create a fleet that can more quickly surge to world trouble spots and is employable for more sea days each year.
US Marines – The relationship between the lethality of weapons and the dispersion of the troops found on the same battlefield has been a consideration for commanders since man first engaged in combat. From the Spartan phalanx to German stormtroop operations, combat leaders have been forced to adjust their tactics to the technology of the day. The dispersion of the troops has always been a critical aspect of the tactics employed. As the lethality of weapons has increased so has the dispersion necessary to preserve combat power.
International Navies – The latest naval news from Australia, Bulgaria, China, Yemen, Ecuador, Malta and the Phillipines.
Background – Iraq – William Lind says the US military needs to start planning an orderly withdrawal from Iraq.
Background – Iraq – Niall Ferguson on why America is such an inept empire.
Background – Iraq – Transcript of yesterday’s 60 Minutes interview with General Zinni.
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