Category Archives: Miscellaneous

2024 World Naval Operational News Highlights

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The ten most significant naval news stories / trends / themes this year included:

  • The Houthi’s anti-access area denial campaign which has effectively closed commercial shipping through the Suez Canal. How much longer will they be allowed to continue it?

  • The US Navy’s superb effort to defend commercial shipping and itself from Houthi attacks by all manner of above sea, at sea, and undersea weapons. How much longer can its luck hold out, and at what overall cost?

  • The inability of the Western nations to shut down the Houthi threat – a small nation state has effected commerce on a global basis and the world has done nothing about it. Why not?

  • The Indian Navy’s efforts to protect its own merchantmen from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Somali pirates off of Africa. Where next will it project its growing naval power?

  • The ever-growing vulnerability of undersea infrastructure of all types to nefarious actors. When will the West undertake substantiative action to actively defend this critical infrastructure?

  • The ever continuing rise of the People’s Liberation Army Navy and its ever-agressive actions around the world. When will the US seriously contribute resources to countering it?

    Instead we have repeatedly seen over the last decade:

  • The inability of the US Navy to design ships in a logical manner.

  • The inability of the US Navy to construct ships in a regular manner.

  • The inability of the US Navy to crew ships in a consistent manner.

  • The inability of the US Navy to maintain and repair ships in a timely manner.

    Are these the actions of a country that is serious about countering the Chinese Navy? The time to act is growing very, very short…

U.K. Firm DEEP FLIPs Over Former Navy Research Station, Rescues Platform from Scrapyard

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USNI News – The former Navy research platform R/V FLIP has been described variously from its launch in 1962 to retirement in 2023 as a giant baseball bat, huge caterpillar, soda straw or floating bottle. “Spar buoy” was the term the builder and the Navy used to described its shape. And now Research Vessel, Floating Instrument Platform as it is best known, which officially retired after more than 50 years of naval service, has been rescued from a Mexican scrapyard for a new mission.

“Red Light, Green Light” Faraway from the Beach

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Wavell Room – What can you do with amphibious forces given current area denial, especially sea denial, measures; particularly in Europe?  Those tools of sea denial mean that fouling the waters is easy but clearing them is hard.  Because of this, sea denial is easier today and sea control is growing more challenging.  Threats to large landing ships make traditional amphibious assaults—called forcible entry operations in the American vernacular—riskier.  Simply using amphibious forces to do ground operations in a new patch of land is too hazardous.  On the other hand, a divergent model has promise to contribute to sea control.  

Do USVs Have a Future in Latin American and Caribbean Navies?

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CIMSEC – Unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are sailing full steam ahead, as evidenced by their (deadly) efficiency in attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces against Russian targets across the Black Sea. Though the security landscape in Europe is dramatically different from that of the Western Hemisphere, new technologies are always of interest to any armed service and USVs should be no exception. Whether USVs have a future in Latin America and the Caribbean merits deeper exploration.

The Rising Ransomware Tide, Chinese Spy Cranes, and the Biden Executive Order on Maritime Cybersecurity

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War on the Rocks – In July of 2023, Japan’s largest port, Nagoya, fell victim to a lockbit ransomware attack, causing operations to grind to a halt and Toyota to suspend its import-export packaging lines. This was just one of many recent incidents within the larger marine transportation system and showcases how fragile the sector is to these attack profiles.

Searching For Lost Submarines: An Overview of Forensic Underwater Methodologies

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CIMSEC – How does one find an object not meant to be found? Forensic maritime investigators in 2017 stumbled across this question when searching for the disappeared ARA San Juan (S-42) – an Argentinian submarine whose mission centered around stealth. Despite the environmental challenges and the restrictions imposed by the profile of submarines, several complementary forensic tools have emerged as authoritative standards and best practices for underwater search operations. These include: (1) optimization of preliminary search boxes through Bayesian probabilities, with updates for posterior probabilities throughout the search; (2) side-scanning sonar systems; and (3) unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for imagery, access, and identity verification. In explaining the efficacies and drawbacks of such methods, this analysis highlights the importance and evolving future of search optimization strategies.

Focus on the Fundamentals: The Siren Song of Technology in Maritime Security

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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.

The Vibrant Military and Criminal Activities Across the Caribbean Sea

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CIMSEC – While the Caribbean Sea is currently not as dangerous as the Black Sea or the Red Sea, from combating drug trafficking and illegal fishing to humanitarian assistance/disaster relief operations to a belligerent Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, Caribbean naval forces have many daily missions and priorities. The United States, via US Southern Command and the US Coast Guard, and the armed forces of France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom – which have overseas territories across the Caribbean – are all present across Caribbean waters and are critical partners of regional defense forces.

2023 World Naval Operational News Highlights

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The ten most significant naval news stories/ trends / themes this year included:

  • The Ukrainian Navy’s closing of the Black Sea to the Russian Navy. What lessons can other navies learn from Ukraine’s anti-access area denial strategy?

  • The Houthi’s closing of the Red Sea (with help from their sponsor Iran) to merchant shipping. What lessons will other insurgencies learn from this anti-access area denial strategy?

  • The US Navy’s alarming ammunition expenditure while conducting successful anti-ballistic missile and cruise missile target practice against the Houthis in the Red Sea. Will the US Navy be able to use this experience to convince the US Congress to increase its surface to air missile procurement in order to have a more than adequate missile magazine depth in case of war with China?

  • The increasing emphasis Western navies are placing on countering sea bed warfare against all the critical national infrastructure that exists under the sea. When will naval budgets meet naval aspirations for this new arena of warfare?

  • The transformation of the Baltic Sea into a NATO sea, with Finland joining NATO this year and hopefully Sweden joining NATO next year. What will Russia do in response?

  • The awakening of Japan and the Philippines to the Chinese threat, as evidenced by their increase in defense procurement. How will they spend their funds in order to best deter China?

  • Taiwan’s beginning to adapt a porcupine strategy for its defense against a Chinese invasion. Will Taiwan be able to keep buying these low-cost, unglamorous, but effective weapons in ever-increasing numbers going forward, or will they again revert to buying high-cost, glamorous and ineffective weapons?

  • The European Union’s growing realization that it has a role to play in the Indo-Pacific theater, evidenced by increasing European naval deployments to that region, such as seen with France’s Charles De Gaulle strike group deployment this year. How can Europe get maximum use out of its constrained naval resources?

  • The US Navy’s interesting experiments with TF-59 in the Persian Gulf, its experimental unmanned surface vessel squadron. When will the US Navy have learned enough from experiments to start building medium and large unmanned surface vessels for use by the fleet?

  • The difficulties that Western navies (Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Navy, Royal New Zealand Navy, US Navy, US Coast Guard, US Maritime Administration) are experiencing in recruitment and retention. If these countries were to expand their fleets, how would they man them?