– Canberra Times – Sailors on Australia’s submarines will be given annual lump sum payments of up to $50,000 just for staying in their jobs as navy bosses grow increasingly desperate to keep crews on the boats.
The navy’s high command hopes the big money offer will end their long struggle to hold on to enough sailors to maintain Australia’s vital submarine warfare capability.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
When it Comes to Ship Survivability, Prayer Isn’t Enough
– USNI News – If the Navy buys lower-cost, low-survivability vessels and puts them into harm’s way without adequate passive and active protection against burgeoning undersea, surface and air/space-borne threats, it runs the unacceptable risk of cheap kills––missions, ships and people.
Reshape US Army, Asian Alliances To Deter China
– Breaking Defense – The US Army must play a larger role in the Pacific to deter China, one of DC’s leading defense experts is telling Congress today. That larger role requires politically and fiscally difficult decisions to build new kinds of units and base them in new places. The core of Krepinevich’s vision: Army missile batteries — for anti-air, anti-ship, missile defense, and long-range strike — regularly deploying to, or even permanently based in, West Pacific nations.
Ohio-Class Subs Approaching Several Firsts As Navy Prepares Them To Reach 42 Years of Service
– USNI News – The Navy’s imperative to provide “uninterrupted strategic deterrence” with its ballistic missile submarines requires it meets two goals: development of the new boats must stay on schedule, and the old boats must make it to the end of their expected service lives.
Australia Taking Long View in Defense Spending in Emerging Sub, Frigate Programs
– USNI News – New submarines, frigates and offshore patrol vessels will be at the top of Australia’s list to modernize its military capabilities.
China’s ‘Sea Phantom’ Fleet Prowls the Open Waters
– National Interest – Beijing has a long history of sneaking up on rival ships.
War Studies Primer 2016 Now Available
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Russian submarine activity topping Cold War levels
– Jane’s – Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic is currently equalling or even surpassing Cold War levels, according to NATO’s top naval officer.
Pentagon Tester Tells Navy LCS Test Was Plenty Fair
– Breaking Defense – On Friday, a Navy official told us a critical test report on the embattled Littoral Combat Ship was “unfair.” This afternoon, we found out the Pentagon’s independent test office has already circulated a coldly scathing response.
Unready for War: America’s F-35 Gets a Bad Report Card
– National Interest – Last July, the United States Marine Corps declared their short takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) version of the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35B Joint Strike Fighter operational. However, a new Pentagon operational test and evaluation report shows that the jet is far from ready. Even at the time, many had suspected that the service’s initial operational capability (IOC) was more hope than reality—now there is data to back that up.
Strangle China’s Economy: America’s Ultimate Trump Card?
– National Interest – Winston Churchill once famously remarked that Bolshevism must be “strangled in its crib.” In that same spirit, should the United States now seek to strangle China’s economy as a means of deterring its aggression?
Why the South China Sea Needs Japan’s Navy
– National Interest – Boosting Tokyo’s presence is key to regional security.
‘Mini Red Octobers:’Russia to Push on With Stealth Submarine Program
– The Diplomat – Despite some media reports to the contrary, the Russian Navy will continue building Lada-class subs.
Powers Jockey for Pacific Island Chain Influence
– Defense News – The extensive chains of Pacific islands ringing China have been described as a wall, a barrier to be breached by an attacker or strengthened by a defender. They are seen as springboards, potential bases for operations to attack or invade others in the region. In a territorial sense, they are benchmarks marking the extent of a country’s influence.
This Is China’s Master Plan to Destroy the U.S. Navy in Battle
– National Interest – When Chinese officers go to bed at night, what do they fear most? Despite all the hard work, all the billions of dollars spent, no Chinese sailor wants to tangle with the U.S. Navy. As one retired Chinese senior defense official told me in late 2014: “The 3 A.M. crisis ‘call’ I feared the most is that we were at war with your navy.”
US Navy’s Unmanned Jet Could Be a Tanker
– Defense News – One of the biggest questions facing the future of US Navy carrier-based aviation is what will be the primary mission of its new unmanned jet. Some believe the aircraft – to be produced by the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program – should be a stealthy strike jet able to penetrate an enemy’s defenses without risking a pilot. Others want a spy plane, able to launch from a carrier and produce high-quality, real-time intelligence…Now it would seem a decision has been made between strike and recon. The winner? Aerial refueling.
Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO’s Eastern Flank: Wargaming the Defense of the Baltics
– RAND – Russia’s recent aggression against Ukraine has disrupted nearly a generation of relative peace and stability between Moscow and its Western neighbors and raised concerns about its larger intentions. From the perspective of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the threat to the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — former Soviet republics, now member states that border Russian territory — may be the most problematic of these. In a series of war games conducted between summer 2014 and spring 2015, RAND Arroyo Center examined the shape and probable outcome of a near-term Russian invasion of the Baltic states. The games’ findings are unambiguous: As presently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members. Fortunately, it will not require Herculean effort to avoid such a failure. Further gaming indicates that a force of about seven brigades, including three heavy armored brigades — adequately supported by airpower, land-based fires, and other enablers on the ground and ready to fight at the onset of hostilities — could suffice to prevent the rapid overrun of the Baltic states.
Sea Power 2016 Almanac
– Sea Power 2016 Almanac – The Sea Power 2016 Almanac, an excellent guide to the US Navy and US Coast Guard, can be freely downloaded as a PDF.
South China Sea: US warship sails near disputed island
– BBC – A US warship has sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea to challenge efforts to limit freedom of access. The vessel passed close to Triton Island in the Paracel Islands, a statement said.
Invisible Bullets: The Navy’s Big Problem In Future War
– Breaking Defense – In the brutal naval battles of the future, the first clash of arms will be a clash of electrons. If you don’t win the invisible battle of the airwaves, you can’t win the visible battle of missiles.
U.S. Navy Confirms ‘Abnormal and Unprofessional’ Iranian UAV Recon Flight Over Carriers Truman, Charles de Gaulle
– USNI News – Officials at U.S. 5th Fleet confirmed to USNI News Iranian forces flew an unmanned aerial vehicle over French carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) earlier this month.
Type 45 destroyers: UK’s £1bn warships face engine refit
– BBC – The Royal Navy’s most modern warships are to be fitted with new engines because they keep breaking down.
Many Ships = Few Wars: The Case For A Big Fleet
– Breaking Defense – Think of international conflicts as earthquakes. Many little ones are better than one “Big One” — a global war. Social science suggests that the more often two rival powers interact, the more likely they are to resolve their differences through many small, manageable conflicts rather than one violent conflagration. That makes naval presence worldwide a very desirable capability.
Can China Copy the U.S. Marine Corps?
– National Interest – Much has been reported about the recent structural reforms undertaken by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA)—the end goal being a leaner and meaner military force, capable of undertaking a broad spectrum of missions under modern, high-tech conditions. Part of this drive towards a “new-age” PLA has been efforts to modernize the PLA Marine Corps (PLAMC).
Robot Subs, Electronic Warfare & Cyber: Navy’s Role In Offset Strategy
– Breaking Defense – As the Pentagon prepares to roll out its 2017 budget, one strategically crucial piece is the so-called Third Offset Strategy. That’s the US military’s high-tech, high-stakes plan to keep our edge over Russia, China, and other rapidly advancing rivals. This morning, the Chief of Naval Research outlined some of what the Navy’s piece of that strategy would be.
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