USNI News – Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the shipyard that was building the cancelled Constellation-class frigate, will join Bollinger Shipyards in constructing the Marine Corps’ Landing Ship Medium, the Navy announced Wednesday.

The War Zone – The latest flurry of U.S. assets heading to the Middle East includes many of the missing capabilities needed for a sustained air campaign.

Naval News – Derivatives of the AGR-20F FALCO air-to-air missile are being rapidly prototyped to fulfill the urgent low-cost engagement requirement for one-way attack drone swarms numbered in the hundreds.

USNI News – Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), its escorts and embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 have been tasked from their current position in the Caribbean to the Middle East to support a U.S. naval buildup in the region, USNI News has learned.

USNI News – The Trump administration announced its plans Friday for expanding the nation’s commercial shipbuilding and maritime capabilities, a three-pronged approach that calls for bolstering U.S. shipbuilding, increasing the mariner workforce and regulating the industry to encourage use of U.S.-built and flagged vessels.

Breaking Defense – Vice Adm. Brendan McLane said that a medium unmanned surface vessel will deploy alongside the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group that is set to get underway later this year.

USNI News – Guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG-103) and fast oiler USNS Supply (AOE-6) collided during an underway replenishment on Wednesday, according to a U.S. Southern Command statement. “Two personnel reported minor injuries and are in stable condition. Both ships have reported sailing safely. The incident is currently under investigation.” 

Naval News – Boeing highlighted the anti-ship and mining payloads of its upcoming Joint Direct Attack Munition Long Range (JDAM LR) aboard U.S. B-52H and B-1B strategic bombers.

Breaking Defense – The new Trump-class battleship is needed due to limitations the Navy has found with what it could outfit its destroyers with, requiring the service to find a larger hull size, according to by the service’s top surface warfare officer.

Breaking Defense – The Navy’s top officer is on board with advancing laser weapons — and believes the new Trump-class battleships will drive the service to equip other Navy ships with the weapons, too. 

National Interest – James Holmes writes that during World War II, Japan’s fleet was large and qualitatively peerless, but unsupported by a broader defense-industrial base. The United States finds itself in the same position today.

The War Zone – A second carrier group would provide additional tactical airpower for a sustained operation against Iran, but it wouldn’t arrive for weeks at the earliest.

USNI News – Buoyed by billions in investments into robotic systems, the Navy is considering how it will manage the swarms of unmanned surface, subsurface and aerial drones throughout the fleet.

Defence Blog – The U.S. Navy said it completed the final planned flight test of the Harpoon Block II Update on Jan. 16, concluding system-level flight testing for the obsolescence update. The test validated the missile’s land-attack profile following earlier trials against guidance performance and moving maritime targets, with initial deliveries planned later this year.

(Thanks to Alain)

The War Zone – The A-10, now in the twilight of its career, is uniquely suited to protect naval assets from lower-end threats, such as swarms of Iranian small boats.

USNI News – New Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle says he is crafting a plan for formations beyond the carrier strike group that don’t have peak military capability, but are good enough to meet the needs of U.S. commanders downrange.

CIMSEC – Expectations of a genuine American shipbuilding renaissance should be kept in check. The United States is ill-suited to quickly transform from a virtual non-participant in commercial shipbuilding to a competitive producer of large cargo vessels. More likely is another round of costly subsidies, continued shipbuilding dysfunction, and little progress toward addressing the country’s key maritime challenges. Rather than devote substantial resources to this questionable enterprise, U.S. policymakers should pursue pragmatic solutions that more directly remedy commercial and naval shortcomings.

CIMSEC – The strategic imperatives facing the United States, Japan, and South Korea demand immediate, decisive action to secure enduring maritime security across the Indo-Pacific. Trilateral collaboration in naval shipbuilding is no longer optional, it is necessary. Together, the alliance has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to counter China’s expanding naval power, restore American shipbuilding strength, and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific for decades to come. By pooling resources, expertise, and industrial capacity, the alliance can design and produce a fast-attack missile corvette tailored to the region’s urgent needs: maritime domain awareness, deterrence, and enhanced interoperability among allies and partners. A corvette fleet, built with Asian shipyards and American innovation, will empower ASEAN partners on the frontlines of maritime coercion, illegal activities, grey-zone conflict, and Great Power Competition.

Defense News – After a U.S. warship visited the Chinese-built Ream Naval Base on the south coast of Cambodia last week, analysts warn the government here should brace for a response from Beijing.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that Chief of Naval Operations Daryl Caudle’s advice on reforming US Navy doctrine is at once prescient and rooted in age-old wisdom.

USNI News – Two aviation companies under contract to develop armed, unmanned aircraft and control systems for the U.S. Navy teased what they are working on this week during the Singapore Air Show.

USNI News – A Marine F-35C Lighting II fighter shot down an Iranian military drone that approached a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea,

The War Zone – The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Preble used its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system to down four drones in a demonstration last year, Lockheed Martin has shared.

Breaking Defense – While the carrier strike group will remain the backbone of naval power projection, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle says its time to look for alternative options, especially unmanned systems, for more specialized regional scenarios — part of a Tuesday preview of what he called his forthcoming “hedge strategy” for the Navy.

Naval News – General Dynamics NASSCO is looking to U.S. Navy for interest in new VLS reloading destroyer tenders, known as AD(X), as part of a combined buy of common hulls with the future AS(X) submarine tender.