– Defense News – The US Navy’s fight to buy 52 variants of its littoral combat ship (LCS) from two shipbuilders may have taken a fatal blow this week after the secretary of defense directed the service to cap its buy at 40 ships and pick only one supplier. The directive also orders the Navy to buy only one ship annually over the next four years, down from three per year.
Category Archives: USNavy
Truman Carrier Strike Group Enters U.S. 5th Fleet To Begin Anti-ISIS Operations
– USNI News – The U.S. Navy once again has an aircraft carrier in U.S. Central Command, after the Truman Carrier Strike Group passed through the Suez Canal on Monday and became a U.S. 5th Fleet asset. The region had gone without any naval air power for a stretch of time, after the Theodore Roosevelt CSG and the Essex Amphibious Ready Group departed the region in mid-October. The Kearsarge ARG entered 5th Fleet on Nov. 1 and began air strikes with Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers about two weeks later, after a one-month gap in naval air power operations.
Guided missile cruiser Normandy returns to Norfolk
– Virginian Pilot – After more than nine months, 70,000 nautical miles and just about every major sea and ocean over the course of a trip around globe, the guided missile cruiser Normandy returned Saturday to Norfolk.
Taking Distributed Lethality to the Next Level
– USNI News – The evolving Distributed Lethality (DL) concept ––announced last year –– offers a new approach for how the nation might use its naval surface forces as potential adversaries acquire naval capabilities designed to control the sea.
Zumwalt Destroyer Leaves Yard for First Set of Sea Trials
– USNI News – On Monday morning, the first-in-class Zumwalt-class destroyer left its pier at General Dynamics Bath Iron Work, headed down Maine’s Kennebec River bound for the Atlantic Ocean and its first taste of saltwater.
Instability Questions About Zumwalt Destroyer Are Nothing New
– Defense News – The advanced destroyer Zumwalt (DDG 1000) is scheduled to put to sea next week to begin a series of sea trials. It will be the first time the 610-foot-long ship meets the ocean, the culmination of concept and design work that began in the 1990s. The Zumwalt and her two sister ships are built with a tumblehome hull, where the sides slope outward rather than inward or at a straight vertical as in most ship designs. The configuration, part of the ship’s low-cross section or stealth characteristics, is reminiscent of some designs of more than a century ago, but the DDG 1000 takes tumblehome to a new extreme. Essentially, no one has ever been to sea on a full-sized ship of this type.
Seeking Game Changers in the Underwater World
– Defense News – The United States builds, arguably, the world’s most capable submarines. But at about $2 billion apiece, there are only so many subs the US Navy will acquire, and it’s widely recognized the supply will never meet the demand.
The Real Threat to America’s Military (And It’s Not China, Russia or Iran)
– National Interest – We can reallocate resources within services, or allocate resources away from the military, but we cannot reallocate resources across services.
Making Places, Not Bases a Reality
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – The number of U.S. military bases overseas—especially those that can accommodate fighter aircraft—has declined. Establishing ‘frontier bases’ provided by the host nation could be the solution.
Navy Warships to Sail by Mischief Reef
– Washington Free Beacon – Navy warships will sail close to a second disputed Chinese island in the South China Sea soon in a further challenge to Beijing’s military buildup and maritime control.
Carrier USS Harry S. Truman to Deploy to Middle East on Monday
– USNI News – The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (CSG) — centered on nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-71) — is slated to depart Naval Station Norfolk on Monday to join the U.S. led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL).
The Perils of Energy Independence
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – When it comes to weaning ourselves from foreign oil, the United States should be careful what it wishes for—especially in light of its potential impact on U.S. Pacific Command’s operations in ‘China’s backyard.’
The Age of Unmanned Systems
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – UAS must be fully integrated into the Navy’s fleet to enhance our ability to provide all-domain access.
Navy Developing Software To Give Standard Missile-6 Additional Mission Capabilities
– USNI News – The Navy’s surface ship weapons office is developing software to bring additional mission sets to the Standard Missile-6 surface-to-air missile, which may be ready for fielding in the next year or two.
Rough seas ahead for the US Navy
– Boston Globe – James Holmes on what the future looks like for the US Navy.
LX(R) Will Be Cheaper, More Capable Thanks To Using San Antonio LPD Design As Starting Point
– USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps were able to design an LX(R) dock landing ship replacement with greater capability for less money by starting with the higher-end San Antonio-class LPD-17 design, stripping away unneeded features and adding back in desired ones.
The U.S. Navy’s Freedom of Navigation Operation around Subi Reef: Deciphering U.S. Signaling
– National Interest – Since the United States sailed in the waters close to Subi Reef [5], a low-tide election (LTE) that China has built up into a massive artificial island, some experts [6] have charged that the U.S. bungled the operation by conducting an “innocent passage,” implicitly granting China a 12 nautical mile territorial sea around the LTE to which it is not entitled. This accusation is not valid, however, and reflects an incomplete understanding of what is admittedly a complicated element of the Law of the Sea Convention.
Confusion Continues to Surround U.S. South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Operation
– USNI News – Last week the United States sent a guided missile destroyer past a Chinese artificial island to challenge questionable claims in the South China Sea, but confusion still reigns from Washington, D.C., to the Western Pacific as to exactly what message was supposed to be transmitted.
America’s “Carrier Gap” Crisis Highlights A Need For Smaller Aircraft Carriers
– Foxtrot Alpha – The Navy is experiencing serious operational shortfalls due to running its fleet of ten aircraft carriers hard in recent years, which is one short of the mandated 11. As such, it is time for the U.S. to build smaller aircraft carriers in greater numbers than what today’s one-size-fits-all super carrier strategy permits.
Expeditionary Mobile Base Chesty Puller May Receive SOF Upgrades Before 5th Fleet Deployment
– USNI News – The Navy’s newest Afloat Forward Staging Base may include special operations capabilities when it makes its maiden voyage to the Middle East in late 2016 or early 2017, if the Navy chooses to make the much-desired upgrades to the ship after a year-long test and certification period.
U.S. aircraft carriers could become ineffective
– CNN – A new report on the future of aircraft carriers raises questions about the choices the Navy has made about these mobile airfields. The rise of new powers now threatens to push the Navy farther from shore and beyond the range of the aircraft the carriers hold.
Read the report from the CNAS: Retreat from Range: The Rise and Fall of Carrier Aviation
Half the Carrier Fleet Tied Up In Maintenance, Other 5 Strained To Meet Demands
– USNI News – The Navy has run its 10 aircraft carriers hard since USS Enterprise (CVN-65) decommissioned in December 2012 and is now paying the resulting maintenance bill, with half the fleet tied up in repairs and the other five trying to keep up with combatant commanders’ needs.
US to return to South China Sea after warship visit
– BBC – The US has said it plans to return to contested areas of the South China Sea, with a top military commander saying it has conducted similar operations worldwide “for decades”.
U.S. Destroyer Made an ‘Innocent Passage’ Near Chinese South China Sea Artificial Island in Recent Mission
– USNI News – Last week’s South China Sea freedom of navigation mission — in which a U.S. guided missile destroyer came within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese facility on an artificial island on Subi Reef — was conducted as an “innocent passage.” While the mission of USS Lassen (DDG-82) was deemed successful by Washington, focusing world attention on the myriad of overlapping and disputed claims in the South China Sea, the use of the innocent passage stipulation could result in a perception that the U.S. implicitly acknowledges Chinese claims to its recently constructed artificial islands.
Navy Planning Torpedo Restart, Would Be Modular Design With Multiple Payloads
– USNI News – The Navy hopes to restart its heavyweight torpedo program after a more than 15-year hiatus in production, but those plans could be hampered by a long-term continuing resolution.
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