– War is Boring – The Pentagon’s controversial 2015 budget proposal calls for some big changes in what kinds of weapons the U.S. military buys. Among other reforms, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel wants the Navy to stop building lightly armed Littoral Combat Ships and replace them with a new, more deadly small warship—a frigate, one able to fight and survive in even the most dangerous waters.

– DefenseTech – The Navy’s Virginia-class fast attack submarines are slated to serve for the next 50 years, but service leaders are already debating what submarine or system might replace it.

– USNI News – The U.S. Navy will “lay up” half of the service’s fleet of Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers under the President’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal. “Half of the Navy’s cruiser fleet— or 11 ships —will be ‘laid up’ and placed in reduced operating status while they are modernized, and eventually returned to service with greater capability and a longer lifespan,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.

– National Defense – Naval aviators plan to fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from an aircraft carrier at sea this fall. Pilots who have operated the aircraft say they are cautiously optimistic about its future despite a string of technical setbacks.

– USNI News – The Pentagon will cut the final number of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) by 20 — from 52 to 32 — and shortly begin a study on a new frigate for the service, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told reporters at a Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Department budget preview on Monday afternoon.

– San Diego Union Tribune – Faced with fewer dollars, not enough ships, and allies and enemies alike touchy about shore access, the sea services are getting creative as they craft a maritime strategy for the future.

– War is Boring – The Navy’s new—and so far only—gun-armed, robot-hauling war boat arrived in Bahrain on Feb. 8. The 65-foot, 50-ton-displacement Coastal Command Boat is assigned to Task Group 56.7, America’s patrol force in the Persian Gulf.

– Defense News – The United States will “help” the Philippines in the event that China occupies disputed islands in the South China Sea, the US Chief of Naval Operations said Thursday.

– The Diplomat – The Navy is exploring the feasibility of sub-launched hypersonic missiles for conventional prompt global strike program.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – If the United States wants to prevent China from flexing its military muscle and disrupting the status quo it should adopt and advance a subsurface strategy.

[I would say this is the most insightful essay I’ve read in Proceedings in a very long time. A great idea for a new grand strategy for the US in the Pacific. – Michael]

– Aviation Week – The first of four U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers to be forward deployed as part of NATO’s ballistic missile defense of allied populations and territory arrived at Naval Station Rota in Spain on Feb. 11.

– USNI News – USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) is scheduled to depart for a Middle East and Mediterranean deployment on Saturday as the centerpiece of Carrier Strike Group 2.

– Aviation Week – As anyone who follows the Littoral Combat Ship is quite aware by now, the Pentagon Director of Operational Testing and Evaluation (DOT&E) has once again taken the LCS program to task for problems with both the ships and the mission module packages as well as the related equipment.

– USNI News – Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) Bataan left Naval Station Norfolk, Va. for an eight month deployment on Saturday.

– USNI News – The U.S. Navy is in the process of switching out a number of warships forward deployed to Japan with newer vessels.

– War is Boring – The U.S. Navy is quietly converting a 633-foot-long cargo ship into a secretive helicopter carrier with facilities for supporting a large contingent of Special Operations Forces and all their gear, including jet skis.

– Fox News – The Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat are testing a prototype of a system that would allow the launch and recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles and other payloads from the missile tube of a cruise missile submarine.

– National Defense – A laser gun that looks like a telescope will go to sea later this year aboard a Navy warship. Over a 12-month trial deployment in potentially hostile waters, sailors will attempt to prove whether laser beams can serve as legitimate weapons against approaching small aircraft or high-speed boats. For Navy officials and military contractors, much is at stake in the success of the demonstration. The performance of the fiber solid-state laser — to be installed aboard the USNS Ponce amphibious transport ship — will be seen as a litmus test for the wider use of energy-based weapons.

– USNI News – Warships from the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet have entered the Black Sea ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the service announced on Wednesday. According to the Navy, the command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20), which carries 300 military and civilian personnel arrived in region on Tuesday. The Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS Taylor (FFG-50) is expected to enter the Black Sea later today…Though not explicitly stated, the two vessels would be used to evacuate U.S. citizens from Sochi in the event of a terrorist attack…

– Aviation Week – In the view of the U.S. Navy, the Mach 10 test of a hypersonic glide vehicle that China conducted on Jan. 9 reflects its predictions of future warfare. If and when China can put the technology into service, Beijing will have a weapon that challenges defenses and extends the range of its ballistic missiles against land and sea targets, but its offensive application is still some years away and depends on solving tough challenges in targeting and guidance. The hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) test appears to mark a step beyond China’s anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) program, featuring a slower, shorter-range maneuverable reentry vehicle (RV)—and may point to a second-generation ASBM.

– DOD Buzz – The Navy has begun early design work, affordability studies and planning with industry partners for its third big-deck America-Class Amphibious Assault Ship, or LHA 8, slated to enter service in 2024. Unlike the first two America-Class amphibs now in development, the USS America and the USS Tripoli designed as aviation-centric large-deck amphibs, LHA 8 will be built with a classic amphibious assault ship well deck designed to move personnel, vehicles and equipment from ship to shore.

– Defense News – The reality of finalizing the fiscal 2015 budget submission is driving top US defense officials and the White House to quickly make major decisions, and indications are growing that the elimination of one carrier and one carrier air wing could be among the defense request’s key features.

– USNI – The prevalence of unmanned systems operating below, on, and above the oceans over the next few decades will inevitably influence the Navy’s culture and approach to operational art at sea. Today most of these vehicles are controlled remotely, with a human operator directing the platforms, monitoring their systems, and re-tasking them as the weather deteriorates, operational priorities shift, or mechanical problems occur. In the near future, however, changes in technology and threats will drive unmanned naval systems away from remote operation and toward autonomy.

– USNI News – The Navy has already made some powerful assumptions about its next fight in the air. It’ll be away from home. It will be against a sophisticated and well-armed enemy. It’ll depend as much on information technology as it will on bombs or missiles. And it’s a fight for which the service isn’t ready.

– War is Boring – The U.S. Navy is about to cut in half the number of aircraft carriers it keeps ready for combat. Starting in 2015, just two American flattops will be on station at any given time, down from three or four today.