– Wired – The U.S. Navy’s huge, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers — capital ships that have long dominated military planning and budgeting — are slowly becoming obsolete, weighed down by escalating costs, inefficiency and vulnerability to the latest enemy weapons. But if the supercarrier is sinking, what could rise to take its place? Smaller, cheaper flattops; modified tanker ships; and missile-hauling submarines are three cheaper, more efficient and arguably more resilient options.

– US Navy – DARPA Expands Anti-Ship LRASM to Surface Launches – DARPA’s Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) program to develop a stealthy next-generation weapon for the US Navy is gaining heft.

– Aviation Week – If there is one significant difference in the management of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program compared to a year ago it is this: the service brass has become noticeably more transparent about the hiccups slowing LCS progress.

– Flight International – The US Navy is very interested in exploring the possibility of adding conformal fuel tanks onto the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, sources says. Test flights are scheduled for later this year.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Undersea warfare encompasses a wide array of moving parts. What the Navy needs now is a broader strategy to cover it where none currently exists.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Though not for lack of effort, the Navy’s organizational identity is shadowy at best. Here’s how its culture could readily be imbued with more spirit.

– Center for New American Security – In At What Cost a Carrier?, career naval flight officer Captain Henry J. Hendrix (Ph.D.), argues that the aircraft carrier — the centerpiece of American naval operations for over 70 years — is in danger of becoming too vulnerable to be relevant in future conflicts. Captain Hendrix examines the life-cycle costs and utility of the aircraft carrier and recommends a new approach for American naval operations.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – From CV-6 to CVN-80, the developments of and improvements to aircraft-carrier design form a continuum from the early days of naval aviation to the horizon of tomorrow.

– Associated Press – The U.S. Navy’s hottest new ship and the centerpiece of its renewed focus on Asia isn’t its largest vessel, or its most technologically advanced. But it has advantages that its bigger siblings lack.

– Associated Press – The California Coastal Commission on Friday rejected a U.S. Navy explosives and sonar training program off the Southern California coast that critics said could harm endangered blue whales and other sea life.

– Aviation Week – Now DARPA wants to enable small ships such as the 2,800-ton Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship to launch and recover Predator-class medium-altitude, long-endurance UAVs. The Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) program seeks to demonstrate a MALE UAV, and associated automated launch and recovery system, that can carry a 600lb payload 600-900nm from its host vessel.

– National Defense – John Lehman, a former secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, had more tough words for the Pentagon’s civilian and military bureaucracies during a Feb. 26 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower and projection forces subcommittee.

– BBC – It is an overcast day, and the skies are brooding over the Virginia coast, where two great grey US Navy ships are in dock.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – While naval strike capacity has grown since the Cold War, it’s come at a cost to the amphibious capabilities vital to U.S. power projection.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – An interview with Sean J. Stackley – The Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition.

– Aviation Week – You would have to cast a net far, wide and deep to find anyone of U.S. Navy rank who doubts sequestration will happen. Instead of dealing with “what-if” scenarios, the brass is talking more about “this will happen when … “ And the first big thing that will happen is that the Navy will find itself in quite a quandary.

– Washington Times – The Navy plans to shut down four of its active aircraft carriers in one of the worst-case scenarios presented to Congress by the service since the debate on budget cuts heated up this winter.

– Wired – The Navy is dealing with the military’s impending budget fiasco by putting its premier hardware — aircraft carriers — on the firing line. It’s unexpected, but it might actually be a smart move — if Congress cancels the deepest budget cuts. But if Congress keeps the cuts, then the Navy’s readiness to handle the security threats of the next several years will seriously decline — in many ways because of how the Navy buys stuff.

– Aviation Week – U.S. Navy Undersecretary Robert Work created some waves with the recent posting of his draft U.S. Naval War College white paper, “The Littoral Combat Ship: How We Got Here, and Why.”

– Aviation Week – Bill Sweetman critiques a study from the American Enterprise Institute.

– National Defense – Few Navy ships have been as doggedly assailed by naysayers as the Littoral Combat Ship, laments Navy Undersecretary Robert O. Work…Work, who has for years been one of the Navy’s most ardent defenders of LCS, contends in a new white paper that although critics are entitled to their opinions, they continue to miss the point about LCS.

– Military Times – The past year has been a banner one for the U.S. Navy in at least one unhappy category — major mishaps. The number of major mishaps involving aircraft carriers, ships and submarines was higher than in recent years, and the unbudgeted repair bill is just one more factor squeezing fleet maintenance accounts in the middle of the service’s fiscal crisis.

– Virginian Pilot – With less than 48 hours to spare, defense officials decided Wednesday to axe the cruise of the USS Harry S. Truman – the first in an expected wave of defense cuts tied to a federal budget squeeze.

– Virginian Pilot – The Pentagon halted the upcoming deployment of a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Wednesday two days before it was set to ship out – the strongest indication yet that looming budget cuts are forcing the military to change the way it operates. The Harry S. Truman had cleared all its training and certifications and was gearing up for deployment Friday. But the Navy, faced with a budget crisis that could mean more than $8 billion in cuts this year alone, asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to cancel a requirement that the United States keep two carriers in the Persian Gulf, Pentagon officials said. Panetta acquiesced and, in a sharp turnaround for a ship the size of a small city, about 5,000 sailors learned Wednesday afternoon that the deployment had been cancelled.

– Washington Times – The U.S. Navy, operating with too few carriers, now has a forward-deployment dilemma. Keeping two carriers deployed to the Middle East with only nine deployable strike carriers is not sustainable, even with their deployment time increasing by 50 percent. This is having debilitating consequences for fleet readiness. An immediate relaxation from the two-carrier commitment would provide much-needed forward deployment flexibility. This can be accomplished by utilizing operational alternatives, including modified U.S. Air Force Air Expeditionary Forces, along with U.S. Marine Corps Air Wing, to provide the required close air support mission in Afghanistan.