Associated Press – U.S. UAVs protecting ships from Somali pirates

For the first time, sophisticated U.S. military surveillance drones capable of carrying missiles have begun patrolling waters off Somalia in hopes of stemming rising piracy.

StrategyPage – Naval Hawks Over Arabian Seas

One of the U.S. Navy’s two RQ-4 Global Hawk UAVs recently returned from the Middle East, after a field test of its capabilities. The aircraft made over 60 flights and spent over 1,000 hours in the air. The flights were over land and sea areas, even though the UAV sensors are designed mainly to perform maritime reconnaissance. U.S. Air Force Global Hawk maintenance personnel assisted the navy in tending to the navy RQ-4 while it was on the ground, and for landings and takeoffs. The UAV was operated by navy personnel back in the United States at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. The aircraft was officially called the BAMS-D (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator).

Associated Press – Navy’s newest warships top out at more than 50 mph

The Navy’s need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.

Defense Technology International – Underwater AIM-9X

In the open ocean, a submarine can be stealthy – by using depth and maneuverability – to avoid air attack. But tactical options have become more limited in littoral operations that require operating in shallow water where evasion is difficult. The new AIM-9X is an air-to-air missile, but with a special underwater shroud (in a combination called the Littoral Warfare Weapon), it can be carried in an unmodified configuration and fired from a submarine’s vertical launch tube.

Virginian Pilot – Navy secretary seeks greener fleet

The secretary of the Navy on Wednesday outlined five energy goals for the Navy and Marines in the next decade. Four involve reducing the consumption of fossil fuels, increasing use of alternative energies and factoring energy costs into the price tag of every new ship, engine or building. The fifth might be the most radical: Mabus committed to fielding by 2012 a “green” strike group composed of aircraft powered by biofuels, surface ships that operate on hybrid power supplies, and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.

Navy Times – Navy says Freedom will deploy 2 years early

Freedom, the Navy’s first littoral combat ship, will go operational early next year “to close urgent warfighting gaps,” with orders to deploy to the U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Pacific Command regions. The ship’s maiden operational deployment originally was scheduled for 2012.

The Herald – Whidbey Growlers ready for service

The US Navy has taken another step in the transition from Prowler to Growler.

The Space Review – The space security implications of missile defense

The Obama Administration recently decided to replace planned ground-based interceptors in Europe with SM-3 missiles. Brian Weeden describes how this decision has implications for space security, since it was a modified SM-3 that intercepted a decaying US satellite last year.

Economist – New missile defences in Europe: Shooting down a plan

America’s change of tack on missile defense is placating some and worrying others. Nice diagrams of how a sea-based missile defense system will work in Europe.

Reuters – A Call to Allow Women to Serve on Submarines

Top Pentagon officials are calling for an end to the military’s historical ban on allowing women to serve in submarines.

Wall Street Journal – Sea-Based Missiles to Target a Redefined Threat

The U.S. plans to deploy sea-based SM-3 interceptor missiles in 2011 as part of its plan to rely on a mix of small, relatively inexpensive defensive systems to counter an evolving Iranian threat.

The White House confirmed Thursday that it would abandon efforts to build a large-scale missile-defense system in Eastern Europe, canceling a program that had become a source of Russian anger. The plan, still in the blueprint stage, would have built a large radar array in the Czech Republic and deployed 10 interceptor missiles to Poland.

Instead, the U.S. plans the SM-3 deployment, followed by a more advanced version of the system in 2015 that would include defensive missiles that could be launched from both sea and land.

BBC – Underwater laser pops in navy ops

US military researchers are developing a method for communication that uses lasers to make sound underwater.

US Naval Institute Proceedings – Fear and Loathing in the Post-Naval Era

Since the United States has not fought a real naval battle since World War II, justifying the high cost of a large Fleet of warships and aircraft is a tall order.

Virginian Pilot – Destroyer Stout to back today from Black Sea mission

The guided-missile destroyer Stout is due back today from a deployment that took it to the Black Sea – a region that drew worldwide attention last summer when fighting broke out between Russia and Georgia. This was the ship’s first deployment with the ballistic missile defense system – a technology designed to track and destroy missiles that can travel more than 600 miles, threatening military and civilian targets. The Stout, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, is one of two East Coast ships with that capability.

StrategyPage – Reapers Go Searching For High Seas Pirates

The U.S. is going base some Reaper UAVs and P-3 maritime patrol aircraft on the Seychelles islands, to search for Somali pirates operating far from their bases.

Associated Press – Pirates fire on US helicopter

Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft.

Virginian Pilot – Four subs examined for troubles with bolts

The US Navy said Friday it is investigating mechanical problems involving bolts in the torpedo rooms of four Virginia-class submarines built at Northrop Grumman’s shipyard.

Washington Post – After 18 Years, Remains of Pilot Shot Down in Iraq Found

A nearly two-decade-long odyssey to find Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, whose fighter jet was shot down during the opening days of the Persian Gulf War, ended last Sunday when the U.S. military announced that an Iraqi living in the remote desert expanse of Anbar province had helped direct Marines to the downed pilot’s burial site.

US Naval Institute Proceedings – Adapting the Force to the Fight: Naval Special Warfare

Naval Special Warfare’s traditional operations now include even more-and faster-irregular warfare. This is not going to change anytime soon.

Virginian Pilot – Military kills mini-sub effort, repair cost too high

The U.S. Special Operations Command has canceled its mini-submarine program, a project designed to deliver Navy commando s close to their target and protect them on the way. Northrop Grumman’s Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) hit numerous hurdles since it was conceived in the late 1990s.

Daily Press – Cracks found in USS Toledo

Two cracks have been discovered on the hull of the USS Toledo, a potentially fatal flaw that could have led to water leaks and, ultimately, hull failure if the submarine submerged.

Virginian Pilot – Navy’s synthetic training allows it to stay ready

As you read this, more than a dozen Navy ships and thousands of uniformed service members, military civilians and contractors are embarked on a major training exercise in the Persian Gulf. But thanks to synthetic training, no one has to leave their homeport.

US Naval Institute Proeedings – The Contested Commons

Two officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense look at a changing and challenging world and what it means for the future of American power.

Armed Forces Journal – Carrier culture shock

As the Obama administration formulates its approach to national security policy, it would do well to start with reading “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower,” the Navy’s new maritime strategy. The document is at once a bold argument for a new direction in foreign and national security policy, an inadequate plan for a U.S. maritime grand strategy, and a symptom (and perhaps call for help) of the Navy’s current operational crisis.

DefenseTech – John Lehman’s Solution

John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987, has addressed “What the Navy Should Look Like” in response to the service’s current array of problems.