Defense Technology International – It’s an Airplane. It’s a Submarine. It’s Possible?

DARPA is seeking concepts for an aircraft that can clandestinely insert and extract an eight-person special-forces team. The mission is to take off from a runway, fly 1,000nm as a conventional aircraft, fly another 100nm close to the surface, then travel the final 12nm to the coast underwater. Transit should take less than 8 hours, including any time required to land on water and reconfigure from aircraft to submarine – and the vehicle should be able to loiter near the coastline – on or under the surface – for three days in sea state 5. Then return the same way…

DefenseTech – New Rescue System Replaces Submersibles

Normal Polmar writes that the US Navy has officially placed in service a new submarine rescue capability, replacing its long-serving and highly versatile rescue submersibles. The Submarine Rescue Diving and Recompression System (SRDRS)replaces the submersible Mystic, the Navy’s last Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV).

Associated Press – Navy carrier makes maiden voyage in Pacific

Aboard the USS George Washington off of Japan…

Time – The Navy’s Floating Fiasco

A look at the sorry state of the USS San Antonio

Los Angeles Times – Ruling unlikely to quell sonar storm

Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday that the nation’s security outweighs the need to protect marine mammals from high-powered sonar during Navy training exercises, environmentalists said the fight was far from over.

New York Times – Supreme Court Rules for Navy in Sonar Case

Wired – Supreme Court: National Security Trumps Whales, Environmental Law

It’s a loud, sad day off the coast of California: the US Supreme Court today ruled in favor of the Navy and against environmentalists who argued that military sonar frequencies kill whales.

Mass High Tech – Naval Undersea Warfare Center replicated in Second Life

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center has created a virtual model of itself in Second Life — an online campus that is intended to be a 128-acre virtual R&D facility in a virtual Newport, R.I.

Defense Technology International – Lockheed Martin Pushes Export LCS

Lockheed Martin is contemplating big changes to its Littoral Combat Ship design to appeal to export customers, as the first LCS – USS Freedom – gets ready for its commissioning in Milwaukee on November 8.

Virginian Pilot – Riverine squadron prepares for new duty in Iraq

The sailors in Riverine Squadron 1 are ready veterans – nine in 10 deployed with the unit to Iraq less than two years ago. But their return to Anbar province and patrolling the Euphrates River in a few weeks may bring less combat.

Defense Technology International – Raytheon Floats Sub-Launched UAV Concept

Defense Technology International – Shivver Me Aerostats

The U.S. Navy is in the very first stages of exploring ways to increase its ability to monitor maritime traffic off the pirate-plagued coast of Somalia. And one idea being given a preliminary look is the use of aerostats tethered to barges.

Virginian Pilot – The Supreme Court Wednesday took up the dispute over whether the Navy’s use of sonar off San Diego is harming whales.

New York Times – Court Weighs Concerns on Whales and Military
more…

Virginian Pilot – The May fire aboard the carrier George Washington that injured 37 sailors, caused $70 million in damage and delayed the shipís forward deployment to Japan was ìentirely preventable,î according to the Pacific Fleet commander in a final report made public Friday.
more…

BBC – The US navy says it has deployed further vessels to surround a cargo ship loaded with 33 tanks and hijacked by pirates off Somalia last week.
more…

BBC – A US Navy destroyer has made visual contact with a Ukrainian ship which was seized by pirates last week and is now moored off the Somali coast.
more…

Armed Forces Journal – Critical US Navy anti-submarine warfare skills that have been allowed to atrophy must be restored
more…

CNN – Security forces aboard the oiler USNS John Lenthall fired warning shots toward two approaching small boats off the Somali coast Tuesday.
more…

Associated Press – The nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived Thursday at its new home port just south of Tokyo, welcomed by a mix of cheering crowds and protesters.
more…

Associated Press – The flagship of the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean fleet, the USS Mount Whitney, anchored Friday outside the key Georgian port of Poti, defiantly delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged U.S. ally in a slap at Moscow.
more…

Virginian Pilot – As two new tropical storms roll through the Atlantic, the amphibious assault ship Bataan left Norfolk Naval Station this morning to conduct hurricane relief exercises.
more…

Los Angeles Times -The Navy took the unusual step of abruptly canceling construction of its expensive new class of destroyers last month because the ships lack abilities that top commanders believe are necessary to protect U.S. interests, according to the service’s senior officer.
more…

Virginian Pilot – The US Navy on Saturday ordered the big-deck amphibious ship Bataan to deploy and prepare for disaster relief as Hurricane Gustav grew in intensity and bore down on the Gulf Coast.
more…

Wall Street Journal – After passing a U.S. Navy review, Lockheed Martin Corp. is closing in on delivering a new warship that will be a milestone in the defense contractor’s expanding foray into shipbuilding.
more…

Christian Science Monitor – Drug cartels have turned to a new and effective vehicle to smuggle their goods, using small, homemade “semi-submersibles” that are hard to detect and yet effective at carrying millions of dollars worth of cocaine and other illicit drugs that end up in the United States.
more…

Virginian Pilot – The quick delivery of more than 50 tons of humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia on Sunday left the crew of a Norfolk-based destroyer “extremely enthusiastic about the opportunity to help” and ready to do more.
more…