San Diego Union Tribune – Goodbye to Mystic minisub, hello to Falcon

About 350 crew members and friends of the naval minisub Mystic will gather today to retire a ship whose services, thankfully, were never needed during a career that stretched nearly 40 years.

Washington Times – Navy explores use of robot boats

Pentagon planners are taking a long look at the role unmanned robot boats, or “bot boats,” might play in preventing piracy and thwarting terrorists who approach their targets from waterways.

C4ISR Journal – Revealing radar

A U.S. Navy radar developed in secrecy for tracking targets at sea has been playing an important role on land because of its ability to track objects smaller than trucks or cars. One knowledgeable official says the radar is one of the “groundbreaking” insurgent-hunting technologies referred to, though not by name, in Bob Woodward’s latest book, “The War Within.”
The Littoral Surveillance Radar System, or LSRS, was “born black” and developed as a “deeply, deeply classified system,” according to a knowledgeable official who was not authorized to speak for the program. LSRS operates from P-3C Orions and can be used to track targets on land or sea, and to provide images of those targets to intelligence analysts and commanders.

Armed Forces Journal – Boomers reborn

Conversion of SSBNs to SSGNs ushers in new submarine strategy.

Armed Forces Journal – Good business is good policy

Foreign military sales add to the bottom line and reinforce strategic goals.

DefenseTech – More BMD Capabilities

Norman Polmar writes that the U.S. Navy’s Ballistic MissileDefense (BMD) force — based on Aegis-equipped missile cruisers and destroyers — is being increased.

Wall Street Journal – The Navy Has a Top-Secret Vessel It Wants to Put on Display

Anybody want some top-secret seagoing vessels? The Navy has a pair it doesn’t need anymore. It has been trying to give them away since 2006, and they’re headed for the scrap yard if somebody doesn’t speak up soon.

Virginian Pilot – Eisenhower deploys with a new directive: counter-piracy

When last it was out to sea, the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower steamed into the waters off the Middle East, launching warplanes over Iraq and Afghanistan. On Saturday, more than two years after its last deployment, the carrier departed for a familiar destination, but the mission has an added wrinkle: counter-piracy efforts.

Virginian Pilot – Precision, support are key for pilots aboard the Roosevelt

For pilots aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, the heightening conflict in Afghanistan has meant a busy, intense deployment since the ship left Norfolk in September for the Arabian Sea.

Los Angeles Times – Navy’s plan to deploy dolphins roils waters

The Navy wants to use dolphins and sea lions to protect a Puget Sound submarine fleet, as the mammals do in Georgia. But opponents say the waters off Washington state are too cold for the animals.

Associated Press – Nuclear warships in Japan continue to touch a sensitive nerve

As Masahiko Goto sees it, the USS George Washington is not a ship. It’s a floating nuclear disaster waiting to happen near one of the world’s biggest cities. The recent deployment of the huge aircraft carrier to a port just south of Tokyo has been welcomed by brass bands, an open-house crowd of 30,000 and promises of greater security for Japan and northeast Asia. But to determined opponents like Goto, it all boils down to two nuclear reactors and one big question. Are they safe?

Virginian Pilot – Norfolk-based cruiser captures seven suspected pirates

The Norfolk-based cruiser USS Vella Gulf apprehended seven men suspected of staging a pirate attack on a merchant ship on Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden, marking the Navy’s first successful interdiction since the establishment of a new anti-piracy force last month.

Defense Technology International – JHSV Multi-Mission Ship: the Real Threat to LCS

Is the Joint High Speed Vessel a competitor to the Littoral Combat Ship?

Virginian Pilot – Top admiral ready for fight over carrier site

The Navy’s top admiral signaled Friday that he’s prepared for a fight over plans to relocate a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier to Florida and insisted that the shift is “in the best interest of the nation.”

Virginian Pilot – Navy gets approval for sonar in Atlantic

The government agency responsible for protecting marine mammals on Friday broadly authorized the Navy to use sonar off the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico for the next five years.

Center For A New American Security – From Preponderance to Partnership: American Maritime Power in the 21st Century

A proposed naval strategy for the U.S. in the 21st century.

Virginian Pilot – Navy backs plan to move an aircraft carrier to Mayport, Fla.

The Navy on Wednesday formally endorsed plans to make Florida’s Mayport Naval Station the home of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, potentially ending Norfolk’s status as the lone nuclear-capable carrier port on the East Coast.

DefenseTech – Problems Persist for SEAL Mini-Subs

Norman Polmar writes that the nations’ problem-plagued effort to develop an effective means of landing special forces from submarines has suffered still another setback.

Defense Tech – Flying Submarine or Submerging Seaplane?

Norman Polmar writes that submarines cannot fly, but seaplanes can submerge — if you build them properly.

Virginian Pilot – Navy appears to have made decision to put carrier in Florida

The Navy appears to be moving full steam ahead with plans to homeport a nuclear carrier in Florida, despite the service’s insistence that no decision has been made.

Defense Technology International – USS Bunker Hill Undergoes Sea Trials

The USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) completed sea trials to test its newly modernized hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) systems Dec. 12. The ship is the first of 22 Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers to undergo a total capability upgrade as part of the Cruiser Modernization Program.

Defense Technology International – Out In The Open

The X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator – the US Navy’s first tail-less, stealthy unmanned aircraft, was unveiled at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., site on Dec.16.

Virginian Pilot – New ship uses technology to bring the fight to shore

Aboard the littoral combat ship USS Freedom…

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).