US Navy – James F. Dunnigan on how the US Navy continues to shrink in size.
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San Diego Union Tribune – A look at the experimental Sea Flyer that has a submerged, winglike structure that lifts the boat’s hull out of the water so it can glide above the waves.
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Sea Power – After years of struggle against funding shortfalls and major technical challenges, mine warfare officials believe they are on a firm path to fielding the capabilities the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps need to overcome one of the major obstacles to expeditionary operations.

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Reuters – A U.S. Navy destroyer with long-range missile-tracking equipment has begun patrols in the Sea of Japan, officials said on Friday, in a key step toward forming a missile-defense system intended to guard against attack by nations like North Korea.
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Virginian Pilot – The commander of the 2nd Fleet says the change in US Navy operational patterns is not over yet???
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Virginian Pilot – The Secretary of the Navy gives his world view.
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Associated Press – More details on the Pentagon’s plans for closing and opening bases overseas.
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Sea Power – Military robotics may be a long way from Isaac Asimovís vision of evolved, synthetic intelligence in I, Robot. However, thinking machines already have become familiar sights, flying above or rolling through todayís battle spaces. The U.S. Navy now is on the verge of unveiling a revised master plan that charts the course for new generations of warrior robots to help dominate the seas as well.

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Associated Press – The United States wants to lease a Swedish attack submarine for naval exercises in the Baltic Sea. The Swedish submarine would play an “enemy” role in the exercises.
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Virginian Pilot – The helicopter the Navy has been trying to get rid of for a decade finally has retired, after 40 years of not only moving troops and cargo but rescuing hundreds of downed sailors and aviators. The last two Navy CH-46D Sea Knight helicopters, assigned to Helicopter Combat support Squadron Eight, made their final flights Thursday at Norfolk Naval Station. The entire line is being replaced by the newer MH-60S Night Hawk series of helicopters.
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Sea Power – Force protection has been a hot issue for the U.S. Navy since the terrorist bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in 2000 and the beginning of the global war on terrorism. The subsequent buildup of the Navyís force protection units and weapons will culminate next month with the establishment of a new fleet-wide command to bring them under a single umbrella.

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Sea Power – One of the keys to success in the U.S. Navyís pursuit of an integrated power system (IPS), or electric drive, for its future surface combatants is development of an electric motor that packs much more power in a much smaller machine than has ever gone to sea.

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Associated Press – The Navy is shutting down its extremely low frequency communication system used for communicating with submarines.
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Sea Power – An interview with Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr, who wears two hats as the NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation, and Commander, Joint Forces Command.

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Virginian Pilot – A look at the problems the US Navy faces in providing realistic jet training for its pilots.
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US Naval Institute Proceedings – In the research-and-development playpen of the 1950s, do you think they had a clue about the probable life-cycle cost of an envisioned system or could explain where it would fit in the force for the next 30 years? Are you kidding?

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Virginian Pilot – The USS Wasp Expeditionary Strike Group will return this week from a seven-month deployment in the Gulf.
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Sea Power – News from around the defense industry.

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Aviation Week and Space Technology – The US Navy is beginning to show an interest in unmanned combat armed rotorcraft.
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Sea Power – A look at the Aegis ballistic missile defense system and how it will be deployed in the Pacific.
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Virginian Pilot – Was the planning for Afghanistan not so joint afterall?
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Virginian Pilot – When sailors were so disappointed with a new Navy program that they thought about quitting, service leaders apparently listened. The ìSea Swapî experiment, which essentially deploys ships for as long as two years while changing out its crews, will now be modified so that participants can get used to the idea before they ever leave their home port.
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Sea Power – The U.S. Navyís Sea Swap experiment was ìclearly a success,î according to a new report about the program, with the ships involved maintaining a high level of readiness during the roughly 18-month study period. But the same report questions whether the savings offered by the swaps ó in funding and operations ó are worth the burden the program places on sailors in terms of work and quality of life.

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Virginian Pilot – The Navy may be moving too quickly in the development of the next-generation DDX destroyer, relying on technologies that have yet to be fully proven, Congressional investigators warned Friday.
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Virginian Pilot – The new Fleet Response Plan in action. In July, some 2,000 sailors thought they were heading overseas in August. In August , they heard they were leaving in September. Now theyíve been told there are no plans to go at all.
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