National Interest – Zumwalt will be pushing ten years old once its hypersonic weapons are installed, assuming its current yard period wraps up on schedule. That’s a sizable share of its service life.

CIMSEC – During the Cold War, NATO maintained anti-submarine competency and internalized lessons learned during the Second World War. The collapse of the Soviet Navy during the 1990s shifted the U.S. focus to power projection ashore in the Balkans and the Middle East, and anti-submarine warfare competencies across the joint force atrophied. As the era of near-peer competition began, the Navy looked at ways to recapture the hard-fought competencies and lessons lost since the end of the Cold War. In particular, the whole government approach to anti-submarine warfare (ASW) was reintroduced, known as “full-spectrum ASW.” The Navy is the domain owner for undersea warfare. As such, the Navy must be prepared to educate and explain undersea warfare doctrine and its roles to the rest of the joint force so that lessons written in blood are not repeated.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s supply corps will spend the next two years applying lessons from the service’s aircraft fleet to surface ship readiness.

CIMSEC – The U.S. Navy should take concrete steps to further promote an integrated warfighting ethos which better incorporates all elements of the IW community, starting from initial officer training to senior level carrier strike group operations. By defining what it means to be an integrated information warfighter rather than just being an Intelligence Specialist, Cryptologist, Meteorologist, or Information Professional, the IW community will better educate, train, and most importantly, recruit the next generation of IW personnel. Equally important is the need to enhance retention. To further maintain the impressive cadre of IW personnel in service, the Navy should improve its career opportunities with better advanced training and cross-detailing availability. In the aftermath of these changes, IW will be better positioned to dominate the information environment and enable mission success.

Breaking Defense – Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro today told lawmakers his service is out at least $1 billion in critical munitions because of recent operations in the Middle East, a shortfall the Pentagon is banking on a congressional supplemental to help replenish.

Defense News – U.S. defense tech company Anduril Industries and South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said they’re teaming up to reimagine and expand American and allied seapower.

Defense News – The recent review of shipbuilding progress is an important step in correcting the current cost overruns and schedule slippage. However, the U.S. Navy secretary’s rather timid response of only directing the FFG design team to gather at the shipyard was far too timid.

The War Zone – Mako was the loser of the Stand-In Attack Weapon tender, but offers clues as to the capabilities of that weapon, made by Northrop Grumman.

The War Zone – U.S. warships and fighters, specifically F-15E Strike Eagles, played a major role in the defense of Israel during Iran’s barrage.

USNI News – USS Carney (DDG-64) and USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) shot down between four and six Iranian-launched ballistic missiles.

The War Zone – Serco’s super efficient and low-cost Defiant could have wide-ranging utility for the Navy, including working as a missile-laden drone boat.

The War Zone – Leveraging logistics partnerships with allies in the region could be critical in a face-off against China across the vast Pacific.

The War Zone – A scalable system will gives critical electronic attack capabilities to ships that can’t handle the massive new SEWIP Block III system.

Naval News – The DDG-51 Flight IIA guided missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) has become the first US Navy warship to receive the MSI-Defence Systems MK 38 MOD 4 30 mm gun weapon system.

Defense News – Unmanned technologies for years have been used to scout dangerous areas, schlep much-needed supplies and deliver destructive payloads. But for one U.S. Navy commander, there’s another more-promising application.

The War Zone – Arming MQ-25s with standoff weapons fits with the Navy’s future air wing vision and would provide unique capabilities suited to a Pacific fight.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy needs to move its unmanned systems “beyond surveillance” roles and toward more consequential missions, according to Rear Adm. Kevin Smith, the service’s program lead on drones and small combatants.

The War Zone – The Navy is eyeing a torpedo that can be procured fast and efficiently to augment the more advanced Mk 48 ADCAP.

The War Zone – The Navy wants carrier-based drones to cost less than $15 million and be ‘consumed’ as weapons or targets when their short service ends.

The War Zone – New point defenses, which come amid growing missile and drone threats, are just one Navy modernization effort for the Arleigh Burke class.

The War Zone – U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft can now carry AIM-9X Sidewinders under their wings. As part of the same process, the service has cleared AIM-9Xs to go on pylons underneath the wings of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, expanding the total number of Sidewinders those jets can carry on a single sortie. The Navy took these steps specifically to help give Super Hornets and Growlers flying over and around the Red Sea more options to engage Houthi drones.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that warfare in the Pacific between the U.S. and China promises to be an all-service, all-domain, and allied endeavor. Waging it will demand the utmost not just from naval forces but from fellow services that operate from dry earth.

The War Zone – The testbed that mimics its namesake is designed to help DARPA hone its requirements for a new class of multi-mission submersible drones.

Politico – As the Navy’s largest U.S. trade show gets underway on Monday, officers in charge of the service’s marquee shipbuilding programs won’t offer the usual briefings with reporters and analysts about them.

CIMSEC – In recent years, the world’s waterways have remained relatively safe from conflict. One of the reasons for that safety is that global maritime services seem to intuitively know how to coalesce as regional maritime security enterprises. Organizational learning is a significant enabler of that coalescence, and purposefully dedicated organizational elements (nuclei) help accelerate organizational learning. The ESB is the perfect platform to be a regional nucleus for the U.S. Navy and partner country military entities and coast guards. We just need to reposition the ESBs to the right locations, “market” them appropriately to military decision-makers, and use them in bigger and more creative ways.