War Zone – The modules are too large for the ship’s existing vertical launch cells, so they would likely take the place of its all but abandoned deck guns.

USNI Blog – The Navy must examine historical data to understand the effect of mines in prior conflicts and to develop new strategies to ensure U.s. success in countering the threats.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy is reworking its tenuous plan to revitalize its public shipyards, where the fleet’s nuclear maintenance is done, as it has become clear that the facilities can’t meet the needs of the current fleet, let alone accommodate a growing fleet.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy released March 16 its long-discussed Unmanned Campaign Plan, intended to map the road ahead for the service’s unmanned systems. But the plan is short on details and measurable goals, which left key national security leaders wondering if the service had anything else to share.

USNI News – Today, as the Navy and Marine Corps are planning a transition into a hybrid manned-unmanned force, the services are big on vision but short on specifics for how they’ll achieve their goals from a programmatic and leadership standpoint – leaving lawmakers uneasy with the absence of a clear parent to guide the unmanned fleet.

Defense News –  Raytheon plans to deliver next week the first of the U.S. Navy’s new Block V Tomahawk, an upgraded version of the service’s venerable land-attack missile that will ultimately include the ability to target ships at sea at extended ranges.

USNI News – With limited and costly ways for a surface warship to physically take out an incoming anti-ship missile, the Navy has been pursuing more ways a warship could use the power of electronic spectrum to splash threats. To that end, the first array of a massive update of the Navy’s surface electronic warfare systems is preparing for its ground tests later this year. 

War on the Rocks – The world’s most important strategic chokepoints lie in the Indian Ocean, making the region a key theater in geopolitical competition. Then why is it still missing from Washington’s Indo-Pacific priorities? U.S. Pacific Command was recently re-named United States Indo-Pacific Command in order to highlight the importance of the Indian Ocean region. Yet, the Indian Ocean, in its entirety, remains largely absent from the command’s priorities and engagements.

Navy Times – The crew of the fast-attack submarine Connecticut has been subjected to a bed bug infestation in their racks, and sailors assigned to the sub allege that the boat’s command has been slow to fix the problem.

USNI News – The sea services see themselves moving toward a future where they are just as likely to perform a mission with an unmanned platform as a manned one, based on the specifics of the mission and what assets are available. A third of the Navy’s fleet and half of Marine Corps aviation could be unmanned under this hybrid vision the two services are pursuing, which they argue in a new Department of the Navy Unmanned Campaign Framework is necessary to stay ahead of adversary capabilities without breaking the bank.

CIMSEC – There is a long-running debate in the United States Navy over building smaller aircraft carriers. These arguments generally focus on cost and hull count. Rather than dive into these arguments and attempt to argue for what should be done, we will instead explore how we use these arguments to rethink requirements and produce a more robust concept.

1945 – James Holmes writes that the competitor who blunders the least wins.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey, commonly called INSURV, was established in 1868 to provide an independent evaluation of the condition of ships and their ability to perform their missions. This report reflects the 2020 evaluation based on 40 ship evaluations.

CIMSEC – The current structure of the Unified Command Plan bakes in an inefficient approach to the execution of the national grand strategy and its maritime component. When the United States enjoyed a robust force structure this inefficiency could be tolerated; in the current environment of resource scarcity it creates more strategic risk than is necessary by limiting the global mobility of naval forces, and to some extent other forces. 

War Zone – The Blackwing drones, which can be fired from countermeasures launchers, will carry surveillance payloads, and possibly more in the future. 

Naval News – Here is the latest information on the status of the three DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyers.

USNI Blog – The “final solution” to mine countermeasures (MCM) warfare essentially is the same as it was during World War II, and that is to detonate the mine(s) (usually) in place…Therefore, once detected, located, and marked, how best to neutralize enemy mines? 

Defense News – The stealth destroyer Zumwalt aced its rough seas testing, leaders from Naval Sea Systems Command said in a recent release.

1945 – U.S. Indo-Pacific Command supremo Admiral Philip Davidson wittingly or unwittingly fortified deterrence in the Western Pacific this week. Admiral Davidson told a webinar at the American Enterprise Institute that augmenting Guam’s defenses is his top priority.

War Zone – The U.S. Navy’s quartet of Arleigh Burke class destroyers that are forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, and makeup Destroyer Squadron 60, sport a unique configuration. The most notable alteration is the inclusion of the self-contained SeaRAM Rolling Airframe Missile launcher system on the ships’ rear pedestal mount. This is in addition to the Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systemlocated on their bows. It was installed to beef-up the destroyers’ defenses against advanced anti-ship cruise missiles due to the high-threat areas they would be regularly operating in—especially the Black Sea, which is a nearly land-locked super anti-ship missile engagement zone. They were also among the first to receive an upgraded SEWIP Block II electronic warfare suite. But another unique and so far totally overlooked enhancement involves a far more obscure electronic warfare system, one that, as far as we know, is totally unique to these vessels. 

Task and Purpose – The Navy has repeatedly blamed Capt. Brett Crozier for the unprecedented novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt last year, but newly-released emails show several of Crozier’s colleagues instantly recognized that he had put the lives of his crew above his own career.

War Zone – The plans include calls for deploying long-range missiles in the Western Pacific, new missile defenses and sensor networks, and more.

USNI News – After the Navy last week issued a $235-million contract modification to Austal USA to build its latest multi-purpose Expeditionary Fast Transport ship, new details of the ambulance variant have come to light.

War Zone – We go in-depth with Lockheed’s point man on Aegis about the combat system’s revolutionary past, evolving present, and universal future.

USNI News – Building an Aegis Ashore facility on Guam would relieve three guided-missile destroyers from missile defense work and make them available for Navy tasking, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Thursday.