Breaking Defense – The Navy will scrap one of the world’s most advanced amphibious ships ravaged by a a six-day fire that caused so much damage that repairing it was deemed unwise.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that it’s hard to amass combat power when it’s needed, where it’s needed, without robust auxiliaries. It’s also hard to regenerate combat power after taking a blow in action. Such a contestant is brittle.

USNI News – The Navy’s plans to test a Battle Management Aid on one of its aircraft carriers, as the service pursues a tactical data network to link up its sensors and weapons.

War Zone – One of Lockheed Martin’s top directed energy minds explains how breakthroughs in communications and industrial tech made laser weapons possible. 

USNI News – The submarine fleet has shifted its focus from operational readiness to warfighting readiness, and with that new mindset has come changes in how the fleet conducts training, acquisition and maintenance, several officials said last week.

USNI News – USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has been in and out of port for more than a year as the Navy continues to wring out the bugs from the new technologies on the next-generation carrier. While progress is steady, the program still has several milestones to achieve before it’s ready for its inaugural deployment.

War Zone – After decades of naming attack submarines after cities and states, the Navy has announced it will name three boats after denizens of the deep.

USNI Proceedings – The naval intelligence community must strike a balance between old tools and new technology.

War Zone – Naval special warfare personnel used a stealthy boat to help launch the unmanned underwater vehicle during a recent exercise in Sweden.

Defense News – As the Pentagon warily eyes a Chinese military with increasing naval capability, U.S. Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite called this week for the establishment of a U.S. 1st Fleet, a new numbered command that would sit at the vital crossroads of the Indian and Pacific oceans. But while Braithwaite characterized the effort as well underway, Navy officials said that no decisions have been made per the timing and location of a potential 1st Fleet.

Air and Space – It’s always been versatile, but now it can reach farther.

USNI Proceedings – For a young submarine officer, the tragedy was magnified by the loss of two close friends and highlighted the danger when operational thinking does not keep pace with technology.

War Zone – The Navy had initially declined to fit the MH-60Rs with magnetic anomaly detectors, which had been a feature on the SH-60B Seahawks they replaced.

Royal Gazette – Bermuda is back on the front line of the United States Navy’s efforts to combat Russian submarines prowling the depths of the Atlantic. A USN detachment and two hi-tech P-8 Poseidon submarine hunter aircraft has been deployed to the island and will conduct reconnaissance operations from the airport – a former US Naval Air Station that closed down 25 years ago.

USNI News – The Navy in recent weeks has demonstrated an ability to resupply its ballistic missile submarines at sea using a range of manned and unmanned aircraft, testing their ability to keep the boomers on their stealthy nuclear deterrent patrols without coming to a port.

USNI News – The Navy is on track to field a hypersonic strike weapon on submarines by 2025

USNI News – The Navy’s and Marine Corps’ capability, capacity and readiness to counter major powers like China and Russia or regional threats like Iran and North Korea was graded as “marginal” in a new survey of military power by the Heritage Foundation.

1945 – What will Joe Biden do when it comes to U.S. naval strategy come January 20? James Holmes gave us his impressions on the future of the U.S. Navy, Chinese military modernization, and the future of the South China Sea.

Forbes – The U.S. Navy may gain the ability to locate submarines from the air as a radical new radar finally moves into the deployment phase.

(Thanks to Alain)

War Zone – Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite says he is looking to establish a new naval command with a particular focus on the Indian Ocean and adjacent areas of the Pacific.

Breaking Defense – After two years of relative silence about All Domain Operations, the Navy is throwing more weight behind the Pentagon’s effort to link everything from submarines to drones flying high overhead on one shared network, assigning a group of admirals and a team from the defense industry to tackle the problem and find ways to link into the Joint All Domain Command and Control initiative. 

Defense News – The U.S. Navy has shot down an intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean with an SM-3 Block IIA missile in a milestone test that demonstrated a potential scheme to defend Hawaii.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy is pushing ahead with fielding more anti-ship cruise missiles on submarines in the Pacific, the head of U.S. Navy Submarine Forces said Monday.

USNI News – USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) finished a more-than-five-month patrol in the Pacific over the weekend — a 20-year record.

USNI News – The Navy is looking at extending the lives of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines again – beyond the now 42-year planned life for the SSBNs – to add a little more capability for combatant commanders and a little more cushion in case of delays fielding their replacement.