War Zone – The U.S. Navy’s forthcoming force structure review may call for a fleet with up to 534 ships and submarines, including various kinds of unmanned vessels. The is far bigger than the existing Congressionally-mandated goal of a 355-ship fleet, which has long proven to be a struggle for the service to achieve. Plans for an even larger force could run into significant budgetary, recruiting, sustainment, and other hurdles. 

USNI Proceedings – The learning curve is steep, and the T-6B Texan trainer is complex. An instructor pilot offers advice on how to prepare and perform well in this environment.

National Interest – That’s James Holme’s advice to senior decisionmakers who appear set on deploying the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Persian Gulf region just six months after the flattop completed an epic seven-month cruise during which the crew broke all records for consecutive days at sea. Crewmembers spent 205 days at sea, enjoying zero R&R time in port as the ship skirted the pandemic.

USNI News – Next year, the most advanced carrier air wing in history will sail to the Pacific aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70). Last week, the Carrier Air Wing 2 took the first steps in getting its new F-35C Joint Strike Fighters and CMV-22B Ospreys integrated into the air wing and aboard the carrier.

Defense News – The Pentagon’s upcoming recommendation for a future Navy is expected to call for a significant increase in the number of ships, with officials discussing a fleet as large as 530 hulls.

Defense News – It has been five years since the attack submarine Boise returned from its last patrol, and this whole time she has been waiting on some loving care and attention in the shipyards.

Defense One – Three main failures are imperiling the sea service, writes the service’s former chief learning officer.

Politico – Next month, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser is expected to make a highly unusual visit to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine to lay out the commander in chief’s vision for a bigger Navy.

Defense News – The United States and its allies have been chilling out this summer, but experts and officials say something has been missing that prevents them from making the most of the experience.

War Zone – The advanced submarine has been spotted sailing to the Royal Navy’s main base in Scotland just weeks after making an unusually public visit to Norway.

Defense News – After shattering the U.S. Navy’s modern record for consecutive time at sea, the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower is preparing for another deployment early next year just six months after returning.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy, beset by maintenance delays, is making progress on getting its ships out of the shipyards on time, fleet officials say.

USNI News – The Navy is considering an extension of the service lives of the first few aircraft carriers in the Nimitz-class.

Defense News – A rash of technical and safety problems has left the U.S. Navy’s fleet short by about 90 fighter pilots. Fixing the issue is an uphill battle.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that if ships were smaller and easier to construct—if they were more like aircraft—then manufacturing a ship would come to resemble manufacturing an airplane. Fast design improvements would become thinkable even as mass production replenished numbers of hulls. Let’s revivify the marine industrial base—and put it to work laying the keels for an anti-fragile fleet.

Defense News – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday announced called for increased funding for Navy shipbuilding after a major review of its force structure — but it is unclear where that funding will come from.

Hudson Institute – To address the rising submarine threat, US and allied militaries need a new approach to ASW that is more affordable and effective.

Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers will be prepared to fight at extended ranges well into the future.

USNI News – As the Navy develops its first operational unmanned systems, the service is advocating for new standards that will help develop a reliable network to manage and control the systems and their data.

USNI News – Development squadrons working with unmanned underwater and surface vehicles are moving out quickly to develop concepts of operations and human-machine interfaces, even as they’re still using prototypes ahead of the delivery of fleet USVs and UUVs.

Defense News – The head of the U.S. Navy’s East Coast-based aviation enterprise said the service must demand to get aircraft carriers out of their maintenance availabilities on time, and that failure to do so throws fuel on the fire of critics who say the aircraft carrier is becoming irrelevant.

Defense News – More than two years after the U.S. Navy publicly announced its plan for a new assessment of what its future force should look like, the product of no fewer than three iterations will soon be briefed to the defense secretary.

War Zone – The missile already has latent land and ship attack capabilities that could be swiftly adapted for the Army’s post-INF treaty needs. 

USNI Proceedings – The AMRAAM is no longer good enough to counter China’s antiship cruise missiles and growing naval warfare capabilities.

USNI Proceedings – Revisiting wing-in-ground-effect aircraft for the next fight.