Breaking Defense – Boeing’s MQ-25 tanker drone is set to make its first flight some time this year, but the head of Naval Air Systems Command warned that here is “a ton of work” to do before takeoff.

Defense News – America’s largest naval shipbuilder, HII, reached an agreement Monday to partner with South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to boost shipbuilding across numerous vessel classes.

Breaking Defense – President Donald Trump today signed an executive order tasking the heads of the defense, commerce, labor, transportation and homeland security departments with developing a “Maritime Action Plan” (MAP) that will invest in the shipbuilding industrial base and disentangle the government’s clumsy procurement processes.

Breaking Defense – “The question is, are we at a point where we either quickly recover and get back on track with this? … Or do you say maybe we’re too far along with this and we go in a different direction?” said Rep. Rob Wittman.

Breaking Defense – “We have everybody on board getting to know each other and working on that synchronicity that’s required, and that’s really kind of the heart of COMPTUEX. This is a rehearsal, and we’re going to get it right,” says Capt. Rick Burgess, the Ford’s commanding officer.

Jerusalem Strategic Tribune – With all that is happening in the Middle East, it is important that our allies continue to assist with burden-sharing in the Indo-Pacific. Until America rejuvenates its maritime industrial base, there are just not enough ships available to counter all the threats we currently face. Thank you to our allies and partners. Keep up the good work!

The War Zone – General Cavoli testified before Congress that Greenland is vital to U.S. national security, especially for confronting the growing threat of Russian submarines.

War on the Rocks –  As a political project should be judged in a larger context. Measured against the restoration of merchant confidence and traffic in the Red Sea, the mission was unsuccessful.

The War Zone – When the U.S. Navy’s supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford deploys later this year, its strike group will include Arleigh Burke class destroyers armed with Raytheon Coyote and Anduril Roadrunner-M counter-drone loitering interceptors.

Naval News – The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group redefined how the U.S. Navy performs its highest level pre-deployment integration exercises, achieving countless ‘firsts’ for naval aviation throughout its time in the Red Sea fighting Houthi drone swarms and anti-ship ballistic missiles.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that control represents the prime goal of military strategy, and air bombardment—no matter how relentless—cannot replace the power of boots on the ground.

The War Zone – The White House put out a stark warning to Iran and said strikes against the Houthis will only stop if their attacks on ships end.

USNI News – Increasing wages for shipyard workers is the top challenge when attracting and retaining everyone from pipefitters to naval architects, a naval analyst told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

The War Zone – Members of the U.S. Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 31 (VX-31) contributed to an important increase in live-fire testing of the secretive AIM-260A long-range air-to-air missile last year, it has emerged.

National Interest – James Holmes asks what takeaways will Chinese military observers draw from USS Gettysburg’s accidental downing of a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet in the Red Sea last December? You can bet that Beijing is poring over the incident and figuring out how to put the insights it gleans to work in the Taiwan Strait, in the South China Sea, or on some other future battleground. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers, not to mention Chinese think-tankers and scholars of military affairs, are attentive people. They are perpetually on the lookout for strategic advantage. They do their homework.

Naval News – Between the addition of new anti-ship cruise missiles and the delivery of new F-35 jets with Sidekick compatibility, the U.S. Navy is pushing forward to a new standard for the Joint Strike Fighter program that will peak with the rollout of various Block 4 lethality upgrades later this decade.

USNI News – The Trump administration wants a sweeping government-wide overhaul of the U.S. commercial and military maritime sectors in an effort to catch up to China’s unrivaled shipbuilding capacity.

The War Zone – slender, partially covered naval ship that recently emerged in Washington state is the Defiant, a new medium-sized uncrewed surface vessel (USV) designed from the keel up to operate without any humans ever onboard. Developed under the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) program, Defiant could be an important stepping stone for the U.S. Navy’s ambitions to add larger and more capable USVs to its fleets.

USNI News – The Black Sea has become the Navy’s laboratory for rehearsing and operationalizing the best ways to tie unmanned, robotic systems’ effects with the crewed fleet’s combat power and electronic warfare capabilities, the U.S.’s senior officer supporting Ukraine’s maritime operations said.

BBC – Even after years of rapid advances in Chinese military capabilities, the United States is still unrivalled in its capacity to project force anywhere around the world with its fleet of 11 super-carriers. But does a $13bn (£10bn) aircraft carrier which the latest Chinese missiles could sink in a matter of minutes make sense anymore – particularly in the age of Donald Trump?

Breaking Defense – Off the back of a $600 million Series C funding round, Saronic, the Texas-based defense startup company, announced today it plans to build a “next-generation shipyard” focused on producing unmanned and autonomous vessels, dubbed “Port Alpha.”

CIMSEC – Last summer, the academy hosted its second Naval Academy Warfighter-Centered Design (WCD) Challenge in partnership with the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE), and Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI) at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to capture the talent and creativity of its graduates. Envisioned by Rear Admiral Lorin Selby, the WCD initiative seeks to “train people to think differently and challenge the current system.”¹ This year’s workshop included eleven USN Ensigns and two USMC Second Lieutenants with a broad range of academic majors including Electrical Computer Engineering, Weapons Robotics and Control, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Naval Architecture. Collectively, these students combined their academic experience to meet this year’s challenge, to develop low-cost solutions for offensive and defensive unmanned surface capabilities.

The War Zone – Here is what the squadron commander and program manager said about the EA-18G’s new AN/ALQ-249 jamming pods, which were thrust into combat last year.

War on the Rocks – It’s time warships move into the software-centric reality of the 21st century. Should their designs continue to center on humans and hardware, they will not evolve fast enough and – as a result — will become steel tombs.

National Interest – James Holmes says that the White House should appoint some senior overseer, probably housed within the National Security Council, with the authority to manage all U.S. government endeavors relating to maritime strategy.