CIMSEC – In support of developing a new Navy Deterrence Concept, the U.S. Navy needs to develop and train to new tactics and techniques in how to operate just below the threshold of armed conflict. The PRC and PLAN are very comfortable in this realm under the doctrine of their “Three Warfares” and have only grown bolder in their day-to-day operations in the Pacific. The recent collision between PLAN and CCG vessels provided the world a reminder of how dynamic and volatile the situation has become, but it will not dissuade the PLAN from further attempts to exert sea control and sea denial through non-lethal means.

Naval News – The US Navy’s newest carrier strike group (CSG) has conducted operations in the High North alongside NATO allies, in a deployment underlining the deterrent impact CSG presence can bring in the region. The CSG also integrated into NATO operational command structures.

CIMSEC – A common saying in safety organizations is to consider the “half-life of scared” as a measure of the decay of institutional urgency after an accident. In 2017 the U.S. Navy lost 17 sailors in two tragic collisions that prompted an assessment of how the Navy looked at fatigue, human-centered system design, and an overzealous “can-do” attitude. The United States Fleet Forces Comprehensive Review (CR) recommended 112 corrective actions. In the ensuing two to three years, the Navy checked off all those actions as complete and built a system to ensure that the changes were enduring – as recommended by the report. Recent events, however, specifically a series of Class “A” mishaps in the past year, call into question the effectiveness of those changes across the Navy enterprise.

CIMSEC – With Admiral Caudle assuming the post of Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy has a timely opportunity to realign its strategic narrative with its emerging operational reality, especially in the Indo-Pacific. After years of experimentation with distributed maritime operations, integration of unmanned systems, and renewed industrial partnerships, the Navy must overcome headlines about past scandals and failures to restore the faith of the President, the Department of Defense, Congress, and the American people. The task before the new CNO is to seize this moment and make clear how the Navy will prevail in the next maritime era.

CIMSEC – To maintain maritime superiority in this era of trans-regional, multi-domain warfare, the Navy must accelerate human-machine teaming within Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs). Our adversaries, including our pacing challenge, China, invest heavily in adopting AI technology, a consequential technology for command and control. MOCs serve as the decision hubs of numbered fleets, responsible for executing campaigns at sea and managing maritime task forces. As our Navy fights from the seabed to space and through the electromagnetic spectrum, the volume of data demands our watchstanders employ data-enhancing tools that augment, not replace, human judgment.

CIMSEC – Admiral Caudle’s first message to the fleet outlined three priorities: the Foundry; the Fleet and the way we Fight. These priorities cannot be realized without acknowledging the simple fact that the next war at sea will be decided first in space. Ships and Sailors operating inside lethal weapons engagement zones (WEZs) cannot survive against China’s massed, over-the-horizon precision fires unless the Navy treats space operations and Counter-C5ISRT (C-C5ISRT) as foundational, not auxiliary, to naval warfare.

USNI News – USS Stockdale (DDG-106) is now operating in the Caribbean alongside seven U.S. Navy surface warships as part of the Trump Administration’s homeland security effort.

War on the Rocks – The South China Sea is one of the most contested maritime areas in the world. Smaller countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia face increasing pressure from an assertive and militarily powerful People’s Republic of China due to overlapping sovereignty claims and critical trade routes. Beijing’s maritime power projection threatens regional sovereignty and economic rights under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea through its militarization of artificial islands, aggressive maritime activities, and widespread illegal fishing. To address this imbalance, claimant states should adopt asymmetric strategies that improve maritime domain awareness, defend exclusive economic zones, and impose costs on unlawful actions. One such approach is the development of maritime outposts, inspired by the Philippines’ Fort Drum in Manila Bay.

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CIMSEC – Navy thinkers have already laid the intellectual groundwork for aggressive change. Senior leaders now need to follow through with equally radical actions.

Center for Maritime Strategy – Safety of navigation is not the priority. It’s the minimum. The surface warfare community’s narrow approach to navigation and seamanship training rewards risk-avoidance instead of risk-mitigation and prevents naval officers from mastering the skills needed for their primary duty—waging war at sea.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that all in all, the expansion of USV use is a promising experiment that could ameliorate the US Navy’s force-structure woes—while amplifying US fleets’ combat power in a hurry. 

The War Zone – In 2004, the Navy disposed of the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, but current events have seen it awaken once again.

CIMSEC – Naval mines need a new kind of delivery platform, specifically by either rocket or missile. Mine missiles will be used here to describe this delivery method and differentiate it from rocket-propelled naval mines activated after deployment, like the Chinese EM-52/T-1.

CIMSEC – In March 2025 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Ronald O’Rourke, naval analyst for the Congressional Research Service since 1984, sharpened an excellent recommendation he has raised over more than a decade: the U.S. Navy should establish a dedicated institutional mechanism for systematically capturing, analyzing, and transmitting lessons learned from its shipbuilding programs.

The War Zone – The Navy just issued a flurry of drone contracts even though it has said it would take a ‘wait and see’ approach on Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

CIMSEC – A fundamental problem facing the US military is that the services have fielded capable, long-range missile systems, but only possesses limited deep-reach Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (ISRT) capabilities, limiting the effective employment of long-range missile systems. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Air Force/Space Force are developing satellite ISRT constellations to address the problem, but the services need to use a ‘Maritime Strike System of Systems’ approach to address the true functionality of US maritime strike capability.

CIMSEC – As the U.S. Navy pivots toward preparing for high-end maritime conflict, the SWO community must ask itself a difficult question – Are we allocating our limited time to develop the warfighters we need, or are we clinging to legacy requirements that no longer align with the modern threat environment?

National Interest – James Holmes writes that rather than trying to emulate China’s hostile and aggressive communications strategy during disputes in the Indo-Pacific, US Navy leaders should poke fun at it.

CIMSEC – A protracted war between the United States and China would demand immense quantities of munitions and would require the industrial base to grow to meet these demands. This is industrial mobilization, a topic the nation has not seriously considered since the end of the Cold War. Given this lapse in focus, it is only natural to look to the nation’s last major mobilization for great power war, World War II, as a model for the future.

The War Zone – The White House calls Venezuelan ruler Maduro a “narco-terrorist” and is deploying ships, planes and Marines in a major show of force.

USNI News – A fire that burned for 12 hours aboard the amphibious warship USS New Orleans (LPD-18) off Okinawa, Japan, was declared extinguished early Thursday morning local time, U.S. 7th Fleet announced.

Navy Lookout – The US Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer programme appeared at one stage to be a technical over-reach leading to an expensive dead end. Instead, they are now being repurposed to carry the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile system. Here, we examine the progress, challenges, and strategic implications of equipping these futuristic warships with hypersonic strike capabilities.

Naval News – The US Navy has revealed the latest steps in its effort to fast-track the build of a new fleet of Medium Landing Ships (LSM) vessels based on off-the-shelf blueprints.

USNI News – The Navy is placing less weight on optionally manned surface vehicles as it refines requirements for a new type of vessel that will support the surface fleet.

The War Zone – The USX-1 Defiant is getting closer to embarking on a key long-endurance cruise that could have important ramifications for the U.S. Navy.