– USNI Proceedings – Without the ships and mariners of the U.S. merchant marine, the nation could find itself with military forces deployed overseas with no means to feed, arm, or sustain them.

– USNI News – A pending force structure analysis calls for bigger and more spread out Navy than previously thought.

– Breaking Defense – The Navy is doing something it hasn’t done since the 1980s — test its abilities to win in a contested crossing of the Atlantic.

– CIMSEC – Continuous learning environments, opportunities for multi-disciplinary research in warfighting concepts and technology, and expanded Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) training, as envisioned in the CNO’s FRAGO, provide important opportunities to master new skills. But do they do enough to prepare the force for the complexity and chaos likely to characterize the future maritime environment?

– War on the Rocks – Good software elevates human performance. Bad software kills people, even in peacetime.

– Defense News – Despite campaigning on a 350-ship Navy, U.S. President Donald Trump is on track to leave office with a fleet smaller than the 308 ships called for by the Obama administration.

– War is Boring – The USS Colorado (SSN 788) was spotted with significant cracking along her hull, though she remained structurally sound and the damage appeared to only affect the Special Hull Treatment, an anechoic coating used to absorb sound waves.

Thanks to Alain!

– CIMSEC – The Carrier Strike Group staff could benefit from an overhaul. The complexity of the future fight in terms of surveillance, maneuver, and fires call for a level of synchronization and expertise in planning that the current staff is unprepared for.

– USNI Proceedings – The U.S. Navy needs to relearn lessons from the Cold War era and rebuild as it confronts a Russian and Chinese threat that is smaller but considerably more capable that its predecessors.

– War Zone – The containerized concept would allow various types of ships to readily emplace these sonar arrays wherever and whenever necessary.

– USNI Blog – Today, some U.S. military leaders would contend that the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) blade is dull because of a lack of attention during the global war on terror. U.S. forces track adversary submarines with MH-60R helicopters, P-8 Poseidon aircraft, surface ships, and submarines. Together, this array of tools could pose a serious challenge to U.S. adversaries. But the U.S. Navy currently does not collate these tools into a sufficiently coherent unit.

– Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments – CSBA’s report finds that a robust maritime industry, and the policies that support it, are increasingly important in an era of great power competition.

– USNI News – The Navy intends to deploy its conventional prompt strike hypersonic weapon on Virginia-class attack submarines, after previous discussions of putting the weapon on the larger Ohio-class guided-missile submarine (SSGN).

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy in 2021 is planning to kick off a five-year research, testing and design effort for its next generation of large surface combatant.

– Defense News – The cost of upgrading and repairing the first four littoral combat ships is too high and it’s better just to decommission them, the U.S. Navy’s budget director said during the service’s budget roll-out.

– Defense News – The stunning growth of the Chinese fleet over the past decade has prompted the U.S. Navy to plan a full-on buying spree of ship-killing missiles over the next five years, according to projections in the sea service’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget documents.

– USNI News – The proposed Navy shipbuilding plan that cuts a Virginia-class submarine, a frigate and an oiler that were previously planned for FY 2021 received immediate bipartisan pushback from the House and the Senate.

– Defense News – The Navy is expected to buy its first next-generation frigate this year, so here’s what the next few years are going to look like in FFG(X)-land.

– Defense News – The Navy is pouring money into its manpower budget as the number of unfilled billets on ships has swollen to 9,000 — up 2,750 from last year.

– USNI News – The Navy wants to truncate production of the legacy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in favor of pumping money into accelerating the development of its long-gestating next-generation carrier-based fighter program.

– Defense News – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper is calling for a 355-ship fleet by 2030, but for fiscal 2021, shipbuilding took a big hit in the Defense Department’s budget request.

– Breaking Defense – The Navy’s Osprey differs from the Marine Corps and Air Force versions, boasting an enhanced fuel capacity, which required wing modifications to deal with the greater weight.

– Naval News – The Secretariat of the Navy of Mexico (SEMAR) has held a ceremony marking final acceptance and delivery of the Long Range Ocean Patrol (POLA) Class vessel ARM Reformador.

– CIMSEC – Soon after a new year, it is worth considering again the forecasts of futurists and the impacts their predictions may have on the naval services.

– Defense News – Despite expected cuts to shipbuilding programs in the fiscal year 2021 budget request, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is committed to a bigger, but much lighter, naval force.