CIMSEC – Educational wargaming is not merely an exercise in concept development in the upper reaches of command. It is a crucible for forging the decision-making skills, adaptability, and intellectual overmatch required for contemporary naval challenges in the earliest stages of a young officer’s development. Wargaming, particularly at the pre-commissioning level, transforms the learning experience by engaging participants in narrative-rich, synthetic environments that mimic the pressures of real-world decision-making. Drawing on historical precedents and recent innovations, we see a central role of wargaming in cultivating the next generation of naval leaders at the U.S. Naval Academy. 

The War Zone – The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) has helped develop an autonomous underwater float that can monitor and transmit oceanographic and underwater acoustic data near-indefinitely, and in near real-time. Known as the Persistent Smart Acoustic Profiler (PSAP) Voyager, it is powered by temperature differences in the ocean, providing enough energy to run its instrumentation for far longer than other non-wired undersea eavesdropping hydrophones currently in operation. Such an innovation could have big implications for undersea sensing and detection.

War on the Rocks – Decades of global policing and crisis response have taken a toll on the U.S. Navy. If the United States wishes to deter China, Beijing must believe Washington can fight a sustained, brutal war, one in which the U.S. Navy can take major losses and still fight on. Today, that is not the case, and the concept of “naval forward presence” bears much of the blame.

CIMSEC – An excellent series of short notes on what the new U.S. administration can consider to strengthen American naval power, reinforce alliances, and compete effectively against great powers. Authors examined a multitude of issues and offered recommendations for reform. From shipbuilding shortfalls to competing with China, to reinforcing alliances and strengthening logistics, the new administration faces many challenges and opportunities in the maritime domain. 

Naval News – Naval News catches up with Ledios Gibbs and Cox on their efforts to enhance logistics in the Indo-Pacific and speed up VLS reloading through the Mobile Depot Platform concept.

Breaking Defense – The three-month grounding of the Pentagon’s V-22 Osprey fleets last year had “considerable” impact on the Navy’s aviators and crews at a time when the service is transitioning to the Osprey as its primary aircraft for ferrying personnel and cargo.

The War Zone – The Ford is the only ship to have the full Dual Band Radar suite installed, and the Navy plans to replace it in the future.

Naval War College Review – A potential conflict in the western Pacific would entail the most challenging logistics and resupply task the U.S. Navy has faced in decades, possibly ever. Three possible approaches, making innovative use of new data and artificial intelligence tools, can guide investments and doctrine to prepare the joint force for that potential fight.

Center for Maritime Security – There is a time to pose questions, and there is a time to propose answers. Today requires that we do both in order that America’s non-military maritime industries flourish, for there can be no doubt that American shipbuilding has declined catastrophically since the end of the Korean War. Total output for this period, in terms of tonnage per year, has dropped by more than 85 percent. The reduction in American shipyards capable of building large vessels matches this decay. Without an adequate shipyard base and the maintenance of the myriad of correlated domestic industries, American naval supremacy is certain to be challenged.    

The War Zone – Arleigh Burke class Flight IIA destroyers were the air defense commanders for two carrier strike groups last year and plans are now underway to expand the practice.

The War Zone – The Navy wants ships to be able to launch decoys that are capable of luring away missiles for tens of minutes to help defend against incoming barrages.

The War Zone – Houthi attacks in the Red Sea prompted the Navy to rush the counter-drone Hellfire capability to the Freedom class LCS.

The War Zone – After spending years charting a way forward to a family of unmanned surface vessels in a specific array of sizes and configurations, the Navy is eyeing a major course alteration that would see it pursuing a simpler and more interchangeable design. According to Rear Adm. William Daly, head of the Navy’s surface warfare division (N96), the wish list is now simple: he wants to amass a large number of these unmanned boats quickly and equip them with payloads that fit in common containers and are designed to confuse the enemy.

The War Zone – Such a reality, and its implications for a war with China, are driving the development of the Transferrable Reload At-sea Method used to reload missiles underway.

Breaking Defense – A senior Navy officer overseeing the service’s investments into unmanned surface vehicles says he’s “skeptical” of fielding the Large Unmanned Surface Vessel.

The War Zone – The Navy’s head of surface warfare says DDG(X) is a “clean-sheet imperative” that will prioritize electricity production, endurance and advanced weapons.

Breaking Defense – A top Navy fleet commander says the service should be “embarrassed” by the fact it hasn’t managed yet to scale directed energy weapons onboard its ships despite having experimented with the technology since the Reagan administration.

The War Zone – We dive deep with the captain in charge of the Orca program on the drone’s current abilities and what it could be capable of in the future.

USNI News – Training and learning from ships that already spent months in the Red Sea was focus of a panel that included the heads of naval surface forces and aviation at the Surface Navy Association Symposium Tuesday.

The War Zone – Navy surface combatants have fired off hundreds of missiles and five-inch shells to repel Houthi drone and missile attacks.

CIMSEC – CIMSEC recently engaged with the commander of the Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC), RDML Wilson Marks, to discuss the latest developments and priorities of the command. RDML Marks discusses multiple topics in this interview, including how SMWDC is learning from Red Sea combat, the wartime role of the command, and how far SMWDC has come ten years after its establishment.

Naval News – In the Fall of 2024, Naval News sent media inquiries to the United States’ Navy, Marines, DARPA, and Special Operations Command for progress updates on their seaplane programs. Although it took a few months to obtain the answers, these U.S. military agencies responded to Naval News with the following information.

The War Zone – USS Michigan’s operations included three separate missions vital to national security and ones that involved special operations forces.

The War Zone – Sold after the Cold War, the U.S. Navy remains interested in once again using the Olavsvern complex as a hub for Arctic operations.

The War Zone – A wide array of chronic cost overruns and industrial capacity factors could torpedo the Navy’s goal of fielding a 390-ship force by 2054.