– Defense News – So, what did the Navy get for the holidays this year?

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy will get its two Large Unmanned Surface Vessels in 2020 after all, but lawmakers want the service to proceed with caution.

– Breaking Defense – The Navy will buy a dozen fewer ships, slash its shipbuilding budget, and possibly decommission 12 more hulls over the next four years as part of a bold cost-cutting proposal submitted to the White House for its fiscal 2021 budget. The proposals would not move the service any closer to its goal of having 355 ships by 2034, as the fleet would actually end up slightly smaller in five years than it is today.

– USNI Blog – Manning matters. That’s the basic conclusion of a pair of Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) studies that were directed by the 2017 Comprehensive Review of Surface Force Incidents (CR).

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy is gearing up to peel back the onion on years of delays and tens of thousands of operational days lost with ships languishing in shipyards.

– USNI News – The next-generation Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) achieved early operational capability (EOC) with the F/A-18E/F last month, bringing new capabilities to U.S. naval aviation.

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship program endured another round of budget cuts this year to its mission modules, but all is not gloom for the Navy’s small surface combatants.

– USNI News – As Russia continues to increase its submarine activity in the Mediterranean, Arctic and Atlantic, the U.S. Navy has made organizational changes to be more responsive but should invest in unmanned systems to support forces in the European theater, the four-star admiral who leads Naval Forces Europe said.

– Hudson Institute – There is a current lack of appreciation for the critical role of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting (ISR/T) capabilities in naval combat success. This operational blind spot has concrete ramifications for the balance of power in the Western Pacific and the ability of the United States to force a political settlement without conflict.

– USNI News – Developing updated unmanned scout planes is the best way for the U.S. to have eyes on China’s military actions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, according to findings in a new Hudson Institute report.

– USNI News – Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) arrived in Constanta, Romania, Monday morning, after entering the Black Sea on Friday while being tailed by a Russian corvette.

– USNI News – The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is now in the Indian Ocean after a seven-month stint in the Middle East in parallel with the U.S. maximum pressure campaign targeting Iran.

– Second Line of Defense – An interview with Rear Admiral Pete Garvin in his office in Norfolk Virginia to discuss the way ahead with the US Navy’s Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF).

– USNI News – A Navy surveillance drone suffered major damage during a takeoff attempt while operating in the Middle East.

– USNI News – Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly has made a bold call: the Navy should reach a fleet of 355 ships – both manned and unmanned – within a decade.

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s newfound zeal for unmanned surface vessels has been met by skepticism in Congress.

– War Zone – The laser represents a large leap in power output over previous systems and is hardened to operate in the harsh maritime environment.

– War Zone – He also talked about the possibility of deploying those manned and unmanned aircraft on ships beyond traditional aircraft carriers.

– Defense News – David Larter says a wind of change is blowing through the Navy right now. It has to do with a new force structure assessment that’s ongoing that keen observers of the Navy believe may set the service on a very different course than the one its on. And there is no keener observer over the Navy than the Congressional Research Service’s Ron O’Rourke…

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy inked a deal with General Dynamics Electric Boat on Dec. 2 to be the lead contractor for the newest iteration of the Virginia-class attack submarine.

– Navy Times – Just because China might be able to hit U.S. Navy aircraft carriers with long-range anti-ship missiles doesn’t mean carriers are worthless. The chorus of doom and gloom over China’s anti-access weapons is too simplistic, but that doesn’t mean the Navy should refrain from adjusting the way it fights.

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy and Air Force are teaming up to rapidly develop a battle network that can link together Air Force and Navy assets, an effort the Navy’s top officer compared to the 1940s program to develop an atomic bomb.

– USNI News – The Navy and industry are still facing a lot of unknowns during a “dynamic” conversation about what ships to build and how to best support future operations.

– Defense News – The U.S. Navy’s top officer released his first planning guidance Wednesday, the first major document released since ascending to the office earlier this year.

– Navy Times – A Navy warship has seized a “significant cache” of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.