Naval News – The USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32), the second of a trio of Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships with the mine countermeasures mission package, has sailed east to Port Klang, Malaysia after an extended port visit to Kochi, India. It follows the evacuation of U.S. Navy ships from Naval Support Activity Bahrain.

National Interest – James Holmes says that the US Navy vacated the Mahanian world of sea battle at almost precisely the historical instant China entered it. A long-overdue course correction is underway.

Defense News – While Silicon Valley executives like those from Palantir, Meta and OpenAI are grabbing headlines for trading their Brunello Cucinelli vests for Army Reserve uniforms, a quieter transformation has been underway in the U.S. Navy.

How so? Well, the Navy’s chief technology officer, Justin Fanelli, says he has spent the last two and a half years cutting through the red tape and shrinking the protracted procurement cycles that once made working with the military a nightmare for startups.

War on the Rocks – Can the American military maintain deterrence in East Asia without fixing its shipbuilding? The U.S. Navy’s fleet is rusting and shrinking, while China’s grows. Last week, new data showed Chinese shipbuilding again accelerating relative to American, with 54 percent of global output, up from 35 percent a decade ago. “All of our programs are a mess,” said Secretary of the Navy John Phelan before the Senate. Chinese military planners may conclude it is time to risk their fleet against America’s. Without strong shipbuilding, the Pentagon may hesitate to commit a fleet it cannot regenerate.

Center for Maritime Strategy – The Trump Administration has prioritized making the American military more lethal, agile, and capable, with a hyper-focus is on making sure the U.S. Navy is ready for the next war. The Navy intends to invest in drones and a “hybrid fleet” of manned and unmanned systems. Unfortunately, while procurement debates focus on the gap between the United States and China, submarine procurement, and cruiser retirements, one critical capability remains dangerously neglected: mine warfare. 

US Naval War College Review – The U.S. forces based on Okinawa in Japan’s Ryukyu Islands are critical to America’s strategic position in the western Pacific, its defense cooperation with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and U.S. security guarantees to Japan itself. Local opposition to hosting those forces and the subsequent uncertainty and consolidation of bases have bearings on that position and demand reevaluation.

Breaking Defense – The Navy’s Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle program may not transition to a program record following eight years and approximately $885 million spent on its development, according to a new report by government auditors.

The War Zone – Major changes to the Constellation’s base design have already caused delays a

War on the Rocks – If you play the game, you must know the rules. How will the laws of targeting and rules of engagement apply in such a contingency? Unfortunately, U.S. military commanders are poorly trained on these matters, if they are even trained at all.

As the Defense Department shifts toward deterring war or winning a conflict in the Western Pacific, a grasp of the legal concepts required for mission accomplishment has lagged.

USNI News – The U.S. is planning to upgrade a Philippine naval base crucial for Manila’s South China Sea operations with a maintenance facility capable of supporting unmanned surface vessels, according to documents.

Naval News – A U.S. Navy destroyer simulated wartime repair in the Philippines through an initiative that seeks to improve the fleet’s readiness during a port visit to Subic Bay earlier this year. 

Naval News – Incoming Navy Secretary John Phelan, a seasoned investor with decades in private equity, takes office with a clear mission: to rebuild America’s Navy and revitalize the maritime industrial base. This will require bold, unconventional solutions to expand the fleet, integrate advanced combat capabilities, and, most importantly, restore fleet readiness. To do this, the Navy must look beyond traditional shipbuilding solutions. A “submarines-as-a-service” model—leveraging private industry and allied diesel-electric submarine producers—presents a way to quickly field Navy-trained, civilian-crewed undersea vessels that can fill critical training and development gaps.

The War Zone – A 500-pound-class Quicksink bomb offers a lower-cost anti-ship weapon that bombers and fighters could carry in significant numbers.

National Interest – The U.S. Navy could procure roughly seven diesel boats for the price of one nuclear-powered boat—and boost the inventory toward 66 subs far sooner than midcentury.

CIMSEC – As the Navy focuses on preparing for a great power conflict potentially, the Navy needs to improve not just its peacetime ship repair capability but also expand its capacity to account for wartime repair requirements. 

The War Zone – The Navy is way behind in replacing its rickety fleet of C-130Ts that suffer from low readiness, which spells trouble in a fight with China.

Breaking Defense – The “greatest risk” for the Navy’s planned fiscal 2034 delivery of the nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile Nuclear (SLCM-N) is integrating it onboard Virginia-class submarines that were never designed to carry a nuclear weapon, one of the Navy’s top officers in charge of overseeing nuclear weapons programs said.

Naval News – With a price tag approaching $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion dollars each for the USS Constellation (FFG-62) frigate, Naval News asked RAND and CSIS if the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) and the DARPA No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) can replace the troubled FFG-62 frigate program.

The War Zone – Major delays could be on the horizon for the F/A-XX stealth fighter, which the Navy wants to replace its aging Super Hornets and Growlers.

National Interest – James Holmes writes that one hopes that Russian and Chinese capability and malevolence have landed a hard enough knock to induce Congress and the White House to persevere with a naval renaissance.

The War Zone – The Navy’s future Combatant Craft Medium Mk 2s will gain the ability to launch long-range strikes on their own.

The War Zone – USS Harry S. Truman has been striking the Houthis, with the other F/A-18 rolled off the deck during an attack on the ship by the rebels last week.

Atlantic Council – The United States desperately needs to plan for a long war in the Indo-Pacific region.

Center for Maritime Security – The U.S. Navy can learn from the Royal Navy by analysing mistakes it made in educating -or not educating- the British government about seapower. Across all naval, maritime, and wider defense and security debates, the baseline fact is that if education on the relationship between the sea and state is not carefully managed, all the efforts of seapower can be quickly undone. From that sea-state nexus flows political discussion, policy, funding, and direction. In short, why do nations invest in these costly, complex organizations known as navies? Land and land-based air perspectives have always been easy paths for policy; this is perfectly natural, as humans are land-dwellers who cannot see over the horizon. Consider how outer space was and remains such a challenge, maritime in nature but resistant to mastery due to vast distance. Shortsightedness is why the perpetual, pernicious and permanent challenge of ‘seablindness’ exists. It cannot be defeated, nor overcome, but it can be tamed.  

CIMSEC – Washington has many allies and partners across the Greater Caribbean, particularly among the region’s English-speaking nations. Despite having limited budgets and assets, the defense forces of the English-speaking Caribbean are training and increasing their capabilities to carry out missions, which aligns with US diplomatic and military objectives.