Covert Shores – When China unveiled its first ever large displacement underwater drone for the Navy in 2019, the 5-meter long HSU001, it was as if China was only taking baby steps on the road to autonomous undersea warfare. At the time Beijing was clearly behind leading Western navies. In just 6 years since then the situation has flipped, and the HSU001 now appears toy-like compared to what has followed. China’s development of extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles (XLUUVs) is now unmatched globally, and accelerating rapidly. No other nation is pursuing undersea autonomy at comparable scale, scope, or speed.
Philippine Army Stands Up Missile Battalion for Territorial Defense Operations
USNI News – Manila stood up its first Army unit dedicated to operating surface-to-surface missiles last week in an effort to strengthen Philippine forces’ long-range precision strike capabilities and contribute to the country’s territorial defense operations.
US to deploy USS Gerald R. Ford to Latin America
Defense News – The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, in the latest escalation and buildup of military forces in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday.
Royal Navy aircraft carriers: more than strike platforms
Navy Lookout – Discussion of Britain’s two aircraft carriers is primarily framed around the terms ‘Carrier Strike’ and ‘Carrier Enabled Power Projection’ (CEPP). While both are valid descriptors, they risk giving the impression that the ships exist solely to deliver ordnance against land targets. In reality, this is only one of their roles, and they are core to a much broader set of naval missions.
A combat aircraft that doesn’t need vulnerable Western Pacific air bases
The Strategist – Bill Sweetman writes that they say you can’t get anything done by sitting on your rear end, but US autonomy and unmanned systems specialist Shield AI expects to prove that wrong as it enters the realm of large uncrewed combat air vehicles (UCAVs) with its X-BAT proposal.
From Ballpark to Battlespace: Applying Moneyball to Fleet Design
Center for Maritime Strategy – In the early 2000s the Oakland A’s showed the baseball world you didn’t need superstar salaries to win games. A’s general manager Billy Beane built rosters around undervalued statistics instead of traditional and costly “five-tool” players, proving you can recreate excellence in aggregate. Today, the US Navy is finding its traditional and costlyships aren’t enough to meet the needs of the nation. Defense circles are looking to unmanned vehicles, attritable systems, artificial intelligence, and other non-traditional military technologies and concepts as new ways to generate combat power. Advocates see a coming revolution, skeptics offer notes of reasonable caution and some are pushing back on the promised capabilities and utility of these systems replacing the venerable ships and aircraft of the past. The way to frame these new technologies is the same way the A’s thought about their unconventional players, not as perfect replacements for Cruisers, Attack Submarines, and Multirole Aircraft, but as “Ships in Aggregate.”
HMS Stirling Castle puts to sea for the first time since commissioning into the Royal Navy
Navy Lookout – HMS Stirling Castle sailed from Birkenhead on 22nd October to begin sea trials, four months after transferring from the RFA to the RN. The ship, which will be based in Portsmouth, is the first dedicated mothership designed to support autonomous mine countermeasures systems.
RFA Tiderace to rejoin the fleet after being laid up due to lack of sailors
Navy Lookout – Having been inactive since June 2024, primarily due to the shortage of personnel, RFA Tiderace will soon return to active service.
Is the Russian Navy a capable threat to Britain?
Council on Geostrategy – For this week’s Big Ask, we asked eight experts: Is the Russian Navy a capable threat to Britain?
The Challenges Of Littoral Warfare For The UK: A Critical Perpective
The Wavell Room – The transformation of the UK’s Commando Forces (CF), anchored in the Littoral Response Groups (LRGs) and the CF concept, represents an ambitious shift in British expeditionary warfare. However, its viability is undermined by structural and doctrinal disjoints that question its ability to operate effectively in contested littoral environments. Chief among these issues are: the persistent disconnect between the British Army and Royal Navy (RN); inconsistencies between UK Joint Theatre Entry Doctrine and emergent CF operational concepts; and the historical realities of military operations in littorals – especially the Baltic – which highlight the need for mass and endurance over rapid raiding.
Singapore Launches Its Biggest And Most Capable Warship Ever
The War Zone – Planned as hybrid frigates and drone motherships, the Multi-Role Combat Vessels will be able to project naval power further, and for longer, than previous Singaporean warships.
The Case for American Diesel Submarines
National Interest – James Holmes writes that a triad of SSGs, SSKs, and SSNs would comprise a forbidding implement of access denial for the US Navy in the Indo-Pacific.
A mysterious airstrip has appeared in the Red Sea. Here’s what it could mean
The Independent – Satellite images reveal a new airstrip under construction on Yemen’s Zuqar Island in the Red Sea, likely by forces opposed to the country’s Houthi rebels
Russian ‘spy ships’ snoop on German Navy’s large Arctic exercise
The Barents Observer – Two Russian vessels suspiciously zigzag in the Norwegian Sea, near the area of the ongoing German Maritime Firing Exercise.
Maritime Statecraft and its Future
CIMSEC – With shipping and shipbuilding receiving high-level political and diplomatic attention across two administrations after decades of neglect, the United States has the chance to realize a much-needed maritime revival. Having initiated a change in course from the past forty years of stagnation, Washington should double down on its winning bipartisan strategy to build maritime power through allied investments in U.S. shipping and shipbuilding—and keep off the rocks and shoals that could run the nascent American maritime renaissance aground.
Trump backs AUKUS deal, pushing to expedite sub delivery to Australia
Breaking Defense – Navy Secretary John Phelan said the ongoing review is designed to make the original deal “better,” to clear up some of the “ambiguity” and be a “win-win for everybody.”
CMSI Note 15: PLAN Chief of Staff VADM Li Hanjun: Fast-Rising Star of Training and Education Extinguished
China Maritime Studies Institute – The removal of VADM Li Hanjun would suggest that Xi believes he can burn through a tremendous amount of talent to make the PLA into the force he envisions. If Xi continues to feel he can afford this price, then we must seriously consider the possibility that a degree of military leadership churn is “priced in” to his approach to building the world class forces he seeks.
Echoes of the Flower-class corvettes – Royal Navy’s plans to increase anti-submarine warfare mass
Navy Lookout – In this guest article, Tom Hoyland considers the parallels between mass-produced wartime corvettes and today’s uncrewed systems as a means to increase anti-submarine effect.
Venezuela’s Supersonic Anti-Ship Missiles Are A Real Threat To American Warships
The War Zone – Fired by Su-30MK2V Flankers, the Russian-supplied Kh-31 anti-ship missiles are still a danger to U.S. warships operating near Venezuelan shores.
China’s burgeoning undersea sensor net aims to turn the ocean transparent
Defense News – The PLA is building a self-healing “kill web” to surpass today’s brittle kill chains.
First Sea Lord orders 100-day plan to fix Royal Navy submarine availability crisis
Navy Lookout – Defence Eye reports that General Sir Gwyn Jenkins has launched an urgent 100-day drive to tackle systemic submarine maintenance delays. He has ordered the creation of a new Submarine Maintenance Recovery Plan designed to urgently address issues causing extended patrols for the Vanguard-class and the chronically poor availability of Astute-class boats.
China Deploys Buoys, Security Officers to Scarborough Shoal Amid Philippine Drills
USNI News – Chinese forces deployed maritime security officers, fighter jets and new buoys to Scarborough Shoal on Friday following Philippine fishery support efforts at disputed maritime features across the South China Sea this week.
Why U.S. Strikes Against Drug Boats Matter
War on the Rocks – On Oct. 14, President Donald Trump announced on social media that the United States had once more attacked an alleged drug smuggling small boat in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. This is the latest strike in what the Trump administration has, in a notification to Congress, designated a “non-international armed conflict” against Tren de Aragua, a narco-group based in Venezuela. In other words, the administration has invoked war powers to justify the targeting of these vessels and, ostensibly, other assets of the organization in the future — perhaps even inside Venezuela. This assertion that the United States is now engaged in a “war” against Tren de Aragua matters for two profound reasons…
Chinese Submarine Warfare – A Natural Evolution or Game Changing Revolution?
RUSI – In a submarine arms race between China and the US, the PLAN appears to be closing the gap.
Ten German naval ships engage in missile firing at Norwegian Arctic test range
The Barents Observer – The German Navy starts its largest naval firing exercise in decades off the coast of Andøya, Norwegian Sea.
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