USNI News – A United Kingdom Royal Navy frigate is joining Norwegian forces operating in the North Sea protecting gas pipelines following last week’s rupture of two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic.
Protecting seabed infrastructure – UK Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship to be in service by 2023
Navy Lookout – Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced that the first Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS) will be purchased this year and be operational next year. A second vessel designed specifically for this task will subsequently be constructed in the UK. Here we take a brief look at the context and implications of this project.
War Studies Primer
We invite you to try War Studies Primer – an introductory course on the study of war and military history. Its purpose is to provide an introduction to the study of war.
War Studies Primer is presented as a lecture curriculum at the university level. It is a free, non-credit, self-study course that consists of 28 topics and over 1,900 slides and is updated on a yearly basis.
Look at slides 2 and 3 in the War Studies Primer for its Table of Contents, and then choose a lecture to read and enjoy.
Ways to Follow NOSI
To see every post you can also follow NOSI via RSS at nosi.org/feed or via email by entering your email address and clicking on the Follow button in the right hand column of the site.
You can also follow us on social media as @nosintel on Facebook at facebook.com/nosintel or on Twitter at twitter.com/nosintel
Intellectual Readiness Is Vital to Sea Power
USNI Proceedings – The intellect of naval leaders, including their education and mental agility, is vital to wartime readiness.
Taiwan’s New Amphibious Assault Ship Bristles With Anti-Air Missiles
War Zone – Taiwan’s biggest locally built warship is the first of a new class of landing platform docks and part of an ambitious modernization program.
Guarding the Pacific: How Washington Can Counter China in the Solomons and Beyond
War on the Rocks – The lesson of the last several years in clear: Beijing is determined to gain a foothold in the South Pacific, posing a direct threat to long-term U.S. and allied interests. Without a coherent strategy of denial and the projection of appropriate U.S. power across this region, fundamental American interests will be threatened. It is time for the United States to support a robust array of defense initiatives across Oceania, including in countries where we remain openly, and rightly, concerned about democracy. By increasing our presence in and political connections to this dynamic region, the United States is more likely to play a constructive role in promoting good governance than if it continues to cede the field to Beijing and its proxies. By deploying more resources now, Washington has the opportunity to prevent an entirely unnecessary strategic surprise in the future.
Saildrone CEO says Iranian interference was valuable experience, not a surprise
Breaking Defense – Twice in the last month, Iran has attempted to abduct US unmanned surface vessels produced by Saildrone. But the company’s CEO says he was unfazed by the events, instead calling the experience “valuable” and stressing the need for any organization operating unmanned ships to be anticipate hostile interference.
Naval Operations Across South American Rivers: The “Other” Theater of Operations
CIMSEC – When thinking about navies, there is a natural tendency to focus on operations in the open sea and the role of carriers, frigates, and submarines. However, aside from protecting their territorial waters and exclusive economic zones, South American navies have another equally important theater of operation: inland water bodies like lakes and rivers.
Fingers Point At Russia In Baltic Undersea Pipeline Attack
War Zone – EU and other officials say the available evidence increasingly points to deliberate acts causing ruptures in two Baltic Sea gas pipelines.
Chinese Launch Assault Craft from Civilian Car Ferries in Mass Amphibious Invasion Drill, Satellite Photos Show
USNI News – The Chinese military held a major exercise to prove how the People’s Liberation Army Navy could use large civilian ferries to launch a massive amphibious invasion of Taiwan.
Navy’s XLUUV Undersea Minelaye
USNI News – A program to develop an unmanned, 80-ton minelaying submarine is three years late and $242 million over budget.
Navy About To Get World’s Largest Unmanned Warship But Has No Plans To Use It
War Zone – The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) is set to receive its newest ship, the thirteenth in a series of high-speed EPF expeditionary transports providing logistics services around the globe. But Number 13 is special – not only is it the first EPF fitted with autonomous navigation and operating systems, but it is possibly the world’s largest ship capable of unmanned operation. Yet as of now, neither the Navy nor MSC has any plans to use the unmanned capability when the USNS Apalachicola (T-EPF 13) enters the fleet. Rather, MSC intends to send the vessel to the western Pacific to serve as a logistics ship with the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
China Could Decide Now Is The Time For War With America
1945 – James Holmes asks will a ‘Peak’ China decide now is the time for war with America.
How China Targets the Global Fish Supply
New York Times – With its own coastal waters depleted, China has built a global fishing operation unmatched by any other country.
Sabotage Suspected In Undersea Gas Pipeline Explosions In The Baltic
War Zone – The controversial Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which are supposed to carry Russian gas to Europe, have been breached.
Understanding AUKUS
The Strategist – AUKUS is a technology accelerator agreement for the purpose of national defence, no more, no less. It is designed to allow three countries to work closely together to translate the promise of today’s maturing technologies, such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, into tomorrow’s military edge.
Chinese Countermeasure Barge Covered In Radar Reflectors Emerges
War Zone – The barge, which is festooned with radar reflectors, antennas, defensive launchers, and other gear, first appeared in model form a year ago.
New Look At Air Force’s Ship-Killing Smart Bomb In Action, Seeker Details Revealed
War Zone – Air Force’s new Quick Sink weapon uses a low-cost seeker that turns Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs into all-weather anti-ship weapons.
Completing the Kill Web: The Multidomain Reconnaissance Troop in the Littorals
Modern War Institute – US combat power is massed just out of range of enemy fires, but there it is stalled, with ships and aircraft unable to penetrate the complex web of enemy sensors, missiles, antiaircraft weapons, and other equipment all organized specifically to keep US forces at bay. There is no easy answer to the fundamental question: What mixture of personnel and capabilities is best suited to make it through the web of the adversary’s antiaccess / area-denial (A2/AD) bubble and seize a lodgment for follow-on forces?
Defeat China’s Navy, Defeat China’s War Plan
War on the Rocks – U.S. commanders in the Indo-Pacific will have to fight with the forces and weapons policymakers provide them. Recent wargames, like their predecessors, demonstrate the United States needs a better plan for defeating an attack on Taiwan. This means forces and concepts that match U.S. competitive advantages against China’s weaknesses while minimizing the number of forces U.S. commanders will have to position within range of China’s firepower. Fortunately, a better matchup exists, one that focuses the U.S. bomber force against China’s navy and other maritime assets. China cannot take Taiwan, the Senkakus, or other territories in the region if its maritime power is destroyed. The U.S. bomber force could be a mortal threat to China’s maritime power if U.S. policymakers and military planners begin to properly prioritize it. By making China’s maritime assets the main target for the U.S. bomber force, then arming it accordingly, Washington would be well positioned to win a counter-maritime campaign in the western Pacific.
Ukraine’s New Weapon To Strike Russian Navy In Sevastopol
Naval News – A previously unreported drone boat, known as a USV (uncrewed surface vessel), appears to have slipped past Russian Navy patrols. The device was found on a beach close to the major Russian Navy base of Sevastopol in Crimea.
China’s New Extra-Large Submarine Drones Revealed
Naval News – China’s naval expansion may have a key program which was not previously reported. Secretly deployed to the South China Sea, two unknown underwater vehicles have been seen at Sanya naval base. This may be the first indication of a much larger program.
Sustainment of the Stand-In Force
War on the Rocks – The biggest challenge for the stand-in forces concept right now is that it puts marines inside high-threat areas with minimal logistics sustainment. This requires the Marine Corps to develop and train for a sustainment concept that is light, flexible, responsive, resilient, and redundant. This plan should enable decreasing replenishment time and maintain each stand-in force unit’s low signature. In the commandant’s words, “To persist inside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone, our Stand-in Forces must be set and sustained by logistics capabilities designed for distributed operations over long distances in a contested environment.” How can the joint force replenish supplies, maintain equipment, and restock combat losses while keeping stand-in forces in the fight?
Russian Navy Kilo Class Submarines Retreating From Crimea
Naval News – The changing tide of the Ukraine War appear to have led the Russian Navy to ‘regroup’ its forces in the Black Sea. Early during the invasion they loitered boldly close to Odessa. Now the Black Sea Fleet barely sails out of sight of Crimea for fear of Harpoon missiles. Its submarines too have recently shifted their base further from the shadow of Ukrainian attack.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
You must be logged in to post a comment.