War on the Rocks – In 1944 U.S. military planners drafted a plan to invade Taiwan: Operation Causeway. The plan was ultimately rejected by senior leaders due to the high costs and risks relative to alternatives for advancing against Tokyo. Analyzing Causeway provides a historical baseline against which to assess the enduring challenges of joint forcible entry operations, particularly those executed from the sea. Put simply, crossing a contested sea only to fight on complex, canalizing terrain against a deliberate defense-in-depth makes amphibious assault in Taiwan a more complex operation than even the famed 1944 Operation Overlord — the D-Day landings. A mix of Taiwanese defense planning and the reality of modern battle network competition compound these challenges, making an invasion likely harder in 2022 than in 1944.
New Details On Japan’s Future BMD Vessels Revealed
Naval News – Here are the latest details on the Aegis system-equipped vessels (ASEVs), Japan’s future ballistic missile defense (BMD) ships.
ShinMaywa and USSOCOM Comment On The US-2 Seaplane
Naval News – Naval News reached out to ShinMaywa Industries, Ltd. in Japan to inquire on if the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) might be interested in their US-2 seaplane. A representative from ShinMaywa’s Sales and Marketing Department replied. Naval News also reached out to USSOCOM for additional C-130J MAC status and comment.
Navy Electronic Warfare Container Could Go On Ships, Aircraft, Trucks
War on the Rocks – A new Navy program envisions a electronic warfare and intelligence suite that will work with any platform big enough to carry it.
Call the Maritime Cavalry: Marine Corps Modernization and the Stand-In Force
War on the Rocks – Genghis Khan and Napoleon Bonaparte used cavalry units and combined arms to wreak havoc in Europe and Eurasia long before debates about the future of the Marines Corps and maneuver warfare. Today, the Marine Corps can also apply these time-tested tactics to develop a “maritime cavalry” and provide an essential maneuver element that complements the latest joint force capabilities and fighting concepts. Perhaps more importantly, creating a maritime cavalry would add a dynamic combined-arms element to the Marine Corps’ latest Force Design 2030 formations and concepts while channeling its “first to fight” ethos.
Saudi naval modernization pushes ahead, with eye always on Iran
Breaking Defense – The first of five new corvettes recently arrived at King Faisal Naval Base in Jeddah, upgrading the Saudi fleet’s capabilities in the Red Sea.
Given China’s A2/AD Capabilities, How Would the United States Defend Taiwan?
USNI Blog – To effectively defend Taiwan from a military standpoint, the United States must be willing to defend Taiwan from outside of Taiwan. In other words, the defense of Taiwan from an invasion from China need not be confined to the main island of Taiwan, nor the Taiwan Strait. Moreover, expectations held by the United States should be that an invasion of Taiwan by China will look nothing like the previous four Taiwan Strait Crises (1954–55, 1958, 1995–96, 2022), which were generally limited, and instead be prepared for a conflict of a much larger-scale and intensity.
Building up the Lightning Force – when will the UK get its F-35 jets?
Navy Lookout – It has been revealed that Full Operating Capability for the UK Lightning Force has been delayed by 2 years. Here we look at how UK F-35s numbers are building up, issues that impact the pace of aircraft delivery and how this affects the carrier air group generation.
Romanian Minesweeper Hits Sea Mine In The Black Sea
Naval News – The Musca-class minesweeper of the Romanian Navy was damaged by a floating mine on 08 September 2022 in the Black Sea, northeast of the port of Constantza.
The Second Anglo-Icelandic Cod War (1972–73)—Analysis of a Modern Sea Dispute and Implications for the South China Sea
US Naval War College Review – Analysis of the strategies employed by the British navy and Icelandic coast guard during the third Anglo-Icelandic sea dispute, in 1972–73, and the context in which they did so illuminates how modern sea disputes exist in the realm of competition for limited objectives, not warfare, and how the use of force can jeopardize recognition of the claims involved.
War Is the Storm—Clausewitz, Chaos, and Complex War Studies
US Naval War College Review – Complexity theories indeed do apply to war, and Clausewitz’s theories were the first to grapple with them. War is nonlinear, but the parallels between war and complexity science, and between complexity science and Clausewitz, do not stop with nonlinearity. Clausewitz’s theory of war does not just allude to complexity; rather, complexity is at its very core.
The World’s Fishermen as a Maritime Sensor Network
USNI Proceedings – A crowdsourcing platform could help counter Chinese IUU fishing.
Countering China’s “Trident” Strategy—Frustrating China’s Aims in the East and South China Seas and the Indian Ocean
US Naval War College Review – China is trying to construct a naval strategy to deny U.S. forces freedom of action in the western Pacific Ocean. Looking back to the U.S. Navy’s last major strategic contest, against the Soviet navy during the Cold War, provides comparisons between Soviet and Chinese strategies that yield insights and analogies that can help develop more effective countermeasures against undesirable Chinese initiatives.
Expeditionary Cutter Deployments Should Not Be a Mission to Mars
USNI Proceedings – The Coast Guard must address cutter self-sustainability
as the fleet’s range and missions become more global.
The first year – Royal Navy OPVs deployed in the Pacific
Navy Lookout – HMS Tamar and HMS Spey sailed from Portsmouth on 7th September 2021 to be forward deployed in the Pacific for at least the next five years. A year on from their departure we look at what has been achieved and the benefits of a permanent Royal Navy presence in the region.
Command of the Sea Redux
US Naval War College Review – The United States and the West already may have lost command of the sea. To deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan or similar aggression, the Navy may need to pursue a very different fleet architecture, further integrate the maintenance and exercise of command, and seek modifications to a Unified Command Plan that ignores the indivisibility of the world ocean.
What We Know About Iran’s Newly Unveiled Catamaran Warship
War Zone – The ship is actually somewhat impressive, regardless of its true capabilities, and is a more legitimate warship than its catamaran forerunner.
How The U.S. Rushed Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles To Ukraine
War Zone – A Pentagon official explained how the U.S. helped turn ship-based Harpoons into truck-based weapons used by Ukraine to sink two Russian ships.
The STAR Plan: New Capabilities In Sight For The Belgian Navy
Naval News – Belgium is about to increase its defense budget significantly. The country’s Parliament recently adopted a revised version of the military planning law (loi de programmation militaire, LPM) which includes an extra 11.7 billion Euros, among which a minority part is devoted to the Belgian Navy.
Japan to Build Two 20,000-ton Missile Defense Warships, Indian Carrier Commissions
USNI News – Japan’s Ministry of Defence is proposing to build a pair of ballistic missile defense ships – the among largest warships in the Japanese inventory since World War II – government officials said last week.
How Fake GPS Coordinates Are Leading to Lawlessness on the High Seas
New York Times – A technology enabling the transmission of fake locations to carry out murky or even illegal business operations could have profound implications for the enforcement of international law.
Russia Sends Nuclear Submarine To Mediterranean
Naval News – Nuclear submarines are the most powerful, and most survivable, assets in the Russian Navy. Against the backdrop of dramatic naval losses in the war in Ukraine, they are the ace up the sleeve. Now a nuclear submarine appears to be playing cat and mouse with NATO forces in the Mediterranean.
Iran Temporarily Captures Two U.S. Saildrones in Red Sea
USNI News – The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy seized two U.S. unmanned surface vehicles in the Red Sea on Thursday, a U.S. Navy official confirmed to USNI News. The two USVs, which are operated by U.S 5th Fleet, are now back in U.S. custody, the official said.
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.
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