IISS – The newly established Littoral Response Group is part of a broader initiative to adapt the United Kingdom’s amphibious forces to operate in a more dispersed and agile way. This new formation could be as significant to future UK maritime operations as the Carrier Strike Group, but questions remain about how the concept will now develop.
US Navy sees better LCS maintenance from sailors in ongoing Tulsa, Charleston deployments
Defense News – The U.S. Navy is seeing improved maintenance on deployed littoral combat ships amid efforts to boost readiness and operational endurance, now that is has switched from contractor-based work to sailor-performed maintenance.
For a Greener, More Lethal Force, Look to Strategic Sealift Recapitalization
CIMSEC – Recapitalizing strategic sealift vessels would provide a needed catalyst for green maritime technology development, driving toward the Biden administration’s new shipping climate target while improving the US Navy’s warfighting edge. A greener merchant fleet, enabled by technology developed during the recapitalization of the aging sealift fleet would address an important source of climate change and increase the sustainment reach of the logistics fleet. Such a maritime green revolution might even improve lethality.
The New Mystery Submarine Seen In China: What We Know
Naval News – At the height of the Cold War defense analysts often tried to piece together information about a new types of submarine seen outside shipyards. Today this is playing out again, only in China. A new submarine, with an unusual sail, has recently emerged.
The Marine Corps Is Redesigning Infantry Battalions for the Future
Defense One – Recommendations for a nimbler unit organization with fewer grunts and more tech will go to the commandant next year.
Japan-based USS Ronald Reagan Now in the Middle East to Cover Afghanistan Withdrawal
USNI News – The Navy’s Japan-based carrier strike group is now operating in the North Arabian Sea to support the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Russia’s Gigantic Submarine, Belgorod, Sails For The First Time
Naval News – Belgorod will bring new capabilities to the Russian Navy. To be operated on behalf of the secretive Main Directorate of Undersea Research (GUGI), the submarine may be central to Russia’s intelligence gathering capabilities. Yet she also carries a new strategic weapon, known as Poseidon.
India, U.S. Navies Hold Complex Air and Sea Drills in the Indian Ocean, Kicking Off Several Summer Exercises
USNI News – The U.S. Navy carried out a high-tempo exercise this week in the Indian Ocean involving the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group along with the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. The drills come at the start of the 27th annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise series with CARAT Sri Lanka on June 24, which will include USS Charleston (LCS-18) and the first official participation of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Yugiri (DD-153).
Germany Approves The Procurement Of Five P-8A Poseidon MPA
Naval News – The German parliament has formally approved the procurement of five P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft from Boeing for the German Navy.
Obsolescence, Chokepoints, and the Maritime Militia: Facing Primary Threats to U.S. Sealift
CIMSEC – As a key provider of surge forces to crisis locations around the world, United States Transportation Command must confront any and all potential challengers it might face in the 21st century, specifically the rising maritime power of the People’s Republic of China. Challenges USTRANSCOM could face in this regard are threefold—the aging and inadequate nature of the American sealift force, the vulnerability of said forces to strategic chokepoints in the event of conflict, and the versatility and strength of the Chinese People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia.
Canadian navy aims to have 3 submarines at sea by end of 2021
CTV News – For the first time in seven years, the Canadian navy expects to have three of its four submarines operating simultaneously by the end of 2021.
Recapitalizing Strategic Sealift Should Be DOD’s Number One Modernization Priority
CIMSEC – The intense focus on acquiring new and better combat capabilities with which to establish overmatch vis-à-vis emerging high-end competitors may have hampered Pentagon leadership from recognizing the fact that without sufficient strategic sealift, many modernization efforts may be for naught.
Photo tour of the nuclear-powered submarine “Kazan”
Military Informant – (Thanks to Alain)
American Strategic Sealift in Peer-To-Peer Conflicts: A Historical Retrospective, Part 1
CIMSEC – If the United States finds itself engaged in peer-to-peer competition and conflict, as it has in the past during the First World War, the Second World War, and during the Cold War, it will find itself in a position that it has not been in for over a century; of a nation lacking a dedicated sealift force and a merchant marine only a fraction of a percent necessary to carry its own commerce.
HMS Defender: Russian jets and ships shadow British warship
BBC – More than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships have shadowed a British warship sailing near Crimea.
China’s Latest Submarine Seems To Have Lifted Its Sail Design From Sweden’s New A26 Class
War Zone – The Type 039C Yuan submarine looks set to build on China’s existing, highly capable fleet of diesel-electric attacks subs and is likely even quieter.
Across the Expanse: The Sealift Dilemma in a War Against China
CIMSEC – China’s growing navy and increasingly hegemonic ambitions in the Indo-Pacific have the potential to disrupt alliances and create a unique logistical problem for expeditionary U.S. military operations.
US Navy facing early challenges in modernizing dry docks for submarine maintenance
Defense News – One of the U.S. Navy’s first major projects under a 20-year shipyard modernization effort is facing cost-overruns and schedule slips, an unexpected circumstance which the Navy is hoping to learn from as it continues through the $20-billion Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program.
Do U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officers Need A New Career Path?
1945 – James Holmes says yes.
F-35B Jets From HMS Queen Elizabeth Have Joined The Fight Against Daesh
Aviationist – UK Carrier Strike Group launching F-35B missions in support of Operation Shader from the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Positions of Two NATO Ships Were Falsified Near Russian Black Sea Naval Base
USNI News – The tracking data of two NATO warships was faked off the coast of a Russian controlled naval base in the Black Sea while the actual ships were moored 180 miles away.
The Fourth Arm of Defense: America’s Merchant Mariners
CIMSEC – From its earliest days when the American colonies were dependent on trade with Europe, the United States has been reliant on merchant shipping.
Russia Practices Destroying Enemy Carriers In Pacific Drills Sending U.S. Alarm Bells Ringing
War Zone – Russia has provided more details about its recent sea and air drills conducted in the central Pacific, which included mock attacks on a simulated aircraft carrier strike group.
Marines explain vision for fewer traditional amphibious warships, supplemented by new light amphib
Defense News – The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have finessed their requirement for amphibious ships and are now asking for 28 to 31 traditional amphibious ships that could flow in to support other expeditionary forces already operating during a conflict.
Synthetic Bioweapons Are Coming
USNI Proceedings – The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed critical weaknesses in the human domain of warfare at just the moment technology has emerged that gives bad actors new power to exploit those weaknesses. Developments in synthetic biology will create next-generation bioweapons, “human-domain fires” that will fundamentally change the strategic environment and create a threat naval planners must consider now, before it is encountered at sea.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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