– National Interest – Bottom line, let’s rediscover the wisdom of masters such as these—and make dreaming up offbeat ideas fun and rewarding again.
Storm Clouds Are Gathering over the Taiwan Strait
– National Interest – Washington would do well to stop provoking China’s ire on Taiwan, lest it trigger a “Cuban Missile Crisis” in reverse.
Meet the HN-1, China’s New AI-Powered Underwater Drone
– National Interest – The battle for future undersea AI dominance is heating up and China’s ambitions are not small in this domain.
What Will the Future Hold For Arctic Economies?
– CIMSEC – It is critical to analyze economic drivers and political factors across the High North in order to evaluate the economic potential of the region, understand national security interests, and develop appropriate Arctic policy.
France takes delivery of its 5th FREMM
– Defense News – The Directon Générale de l’Armement took delivery July 18 the fifth multi-mission frigate, marking a step toward an eight-strong fleet which will be the “backbone” of the French Navy.
Navy, Marine Corps Racing to Increase Amphibious Fleet as Demand Rises
– USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps are running up against a deadline to add more amphibious warships to the fleet before older hulls start retiring.
France makes progress on refitting submarine for M51 missiles
– Defense News – The ballistic missile submarine Téméraire has been taken to Ile Longue, the French naval base for nuclear boats, marking a key step in a major refit of the sub.
Is Germany’s Navy Dead?
– National Interest – The German Navy’s current condition is a true “Schande;” an embarrassment for Europe’s wealthiest country.
The Inside Scoop: What Russia Is Really Saying About Its 100-Megaton Nuclear Torpedo
– National Interest – We have all the answers.
CVN-81, The Fourth Ford Class Supercarrier, Is Slated To Cost A Whopping $15B
– War Zone – The price of a single Ford class supercarrier is approaching the size of the entire annual defense budget of Canada.
The US Navy’s new anti-ship missile scores a hit at RIMPAC, but there’s a twist
– Defense News – The U.S. surface fleet’s brand-new anti-ship missile was used as part of the barrage of rockets and missiles that put an end to the landing ship tank Racine on July 12 during the Rim of the Pacific exercise, but it wasn’t shot by the Navy.
The Shell Game: Fueling a Future War in the Pacific
– War on the Rocks – Energy for military operations in the geographically vast Pacific region still primarily takes the form of military-grade fuels used by ships and aircraft. That fuel is still mostly stored in fuel terminals in known locations, many of which are in range of potential adversaries’ aircraft, submarines, and surface-to-surface missiles. The United States relies on an inadequate number of overtasked fleet tankers to support logistically fragile operational concepts (in contrast to southwest Asia and Europe, where it is often possible to move military fuel by other means, such as pipelines and ground transportation). Because of the enormous quantities of fuel required to support military operations in the Pacific and elsewhere, the military is increasingly aware of the tension between war plans and their underlying fuel logistics.
Spain’s new submarine ‘too big for its dock’
– BBC – An attempt to deploy a new submarine for Spain’s navy has run aground again, after it emerged it cannot fit in its dock.
A New Gap in the High North and Forward Defense Against Russian Naval Power
– CIMSEC – The stand-up of a new NATO Maritime headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the re-establishment of the U.S. Navy’s East Coast-based Second Fleet and the prospect for a new NATO Maritime Strategy this year have again fueled interest in naval warfare in the wider Atlantic Ocean.
Inside America’s Aging Nuclear Missile Submarines
– Breaking Defense – America’s nuclear deterrent is aging, with a half-dozen replacement programs on the horizon. But the young men and women who serve, Gen. John Hyten said, are better than ever: “They love this country. They want to defend this country. They go to work every day. They’re amazing — they’re smarter than we were, by far. They get motivated differently so you have to lead them differently, but their passion is just the same.”
Jim Mattis’ ‘Dynamic Force Employment’ just got real for the US Navy
– Defense News – The Harry S. Truman carrier strike group is returning to Norfolk after just three months on deployment, a dramatic shift from the Navy’s standard seven-month deployment and a move that has been signaled at the highest levels of the military as the Navy moves to rebuild readiness and surge capacity.
I Served Aboard One of the Last U.S. Navy Battleships. And It Changed My Life
– National Interest – A “ship” is more than a hunk of steel that rides the bounding main. It is an expression of human ideas and history in steel. It’s a composite of materiel, human beings, and history. Therein lies its allure.
United Kingdom Maritime Strategy
– CIMSEC – A conversation with Dr. Eric Grove on the UK’s maritime strategy, the evolution of its national security strategy in the post-9/11 era, and force structure debates in the current era.
Essex Amphibious Ready Group Quietly Deployed on Tuesday with Marine F-35s
– USNI News – The three-ship Essex Amphibious Ready Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit left San Diego, Calif., on Tuesday with little fanfare for an expected Western Pacific and Middle East deployment.
New US Pacific Fleet Commander backs away from ‘3rd Fleet Forward’
– Defense News – The new head of U.S. Pacific Fleet is walking back from a throw-back command structure championed by his predecessor that had the San Diego-based head of U.S. 3rd Fleet take tactical control of ships in the Asia Pacific region, a role usually taken over by the Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet once ships sail west of Hawaii.
US Navy adding new training to pre-deployment work-ups
– Defense News – The U.S. Navy is steadily rolling out a new phase of work-ups for carrier strike group and amphibious ready group deployments aimed at boosting its surface warfare skills.
Destroyers Maxed Out, Navy Looks To New Hulls: Power For Radars & Lasers
– Breaking Defense – The Navy has crammed as much electronics as it can into its new DDG-51 Flight III destroyers now beginning construction, Rear Adm. William Galinis said this morning. That drives the service towards a new Large Surface Combatant that can comfortably accommodate the same high-powered radars, as well as future weapons such as lasers, on either a modified DDG-51 hull or an entirely new design.
German Navy’s Woes Continue With Its Pair of Ex-Liberian Tankers Stuck Broken In Port
– War Zone – The service can’t meet near-term NATO obligations and has no ships in reserve to rapidly support any extended naval operations in a crisis.
U.S. Navy Command Ship, Destroyer in Black Sea for Annual Sea Breeze Exercise
– USNI News – Command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) and guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG-78) entered the Black Sea over the weekend, crossing through the Bosporus Strait into the Black Sea in support of the Sea Breeze 2018 exercise.
The Surface Navy: Still in Search of Tactics
– CIMSEC – Where have tactics gone in the modern surface Navy? Whatever the cause, the loss of tactics – and the subsequent appearance of hundreds of publications which masquerade as tactics – is a problem that reaches the very heart of our profession. Tactics must be resurrected.
