Breaking Defense – The Navy and Marine Corps are testing radically new ways of operating in the Pacific by sending experimental unmanned ships into an ambitious exercise next week. Underpinning that exercise is an ambitious new plan for island-hopping that demands a fast implementation timeline.
Adversary Drones Are Spying On The U.S. And The Pentagon Acts Like They’re UFOs
War Zone – The U.S. military seems aloof to the fact that it’s being toyed with by a terrestrial adversary and key capabilities may be compromised as a result.
Russia’s Bal missile system will cover entire Northern Sea Route
Barents Observer – A Bal missile can take out ships up to 5,000 tons and is aimed at protecting the territorial waters now becoming more accessible for shipping as the Arctic sea ice retreats.
French, US Carrier Strike Groups’ Ballet For Persian Gulf Stability
Breaking Defense – The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG) and the French Charles de Gaulle CSG are cooperating at levels of integration rarely achieved in the past.
Marines Begin Experimentation to Refine Manual for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations
USNI News – The Marine Corps has released the first version of its Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations manual and is kicking off a two-year process of near-constant experimentation and analysis to help refine the document before it becomes formal doctrine.
Service Squadron Ten and The Great Western Base
CIMSEC – The Service Squadrons played a pivotal role in sustaining the Fleet as it fought across the Central Pacific. It is a largely unknown history, but one worth relearning with the reemerging possibility of war between major powers. That experience highlights the need to make forward deployed logistics and repair capabilities both robust and mobile to better support the Fleet.
A US Air Force war game shows what the service needs to hold off — or win against — China in 2030
Defense News – The U.S. Air Force repelled a Chinese invasion of Taiwan during a massive war game last fall by relying on drones acting as a sensing grid, an advanced sixth-generation fighter jet able to penetrate the most contested environments, cargo planes dropping pallets of guided munitions and other novel technologies yet unseen on the modern battlefield.
China’s New Aircraft Carrier Is In Same League As US Navy’s Ford Class
Naval News – The Chinese Navy is radically modernizing its capabilities. Chief among these are a fleet of aircraft carriers. A new satellite image clearly shows the Type-003 aircraft carrier taking shape in Shanghai, and it is the largest so far.
The Philippines Expanding South China Sea Patrols Near Disputed Reef
USNI News – The Philippines has sent additional ships on Tuesday to its maritime territory that is subject to China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.
Russian tech firm develops world’s first ‘diving’ patrol ship
Tass – The Rubin Central Design Bureau (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has developed the first Russian patrol ship with a diving capability for foreign customers.
(Thanks to Alain)
Belgian Frigate’s Movements Lend Credence To Reports Of Another Attack On An Israeli Ship
War Zone – The reported attack on an Israeli commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman follows attacks on an Iranian nuclear site and covert mothership.
High operating costs cloud the future of littoral combat ships, budget data reveals
Defense News – As the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship program battles reliability problems, it is also wrestling another and potentially just as fearsome bear: operating costs. The service’s top officer said the original concept for a minimal crewing model — where as few as 32 sailors and eight officers manned the ship, and much of the maintenance burden fell to contractors — has driven up costs.
As the US Navy scrambles to field more missiles in Asia, a tough decision looms for aging cruisers
Defense News – As it gears up for its 2022 budget battle, the Navy has signaled it is time to move on and phase out the cruisers to make room for the next-generation Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, even if it means shrinking the fleet in the near term. The Flight III doesn’t solve the Navy’s missile problem, but it does have enough space onboard (it’s about 400 tons heavier than its Flight IIA counterparts) to house the air warfare command role that currently belongs to the cruisers.
Persistent Chinese Maritime Militia Presence off Philippines Raises Concerns in Manila
USNI News – Chinese maritime militia vessels remained berthed at the Whitsun Reef, which is located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, lending credence to what Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana described as China’s plot to permanently occupy the feature.
Navy Software Factory, The Forge, Wants to Reshape How Ships Get Upgraded
USNI News – The sea service envisions a new way of doing business where it can field software fixes and entirely new software-based capabilities piecemeal, as soon as they’re developed by a small business or research team, instead of waiting for a large package of updates to all be ready to go in a more traditional update approach.
Worldwide Ocean Governance: Protecting the Most Vulnerable Assets – Ports and Harbors
CIMSEC – Worldwide “Ocean Governance” asks the important question: “How can navies and coast guards better coordinate with local governments and international agencies in countering violence at sea? What lessons can be learned from instances of good onshore/offshore collaboration? How are governments working together across jurisdictions and in international waters to counter this threat?”
What Maps Can Tell Us About U.S. Strategy For Europe And Asia
1945 – James Holmes writes that even seemingly objective imagery such as cartography can convey political messages as well as facts.
70 Years of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force
China Aerospace Studies Institute – A comprehensive look at the ‘software’ of the PLAAF across its full history.
Beijing has a navy it doesn’t even admit exists, experts say. And it’s swarming parts of the South China Sea
CNN – They’ve been dubbed China’s “Little Blue Men,” an allegedly Beijing-controlled maritime militia that analysts say could be hundreds of boats and thousands of crew members strong. China doesn’t acknowledge their existence and when questioned, refers to them as a “so-called maritime militia.”
The United States Considers Reinforcing Its ‘Pacific Sanctuary’
War on the Rocks – Could Japan see an increase in the presence of U.S. military capabilities and personnel in the years ahead? It’s looking possible.
A Problem of Commitment
Defense and Aerospace Report – Chris Cavas writes that when it comes to big things the U. S. Navy has no problem with commitment…But when it comes to the small stuff, forget it. While there are passing fancies, the passion soon flames out and Big Navy is on to the next Big Thing.
What Napoleon Can Teach Us About the South China Sea
War on the Rocks – In trying to understand America’s “great power competition” with China, observers have offered a range of historical analogies. Graham Allison invoked the “Thucydides Trap,” referring to Athens and its war with Sparta, while a recent compilation asked, in reference to World War I, if a U.S.-Chinese clash could be the next great war. But perhaps the Napoleonic Wars offer a better analogy.
China’s Desert Storm Education
USNI Proceedings – China took lessons from Operation Desert Storm and remade itself with foreign technology to build a formidable joint military force with expeditionary ambitions.
Turkey Confirms U.S. Destroyers Are Headed For The Black Sea Amid Russia-Ukraine Crisis
WarZone – Two U.S. Navy destroyers will enter the Black Sea as a Russian military buildup around eastern Ukraine continues to grow.
U.S. Carrier Strike Group, Amphibious Warships Massed in South China Sea as Regional Tensions Simmer
USNI News – A U.S. carrier strike group and amphibious ready group are in the South China Sea as tensions increase between Manilla and Beijing over a Chinese maritime militia incursion into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
