Forbes – The U.S. Navy took a step towards a new style of warfare this week with a request for proposals for its new Hammerhead Program. The Navy is looking for contractors to supply a mine that can be placed covertly on the sea bed by a robot submarine; when Hammerhead’s sensors spot a target, it fires an encapsulated homing torpedo.
China’s top warship maker builds new shipyard, phase I project to complete by 2023
Global Times – China’s major manufacturer of amphibious assault ships, amphibious landing ships and frigates on Monday started constructing an advanced new shipyard in Shanghai, a move analysts said on Tuesday would boost China’s technical level and efficiency in building such vessels.
Mystery Warship Seen In Iran May Be A Completely New Type
Naval News – New intelligence suggests that Iran has a locally built warship which has not been publicly revealed.
Navy Secretary: US Weighing Patrols Near Russian Arctic Bases
Breaking Defense – The Navy will start regularly sailing near Russian land claims in the increasingly ice-free Arctic, challenging Moscow’s push in the High North, Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite said today.
New Arctic Strategy Calls for Regular Presence as a Way to Compete With Russia, China
USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps released a new Arctic strategy today, calling to extend their new focus on day-to-day competition with Russia and China into the Arctic as it becomes more navigable and therefore more congested in the coming decades.
The report can be found here: A Blue Arctic
China Maritime Report No. 12: Sansha City in China’s South China Sea Strategy: Building a System of Administrative Control
China Maritime Studies Institute – China established Sansha City in 2012 to administer the bulk of its territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea. Sansha is headquartered on Woody Island. The city’s jurisdiction includes the Paracel Islands, Zhongsha Islands, and Spratly Islands and most of the waters within China’s “ninedash line.” Sansha is responsible for exercising administrative control, implementing military-civil fusion, and carrying out the day-to-day work of rights defense, stability maintenance, environmental protection, and resource development. Since 2012, each level of the Chinese party-state system has worked to develop Sansha, improving the city’s physical infrastructure and transportation, communications, corporate ecosystem, party-state institutions, and rights defense system. In effect, the city’s development has produced a system of normalized administrative control. This system ultimately allows China to govern contested areas of the South China Sea as if they were Chinese territory.
Iraqi explosives experts work to defuse tanker mine
FR24 News – Iraqi explosives experts were working to defuse a large mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and evacuate its crew. The statement came a day after two private security companies said sailors feared they had found a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra .
(Thanks to Alain)
Modern-Day Beach Patrol: Add Coastal Defense Cruise Missiles to the Coast Guard’s Inventory
USNI Blog – The Coast Guard has stood the watch along U.S. coasts since the earliest days of the Revenue Cutter Service, protecting against myriad threats large and small. As the current National Security Strategy directs the U.S. military to refocus on countering peer and near-peer threats, the time is ripe for the Coast Guard to field coastal defense cruise missiles (CDCM) to both defend the homeland and prevail in a war at sea.
Congress, the U.S. Marines, and Missiles: The Fight for Asian Security
National Interest – James Holmes says the U.S. Marine Corps sensibly asked for Tomahawk cruise missiles for its strategy to fight the Chinese Navy in case of war. Why then did Congress say no?
UK Royal Navy Declares IOC for Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group Ahead of Spring Deployment
USNI News – The U.K. Royal Navy’s first carrier strike group in 38 years has reached Initial Operating Capability (IOC) ahead of its first operational deployment later this year, the U.K. government announced today.
Sea Control and Power Projection: France’s Choice of a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier
RUSI – Before the end of 2020, and just as the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier had passed its mid-life, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, decided that the only non-American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world in service will have a successor, expected to be commissioned in 2038.
South Korean forces arrive in waters near strait of Hormuz amid Iran tensions
Guardian – South Korean forces have arrived in waters near the strait of Hormuz as pressure builds on Iran to free a South Korean tanker it seized along with its crew on Monday.
2021: Stormy Seas Ahead While Navy Hammers Out New Fleet
Breaking Defense – The Trump administration waited four years to come up with a plan to increase the size of the fleet, dumping it on the Pentagon’s doorstep even as the moving vans were getting ready to pull up to the White House.
Russia Completes Trials Of New Otvet Anti-Submarine Missile
Naval News – Successful trials of hypersonic Tsirkon missile shadowed the completion of acceptance tests of the antisubmarine Otvet missile complex.
Japan To Field New ASM-3A Long Range Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile
Naval News – Extended range version of ASM-3 is being mass produced in response to China’s maritime expansion.
Carrier USS Nimitz Will Stay in Middle East After Threats from Iran
USNI News – Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and its strike group will remain in the Middle East in the wake of threats from officials in the Iranian government on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. killing of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani, the Pentagon announced late Sunday.
Navy Expanding Use of Virtual Trainers for Surface Ship Crews
USNI News – The surface navy continues to expand and evolve its use of virtual trainers, as it looks to train and certify individual sailors and watch teams ashore so they can make best use of their time at sea.
Convoy Escort: The Navy’s Forgotten (Purpose) Mission
War on the Rocks – Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy appears to have forgotten the importance of its WWII Atlantic campaign. Since 1945, the Navy has prioritized offensive maritime missions — power projection and destruction of enemy fleets — over more essential defensive maritime missions, namely convoy defense. This is a flawed strategy resulting in three deleterious effects.
South Korea Officially Starts LPX-II Aircraft Carrier Program
Naval News – On 30 December 2020, details for South Korea’s LPX-II light aircraft carrier were finalized and the necessary budget was officially allocated in the 2020~2024 Mid-Term Defense Plan.
Amphibious Evolution
USNI Proceedings – The amphibious ships that transport the U.S. Marine Corps to hostile shores have undergone major changes over the past 80 years. In World War II, the fleet transformed from a force of hastily converted civilian commercial vessels to an armada of thousands of mass-produced ships and boats in a matter of months. The Cold War saw amphibious ships change radically to incorporate new landing craft technology, while post–Cold War types consolidated and grew larger. Today’s fleet is on the cusp of yet another transformation, with planners again eyeing small ships to survive war with a near-peer competitor in the Pacific.
Going to War with China? Ignore Corbett. Dust Off Mahan!
USNI Proceedings – When considering commerce interdiction as a strategy of war, Corbett’s simplicity may be attractive, but Mahan’s understanding of the globalized economy is what will win.
Interview with the General Director of the Rubin Central Design Bureau
BMPD – The Independent Military Review published an interview with Igor Vilnit, General Director of the Rubin Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering.
(Thanks to Alain)
2020 World Operational Naval Highlights
The ten most significant naval news stories / trends / themes this year included:
- The impact of the COVID pandemic upon naval operations this year, from the first at sea infections aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt causing it to suspend a deployment to the US Navy’s subsequent mastery of operations underway while under the threat of COVID. What lessons about living with COVID can the civilian world learn from the military world?
- The catastrophic loss of the USS Bon Homme Richard to a fire while refitting. How could this have happened and how devastating will this loss be to the future operations of the US Navy?
- The rapidly rotating leadership at the levels of the US Secretary of Defense and US Secretary of the Navy and the resulting large number of conflicting future fleet architecture studies published this year by the US Department of Defense, US Navy, and think tanks. Which one of these interesting studies – most notably the Hudson Institute’s study which begins to demonstrate the realm of the possible in regards to unmanned naval forces – will be the way forward for the US Navy?
- The complete breakdown in trust between the leadership in the US Department of Defense and US Navy and the US Congress with Congress not trusting the Navy to design manned and unmanned ships or decide its future fleet architecture or budget responsibly for it. How can trust be restored between these entities during the incoming Biden administration so the US Navy can move forward with a coherent plan to meet the rise of China?
- The continued slow rolling of the US Navy’s work on unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, and unmanned underwater vessels. When will the US Navy re-embrace the advice of Admiral Wayne Meyer and go back to “build a little, test a little, learn a lot” and move forward more vigorously in the unmanned domain?
- The continued Chinese build-up in the South China Sea and the steady drum beat of the US Navy’s recent FONOPS in the South China Sea in response. Will the incoming Biden administration continue to keep up the pressure up on China?
- While the Taiwan Strait remains on a slow boil as Taiwan begins to earnestly re-arm, tensions heat up in the East China Sea as well. Is China’s increased patrolling in the area a prelude to it actively challenging Japan’s sovereignty over the area?
- The solid progress being made by the US Marine Corps in fleshing out its vision for Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations. Will the US Congress allow it to restructure itself and buy what it needs to accomplish this vision?
- The increasing commitment of Western navies and Coast Guards to the North – in the Arctic and the Barents Sea. Will adequate budget dollars flow to fund these new commitments?
- Wide-spread commercial undersea mining is about to get underway. What will be the consequences of this new industry for navies and naval forces?
Egypt received the first FREMM class frigate purchased in Italy
BMPD – On December 23, 2020, at the shipyard of the Italian shipbuilding association Fincantieri in Mudgiano in La Spezia, the ceremony of handing over to the Egyptian naval forces the first of the two FREMM-class frigates purchased in Italy.
(Thanks to Alain)
Chinese Submarine Drone Discovered Near Gateway To Indian Ocean
Naval News – The latest underwater drone found by fishermen may indicate that China is surveying Indonesian waters. This may have strategic implications if it helps Chinese Navy submarines and warships enter the Indian Ocean.
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