CIMSEC – In this discussion, Capt. Tangredi discusses uncertainties facing the new fleet design, possible intentions behind the Defense Secretary’s rejection of the Navy’s force structure assessment, and alternative means to revamp the fleet for great power conflict.
Force Structure Perspectives: Capt. Jeff Kline(ret.) on Bringing the Fleet Into the Robotics Age
CIMSEC – In this conversation, Capt. Kline discusses advantages realized by fielding a fleet with greater platform variety, how to mitigate risk to emerging fleet networks, and the impacts of the Robotics Age on naval force structure.
Greek Navy Minesweeper Damaged After Cargo Ship Collision
Associated Press – Greece’s coast guard says a Greek navy minesweeper and a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship have collided outside the country’s main port of Piraeus, leaving two navy crew slightly injured and prompting the evacuation of the severely damaged military vessel.
(Thanks to Alain)
Ambush! The Navy’s New Hammerhead Mine is a Submarine Killer
Popular Mechanics – The U.S. Navy is developing a new sea mine to make the lives of enemy submarines in wartime a lot trickier. The new Hammerhead mine is designed to lie in wait on the seabed floor, listening for the telltale signs of enemy submarines. Once a foe passes over, Hammerhead unleashes a homing torpedo that hunts down and destroys the offending sub.
(Thanks to Alain)
This Is The Elite Unit That Raided The Tanker Threatened By Stowaways Off The UK Coast
War Zone – Whether on land or at sea, Britain’s secretive Special Boat Service has a history of getting the toughest jobs done.
United States Approves Possible FMS Of Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems To Taiwan
Naval News – The United States’ State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Taiwan of up to 100 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems and related equipment for an estimated cost of $2.37 billion. If confirmed, this procurement would significantly boost the Island’s defense against potential amphibious landings by Chinese forces.
The Royal Navy and U.S. Navy Are Embracing Interchangeability: Could It Backfire?
National Interest – James Holmes writes that commanders and their civilian masters on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean should think ahead about how to disentangle their forces in a hurry in case a diplomatic crisis looms. They should mix a trifle of skepticism into their enthusiasm for interchangeability and ask: what if?
Iranian Spy Ship Commands Strategic Position on Vital Oil Route
USNI News – Officially Saviz is a merchant ship, but it is most likely a covert Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forward base. Several open-source reports over the last several years and officials with Saudi Arabia have accused the ship of being operated by the IRGC.
Australia no longer sending Navy to the Middle East, shifts focus to Asia-Pacific, China
ABC – A three-decades-long Australian naval presence in the Middle East will come to an abrupt end this year as the Federal Government grapples with an increasingly uncertain strategic environment closer to home.
Pakistani Navy confirms Brazilian jetliner will replace Orion patrol aircraft
Defense News – Pakistan’s Navy has selected the Embraer Lineage 1000 jetliner to replace its P-3C Orion long-range maritime patrol aircraft.
Force Structure Perspectives: Captain Trip Barber (ret). On Building a New Fleet
CIMSEC – In this conversation, Capt. Barber discusses the Navy’s longstanding resistance to new ship types, whether Battle Force 2045 can be afforded, and how to begin building this new fleet.
Tanker stowaways: ‘Hijacking’ ends after special forces storm ship
BBC – Sixteen members of the Special Boat Service (SBS) ended a 10-hour standoff which started when stowaways on board the Liberian-registered Nave Andromeda reportedly became violent.
PLA Navy’s anti-sub plane a star in Straits
China Daily – An anti-submarine aircraft operated by the PLA Navy has received a lot of publicity recently after a series of patrols along the Taiwan Straits.
Mine Warfare Needs a New Concept of Operations
USNI News – Automated unmanned systems technology is advanced enough to allow the Navy to design a new mine-warfare concept of operations.
Japanese F-35As Train With USS America As Tokyo Looks Toward Its Aircraft Carrier Future
War Zone – Land-based Japanese F-35As trained alongside the U.S. Navy’s first-in-class amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) in the western Pacific during “advanced combined operations” earlier this week. The integrated air defense training involving Japanese and American forces comes as Japan works toward its own future carrier capability using the Joint Strike Fighter.
The Case for Big Aircraft Carriers
USNI Blog – Peer nations do not subscribe to the anti-CVN movement. The United Kingdom, China, and India have embraced aircraft carriers as a national priority despite advances in antiship missiles or price tags. China even has plans to develop four to six aircraft carriers by the 2030s with future variants approaching the size of Ford-class carriers with modern catapults, arresting gear, and nuclear propulsion.
As US Military Moves Into Palau, China Watches Intently
Breaking Defense – The United States is stepping up its military presence and activity in and around the small island nation of Palau in the Philippine Sea, a strategic location coveted by Pentagon planners as the US looks to expand its footprint in the region.
China Maritime Report No. 9: Organizing to Fight in the Far Seas, The Chinese Navy in an Era of Military Reform
China Maritime Studies Institute – The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has been laying the organizational groundwork for far seas operations for nearly two decades, developing logistical and command infrastructure to support a “near seas defense and far seas protection” strategy. In the context of such a strategy, the PLAN’s ability to project power into the far seas depends upon its ability to dominate the near seas, effectively constituting a “sword and shield” approach. Along with the rest of the PLA, the PLAN’s peacetime command structure has been brought into line with its wartime command structures, and in terms of near seas defense, those command structures have been streamlined and made joint. By contrast, the command arrangements for far seas operations have not been clearly delineated and no one organ or set of organs has been identified as responsible for them. While this is manageable in the context of China’s current, limited far seas operational presence, any meaningful increase in the size, scope, frequency, and intensity of far seas operations will require further structural reforms at the Central Military Commission and theater command levels in order to lay out clear command responsibilities.
SECNAV Braithwaite Visits Palau as U.S. Courts More Partners in the Western Pacific
USNI News – Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite visited Palau during a weeklong swing through the Pacific, making him the second high-ranking Defense Department official to visit to the small island nation in the last two months as the Second Island Chain is being eyed to play an even larger role in military plans and operations going forward.
Path to Install Hypersonic Weapons on Arleigh Burke Destroyers Unclear
USNI News – In order to accommodate the equivalent of an intermediate-range ballistic missile aboard the Navy’s current crop of destroyers, the service would need to undertake complex modifications to both the Zumwalt and Arleigh Burke classes of ships to install along-range hypersonic strike weapon on DDGs, as the national security advisor called for this week.
Battle Force 2045 could work — if defense leaders show some discipline
Defense News – Although some dismiss Esper’s Battle Force 2045 concept as a political ploy shortly before an election, it could lead to a more effective and affordable future fleet — as long as Navy and Department of Defense leaders can avoid loading it down with expensive options.
South Korea’s first training ship enters naval service
Defense News – South Korea’s Navy has received its first training ship, built with a reduced radar signature
The ‘Caspian Sea Monster’ rises from the grave
CNN – Beached on the western shores of the Caspian Sea, it looks like a colossal aquatic beast — a bizarre creation more at home in the deep than above the waves. It certainly doesn’t look like something that could ever fly. But fly it did — albeit a long time ago.
Italy’s Navy-Air Force tussle over the F-35 comes to a head
Defense News – A long-running tussle between Italy’s Air Force and Navy over the F35-B jet is coming to a head as deadlines approach for deciding who gets the next aircraft to roll off the production line and where it will be based.
Chinese military beefs up coastal forces as it prepares for possible invasion of Taiwan
South China Morning Post – Beijing is stepping up the militarisation of its southeast coast as it prepares for a possible invasion of Taiwan, military observers and sources have said.
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