Cooperative Deployments: An Indispensable Tool For Preparing for the High-End Fight

CIMSEC – Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Gilday’s December 2019 Fragmentary Order (FRAGO), “Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority,” emphasizes the importance of building alliances and partnerships to enhance U.S. warfighting capability, with a particular focus on “full interoperability at the high end of naval warfare.”…The U.S. Navy’s Cooperative Deployment Program (CDP), a framework for integrating partner nation (PN) navy units into deploying U.S. Navy strike groups, offers a particularly valuable instrument for advancing this goal.

The first test of the Ukrainian Neptune missile with the homing head installed

BMPD – Ukrainian sources reported that on April 2, 2020, the Alibey State Testing Ground of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Odessa region tested the R-360 anti-ship missile of the developed Ukrainian anti-ship missile complex RK-360MTs Neptune with an active homing radar mounted on the rocket for the first time.

(Thanks to Alain)

Cooperative Maritime Law Enforcement and Overfishing in the South China Sea

CIMSEC – Fish are the primary source of animal protein for populations bordering the South China Sea and overfishing in the region has emerged as a major threat to food security. Over the past 30 years fish stocks have declined by one-third and are expected to decrease an additional 59 percent by 2045 if current practices persist.

The Chinese Spring Offensives of 2020

National Interest – Regaining every inch of ground once ruled by imperial China is central to the dream President Xi Jinping exhorts Chinese to embrace. Miss an opportunity and China’s dream might never come true. And where would that leave Chinese Communist rulers, who already face a sullen populace? Is now the time Beijing may decide to strike—thanks to COVID-19?

Inside US Indo-Pacific Command’s $20 billion wish list to deter China — and why Congress may approve it

Defense News – A $1.6 billion defensive ring around Guam. Millions in new military funding for partner nations. A billion dollars for increased stockpiles of long-range weapons. These are just some of the investments on a $20 billion wish list quietly submitted to Congress in recent weeks by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command head Adm. Phil Davidson. The wish list was specifically requested by members of Congress who are eyeing it as the basis for a new Pacific-focused pot of money to deter Chinese military action in the region.