– National Interest – They’re cheap, defensible, and punch above their weight in the right setting—what’s not to love?
“Adaptable Deck Launchers”:The Best Counter to China’s Missile Strategy?
– National Interest – Over at The Drive, the redoubtable Tyler Rogoway relates the feel-good story of the summer, an instant classic: the defense firm BAE Systems says it has developed an “adaptable deck launcher” (ADL) that can be bolted onto any ship of war with deck space to spare. Weaponeers can load up the four-cell launcher with the same missile canisters used in the Mk 41 vertical launch system (VLS), the standard launcher installed aboard U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers and ships from a handful of allied navies. BAE’s add-on deck launcher is a mundane piece of kit with strategic promise.
What Does China Want with the Arctic?
– National Interest – Hint: It isn’t just about defense and oil.
U.K. Crafting New Command and Control Regime as Royal Navy Grows
– USNI News – The Royal Navy’s metamorphosis from a provider of lone warships to the world’s maritime hotspots into a service deploying carrier strike and amphibious task groups will be accompanied by an equally transformation in command and control (C2).
How to Seize Islands, Set Up a Forward Refueling Point: Marine Corps Recipes for Expeditionary Operations
– USNI News – The U.S. Marine Corps has been refining a pair of related concepts, Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) and the overarching Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment, for the past couple years.
How Marine Security Cooperation Can Translate Into Sea Control
– War on the Rocks – The Commandant’s Planning Guidance has the potential to radically transform the Marine Corps into a naval expeditionary force that is prepared to operate inside actively-contested maritime spaces in support of fleet operations. Core to Gen. Berger’s vision is the insertion of forces inside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone to provide sea denial and sea control by countering anti-access/area denial systems. Strangely absent from this new guidance, however, is a critical aspect of the Marine Corps ― security cooperation and foreign security force advising.
China Is Building Better ICBMs (And Hospital Ships)
– National Interest – Beijing’s military is improving but so are its contributions to global problems like fighting Ebola or piracy.
Navy Training Squadron Receives First E-2D Hawkeye With New Aerial Refueling Capability
– War Zone – The unit will now begin training aircrews to make use of the plane’s new capabilities ahead of plans to begin converting operational units next year.
Taiwan Wants Updated Submarine Force
– USNI News – A modern submarine force to deter China’s ambitions to take over Taiwan tops the island’s unmet defense needs.
Escorts Deploy Without USS Harry S. Truman as East Coast Carrier Shortage Persists
– USNI News – Surface escorts from the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group left their homeports today to kick off an overseas deployment…Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) did not.
The US Navy says it’s doing its best to avoid a ‘Terminator’ scenario in quest for autonomous weapons
– Defense News – The U.S. Navy will try to prevent Skynet — the fictional intelligence computer network that attempts to destroy humanity in the “Terminator” series — from becoming a reality as it continues efforts to field evermore capable robots.
Britain goes with Danish design for new Type 31 frigates
– Defense News – Britain has chosen a Danish design to equip the Royal Navy with a new fleet of general-purpose frigates in a deal with Babcock International.
PLA conducts joint land assault exercises near Taiwan
– Global Times – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently conducted a joint land assault exercise featuring multiple military branches near the island of Taiwan, which military experts said on Sunday shows the Chinese military is ready to unleash its full potential against Taiwan secessionist forces and intends to send a stern warning to countries that intervene in China’s internal affairs.
China to build warship for Thailand
– Global Times – China and Thailand have signed a deal that will see a Chinese shipbuilding company build a Type 071E landing platform dock (LPD) warship for the Thai navy, a move which shows deepened arms trade cooperation between the two countries.
Navy sends its most capable combat ship on escort mission
– China Daily – The Chinese Navy has decided to dispatch a Type 052D to take part in its latest escort mission. The CNS Xining, the fifth in the Type 052D class, is sailing toward the Gulf of Aden.
Royal Marines Embrace Littoral Strike and Prepare to Forward Deploy
– USNI News – The retirement last year of the Royal Navy’s biggest assault ship – the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean – was accompanied by dire warnings in the British press of the imminent demise of the country’s entire amphibious warfighting capability. On Wednesday, the head of the Royal Marines, flanked by two senior colleagues and a navy commodore, overturned the forecasts by outlining bold new plans to return the United Kingdom’s sea soldiers to their maritime roots.
New Carriers Sparking Royal Navy Renaissance
– USNI News – The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters are spearheading a revival of British sea power unparalleled since the end of the Second World War.
On the Decline of European Naval Power: A Conversation With Jeremy Stohs, Part 2
– CIMSEC – More from Jeremy Stohs.
Olenya Guba
– Covert Shores – Fresh satellite imagery recently made available on Google Earth confirms that Russian Navy’s Beluga Whale pens have been moved to a stable position near the entrance of the Olenya Guba (Оленья Губа) secret submarine base near the Kola Peninsula. These pens were most likely involved in the whale which turned up in Norway in May. Additionally they confirm that the special mission host submarine BS-64 Podmoskovye returned to its home base of Olenya Guba very shortly after the Losharik submarine accident on July 1st.
(Thanks to Alain)
US Navy makes a major breakthrough in autonomous weaponry
– Defense News – The U.S. Navy has achieved a major milestone in its efforts to autonomously combat one of the most persistent threats it faces.
USS Bataan, 26 MEU Join Coast Guard for Aid Mission in the Bahamas a Week After Dorian
– USNI News – Over the weekend, amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) joined the international effort delivering supplies, transporting U.S. relief personnel and providing medical evacuations from the Bahamas a week after Hurricane Dorian slammed into the island nation.
Navy Claims a Strong Technical Foundation Ahead of Testing New Classes of Unmanned Ships
– USNI News – The Navy has a more straightforward path to developing and fielding unmanned surface vessels than many critics realize, according to the admiral in charge of building them.
A Navy Astray: Remembering How the Fleet Forgot to Fight
– CIMSEC – The following is adapted from remarks delivered at the annual CIMSEC Forum for Authors and Readers, covering the “How the Fleet Forgot to Fight” article series.
Watch Japan’s Giant US-2 Amphibious Flying Boat Land In An Amazingly Short Distance
– War Zone – The US-2 may look like one of the flying boats of yesteryear, but it is actually a very modern aircraft with some remarkable features.
Are Navies Dying?
– National Interest – Those pesky carrier-killer missiles, new detection methods that can ‘unsteatlh submarines’ and other threats loom large. Is the age of warships, submarines and aircraft carriers over?
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