– BBC – On 7 May, customs officers in Ostend, Belgium, received a box of oysters from the UK. It was the world’s first unmanned commercial shipping operation.
Strategy on Top of the World Part 2: Regional Arctic Perspectives
– CIMSEC – The High North will almost certainly be a zone of competition. If Russia can take a hegemonic role there, it will lean on its military presence and the relative lack of international rules and norms for it to control the region. The Chinese are not far behind. American absence from the Arctic has weakened its stance with respect to great power competition and serves to upend the Navy’s stated mission of freedom of navigation.
From Russian Presence to Sailboat Traffic, U.S. Learning What’s ‘Normal’ Far From Home
– USNI News – The U.S. military invests significant time and effort into conducting training exercises and patrols overseas – and while it does provide opportunities for sailors to have port calls in interesting places and build interoperability with allies and partners, it also helps build upon U.S. knowledge of what “normal” is in waterways around the world.
France launches first Barracuda-class nuclear attack sub
– Defense News – French shipbuilder Naval Group on Friday launched the Suffren nuclear-powered attack submarine here under the gaze of President Emmanuel Macron.
Iran tanker row: UK to send second warship to the Gulf
– BBC – The UK has brought forward plans to send a second warship to the Gulf amid rising tensions with Iran.
You Can Buy One Of The Army’s Most Capable Ships As The Service Guts Its Naval Fleets
– War Zone – The decision to sell two of these Logistics Support Vessels, along with dozens of landing craft and tugs, might be one the Army comes to regret.
Mauritius Scores a Pyrrhic Victory in the Indian Ocean
– War on the Rocks – In zealously pursuing an anti-colonial agenda, Mauritius and India may unintentionally hand the keys to the Indian Ocean to China, accelerating India’s southern containment and Mauritius’ neo-colonization as a Chinese vassal.
Hey, shipmate, where’s the fire?
– Defense News – That old expression crossed my mind this week when I saw the carrier Truman was making its third deployment in four years. The Navy says doing this is about “stretching the limits of the Navy’s Optimized Fleet Response Plan,” according to a Navy Times report. But why? Where’s the fire?
Strategy on Top of the World Part 1: The Outlook for Arctic Competition
– CIMSEC – The Arctic, with great potential for development and cooperation, is also a theater of growing tension. For this reason, the U.S. must give much greater priority to the Arctic.
Senior Navy: We need the submarines
– Channel 7 – The significance of the State of Israel without a dolphin, a whale and a resurrection is disastrous, warns Brig. Gen. Yossi Ashkenazi, head of the Israeli navy’s naval equipment fleet.
(Thanks to Alain)
Iranian boats ‘tried to intercept British tanker’
– BBC – Iranian boats tried to impede a British oil tanker near the Gulf – before being driven off by a Royal Navy ship.
The One-Eyed Man is King
– USNI Blog – America’s Navy, You live in the land of the blind, comforted in the darkness by your weaponry, your history, and your hubris. You believe you understand the threat and that all your competitors in this new Great Power contest are enveloped in the same blinding fog of future war. But we are not equal: you are at a disadvantage in this game—you are beholden to a past age and must predict and anticipate changes as they proliferate and develop across a world system toeing the edge of collapse, as we rise on its demise.
Royal Navy Frigate Escorts U.K. Tanker Out Of The Persian Gulf After Iranian Threats
– War Zone – Last week, Iran said it could seize a British ship in retaliation for U.K. authorities seizing an Iranian tanker in the Mediterranean Sea.
Navy Declares Unmanned MQ-8C Fire Scout Helicopter Mission Capable
– USNI News – The Navy declared its MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter mission capable and ready to deploy aboard Littoral Combat Ships.
Naval Deployments, Exercises, and the Geometry of Strategic Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific
– CIMSEC – From March to June 2019 naval diplomacy and an underlying strategic geometry was on show as India, Australia, France, and Japan deployed across and around the Indo-Pacific. All of them were involved in operating with each other, with the U.S., and with other actors in the region like Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The US Navy’s Riverines are up-gunned, high tech and ready to lean into great power competition
– Defense News – The Mark VI patrol boat bristles with heavy automatic weapons, and that’s the way its crews like it.
Naval Intelligence, the CIA, and the Soviet-Russian Threat: The Cold War and Beyond
– USNI Blog – As the United States and its Navy orient to the current Russian threat, there are lessons to be learned from Cold War history. The original Cold Warriors succeeded in avoiding a direct, large-scale military clash between the United States and Soviet Union. In such a “cold” conflict, intelligence counts as much as firepower. With a growing body of previously classified material now available, researchers and intelligence professionals have increased insight into what worked well—and what did not—in the U.S. intelligence community’s efforts to understand the Soviet Navy. These lessons remain relevant.
China Likely Tested Missiles That Can Kill Aircraft Carriers in the South China Sea
– National Interest – What does that mean for Asia? America’s allies? How can Washington push back?
Think Cold Thoughts: The Drift
– Defense News – I figured we’d think cold thoughts and dedicate this edition of The Drift to a little Arctic chat. The Senate Armed Services Committee is having the military look at what it would take to build a port up there and so I figured I’d call Bryan Clark, retired submarine officer and naval analyst extraordinaire at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and ask him what he thought.
The Rust Dialogues Part III
– Defense News – This is the third and final installment of The Rust Dialogues, a series discussing the material condition of today’s fleet. The Drift is honored to welcome esteemed Naval Warfare correspondent Chris Cavas to close it out.
What Was That Secret Russian Sub Doing Before It Caught Fire?
– Daily Beast – Fourteen people, including “an extraordinary crew of top elite captains,” were killed on board Losharik, which may be able to dive as deep as 20,000 feet.
Kremlin Releases New Details on Russian Submarine Fire, Identifies Sailors Killed
– USNI News – The head of the Russian military released a handful of additional details about the fire aboard a specialized submarine that killed 14 submariners in the Barents Sea on Monday.
Damaged Russian Sub Linked to Underwater Drone Program
– Washington Free Beacon – A fire aboard a secret Russian nuclear research vessel that killed 14 Russians may have been involved in secret operations by Moscow to support underwater drone operations.
Navy Completed Hellfire Tests on Littoral Combat Ship, Will Likely Deploy Later This Year
– USNI News – The Navy has finished the structural testing needed to confirm that the Hellfire anti-surface missile can safely operate on the Littoral Combat Ship, and the missile will go out on a ship deployment later this year.
Maritime Order and America’s Indo-Pacific Strategy
– CIMSEC – Freedom of seas has been and remains essential for all Americans. However, maritime order is increasingly at risk and from both traditional and nontraditional threats. A critical question is whether we can sustain freedom of the seas into the future.
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