– CIMSEC – Since 2010, the concept of ‘Indo-Pacific’ has gained increasing prevalence in the geopolitical and strategic discourse, and is now being used increasingly by policy-makers, analysts and academics in Asia and beyond.
Singapore Navy takes ‘quantum jump’ in adding 2 more ships to service
– Defense News – Singapore has commissioned the second and third locally built littoral mission vessels into its Navy, as the lead ship of the class deploys overseas for the first time.
Balancing China: How the United States and its Partners Can Check Chinese Naval Expansion
– War on the Rocks – How should the U.S. military respond to China’s A2/AD capabilities? A new strategy proposes the United States would abandon efforts to command maritime East Asia outright and, instead, focus on helping the countries around the East and South China Seas deny China sea and air control in the region.
Marines Seek Anti-Ship HIMARS: High Cost, Hard Mission
– Breaking Defense – For the time since December 1941, when Wake Island’s shore gunners sank the invading destroyer Hayate, Marine Corps artillery wants to kill ships. That could be a big boost for the Navy, which confronts ever more powerful Russian and Chinese fleets.
Security Breach and Spilled Secrets Have Shaken the N.S.A. to Its Core
– New York Times – A serial leak of the agency’s cyberweapons has damaged
morale, slowed intelligence operations and resulted in
hacking attacks on businesses and civilians worldwide.
HMS Vigilant: Nine sailors fired after failing drugs tests
– BBC – Nine sailors from a nuclear missile submarine have been dismissed from the Royal Navy after failing drug tests, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Don’t reactivate the old frigates, internal US Navy memo recommends
– Defense News – A move gaining traction in the upper echelons of the Navy to bring back mothballed Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates would cost billions, cut into modernization accounts for other ships and add little to the Navy’s capabilities.
Why the Navy Needs a Fighting Connector: Distributed Maritime Operations and the Modern Littoral Environment
– War on the Rocks – Maritime operations, especially in coastal regions, will thus be contested and dangerous, compelling American forces to operate in an increasingly dispersed fashion. The modern operating environment raises the question of whether the Navy and the Marine Corps are properly equipped to protect and project force.
China claims breakthrough in electromagnetic launch system for aircraft carrier
– Defense News – China has reportedly achieved a breakthrough on a conventional propulsion system for its next carrier, which would allow it to operate advanced catapults for launching aircraft without necessitating the use of nuclear propulsion.
Three carrier strike groups to unite for west Pacific exercise
– Defense News – For the first time in a decade, three Navy carrier strike groups will conduct a joint exercise in the western Pacific as President Donald Trump wraps up a multi-country Asia visit this week.
Only one-third of Super Hornets ready to ‘fight tonight’ as of October
– Defense News – Just a third of the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornets were fully mission-capable and ready to “fight tonight” as of October, the head of Naval Air Forces told Congress on Friday.
The Sneaky Way China Could Win a Naval War Against America
– National Interest – Admirals say the darnedest things. Over at the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, retired U.S. Pacific Command Intelligence Chief Capt. Jim Fanell takes PACOM kahunas, past and present, to task for disparaging China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Respect for prospective foes, proclaims Captain Fanell, constitutes the most prudent attitude. Such counsel is evergreen.
India and Japan – A Yen For a Closer Maritime Engagement
– CIMSEC – As India expands her footprint across the Indo-Pacific and examines the overtures of Japan and the USA to seek closer geopolitical coordination with both, it is vital to ensure that our country and our navy are not dragged by ignorance, misinformation or disinformation, into the law of unintended consequences.
The US Coast Guard in the South China Sea: Strategy or Folly?
– CIMSEC – Recently there has been discussions at the highest level of the U.S. military concerning the deployment of U.S. Coast Guard assets to the South China sea and integrating them into the freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) conducted by the U.S. Navy relating to the manmade atolls constructed by the Chinese and subsequently claimed as Chinese sovereign territory.
Submarine Maintenance Backlog Threatens Crisis Response
– Breaking Defense – The good news? The US submarine fleet is meeting day-to-day demands around the world, without having to do the extra-long deployments that have ground down surface ships and sailors. The bad news? A massive maintenance backlog that could idle 15 submarines for months – costing an estimated seven to 15 years of time at sea – means fewer subs would be ready to reinforce forward-deployed forces in a crisis.
The North Korean Threat to China
– Traditional Right – William Lind writes that “If we instead stand back a bit and look at the strategic picture, we quickly see that the North Korean threat to China is far greater than its threat to us.”
A War Plan Orange For Climate Change
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Planning for the long-term implications of climate change today is as important as planning for a major Pacific conflict was in the last century. To address climate change, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Pacific Command (PaCom) in particular need a 21st-century War Plan Orange.
More details of PLA’s ace Type 055 destroyer unveiled
– Asia Times – China has accelerated the deployment of its ace guided-missile destroyers, known as Type 055, as four of the latest-generation warships, capable of attacking targets onshore, offshore and underwater, are being built at the nation’s two largest shipyards in Shanghai and Dalian.
Navy Conducts Flight Test to Support Conventional Prompt Strike From Ohio-Class SSGNs
– USNI News – The Navy Strategic Systems Program and the Department of Defense this week tested a conventional prompt strike capability that could one day be fielded from guided-missile submarines.
Frigate RFP Pioneers New Shipbuilding Approach
– Breaking Defense – When the Navy publishes its Request For Proposals to design a new frigate, probably today, there should be no surprises for industry. That’s by, well, design. In stark contrast to the predecessor program, the Littoral Combat Ship, where the Navy changed key specs midway through construction at great expense, the frigate is a test case for a new approach to building ships that seeks to squeeze out uncertainty early.
Is the U.S. Navy Weak? The Chinese Seem to Think So
– National Interest – It will surprise no one to learn that Chinese military commentators, who watch U.S. Navy operations with utmost attention, have formed some preliminary conclusions regarding the meaning of the recent US Navy accidents for the larger geopolitical struggle in the Asia-Pacific.
Collisions Study Shows Navy Needs Better Training, More Ships: CNO
– Breaking Defense – Lookouts were looking in the wrong direction on the USS Fitzgerald. The bridge crew – including the commander – didn’t know how the helm worked on the USS McCain. The collisions that killed 17 sailors this summer were “preventable” lapses in basic seamanship, the Chief of Naval Operations admitted today, as he ordered a host of measures to prevent a repeat.
Navy finds deep-rooted failures led to fatal collisions
– Defense News – In one of the most remarkable U.S. Navy documents in recent memory, the service is admitting to widespread failures and training shortfalls at the core of its most basic function: safely operating ships at sea.
War Studies Primer
– Visit the War Studies Primer for an introductory course on the study of war.
Look at slides 2 and 3 in the War Studies Primer for its Table of Contents, and then choose a lecture to read and enjoy.
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