– USNI News – Two of the world’s most sophisticated warships collided with merchant ships this year in preventable incidents that killed 17 American sailors. While those inside and out of the Navy are demanding answers to what caused the failures, the root causes are many and the fixes are far from easy.
Navy crews at fault in fatal collisions, investigations find
– Defense News – Two accidents that claimed the lives of 17 sailors and wounded dozens more resulted from complete breakdowns in standard Navy procedures and poor decision-making by officers and sailors on the bridge of the two warships.
15 Subs Kept Out of Service: 177 Months Of Drydock Backups
– Breaking Defense – A massive maintenance backlog has idled 15 nuclear-powered attack submarines for a total of 177 months, and the Navy’s plan to mitigate the problem is jeopardized by budget gridlock.
Delivery Of Russia’s Refit Nuclear Battlecruiser Delayed But Progress Looks Impressive
– War Zone – New video shows that the Cold War dinosaur of a ship has been largely gutted to make way for new combat systems and weaponry.
Navy, Marines Ponder Alternative Platforms’ Role as First ESB Now Operating in 5th Fleet
– USNI News – The Navy and Marine Corps are committed to using alternative platforms to move Marines around at sea, but there are still decisions yet to be made about how to maximize these ships’ effectiveness and minimize risk while operating independently or as part of a strike group.
Educating Naval Planners – A Conversation With The Maritime Advanced Warfighting School (MAWS)
– CIMSEC – A conversation covering the basics about MAWS, how MAWS students are impacting Fleet planning, and how future capabilities will affect operational planning.
Worries Surface On New Navy Mine Warfare Plan
– Breaking Defense – The Navy’s new plan to put mine-hunting gear on a wider range of warships could finally break mine warfare out of its ghetto — or it could keep mine-hunting the same redheaded stepchild but spread it across more decks.
Every Ship A Minesweeper? Navy Looks Beyond LCS
– Breaking Defense – There are maybe half a million sea mines in arsenals around the world. To find and clear them, rather than rely solely on a small fleet of small Littoral Combat Ships, the Navy now wants at least some mine-hunting gear on a vessels ranging from modified oil tankers to catamarans to aircraft carriers.
Xi has bolstered his power, but what will he do with it?
– New Straits Times – Niall Ferguson on the events in Beijing last week.
Russia Supposedly Bringing Back Giant Ekranoplans For Arctic Missions
– War Zone – Are Moscow’s Arctic ambitions going to result in a rebirth of the Soviet-era Caspian Sea Monster?
Delaying Chinese Global Dominance
– Global Guerrillas – What could be done to delay China’s One Belt One Road initiative? One solution is to mount a rearguard action — a method of delaying an advancing enemy when your forces are in retreat.
Trump’s armada: Navy assembles 3 carriers in Asia for the president’s visit
– Defense News – The Navy’s rare move to simultaneously assemble three aircraft carriers in the Pacific will create a major display of American sea power at a time when President Donald Trump is planning to visit the region for the first time next week.
The Quest For India’s Supercarrier
– CIMSEC – The Indian Navy’s plans to establish two carrier task forces affords it a limited window to finalize the design for its second indigenous aircraft carrier given the protracted schedule required to construct and operationalize a carrier battle group.
Amphibious Warfare Leaders Warn Against Buying Light Carriers Instead of Amphibs
– USNI News – The Navy’s director of amphibious warfare warned that pursuing a light aircraft carrier option in lieu of amphibious assault ships would limit the Marines’ options for responding to operational commanders’ needs, and instead urged faster shipbuilding and experimenting with new ship groupings to increase operational flexibility.
Marines Need Speed From Ship To Shore
– Breaking Defense – Small, fast missile boats clear a path through coastal waters for Marine landing forces. Robot jet skis, surfboards, and mini-subs scout out landing sites ahead of the human force. High-speed landing craft carry troops, their gear, and vehicles to the beach. Those are some of the ideas the Marines are experimenting with as they seek new ways to get ashore in the teeth of high-tech defenses.
The PLA Navy’s Plan for Dominance: Subs, Shipborne ASBMs, and Carrier Aviation
– CIMSEC – Potential modernization plans or ambitions of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) were revealed in unprecedented detail by a former PLAN Rear Admiral in a university lecture, perhaps within the last 2-3 years.
Mine Countermeasures Evolving Towards Mix-And-Match Capabilities, Personnel
– USNI News – The Navy is trending towards a mix-and-match set of people, platforms and sensors to detect and destroy mines, a departure from the simpler legacy mine countermeasures setup with a single helicopter type and a single wooden-hull ship class, set for replacement by the new Littoral Combat Ship and its neatly defined mission package.
Northrop pulls out of MQ-25 drone competition
– Defense News – Northrop Grumman will not put forward a bid for the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 unmanned tanker aircraft, its CEO announced Wednesday.
Trump’s 355-Ship Fleet Will Take Til 2050s
– Breaking Defense – The President, Congress and the Navy now all want the fleet to grow from the current 278 ships to 355, but that will probably take until the 2050s, the Navy’s No. 2 civilian said Wednesday.
Maintaining Maritime Security: Lessons From a Quasi-War
– CIMSEC – In the spring of 1798, the United States found itself in an undeclared naval war with France. Known as the Quasi-War, this eighteenth century “half-war” holds valuable lessons for maintaining maritime superiority in the twenty-first century.
Marines Fire HIMARS From Ship in Sea Control Experiment With Navy
– USNI News – The daytime launch of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System on Sunday might have seemed like another training mission if the Marines hadn’t fired it from an amphibious ship operating at sea.
The next frontier for defense drones may be the world’s oceans
– San Diego Union Tribune – The next frontier for unmanned military drones may not be solely in the skies. It could be under the seas.
Fiction Week Wraps Up on CIMSEC
– CIMSEC – In response to a Call for Articles, talented writers submitted fictional short stories that sought to envision the unique challenges of future conflict and the enduring relevance of the human element. Others sought to delve into individual emotional trials that accompany national security imperatives. Read on to see the stories featured.
Neither Congress nor the Pentagon have a path to a 355-ship Navy
– Defense News – The great Navy buildup promised by U.S. President Donald Trump during his campaign is so far all talk and no action, and with progress on Capitol Hill stalled on almost all fronts, the Defense Department seems more likely to eat another round of sequester cuts than cut steel for a bunch of extra ships.
Israel signs MoU for 3 German submarines amid shipyard investigation
– Defense News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that his government has signed a long-awaited memorandum of understanding with Germany to acquire three new Dolphin-class submarines with air-independent propulsion systems.
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