– Janes – The United Kingdom will withdraw the GWS60/Harpoon Block 1C anti-ship missile from Royal Navy (RN) service at the end of 2018 without replacement.
Russia ships ‘chase away’ Dutch submarine in Mediterranean
– BBC – Russia’s defence ministry has said two of its navy destroyers have forced away a Dutch submarine to stop it spying on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.
MAWTS-1 Advancing F-35B, Marine Aviation Operations For Future Fight
– USNI News – In a glimpse of what the future of Marine Corps aviation could bring, this fall F-35B Joint Strike Fighters were operating at long ranges with the MV-22 Osprey, passing information to other aircraft and to ground forces with tablets. Unmanned aerial vehicles provided intelligence, and precision rockets hit targets in dense urban areas. At Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron-One (MAWTS-1) and its semi-annual Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course, top aviators from around the fleet not only trained to high-end warfighting scenarios but also help advance tactics to keep up with real-world developments and conduct experiments with emerging technologies that could give Marines in the air and on the ground an edge on the battlefield.
Navy Planning on Not Buying More LRLAP Rounds for Zumwalt Class
– USNI News – The Navy isn’t planning on buying the rocket assisted guided round designed for a key system in the Zumwalt-class of guided missile destroyer.
Marines Refining F-35B Operations, Maintenance At Sea During Final Developmental Test
– USNI News – After years of testing to make sure the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and its subsystems work as designed, the Marine Corps has a contingent of pilots and maintainers aboard USS America (LHA-6) now to ensure the new plane can operate from the amphibious ship, in a final test period ahead of next year’s first deployment.
US Navy Upgrading Undersea Sub-Detecting Sensor Network
– The Diplomat – New contract augments old Cold War “SOSUS” arrays.
Expeditionary Excellence: Not Passe
– Proceedings of the US Naval Institute – Amphibious assault remains critical to mastering the chaos of the contested zones.
White Hulls Must Prepare for Gray Zone Challenges
– Proceedings of the US Naval Institute – The Coast Guard is well suited for employment in gray zone environments, where interactions fall between the traditional war and peace duality. But the 2015 capture of U.S. Navy riverine crews by the Iranians should prompt an examination of predeployment training.
Russian Blue-Water Navy is a Pipe Dream
– Proceedings of the US Naval Institute – The aspiration to be a first-rate maritime power is beyond Russia’s maritime potential and industrial capacity, and Russia’s ambitions in the world’s oceans are out of reach.
Russia sending three submarines to Syria in preparation for major Aleppo assault
– Independent – Three Russian submarines armed with cruise missiles have reportedly joined a naval battleforce heading towards Syria. The Royal Navy and Nato have been tracking the two Akula-class submarines and a diesel-powered Kilo-class sub as they travelled to join the fleet of Russian ships headed by the Soviet-era aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
US, Israel, and Seapower in the East Med
– CIMSEC – Disengagement is always tempting for great powers. The “Weary Titans” of international politics have an ear for their politicians’ rhetoric of exhaustion and weariness. This encourages isolationism, the cutting of “entanglements,” and the desire to define “national interest” as purely homeland defense. But laying down our burdens rarely works. Enemies’ animosity and ambition is spurred, not deflected if states that benefit from the international order look the other way.
Carter Unveils Army’s New Ship-Killer Missile: ATACMS Upgrade
– Breaking Defense – The Army’s long-range artillery rocket, ATACMS, will get upgraded to strike moving targets on land and at sea, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced today. After at least two years of pressure from Congress and vague promises from Pentagon leaders, and for the first time since the Coastal Artillery Corps was disbanded 66 years ago, the Army is officially back in the business of killing ships. That gives the largest service a big new role in countering Russian aggression in the Baltic and Black Seas or defending allies like the Philippines against China.
Naval Strategy Returns to Lead the POM
– CIMSEC – Newly appointed U.S. Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. gave a signature speech at the Naval War College in Newport, RI in 1981. In his remarks Lehman hailed, “the return of naval strategy” to the forefront of the Navy’s planning.1 Such a message was again issued last week by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson. While the CNO’s 18 October naval message (R 182128Z OCT 16) did not have Secretary Lehman’s dramatic turn of phrases, it is no less important and in fact is the most significant change in the role of U.S. naval strategic thinking since late 1991. The CNO’s message implements a major change in the planning and execution of the annual Navy budget statement known as the Program Objective Memorandum (POM.) For the first time since July 1991, the Navy Staff (OPNAV) Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3/N5) office will have the first input to the Navy POM building process. While this may not seem significant at first glance, it is a major course correction in Navy thinking. It could signal a return to the halcyon days of the 1980s when the Navy’s Maritime Strategy served as the service’s global blueprint for operational naval war against the Soviet Union, informing Navy programs, budgets, exercises, war games, education, training, and real world operations.
Russian Carrier Deployment to Syria is Propaganda, not Practical
– USNI News – If there isn’t military purpose of the Russian fleet to be off Syria why are they going there?
Attacks Like Those on USS Mason Will Become More Common
– USNI News – The Navy should prepare for a future operating environment where anti-ship weapons propagate globally and attacks such as the recent ones against guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87) are more commonplace, one the service’s top budget officials said.
Bosphorus ship spotters set sights on Russian warships
– AFP – Several Russian warships pass in both directions through the Bosphorus every week, transporting cargo for Moscow’s military campaign in Syria, in a massive logistical effort known as the “Syrian Express”. Their passage through the densely-populated Turkish metropolis represents a unique chance to see close up a deployed Russian warship that would usually be kept well away from prying eyes. And each time they come, a group of amateur but well-informed and hugely dedicated Turkish ship spotters are there to photograph them and share their work on social media where their following has shot up.
White House Blocked Navy From S. China Sea Warship Passages
– Free Beacon – Senior White House officials blocked the Navy from conducting needed freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea amid growing concerns that China is militarizing newly reclaimed islands, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.
Russia beefs up Baltic Fleet amid NATO tensions
– Reuters – Russia is sharply upgrading the firepower of its Baltic Fleet by adding warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter NATO’s build-up in the region.
The Pentagon’s ‘Terminator Conundrum’: Robots That Could Kill on Their Own
– New York Times – The United States has put artificial intelligence at the center of its defense
strategy, with weapons that can identify targets and make decisions.
Russian warships: Spain says refuelling request withdrawn
– BBC – Russia has withdrawn a request for three warships to dock at the Spanish port of Ceuta for refuelling, following concern among Nato allies.
Spain urged not to allow refuelling of Russian warships
– BBC – Spain is coming under pressure from Nato allies not to allow the refuelling of Russian warships in the Kuznetsov carrier group bound for Syria.
USS Wasp to Japan Next Year in Support of Marine F-35B Squadron Next Year; USS Bonhomme Richard to San Diego
– USNI News – Next year the Navy will relocate big deck amphib USS Wasp (LHD-1) from Naval Station Norfolk, Va. to a new homeport in Sasebo, Japan as the USS Wasp has been recently modernized to accommodate the Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35B).
French Navy’s new frigate design unveiled
– Janes – The concept design for the new Frégate de Taille Intermédiaire (FTI) for the French Navy was unveiled by the French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on 18 October.
US troops to be stationed in Norway in break with tradition
– BBC – Norway has announced it is to allow more than 300 US Marines to be stationed on its soil for a trial period in 2017.
Distributed STOVL Operations and Air-Mobility Support
– US Naval War College Review – This article examines the logistical support requirements of distributed short-takeoff–vertical-landing (STOVL) operations (DSOs) by U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II fighters, and alternative solutions to fulfilling those requirements.
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