– San Diego Union Tribune – A look at what current US Marine F-35 pilots think of their new aircraft.
A Thousand Splendid Guns
– US Naval War College Review – In Out of the Mountains, David Kilcullen provides a framework for his “theory of competitive control.” His work focuses on irregular warfare, and in general he addresses nonstate armed groups as one increment along a spectrum of actors competing to control a population. He theorizes that the competitor who can impose predictable norms through persuasive, administrative, and coercive means will succeed. The members of the target audience, for their part, need consistency, and will adhere to this normative system regardless of whether they inherently agree with it or with the competitor’s values.1 What do we learn when we apply Kilcullen’s core principles to China and its conduct in the wider western Pacific as a state-level competitor?
Major Russian naval deployment to intensify Aleppo assault
– Reuters – Russian warships off the coast of Norway are carrying fighter bombers that are likely to reinforce a final assault on the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo in two weeks, a senior NATO diplomat said on Wednesday, citing Western intelligence.
Countering Chinese Expansion Through Mass Enlightenment
– CIMSEC – From Newport to New Delhi, a tremendous effort is currently underway to document and analyze China’s pursuit of maritime power. Led by experts in think tanks and academia, this enterprise has produced a rich body of scholarship in a very short period of time. However, even at its very best, this research is incomplete—for it rests on a gross ignorance of Chinese activities at sea.
Pakistan Navy Submarine Force to Equal the Indian Navy’s in Numbers with Purchase of 8 Chinese Subs
– Yibada – Pakistan has finalized a deal to acquire eight Chinese-made S20 diesel-electric submarines for the Pakistan Navy, making this class of submarine the most numerous in the navy’s Submarine Service Force (SSF) and giving the SSF numerical parity with its opposite number in India.
German Navy to receive five additional K130 corvettes
– Janes – Germany will buy an additional five K130 type corvettes in 2017 to offset delays to the MKS 180 Multi-Role Combat Ships (MRCSs) program.
U.S. military wraps up Haiti relief mission after huge airlift effort
– Navy Times – The head of U.S. Southern Command said Saturday that he expects the U.S. military’s role in the aid mission to Haiti to wrap up in the next four days after delivering hundreds of thousands of pounds of rice and medical supplies.
What the U.S. should learn from Britain’s dying navy
– Reuters – Britain used to boast the most powerful navy in the world. No more. That’s a serious problem for allies like the United States.
Turkey’s Thirty Year Coup
– New Yorker – Did an exiled cleric try to overthrow Erdoğan’s government?
Navy, Marine Corps Considering Adding Vertical Launch System to San Antonio Amphibs
– USNI News – The Navy and the Marine Corps are studying installing a vertical launch system in its San Antonio class of amphibious warships that would allow the ships to field larger offensive missiles.
US, UK Do ‘Groundbreaking’ Drone Exercise Off Scotland
– Breaking Defense – The multinational Unmanned Warrior exercise off the coast of Scotland is doing “really groundbreaking” work on naval drones, said one participating US scientist. There’ve been “a number of world firsts” in networking unmanned vehicles of different types and from different nations into a single unit.
Entering the Bear’s Lair: Russia’s A2/AD Bubble in the Baltic Sea
– National Interest – With NATO’s eyes on the defense of its Baltic members and a growing view that Poland is NATO’s new center of gravity in the East, a Kaliningrad A2/AD zone projects advanced ground, naval, and air threats, creating significant security challenges.
U.S. Navy Expanding Maintenance Capability in Western Pacific
– USNI News – The U.S. Navy’s Commander of Logistics Group Western Pacific/Task Force 73 is in the process of expanding its maintenance and support capabilities.
New Army Long-Range Missile Might Kill Ships, Too: LRPF
– Breaking Defense – “Outranged and outgunned” by Russian and Chinese missiles, the US Army wants a new long-range artillery rocket of its own. The nascent Long-Range Precision Fires program could do much more than replace the 25-year-old ATACMS missile, however. LRPF could become a linchpin of what the Army is calling Multi-Domain Battle, extending ground-based artillery’s reach not only to unprecedented ranges — hitting distant targets once reserved for airstrikes — but out to sea.
Ford Carrier Problems Worse Than LCS: Navy Secretary Mabus
– Breaking Defense – The $13 billion supercarrier USS Ford and the $500 million Littoral Combat Ship are both suffering engine trouble. But Navy Secretary Ray Mabus took pains today to defend LCS even as he derided Ford as “a textbook example of how not to build a ship.”
One Last Chance to Save the Royal Navy’s Flagship
– War is Boring – The helicopter carrier HMS ‘Ocean’ will sail into the sunset unless Britain finds the money … and the sailors.
Yemen conflict: US strikes radar sites after missile attack on ship
– BBC – The US has hit radar sites in Yemen after one of its warships in the Red Sea came under missile attack for the second time in days.
USS Mason Fired 3 Missiles to Defend From Yemen Cruise Missiles Attack
– USNI News – The crew of a guided-missile destroyer fired three missiles to defend themselves and another ship after being attacked on Sunday in the Red Sea by two presumed cruise missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi-forces.
Mesa Verde, Navy P-8 Arrive in Haiti To Support Relief Effort; Iwo Jima To Arrive This Week
– USNI News – Amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19) is in Haiti today and amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) is en route to respond to the island nation that suffered infrastructure destruction from winds and flooding, a death toll of more than 1,000 and now a cholera outbreak after Hurricane Matthew made landfall last week.
Russia to set up Pacific Heavy Bomber Division to patrol seas near Japan, Hawaii, and Guam
– Janes – Russia’s Ministry of Defence announced on 6 October the formation of a new long-range Heavy Bomber Division (Tyazheloy Bombardirovochnoy Aviatsionnoy Divizii, or HBD/TBAD). Stationed in the Far East, the unit’s role is to patrol the Pacific Ocean and, in particular, sea areas near to Japan, Hawaii, and Guam.
Nuclear-powered subs ‘helpful’ in deterring North Korea threat, Seoul says
– UPI – North Korea’s missile threats are prompting more South Korean officials to consider the deployment of nuclear-powered submarines.
US Carrier Delays Continue — And Another ‘Gap’ Could Affect The New Administration
– Defense News – It’s almost a given that when a new administration takes over in Washington, international opponents find ways to test the will of the new leadership. Russia and China, Iran and North Korea, ISIS and Al Qaeda can all be expected to take actions that will put pressure on the new president to show what he or she is made of. And when the issues arise next year, a new set of leaders are likely to ask the proverbial question, “Where are the carriers?” The answer, at least in the first weeks of the next administration, may not be what people want to hear.
Destroyer USS Mason Unsuccessfully Attacked From Yemen
– USNI News – The guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87) was unsuccessfully attacked with two missiles fired from Yemen on Sunday.
Russia Lays Down 3 New Nuclear Submarines
– The Diplomat – Russia has begun construction of three new subs including its latest ballistic missile nuclear submarine.
Philippines Tells US No Joint Patrols in South China Sea
– ABC – The Philippine defense chief said Friday he told the U.S. military that plans for joint patrols and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea have been put on hold, the first concrete break in defense cooperation after months of increasingly strident comments by the country’s new president.
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