– Reuters – Footage of a North Korean submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test released by Pyongyang two days after it announced it had conducted the country’s fourth nuclear test last week was faked, according to an analysis by a California-based think tank.
3rd Marine Division Experimenting With Using MSC Ships In Higher Level Operations
– USNI News – The 3rd Marine Division is exploring ways to not only put Marines infantry on non-traditional ships but to push those vessels into higher-level military operations.
Japan Eyes Bigger South China Sea Presence in 2016
– The Diplomat – Patrol aircraft set to make transits in key locations along the South China Sea.
Iran frees US sailors held in Gulf
– BBC – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have released 10 US sailors held for entering its territorial waters in the Gulf
Interview: Rear Adm. Pete Fanta
– Defense News – An interview with Rear Adm. Pete Fanta, Director of Surface Warfare, US Navy.
2015 World Naval Operational News Highlights
The ten most significant naval news stories / trends / themes this year included:
- The creation of Chinese “islands” as air and naval bases in the South China Sea. Will the rest of the world tolerate the presence of these new sand castles or will the Chinese be forced to let them wash away?
- The confusing US Navy Freedom of Navigation Exercises in the South China Sea. What exactly was the message the US was trying to send and why did it take so long?
- The modification of Japan’s constitution to allow more flexibility in the operation of its Self-Defense Forces. Will we now begin to see the Japanese regularly operating in the South China Sea?
- The growing arms race in the South China Sea to serve as a counterbalance to Chinese moves there. Can these countries be brought together in an operational alliance against China or is this an impossible geopolitical task?
- Increasingly aggressive operations by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf in terms of convoy escort and harassing merchant ships. Will the US Navy be able to continue to counter them given its ever decreasing fleet size and increasing operational commitments elsewhere?
- The continuation of the Russian Navy’s increased worldwide operational tempo highlighted by the Office of Naval Intelligence’s report. Can this be sustained over time or will the Russian Navy be pushed beyond its operational breaking point?
- The evidence of Russia’s continued concern over the US ballistic missile defense program – the positioning of Russian cruise missile-armed submarines on deterrent patrols off the US coast to conduct decapitation strikes against the US National Command Authority and the development of a new submarine with a nuclear-armed torpedo to destroy port cities. What other new tactics, techniques and procedures will result from this concern?
- The realization by the US Navy that it has shrunk so small it must arm all of its ships with over the horizon anti-ship missiles under the “Distributed Lethality” concept. Can the US Navy quickly acquire such weapons, or will this be another decades-long procurement morass?
- The US Marine Corps declaration of Initial Operating Capability for the F-35B fighter, marking the F-35’s finally coming of age. Or has it? When will the F-35 finally acquire enough software capability to allow it to be truly useful in combat?
- The US Navy’s continued reluctance to push ahead rapidly with acquiring and integrating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into its carrier air wings, thus depriving them of the long-range aircraft they would need in a conflict with China. How long with the US Navy keep its head in the sand in regards to the future of naval aviation?
Navy’s Rail Gun Still Headed to Sea, but on Which Ship?
– Defense News – One of the prime attributes of the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers is the design’s 78-megawatt integrated power system, able to switch electrical power between propulsion, sensor and weapon systems. It’s long been touted as the best platform to field new energy-gobbling weapons like rail guns and lasers. A year ago, however, it appeared the first ship that might carry a rail gun to sea might be a joint high speed vessel (JHSV) fitted with a temporary installation. Briefers at naval exhibitions spoke publicly of the plans, and at least one model of the proposed demonstration was on display. Plans for the at-sea demonstration remain in place, officials said, but it’s looking more likely that a test using an expeditionary fast transport (EPF) — the new designation for JHSVs — won’t take place at least until 2017, if at all.
Inside the Elite Mexican Marine Corps That Recaptured ‘El Chapo’
– Time – The recapture of Guzman is the latest and most important in a series of major busts and takedowns by the Mexican marines who, trained by the U.S. military and working closely with American agents, have become an elite force in the nation’s drug war.
South China Sea dispute: Vietnamese subs deployed as deterrent to China
– Sydney Morning Herald – The first of Vietnam’s new advanced Kilo-class submarines have begun patrolling disputed waters of the South China Sea, as deterrents to China’s 10 times-bigger navy, Vietnamese officials and diplomatic sources say.
China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress
– Congressional Research Service – The latest version of this document, published in December 2015.
Navy Aims to Install Over-the-Horizon Missile on Littoral Combat Ship by End of 2016
– USNI News – The Navy hopes to have an over-the-horizon missile on a Littoral Combat Ship by the end of the year.
Russian A2/AD in the Eastern Mediterranean: A Growing Risk
– US Naval War College Review – Much has been written about the challenges posed by the Chinese adoption of what the US military calls “A2/AD” (antiaccess/area-denial) in the western Pacific. Accordingly, the Pacific remains a key focus area for the US Navy and Air Force, and more recently the Army, with the Navy promising to put 60 percent of its forces in that theater as part of the “Pacific pivot.” Yet as focus remains on the Pacific, the rest of the world is not standing still. This is exemplified in the eastern Mediterranean, where the Russians have begun laying the seeds to create an A2/AD zone in the region against the United States and its allies. If fully realized, an A2/AD envelope would put Western access to the Suez Canal, the Black Sea, and the resource-rich eastern Mediterranean at the mercy of an increasingly aggressive Russian regime.
North Korea Conducts Successful Submarine Missile Test
– Washington Free Beacon – North Korea’s military carried out a successful ejection test of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile recently, an indication that an earlier test failure has not derailed the underwater missile program.
SECDEF Carter Clarifies South China Sea Freedom of Navigation Operation in Letter to McCain
– USNI News – After two months, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter provided a clear explanation of an U.S. Oct. 27 South China Sea freedom of navigation operation (FON op) that both enraged China and left domestic maritime observers with lingering questions on American intentions.
PRC warships monitor undesea cables
– Flash//Critic – Chinese maritime security forces disclosed last month that one of its missions is to provide protection for undersea communications cables.
Iran conducts ‘provocative’ live rocket tests near US ships
– BBC – Iran’s navy conducted rocket tests last week near US warships and other commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Officials Confirm Construction of First Domestic Chinese Aircraft Carrier
– USNI News – China is in the midst of building its first domestic carrier, Ministry of National Defense officials confirmed last week.
Work starts on second aircraft carrier
– BBC – China is building a second aircraft carrier – but this time made entirely from domestic technology, its defence ministry has announced.
DARPA’s Vertical Take Off And Landing Combat Drone Could Revolutionize Naval Combat
– FoxtrotAlpha – Northrop Grumman scored another win this last year after its Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) concept was tapped for full-scale demonstration. The DARPA and Office of Naval Research-led program seeks to give Navy surface combatants, like destroyers and Littoral Combat Ships, fixed-wing aircraft carrier-like capabilities, albeit on a smaller scale. It’s a move that could change naval warfare, and warfare in general, as we know it.
U.S. Fears Grow of a ‘Newly Awakened’ Russian Navy
– Daily Beast – A new report from the U.S. Navy’s intelligence branch paints a sobering picture of Putin’s increasingly aggressive fleet—and its deadly international shows of force.
NOSI is taking a short break and will next update on January 4th, 2016
NOSI is taking a short break and will next update on January 4th, 2016
During this time, please consider visiting our related site and downloading 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.
A General Review of the History of China’s Seapower Theory Development
– US Naval War College Review – A historiographical survey of the critical Western and Chinese texts and thinkers who have shaped the concept of sea power in China.
If China’s Goliath Threatens Asia, Then Arm David
– National Interest – There is a Goliath menacing the western Pacific. China’s construction of three huge artificial islands with obvious military capacity in the South China Sea has already destabilized the security equilibrium in the region. Given the rising tensions and outright challenges to the established international security order in the western Pacific, it is time for the United States to align its Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program with its Pivot to Asia initiative, in order to strengthen the region’s Davids.
Chinese naval hospital makes first stop in South America
– AP – A Chinese naval hospital ship is making a first-ever call at a South American port in a sign of the Asian economic giant’s growing influence in the resource-rich region.
Military to Military
– London Review of Books – Seymour M. Hersh on US intelligence sharing with the Syrians in the Syrian war.
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