– Wall Street Journal – On Friday, the Pentagon released its 15th annual report to Congress on Chinese military and security development, its last under the Obama administration. “Despite China’s opacity…this report documents the kind of military that China is building,” Abraham Denmark, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, explained at the media rollout event. “We hope it contributes to the public’s understanding of the PLA.” Indeed it does. China characteristically dismissed the report, without seeking to disprove any of its assertions. As Mr. Denmark stressed, the Pentagon publication “lets the facts speak for themselves.” He highlighted three key areas of emphasis: military maritime activities, power projection and reforms.
The Decision Process for Littoral Warfare
– USNI Blog – In this piece, however, we concentrate on the dangerous environment close to a coastline that the full range of our sensors and weapons cannot be exploited. The threat of sudden, short range attack is a constant concern. We wish to describe an effective mesh network to fight in combat environments like San Carlos Water in the Falklands War, the coast of Israel in the 1973 War, and other waters that led to sudden surprise attacks on ships at relatively short range, like the missile attacks on USS Stark (FFG-31), HMS Sheffield, the British supply ship Atlantic Conveyer, the many missile attacks in the Gulf “Tanker War” of 1982-1989, and most recently against the Israeli missile ship, INS Hanit, off the Lebanon coast.
Marines To Add ‘Harvest Hawk’ Weapons Kit to Entire C-130J, V-22 Fleets
– USNI News – The Marine Corps intends to add improved sensors and precision-strike capability to its entire KC-130J Super Hercules tanker/transport plane and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor fleets, applying the “Harvest Hawk” concept to make both aircraft more multi-mission.
Turbulence For the Philippines: Blimps Over the South China Sea
– CIMSEC – During his recent visit to the Philippines, the United States Secretary of Defense promised delivery of a variety of sensors and communications equipment worth $42 million to the host nation. One of the critical sensors in this suite is an observation blimp that can peer across the South China Sea (SCS), providing maritime domain awareness to the Philippines.
Navy hospital ship Comfort was plagued by poor leadership for years, investigative reports show
– Virginian Pilot – A Navy hospital ship designed to perform humanitarian missions and build goodwill for the United States abroad was plagued by leadership problems in its medical facility for years before it set off to Latin America last spring with a new commanding officer who was put in place just days before leaving Norfolk.
The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru
– New York Times Magazine – A fascinating look at who actually makes the U.S. foreign policy and how they do it.
What Lessons Do China’s Island Bases Offer The US Army?
– Breaking Defense – If ground forces are obsolete, why are the Chinese bothering to build all those artificial islands in the South China Sea? The answer to that is key to the US Army’s emerging vision of its future role, a complex combination of old-fashioned close combat, resilient wireless networks, and advanced long-range weapons that extend the Army’s reach well beyond the land. China is “building land… to project power outward from land into the maritime and aerospace domains,” the Army’s chief futurist, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, argued yesterday at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Much like the Japanese in World War II, he said, the Chinese see island bases as a means to dominate the seas and airspace around them, allowing them to sink ships and down aircraft. The Chinese strategy has only become more effective in the modern era with the proliferation of long-range precision-guided missiles.
LCS-4 Deployment Will Evaluate Ship Capabilities Ahead of 2018 Frigate Downselect
– USNI News – As the Navy shifts from a two-variant frigate acquisition plan to a competition between the two Littoral Combat Ship builders, getting USS Coronado (LCS-4) out on its first deployment ahead of the frigate downselect will go a long way in validating the ship’s advertised capabilities. The first two Lockheed Martin Freedom-variant LCSs, USS Freedom (LCS-1) and USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), have both deployed for a total of about 28 months of forward-deployed experience. Coronado, though, will be the first Austal USA-built Independence-variant LCS to deploy overseas.
Indian-built Scorpene sub begins sea trials
– UPI – The first of six Indian-built DCNS Scorpene-class submarines has started sea trials off the coast of Mumbai.
Navy Endorsed Extending Truman Carrier Deployment Due to Significant Air Strike Capacity
– USNI News – The Navy endorsed the decision by Defense Secretary Ash Carter to extend the Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group deployment to the Middle East by 30 days, a Navy spokesman said, but the service is still committed to avoiding extended deployments and keeping to the new Optimized Fleet Response Plan (OFRP) construct.
How France sank Japan’s $40 billion Australian submarine dream
– Reuters – In 2014, a blossoming friendship between Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe looked to have all but sewn up a $40 billion submarine deal. Then French naval contractor DCNS hatched a bold and seemingly hopeless plan to gatecrash the party. Almost 18 months later, France this week secured a remarkable come-from-behind victory on one of the world’s most lucrative defense deals. The result: Tokyo’s dream of fast-tracking a revival of its arms export industry is left in disarray. How did this happen?
The Philippines at Forefront of New Pentagon Maritime Security Initiative
– USNI News – The Pentagon recently began funding maritime security projects with countries in the South China Sea aimed at giving them the capability to monitor activities in their territorial waters and air space amidst concerns of regional Chinese expansion.
Chinese Scarborough Shoal Base Would Threaten Manila
– Breaking Defense – If China builds an artificial island on the disputed Scarborough Shoal, Sen. Dan Sullivan warned today, it will complete a “strategic triangle” of bases that can dominate the South China Sea.
Navy extends USS Truman’s deployment by 30 days
– Virginian Pilot – The aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman’s deployment has been extended 30 days as it continues the fight against the Islamic State group.
Inside the Carrier Air Wing
– USNI News – A look at the carrier air wing today.
Navy Digging Out Of Fighter Shortfall; Marines Still Struggling To Fly At Home
– USNI News – A three-pronged approach is helping the Navy keep its strike fighter inventory shortfall at a “manageable” level –speeding up legacy Hornet life extension work, preparing to conduct the Super Hornet life extension program more efficiently, and buying new Super Hornets – though the Marines’ legacy Hornet fighter inventory is so strained there are hardly any planes available for day-to-day squadron training.
Kearsarge ARG, 26th MEU Return to East Coast; Artillery Detachment Remains in Iraq
– USNI News – Sailors and Marines assigned to the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit will begin returning from a seven-month deployment to the Middle East starting today. However, an artillery detachment from the 26th MEU assigned to a collation fire support base in Iraq will remain until an unnamed Army unit relieves them.
South China Sea: The fight China will take to the brink of war
– Sydney Morning Herald – What is Xi doing? What does China hope to achieve? And where is this dispute heading? An eminent Chinese expert, Dr Shi Yinghong, provides answers.
Navy, Air Force Reviving Offensive Mining with New Quickstrikes
– USNI News – Consumed with long-running irregular warfare challenges, the Pentagon took its eye off the ball with respect to maritime warfare, particularly against hostile warships…
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the realm of mine warfare, which has languished in a technological backwater for four decades, starved of resources and relegated to the junior varsity bench. However, a PACOM is directing a joint effort to combine legacy mines with precision guidance and standoff capabilities, introducing the Quickstrike-J and the Quickstrike-ER.
Why the French submarine won the bid to replace the Collins-class
– The Conversation – France will be awarded the contract to partner with Australia to build the next generation of submarines to replace the Collins-class…But what was at stake in this A$50 billion program? What were the real technological differences between the submarines on offer?
Baltic Sea Heating Up as Friction Point Between U.S., NATO and Russia
– USNI News – The Baltic Sea region has emerged as one of the friction zones between an aggressive Russia and the United States and its NATO allies in northeastern Europe. Recently the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was twice buzzed by Russian Sukhoi Su-24 Fencers during an exercise in the Baltic Sea. The Cook incident is just the most recent of a string of close encounters between Russia and the West at sea and in the air over the Baltic Sea over the last two years.
U.S. Ospreys win Japanese hearts and minds with quake relief flights
– Reuters – The U.S. military’s MV-22 Osprey aircraft has been a lightning rod for opposition to U.S. bases in Japan since 24 of them were deployed on the southern island of Okinawa in 2014. By sending eight of the tilt-rotor Ospreys to help with relief efforts for survivors of recent earthquakes on Kyushu island, both U.S. and Japanese military planners have been able to showcase an aircraft they see as necessary for Japan’s defense.
France wins A$50bn Australia submarine contract
– BBC – France has won a A$50bn (€34bn; £27bn) contract to build 12 submarines for the Australian Navy, beating bids from Japan and Germany.
Interview: Randy Forbes
– Defense News – Randy Forbes, who represents a portion of the Tidewater region that includes the US Navy’s largest naval base and shipbuilding giant Huntington Ingalls, has long branched out to express concerns about defense issues far beyond his home ground. The nearly-released mark of the Seapower subcommittee’s 2017 naval budget reflects Forbes’ desire to increase naval spending into Reagan-era territory. By adding more than $2 billion to the Obama administration’s request, Forbes would raise shipbuilding levels to $20 billion a year and beyond – numbers not seen since the 1980s.
Bundeswehr night patrol for refugees on Mediterranean
– Deutsche Welle – The Bundeswehr’s Frankfurt am Main warship is patrolling the Mediterranean as part of the European Union’s Operation Sophia. It’s a round-the-clock job for the crew. DW’s Daniel Pelz followed the night watch.
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