– USNI News – Acting on a request from the searchers looking for the missing EgyptAir flight that crashed early Thursday local time, the Navy has sent a maritime surveillance aircraft to look for the missing aircraft.
Israel Claims Intercept Success with Sea-Based Iron Dome
– Defense News – The combination of the ELM-2248 Adir radar and the sea-based Iron Dome was an immediate answer to Israel’s need to defend offshore energy assets in the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) waters.
Navy Set to Deploy New Lethal Anti-Surface ‘Tactical Cloud’ Later this Year
– USNI News – The Navy is creating an offensive anti-surface network that will tie targeting information from satellites, aircraft, ships, submarines and the weapons themselves to form a lethal “kill web” designed to keep pace with the expanding lethal power of potential adversaries.
AeroVironment to Supply Blackwing Mini UAVs for Navy Attack, Guided Missile Submarines
– USNI News – The Navy has selected the unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer AeroVironment to supply miniature UAVs for the service’s fleet of attack and guided missile submarines and unmanned underwater vehicles.
China Stages War Games Days Ahead of Taiwan Inauguration
– ABC – China is staging large-scale joint war games featuring mock beach landing, helicopter assaults and tank battles along its east coast facing Taiwan, just days before the inauguration of the self-governing island’s new independence-leaning president.
Tomahawk Missile for Japan
USNI News – Japan still lacks a key element of military power relevant for emerging challenges in the region—a flexible, long range strike weapon. The Tomahawk missile has long been a centerpiece of the U.S. military’s long-range precision strike portfolio. A sea-based weapon with a 1,000-mile range and a 1,000-pound warhead, it brings a proven proficiency for attacking well-defended, high-value land targets. New upgrades, including the ability to hit a ship, ensure the missile’s operational relevance beyond the next decade. The precedent for providing Tomahawk to allies was established nearly 20 years ago when the United Kingdom acquired 65 missiles. It is time to expand the “user club” to include Japan.
Just Make a Decision
– Defense News – Whatever the reasons, today’s Navy leadership needs to take a lesson from 1945 and get it in gear. Assess the situation regarding repairing the USS Fort Worth, consider the alternatives and make a decision. Ineffective management has just delivered a real blow to the LCS program just as it was starting to roll.
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2016
– US Department of Defense – The latest report on the Chinese military.
Pentagon Report Aims to Lay Out Chinese Military Goals
– 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.
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