– Breaking Defense – “Failure to launch” isn’t a metaphorical concern when you work on nuclear weapons. That’s why the director of the Navy’s euphemistically named Strategic Systems Program (SSP) is a worried man. What has Vice Adm. Terry Benedict worried is something neither he, nor the Navy nor the entire Defense Department directly control. It’s the viability of what Benedict called “an already fragile industry” that produces the solid-fuel rocket boosters for the Navy’s Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The worst part is that the solid fuel rocket engine business is an industry that will live or die not on the military’s own decisions, but on NASA’s.
US Navy – Uneven burden: Some ships see time at sea surge; others fall well below fleetwide average
– Navy Times – New data shows the fleet’s underway time is out of balance, where some ships have picked up the slack for others that, for one reason or another, haven’t been out to sea as often.
US Marines – US Marine Corps Seeks Amtrac Upgrades
– Defense News – The US Marine Corps is putting a hard cap on the amount of money it wants to invest in upgrading parts of its aging fleet of AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs), which the Corps wanted to retire but now plans on driving until the mid-2030s.
US Marines – Why Can’t America Build a Decent Landing Craft Any More?
– War is Boring – The Pentagon needs new sea-surface ‘connectors,’ but can’t—or won’t—develop them.
Chinese Navy – China’s Oversized Aircraft Carrier Ambitions
– The Diplomat – Reports suggest China will have an indigenous carrier battle group within three years. Don’t bet on it.
US Marines – Special Forces conduct naval training as Army emphasizes amphibious mission
– Marine Corps Times – A mobile Army could encroach on Marine turf – with sailors in the middle.
Chinese Navy – China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress
– Congressional Research Service – Ronald O’Rourke’s latest analysis of the Chinese Navy.
Royal Navy – Royal Navy investigates mystery Russian warship in Baltic
– Royal Navy – Royal Navy investigates mystery Russian warship in Baltic – HMS Montrose tracked the Russian corvette Soobrazitelny and then was circled by a Russian patrol plane.
Fourth Generation Warfare – Unwinnable Wars
– C-SPAN – William Lind gives a 15 minute talk summarizing a defensive grand strategy for the U.S. against 4th Generation opponents.
US Marines – Marines press attack amid drawdown
– San Diego Union Tribune – Taliban fighters in remote villages of Helmand province who thought coalition troops would wait out the end of their campaign from the relative safety of regional headquarters got a wake-up call last month. The Twentynine Palms-based infantry unit serving as a regional security force launched a series of attacks targeting insurgent havens in outlying areas.
US Marines – US completes large-scale Middle East exercise, even with amphibious forces stretched
– Stars and Stripes – Although officials insisted the annual multinational Eager Lion exercise that ended here Sunday was unrelated to sectarian violence across Jordan’s borders, regional tensions nonetheless affected the course of the two-week exercise.
Russian Navy – Don’t Sweat Russia’s Newest Nuclear Submarine
– War is Boring – ‘Severodvinsk’ is too expensive for mass production
Chinese Navy – China’s Third Aircraft Carrier Could Be Nuclear
– War is Boring – China’s first aircraft carrier—the refurbished Ukrainian-built flattop Liaoning—entered testing in 2011. The People’s Liberation Army Navy is building a second carrier itself—a conventionally-powered vessel like Liaoning. A third carrier currently in the planning stage could be bigger than her two predecessors—as big as an American Nimitz-class supercarrier, in fact—plus nuclear-powered, just like U.S. flattops.
Russian Navy – Russian Navy Accepts First in New Class of Nuclear Attack Submarine
– USNI News – Russian television has reported that the Russian Federation Navy has accepted its first Project 855 Yasen-class nuclear-powered attack submarine into this week.
Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – China Reacts to Japanese Anti-Ship Missile Positioning
– USNI News – China is set to take “firm and effective actions,” in response to a planned move of anti-ship missiles by Japanese Self Defense Force closer to the disputed Senkaku Islands.
Philippine Navy – Philippines, U.S. to hold naval drills near disputed shoal in S.China Sea
– Reuters – Philippine and American troops are set to hold naval exercises this month near a disputed shoal, which will almost certainly anger China with tension already high in the South China Sea.
US Navy – Lockheed Outlines Post Littoral Combat Ship Pitch
– USNI News – Lockheed Martin outlined the range of options they presented to the Navy as part of the Pentagon mandated study into a follow-on ship to the Flight 0 Littoral Combat Ships.
US Navy – Pentagon orders amphibious transport ship USS Mesa Verde to Persian Gulf as Iraq worries grow
– AP – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde into the Persian Gulf as concern grows over a militant group’s advancement toward Iraq’s capital.
Chinese Navy – Chinese Weapons That Worry the Pentagon
– USNI News – While the report seldom contains any earthshattering revelations on China’s military advancement, it does — in very broad strokes — give insight to the developments in China that give the Department of Defense the most concern. The following is a selection of Chinese weapons that were highlighted in the report…
US Navy – The U.S. Navy’s Secret Counter-Stealth Weapon Could Be Hiding in Plain Sight
– USNI News – The Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye maybe the U.S. Navy’s secret weapon against the emerging threat of enemy fifth-generation stealth fighters and cruise missiles. The key to that capability is the aircraft’s powerful UHF-band hybrid mechanical/electronically-scanned AN/APY-9 radar built by Lockheed Martin. Both friend and foe alike have touted UHF radars as an effective countermeasure to stealth technology.
US Navy – China joins in world’s largest naval exercises
– AP – Chinese ships headed for waters near Hawaii on Tuesday to participate for the first time in RIMPAC, the world’s largest naval exercises – a rare opportunity to build trust with the US and regional rivals including the Philippines and Japan.
US Navy – Navy plan for carrier-based drones takes flak from lawmakers
– Los Angeles Times – A U.S. Navy plan for aircraft carrier-based drones has launched a dogfight in Washington over the role of the robotic planes in combat.
Royal Australian Navy – Japan & Australia consider submarine deal that could rattle China
– Royal Australian Navy – Japan & Australia consider submarine deal that could rattle China – Japan is considering selling submarine technology to Australia – perhaps even a fleet of fully engineered, stealthy vessels.
Geopolitics – Old world order is out
– Geopolitics – Old world order is out – Robert D. Kaplan writes that there has been something both conclusive and convulsive — and yet sustaining — about the crisis in Ukraine that has caused people to believe we have entered a new chapter in international relations. As other commentators have noted, the old order has collapsed. By that they mean the period erstwhile labeled the post-Cold War.
US Navy – Life Aboard an Aircraft Carrier
– Air and Space – Life aboard the USS George W. Bush.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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