– The Aviationist – The IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), the branch of Iran’s military whose role is to protect Tehran’s Islamic system, have published on Twitter an interesting drawing showing how they imagine an attack to an enemy warship entering the Persian Gulf.
Russian Navy – China and Russia Kick Off Joint Naval Drills
– USNI News – The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the Russian Navy kicked off a week of naval exercises. Joint Sea Exercise 2014 — which will be held in the East China Sea —is the third bilateral exercise between Russia and China in as many years.
Chinese Navy – Can China’s New Destroyer Find U.S. Stealth Fighters?
– USNI News – Can China’s new Type 052D Luyang III destroyers successfully see through the stealth of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter?
Piracy – The World’s Most Violent Pirates
– USNI News – West Africa is home to the world’s most violent pirates—who are now capable of overwhelming armed guards. Last month pirates killed a crewmember during an attack on German-owned oil tanker. Instead of fighting off the pirates, the embarked security team retreated to the ship’s citadel safe room.
For the shipping and insurance worlds, the widespread adoption of armed guards aboard vessels essentially “solved” Somali piracy, as no vessel employing them has been hijacked by pirates. An attempt to transfer this panacea to the pirate-prone waters of West Africa, however, has proved inadequate and ill-suited to local conditions.
Ukraine’s hobbled navy: “Times are not the best”
– AP – Ukraine’s navy is in Odessa’s harbor, though it can be hard to spot. It’s tucked behind a collection of storage tanks and overshadowed by immense cargo vessels docked nearby. There are a couple dozen boats, few much larger than a decent-sized yacht and many in desperate need of repair. The government is begging the public to help pay their bills. This is what’s left of Ukraine’s fleet since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula two months ago, taking with it the navy’s key base and most of its ships.
US Navy – Is There a Frigate in Your Future?
– USNI News – Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s recent direction to the Navy to develop proposals for a “capable and lethal small surface combatant, generally consistent with the capabilities of a frigate” could have a major affect on several Navy programs.
US Navy – US Navy releases ‘stealth’ e-reader for sailors
– BBC – The US Navy is to provide custom e-readers, dubbed the Navy eReader Device (NeRD), to some of its sailors.
North Korean Navy – New NKorea warships seen in satellite images
– AP – Recent satellite images show two new North Korean frigates, the largest surface combat ships the nation’s navy has constructed in a quarter-century.
Royal Navy – British Destroyer Versus the Russian Navy
– Was is Boring – The Royal Navy’s high-tech warship HMS Dragon has sortied twice in recent weeks to find and escort eight Russian naval vessels steaming through British waters.
Chinese Navy – Philippines says photos show China airstrip work
– AP – The Philippine government said it released on Thursday military surveillance pictures of Chinese land reclamation on a reef claimed by Manila in the South China Sea that show Beijing violated a regional agreement not to escalate territorial disputes.
Royal Australian Navy – Australia Is Getting Aircraft Carriers, Sort Of
– War is Boring – Pretty soon, the Royal Australian Navy will take possession of HMAS Canberra, a 27,000-ton-displacement, flat-deck amphibious assault ship. The RAN plans to use Canberra and her sister HMAS Adelaide to manage crises across the South Pacific. But could the Canberras also give Australia an offensive naval air capability that it has lacked since the early 1980s? Could the assault ships, in other words, also be aircraft carriers?
French Navy – J’Arrive! French Spy Ship Heads Into the Black Sea
– War is Boring – The French spy ship Dupuy de Lome is in the Black Sea. Which also happens to be an excellent location for snooping on Russian military communications.
Chinese Navy – China’s Cruise Missiles: Flying Fast Under the Public’s Radar
– National Interest – The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) numerous, increasingly advanced cruise missiles have attracted far less attention than its ballistic missiles—yet their impact on regional security, deterrence, and potential military operations may be similar in magnitude. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has limited itself severely in both the type and quantity of its own anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs). It is therefore simply amazing that such a formidable set of weapons has generated so little open source analysis; indeed that may be precisely part of its appeal for China. This article attempts to rectify this surprising foreign neglect by surveying PRC cruise missile programs and their implications for broader People’s Liberation Army (PLA) capabilities, especially in a Taiwan scenario—although they can also have significant impact elsewhere on China’s increasingly contested maritime periphery.
Geopolitics / Russia – Why is Russia going after the Crimea? It’s just a hostile acquisition
– Global Guerrillas – John Robb’s interesting take on Russia’s grand strategy – Russia is an energy company with all the trappings of nation-state…Everything Russia does militarily is aimed at expanding it’s energy interests.
US Marines – Marines Ready for New Libyan Crisis
– War is Boring – The Pentagon has sent Marines and warplanes to Italy because of a possible crisis brewing in North Africa. The troops left their base in Spain after receiving a request from the State Department.
South Korean Navy – Two Koreas, Three Navies
– USNI News – The Korean War of 1950-1953 was concluded by a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, and the three powers—South Korea, North Korea and the United States—are still technically at war. A new conflict on the Korean peninsula would see the commitment of a new, reinvigorated Republic of Korea Navy, an aging, weakened North Korean Navy and an American fleet providing the only ballistic missile defense capability for the region.
Chinese Navy – China Claims U.S. Is Encouraging ‘Dangerous and Provocative Actions’ in Oilrig Standoff
– USNI News – Chinese officials are claiming the U.S. is stoking international discord over a disputed drilling operation in an area of the South China Sea in territory claimed by both China and Vietnam, according to a Tuesday statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
US Navy – Last U.S. Surface Ship Leaves the Black Sea
– USNI News – The frigate assigned to operations in the Black Sea as part of a U.S. show of support to allies in the region has left, leaving no U.S. surface ships in the region
Geopolitics / Russia – Putin’s plan to reclaim the old Russian empire
– New York Post – Ralph Peters analyses Putin’s long game.
Indian Navy – India’s New Carrier is ‘Operational’
– USNI News – India’s newest aircraft carrier — INS Vikramaditya — is underway on an operational deployment, according to the new head of the Indian Navy.
US Navy – The Next Act for Aegis
– USNI News – Thirty years after its first deployment, the basic components of the Aegis system on cruisers and destroyers have remained largely the same — the SPY-1 radar and the contents of vertical launch systems — but the threats have gotten faster and deadlier.
US Marines – Sikorsky Rolls Out New Marine Helo
– USNI News – Sikorsky Aircraft rolled out the U.S. Marine Corps’ first CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter. Though the new K-model shares the same numerical designation as previous CH-53 helicopters, it is in fact a new clean-sheet design.
US Navy – LCS Will Miss World’s Largest Naval Exercise
– Defense News – It’s the biggest naval exercise in the world, and it happens only every other year. Nearly every kind of US warship will take part. But notably absent — again — will be the newest type of US warship, the littoral combat ship.
US Navy – Upcoming budget crunch could unravel new deployment plan
– Navy Times – Many ships are sailing on cruises far beyond the once-standard six or seven months, and Navy leaders are eager to make these long and often unpredictable deployments the exception. They’ve developed a plan to lock in eight-month deployments, but a mounting body of testimony from Navy officials suggests that the plan may soon be another victim of budget battles — and sailors will end up paying the price. At the center of the dilemma is the aircraft carrier George Washington, which will be retired early unless lawmakers lift heavy sequestration spending cuts set to take effect in 2016. With no sign they will and uncertainties about when the first of the new supercarrier class will be ready to deploy, experts say nine-to-10-month deployments could be common for fleet sailors.
Chinese Navy – Here’s an Even Better Look at China’s Giant New Cruiser
– War is Boring – One photo at a time, Beijing’s military-industrial-media complex is slowly showing the world the Chinese navy’s giant future warship, the Type 055.
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