– Aviation Week – The U.S. Navy surface fleet must steer away from depending on defensive missiles and must move toward becoming more offensively lethal, says the admiral in charge of those ships.
Geopolitics / Egypt – Is Egypt’s Instability a Threat to the Suez Canal?
– Center for International Maritime Security – The Suez Canal is one of the most militarized zones in the world due to its strategic importance, reflected in the Suez Crisis in 1956 and its closure from 1967–1975 during the Arab-Israeli wars. The passage through the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb is considered to be the second most important waterway for global oil trade after the Strait of Hormuz. A blockade of the Suez Canal could have disastrous effects on the world economy.
Royal Navy – If Scotland Votes for Independence, It’s Going to Need an Army
– War is Boring – …and a navy…and the UK will need a place to put it’s Trident submarines..
US Navy – Littoral Combat Ship Cut Plan Reopens Navy Riff: Build ‘Em Fast Or Rugged
– Breaking Defense – The Littoral Combat Ship was supposed to be one of the fastest things in the fleet, but it seems like the skeptics – and the sequester – have caught up with it. The question is, what’s next?
US Navy – Carrier deployments will be less often but longer
– Virginian Pilot – Thousands of sailors in Hampton Roads will deploy less frequently but for longer periods under a new policy the Navy is launching later this year.
US Navy – Skimming the Surface
– Aviation Week – Sure there’s a lot more to the U.S. Navy than its surface fleet, Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program and the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. But those three are inextricably interlinked and they form the tripod of one of the major foundations upon which the Navy will stand and grow or fall and wither.
US Navy – PACOM chief: Uncontested U.S. control of Pacific is ending
– Navy Times – The four-star commander of U.S. Pacific Command says the era when the U.S. military enjoys uncontested control over the Pacific’s blue water and its airspace is coming to an end.
US Navy – Navy Plans More Destroyer Upgrades
– Military.com – The U.S. Navy is in the early phases of a series of engineering and combat systems modernization upgrades to its current fleet of 62 commissioned Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, service officials said. The planned upgrades are what the Navy calls “Hull, Mechanical & Electrical” or “HME” modernizations. Separate combat systems upgrades are also part of the effort, Navy officials said.
Miscellaneous – 2013 World Naval Operational News Highlights
The ten most significant naval news stories / trends / themes this year included:
- The ratcheting up of Chinese rhetoric and actions regarding territorial claims in the South China Sea, including the heating up of the Chinese / Japanese dispute over the Diaoyu / Senkaku islands, the declaration of a Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone over them, and the harassment of the USS Cowpens while it was steaming near the Chinese aircraft Liaoning while it was on exercises. At what point will the Chinese actions provoke a shooting incident with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force?
- The Russian Navy’s symbolic, tactical, and strategic support for the Assad regime in Syria. Is the Russian Navy the most influential fleet in the Mediterranean Sea today?
- The successful humanitarian operation carried out by the Royal Navy, US Navy Marine Corps, and Chinese Navy in the Philippines for Typhoon Haiyan. When and where will the next one be?
- The use of French naval and marine forces in support of Operation Serval in Mali. How long will the French military be involved in this conflict?
- The renewing of Russia’s seaborne nuclear deterrent with the entry into service of the first Borei-class SSBN. Is the Bulava SLBM now felt to work reliably, given its checkered testing program?
- The Indian Navy’s commissioning (finally!) nearly 10 years after purchase of INS Vikramaditya, the former Soviet Kiev-class aircraft carrier Baku. When will India’s indigenously produced Vikrant-class carriers come into service?
- The effect of sequestration on the US Navy’s maintenance and procurement programs and especially operations, with the cancelation of the USS Harry S. Truman’s deployment to the Persian Gulf 2 days before sailing. Is the greatest threat to the US Navy a combination of the US economy and the US Congress?
- The successful launch and landing of the X-47B UAV from the USS George H.W. Bush. Exactly what form will its operational counterpart take and when will it enter service?
- The US Marine Corps reboot in the direction of its amphibious roots. Is their expeditionary (but not amphibious) nature going to be seriously challenged by the US Army in the Pacific?
- The Philippines resorting to lawfare to protect its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Do they have a chance at the United Nations?
Statistics
In 2013, there were news stories linked to on 365 / 365 days – that is on 100% of the days.
In 2013, NOSI linked to 428 news stories.
In 2013, 197 of these stories (46%) were related to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, or U.S. Military Sealift Command.
In 2013, 69 of these stories (16%) were background stories.
The remaining 162 news stories (38%) covered the operational activities of 21 nation’s navies, coast guards, and marine corps:
Angola, Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Phillipines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Vietnam
In 2013, 144,030 pages read (page hits) from 114,938 users (visitors). There were 11 email subscribers. There were 135,467 post views (impressions) and 68,907 unique users (reach) and 665 fans (members) on the NOSI Facebook page.
US Navy – Lockheed Makes Progress On Next Generation Anti-Ship Missile
– USNI News – Lockheed Martin has demonstrated that its Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) can be launched from the Mk-41 vertical launch system with only software modifications.
US Navy – AirSea Battle vs. Blockade: A False Debate?
– The National Interest – The U.S. Army has a storied history of preparing for the wrong wars. In the post-WWII era, the U.S. has usually fielded an army trained to harness America’s superior technologies to defeat similarly organized nation-state armies in conventional conflicts. In places like Vietnam and Iraq, the army has found itself in messy contingencies fighting ragtag groups of insurgents where its training and capabilities were at best useless and at worst counterproductive. Despite some admirable efforts at adaption, the U.S. Army has usually found it difficult to overcome these initial disadvantages enough to achieve a favorable, lasting outcome in such conflicts. The U.S. military should keep this history in mind as it seeks to counter China’s growing capabilities and assertive diplomatic posture in the Western Pacific [3]. Although China is the type of nation-state peer competitor that the U.S. military prefers to deal with, this fact by no means ensures that Beijing will engage the U.S. on America’s terms [4]. The old adage that the enemy gets a say in the fight is as true of the People’s Liberation Army as it was of Iraqi insurgents. Any U.S. strategies for winning the “contest for supremacy” against China must grapple with this reality.
US Navy – Navy Eyes Osprey Flights for AFSB Fleet
– USNI News – Navy leaders are in the midst of a series of studies to see whether the MV-22 can be flown off the sea service’s expected fleet of Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) ships.
US Navy – In testing phase, new carrier plagued by problems
– Stars and Stripes – The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, a multibillion-dollar behemoth that is the first in a next generation of carriers, is beset with performance problems, even failing tests of its ability to launch and recover combat jets.
US Navy – Heat From F-35, MV-22 Continue to Plague Big Deck Amphibs
– USNI News – The Navy is continuing to wrestle with landing deck issues aboard its amphibious ships, tied to flight operations with the F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and MV-22 Osprey.
Chinese Navy – Asia-Pacific Nations Look To Sea Power
– Aviation Week – A decade of boots-on-the-ground warfare in the Middle East does not, in late December, appear to have done much to spread democracy or tolerance across the region or indeed to quell the sources of terrorism. Syria, Libya and Egypt waver between rule by more or less secular strongmen and takeover by Islamic radicals. Overwatch by fighters, helicopters and surface-to-air missiles is now a routine feature of global sporting events as well as G20 meetings. On the other side of the globe, however, tensions are reminding many observers of the machinations that preceded previous industrial-age wars such as World War 1. China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone was remarkable not so much for its direct impact as for the fact that it took observers by surprise.
Geopolitics / Arctic – Putin aims to revive Soviet-era Arctic dominance
– Globe and Mail – While all eight countries that border the Arctic, including Canada, are making claims – and countries as far away as China are expressing an interest – Russia is the technological and military superpower of the far north. And after two decades of post-Soviet neglect, the region is once again a Kremlin priority.
US Navy – New Navy Carrier Shuffle Moves Reagan to Japan, Roosevelt to San Diego
– USNI News – USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) has been tapped by the Navy to be the service’s next forward deployed carrier in Japan and move USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) to Naval Station San Diego. Reagan will replace USS George Washington (CVN-73) ahead of the Washington’s three-year long refueling at the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipyard in Newport News, Va.
US Navy – Just How Stealthy Is the Navy’s Super Hornet?
– War is Boring – Stealthier than you might think.
US Navy – Pentagon Cuts LCS Buy to 32 Ships
– Defense News – The office of the secretary of defense (OSD) has directed the US Navy to limit its overall buy of littoral combat ships to a total of 32 ships, foregoing 20 more of the small, fast and controversial warships, Pentagon sources have confirmed.
Geopolitics – Post-America Conflict From Beijing to Jerusalem
– Politico – Robert D. Kaplan writes that as the events of the past week demonstrate, the Middle East has still not found a solution to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Melting away before our eyes is the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, in which the British and French carved out spheres of influence in the Levant, leading to the creation of Syria and Iraq. A terrorist Sunnistan has now emerged between the Lebanese city of Tripoli and the Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, while a messy child’s finger-painting of different tribalized sovereignties defines Sunni and Shia areas of control between the eastern edge of the Mediterranean and the Iranian plateau. This happens even as a sprawling and fractious Kurdistan sinks tenuous roots atop the corpses of Baathist regimes. But Middle Eastern chaos is but prologue to the drama sweeping much of the temperate zone of Afro-Asia all the way to China. Indeed, so much else is going on beyond the Levant that the media overlooks: not necessarily violent, but increasingly and intensely interrelated. Understanding it all requires not a knowledge of Washington policy alternatives, but of classical geography.
Chinese Navy – China and the Far Seas
– The Diplomat – China’s Far Seas presence enables it to escort Syria’s chemical weapons marked for destruction.
Russian Navy – Russian Missile Corvettes Ready to Enter Service in Caspian
– RIA NOVOSTI – A pair of new missile corvettes have completed acceptance trials and will enter service in Russia’s Caspian Flotilla in the first quarter of this year.
Russian Navy – Russia’s Navy Rising
– National Interest – Naval analysts for some time have derided the status of the Russian Federation Navy (RFN), falling from its elevated Cold War status as an American near-equal, to an obsolescent non-operational force through the first decade of the 21st century. This less-than-graceful degradation has effectively ceased with a newly invigorated shipbuilding budget, the delivery of a number of warships and, most importantly, the redeployment of this once proud navy into the world’s oceans.
Russian Navy – Russian Carrier Group Skirts Britain on Trip to Mediterranean
– RIA NOVOSTI – A naval task force led by Russia’s largest warship has passed through the English Channel on its way to the Mediterranean.
Chinese Navy – China’s Air Power Future Is Visible in These Two Photos
– War is Boring – Snapshots reveal badly-needed new engine and refueling pod.
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