– Wall Street Journal – The U.S. Department of Defense annual report on Chinese military developments, released on Monday, has made a splash by putting forth the most direct official accusations so far of Chinese cyberintrusions into the U.S. government computers. But the 92-page report – much improved from its 43-page 2012 predecessor, which was widely criticized for being many days late and dollars short – offers a number of other important insights into China’s growing military capabilities.
Chinese Navy – Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013
– US Department of Defense – The DOD’s annual update on China.
Terrorism – Our Drone Delusion
– New Yorker – An interesting look at the potential long-term consequences of using unmanned aerial vehicles for terrorist assassinations.
Geopolitics / Syria – The Thin Red Line
– New Yorker – Inside the White House debate over Syria.
US Navy – LCS Freedom Ready To Keep Peace In The Pacific
– AOL Defense – Navy Secretary Ray Mabus talked up the controversial Littoral Combat Ship days before departing for Asia to visit the first LCS, USS Freedom, which recently arrived in Singapore (sporting a sniffy camo paint job). Freedom has been bedeviled by cost overruns, delays, and manufacturing defects, with a new problem, seawater contamination in lubricant fluid, arising on its trans-Pacific trip. But the bigger picture Mabus said, is how this new class of small and nimble ship will cooperate with foreign partners to keep the peace in the volatile South China Sea and the strategic Strait of Malacca.
US Navy – Power Point
– Aviation Week – Some lawmakers would like nothing better than to see U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus unplugged – but the nation’s top naval leader will have none of that. He’s pushing for his energy-altering programs with a doggedness that would even tire out the Energizer Bunny.
US Marines – Marines Look to Return to Maritime Roots
– DODBuzz – As the Marine Corps winds down ten years of land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more fully returns to its amphibious and expeditionary origins, service planners are vigorously preparing the service for more sea basing and operations spread across wide swaths of ocean, senior Corps leaders explained.
Chinese Navy – Why Beijing Could Win the Great China-America Showdown of 2030
– Wired – Over the next 15-20 years, the U.S. and China are headed for a confrontation in the western Pacific, with Japan caught in the middle. And China, currently the underdog, could very well come out on top. That’s the unnerving conclusion of a new report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
US Marines – Helmand has become almost dull for Marines, with Afghans now leading combat
– McClatchy – One statistic about the war in Afghanistan has stood out for weeks: the single U.S. Marine killed so far in 2013.
Chinese Navy – China’s Anti-Carrier Missile Now Opposite Taiwan, Flynn Says
– Bloomberg – The Chinese military has deployed its new anti-ship ballistic missile along its southern coast facing Taiwan, the Pentagon’s top military intelligence officer said today.
US Navy – Beyond F-35: Rep. Forbes & Adm. Greenert on Cyber, Drones & Carriers
– AOL Defense – What homemade roadside bombs could do to Army and Marine ground vehicles was the ugly surprise of the last decade. What sophisticated long-range missiles could do to Navy aircraft carriers could be the ugly surprise of the next.
US Navy – Reduced security blamed for Taliban attack
– Washington Post – The Taliban fighters who blew up a half-dozen U.S. Marine fighter jets on a sprawling NATO base last fall were able to walk easily onto the encampment because patrols of the perimeter had been scaled back and watchtowers left unmanned, according to senior military officials.
Royal Navy – Britain may reverse East of Suez policy with return to military bases in Gulf
– Daily Telegraph – Britain plans to restore a permanent military presence in the Gulf, basing land, air and naval forces in the region, according to a defence think tank with close ties to the armed forces.
US Navy – AMDR — Pulse Check
– Aviation Week – For years now, the discussion revolving around the U.S. Navy’s vaunted proposed air-and-missile-defense radar (AMDR) – as it related to the Navy’s even-more vaunted, and proven, Aegis combat system – has been how much better and even different AMDR would be than the existing ship shield. But now, Navy officials are saying, folks should be looking at that AMDR-Aegis relationship in a whole new light. They are not competing systems at all – AMDR is an evolution of Aegis.
Pakistani Navy – Pakistan's Dream Navy?
– Defense News – Beset with monetary woes and a tenuous relationship with the US, Pakistan’s naval modernization plans appear to be faltering with the hoped for acquisition of further surplus US equipment now unlikely.
US Navy – Navy plan would deploy carriers more frequently
– Virginian Pilot – Tens of thousands of sailors in Hampton Roads would deploy more often – but also, defense officials say, on a more predictable schedule – under a plan the Navy hopes to launch by the end of next year.
Royal Australian Navy – Planning the Unthinkable War with China: An Aussie View of AirSea Battle
– Defense News – As the US pushes forward on the AirSea Battle doctrine and the so-called Asia Pivot, many in the Asia-Pacific are asking for clarification on a subject that could involve them in an unnecessary war with China.
US Navy – US Navy warship cybersecurity 'vulnerable'
– Reuters – The computer network on the US Navy’s newest class of coastal warships showed vulnerabilities in cybersecurity tests, but the issues were not severe enough to prevent deployment.
Malaysian Navy – Royal Malaysian Navy Gowind class Corvettes for LCS program to be fitted with stealth 57mm Guns
–Navy Recognition – The latest updates on the Malaysian LCS program.
US Navy – Ships Ahoy
– Aviation Week – For all of the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth over the impacts of sequestration and continuing resolutions, it is interesting to point out that the Navy shipbuilding plan, especially for the immediate future, remains pretty intact.
Terrorism – The School
– Esquire – (An archival article, from CJ Chivers, on terrorism in Chechnya. Relevant in regards to last week’s tragic events in Boston.) – On the first day of school in 2004, a Chechen terrorist group struck the Russian town of Beslan. Targeting children, they took more than eleven hundred hostages. The attack represented a horrifying innovation in human brutality. Here, an extraordinary accounting of the experience of terror in the age of terrorism.
Chinese Navy – Japan PM Abe warns China of force over islands landing
– BBC – Japan would respond with force if any attempt is made to land on disputed islands, PM Shinzo Abe has warned.
Chinese Navy – China's first aircraft 'preparing for first long distance mission'
– Daily Telegraph – China’s first aircraft carrier could make its maiden long distance journey “within the year”, state media has announced in a further indication of the country’s growing military clout.
US Navy – Osprey on the Truman, Fishing for COD
– Aviation Week – The MV-22 Osprey is preparing to take a major step in the program’s quest to garner more customers outside the U.S. Marine Corps and the Air Force special operations community. The aircraft is onboard the deck of the carrier USS Harry S. Truman in preparation for trials to validate whether it is suitable to be considered as a replacement for aging C-2 Greyhounds.
Fourth Generation Warfare – Two Intifadas and a Flawed Theory
– American Conservative – William Lind writes that for at least a decade, Colonel Tom Hammes has been one of the Marine Corps’ leading intellectuals. His book The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century should be read by anyone who has an interest in Fourth Generation warfare (4GW).
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