– US Naval War College Review – Before leaving his position as Secretary of Defense in 2010, Robert Gates offered a wake-up call in a speech to the Marine Corps Association in 2010: “It [is] time to redefine the purpose and size of the Marine Corps.” The perception
even then was that the Marine Corps had become too big, too heavy, and too far removed from its maritime roots…
Iran – Bomb Iran?
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – It was a protest chant heard across the nation during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. And it echoes into the current age. But actually going to war with Iran may yield some unintended consequences.
US Navy – The Utility of a Three-Tiered Navy
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – We can have 350 ships, 50 amphibs, 25 percent more overseas presence, 20 percent more wartime capacity, and use 10 percent fewer people, all with no new money.
Russian Navy – The Russian Submarine Fleet Reborn
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – A new breed of ‘alarmingly sophisticated’ submarines stirs memories of past Soviet aggression, just as Moscow becomes increasingly assertive on the international stage.
US Navy – Sustaining Undersea Dominance
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – The Navy’s submarine chief lays out the four coordinated ‘Ps’ that form the collective plan to maintain the nation’s strong toehold in the undersea domain.
Chinese Navy – Joint Responders
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Military-to-military cooperation between the United States and China has been stalled for years. Here’s a suggestion to help bolster it.
Geopolitics / Arctic – Ocean Governance in the High North
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Eight nations—the United States included—have a geographically direct stake in the opening of the resource-rich Arctic. Increased international cooperation is a must.
Miscellaneous – The Cold, Hard Realities of Arctic Shipping
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Maritime pundits believe a shrinking ice cap translates to a frenzy of traffic as shippers rush to exploit shorter sea routes. They’re wrong.
US Navy – A Navy Shipbuilding Plan that Works
– US Naval Institute Proceedings – Critics say the Navy’s newest 30-year shipbuilding plan is likely to overrun its budget and won’t deliver enough ships. Here are some alternatives that can enhance the Navy’s capabilities, save money, and win lawmakers’ approval in today’s fiscal squeeze.
Chinese Navy – China's coastguard confronts Japanese ships near disputed islands
– Guardian – China says its ships ‘sternly declared’ sovereignty over the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Royal Navy – How to Sink an Entire Navy
– Medium – Just pretty much stop funding it, is how…
US Navy – Stacking the Deck
– Aviation Week – The LCS is currently a hard sell to the US Congress.
Geopolitics / China – China's Geopolitical Fallout
– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan says the biggest question in international affairs has nothing to do with Syria or Iran going nuclear. It is has to do with the state of the Chinese economy, and the ability of China’s one-party system to navigate through an economic slowdown to a different growth model. China’s leaders will likely survive this trial. But what if they don’t? What if China faces a severe socio-economic crisis and attendant political one of an unforeseen magnitude? What would be the second-order geopolitical effects? If Syria explodes, it does so regionally. If China explodes, it does so globally.
Phillipine Navy – Philippines pushes back against China
– Washington Post – China’s most daring adversary in Southeast Asia is, by many measurements, ill-suited for a fight. The Philippines has a military budget 1 / 40th the size of Beijing’s, and its navy cruises through contested waters with 1970s hand-me-downs from the South Vietnamese. From that shorthanded position, the Philippines has set off on a risky mission to do what no nation in the region has managed to do: thwart China in its drive to control the vast waters around it.
US Navy – New naval harassment in Asia
– Washington Times – A U.S. intelligence-gathering ship was harassed by a Chinese security ship last month in an incident that analysts say indicates Beijing is stepping up aggressive maritime encounters toward the U.S. Navy in the Asia-Pacific. A Chinese website, Sinocism, posted photographs of what it described as a “fierce confrontation” between the USNS Impeccable, an electronic spy ship, and a China Maritime Surveillance ship.
US Navy – Future Carriers Built to Carry Drone Fleets
– DefenseTech – Navy planners have anticipated the recent historic steps forward the Navy has taken toward outfitting the decks of their carriers with fleets of unmanned drones by designing future and current carriers to support the technological advances these aircraft will present.
US Navy – Navy Develops New Class of Oilers
– DOD Buzz – The U.S. Navy is surging through the early stages of development to build a new class of replenishment oilers able to replace the aging current fleet starting in 2020.
Royal Navy – Trident: Lib Dems and Conservatives at odds over nuclear future
– BBC – The Conservatives and Lib Dems are at odds over the future of Trident after a government report set out options for the UK’s nuclear weapons system.
US Navy – Mystery Weapon Terrifies America’s Admirals
– Medium – Somewhere out there, someone has built something that has the Navy absolutely freaked.
US Navy – Deja Vu All Over Again
– Aviation Week – By now the recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) findings on a certain U.S. Navy small-ship program are pretty well known. Costs and concerns about survivability keep rising and confidence keeps waning in the ship’s capability to fill national defense needs. Oh, lord, you may be thinking – not another piece about the GAO and the Littoral Combat Ship. But not so fast. The GAO report in question is the Jan. 3, 1979, statement to Congress on “The Navy’s FFG-7 Class Frigate Shipbuilding Program, and Other Ship Program Issues.” That’s right – we’re talking about the FFG-7s here, the now-noble Oliver Hazard Perry guided missile frigate-class ships slated to become the backbone of the Navy’s sea control in the mid-1980s and whose missions, or some of them, the LCS vessels are supposed to assume.
US Marines – US Marine Force in Darwin, Australia Boosts To 1,000 Next Year; Rise To MEU
– Breaking Defense – The US presence in the remote northern Australian port of Darwin will soar from its current 250 troops to 1,000 next year and ultimately to 2,200, granting a full Marine Expeditionary Unit an effective base of operations.
Chinese Navy – China missile fear: U.S. vulnerable to nuclear-tipped submarine-launched missiles, Pentagon warns
– Washington Times – China maintains the fastest-growing fleet of ballistic and cruise missiles on the planet, and soon will deploy a nuclear-tipped, submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States from Chinese waters, according to a new Pentagon report.
US Navy – U.S. Navy Follows U.K. Lead On Infrared Systems
– Aviation Week – The U.S. Navy expects to award contracts soon for a longer-range version of the AIM-9X Sidewinder, known as Block III. Not only will it be a major change to the AIM-9X—retaining only the seeker, optical target detector (laser fuze) and data link of the Block II weapon—but its development is starting before the Block II has finished operational tests…With these developments, the U.S. Navy is following the lead of other air arms—notably, the Royal Air Force—in investing in non-RF sensors and weapons that work far outside the within-visual-range envelope. One key technology is better processing that has greatly improved the performance of IRST.
Royal Navy – Scottish Trident base claims 'preposterous threat'
– Daily Telegraph – The British Government denies reports it is examining plans to designate Faslane as sovereign UK territory in case Scots back independence next year.
Royal Navy – MoD fears for Trident base if Scotland says yes to independence
– Guardian – Whitehall looking at plan to designate home of nuclear fleet as sovereign United Kingdom territory
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