BBC – UK opens centre to tackle security risks at sea
A national control centre to help protect the UK’s interests at sea has been set up by the government.
US Marines – On Guam, planned Marine base raises anger, infrastructure concerns
Washington Post – On Guam, planned Marine base raises anger, infrastructure concerns
This remote Pacific island is home to U.S. citizens who are fervent supporters of the military, as measured by their record of fighting and dying in America’s recent wars. But they are angry about a major military buildup here, which the government of Guam and many residents say is being grossly underfunded. They fear that the construction of a new Marine Corps base will overwhelm the island’s already inadequate water and sewage systems, as well as its port, power grid, hospital, highways and social services.
US Navy – More ships to Florida? Navy may snub Hampton Roads on new combat ships
Virginian Pilot – More ships to Florida? Navy may snub Hampton Roads on new combat ships
As Hampton Roads’ leaders try to fend off plans to move a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier to Mayport, Fla., a top naval officer said the Florida base also has the upper hand to get another prize that Norfolk hoped to share. Mayport Naval Station “is the primary site we’re looking at” for the East Coast homeport of the new littoral combat ships, Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, told a congressional panel.
Canadian Navy – Canada's Naval Gap
Defense Technology International – Canada’s Naval Gap
Canada has a total of thirty-three warships and submarines doing everything a first-world Navy should be doing—patrolling its home coast, performing humanitarian missions in places like Haiti, and participating in the multinational Task Force 150 off the coast of Somalia and Yemen. But to hear the country’s top military officers tell it, Canada’s ships are too old, too few, and have some significant technological gaps that the country is struggling to fill.
Afghanistan – Man Versus Afghanistan
The Atlantic – Man Versus Afghanistan
Robert D. Kaplan surveys the current situation in Afghanistan. He asks will General Stanley McChrystal be our deus ex machina in Afghanistan? Or just the latest commander to succumb to the impersonal forces of history and geography?
US Navy – Got Sea Control?
United States Naval Institute Proceedings – Got Sea Control?
The United States and United Kingdom have the most powerful combined naval force on the planet. Does this mean we can control the seas where and when we want? Maybe not.
Geopolitics / Oceania – Engaging Oceania
US Naval War College Review – Engaging Oceania
The fourteen island nations of Oceania are weak by any traditional measure of state power. They are mostly small and poor, with zero military muscle and little diplomatic clout. On a map of the Pacific these microstates appear almost like tossed sand, widely dispersed and hardly noticeable in the great blue expanse between the Western Hemisphere, Asia, and Australia. But the small size and gross domestic products of these states conceal a disproportionate economic, political, and military potential.
US Navy – Finding Our Balance at Sea
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Finding Our Balance at Sea
The U.S. Navy needs to restructure for all types of maritime conflict.
Information Warfare – Cyber Warriors
The Atlantic – Cyber Warriors
When will China emerge as a military threat to the U.S.? In most respects the answer is: not anytime soon—China doesn’t even contemplate a time it might challenge America directly. But one significant threat already exists: cyberwar. Attacks—not just from China but from Russia and elsewhere—on America’s electronic networks cost millions of dollars and could in the extreme cause the collapse of financial life, the halt of most manufacturing systems, and the evaporation of all the data and knowledge stored on the Internet.
US Navy – Fortress at Sea? The Carrier Invulnerability Myth
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Fortress at Sea? The Carrier Invulnerability Myth
America’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, especially in today’s irregular, asymmetric warfare climate, could be little more than slow-moving targets.
Miscellaneous – Too Busy to Learn
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Too Busy to Learn
When the current wars begin to wind down, which they inevitably will, we need to take a closer look at reforming-possibly even by congressional mandate-professional military education (PME).
Royal Australian Navy – Australia's 2009 Defense White Paper – A Maritime Focus For Uncertain Times
US Naval War College Review – Australia’s 2009 Defense White Paper – A Maritime Focus For Uncertain Times
As a significant medium power in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia inescapably is a participant in the most politically, economically, and strategically dynamic part of the world. The region is a vast and politically complex area, one that is increasingly prosperous, confident, volatile, and potentially dangerous in almost equal parts. Situated at the nexus of the Pacific and Indian oceans, Australia must share in both the opportunities and challenges thrown up by these two great maritime stages for geopolitical interaction.
US Navy – Air-Sea Battle
Defense Technology International – Air-Sea Battle
Bill Sweetman on the US Navy’s and US Air Force’s emerging concept of Air-Sea Battle.
Danish Navy – Piracy Watch: Absalon, Absalon!
The Best Defense – Piracy Watch: Absalon, Absalon!
People tend to neglect the contributions of smaller nations like Denmark in the war against piracy. Here is a nice reminder.
Piracy – Garacad, the nastiest place you’ve never heard of — but will
Best Defense – Garacad, the nastiest place you’ve never heard of — but will
Last week brought promising news of a first step in denying pirates the use of ports such as Garacad, along the middle of the Somali coastline. The ministers of the defense of the European Union announced an expansion of the mission of EU’s Operation Atalanta to “include control of the Somali ports where pirates are based as well as ‘neutralizing’ mother ships that allow the pirates to operate over 1,000 kilometers from the coast.”
Air Warfare – Defending Against Drones
Newsweek – Defending Against Drones
P.W. Singer on how the United States’ new favorite weapon in the war on terror could soon be turned against us.
US Navy – Adm. Roughead on Subs; Canadians on the Arctic Arms Race
Defense Technology International – Adm. Roughead on Subs; Canadians on the Arctic Arms Race
Speaking at the Conference of Defense Associations’ gathering in the Canadian capital this morning, the U.S. Navy’s Adm. Gary Roughead stressed the need for the U.S. Navy to work with regional allies to protect the global commons from both state and non-state actors who seek to disrupt trade on the surface, and disrupt lines of communication and resource extraction on the ocean floor.
Russian Navy – Ukraine's Yanukovych signals shift over Russia fleet
BBC – Ukraine’s Yanukovych signals shift over Russia fleet
The newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych has suggested he would allow Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to remain in his country beyond 2017.
Geopolitics / Empire – America, the fragile empire
Los Angeles Times – America, the fragile empire
Niall Ferguson asks what if history is not cyclical and slow-moving but arrhythmic — at times almost stationary but also capable of accelerating suddenly, like a sports car? What if collapse does not arrive over a number of centuries but comes suddenly, like a thief in the night?
Indian Navy – India's emerging maritime clout
UPI – India’s emerging maritime clout
The Indian Defense Ministry’s Sixth Land and Naval Defense Systems Exhibition held in New Delhi last month showcased newly inducted equipment by the country’s navy and army.
Russian Navy – A Follow-On To Kuznetsov?
Defense Technology International – A Follow-On To Kuznetsov?
The Russian Navy is making plans for a new aircraft carrier fleet. Navy commander Adm Vladimir Vysotsky announced on Friday, February 26, that the technical design of Russia’s new aircraft carrier will be completed by the end of 2010.
Singaporean Navy – Singapore warns of threat to tankers in Malacca Strait
BBC – Singapore warns of threat to tankers in Malacca Strait
Singapore has learned that an unnamed group may be planning to attack oil tankers in the Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Russian Navy – Russia announces plans to buy four French warships from France
The Times – Russia announces plans to buy four French warships from France
Russia is to buy four warships from France in the biggest defence deal with a Nato member since the end of the Cold War. In a move that has alarmed Georgia and the Baltic States, France and Russia said that they were in “exclusive talks” on the sale of Mistral-class amphibious assault ships.
Air Warfare – Combat Generation: Drone operators climb on winds of change in the Air Force
Washington Post – Combat Generation: Drone operators climb on winds of change in the Air Force
The Air Force’s identity crisis is one of many ways that a decade of intense and unrelenting combat is reshaping the U.S. military and redefining the American way of war. The battle against insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq has created an insatiable demand for the once-lowly drone, elevating the importance of the officers who fly them.
US Marines – After Push in Marja, Marines Try to Win Trust
New York Times – After Push in Marja, Marines Try to Win Trust
CJ Chivers writes that after the declaration this weekend that the battle for the Taliban enclave of Marja had been won, for the Marines standing behind sandbags and walking patrols, the more complicated work has begun. With it will be a test of the strategy selected by President Obama and the generals now running the Afghan war.
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