Defence Blog – Social media images published Sunday show China’s unnamed experimental stealth corvette fitted with a new system in place of its previous missile turret. Analysts differ on whether the system is a sonic weapon or a naval version of a high-power microwave weapon designed to counter drone swarms.
(Thanks to Alain)
Navy Lookout – The RN’s autonomus mine hunting systems will be deployed on board up to three new Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) or ‘motherships’ procured in partnership with Norway. Recent work by Dstl and NDP provides the clearest indication yet of what the ships may need to look like, suggesting something much closer to a large commercial offshore vessel than a conventional naval auxiliary. Here we look at what is known about this programme.
Defence Blog – Haddy, a St. Petersburg, Florida manufacturing company, announced on Saturday it produced the TF-179 Drone Boat using large-format robotic additive manufacturing.
(Thanks to Alain)
Navy Lookout – The US Navy has begun seeking a new generation of submarine payload launchers designed to deploy uncrewed systems as well as weapons. The move raises questions about how far the Royal Navy’s future SSN-AUKUS boats will share in the evolving American approach to undersea payloads.
CTECH – The INS Drakon’s unusual design has prompted speculation about advanced launch systems and strategic capabilities.
(Thanks to Alain)
The War Zone – One Block V Virginia class submarine will be unlike any other, capable of highly specialized intelligence and sabotage missions on the seafloor.
USNI News – The People’s Liberation Army Ground Force trained last week to use armed drones against unmanned surface vessels.
The War Zone – The sightings highlight concerns about drone attacks from the sea, especially at a time of extreme hostility between Iran and the U.S.
USNI News – Marines are learning how to 3D print raiding craft and attack drones while in theater as part of recent exercises in Hawaii, Japan and South Korea.
The War Zone – The issue highlights supply-chain risks amid growing concerns over Beijing’s cyber access to Western military capabilities.
Naval News – Keeping fixed-wing naval aviation alive will force Spain to choose between paying the price of continuity, and accepting that the retirement of the Harrier will leave the Spanish Navy without carrier-based fighters for a generation.
CIMSEC – NAVADMIN 123/26 affords the Information Warfare Community a once-in-a-generation chance to overhaul its officer career paths and shift attention to resourcing and requirements, changes that would yield significant long-term benefits for both the community and its personnel.
ReadyAyeReady – Canadian coastal defence vessels HMCS Moncton and HMCS Edmonton are currently operating in European waters as part of a NATO mine countermeasures mission, with a recent port call in Kirkwall, Orkney, underscoring efforts to protect critical subsea infrastructure amid heightened concerns over potential threats.
The War Zone – From recent satellite imagery, the Russian Navy now looks to be using nets to protect submarines from drone attacks at a highly strategic base on the country’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
The War Zone – While Theodore Roosevelt is ready now, the Navy is not aiming to start flying the MQ-25 operationally until 2029, years behind schedule.
China Maritime Studies Institute – The Navy Party Standing Committee (NPSC) is the Chinese Navy’s core leadership body, but it does not operate independently; it functions within the broader Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and PRC military hierarchy.
Navy Lookout – HMS Somerset has returned to Devonport this week after around four months on Operation CETO, while HMS St Albans has taken over this key anti-submarine standing commitment. The low-key handover comes as the frigate fleet reaches its smallest size in decades, with just five Type 23s left in commission.
The War Zone – Putting JDAM-LR into production will give the Navy an important new stream of lower-cost standoff munitions for its carrier air wings.
CIMSEC – Originating in 1960s Soviet strategic military doctrine, reflexive control (RC) allows the user to employ and orchestrate manipulative tactics, including disinformation, deception, overload, provocation, and distraction, to compel adversaries to voluntarily adopt courses of action favorable to the user’s interests. Since the intensification of the Ukrainian-Russo War and NATO’s extended support to Ukraine, Russia has attempted to reconfigure the environment’s balance of power and assess the limit of the alliance’s collective deterrence.
China Maritime Studies Institute – The United States has initiated substantive preparations for high-end warfare and continues to exert coercive pressure on China. Drawing on insights from over a dozen localized conflicts, this article analyzes the US military’s strike capabilities, operational patterns, and systemic ground vulnerabilities. Grounded in the concepts of resilience and survivability, systems-based confrontation, and tiered defense, it proposes targeted operational principles, countermeasures, and strategic recommendations for countering precision strikes by the powerful enemy.
USNI News – The first Trump-class battleship (BBG(X)) could cost about $23 billion with an overall cost for the 15-ship program to be about $275 billion, according to a new Congressional Budget Office estimate published on Wednesday.
Navy Lookout – The RN has successfully demonstrated a secure network allowing helicopters, drones and ground forces to operate together across more than 200 miles, marking another significant step towards its future Hybrid Navy concept.
The War Zone – The P-8A and MQ-4Cs were designed to work in concert, but direct in-flight control of Tritons will open new tactical possibilities and greatly extend the Poseidon’s reach.
CIMSEC – The United States should designate the U.S. Coast Guard as its lead agency for maritime security in the Western Hemisphere. In military command and control terminology, this would make the Coast Guard the “supported” service with all other armed services and federal agencies as “supporting” services. Such a designation would reverse the customary approach for the Navy to lead at sea, but this reversal is long overdue.
The War Zone – The Houthi rebels of Yemen say they are widening the scope of their attacks on Saudi shipping to the northern Red Sea to prevent transits through the Suez Canal.
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