Associated Press – Russian ship passes Suez on anti-piracy mission
The Russian guided missile frigate Neustrashimy (Intrepid) is passing through the Suez Canal to join military vessels from other nations protecting shipping in pirate-infested waters off Somalia.
Defense News – U.S. Eyes Reaction Force That Rockets Into Space
A new meaning for the term “Quick Reaction Force”?
Virginian Pilot – Blackwater sets sights on Somali pirates
Is combatting piracy a new potential market for private military contractors?
Daily Telegraph – India launches first navy mission against pirates
More details on India’s attempt to fight piracy off of Somalia.
Today NOSI has migrated from the Manila blogging platform which it has used over the last 9 years, to the more popular WordPress blogging platform.
The entire site was migrated over in an automated fashion. If you see any bugs or broken links in this new site, please take a moment to let me know.
The feature set of WordPress is quite different from Manila, and it will take me some time to find my way around this new tool. At a minimum, the appearance of each post will change a bit, and I expect more will change over time. Thank you in advance for your patience…
New York Times Magazine – Farmer in Chief
A fascinating article by Michael Pollan that makes a point I had never previously considered:
“The health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security…For nations that lose the ability to substantially feed themselves will find themselves as gravely compromised in their international dealings as nations that depend on foreign sources of oil presently do. But while there are alternatives to oil, there are no alternatives to food.”
Aviation Week and Space Technology – Ben Bova, the prolific sci-fi novelist, has a big idea for the next president – enlist NASA in a crash program to launch a commercially viable space solar power industry in the U.S. “before the end of your second term.”
India Today – India sends the frigate INS Ganga to mount its own anti-piracy patrol off of Somalia.
Daily Telegraph – The Royal Navy could be given powers to seize Somalian pirates plaguing the Gulf of Aden and hand them over to the wartorn country’s authorities.
Defense Technology International – Royal Marines of Whiskey Company (45 Commando) relieved 2 PARA Battle Group at Sangin on October 10, 2008. The Royal Marines will operate in Helmand Province, Afghanistan from Sangin for the next six months.
Defense Technology International – Another significant step for seabased unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) took place this weekend on the Mediterranean when a helicopter UAV was automatically landed on a French Navy frigate, the Montcalm.
The Observer – Britain is to send the frigate HMS Northumberland to combat piracy off the East African coast amid concerns that a spate of violent attacks on shipping could drive up oil prices.
Daily Telegraph – The piracy crisis that threatens to cripple vital shipping lines through the Indian Ocean has claimed fresh victims as Somali bandits attacked two more ships.
more…
Defense Technology International – The Standing NATO Maritime Group will begin anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast in two weeks. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a press conference on 9 October, the first day of an informal meeting of allied defense ministers in Budapest, that NATO ships would escort vessels transporting World Food Program (WFP) aid to Somalia, on the request of the United Nations. He said the NATO warships would also conduct patrols off the Somali coast to deter pirates.
more…
Defense Technology International – Some details about France’s new naval base at the port of Fujaira on the eastern seaboard of the UAE, which was opened very discreetly recently by the French navy.
more…
Virginian Pilot – The Supreme Court Wednesday took up the dispute over whether the Navy’s use of sonar off San Diego is harming whales.
New York Times – Court Weighs Concerns on Whales and Military
more…
New York Times – Robert D. Kaplan on why Afghanistan is more than a manhunt, and how it does matter, for reasons that have not been fully fleshed out by policy makers or the military.
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Virginian Pilot – The May fire aboard the carrier George Washington that injured 37 sailors, caused $70 million in damage and delayed the shipís forward deployment to Japan was ìentirely preventable,î according to the Pacific Fleet commander in a final report made public Friday.
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Associated Press – With a Russian frigate closing in and a half-dozen U.S. warships within shouting distance, the pirates holding a tanker off Somalia’s coast might appear to have no other choice than to wave the white flag. But that’s not how it works in Somalia, a failed state where a quarter of all children die before they turn five, where anybody with a gun controls the streets and where every public institution has crumbled???
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The Times – Russia displayed its military strength in the Mediterranean yesterday after warships heading to Venezuela passed through the Strait of Gibraltar in the second deployment of Russian naval vessels in the waterway since the Cold War.
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Associated Press – High altitudes, dispersed battalions and restricted travel zones are among the serious challenges facing the Marines as it weighs the resources needed to perform its missions in Afghanistan where violence has escalated.
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Daily Telegraph – The Royal Navy has mothballed almost half of its remaining fleet of destroyers as it desperately attempts to save money in the face of a plunging budget.
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Daily Telegraph – Russia is to build eight nuclear submarines by 2015 as part of an ambitious plan to overhaul the country’s ailing navy.
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Defense Technology International – The heart of future joint aviation plans pivots on where the services go with electronic attack and other network centric attack. A relatively small $125 million contract to Northrop Grumman may signal the direction of the shake out. It has landed a contract to build Lot 4 of its ICAP III airborne electronic attack systems for the U.S. Marine Corpsí growing fleet of EA-6B Prowlers.
more…
Scripps Howard – Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that one of the main problems in counterterrorism today is that there are so many people and vehicles, and so much data and material, moving through globalization’s myriad networks that it seems virtually impossible to track it all effectively. Nowhere has this problem been more acute than on the high seas.
more…
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