Defense Technology International – Russia’s aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is returning home after its saber-rattling voyage into the Mediterranean and participation in naval live firing exercises near French and Spanish waters.
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US Coast Guard – New task for U.S. Coast Guard in Arctic's warming seas
Virginian Pilot – Itís namesake is one of the Coast Guardís most storied ships, but todayís Cutter Bear has colorful chapters all its own as it marks its silver anniversary.
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Air Warfare – Rex Replay
Air Force – Once again, as in 1938, the bombers show they can find ships at sea.
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US Navy – U.S. Navy aims to flex 'soft power'
Christian Science Monitor – Goodwill missions could become the Navy’s chief strategy in the war on terror.
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Geopolitics / China – The Rise of China and the Future of the West: Can the Liberal System Survive?
Foreign Affairs – China’s rise will inevitably bring the United States’ unipolar moment to an end. But that does not necessarily mean a violent power struggle or the overthrow of the Western system. The U.S.-led international order can remain dominant even while integrating a more powerful China — but only if Washington sets about strengthening that liberal order now.
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Russian Navy – Bear is Back: Russian Aircraft Carrier Operations off Gibraltar
Defense Technology International – Russia’s aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov with its flight deck loaded with Su-33 Flanker fighters, Su-25 Frogfoot close air support aircraft and Ka-27 helix helicopters??? that scene could be witnessed off Gibraltar in January.
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Afghanistan – Think tank: Surge now needed in Afghanistan
Army Times – Sean Naylor writes that the American Enterprise Institute, the think tank that came up with the ìsurgeî strategy for Iraq, has just completed a re-evaluation of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and concluded that another surge of U.S. forces is required, this time into southern Afghanistan.
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Iraq – U.S. Commanders in Iraq Favor Pause in Troop Cuts
Washington Post – Tom Ricks writes that senior U.S. military commanders in Iraq say they want to freeze troop reductions starting this summer for at least a month, making it more likely that the next administration will inherit as many troops in Iraq as there were before President Bush announced a “surge” of forces a year ago.
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Royal Australian Navy – Admiral: May Need to Fight for Sea Control
Defense Technology International – Australia’s Chief of Navy warns that “enormous strategic change” taking place at the moment will have major implications for the maritime forces of Australia and its allies.
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Geopolitics – Waving Goodbye to Hegemony
New York Times Magazine – Just a few years ago, Americaís hold on global power seemed unshakable. But a lot has changed while weíve been in Iraq ó and the next president is going to be dealing with not only a triumphant China and a retooled Europe but also the quiet rise of a ë”second world.”
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US Navy – Why the Navy needs more ships
Armed Forces Journal – The Navy needs a larger number of ships, not only for winning a war at sea against a stronger opponent but also for carrying out diverse missions in peacetime, ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, security assistance, enforcement of maritime agreements, counterpiracy, vessel traffic service, multinational exercises, countersmuggling and counterdrug, to regional deterrence through forward presence in selected parts of the worldís oceans.
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Information Warfare – The Dogs of Web War
Air Force – US armed forces face “peer” adversaries in only one area – military cyberspace.
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Iraq – War, Meet the 2008 Campaign
New York Times – Michael Gordon writes that for the past year, he has led a double existence, dividing his time between military reporting assignments in Iraq and tracking the campaign debate in the United States???Those were parallel universes, in which the discussion of the taxing road ahead and potential fall-back options were often so divergent that the generals and the politicians seemed not to be talking about the same war.
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Geopolitics / Democracy – Slow But Sure
Financial Times – Niall Ferguson writes: Has the democratic wave broken? Is the tide of political freedom now ebbing after the spectacular flow that began in 1989? Recent events on nearly every continent certainly give real cause for concern to those who dream of a world governed by the ballot box rather than the bullet. But they may also provide an overdue opportunity to think more realistically about the way the process of democratisation works.
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US Marines – Guam Braces for Peaceful Military Incursion
Washington Post – People on this faraway island — a U.S. territory 7,824 miles west of Los Angeles — delight in calling Guam the “tip of the spear” for its role defending U.S. interests in the Far East???The Pentagon has chosen Guam, a quirkily American place that marries the beauty of Bali with the banality of Kmart, as the prime location in the western Pacific for projecting U.S. military muscle.
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US Navy – Lincoln strike group begins sonar exercise
San Diego Union Tribune – Despite legal sparring between the Navy and environmentalists over sonar transmissions off San Diego and other parts of Southern California, a sonar exercise involving the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group began as scheduled yesterday.
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US Navy – Nimitz strike group embarks on special deployment
San Diego Union Tribune – The Nimitz strike group is filling in for the Japan-based Kitty Hawk while that aircraft carrier undergoes several months of maintenance.
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US Navy – U.S. military must consider Japan base's impact on marine mammal
San Diego Union Tribune – A federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday to consider the impact of a proposed military base in Japan on an endangered marine mammal revered in Japanese culture.
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Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force – Japan Navy Resumes Anti-Terror Mission
Associated Press – A Japanese navy destroyer departed Thursday to resume the country’s anti-terror mission in the Indian Ocean after a divisive battle in parliament caused a three-month suspension.
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South Korean Navy – Korean AIP Submarine Now in Service
Defense Technology International – ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), the German naval shipbuilding group, has released photos of the first Type 214 submarine now in service with the Republic of Korea Navy.
With the handover of the 1,700-ton submarine, named the Son Won Il, at the end of December South Korea has become the third nation after Germany and Italy that operates submarines powered by a combined diesel-electric and fuel cell propulsion.
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Russian Navy – RAF alert as Russia stages huge naval exercise in Bay of Biscay
The Times – RAF fighters scrambled to track Russian long-range bombers joining a naval task force yesterday as Moscow practised strike tactics off the coast of France and Spain and test-launched nuclear-capable missiles.
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French Navy – End of a Class
Defense Technology International – The French navy’s last Le Redoutable class submarine has set sail for the final time
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Editorial Note – Naval Year in Review 2007
2007
World Naval Operational News Highlights
The ten most significant naval news stories / themes this year included:
- The US military’s recognition that climate change poses a security threat to the U.S. Most interesting was their recommendation that the U.S. government work to mitigate climate change.
- The Chinese anti-satellite test which showed that China has the capability to destroy satellites in low earth orbit. Could the U.S. Navy operate today without satellites?
- The Russian cyberwar waged against Estonia, which showed how wars in cyberspace will be conducted. Could the U.S. Navy have defended itself as well as the Estonians did?
- The success of the surge / Sunni Awakening in Iraq. Remember that the Sunni Awakening began in Anbar Province and was aided by the US Marines first.
- The seizure of Royal Navy personnel in the Gulf by Iran. Iran continues to take an offensive rather than defensive attitude in the Gulf.
- The growing sovereignty claims over the Northwest Passage. This year Russia planted a flag on the seabed there, the US Coast Guard opened a base there, and the Canadian Navy funded a class of arctic patrol ships intended to work there.
- The resurgence of the Russian Navy, funded by petrodollars. Long range patrol flights coupled with the first task force deployment to the Mediterranean Sea since Soviet times means the Russian Navy is (mildly) back.
- The decreasing size of the Royal Navy. Note though its two new aircraft carriers were formally funded this year.
- The deepening disaster of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater procurement program. It seems empowering contractors to oversee their own contracts was not such a great idea after all.
- The crisis in the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding program has come to a head with the canceling of follow-on Littoral Combat Ships due to massive cost overruns. Will the U.S. Navy finally take a more hands-on approach to its shipbuilding programs to keep costs down?
Statistics
In 2007, there were news stories linked to on 275 / 365 days – that is on 75% of the days.
In 2007, NOSI linked to 428 articles covering 394 news stories.
In 2007, 118 of these stories (30%) were related to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, or U.S. Military Sealift Command.
In 2007, 186 of these stories (47%) were background stories and 4 stories (1%) were historical stories.
The remaining 85 news stories (22%) covered the operational activities of 19 nation’s navies, coast guards, and marine corps:
Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom
In 2007, 177,202 pages of information were read on NOSI by 106,546 users.
Editorial Note – 2007 Archives Now Available
Military Space – Disharmony in the spheres
Economist – Modern American warfare relies on satellites. They make America powerful but also vulnerable, particularly in light of China’s new celestial assertiveness
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