Marine Corps MQ-9 Reapers to Operate in Okinawa for Intelligence, Surveillance Ops

USNI News – Up to six U.S Marine Corps MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles will operate from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa for a year to carry out Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions around the southwest region of Japan, according to a Japan Ministry of Defense and Foreign Ministry public explainer document released Tuesday.

What is an Italian Carrier Strike Group Doing in the Indo-Pacific?

War on the Rocks – The Cavour carrier strike group’s arrival in Tokyo should not be seen as yet another European “showing the flag” journey in distant waters. It comes hot on the heels of a substantive training and engagement schedule in which engagement with Asian partners advances Italy’s pursuit of a fifth-generation carrier strike capability and signals the country’s concerns over the fragility of the international maritime order. It is a flag-bearer for an economic connectivity strategy and a security strategy for the Mediterranean in which the geographical boundaries of this theatre extend eastwards beyond the western Indian Ocean. These are important political steps indicating a commitment to maintaining a technological edge in defense and to working with others to do so — regardless of geographical boundaries, because their uses apply across different interlinked theatres.

How America Lost Its Global Connectivity Lead and Why the Future Depends on Getting it Back

War on the Rocks – The global telecommunications network is increasingly owned and maintained by entities that can be manipulated against the United States. And America and its allies have dropped their deserved lead as innovators in this industry. For the United States, regaining a technological and strategic lead in telecommunications is an urgent necessity for national security. That’s what I will try to convince you of here: The United States used to dominate in this sector. It does not anymore. It is critical that American industry focuses on the next deep horizon, specifically in optimization, private networks, and free space optics, with a lot of help from the U.S. Department of Defense. It’s also a great opportunity for investment. Both public and private sector players can work now to meet this challenge and should, before it’s too late to re-establish dominance.

Setbacks in the Royal Navy’s effort to get newly acquired auxiliary ships into service

Navy Lookout – Early in 2023, the MoD purchased two former commercial vessels for the Naval Service. Despite their procurement ‘at pace’, RFA Proteus has yet to conduct any useful operations and RFA Stirling Castle is being laid up or ‘paused’ temporarily mainly due to a lack of qualified people to operate her.

Everything We Just Learned About The Ghost Shark Uncrewed Submarine

The War Zone – Anduril says it has received active interest in integrating more than a dozen new military and commercial payloads onto its Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous undersea vehicle (XL-AUV). Payload testing and otherwise demonstrating the Ghost Shark’s highly modular design are core focuses of new work on the underwater drone that is now set to occur in the United States.

Fuel Supplies To Russian Troops, Crimea Strangled By Destruction Of Ship

The War Zone – The destruction of the ship full of fuel tank train cars at a port in the Kerch Strait yesterday will hamper Russia’s ability to supply troops and the Crimean peninsula with fuel and lubricants, according to the Ukrainian Navy and the popular Crimean Wind Telegram channel. As we reported yesterday, the Conro Trader, a Russian Roll On Roll Off (RORO) vessel with a reported 30 fuel tank cars aboard, erupted in a ball of flames at the Port of Kavkaz.