Naval and Defense News

[kevinkins]

A case for carriers now and in the future:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthomp ... 0df9164f8e

Interesting little development:

https://defence-blog.com/news/u-s-air-f ... ities.html

[xavierv]

US Coast Guard commissions 7th and 8th National Security Cutters

The US Coast Guard commissioned the seventh and eighth national security cutters (NSCs), Kimball and Midgett, at their Honolulu homeport Aug. 24. The unique joint commissioning ceremony marks the official start of NSC operations in Honolulu where the cutters will carry out activities to safeguard the nation’s maritime safety, security and economic interests.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... y-cutters/

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US Navy launches Ford-class Advanced Arresting Gear performance testing with T-45C

A US Navy's T-45C Goshawk began Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) performance testing at the Runway Arrested Landing Site (RALS) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, according to a picture released on August 27.

This series of testing ensures the new recovery system can support the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) air wing. In April, the trainer aircraft completed 60 arrestments at RALS during a five-day, risk-reduction test period utilized to evaluate AAG system integrated performance.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ith-t-45c/

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US Navy’s Knifefish UUV to Enter Low Rate Initial Production

The Program Executive Officer for Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC) granted Milestone C approval to the Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Program. The decision clears the way for low-rate initial production (LRIP) of the system, PEO USC announced Aug. 23.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... roduction/

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Lockheed Martin wins MDA contract for Aegis BMD 6.0 Capability

Lockheed Martin won a $326,998,037 missile defense agency (MDA) contract to design, develop, integrate, test and certify the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) 6.0 capability.

Aegis BMD 6.0 will provide an increased BMD capability by incorporating the Air and Missile Defense Radar, now designated AN/SPY-6(V)1 , for introduction on the first DDG Flight III.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... apability/

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HII Completes Initial Sea Trials of Final Block III Virginia-class Submarine

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division successfully completed the initial sea trials on the newest Virginia-class submarine, Delaware (SSN 791).

The submarine, in the final stages of construction, spent three days at sea proving all of its systems, components and compartments. Delaware submerged for the first time and performed high-speed maneuvers on the surface and underwater.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... submarine/

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1st Next Gen Jammer Mid-Band Pod at NAS Patuxent River for Testing

The first Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band Engineering Development Model pod arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River after a trek across America late July.

The pod will start various verification and test procedures in preparation for the second pod delivery early fall.

Raytheon will deliver 15 EMD pods for mission systems testing and qualification as well as 14 aeromechanical pods for airworthiness certification.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... r-testing/

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South Korea requests Mk 54 torpedoes for its future P-8A MPAs

The US State Department on August 27 green lighted a possible Foreign Military Sale to South Korea for Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes for an estimated cost of US$ 72 million.

South Korea plans to deploy the Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes on its fleet of P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft. The country’s P-8A procurement project was cleared by the US Department of State in Sept. 2018. The package for six aircraft and a range of mission systems, support and training is valued at $2.1 billion, then said the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency. South Korea currently operates a fleet of 16 P-3C MPAs.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... p-8a-mpas/

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Final NH90 ‘HKP14’ Delivered to Swedish Armed Forces

The 18th and final NH90 helicopter for the Swedish Armed Forces was handed over by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in July, at the Airbus Helicopters site of Marignane in Southern France.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ed-forces/

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Sweden loans Torped 45 ASW torpedo parts to the Finnish Navy

The Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) recently delivered parts of Torped 45 anti-submarine torpedoes to Finland, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) stated on September 2, 2019.

According to the cooperation agreement between the two countries, Finland is loaning Torped 45 parts from the SwAF until the delivery of the new Torped 47 system from Saab Dynamics.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... nish-navy/

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Damen launched Pakistan Navy’s second 2300 tons corvette

The second corvette being built for Pakistan Navy was launched at M/s DAMEN Shipyard Galati, Romania, according to a video published on the PN Youtube account. The launching ceremony was attended by the PN Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Ather Mukhtar.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... -corvette/

[kevinkins]

Interesting commentary:

https://warontherocks.com/2019/09/its-t ... challenge/

[jtoatoktoe]

Is this the beginning of the end for the Amphibious Assault Ship?

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29608/marine-bosss-audacious-plan-to-transform-the-corps-by-giving-up-big-amphibious-ships?fbclid=IwAR03ATI8xYbX-b_jvmxcK9eT4pIUgVKFAuS5qT8J6pvoBEHaR4N859eBEFU

[kevinkins]

Nope ... Not in our lifetimes.

[Dysta]

ORIGINAL: kevinkins

Nope ... Not in our lifetimes.

“Invasion” is not an easy word to say especially in today’s time. It depends on the causality it has to make during the landing, but saying so will heavily impact the marine’s morale. This is why amphibious assault must be reconsidered several times when it is up against the country who has massive anti-ship arsenals.

[xavierv]

Russia’s Project 16450 Oceanographic Research Vessel Transferred to New Shipyard for Completion

According to ship spotter pictures, the "Academician Ageev", first ship of Project 16450 class, was transferred under tow to a new shipyard for completion. The vessel's official designation is "oceanographic research vessel (special purpose)". Academician Ageev is being built for the Main Directorate for Deep-Water Research (GUGI) of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. GUGI is responsible for fielding specialized submarines, oceanographic research ships, undersea drones and autonomous vehicles, sensor systems, and other undersea systems.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ompletion/

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Video: French Navy shifting to dual crews for its FREMM Frigates

Interview with Vice Admiral Jean-Phillipe Rolland, Surface Fleet Commander (ALFAN) of the French Navy (Marine Nationale) about the shift to dual crews for the FREMM frigates.

The French Navy is experimenting with dual crews with two FREMM Frigates: Aquitaine in Brest (Atlantic fleet) and Languedoc in Toulon (Mediterranean fleet).

Crew A and crew B (each consisting of 109 sailors) will alternate every 4 months, allowing sailors to retain and develop their skills on a professional level while being able to have more freedom (in terms of schedule) on a personal level. The shift to a dual crew concept will also increase the operational availability of the Aquitaine-class: They are expected to be able to spend 50% more days at sea (FREMM frigate typically spent 110 days at sea before the adoption of the dual crew concept). Another expected benefit is that the crews will be more rested, therefore more operationally efficient when going back to sea (and less prone to committing mistakes in their tasks).

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... -frigates/

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French Navy Names 3 La Fayette-class Frigates Selected for Mid-Life Update

The French Navy (Marine Nationale) named the three (out of five) La Fayette-class frigates selected to receive a mid-life update: The three frigates retained for the comprehensive upgrade are: La Fayette, Courbet and Aconit.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... fe-update/

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TKMS & Kongsberg unveil ‘ORCCA’ New Combat Management System for Submarines

At the 7th International Submarine Conference SubCon 2019 kta naval systems, a joint venture of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Kongsberg, presented its new combat system for non-nuclear submarines. The system called ORCCA combines for the first-time maximum adaptability with the highest level of IT security.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ubmarines/

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TKMS Unveils FC4G 4th Generation Fuel Cell System

During its quadrennial SubCon submarine conference held in Kiel, thyssenkrupp Marine Systems unveiled the 4th Generation Fuel Cell (FC4G) for submarine applications after having finished an extensive test program with more than 70,000 operating hours in the test environment. This is an improvement of an already unrivalled and proven system.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ll-system/

[kevinkins]

Interesting article on how the Marines may reorganize away from MEU into a more distributed posture:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... ious-ships

[xavierv]

U.S. Navy & Marine Corps Demonstrate Unmanned Ship-to-Shore Transit Capability

The U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) recently harnessed the power of unmanned technology and successfully tested the Remote Control Assault Amphibious Vehicle (RC AAV).
...
Bride said NSWC PCD’s USMC Maneuver Systems Branch is concurrently developing three remote breaching/proofing mission sets for the RC AAV’s control system. To accomplish this, NSWC PCD is leveraging optimal technical expertise by networking with experts across the Department of Defense’s (DoD) littoral battlespace communities.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... apability/

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U.S. Navy SSBN USS Nebraska Tests Four Trident II D5 SLBM

The U.S. Navy conducted four scheduled missile test flights of unarmed Trident II (D5) submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) from USS Nebraska, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), off the coast of Southern California this week.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... i-d5-slbm/

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Seawolf-class SSN USS Connecticut back in the Fleet following Maintenance & Modernization work

Returning another strategic asset to service with the fleet, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility completed its work on USS Connecticut (SSN 22) Sept. 5.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... tion-work/

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Navamar to Supply 5 Ship to Shore Connectors to Royal Canadian Navy

Canada's Department of National Defence awarded a contract to local shipbuilder Navamar Inc. for the procurement of five ship-to-shore connectors for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

The ship-to-shore connector will be deployed from the Joint Support Ships (JSS) or MV Asterix. They will have an enhanced and robust capability to transfer cargo and equipment from the ship to the shore. They will enable the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to respond more rapidly to operations and joint actions ashore.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... dian-navy/

[Dysta]

Thailand signed an agreement with China to purchase Type 071E LPD. Possibly just one, and is somewhat different from 071 that PLAN is using:

https://twitter.com/RupprechtDeino/stat ... 3120123907

[kevinkins]

Overnight strike:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... s-of-bombs

And a bit of history:

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/did-you ... ert-storm/

[Tailhook]

Future CVW composition courtesy of Tailhook 2019. Scenario makers take note.

Added to scenario design stuff

[Dysta]

While this news has been claimed as fake, the counteroffensive is surely accounted for by both Chinese and Taiwanese militaries just a strait in between. This can be made as a scenario of how Taiwan can cause damages in Fujian when war happens:

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3773824

[xavierv]

Babcock Team 31 selected as preferred bidder for UK Type 31 frigate programme

Babcock Team 31 has been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) as the preferred bidder to deliver its new warships. Led by Babcock, the Aerospace and Defence company, and in partnership with the Thales Group, the T31 general purpose frigate programme will provide the UK Government with a fleet of five ships, at an average production cost of £250 million per ship.

https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/ds ... programme/

[BradOrbital]

General Dynamics announces a Bluefin-12

Has some specs listed, will this be added to DB for current CMANO?

https://gdmissionsystems.com/products/u ... er-vehicle

[kevinkins]

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... -huge-deal

"The combo could also be remarkably devastating if adapted for American heavy bombers. One can imagine B-2 or B-21 carrying hundreds of these weapons at a time, raining them down on entire enemy formations and air defense nodes from a relatively safe distance. And like the F-35, having a few SPEAR-EWs onboard to use defensively when needed to solve a tactical problem or plug an intermittent vulnerability gap could be incredibly useful for American bomber crews."

Volume of fire with reduced weight ... not a new concept ... may now coming to EW? Erdoğan might be barking up the wrong tree.

And a bit more tactical detail than we normally receive:

https://news.usni.org/2019/09/13/how-to ... operations

[Dysta]

The Chinese Military Parade in 2019 will begin at 1st October. In the meantime, there are numerous amount of new (yes, new and unseen before) weapons PLA will put to show, and that is proved to be true during their parade rehearsals.

Right now I am tidying those photos from Twitter and some Chinese military forums. Some rumors that was told as fabrications are going to be a reality based on the shape of weaponries behind the veils. And I hope this parade can tells us what’s the direction and ambition of PLA heading to.

Stay tuned.

[KLAB]

https://rg.ru/2019/09/13/reg-ufo/neobyc ... niiah.html
https://sputniknews.com/military/201909 ... per-photo/
https://youtu.be/hSzgQkwNtX4

Allegedly an operational S-300 or S-400/ with 9M96 quad pack in service?

[Scar79]

ORIGINAL: KLAB

https://rg.ru/2019/09/13/reg-ufo/neobyc ... niiah.html
https://sputniknews.com/military/201909 ... per-photo/
https://youtu.be/hSzgQkwNtX4

Allegedly an operational S-300 or S-400/ with 9M96 quad pack in service?

At last...saw its mock up at MAKS-1999, as a part of S-300PMU2 TEL. Actually, this quad-9M96/D pack is even more important addition to S-400' capabilities than a 400km-range 40N6 missile. Because it quadruples the amount of missiles being able fired simultaniously, due to the ARH-seeker on 9M96/D missile, which don't need a constant illumination by 92N6 FCR, as it was needed for the older S-300 seires missile of 48N6* family equipped with a SARH seeker.

[Scar79]

Second stage of delivery to Turkey of the components of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1CNkdj47rA