Naval and Defense News

[xavierv]

Finally, two Chinese Aircraft Carriers at sea…

For the first time ever, two People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) aircraft carriers got underway and were at sea, at the same time. This took place on February 27, 2019.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... rs-at-sea/

[Dysta]

ORIGINAL: xavierv

Finally, two Chinese Aircraft Carriers at sea…

002 is returns to Dalian while 001 ported to Qingdao within a week:

https://twitter.com/dafengcao/status/11 ... 7647773696

[Dysta]

Amid the signed order to suspend INF by Russia, German MoD Ursula snubs Russia with Chinese missile threats that could reach Moscow as well. Russian comments said that China is welcome to try, but very doubtful it may happens:

https://sputniknews.com/world/201903041 ... -minister/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/10 ... aty-europe

[xavierv]

Australia’s Attack-class Submarine Design Contract Signed

The Submarine Design Contract is the first contract workscope to be fully executed under the Strategic Partnering Agreement.
The scope for this phase of work includes the ongoing maturation of the Attack Class design as it progresses into the next design phase known as the Definition phase. This will include the source selection of over 100 critical and main equipment that will contribute to the submarine design solution. This will mark significant opportunity for Australian industry, which together with ongoing Australian workforce skills development, will play an important part in the growth of the sovereign submarine capability in Australia.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ct-signed/

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Saab-Damen details joint offer for the Dutch Walrus Replacement Programme

In a story published on March 2, the Swedish defense company confirmed that the future Expeditionary Submarine production process will see sections made in Karlskrona in Sweden and then assembled in Vlissingen in the Netherlands by Damen. This means joining of pressure hull sections and building of complex platforms and their insertion onto the body of the submarine. Validation and certification phases will also be carried out in Vlissingen. Full life cycle support will be executed in Den Helder, in the North of the Netherlands.

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

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India to Sign Second Akula-class SSN Submarine Lease Agreement with Russia

India is set to conclude an agreement with Russia for the lease of a second nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). The amount of the transaction will be around 3 billion US dollars.

According to Indian daily newspaper ‘The Economic Times‘, an intergovernmental agreement on the lease of an Akula-class submarine (Project 971) is likely to be signed on March 7, 2019. As part of the deal called “Chakra III”, the submarine will be transferred to India by 2025 after an extensive modernization program by a yet to be named Russian shipyard.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... th-russia/

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Swedish Navy Submarines Now Fitted with SubROV Submarine Remotely Operated Vehicle

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) recently handed over the first SubROV Submarine Remotely Operated Vehicle to the Swedish Navy (Svenska marinen). SubROV is a tool that provides new capabilities to submarine crews, allowing them to carry out various tasks outside the submarine. The first users of the new system are the crews of the Gotland and Södermanland submarines.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... d-vehicle/

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Littoral Combat Ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) Commissioned Into the U.S. Navy

The littoral combat ship USS Charleston (LCS 18) was commissioned into the U.S. Navy during a ceremony in Charleston, South Carolina, March 2. USS Charleston is the 16th littoral combat ship to enter the U.S. Navy fleet and the 9th of the Austal-built Independence-class.

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

[kevinkins]

More on Red Flag 19-1:

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/03/red ... -in-years/

[Filitch]

Is The Avionist serious source? It claims that F-177s were deployed in Syria
https://theaviationist.com/2019/03/02/f ... zine-says/

[xavierv]

French Carrier Strike Group Underway for ‘Mission Clemenceau’

This is Charles de Gaulle’s first deployment following its 18 month-long mid-life refit. As part of NATO Task Force 473 the CSG will operate in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. The task force should reach Singapore in late May.

French, European and international assests (from Australia, Denmark, United States, Portugal and the United Kingdom) will form the escort around the French aircraft carrier. Its airwing consists in 20x Rafale M, 2x E-2C Hawkeye, 2x Dauphin and 1x NH90 NFH helicopters.

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

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US Navy sets up new PEO for the Columbia-class Program

PEO CLB will provide oversight of the construction of 12 Columbia-class submarines (SSBN) that will help the US Navy maintain a credible, survivable and modern sea-based strategic deterrent into the 2080s. The Columbia Class will replace the existing Ohio Class nuclear ballistic submarine force, which entered service in the 1980s. The future submarines will be 170 m long and 13 in diameter, and should have 16 missile launch tubes instead of 24 missile launch tubes on Ohio-class submarines.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... s-program/

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Singapore MINDEF Outlines Future Procurement Plans

In a document titled “Building the Next Generation Singapore Armed Forces”, Singapore’s Ministry of Defense outlines the future of the nation state’s forces in 2030 and beyond, as well as some of its procurement plans.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ent-plans/

[redcoat]

A Norwegian newspaper - The Barents Observer - has looked at an Izvestia article that seems to outline Russian plans to impose new passage rules upon foreign naval vessels using the Northern Sea Route (NSR):

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2019/03/izvestia-what-awaits-foreign-military-vessels-northern-sea-route

[kevinkins]

Some rational for the F117 deploying after many years:

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26 ... t-recently

No one has confirmed the original source from Scramble Magazine's Facebook page or other ongoing rumors so it's all conjecture.

Kevin

[Gunner98]

An interesting article about a RAND study: US ‘Gets Its Ass Handed To It’ In Wargames: Here’s A $24 Billion Fix

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/03/us- ... llion-fix/

[xavierv]

UK MoD Issues Notice for Interim SSGW Anti-Ship Missiles

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (MoD) issued a prior information notice (PIN) for a Next Generation Surface Ship Guided Weapon (SSGW) contract for the Royal Navy.

The UK MoD Weapons, Torpedoes, Tomahawk and Harpoon (TTH) Project Team issued the PIN March 8, 2019. Note that a PIN isn’t a tender but is a notice used to set out a contracting authority’s purchasing intentions. A PIN is mostly used by contracting authorities to provide suppliers with information that they are planning a procurement process and provides suppliers with as much information as possible at an early stage.

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

[redcoat]

HMS Duncan has sailed from Portsmouth for a six-month operational deployment, during which she will be working alongside the French Navy.

For the first part of her deployment the Type 45 destroyer will be operating in the Mediterranean, tasked with providing area air defence for the French carrier FS Charles de Gaulle as part of their CSG deployment, Groupe Aéronaval (GAN) 19.

HMS Duncan's participation in GAN 19 will offer the Royal Navy ship crucial training in task group operations and aid the preparations for HMS Queen Elizabeth's first operational deployment in 2021.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2019/march/08/190308---hms-duncan-departs

[Dysta]

In this year, China will begin a maiden flight to MA700 turboprop plane:

https://youtu.be/yMZJJVQhoRU
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-0 ... 881446.htm

[Triode]

video with work of 5P42 "Filin" laser dazzler from projects 22350 and 21980 ships
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeYiEIQZ3HA&t=

[xavierv]

KONGSBERG awarded JSM Joint Strike Missile contract with Japan

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS (KONGSBERG) has entered into contract with Japan to supply the initial deliveries of JSM (Joint Strike Missile) for their fleet of F-35 fighter aircrafts.

KONGSBERG and the Government of Japan are not disclosing the value or volume of the contract. The JSM development started in 2008 and was completed in mid-2018 after a series of successful validation test firings.

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... ith-japan/

[kevinkins]

News re: the frozen north -

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/secur ... -sea-route

[Gunner98]

Regaining the High Ground At Sea

Interesting study from CSBA. its long - 170 pages, but has some interesting ideas for the US Navies CVWs of 2040.

https://csbaonline.org/research/publica ... ier-air-wi


To free up funding to evolve its CVWs, the Navy could reduce the number of carriers and CVWs...

[xavierv]

Simbad-RC VSHORAD system selected for Philippine Navy’s future frigates

MBDA's Simbad-RC Very Short Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) System has been selected by the Philippine Navy for its future José Rizal-class frigates, currently being constructed by the South Korean shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan.

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

How Lockheed Martin Plans to Make the Freedom-class LCS More Lethal and Survivable

At the SNA 2019 symposium held in mid-January, Lockheed Martin unveiled a scale model dubbed "LCS with Lethality and Survivability Upgrades"

This scale model featured a number systems never seen before on a Freedom type Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), including four Nulka decoy launchers, eight NSM anti-ship missile launchers, two SEWIP Block 3 jamming modules and eight Mk41 vertical launching systems (VLS). Note that according to Lockheed Martin, these are the larger variant of the Mk41 (also known as “strike length”) meaning that, theoretically, an LCS in this configuration could deploy Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles (more realistically, the VLS would be used for quad-packed ESSM surface to air missiles, meaning a total of sixteen missiles).

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


US Navy supply ships demonstrate submarine operations support capability

USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) conducted a mobile logistics demonstration with the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE 14), March 11, in the first of many evolutions designed to evaluate supply ships’ ability to sustain submarine operations in an expeditionary setting.

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

[Hongjian]

There are some indications that the Pakistani Airforce is integrating PL-15 long range BVRAAMs for the JF-17.

The latest image (March 2019) indicated that JF-17 (Block II?) has been carrying the new PL-15 long range AAM for testing.

This correlates with an earlier rumor:

[Dysta]

ORIGINAL: Hongjian

There are some indications that the Pakistani Airforce is integrating PL-15 long range BVRAAMs for the JF-17.

By the looks of it, that PL-15 on the picture is likely photoshopped because of the color. But, I do hope I am wrong, is it possible the current models of JF-17 are capable to guide PL-15 beyond 50nm? Or it has CEC assisted with Eyrieye and/or other Chinese AEW planes?
————————————

Meanwhile, ARS reported about massive Iranian military drill with over 50 UAVs in different models, they even hinted the weaponized RQ-170 clones:
https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... nes-maybe/