Raw Intel

DDG-110 Construction” (click to view full) On April 8/09, “Bath, Ingalls Agree to Navy’s Surface Combatant Plans” heralded a significant restructuring within the American naval shipbuilding community. Under the agreements, the USA would end production at 3 Graf Spee sized DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyers,” but shift all production from the Congressionally-mandated joint arrangements to General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine, which had already made program-related investments in advanced shipbuilding technologies. Northrop Grumman would retain its DDG-1000 deckhouse work, but their main exchange was additional orders for DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers. T…

Hat tip Lee. View the full article

Reuters Photo A U.S. Army cadet reads a book entitled "Kill Bin Laden" as he waits with other cadets for U.S. President Barack Obama to deliver an address on U.S. policy and the war in Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York December 1, 2009. View the full article

Is there a Fullbore attitude? Is there something about the game that can demonstrate an attitude that is hard to describe - but is essential to what makes an American an American? Perhaps. To understand the USA, you must understand football. Hat tip The Good Lt. View the full article

You know I liked the LCS-I better than the mission-module-madness ..... and it looks like LCS-I has morphed into the cringe inducing Multi-Mission Surface Combatant .... that has morphed into what is showing up at the Dubai Air Show as the "Named by Captain Obvious" Surface Combatant Ship ...... which if you must give me something in a USA designed hull that is ready to go now and is smaller than a DDG-51 in order to meet the Frigate Gap ..... I'll take this over the uni-mission LCS any day. Just look at it! ...provides simultaneous Anti-Air, Anti-Surface, Anti-Submarine, Electronic Warfare and Special Operations support capabilities. ... is a high speed, highly …

(h/t HA) Holy crap. This might be funnier than those MMA guys giving wedgies. The most realistic depiction of life during wartime you may ever see short of enlisting yourself. View the full article

So you hate the Littoral Combat Ship? Looking for that Frigate alternative? How about a frigate based on a modern, mature, evolved design? Look no further than South Korea. The Navy plans to launch six 5,600-ton "mini-Aegis'' destroyers between 2019 and 2026 in an effort to help facilitate coastal and blue-water operations, the service said Tuesday. The plan was unveiled in a report submitted to a National Assembly inspection of the Navy at the Gyeryongdae military compound in South Chungcheong Province. The medium-sized KDX-IIA destroyers equipped with SPY radar and close-in weapon systems will be a core part of the Navy's strategic mobile fleet led by 7,6…

Pirates from Somalia have struck in the Somali basin. Pirates hijacked a Spanish trawler with a 36-member crew Friday in the Indian Ocean, an official said. The boat, called the Alakrana, sent out distress signals advising of a pirate attack and since then the company has not been able to communicate with Alakrana, said Echebastar Fleet, the company that owns the ship. Two planes from Luxembourg, taking part in an EU anti-piracy flotilla, flew over the ship and saw armed people aboard, said Pilar Unzalu, the Basque region's fisheries and agriculture minister. The Alakrana is based in the Basque port of Bermeo. The ship was 415 miles (670 kilometers)…

I just saw this on the Navy Times Website--news of a new Navy commercial soon to replace the "Accelerate Your Life" campaign. Obviously aimed at the demographic groups most likely to enlist, the commercial features lots of pictures of Seals and inshore types, some ships, some airplanes, and some footage of WWII sailors doing the things they did. (Here is the commercial) I've had conversations many times with Peter Swartz of the Center for Naval Analyses, a brilliant man, a great American, and one of the godfathers of the 1980's Maritime Strategy. He was particularly helpful to me and the strategy team as we conducted our deliberations, serving as a sounding board fo…

ID contributor Robert Farley has posted his thoughts on the BMD decision over at the Guardian. Rob mentions something in his article that I've been thinking about for awhile regarding the Eastern European missile shield floated by the Bush administration. The reaction in Poland and the Czech Republic clearly illustrates that the purpose of the ballistic missiles in those countries was to influence Russia, yet the Bush administration always sold the concept domestically from the political position that the shield protects the US from Iranian ballistic missiles, an obvious disingenuous position. To me, that indicated Bush was sending a signal to Russia that the ballisti…

You can say one thing about President Obama, he is consistent on foreign affairs. Kick our allies in the teeth and kiss our enemies on the ass. I guess weakness is the new strength. WASHINGTON – Citing a need to refocus America's defenses against missiles, the White House said it will shelve Bush administration plans to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. "After an estensive process, I have approved the unanimous recommendations of my secretary of defense and my joint chiefs of staff to strenghten America's defenses against ballistic-missile attack," Mr. Obama said in a morning address. If all of those people did call for this, t…

There are a few noteworthy submarine stories over the past week, but none are bigger than the launch of India's Advanced Technology Vessel INS Arihant. The 6,000 tonne Arihant was launched by India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a ceremony on the south-east coast. It was built entirely in India with Russian assistance and a second one is due to be constructed shortly. It will undergo trials over the next few years before being deployed and will be able to launch missiles at targets 700km (437 miles) away. Until now, only the US, Russia, France, Britain and China had the capability to build nuclear submarines. This beings India closer to becomin…

A touching story about a man who went to Iraq and embedded with the unit his son was serving with when he was killed. . After he buried Darrell "Skip" Griffin Jr. and after the sympathy calls faded, the elder Griffin, like every American who has ever lost a beloved soldier, struggled to resume life's normal rhythms. But this is where Griffin's journey veered from others and took a twist so unique that it made the U.S. Army bend its rock-hard rules. The 55-year-old accounting consultant, who opposed Vietnam and had never served in combat, traveled to the epicenter of the Iraq war. There, he would trace his son's last days. The result, "Last Journey: A Fathe…

Lets see, the US has rejected the Iranian nuclear proposal, Russia's Kommersant paper quotes an 'informed Israeli' source that Netanyahu flew to Russia to inform them about an impending Israeli attack on Iran. Interesting rumor, because if true it wouldn't be Netanyahu's first secret trip out of town this week, if the rumors are to be believed. Ramadan ends on September 19th. When the sun sets on Eid-al-Fitr, it will be the night after a new moon, so it will be a very dark night over Tehran. Gates comments about Iran this week didn't hint to urgency, rather it sounded to me like he was trying to be an arms salesman to the region. Maybe it's all part of a conspirac…

I wish I could claim credit - but in an email from an anon reader; I’m going to wash my mind out with soap for thinking this . . . but recall “ The Final Countdown †and everyone’s fantasy about turning a modern CVN and CVW loose on the Japanese fleet before Pearl harbor? Would a sequel turning LCS loose in the Solomons Campaign then be labeled “Final Letdown� View the full article

The upkeep ain't worth it and you have bigger fish to fry. Iraqi officials have discovered that they may have a real air force, after all. The Defense Ministry revealed Sunday that it had recently learned that Iraq owns 19 MIG-21 and MIG-23 jet fighters, which are in storage in Serbia. Ministry officials are negotiating with the Serbs to restore and return the aircraft. I know someone who might take a '21 for the mid-five figures. View the full article

While the consensus opinion is the DDG-1000 is going to be this impossibly expensive warship, Chris Cavas has an article up on Defense News noting that the first Zumwalt class destroyer is on cost and on schedule. It is still early, but apparently the Navy is willing to demonstrate some confidence regarding the ship, because from whatever quiet cubicle they have been hiding the DDG-1000 program manager, Captain James Syring, apparently he has been given permission to do an interview. As far as I know, at least the rumor on the street has been... Captain Syring has not allowed to give interviews since at least March of 2008, some 16+ months ago. There is no point i…

My bona fides as an advocate of the 2nd Amendment are unassailable. I do not recognize the right of any government to disarm me. When my daughter was born I promised to always be there and to never be lying in a mall parking lot bleeding to death saying "Man I wish I woulda brought my pistol". I've carried on aircraft (with the pilot's permission) while escorting my team's weapons. I think guns are a wonderful way to kill bad guys. BUTT!!!!!!!!!! The clown who brought a gun to the Obama healthcare farce did the cause of the right to bear arms no help though. On so many levels and for so many reasons this freedom exercising douchebag hurt the right to carry, the health ca…

My father would be having a cow. I can hear him now, "Stand up straight d@mnit. He's no better than you are." First a Saudi, then a Hawaiian, now a Dane. Bad national habit. View the full article

It will take some time getting used to seeing that ship at sea. It will look particularly interesting when they are in pairs, and with other ships. Click images for very high resolution. That flight deck is gigantic. View the full article