Raw Intel

Our friends at the Congressional Budget Office have done it again. Their analysis of the Navy's shipbuilding plan came out this week. You can get your copy here, or read at the bottom of the post. You need to read it all, there is a lot here - but here is what I found the most interesting at second reading. They lay it all out in the summary; we have garbage in and garbage out. Once you read the cold, hard, facts given by the CBO and then look at DoN's numbers, it almost seems like the two organizations are living in parallel universes. We'll get to the numbers in a bit - but one thing that kept coming to mind as CBO sliced off each of its thousand cuts w…

For the Little Crappy Ship and its sub-optimal construct; it's the easiest thing to do. We've been discussing Chris Cavas's articles on LCS for well over a half decade - and his latest work outlines in painful detail what critics have been warning about from the start. More from the Perez report is so Salamanderesque that I swear their team has been hanging out on the front porch. As we said in the middle of last decade, once hulls displace water in number; our reality will trump your PPT. The limited ability of the LCS crew to perform onboard maintenance, and the need to return to port for even basic repairs, “negatively impacts†the ships’ availabilit…

Christopher Carlson has produced a very good analysis on the ASCM hit on the INS Hanit. You can get the whole thing here. The Executive Summary: If missiles have your puzzl'r puzzl'n - then make sure and listen to yesterday's Midrats if you have not already. View the full article

Packed away in one of my boxes is a speech I outlined back in 2004. It was concerning a concept, a word, that with the last few generations we seem to have forgotten about.This forgetfulness manifests itself in different ways and in different degrees throughout history’s path. This isn't the first time - but in our living memory it is acute.It was on a word that is both a concept and a worldview; stewardship. I can’t find my outlined speech, but I was reminded of it Friday when I read this line from David Brooks article, Why Our Elites Stink: … today’s elite lacks the self-conscious leadership ethos that the … old boys’ network did possess. If you went t…

Nice. No sketchy sound track. Just Sailors and their ships.Me? I like it because it reminds me of one of the best views in my Navy career - early AM when an UDALOY and a RAPUSHKA came out of the fog off Portugal en route to the STROG.This is the ADMIRAL CHABANENKO of Udaloy II class. The Russians do make attractive ships. View the full article

We've covered the Battle of Tsushima before - but who can say no to this quality cut from the NHK mini-series? If nothing else we can once again see that no one has a better war face than the Japanese. BTW - the Japanese flagship is still out there. Now if we can only save the USS OLYMPIA .... Hat tip CB. View the full article

Standard launching announcement; Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today announced the launch of the second Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) at the Navantia shipyard in Spain. The launch represented a major milestone in the shipbuilding process and was attended by the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs. Australia is acquiring two amphibious ships for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The LHDs are the largest ships ever built for the Royal Australian Navy and will provide the ADF with one of the most capable and sophisticated amphibious deployment systems in the world. The Canberra Class LHDs are bi…

As outlined first and foremost by B.G. Burkett's book, Stolen Valor - we all know that the fakes and poseurs out there are not just harmless braggarts. They are harmful frauds that smear those who actually served, and through their false statements, absorb funds and benefits from those who deserve them.The Supreme Court - being without benefit of having served - just doesn't get it. They killed the Stolen Valor Act and there is nothing more to be done.What we can do is continue to do what we have done for years and the internet makes possible. Find the poseurs and publicly shame them. Partner with local news organizations to get the word out. If we no longer have the law…

One of the few fiction books on nuclear war I recommend is "Alas Babylon." Well worth a read even today, and an excellent addition to a survival library. It came to mind when catching up on news today. The war in that book began with an incident involving a military plane at Latakia. Some of the comments from the Turkish government could be quotes from the book... LW View the full article

Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is an Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a core founding member of the department’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). Are China’s Near Seas “Anti-Navy†capabilities aimed directly at the United States? Yes, but it’s more complicated than that. In the military realm, Washington and Beijing face a situation that is complex both in concept and in policy implications. In contrast to its mostly-settled land borders , China’s island and maritime zone claims in the “Near Seas†remain mostly unresolved. To further its still-contested claims in these “Three Seas†(the Yellow, …

Today's guest is Robert C. Rubel, Dean, Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College. Is China the real Mahanian maritime power of the 21st century? Alfred Thayer Mahan’s book The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783 was published in 1890 and became a global best seller. The book itself had an influence on history, being read and acted on by Theodore Roosevelt and Kaiser Wilhelm, among others. Of late, the Chinese seem to have developed an attachment to it also. Whether it will exert similar influence on their naval policy remains to be seen, but the question posed by Information Dissemination reveals the continuing reverence that is paid to Ma…

Today's guest is Stephen Carmel, Sr. Vice President Maritime Services at Maersk Line, Limited. With so few U.S.-Flagged ships and carriers, is America still a maritime power? A.T. Mahan is perhaps the most widely quoted and authoritative strategic thinker on the relationship between commercial shipping and maritime power. That is probably because today any discussions of maritime power outside of those promoted by parochial industry interests rarely touch on any dimension of maritime power other than naval. Thinkers today just don’t ponder that relationship in any serious way. Consequently there is no discussion of the actual condition of the foreign going US flag me…

Today's guest is Mike Petters, President and Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries. How long would it take the shipbuilding industry to grow capacity and throughput if the nation faced a naval crisis or conflict? Anticipation, Not Reaction, is Critical The fact is the shipbuilding industry is not designed to respond rapidly to a crisis. Whatever the conflict, the nature of our business dictates that we play with the team we’ve got. Ours is a business of anticipation, not reaction. There is nothing magical about it. To meet tomorrow’s crisis or conflict requires continuous investment today to ensure we can deliver capability critical to our natio…

h/t Hot Air The official White House photo of the day for Memorial Day was A. a tasteful shot of Arlington Cemetery B. A pic of a Gold Star Mom at her son's grave C. An image of an inverted rifle and empty boots signifying the death of a soldier. NOPE! The answer and an F- for the Campaigner in Chief was: A picture of the Campaigner in Chief reflected in the Vietnam Memorial with a halo around his noble warrior, gutsy-call-making head. In addition to the F-, he gets a D for Disgrace. The entire purpose of Memorial day is to honor those who laid down their lives in defense of our freedom. Obama didn't serve and since his coronation has used the military as nothing m…

Seriously though, go read Ranger Up founder Nick's latest about Chris Hayes... MSNBC’s Chris Hayes proclaimed on Memorial Day that he was uncomfortable labeling fallen troops as heroes as he felt the term is used as an excuse to engage in “Unjust Warsâ€. Somewhere Michael Moore, Bill Maher, and the Westboro Baptist Church just had a Douchegasm... And it just gets better after that. Go check out ultimate in chops busting. View the full article

I came across the bit of pseudo-intellectual mental masturbation you called a thoughtful discussion just before going to be part of an honor guard for a parade and memorial service for those who fought and died for freedom. Part of what they died for is your right (and that of your fellow panelists) to display your intellectual and moral shortcomings to the world, and I would have that no other way. That said, I think your apology has far more to do with realizing you stuck another shortcoming into a 220 socket and flipped the switch, hurting both you and your struggling network. As such, I'm afraid I can't and don't accept it as I don't believe it. In fact, I have a …

Politics can be pretty disgusting on a good day, but this is a new low. My good friend, combat veteran and legitimate American hero David Bellavia is running for Congress in NY's 27th District. He would be an Allen West-ian breath of fresh air in the House and God-willing and the creek don't rise we will see him there. He is running against a rich guy (and kicking his ass) who is willing to throw money and now disgraceful allegations at David and a charity that we both helped found, the Warrior Legacy Foundation (WLF). There have been claims made by proxies and political tools of David's opponent Chris Collins that WLF is a scam designed to line David's pockets and defrau…

One of the core reasons more people have not joined the LCS bandwagon has been the ongoing contradictions and contrary sales points by its strongest advocates.Earlier this week we bounced the CNO's "not in harms way" off The Under's "LCS will be like Taffy 3" strange rally cry.Well - there is more to chew on that will help explain why LCS just cannot get traction. "If we needed a frigate, we would build a frigate." --- Undersecretary of the Navy Bob Work at the CATO forum: The Future of the U.S. Navy Surface Fleet. P 50 Section 2 of U.S. Navy Program Guide 2012 "Decommissioning of the remaining 26 FFGs is scheduled to occur prior to FY 2019. The LCS will repl…

From here. STRAIT OF HORMUZ (May 19, 2012) The guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) transits the Strait of Hormuz with Military Sealift Command missile range instrumentation ship USNS Invincible (T-AGM 24) and British Royal Navy ships HMS Ramsey (M110), HMS Pembroke (M107) and RFA Lyme Bay (L3007). Nitze is deployed as part of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeff Atherton/Released) It is very interesting that while …

The opposition we have voiced here towards the sectarianian agenda of the Navy's Diversity Bullies is just our part of a much larger socio-political scam.The nastier side effects of the Diversity Industry we have all seen, but for better or worse, it is good to see that it isn't just the Navy's issue - but one of our larger society. Running parallel to our arguments here over the years, Victor Davis Hanson wraps it up well. Read it all. For anyone familiar with the American university and its gospel of multicultural diversity, the revelation that Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren exploited her 1/32 Cherokee ancestry to pass as a minority is a dog-bites-ma…