HG S2 (Intel Bot)

(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 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyers, it said. The mobile fleet is to consist of two KDX-III destroyer-led squadrons involving KDX-II or KDX-IIA ships, support vessels, new frigates and attack submarines. A new naval base to be built on the southern island of Jeju by 2014 will serve as homeport for the fleet. South Korea expects to build three KDX-IIA hulls for the price of one KDX-III hull (KSX-III runs about $860 million per hull), with a KDX-IIA price coming in around $286 million each. As I understand it, all the system costs will pile on top of that. Ultimately, this will be a ship that costs South Korea about the same as we are spending on the LCS. It is a bit worrisome how much more bang for the buck the rest of the world is getting out of new Navy ships while we are stuck on a 70s-80s design Burke with questionable growth options for the future. View the full article

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) from the Seychelles islands, Unzalu said. Company executives were headed for the Spanish Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, Echebastar Fleet said. It was the second attack in less than a month against the Alakrana. On Sept. 4, while operating in waters off the Seychelles islands, the vessel dodged an attack by taking evasive action. ONI issued an alert this morning warning that attacks may continue over the next 24-48 hours, wind and weather conditions are favorable for more pirate activity in that area. The success of pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden will force tactical adaptation from pirates, and the fishing regions south of Somalia off the Kenyan coast are a likely tactical adjustment. David Axe has had some great materials over the last few days on the efforts in the Gulf of Aden, including articles in the Washington Times and World Politics Review. View the full article

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 for many ideas and putting together extraordinarily helpful workshops that prodded our thinking along. Peter does a wonderful job of sending stuff to me that shows the CNO or other officials making references to the Maritime Strategy--mostly I think to show me that it is still being talked about. Just the other night, he and I discussed the very consistent messaging the Navy is doing with respect to CS21. At the end of the conversation, I repeated something I've said since the document came out--until it moves money, the Maritime Strategy is just good birdcage carpeting. That said--this commercial is clearly derivative of the Maritime Strategy---especially the key message "A Global Force For Good". The very last paragraph of the Strategy says, "United States seapower is a force for good, protecting the Nation's vital interests even as it joins with others to promote security and prosperity across the globe". Whatever advertising agency the Navy is using has clearly determined that young people with a propensity to join the Navy increasingly see themselves as connected with the rest of the world--in a global system, if you will. Cribbing this theme from the Maritime Strategy is a wise play, and I think it serves as an effective theme for the campaign. By the way--we stole the "force for good" thing from a Royal Navy strategy document I read. Always thought it was a great way to sum things up. Bryan McGrath View the full article

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 ballistic missile shield was on the negotiating table for the subject of Iran. I look at the decision today and see a smart move by Gates, for reasons previously discussed, but believe the politics of this has everything to do with the Obama administration successfully trading the ballistic missile shield deployment to eastern Europe for something in regards to Iran. France is now 'sure' Iran is working on nukes. Israel is sending every signal it can that it is poised to attack. The IAEA now says Iran has sufficient information to build a bomb. Israel is calling for tough sanctions, and suggests they will attack if tough sanctions aren't applied. Then there is the immediate effect the timing the Eastern European decision has on Israel. All that equipment heading to Israel for the Juniper Cobra exercise in mid-October is supposedly going to stay put now. That will be useful. We seem to be heading towards one of two conclusions. Either big time sanctions are applied on Iran, or Israel attacks Iran by the end of the year. Today's actions suggest Russia will support the sanctions, but I guess we will have to wait and see. As for the non-political side of the BMD events on Thursday, my thoughts are on the USNI Blog: Thinking About Future Ballistic Missile Defense. View the full article

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, then we are in deep shite. This was so shocking the WSJ even released this piece with multiple spelling errors. Their editors must be in shock. I guess Obama is trying to curry favor w/ the Putin regime, so he can claim we are working with them to stop Iran from getting nukes. In the end this will show just how much he is getting played. I am gonna cut this off now before I spend a couple thousand words explaining just what a naif our President is. Unicorns and freaking bunnies FFS! View the full article

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 Father and Son in Wartime," is a common story about a father-son relationship, told in an uncommon way. View the full article

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 conspiracy to export of the F-22 to Israel? Or maybe Israel is getting ready to strike. View the full article

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 in citing any specific part of this article, read it all, and if you are even partially familiar with the way most ships have been developed over the last many years take note at all the positive signs. Imagine the Navy completing systems designs, hull designs, integration testing, and waiting until maturity before construction... a novel concept that so far points to a DDG-1000 that may actually be the first surface warship class since the Ticonderoga class not 100%+ over cost. The only real surprise to me in this story is the very last paragraph, which suggests the DDG-1000 CO will be a Commander. I guess that makes sense, being the Navy continues to insist the Zumwalt is a destroyer even as they will displace more weight (by several thousand tons) than every warship in the world except for the Russian nuclear battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy. I do wonder though, if that by letting Captain Syring loose with interviews with the press if that doesn't represent a sign that the DDG-1000 hull is getting more attention as a future surface combatant option after FY11. DDG-1000 is, at least at this point in time, the only good news story in surface combatant shipbuilding when it comes to first in class cost and schedule. While this can surely change, good news in surface combatant shipbuilding is so rare can anyone blame the Navy for getting this information out to the press? I don't. I have no idea what the future of the DDG-1000 hull is, but I still say we end up with four, not three, when it is all said and done. From an industrial perspective, not to mention a historical perspective of the Navy wanting 4 NSFS vessels (remember, there were 4 Iowa class maintained in the 600 ship Navy plan), building 3 the DDG-51s in Mississippi and building a 4th DDG-1000 in Maine should get both shipyards to FY12, by which time the Navy should have a better idea what they want for the CG(X) program, not to mention some idea how to meet the often stated requirement of "more than 313 ships" testified to Congress every time the Flags go to the hill. View the full article

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 care debate and the image of those who disagree with the President's many over reaches. FFS, what was this idiot not thinking? And to top it off this bandito of ass was carrying a sign that said "It's time to water the tree of liberty" Good God, the rest of the quote is about killing tyrants. Say hello to the Secret Service and the IRS maroon, you brought this on yourself. View the full article

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

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 becoming the first nation in decades to develop a nuclear triad, and the first nation to do so in the Indian Ocean area. While this development does not shift any balance of power in the region, it certainly gives both Pakistan and China something to think about. There is something else though, it will also give India a case for becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a discussion the current permanent five members are not looking forward to. In other nuclear submarine news, Russia has launched their second Project 885 Yasen (NATO code name Graney) submarine, the latest Russian attack submarine. The 119-meter-long, 13.5-meter-wide sub will carry a crew of 90, dive to 600 meters, displace 13,800 tons, and run at up to 31 knots. Designed by the St. Petersburg-based Malakhit Design Bureau, the submarine will have eight torpedo tubes and carry 24 long-range cruise missiles of several types, anti-ship missiles, and mines. Malakhit's general director and chief designer, Vladimir Pyalov, said the sub's weapons will have longer ranges and the ability to destroy land targets as well as naval ones. Pyalov said at the launching ceremony that Severodvinsk will undergo sea tests in summer 2010 and then will be commissioned by the Northern Fleet, the RIA Novosti official news agency reported. All of the submarine's weapons, including cruise missiles, have been tested successfully. Severodvinsk was the first Project 885 Yasen (NATO code name Graney) submarine launched back in 1993, but has been held up due to lack of funding. As has been pointed out on the blog several times, the Russian Navy continues to get the lions share of defense funding in Russia, and of the defense budget a full 25% of the budget is being spent on shipbuilding both new vessels and restoring older vessels. 85% of that shipbuilding funding is then being spent on nuclear submarines, with most of that money being spent on the Borei (project 955) strategic nuclear submarines and its troubled ballistic missile, the Bulava. Still, Russia is coming out with a new class of ballistic missile submarine (Project 955), a new class of nuclear attack submarines (Project 885), and a new class of diesel submarines (Project 677). Additionally, the Akula II class nuclear attack submarine K-152 Nerpa appears back on schedule for delivery to India later this year. 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

This would stir thing up a bit. A leading defence expert has projected that China will attack India by 2012 to divert the attention of its own people from "unprecedented" internal dissent, growing unemployment and financial problems that are threatening the hold of Communists in that country. "China will launch an attack on India before 2012. There are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century," Bharat Verma, editor of the Indian Defence Review, has said. Verma said the recession has "shut the Chinese exports shop", creating an "unprecedented internal social unrest" which in turn, was severely threatening the grip of the Communists over the society. Among other reasons for this assessment were rising unemployment, flight of capital worth billions of dollars, depletion of its foreign exchange reserves and growing internal dissent, Verma said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of the premier defence journal. In addition to this, "The growing irrelevance of Pakistan, their right hand that operates against India on their behest, is increasing the Chinese nervousness," he said, adding that US President Barak Obama's Af-Pak policy was primarily Pak-Af policy that has "intelligently set the thief to catch the thief". Verma said Beijing was "already rattled, with its proxy Pakistan now literally embroiled in a civil war, losing its sheen against India." "Above all, it is worried over the growing alliance of India with the US and the West, because the alliance has the potential to create a technologically superior counterpoise. "All these three concerns of Chinese Communists are best addressed by waging a war against pacifist India to achieve multiple strategic objectives," he said. If you don't like those scenarios, there are plenty of others. What would trigger such a billion+ vs. billion+ bloodbath is anyone's guess (picking over the remains of a Burma in full collapse, Tibet, Indo-Pak spillover?) If you don't like the , well back in MAY we had a classic head slapp'n "You don't think!" statement from the Chairman. Ummmmmm, duh; Admiral Michael Mullen said China had the right to meet its security needs, but the build-up would require the United States to work with its Pacific allies to respond to increasing Chinese military capabilities. "They are developing capabilities that are very maritime focused, maritime and air focused, and in many ways, very much focused on us," he told a conference of the Navy League, a nonprofit seamen's support group, in Washington. Either way - unlike what we are doing now, such a conflict - even in the likely event we stay out of it (I hope) - we would need a very big Navy with long legs with each platform having organic multi-mission capabilities to contain and monitor it and its secondary effects. The Pacific-Indian Ocean area is A LOT of waterspace. Our trend line though .... View the full article

LAW M72: A4, A5, A6/7 (click to view full) The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico is ordering up to $136.5 million worth of M72A7 Light Weight Anti-Armor Weapon (LAW) systems and trainers from Nammo Talley Defense in Mesa, AZ to replenish stockpiles. The M72A7 LAW is a man-portable, shoulder-launched rocket designed to destroy armored vehicles and covered enemy fighting positions. The M72A7 LAW meets the needs identified by the Marine Corps in 2004 for a shoulder-launched rocket. The Marine Corps required a weapon system with the capability to defeat targets such as covered enemy fighting positions (bunkers, urban structures) or light armored vehicles that are impervious to small arms fire or out of the range of fragmentation hand grenades and other close-in weapon systems. DID has more on the Nammo Talley contract and the tactical advantages of the M72A7… (more…) View the full article

Theory, meet reality. In theory's corner - Train to Qualify: Commander, Naval Surface Forces, is overseeing the development of a revolutionary training process for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) called Train to Qualify (T2Q) that will enable LCS’s hybrid Sailors to be fully trained before reporting to the ship. ... Once a Sailor has been chosen to fill the LCS billet, their individual training track will then be made up for them and train them on the skills they are lacking. This will be completed by a combination of online, classroom and simulator training since they will be required to step aboard LCS ready to stand watch. Every qualification will be performance-based, with set standards for timeliness, accuracy and quality applied to every critical task. “The standard has to be very high for Sailors coming off of shore duty, so the ships have confidence that what they get is really a person that has received a qualification level of that fully supports taking the watch upon reporting aboard,†said Renshaw. Yes, anytime you hear "revolutionary" - be worried. In fact's corner - Navy IG: The Navy’s heavy reliance on computer-based training is producing sailors who aren’t ready for their jobs at ships and squadrons, don’t grasp basic Navy concepts and could endanger the long-term health of the service, according to an internal report obtained by Navy Times. Building on failure? Why this is a shock to anyone is, well, a shock to me. You simply cannot substitute underway training. SIM and CBT are nice secondary tools in some areas - but are weak cheese at best when it comes to actually doing it 24/7 at sea. My money is on the prospect that once again the revolution failed where the evolution would have created process improvement. Personally - I think part of our problem is in our inability to be honest with ourselves and be satisfied with simple, evolutionary, process improvement - a problem that comes from how we write FITREPS .... but that is a subject for a different day. Hat tip Scott B. View the full article

This reeks of a poorly thought out PR stunt. Navy officials in the Pentagon and Fleet Forces Command are studying the possibility that the Navy’s first littoral combat ship, Freedom, could make a short deployment earlier than planned, on the orders of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, the Navy confirmed Friday. Roughead ordered the studies after Freedom finished the second half of its acceptance trials May 22, Navy spokesman Lt. Clay Doss said. “The CNO is interested in employing the unique capabilities of this new class of warship as soon as practical, taking into consideration the milestones associated with a first-of-class warship,†Doss told Navy Times. Under its initial schedule, the ship was not to deploy until 2012. First it must complete batteries of tests at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., then experiment with its multi-use mission modules at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Fla., and then sail to its homeport at Naval Base San Diego. But the Navy needs LCS now, Doss said. “As we have said before, LCS is needed now to close urgent war-fighting gaps that our Navy faces today.â€[/font] Experience says that if you go to soon you are taking a huge risk for minimal reward. Good luck to the crew. They deserve a ship ready to go, not one that is half-baked. There is nothing in the pirate world that cannot be done without LCS. If so, then the Fleet is in worse shape than we are telling the public. If not, then, well, I'll let you figure it out. View the full article

Anytime I read about anti-ship missiles for the US Navy, I get interested. Lets face it, nobody should be surprised when a new idea for the 25 year old Harpoon gets canceled, the Boeing missile is a great weapon against a previous generation of ships defense systems, but it is not the way ahead in the future. Bill Sweetman is reporting Raytheon is going to introduce another previous generation anti-ship missile upgrade and sell it as the future. Hmm... At the U.S. Navy League exhibition in Washington this month, Raytheon Missile Systems will unveil an upgrade to the BGM/UGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV land-attack cruise missile that will make it a multirole weapon capable of hitting moving ships. The package has four elements: An active electronically scanned array, millimeter-wave seeker provides target acquisition and homing; a passive electronic surveillance system is for long-range acquisition and identification; the 1,000-lb. blast-fragmentation warhead is replaced by a shaped charge; and the two-way data link gets more bandwidth. The missile is designed to kill or disable large, hardened warships in difficult environments such as littoral waters, over a greater range than Boeing’s Harpoon/Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM), the U.S. Navy’s standard antiship missile. The Raytheon warhead is twice as large as SLAM’s, and the 900-naut.-mi. range is six times greater. This is not an antipirate weapon, and it is not hard to guess which navy is the most likely target. Sounds great, but I'm not impressed. While I like the idea of a 1000lb warhead on a ship launched anti-ship missile, lets think about this. The Tomahawk is outstanding against undefended targets, but is it really a weapon that can penetrate the defensive network of an enemy combatant force? Neither the Harpoon nor the Tomahawk have any terminal speed or maneuverability, so what exactly makes these missiles a viable option or long term solution to the anti-ship missile gap? The lack of anti-ship missiles on the surface fleet, and honestly an effective anti-ship missile for our sub fleet as well, is a major warfighting gap that continues to be proven in analysis. How much longer will this be ignored? Will this even be a consideration in the QDR? It is bad enough the Navy spends half a billion dollars to build a ship, the LCS, that relies almost completely on a single helicopter for over the horizon firepower. It is even worse when one considers how much our large warships rely on aircraft to attack other ships with a weapon other than guns. An AEGIS ship is limited only by quantity in defeating the air force of most nations, but the best weapon these ships bring to the fight against other naval vessels is either a helicopter, or a 5" gun? Oh that's right, the SM-2 can handle it. Nothing like a relatively tiny warhead to stop a warship. How many SM-2s would it take to sink a 5000 ton warship? I'm betting the answer is more than 10 direct hits. Bill Sweetman's article covers a number of anti-ship missile options that will be on display, but I have to say it is pretty sad in my opinion that US contractors have not evolved their anti-ship missile options beyond the Tomahawk or Harpoon. Is a VLS launched 200nm range anti-ship missile with effective terminal capabilities really too much to ask for in the 21st century? I'm not looking for a ramjet missile, but it would be nice if we were talking about a missile that was designed after the Carter administration. View the full article

Download DA_FORM_IMT_WF1 [Thanks to Matthew S. for the form.] View the full article

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Can't think of a better name for this lovely. The Pentagon said Thursday that it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing unblinking and intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below. "It is absolutely revolutionary," Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said of the proposed unmanned airship -- describing it as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane. Actually, evolutionary - but I won't quibble. View the full article