Why Are Navy Helos Getting Marginalized?

March 13, 2014

The Navy’s new budget suggests that the humble Navy helicopter has fallen out of favor. Traditionally, the simple ole’ helicopter has been one of the more effective means for surface ships to pursue Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Anti-Swarm operations. The run-of-the-mill helicopter remains critical for surface combatant resupply, personnel transfer and (sometimes) ISR. It adds […]

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Can The Navy And A Gentrifying West Coast Coexist?

March 4, 2014

It is time to face the facts: A steadily gentrifying West Coast could sink the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet far faster than any hostile Asian Navy. It’s a maritime fact of life: To function, all navies need waterfront property and a strong, somewhat heavy industrial base to support it. For the U.S. Navy, basing choices […]

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Can Huntington Ingalls Industries Survive?

February 25, 2014

Despite some recent balance sheet successes from Navy Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and a one-year reprieve on downsizing the nuclear carrier fleet, the company’s mid-term prospects are very worrisome. This opinion stands as something of a contrarian view. And it certainly disagrees with Wall Street–after HII peeled away from Northrop Grumman in early 2011, […]

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If You’re Not Thinking About the Antarctic, You’re Not Thinking

February 14, 2014

It is time to put the Antarctic back on the American radar. An open Antarctic risks sparking a wide-ranging war–I mean, if you liked the War for the Falklands, just wait as our planet’s southernmost continent opens to resource extraction, settlement or…worse. An open Antarctic is coming. And though it might be hard to build […]

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Make Asian Hotlines A Regional Diplomatic Priority:

February 8, 2014

The U.S. Navy’s desire for a direct Navy-to-Navy Hotline with China is not new, and has been articulated every few years to little or no effect. If direct Navy-to-Navy Hotlines between operational commanders have the potential to be important in Asian crisis management, then the U.S. Navy must start leading an effort to 1) make […]

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A Petition To The King of Saudi Arabia: Invigorate Your Naval Forces!

February 4, 2014

In this petition, I call upon the King of Saudi Arabia, the Custodian of the Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, to re-invigorate his naval forces! (Editorial Note: It is tradition that anyone can petition the Saudi King, and, given that King Abdullah has been flooded by Western-inspired petitions supporting social reforms and domestic matters, I figured the Monarch might find […]

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SECNAV Mabus Visits A New Strategic Frontier: The Marshall Islands

January 29, 2014

After screaming about our absence for years, it is great to see U.S. government leaders start to offer some attention to the front lines of the next Cold War, those fragile states of the “Deep Pacific”. This Thursday’s visit to the Republic of the Marshall Islands by the SECNAV is primarily focused on an interesting renewable […]

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The Shocking Strategy That Dooms the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)

January 28, 2014

Over the years, the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program has overcome all kinds of threats. But now, with the Department of Defense (DOD) folding under the pressure of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation’s (DOT&E’s) constant anti-LCS hand-wringing, LCS haters may have finally seized upon a weapon capable of sinking the LCS Program–a test […]

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DOD TOPGUN Fights For Navy To Fight Like It Is 1986

January 21, 2014

When former TOPGUN trainer and emergent LCS-killer Christine Fox, the Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense, demanded a “more capable [small] surface combatant“–namely one with innate air-defense capability–she did more than merely lay out a plan to kill a wayward surface-ship program. She offered a glimpse of what the Department of Defense (DOD) envisions as the […]

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Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Fleet Cut: Winners And Losers

January 17, 2014

In an elegant bit of Washington subterfuge, news “leaked” this week that the Littoral Combat Ship program is to shrink from 52 to 32 ships. This is a fascinating example of underhanded Washington drama, and it deserves added scrutiny. BACKGROUND So here’s the deal. Sometime in the past ten days, somebody in the Pentagon leaked […]

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