PR games after MV-22 Osprey starts (another) grassfire…

February 21, 2010

The V-22 Osprey program has a magical ability to generate “good news” just as “bad news” breaks. This PR gamesmanship has happened before.  Back in 2007, just hours after the MV-22 Osprey flubbed it’s arrival into Iraq, a CV-22 was sent out for a domestic SAR.  (Here are some details) This week, an MV-22 Osprey […]

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CNO's rhetoric meets reality:

February 18, 2010

Given the ongoing troubles with USS New York (LPD 21),  CNO Admiral Gary Roughead’s November 7, 2009 speech at LPD-21’s commissioning ceremony is rather distressing.  Here’s the relevant snippet: “…The ship across the way is now ready to serve our great nation; ready to sail in cialis soft price harms way on any point on […]

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Enter the Littoral Combat Boat (LCB):

February 18, 2010

Israel has a lot invested in doing littoral combat right.  And, right now, the IDF is sending their Merkava Main Battle Tank to sea in LCTs. Rather than call the LCTs mere landing craft, why not call them Littoral Combat Boats (LCBs)?  That’s what they are. Look. There’s plenty for IDF littoral combat forces to […]

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Mulling the LCS down-select:

February 12, 2010

As the Littoral Combat Ship program faces an abrupt down-select to a single hull, the Navy must brace for some nasty litigation. The spurned party–either Lockheed or General Dynamics–will be poised to contest the selection process. With little in the way of “real world” operational data available, advocates of either platform will have ample grounds to poke holes in the […]

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Next Week: To San Diego For WEST 2010…

January 28, 2010

If you’re near San Diego and of a nautical bent, stop by the San Diego Convention Center next week and take in a few speakers at WEST 2010, the big West Coast naval conclave thrown by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute.  It’s the best line-up in years!  Some highlights–General Rankbuilder 2.0 SEO & […]

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Overlooked In The QDR…Prompt Global Strike:

January 27, 2010

Surely I can’t be the only Navy-oriented person to notice this little passage in the draft QDR: “…The Department also plans to experiment with conventional prompt global strike prototypes. Building upon insights developed during the QDR, the Secretary of Defense has ordered a follow-on study to determine what combination of joint persistent surveillance, electronic warfare, […]

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LPD-17 Fiasco: What happened to LPD-19?

January 26, 2010

Notice how stories detailing the LPD-17 powerplant “crisis” focus on LPD-17, 18 and 21?   Notice how the reporting, in passing, note that LPD-19 and 20 encountered similar engine problems, but, after maintenance, both seem to have dodged a bullet?  Well, not so fast…it looks like the USS MESA VERDE (LPD-19) had substantive powerplant issues before her shock trials (back in August-September 2008)–USS MESA VERDE suffered a “catastrophic” mishap even […]

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The FFG-7: The LCS of the Seventies!

January 25, 2010

Given that many of the anti-Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) crowd have adapted the FFG-7 Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigates as a sort of “alternative” to the LCS (a legacy shipbuilding program that, in the opinion of the anti-LCS crowd, was everything the LCS program is not), a nice dose of history might be in order.  Those who now love the FFG-7 program probably don’t realize […]

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Shipbuilding in Crisis:

January 21, 2010

Northrop Grumman’s Gulf Shipyards and Navy shipbuilding are facing a crisis. First, news broke today that multi-billion-dollar LPD-17 and LPD-21 are–even though they’re desperately needed for Haiti service–now “sidelined,” according to Insidedefense.com. The USS New York, less than a month from commissioning, has a bent crankshaft. Until that crankshaft gets fixed, LPD-21 will only be able […]

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Haiti: Trying to fuel the recovery

January 20, 2010

One little-noticed facet of America’s Haiti-bound expeditionary aid effort is the SS Petersburg (T-AOT 9101), a 45-year old vessel that is, right now, tied to a Bay Area pier, preparing to deploy.  Why is this Ready Reserve Force asset, one that needs ten days to get going–and one of the furthest-flung pieces of equipment the United States has called into service for Haiti relief–getting activated?  Isn’t […]

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