Future maritime security
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My hospital ship piece in Forbes.com last week has led to quite a bit of discussion on my suggestion that, at the $362 million price point, the NSMV would be a good hull for a dedicated medical vessel. For a piece that didn’t get a lot of eyeballs/clicks at Forbes, it certainly has sparked a […]
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A catastrophic shipyard fire that, by all accounts, destroyed Australia’s all-aluminum HMAS Bundaburg (ACPB-91), one of Australia’s 14 useful–yet oft-maligned–Armidale Class patrol boats, will reignite debate over the survivability of aluminum warships. When the public finally sees the melted, burned-out remains of HMAS Bundaburg (photos that will likely be dramatic, given that the fire was not […]
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Sometimes a deal is just so good, you’ve just gotta take it. Australia’s announcement that it will buy the the UK’s soon-to-be-redundant LHD Largs Bay for $100 million Australian dollars (@$105 USD at present rates) must have government minsters in a gleeful state. Even if the Largs Bay has serious problems, at this price, it’s […]
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For almost ten years, the Marine Corps–the Third Marine Expeditionary Force–and the Military Sealift Command have leased the Austal-built Westpac Express, a 331-foot long aluminum high-speed ferry. But with the emergence of the “Green Fleet” concept, and with the Navy and Marine Corps eager to highlight “green” initiatives, this puny vessel (a gas-guzzler in itself, […]
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It is no secret the Australian Navy is super-sizing their amphibious force. But…is that force going to be too big and unwieldy to do a good job of projecting security throughout the South Pacific? The first step towards a super-sized amphibious force is interesting. Last month, after I urged the Australian Navy to retire their […]
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Australia has three creaky old amphibious vessels, the HMAS Tobruk, HMAS Kanimbla and HMAS Manoora. They are scheduled to retire over the next 8 years to be replaced in 2014-15 by the Canberra Class LHDs. Australia’s legacy amphibs are, at this point, feeble, unreliable platforms. They’ve done yeoman service, but, in September, the Kanimbla an […]
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…and Austal got the lowest per-unit award? Interesting. When all 10 ships of each block buy are awarded, the value of the ship construction portion of the two contracts would be $3,620,625,192 for Lockheed Martin Corp., and $3,518,156,851 for Austal USA. The average cost of both variants including government-furnished equipment and margin for potential cost […]
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Yesterday I got to chat with the Mobile Press-Register’s indefatigable reporter Dan Murtaugh about Congressman Gene Taylor’s (D-MS) change of heart about the LCS program. Frankly, I am delighted–Congressman Taylor, as an outgoing Congressman and confirmed LCS foe, had no real reason to promote the program. If he had done nothing, and allowed the Navy […]
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As the PCU Fort Worth, LCS-3, prepares for a Dec 4 launch-date, I am increasingly concerned about Fincantieri’s “Italianate” management of the Marinette Shipyard. I suspect the LCS-1 team underbid. Aside from Fincantieri’s foreign ownership, overall low level of investment in their US yards and the disparity between Fincantieri’s U.S.-based workers and their Italian counterparts, […]
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Contact Craig Hooper:
Email Contact: craig.hooper@nextnavy.com
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This is a personal endeavor. The content available on NEXTNAVY.COM is solely the opinion of the author and does not represent the opinions of his employer(s).
RECENT REVIEWS:
A stakeholder on "Running on empty":Recent Publications
"The U.S. Needs a New Public Shipyard," DefenseOne, January 16, 2019.
"It took Comfort 39 Days to Get Pierside in Puerto Rico: That's a National Security Problem," DefenseOne, November 6, 2017.
"Marine National Monuments are Defense Assets," DefenseOne, September 19, 2017.
"Restoring American Seapower: A New Fleet Architecture for the U.S. Navy," Center For Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2017.
"The real game-changers of the Pacific Basin," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, April 2011; 137
"China at sea," Hoover Digest, March 2011; 2.
"Running on empty,"Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, October 2010; 136: 60-65.
"Nobody asked me, but...the Olympia needs our help," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, July 2010; 136: 10-11.
"'Get off the fainting couch': Stop worrying and start managing the Chinese ASBM threat," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, April 2010; 136: 42-47.
"Ospreys mean less at home," The North County Times/The Californian, January 3, 2010.
"America’s fading legacy in the Pacific," The Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2009.
"Preparing for the next big quake," The Berkeley Daily Planet, April 30-May 6, 2009; 11(5); Page 13.
"The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle: A poster child for next-war-it is?," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, November 2008; 134: 22-26.
"To win hearts and minds, give Coast Guard new hospital ships," National Defense Magazine, November 2008; 93: 28. With James Doblow
"Don’t hate San Francisco! Engage, don’t estrange," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute. October 2007; 133: 64-68.
"Going down with the ships," The Washington Post, March 5, 2007.
""LCS: A step, not an end - correspondence," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute. February 2007; 133: 6-7.
"Communicable Disease Control in California," White Paper for 2007 California Health Strategy Summit. With R.J. Melton and G. Rutherford.
"The peril of power: Navigating natural gas infrastructure," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute. June 2006; 132: 40-44.
"Emerging issues in natural gas security: Does perception management mask reality?," In Proceedings of Environment Canada’s 29th Arctic and Marine Oilspill (AMOP) Technical Seminar, Environment Canada, Ottawa 2006: 517-524.
"Protein engineering: Security implications: The increasing ability to manipulate protein toxins for hostile purposes has prompted calls for regulation," EMBO Reports June 2006; 7: S14-17. With J. Tucker.
"A Gunboat Navy for the 21st Century—correspondence," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute December 2005; 131: 64-65.
"Biology on the battlefield: Rethinking the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention," The Yale Politic. December 29, 2005.
"The mosquito can be more dangerous than the mortar round: The obligations of command," Naval War College Review, Winter 2005: LVIII, Vol. 1. 77-87. With Arthur M. Smith.
"Building a fleet for coastal rescue," The Boston Globe, January 4, 2005.
"Harbor Safety," The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, October 12, 2003.
"Projecting biomedical security," Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute July 2003; 129: 63-66.
"Strategic biodefense: A call to reinvent the hospital ship," Navy Medicine March-April 2002; 93: 31-35.
"Poxvirus Dilemmas—correspondence," New England Journal of Medicine 1998; 339: 2027-2028.
"Think Small," Foreign Affairs 1998; 77 (3): 158. Letter.