navy

2 x LHA = $8B
10 x DDG-51 = $20B

the remaining $7B into developing long-range variants of the X-47 UCASB.

Information Dissemination
Given Huntington’s advice, the Navy’s existing plan, the operational considerations, the Maritime Strategy, and $35 billion over 5 years… what would be your shipbuilding plan, and why? The FY09-1FY13 plan the Navy released in this budget year can be found here for comparison. Remember, we are talking about 5 years from FY10 - FY14 here, but it should be part of a larger strategy.

Well, that was quick!

Looking at the future force scenarios, let’s say there are three of these guys in commission. One in refit, one in the Atlantic/AFRICOM, one in the Pacific or Indian Ocean.

Navy reverses course, to seek third stealth destroyer | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ The Navy has changed course and decided to push for construction of a third DDG-1000 destroyer that would be built at Bath Iron Works, Sen. Susan Collins said Monday.

What’s the new classified threat that the DDG-1000 can’t beat?

Navy: No Need to Add DDG 1000s After All - Defense News
Top Navy acquisition officials dramatically reversed course during a congressional hearing July 31, saying the service needed to purchase more Arleigh Burke-class DDG 51 destroyers, and no longer needs the next-generation destroyer it has been pushing for over the past 13 years.

This, after years of vigorously claiming the service needed to move beyond the 1980s technology in the Burkes and leap ahead with the new ship, the DDG 1000 Zumwalt class. Now, they’re saying the Zumwalts just won’t cut it, citing the planned ship’s inability to fire advanced versions of the Standard Missile, contradicting previous industry claims.

They also said there was a new “classified threat” for which the Burkes are better suited but would not go into specifics.

this is a great idea, to get some actual data. negative results won’t convince the whale-lovers that everything’s hunky-dory, though.

Somewhat beside the point, though, because, given the current composition of the Supreme Court, the ultimate outcome of this controversy is going to be a federal appeals or supreme court decision that says in no uncertain terms that the federal government’s interest in national security trumps the whales’ rights.

Researchers tag whales, track ships in sonar study | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
Debate has long raged over how the military’s use of sonar to detect enemy submarines affects dolphins and whales, which use sound to navigate, communicate and locate food.

Now, researchers are moving closer to getting some solid answers.

In a scientific first, experts tagged dozens of whales with sensors to track their movement and behavior while Navy ships operated nearby.

The CO and Exec of George Washington got the chop for this.

God, fires aboard ship are terrifying.

Two top Navy officers fired over $70 million carrier blaze | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

…the Navy said it concluded that the fire likely was caused by “unauthorized smoking that ignited flammable liquids and other combustible material improperly stored in an adjacent space.”

The fire and its intensity “were the result of a series of human acts that could have been prevented,” the Navy summary added. It cited “the storage of 90 gallons of refrigerant compressor oil in an unauthorized space” as a factor in the fire’s severity.

The summary said the fire began in a boiler exhaust and supply area and spread quickly because of a “chimney effect” in nearby spaces and duct work. The 12-hour battle to extinguish the fire injured 37 sailors, one of whom received first- and second-degree burns.

CVN-73 GEORGE WASHINGTON, U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier
Price: USD 15.62

17 used & new available from USD 15.62

It’s a sign of the continued relative power of the U.S. that countries in Latin America and Africa are getting upset about primarily bureaucratic actions like the activation of 4th Fleet and AFRICOM.

Nimble Books author David Axe will be joining the 4th Fleet next week.

War Is Boring

Two weeks ago the U.S. Navy reactivated the long-defunct 4th Fleet to oversea American warships in South American waters…

And this week, in a letter to Fidel Castro, Chavez accused the U.S. of rekindling the Cold War through its actions down south. “They’re trying … to press the fear buttons,” he said.

But how scary is this? Next week I’ll join the USS Kearsarge amphibious ship for a mission to Nicaragua handing out free medical care.

in carrier warfare is to man the perimeter of the carrier battle group and absorb heavy losses. While it may not be true that you can never have enough surface combatants, 84 is only 7.5 escorts per 11 carrier groups. An aditional 25 combatants, or ten escorts per carrier, would be a good thing. Maybe at 12 or 15 escorts per carrier they start getting in each other’s way.

Ares Homepage

Collins and Senate colleagues had added $2.6 billion to the 2008 defense bill for the third DDG-1000, which was to have been built by her constituents at Bath Iron Works. She is now advocating for the construction of nine more DDG-51s at BIW, in order to maintain the shipyard’s employment level and turnover. This is apparently more important than any military need for the DDG-51s, which is not discussed in Collins’ release.

It is now time to revisit future Navy fleet requirements: here’s a link to some recommended reading from Bob Work at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, who has suggested ways of defining a new surface combatant

A brand new launch technology for CVN-78 Gerald Ford.

Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is a system under development by the United States Navy to launch aircraft from carriers using a linear motor drive instead of steam pistons, used in conventional aircraft catapults. This technology has the advantage of gradually increasing the aircraft’s speed, thus reducing the stress the plane’s airframe has to support. The EMALS is currently being developed for the U.S. Navy’s newest Ford class aircraft carriers. It was also being considered for the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers (CVF), however the Royal Navy opted for a Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (VSTOL) configuration.

ARMED FORCES JOURNAL - Think small - July 2008

The U.S. Navy already has a fleet of thousands of small surface combatants that can carry surface to surface missiles or antisubmarine weapons. These small surface combatants are fast, flexible, and all-weather-capable. They are called aircraft.

The Navy needs a credible force of multipurpose corvettes plus a modest number of missile combat craft to effectively bridge the existing gap in its surface warfare capabilities in the littoral waters. As many as 32 multipurpose corvettes organized in eight squadrons of four ships each should be acquired. They should be forward-deployed in similar manner as are surface MCM ships. In addition, a force of perhaps 12 missile combat craft could be deployed within a striking distance of selected choke points. The most critical deployment areas are the Persian Gulf/Strait of Hormuz, Horn of Africa/Bab-el Mandeb Strait, the Strait of Malacca and the Caribbean.

Strategic Weapons: Carrier Killer Warhead

2008: Rumors continue to come out of China that the DF-21 ballistic missile is being equipped with a high-explosive warhead and a guidance system that can find and hit a aircraft carrier at sea. The DF-21 has a range of 1800 kilometers and normally hauls a 300 kiloton nuclear warhead. It’s a two stage, 15 ton, solid fuel rocket that could carry a half ton penetrating, high-explosive warhead, along with the special guidance system (a radar and image recognition system).

As the remainder of the article explains, it’s more complicated than just firing off the missile … there are countermeasures, and the carriers are still hard to find.