Steeljaw Scribe

Since the program began, Aegis BMD has been concentrated on the West Coast and with the FDNF.  Now, however, two more ships - this time on the East Coast, have undergone the modifications and one, the USS RAMAGE (DDG 61) has begun a deployment with the SM-3 Blk1a missile onboard (full article here  ): 

“She is loaded,” [...]

"Enhance Awareness. To be effective, there must be a significantly increased commitment to advance maritime domain awareness (MDA) and expand intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability and capacity."     - A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower

Navy Awards Northrop Grumman Unmanned Aircraft System Contract

The Department of the Navy announced today that the Northrop Grumman Corp. [...]

 It is clear that the XFV-12A program will not enhance the image of naval aviation. Note that in this case the outcome was not only predictable, but was in fact predicted. As is so often the case, all of the principals in the decision have moved on in both OSD and the Navy. The task [...]

“We believe that preventing wars is as important as winning wars…(w)e will pursue an approach to deterrence that includes a credible and scalable ability to retaliate against aggressors conventionally, unconventionally, and with nuclear forces”
- A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower, October 2007
“…(O)ne of the things that we were stressing is an area that [...]

Last week we published a detailed, thoughtful critique by Robert Work and Jan van Tol under the auspices of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment (CSBA). At the time it was noted that this was the lead-off of a new round of cooperative discussion of the Maritime Strategy to begin today here and at [...]

So what happens when you gather together bloggers like Galrahn 0, Eagle1, YHS and several others with VADM Morgan to discuss the Maritime Strategy via a teleconference on a late Thursday afternoon?  This:
 

 
Transcript should be forthcoming soon and will be posted as an update. Transcript’s up and posted below for your reading pleasure:
 

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So your one neighbor, Pakistan, possesses nuclear weapons and is working assiduously on short- and medium-range missiles, no doubt with nuclear delivery in mind as part of a deterrent package against your own nuclear forces.  China, with whom you share a fairly long (and disputed) border has also been engaged in building a modern force of short- [...]

 
Prelude for Round II of the discussions on the Maritime Strategy. 
The document below from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments will provide the departure point for said discussions beginning 31 March here and over at several of the usual suspects: Information Dissemination, CDR Salamander, OP-FOR.com, Chapomatic, Eagle1 to name but a few. Since the [...]

The accelerating spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear know-how and nuclear material has brought us to a nuclear tipping point. We face a very real possibility that the deadliest weapons ever invented could fall into dangerous hands.  The steps we are taking now to address these threats are not adequate to the danger. With nuclear weapons [...]

So the discussion earlier this week  revolved around quantity vs quality and used as an argument in favor of quality that the Navy in the 1920’s and 30’s chose to press technology (and hence chose quality) over quantity (maintaining a large force structure), developing the tools, tactics and laying the groundwork for success in [...]