Category Archives: Aviation

Jane’s: North Korea’s Nukes Are ‘Unreliable and Underwhelming’

Jane’s: North Korea’s Nukes Are ‘Unreliable and Underwhelming’

960590-north-korea-rocket-launchThe Defense Intelligence Agency has “moderate confidence,” North Korea has progressed enough to arm a missile with an atomic warhead, according to a passage of the unnamed DIA report read during a Thursday House Armed Services Committee meeting by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.

However, according to missile experts from IHS Jane’s and the Department of Defense, the threat from a North Korean nuclear missile is low. Read More

Navy Budget Keeps LCS, Subs & DDGs On Track

Navy Budget Keeps LCS, Subs & DDGs On Track

Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy discusses the Navy portion of the Department of Defense fiscal year 2011 budget. US Navy Photo

Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy discusses the Navy portion of the Department of Defense fiscal year 2011 budget. US Navy Photo

The Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps are continuing funding future capability with a budget that places emphasis on introduction of new weapon systems like the Littoral Combat Ship and the F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter as part of the Fiscal Year 2014 budget submission from the Department of the Navy.

The $155.8 billion request is split between $45.4 billion for military personnel, $43.5 billion for procurement for ships, aircraft, weapons and Marine Corps spending, $16 billion for research and development and $2.3 billion for infrastructure. Read More

USMC Commandant: 'You Can't Surge Trust'

USMC Commandant: ‘You Can’t Surge Trust’

Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos addresses the Sailors and Marines assigned to the newly commissioned amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD-24) on April, 6 2013. US Navy Photo

Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James Amos addresses the Sailors and Marines assigned to the newly commissioned amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD-24) on April, 6 2013. US Navy Photo

“We are not sure how that is going to play out,” the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps said about events in Afghanistan and Pakistan as the United States and NATO complete their withdrawal from combat operations in 2014 as he launched into an around the globe assessment of threats from North Korea’s “no sense of stability” to pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Straits of Malacca facing the nation now. Read More

Navy to Deploy Anti-UAV, Small Boat Laser Next Year to Gulf

Navy to Deploy Anti-UAV, Small Boat Laser Next Year to Gulf

Laser Weapon System (LaWS) aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105) in San Diego, Calif. in 2012. US Navy Photo

Laser Weapon System (LaWS) aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105) in San Diego, Calif. in 2012. US Navy Photo

The Navy will deploy a laser weapon designed to counter small boats and unmanned aerial vehicles to the Middle East in 2014, chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder and Naval Sea Systems Command chief engineer Rear Adm. Tom Eccles said in a joint Monday briefing at the Navy League Sea Air Space Exposition 2013 at National Harbor, Md. Read More

Greenert: Forward Deployed Ships, F-35s USN's Future

Greenert: Forward Deployed Ships, F-35s USN’s Future

Adm. Jonathan Greenert addressing a crowd in March. US Navy Photo

Adm. Jonathan Greenert addressing a crowd in March. US Navy Photo

In a time of fiscal “reduced visibility” the Navy’s strategy remains “to be where it matters,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said on Monday in a speech to the Navy League Sea Air Space Exposition 2013 at National Harbor, Md. Read More

Jolly Roger Super Hornet Down in Arabian Sea

Jolly Roger Super Hornet Down in Arabian Sea

An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the Jolly Rogers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 launches from the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). U.S. Navy Photo.

An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the Jolly Rogers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 launches from the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). U.S. Navy Photo.

The Navy is reporting a F/A-18-F Super Hornet attached to the USS Dwight Eisenhower (CVN-69) carrier strike group went down at 12:20pm local time in the North Arabian Sea on Monday. Read More

Carrier Critics

Carrier Critics

CFF1Dec12Why does the United States maintain a fleet of aircraft carriers?

The answer to that question could appear self-evident. Or, based on much of the discussion over the past few years, one might think the Navy’s carrier fleet is the most expensive, most vulnerable and most foolish extravagance in modern history. Read More

Making Sense of Massive China-Russia Arms Deal

Making Sense of Massive China-Russia Arms Deal

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A Su-35 Flanker tactical fighter. Sukhoi Photo

A Su-35 Flanker tactical fighter. Sukhoi Photo

Numerous reports have appeared in the media of late regarding a deal whereby Russia would export 24 Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker fighters and four Ladas-class submarines to China. The Russian government has officially denied these reports. Numerous unofficial sources, however, indicate that S-400 antiaircraft missiles and IL-476 transport planes could be included as part of a large deal. That would be the largest China-Russia sale package since 2002. Read More

Memo: Coast Guard to Cut Operations by 21 percent

Memo: Coast Guard to Cut Operations by 21 percent

Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Detroit and Station St. Clair Shores, Mich., conduct joint ice-rescue training on Lake St. Clair, Feb. 12, 2013. US Coast Guard Photo

Coast Guardsmen from Air Station Detroit and Station St. Clair Shores, Mich., conduct joint ice-rescue training on Lake St. Clair, Feb. 12, 2013. US Coast Guard Photo

The Coast Guard plans to reduce surface and air operations by 21 percent and defer depot level maintenance due to budget cuts, according to a February draft memo obtained by USNI News. Read More