A U.S. Marine assigned to Special Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, operates a Battelle Drone Defender V2 during counter unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) training at the Baghdad Embassy Compound in Iraq, Oct. 9, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo
The Defense Department must employ an all-encompassing agency-wide approach to its strategy for buying and using small drones to combat future threats, according to a new Pentagon document. Read More
The following is the U.S. Department of Defense Counter-sUAS Strategy that was released on Jan. 7, 2020. Read More
H I Sutton Image. Used with permission
The Middle East remains a volatile area for merchant shipping into the new year, according to the analysis of attacks on ships in the region. Read More
USNI News Graphic
These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Jan. 4, 2021, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship. Read More
USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) sail in formation during a scheduled transit of the Strait of Hormuz on Nov. 9, 2020. US Navy Photo
Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and its strike group will remain in the Middle East in the wake of threats from officials in the Iranian government on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. killing of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani, the Pentagon announced late Sunday. Read More
Motor Tanker (M/T) Wila, a merchant vessel in international waters en-route to the UAE port of Khor Fakkan, in the Gulf of Oman, was boarded by armed Iranian personnel who fast roped aboard the ship from an Iranian Sea King helicopter as it hovered above on Aug. 12, 2020. US Navy Photo
This post is part of a series of stories looking back at the top naval news from 2020.
Like the U.S., international navies grappled with not only the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic but regional security concerns from China’s naval expansion and operations in the Pacific to Iranian and Russian operations in the Middle East. Read More
The following is the U.S. Sea Services’ new maritime strategy, Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All-Domain Naval Power that was released by the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard on Dec. 17, 2020. Read More
An MH-60S KNight Hawk helicopter, from the ‘Screamin’ Indians’ of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6, conducts flight control checks on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). U.S. Navy Photo
This story has been updated to clarify USS Nimitz’s (CVN-68) deployment to U.S. 5th Fleet.
Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is now back in the Middle East after conducting an exercise series with the Indian Navy, a spokesperson with U.S. 5th Fleet told USNI News on Monday. Read More
HI Sutton Image used with permission
Emblazoned with the pennant number “1” in on its superstructure, Shahid Roudaki joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) as its latest and most visible warship during a ceremony held in Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. Read More
The following is the Oct. 29, 2020 report, Renewed Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense—Issues for Congress. Read More
