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100 Marines, Sailors Ready to Ride Commercial Ships in Zone Defense Against Iran

100 Marines, Sailors Ready to Ride Commercial Ships in Zone Defense Against Iran

Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU(SOC)), prepare to board a UH-1Y Venom during a defense of amphibious task force (DATF) rehearsal aboard amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), Red Sea, Aug. 7, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

A force of 100 Marines, newly trained by Navy personnel, stand ready to respond, if ordered, to provide armed security aboard foreign commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, USNI has learned. Read More

CO: In Australia, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is at the ‘Cutting Edge’ of Force Design

CO: In Australia, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin is at the ‘Cutting Edge’ of Force Design

A U.S. Marine with India Co., 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment (Reinforced), Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 23 provides security during Exercise Talisman Sabre 23 at Lakeside Airpark, Queensland, Australia, July 28, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

What began with 250 American Marines and sailors at Australia’s “Top End” 12 years ago has grown into a Marine air-ground task force of 2,500 that spends its seven-month rotation spread across Australia and the western Pacific. Read More

VIDEO: China Coast Guard Blast Philippine Military Resupply with Water Cannons

VIDEO: China Coast Guard Blast Philippine Military Resupply with Water Cannons

Philippine Military resupply mission was hit with a water canon from a Chinese Coast Guard cutter. Philippine Military Photo

China Coast Guard cutters disrupted an Armed Forces of the Philippines resupply mission to Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, including instances where they fired water cannons, a Philippines Coast Guard spokesperson said Monday. Read More

New Report Calls for Rethinking Undersea Warfare with Emphasis on Uncrewed Systems

New Report Calls for Rethinking Undersea Warfare with Emphasis on Uncrewed Systems

Pre-commissioning unit (PCU) Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-795) seen prior to a christening ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard facility in Groton, Conn., on July 31, 2021. US Navy Photo

To keep an edge against the rapidly expanding Chinese navy and still-potent Russian submarine force, the U.S. needs a widely distributed force of crewed and uncrewed surface and undersea vessels, as well as satellites and uncrewed aerial systems, according to a new study in undersea warfare. Read More

GAO: Polar Security Cutter Design Won’t Complete Until 2024, Delivery of First Hull Estimated in 2028

GAO: Polar Security Cutter Design Won’t Complete Until 2024, Delivery of First Hull Estimated in 2028

Artist’s Rendering of Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter

The design for the U.S. Coast Guard’s long-gestating heavy ice breaker won’t be ready until next year and the first hull likely won’t deliver until 2028 – three years later than the original estimate – according to a new Government Accountability Office report reviewed by USNI News. Read More

VCNO Franchetti Talks STEM Skills at Autonomous Sub Contest

VCNO Franchetti Talks STEM Skills at Autonomous Sub Contest

Adm Lisa Franchetti, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, delivers opening remarks during a concert in celebration of the Navy’s 247th Birthday in 2022. US Navy Photo

NAVAL BASE POINT LOMA, Calif. – As teams of college and high school students pored over their home-built robotic submarines and others prepared to place theirs in a huge, hillside water tank, Adm. Lisa Franchetti couldn’t be happier with what she saw. Read More

13th MEU Pacific Deployment Expanded Marine F-35 Operations, Tested Contested Logistics, Says CO

13th MEU Pacific Deployment Expanded Marine F-35 Operations, Tested Contested Logistics, Says CO

A Marine Corps F-35B Lighting II pilot with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, prepares to land on the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8), March 31, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s recently-completed deployment across the Pacific started out with the Marine Corps’ first operational deployment of a full squadron of F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and closed out with a sinking of an old warship during an exercise in the South China Sea. Read More

Australia to Host Rotational U.S. Army, Navy Presence Following SecDef, Deputy Prime Minister Meeting

Australia to Host Rotational U.S. Army, Navy Presence Following SecDef, Deputy Prime Minister Meeting

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles visit U.S. and Australian service members participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre, the United States’ largest military exercise with Australia in Townsville, Australia, July 30, 2023. DoD Photo

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – U.S. and Australian officials laid the groundwork to host more U.S. forces in Australia, officials from both countries said on Saturday. Read More