Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

USS Leity Gulf , CG-55 ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Dave Majumdar The U.S. Navy’s next generation surface combatants will be developed with information technologies baked into the core of their designs. While the Navy’s current generation of warships like the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers use digital information technology, they were designed in a different era when technology did not evolve as rapidly as today. The next generation replacement for those vessels will have to incorporate digital-information technologies from the outset—and will have to keep pace with rapid technical advancements. “That’s going to be a key part of the next generation of warships,” Adm. John Richardson, U.S. Navy’s chief of naval operations, told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute on February 12. “It will also be digitally native—or information native.” The Navy’s cu

United States Naval personal ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author-  James Holmes So Admiral John Richardson, the chief of naval operations (CNO), a.k.a. the United States’ top uniformed naval officer, plans to unfurl a “campaign design” next month to guide the U.S. Navy’s future endeavors. We know very little about the draft document. Nevertheless, it’s worthwhile proffering a few thoughts in this largely fact-free setting—even while the draft remains under strict embargo. Some ideas animating the directive have begun to seep out of the Navy Staff. For one, the world is changing around the sea services—the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard—at a fast and quickening rate. While the U.S. Navy remains tops in knowledge and capability—the human and material sinews of sea power—for now, prospective antagonists are improving even more swiftly. They’re coming from behind. To visualize this way of thinking, im

Image credits- Indian Navy Source- The National Interest Author- James Holmes Whither Indian maritime strategy? New Delhi reportedly wants to fit out a 200-ship navy by 2027, centered on aircraft-carrier task forces, a mix of conventional and nuclear-powered submarines, and missile-toting aircraft and surface combatants. That’s up from 124 by my tally. What will India do with a navy whose numbers mushroom by over 60 percent in a dozen years? It’s a fair and indeed vital question to ask. India would be far from the first seagoing nation to build ships for shipbuilding’s sake. Now, it’s important to preface any foray into naval matters with a caveat, namely that it’s crucial not to get transfixed by brute numbers of hulls. Big round numbers exert a particularly potent allure—witness America’s bid for a 600-ship U.S. Navy during the 1980s, and its struggle to maintain a 300-ship navy today. Anyway. Estimating the combat punch of a 200-ship Indian Navy requires observ

USS Virginia ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Source- General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard) Source- The National Interest Author- Zachary Keck Thailand is the latest country in maritime Asia seeking to build up its submarine force. According to local media reports, the Thai Royal Navy has formally submitted a proposal to the cabinet asking it to fund a submarine program. Admiral Kraisorn Chansuvanich, the commander of the Thai Navy, explained the rationale behind his service’s desire to acquire submarines. "Neighboring countries like Vietnam, Malaydsia, Indonesia, and Singapore have had submarines in their arsenals for many years,” Kraisorn said, according to Khaosad, a local Thai newspaper. "Now that I am here, I think it is a part of the strategy to improve our armed forces. It's my duty to submit the request to the government for consideration. Whether the government will approve it or not is up to them." In the proposal, Krais

INS Delhi ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Brian Burnell) Source- The Diplomat Author- Himanil Rana Where are debates on the future of fleet composition and naval force development headed? So far, discourse has been dominated by carrier battle groups. It’s not going to stay that way for long. The utility of sea control has always been measured by its capability to influence events on the shore. Aircraft carriers are naturally attractive to the United States and China as they can help attain sea control visibly and directly. Deriving their offensive power from their air wings, aircraft carriers can strike deep into the enemy’s homeland. Unlike submarines, carriers offer unmatched flexibility and lethality coupled with the ability to be as intrusive or as subtle as desired. The carrier’s ability to rapidly adapt its air wing to almost any expected threat is a tremendous advantage. Carrier groups can also be used as a diplomatic tool as well, influencing enem

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons Sources- The Diplomat Author- Robert Farley Last week, the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), on online think tank on maritime affairs, published a series of articles on forgotten naval strategists. Posts thus far have included discussion of the Athenian statesman  Themistocles , Soviet Admiral  Sergei Gorshkov , and Portuguese priest  Fernando Oliveira . While no one should take this as an excuse to stop reading Alfred Thayer Mahan or Julian Corbett, it’s well past time to inject different voices into the seapower conversation. While organized naval warfare has been around for nearly as long as land warfare, it has historically been under-theorized relative to its grounded cousin. A theory of seapower requires, at a minimum, an appreciation that seapower represents a clear and distinct component of national (or imperial) power, analytically separate from general military strength. Thucydides, for example, does not s

Image courtesy- Wikimedia So how do you “make” a maritime strategist, an adept handler of nautical affairs? Sea-service chieftains are mulling how to do so, and more power to them. Why now in particular? Because the services are “refreshing,” or updating, the  2007 U.S. Maritime Strategy  to keep abreast of today’s realities. It’s become plain that the niftiest strategy in the world is no better than its executors. If you want to oversee the global system of trade and commerce while fending off war — all on a shoestring — you need a deep-thinking cohort of mariners........... http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/five-ways-to-make-maritime-strategists/