Chinese Navy Sets New World Record, Launching 23 New Surface Warships In One Year. Lots of pictures.
Meanwhile, back in the US… Pentagon proposes big cuts to US Navy destroyer construction, retiring 13 cruisers. And cutting 5 of 12 DDG-51 Flt IIIs from 2021-2025. A slice: “… trading existing force structure for unproven technologies such as unmanned ships that may pan out down the road is a classic Pentagon trap that rarely pans out.”
ComNavOps on the Navy’s restructured plans: “Digest that a moment. DoD want’s to not only cut our prime AAW [anti-aircraft warfare] cruisers from 22 to 9 but, at the same time, reduce their planned replacements from 12 to 7. That’s a double hit on our central AAW force.” And this: “We are designing our own defeat right before our eyes. Stunning.”
Double whammy for the Navy: “We are getting 35 to 40 percent of our ships out of maintenance on time: That’s unacceptable.” Sen. Inhofe cited a $2 billion shortfall in Navy maintenance.
More from ComNavOps: F-35 Broad Area Maritime Surveillance. “We see then, that the F-35 is NOT a BAMS platform and would not be effective as such.”
Russia deploys Avangard hypersonic missile system. The West and other nations were “playing catch-up with us”, Putin said.
USAF Pitch Bowl Planned for March. Still unclear if Pitch Bowl will be up to $6M in gov’t funds or potentially more than that.
The U.S. Army’s Artillery Is Outmatched By Russia’s Big Guns. And yet Russia’s artillery is its worst performing sector for exports, with less than 10 percent of the world market.
The 2020 mandates an independent study of whether MDA should be moved from R&E to the purview of USD(A&S). A slice: “In general, the amount of oversight into R&E hasn’t been — satisfactory isn’t the right word, but something along those lines.”
Congress weighs closing up No. 3 office at the Pentagon. See no reason why not. “There is a lot of whiplash here, first with creation of DCMO and then CMO, and now potential disestablishment all together.”
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