Denmark cancels the ongoing procurement of new pollution control vessels to investigate the possibility of building military multipurpose ships. This surprising piece of news came in the new defense agreement that was the announced earlier this week. While Denmark desperately needs new ships for the anti-pollution task, there are some potentially visionary possibilities is the […]
Navy
Russian sea denial in the Baltic Sea
Tobias Oder has this interesting analysis of Russia’s sea denial capabilities in the Baltic Sea on cimsec.org. Essentially, the point is that they can close the Eastern part of the Baltic Sea quite effectively, should they want to. Oder’s analysis is written from a German perspective, but I think many of his recommendations could be […]
Homicide charges for US warship collisions are a big mistake
Four officers from USS Fitzgerald and one from USS John S. McCain including both commanding officers will face criminal charges for negligent homicide. As Navy Times notes, this is a very rare step, and now the internet is boiling over with discussions about it. I think the criminal charges are a big mistake.
Sweden and Finland buy new torpedoes together
Sweden and Finland have announced a joint procurement of torpedoes of the type New Lightweight Torpedo (NLT). This torpedo is produced by Saab Dynamics and is also known by the Swedish name of Torpedsystem 47 or Tp 47. The hope is that the coordinated purchase will lower the costs of sustaining and further developing the […]
What to expect for Russian Baltic Fleet in 2018
The press service of the Russian Western Military District has announce a few things to expect from the Baltic Fleet in 2018, reports RIA Novosti. Most notably there will be established another air defense unit with S-400 missiles. The fleet will also receive a new missile corvette. In addition to these things the general modernization […]
Russia’s aircraft carrier begins three year modernization
A contract has finally been signed regarding the modernization of Russia’s only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, reports TASS. The work is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2018 and to last for three years. Originally the modernization should have started in September, but due to a lack of finances the work could not […]
More on Germany’s trouble to keep equipment moving
Sébastien Roblin for The National Interest in a piece called Germany Does Not Have One Working Submarine: One unfortunate consequence is that the submarine crews are completely unable to gain badly needed operational experience. Only by mid-2018 will three German submarines be operational, followed by possibly a fourth that November. But the kicker is that […]
Finland will buy large corvettes
Finnish chief of defense general Jarmo Lindberg to Defense News: [In] the defense report that was finalized in June last year, the government stated that they are willing to fund strategic procurement programs first to the Navy, where six ships are going away, and they’re going to be replaced by four multipurpose corvettes of about […]
Ocean capable corvettes could be affordable force enablers
Yesterday the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Soobrazitelnyy, a corvette from the Baltic Fleet, had passed through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean. This was the latest in a series of press releases covering the journey of two Steregushchiy class corvettes and an auxiliary vessel from the Baltic Fleet. The […]
Poland receives new minehunter
The first ship in a series of new minehunters joined the Polish Navy this week when ORP Kormoran officially entered service at a ceremony in Gdynia. It was expected that Poland could receive Kormoran in 2016 but the process was delayed by about a year. The Kormoran project was initially initiated in 1999, but it […]