US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

like everywhere I go this evening, I hear
US Conducts 1st Ground-Launched Cruise Missile Test After INF Treaty Pullout
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I would've thought a TLAM should hit at over 500 km, yes, even if land-launched
 
right now on top off us.cnn.com is
China could overwhelm US military in Asia in hours, Australian report says
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The US military is no longer the primary force in Asia, and missiles from China's
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could overwhelm its bases in hours, according to a new report.
The study by the United States Study Center, at the University of Sydney, in Australia, warned that America's defense strategy in the Indo-Pacific region "is in the throes of an unprecedented crisis" and could struggle to defend its allies against China.
That means Australia, Japan and other US partners need to build up and refocus their forces in the region, and consider increased cooperation with the US, to ensure their security, the study claimed.
The report highlights areas where China's military is making huge strides in comparison to the US and its Asian allies and partners. Chief among those is in missiles.
"China has deployed a formidable array of precision missiles and other counter-intervention systems to undercut America's military primacy," the report states. Those missiles number in the thousands, the report says.
Almost all US military installations in the Western Pacific, as well as those of its key partners and allies, "could be rendered useless by precision strikes in the opening hours of a conflict," according to the report.
China's Foreign Ministry said Monday it had not seen the report, but spokesperson Geng Shuang stressed that the country's military policy was "defensive in nature."
"China is firmly on a path of peaceful development and our national dense policy is defensive in nature," Shuang said.
CNN reached out to the Pentagon for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
Little surprise
Much of the Australian report should come as little surprise to the Pentagon.
A
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from the National Defense Strategy Commission said "the US military could suffer unacceptably high casualties" and "might struggle to win or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia."
Six months later,
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on China's military said Beijing was intent on developing a world-class military and becoming "the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific region."
Upwards of 2,000 short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles that can hit land and
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are part of that plan, according to the Pentagon report.
The Australian study questions the US's ability to keep up with
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and warns that Washington is facing a crisis of "strategic insolvency."
For example, the US is seeing its fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines shrinking at a time when they are needed even more.
"Put simply, as the environment above the surface becomes more deadly because of Chinese deployments of cruise missiles, hypersonic technologies and anti-air defenses, America's enduring advantage in undersea warfare will become increasingly important in the regional balance of power," the report says.
But Adm. Phil Davidson, the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told Congress in March that he was only getting half of the submarines needed in the Pacific on a daily basis.
The Australian report says it is critical that Canberra and partners like Japan need to step up to fill the voids the US is leaving.
"Washington will require significant and ongoing support from its regional allies and partners to successfully deter Chinese adventurism," it said.
The report, for example, suggested that Australia increase its production of conventionally powered submarines, which are ideal for operations close to coastlines or in areas like the South China Sea.
It also encouraged "collective defense" through software that enables communications between allies.
Working together
Increased cooperation between the US and its allies is already happening.
The US and Australia recently completed their biennial Talisman Sabre exercises in northern Australia, which this year also included a bulked-up Japan Self-Defense Force contingent performing two amphibious landings.
The Australian report said more of the same is needed, and farther afield from Australia.
"Exercises should practice and demonstrate rapid dispersal of air- and land-based strike forces from concentrated basing in mainland Japan, Okinawa and Guam, to small geographically diverse operating locations (around the South China Sea)," it said.
"The primary aim of such exercises should be to bolster the collective ability to deter, deny and, if necessary, blunt potential Chinese fait accompli aggression," it said.
The report noted that the Australian military is beset by one of the same ills hurting its American allies -- spreading its forces too thinly. Between 2001 and 2018, Australia spent more than three times as much on operations in the Middle East than it did in the Indo-Pacific.
The strain that conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have placed on the US military's budget, equipment and operations had "ill-prepared" Washington "for great power competition in the Indo-Pacific," it said.
now moved to DefenseNews to see
China now strong enough for a surprise move in the Indo-Pacific
follow the link
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if you're interested, which you are not

"America’s liberal order-building agenda" inside, LOL!
 

XavNN

Junior Member
Registered Member
USS Ohio cruise missile submarine completes 2-year refit
USS-Ohio-cruise-missile-submarine-completes-2-years-refit-770x410.jpg

Fully refreshed after more than two years of refitting, the US Navy’s oldest guided missile submarine, USS Ohio (SSGN 726), is once again ready to set sail, the PSNS & IMF Public Affairs said on August 15, 2019.
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--

Raytheon’s Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar successfully tracks first targets
Raytheons-Enterprise-Air-Surveillance-Radar-successfully-tracks-first-targets-770x410.jpg

Raytheon and the U.S. Navy completed the first system-level tests of SPY-6(V)2, the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (or EASR), at the Surface Combat System Center at Wallops Island, VA.
...
Two variants of EASR are being built: a single-face rotating array designated AN/SPY-6(V)2 for amphibious assault ships and Nimitz class carriers, and a three fixed-face array designated AN/SPY-6(V)3 for Ford class aircraft carriers and the future FFG(X) guided missile frigates.
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Today at 7:33 AM
Jun 1, 2019
and
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inside a spin doctor talks "lessons learned" etc., LOL
related:
Pentagon terminates program for redesigned kill vehicle, preps for new competition
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The Pentagon has moved from
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on the
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to outright killing it. The EKV required technical changes in the past several years due to issues in tests. The Missile Defense Agency decided to initiate a program to redesign the kill vehicle. In the meantime, MDA has had
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with the EKV following engineering changes.

The Department of Defense decided to terminate the current
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contract to develop the RKV — effective Aug. 22 — “due to technical design problems,” according to an Aug. 21 statement by the department.

Raytheon is the actual developer of the RKV and serves as a sub-contractor to Boeing.

The RKV would have replaced the current Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) on the Ground-Based Interceptor, which makes up the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system designed to protect the homeland from ballistic missile threats. It would have also been fielded on all future ground-based interceptors — a total of 64 ultimately.

The EKV is designed to destroy targets in high-speed collisions after separating from the booster rocket.

Now that the RKV is dead in the water, the Pentagon plans to move forward with a new, next-generation interceptor competition, the statement said.

According to a defense official, no more ground-based interceptors will be built, and all future interceptors that are fielded as part of the GMD system will be the new interceptors.

“Ending the program was the responsible thing to do,” Mike Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said in the statement. “Development programs sometimes encounter problems. After exercising due diligence, we decided the path we’re going down wouldn’t be fruitful, so we’re not going down that path anymore. This decision supports our efforts to gain full value from every future taxpayer dollar spent on defense.”

With the blessing of the undersecretary of defense, Griffin made the decision on Aug. 14 to terminate the program, one week after he told reporters at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, to expect a decision on the way forward for RKV soon.

MDA and Boeing in December 2018 deferred a critical design review of the RKV “due to the failure of certain critical components to meet technical requirements as specified in the development contract,” the statement noted.

After MDA assessed the issues, it issued a stop work order on the contract in May to analyze alternative options.

“The department ultimately determined the technical design problems were so significant as to be either insurmountable or cost-prohibitive to correct,” the statement said.

The DoD plans to take data garnered from research and testing of the RKV prior to its cancellation to inform the next-generation interceptor program, “which will include a new kill vehicle,” according to the statement.

“The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is updating its requirements in the face of an increasingly complex threat environment," Raytheon said in a statement. The company “supports their decision to cease work on the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) and initiate a competition for the next-generation interceptor to meet these advanced threats. Raytheon will continue to develop and offer a wide range of advanced missile defense technologies available to protect the United States now and in the future.”

There are
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, California, with plans to add 22 additional missile silos at Fort Greely to support 20 more ground-based interceptors.

The defense official said the Pentagon is still working through the details of a new, next-generation interceptor competition, including when it will be initiated and the pace at which the technology will be developed and fielded.

also located Jun 1, 2015
it's recent article wonder if it's true:
Major flaws revealed in US anti-missile nuclear defense

source:
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issues
 
Aug 15, 2019
oops,
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The company that has experienced slip-ups in delivering missile tubes to the Navy might leave the business, leaving only a single company who can do the work.
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but who cares here
now
As CNO Richardson departs, U.S. submarine builders face pressures on all fronts
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, who was plucked from Naval Reactors to lead the service as it geared up for its
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y the replacement for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, is leaving his post with the cracks beginning to show in the U.S. submarine industrial base.

At the height of the Cold War,
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and Newport News were producing, on average, 4.2 submarines per year between the Ohio-class boomers and the Los Angeles-class attack boats. And those submarines were built from parts from 17,000 suppliers, according to 2017 testimony from former General Dynamics executive John Casey.

Between 1997 and 2016, production of submarines dropped by 80 percent, and there were several years where the Navy purchased no new subs at all. The result was a more than 80 percent drop in the number of suppliers in what’s known as the submarine industrial base, according to Casey’s testimony, and the skilled workforce saw a similar contraction.

Now, as the shipyards struggle to adjust to two Virginia-class submarines per year, the Navy is preparing to and start integrating an 84-foot section into new hulls called the Virginia Payload Module, that will triple the current loadout of Tomahawk missiles to 40 per ship. The service is also eyeing expanding to three Virginias in certain years. And, above all, in 2021 the Navy plans to buy its first Columbia-class submarine, a boat more than double the size of a Virginia-class.

The mounting pressure on both a diminished supplier base and a green workforce being trained and expanded in real-time as the Navy increases the workload has caused delays to creep into the Virginia-class program, once renowned for delivering boats early and under budget. And welding problems on new missile tubes have already eaten into the schedule buffer the Navy built in for Columbia, which the Navy needs on patrol in 2031 to avoid dropping below the 10 subs it says it needs to maintain a constant strategic deterrent.

In a Monday interview with Defense News, outgoing Chief of Naval Operations acknowledged the tremendous pressure facing sub builders and suppliers, and said workforce turnover in the yards has undoubtedly played a role in the delays creeping into schedules.

“We’re asking a lot of the submarine industrial base right now to continue with Virginia, two-to-three per year including that payload module, and deliver Columbia, Richardson said. “That’s an industrial base that has a lot on their plate right now. And their workforce is going through a transformation.

“The people who built and delivered the Virginia program, the Los Angeles program and Seawolf – those folks are retiring. We used to have this two-hump camel in terms of the demographics of the shipyard: You had the Cold Warriors and you had the post-9/11 folks. And that Cold War hump is gone. And I think that although it’s going through some friction right now, it’s really inculcating, indoctrinating and educating a brand-new workforce.”

The problems, such as the sub-par welding on the missile tubes from sub-contractor BWXT, is one the Navy thinks it can get after with better oversight of the contractors as they get over the learning curve, Richardson said.

“You can’t take a lot of the skillsets for granted.,” he said. “We’ve had some welding issues. We’ve got to be on that. [It’s] a lot closer oversight as we educate this new team. It’s not just the welders and other skills its ‘Well, who were the managers of that. What should they be looking out for?’”

On the whole, however, Richardson said he’s optimistic that the workforce issues will be resolved as the new employees gain experience.

“As I zoom out, it’s a super exciting time for the nation because a lot of people are coming into this workforce and they’re getting terrific jobs: they’re getting educated to do really high end work both for themselves and for the country,” Richardson said. “But there is a learning curve associated with that. But if you think about it, I’d rather be doing that learning now than later.”

‘There is Going to Be Something’

The workforce issues are threatening to mar the Columbia program before it really gets off the starting blocks next year.

The program, that the Navy has said for most of this decade is their number-one shipbuilding priority, is likely to see its $115 billion price tag fall short of what’s required, according to a Government Accountability Office report in April, because the Navy has inadequately accounted for the labor hours necessary to complete the boat.

And if the boats fall behind because of parts shortages, which top Navy officials have said they are starting to feel acutely from its diminished supplier base, or from a green workforce taking more time than a more experienced workforce to complete the same work, the ultimate risk is the country not having enough boats to execute its continuous strategic deterrent regime.

And the delays already eaten into the wiggle-room the Navy has to work with, Richardson said.

“I think that the Columbia program is on track but there is so little margin in that program” he said. “And I know, just because I’ve done this enough, that you’ve got to build that margin in. And we did: we built that margin in, but a lot of it has been eaten up by one unexpected thing or another. So, we’re still on track, but a lot the margin is gone.

Getting the Columbia on a better path means the Navy, Electric Boat, and their partner shipbuilding Huntington Ingalls Newport News, need to deliver pieces of the program faster.

“We’ve got to build that margin back, and we’ve got a plan – we’ve set some pretty aggressive goals for that,” he said. “We’re going to build the lead ship of that class in the same time we built the lead ship of Virginia. And it’s two-and-a-half times the size. But we’ve learned a lot about shipbuilding, so the design will be a lot more complete than Virginia was at the start. There is a tremendous amount of oversight where we think the risks are, the known knowns.

“But I will tell you I just know there is going to be something in testing, it’s a super complex system. So, we just need to be driving hard to build margin. We said in the [Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority 2.0]: Hey, deliver it as fast as you can. Whatever IOC we set for ourselves, let’s not take any comfort in that. Let’s just keep retiring risk as fast as we can: Get that thing out to sea as fast as we can. Because if we get into that risk retirement mindset, that’s what will happen.”
I'm going to check "Between 1997 and 2016, production of submarines dropped by 80 percent ..." statement

EDIT just to finish, in wiki I can see 2 Seawolfs and 13 Virginias commissioned in 1997 -- 2016 period, so that journalist probably meant 60 (not 15) should've been built, considering the sentence "At the height of the Cold War,
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and Newport News were producing, on average, 4.2 submarines per year between the Ohio-class boomers and the Los Angeles-class attack boats"
further up in that article

LOL is this obvious?
 
Last edited:

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Aug 15, 2019
now
As CNO Richardson departs, U.S. submarine builders face pressures on all fronts
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I'm going to check "Between 1997 and 2016, production of submarines dropped by 80 percent ..." statement

A two party system is a beautiful thing as long as everybody is working for the building and defense of the country? but we have one party that does NOT give a "rats ass" for defending the country. They have NO concept of maintaining a "common defense", in fact they hate the US military almost as much as they hate the other party, and the people who do care about defending the country?

As well? we have citizens who continue to elect those people to represent them, because they don't give a "rat's ass" either, their idea of government is the "nanny state" to take care of them and their children, passing out cash, groceries, and US Govt healthcare, blah, blah, blah!

You will note that 2016 marks a "sea change", and that things have turned around, but it is a slow and maddening process to reverse years of neglect.
 
A two party system is a beautiful thing as long as everybody is working for the building and defense of the country? but we have one party that does NOT give a "rats ass" for defending the country. They have NO concept of maintaining a "common defense", in fact they hate the US military almost as much as they hate the other party, and the people who do care about defending the country?

As well? we have citizens who continue to elect those people to represent them, because they don't give a "rat's ass" either, their idea of government is the "nanny state" to take care of them and their children, passing out cash, groceries, and US Govt healthcare, blah, blah, blah!

You will note that 2016 marks a "sea change", and that things have turned around, but it is a slow and maddening process to reverse years of neglect.
Go Navy!
 
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