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“The Influence of Sea Power” – Distributed Maritime Operations: Sensors, Networks & Effects

“The Influence of Sea Power” – Distributed Maritime Operations: Sensors, Networks & Effects
“The Influence of Sea Power” – Distributed Maritime Operations: Sensors, Networks & Effects

Part 3 of a narrative series illustrating how Elbit America’s USA-manufactured products enable customers to successfully accomplish their most demanding missions.

Teledyne-FLIR Merger Creates Tactical Drone Powerhouse

Teledyne-FLIR Merger Creates Tactical Drone Powerhouse
Teledyne-FLIR Merger Creates Tactical Drone Powerhouse

The combined company will offer a wide range of unmanned vehicles (mostly small ones) for air, land, sea, and underwater, said exec Roger Wells.

Navy Plans Hammerhead Mines To Box In Chinese, Russian Subs

Navy Plans Hammerhead Mines To Box In Chinese, Russian Subs
Navy Plans Hammerhead Mines To Box In Chinese, Russian Subs

The Hammerhead mine would be delivered to sites by underwater drones, and “detect, classify, and defeat” manned or unmanned submarines, the Navy says.

HASC NDAA Cuts F-35, Adds Sub, Sets Up Senate Clash

HASC NDAA Cuts F-35, Adds Sub, Sets Up Senate Clash
HASC NDAA Cuts F-35, Adds Sub, Sets Up Senate Clash

The HASC draft largely agrees with SASC on cutting robot ships and adding manned ones, but the two are far apart on Joint Strike Fighters.

SASC Trims Hypersonics & Robot Ships, Boosts Ships & F-35

SASC Trims Hypersonics & Robot Ships, Boosts Ships & F-35
SASC Trims Hypersonics & Robot Ships, Boosts Ships & F-35

Skeptical senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee want to slow down bleeding-edge prototypes, while building up more traditional weapons.

China Seeks AI Without Limits, Ethics: SecDef Esper

China Seeks AI Without Limits, Ethics: SecDef Esper
China Seeks AI Without Limits, Ethics: SecDef Esper

Beijing is using artificial intelligence, not only to repress domestic dissidents and minorities, the Defense Secretary said, but to develop and export autonomous weapons.

Drones, Ro-Boats, & F-35 On Wheels: Marines Seek Tech For Major War

Drones, Ro-Boats, & F-35 On Wheels: Marines Seek Tech For Major War
Drones, Ro-Boats, & F-35 On Wheels: Marines Seek Tech For Major War

SAN DIEGO: Before the first human Marine hits the beach in the next war, long-range MUX drones will launch from ships to scout for threats. Next comes a wave of robotic small craft, Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) converted to carry sensors, jammers, missile launchers, even racks of mini-drones they can dump into the water to…

Clock Ticks As Argentine Submariners Run Out Of Air; US, Allies Race To Rescue

Clock Ticks As Argentine Submariners Run Out Of Air; US, Allies Race To Rescue
Clock Ticks As Argentine Submariners Run Out Of Air; US, Allies Race To Rescue

In an extraordinary international response, a dozen nations have poured assets into the stormy South Atlantic to help find and save 44 Argentine submariners from the missing sub San Juan. It’s a stark contrast to the last great submarine disaster, when Russia was slow to accept international help for the stricken Kursk in 2000 and lost all…

Worries Surface On New Navy Mine Warfare Plan

Worries Surface On New Navy Mine Warfare Plan
Worries Surface On New Navy Mine Warfare Plan

ANNAPOLIS: The Navy’s new plan to put mine-hunting gear on a wider range of warships could finally break mine warfare out of its ghetto — or it could keep mine-hunting the same redheaded stepchild but spread it across more decks. The Navy has experimented with integrating Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) onto ships that weren’t minesweepers before,…

Every Ship A Minesweeper? Navy Looks Beyond LCS

Every Ship A Minesweeper? Navy Looks Beyond LCS
Every Ship A Minesweeper? Navy Looks Beyond LCS

ANNAPOLIS: There are maybe half a million sea mines in arsenals around the world. To find and clear them, rather than rely solely on a small fleet of small Littoral Combat Ships, the Navy now wants at least some mine-hunting gear on a vessels ranging from modified oil tankers to catamarans to aircraft carriers. The…

Underwater Bloodhounds: DARPA’s Robot Subs

Underwater Bloodhounds: DARPA’s Robot Subs
Underwater Bloodhounds: DARPA’s Robot Subs

Run silent, run deep — and now, run in packs? Submarines are traditionally lone wolves, but the rise of robotics is starting to change that. Just yesterday, defense contractor BAE announced a $4.6 million award from DARPA to build an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) to accompany manned submarines, helping them spot targets by sending out…

SecNav Nominee Spencer Soft-Pedals Trump’s 355-Ship Navy, Touts Robots

SecNav Nominee Spencer Soft-Pedals Trump’s 355-Ship Navy, Touts Robots
SecNav Nominee Spencer Soft-Pedals Trump’s 355-Ship Navy, Touts Robots

CAPITOL HILL: Amidst a bipartisan lovefest of a confirmation hearing, Navy Secretary nominee Richard  Spencer quietly and consistently downplayed the idea of a 355-ship fleet. The Navy now has 276 ships from supercarriers to minesweepers, President Trump promised 350 on the campaign trail, and the Chief of Naval Operations has officially assessed that he needs 355.…

Marines Test Killer Hovercraft, Wooden Glider & 3D Printers For The Battlefield

Marines Test Killer Hovercraft, Wooden Glider & 3D Printers For The Battlefield
Marines Test Killer Hovercraft, Wooden Glider & 3D Printers For The Battlefield

QUANTICO: A hovercraft that shoots salvoes of rockets. A speedboat that turns into a submarine. A mobile 3D printing factory. A big wooden box with wings (yes, really). And, of course, more drones than you can shake a stick at (because they swarm). These are just a few of the roughly 100 technologies the Marine…

Big Wars, Small Ships: CSBA’s Alternative Navy Praised By Sen. McCain

Big Wars, Small Ships: CSBA’s Alternative Navy Praised By Sen. McCain
Big Wars, Small Ships: CSBA’s Alternative Navy Praised By Sen. McCain

UPDATED with McCain praise WASHINGTON: The Navy needs a bigger fleet of smaller ships than envisioned in its official Force Structure Assessment, says a congressionally-chartered study from the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments. CSBA emphatically agrees with the Navy that the focus needs to shift from day-to-day counter-terrorism and presence operations to deterring (and if need be,…