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The US Navy May Re-Arm Trident Missiles With Conventional Warheads, This Move Would Give The US A Conventional Rapid 'Global Strike' Capability
By Nick Brown And Katy Glassborow, Jane’s Defence Weekly, 26 JAN 06
By Beth Duff-Brown, Associated Press (Kitsap Sun), 27 Jan 07
Quiet diesel vessels owned by China seen as threat
By Audry McAvoy, Associated Press, (Seattle Post Intelligencer), 27 Jan 06
Student, 18, Caught In Southern Spain
By Steve Liewer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 JAN 06
26 January 2006 Inside the Pentagon Vol. 22, No. 4
By JO3 Arianne Anderson, The Dolphin, January 19, 2006
By Douglas P. Guarino, Foster’s Daily Democrat, 26 Jan 06
By Dale Eisman, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, January 27, 2006
From Merco Press, 26 Jan 06
The US Navy May Re-Arm Trident Missiles With Conventional Warheads, This Move Would Give The US A Conventional Rapid 'Global Strike' Capability
By Nick Brown And Katy Glassborow, Jane’s Defence Weekly, 26 JAN 06
LONDON - The US Navy (USN) is looking to resurrect a plan to 'conventionalise' some of its Trident fleet of ballistic missiles, replacing their nuclear payload with multiple high explosive warheads.
Details of the plan have come to light from leaked portions of the service's request for funding under the forthcoming US Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) defence budget, which is due on 6 February.
Although hard facts were thin on the ground at the time of writing, the navy is believed to have asked for around USD500 million to fund the programme up to 2011, with the potential conversion of up to 24 Trident missiles to each carry nearly 100 independently targeted conventional warheads.
The navy proposed similar Trident conversion studies in FY03 and FY04, but these were flatly refused by Congress.
However, a congressional source told JDW that "there is a real buzz about rapid global strike in the Pentagon right now and the programme appears to have floated back onto the table".
The navy refused to discuss the programme, however, before the budget is officially released. A Pentagon spokesperson said that "it would be inappropriate to discuss any specifics pertaining to the 2007 budget at this time", adding: "It is premature to draw any conclusions or comment on specific numbers."
Alternative plans suggested by the US Air Force to convert some of its land-based ballistic missiles for the role are complicated by the launchers' geographic locations, which would necessitate missiles mostly flying over Russia and China, with the very real danger of escalation or retaliation that this could provoke.
By contrast, although still carrying a certain degree of risk - avoidance of which would need serious consideration - USN sources believe an Ohio-class submarine could be stationed in the Southern Atlantic regions and be able to hit most targets on the planet in around 30 minutes, firing missiles south over the pole.
The congressional source said that this timeliness was central to the global strike requirement, radically shortening the engagement cycle and enabling the US to get a massive amount of firepower onto a rapidly emerging or fleeting target window, as well as providing a conventional 'first-strike' preemptive capability.
Operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq highlighted this gap in the US arsenal, when air strikes on intelligence-led 'pop up' targets and Tomahawk decapitation strikes were hampered by on-station availability and inbound flight times.
By Beth Duff-Brown, Associated Press (Kitsap Sun), 27 Jan 07
Canada’s next prime minister used his first news conference Thursday to tell the United States to mind its own business when it comes to territorial rights in the Arctic North.
Testing the notion that he would kowtow to the Bush administration, Stephen Harper, whose Conservative Party won general elections on Monday, said he would stand by a campaign pledge to increase Canada’s military presence in the Arctic and put three military icebreakers in the frigid waters of the Northwest Passage.
U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins had criticized the plan Wednesday, describing the Arctic passage as "neutral waters."
"There’s no reason to create a problem that doesn’t exist," Wilkins said during a panel discussion at the University of Western Ontario, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "We don’t recognize Canada’s claims to those waters. Most other countries do not recognize their claim."
No reporter brought up the U.S. ambassador’s views Thursday, but Harper said he wanted to comment on them.
"The United States defends its sovereignty; the Canadian government will defend our sovereignty," Harper said. "It is the Canadian people that we get our mandate from, not the ambassador of the United States."
Harper’s surprising salvo was likely intended as a message to those in the Bush administration who might be cheering the election of a Conservative government and view Harper as a pushover when it comes to prickly U.S.-Canadian relations.
Arctic sovereignty has been a sensitive subject for decades, with U.S. Navy submarines and ships entering northern waters without asking permission. Ottawa has generally turned a blind eye to the United States’ sending ships through the area.
Canadian media reported last month that a U.S. nuclear submarine traveled secretly through Canadian Arctic waters in November on its way to the North Pole.
The Northwest Passage runs from the Atlantic through the Arctic to the Pacific.
Global warming is melting the passage - which is only navigable during a slim window in the summer - and exposing unexplored fishing stocks and an attractive shipping route. Commercial ships can shave off some 2,480 miles from the trip from Europe to Asia compared with the current routes through the Panama Canal.
Harper said during a campaign speech in December he would dramatically increase Canada’s military presence in the Arctic North. He intends to construct and deploy three new armed icebreaking ships and construct a $1.7 billion deep-water port and an underwater network of "listening posts."
"The single most important duty of the federal government is to protect and defend our national sovereignty," Harper said in the December speech. "There are new and disturbing reports of American nuclear submarines passing though Canadian waters without obtaining the permission of, or even notifying, the Canadian government."
Harper has not said whether he would order military action if the ships or port detected an unauthorized submarine in Arctic waters.
Harper, meanwhile, said he had a friendly conversation with President Bush on Wednesday but had not fixed a date for their first meeting. He said he had also received calls from other major allies, including Mexican President Vicente Fox, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Quiet diesel vessels owned by China seen as threat
By Audry McAvoy, Associated Press, (Seattle Post Intelligencer), 27 Jan 06
ABOARD THE USS RONALD REAGAN -- Two Navy destroyers and a cruiser dangle sonar devices into the ocean to listen for enemy submarines lurking 50 miles from Honolulu. Naval aviators in P-3 surveillance planes and helicopters drop sonar buoys into the sea to give the sailors more ears below the surface.
The submarines are not really enemy vessels, but U.S. subs participating in anti-submarine warfare training.
The exercises, held Jan. 9-12, are something Navy sailors will be doing more of in coming years. The Pacific Fleet has made training to track and destroy submarines its top combat priority amid concerns its sailors' skills have not kept up with the advanced diesel submarines China and other Pacific Rim countries have been buying.
"There is a real threat out there -- over 140 diesel submarines in the Pacific, and the technology on them is getting better every day," said Capt. David Steindl, who directed the ships and aircraft during the exercises. "We need to train constantly to be ready if we ever have to face that threat."
Tracking submarines dropped on the Navy's list of priorities after the Cold War ended and the former Soviet Union began retiring some of its undersea vessels. Also, diesel submarines were considered too loud to pose much of a threat to the U.S. Navy and its silent-running nuclear subs.
But the emergence of quieter diesel subs has given anti-submarine warfare new urgency. These diesel submarines are no challenge to the U.S. Navy's supremacy at sea; they can't go fast enough for long enough distances for that. But they are quieter and thus harder to find and more capable of sneaking up on ships.
Owen Cote, associate director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the United States is primarily concerned that China might use its diesel subs to block commercial ship access to Taiwan and force Taiwan to capitulate in a military showdown with Beijing.
Cote said the Navy also might have some concerns about North Korean submarines, as well as Iranian submarines in the Persian Gulf. But those vessels are not considered as advanced as those the Chinese have.
Steindl, commander of Destroyer Squadron Seven since April, said he has been spending twice as much time on anti-submarine warfare exercises than he did the last time he served at sea, four years ago. Now, he said, his team is training almost constantly for anti-submarine warfare.
Starting last summer, sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan spent months off San Diego matching their wits against the Gotland, a Swedish vessel that is among the world's quietest and hardest to detect diesel submarines.
The Gotland uses advanced technology to muffle its sound. It can also stay underwater for weeks at a time. Most diesel subs have to surface every day to recharge their batteries, making them vulnerable to attack.
Steindl said his sailors found ways to track the Gotland during their exercises, though he declined to say how. He said the training prepared his crew well.
"If we can go against her, we can go against anyone," he said.
Other Navy ships will get to train against the Gotland until June, when the Swedish sub is due to go home. The Navy also has been training with other nations that have diesel subs. Last fall, U.S. ships held separate exercises with the Australian, Indian and Japanese navies.
Ten Western Pacific nations own 212 diesel submarines, including 132 in the "hunter-killer" category, according to "The Military Balance 2005-2006," a book put out by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. China owns 64.
Just over half of China's diesel submarines are outdated Romeo-class subs, but Beijing moved to upgrade its fleet by acquiring four advanced Russian-made Kilo-class submarines in the 1990s and ordering eight more in 2002.
Student, 18, Caught In Southern Spain
By Steve Liewer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 JAN 06
A hacker who broke into a computer network at Point Loma Naval Submarine Base last spring did no serious damage, Navy officials said this week.
Based on a tip from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Spanish authorities arrested a suspect in Spain's southern port city of Malaga two weeks ago. They haven't released the name of the suspect, an 18-year-old college student.
The suspect was part of a ring of 15 hackers uncovered at a university, NCIS spokesman Ed Buice said. He said Spanish authorities believe the suspect may be responsible for dozens of other computer intrusions, but the Navy base break-in is the only one attributed to him so far.
The Pentagon maintains two computer networks: an unclassified system called NIPRNET and an encrypted system for classified information known as SIPRNET.
The suspect hacked into the three NIPRNET computers, which are kept on a floating submarine dry dock at the base, in May, said Lt. Cmdr. Ron Steiner, a spokesman for the Naval Network Warfare Command. Steiner said the computers, which monitor the performance of systems at the dry dock, were not connected to the $7 billion Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, under construction for the past several years.
Steiner said no submarines were in port at the time of the intrusion and that the computers contained no secrets.
"There was no classified information, no sensitive information," he said. "There's nothing special about these three computers."
People who monitor the computers quickly noticed some suspicious networking, Steiner said. They took the computers offline to remove malicious coding the hacker had inserted, then reported the intrusion to the NCIS and the Navy's cyber-defense experts.
The investigative service tracked the incursion to Spain and contacted the Spanish Civil Guard, which announced the suspect's arrest last week.
The Navy has tightened its firewalls to further protect computer networks such as the one at the Point Loma base, Steiner said.
Computer viruses and worms have replaced individual hackers as the biggest threat to giant computer networks like the Pentagon's, said Stephen Northcutt, a Navy veteran and president of the Hawaii-based SANS Technology Institute, a computer security company that does contract work for the military.
Northcutt said the military branches recently have made huge improvements in protecting their computer systems. He said the Navy had opted for less protection than the rest of the Pentagon for its unclassified computers until a computer worm forced the temporary shutdown of most of the Navy Marine-Corps Intranet in August 2003.
The intrusion at the Point Loma base was tiny by comparison, Northcutt said.
Still, he added, "You ought to be giving the Navy a high-five for detecting this and the NCIS a high-five for tracking it down."
26 January 2006 Inside the Pentagon Vol. 22, No. 4
The Defense Department is readying a nearly $100 million reprogramming request for congressional approval that would allow the Navy to begin flight tests this year of a conventionally armed ballistic missile to be fielded on nuclear weapons carrying submarines, according to key officials and documents.
The funding scheme is aimed at jump-starting a Pentagon effort to acquire a "prompt global strike" capability in the near term by refitting some existing Trident D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with conventional warheads.
The two different payloads would ride aboard nearly identical D-5 missiles and be launched from the same Navy subs, according to defense officials.
To date, these long-range missiles have carried only nuclear weapons. Even with a non-nuclear payload, giving the missile increased maneuverability should allow it to attack a number of critical targets once reserved for the U.S. nuclear warfighting plan, and perhaps serve even as a "bunker buster" in penetrating some hardened underground targets, officials say.
A draft version of the Pentagon's forthcoming Quadrennial Defense Review report suggests the new weapon will be part of an arsenal that serves as a "stick" in influencing nations around the globe that contemplate action contrary to U.S. interests.
By JO3 Arianne Anderson, The Dolphin, January 19, 2006
Commander Naval Submarine Forces Master Chief (SS/SW) Dean Irwin visited Naval Submarine Base New London Jan. 9 through Jan. 12. He held several all-hands calls for emlisted personnel. Irwin also visited the SUBASE's Career Manage-ment Center, SUBASE Sailors, and other tenant commands.
During the E4 and below all-hands call, Irwin addressed many issues and highlighted what he considered to be major topics in today's Navy including: pride and professionalism, Sailor-to-Sailor relations, safety, standards of performance, the Thrift Savings Plan, and Navy Knowledge Online.
"Pride and professionalism consists of how we look, how we act, and how we conduct ourselves on a daily basis," said Irwin. "It's important for every Sailor to set the example ... whether it be with a squared-away uniform, standing a proper watch, or representing the Navy out in town."
Irwin said that the term intrusive peer leadership, which he defined as keeping an eye on your shipmates and backing each other up, to be the most important part of his speech.
"Being a true shipmate is ex-tremely important," he said. When a Sailor is having trouble at home, you're the ones that know about it, you know your people ... help them out."
Irwin followed up on standards of performance and how intrusive peer leadership could help Sailors with the Perform-to-Serve program and the new Personal Fitness Assessment requirements.
"If you see your buddy pounding Twinkies like tic-tacs, be a shipmate and offer nutrition advice or see if he wants to go PT," he said as an example.
"Our Sailors need speed and strength to perform their missions," he said. "The Navy's purpose is to support the Global War on Terrorism, and we're only taking the best Sailors with us."
Irwin also discussed the advantages of TSP and NKO.
"I wish I was in your shoes today," said Irwin. "With TSP growing at 8 percent, at age 65, I could have half-a-million dollars. With NKO you can see where you stand professionally with your Five Vector Model, Navy E-learning, and GMT [General Military Training] all in one place."
He finished by opening the floor for questions about submarines, uniforms, programs, and cleared up a few rumors.
"This was the first E-4 and below all hands call I've done in a while, and I'm very impressed by your knowledge and questions," he said. "Remember, we're all in this together. Be a shipmate."
By Douglas P. Guarino, Foster’s Daily Democrat, 26 Jan 06
PORTSMOUTH - A top union official at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard called the Navy's denials of an alleged hiring freeze "a crock" Wednesday, saying he believed the Defense Department would cut the shipyard's workload in future years as part of a post-Base Realignment and Closure backlash.
Paul O'Connor, president of the shipyard's Metal Trades Council is highly critical of a letter that Vice Admiral Paul Sullivan sent to the New Hampshire and Maine Congressional delegation last week. In the letter, the admiral only addressed hiring at the shipyard in the near term for vacancies caused by attrition.
O'Connor pointed out that the admiral's letter doesn't discuss future hiring. "The fact of the matter is our hiring plan had us bringing in a lot more people than the loss caused by attrition," O'Connor said.
He noted Sullivan's letter also made reference to Portsmouth's plans to increase the number of borrowed personnel from other shipyards as part of the Navy's "One Shipyard" initiative.
The personnel swapping, which O'Connor said is routine among the Navy's four public yards, was how Portsmouth planned to handle work on the USS Philadelphia.
The Navy recently shifted the USS Philadelphia work to Portsmouth after determining it would have cost $59 million more at the privately owned Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn.
O'Connor said additional hiring had been planned to help Portsmouth deal with what had been an expected increase in workload over the next few years.
But current Navy plans do not call for such an increase, O'Connor said.
"In a couple of years our workload drops drastically," O'Connor said, speculating the Navy was cutting Portsmouth's work in an effort to justify its previous position there was not enough nuclear submarine work in coming years to merit keeping Portsmouth open.
"The Navy is still buying into their argument that there is excess capacity," O'Connor said. "It sure sounds like they're trying to get back at us for showing they were wrong during BRAC."
President Bush's BRAC Commission also disagreed with the Navy's excess capacity argument and voted in August to remove Portsmouth from the Defense Department's closure list.
In October, Portsmouth commander Capt. John Iverson announced the shipyard was looking to increase its workforce - currently about 4,400 - by about 300 people per year for the next few years in anticipation of a growing submarine workload.
But during a news conference last Friday following a tour of the shipyard, newly appointed Navy Secretary Donald Winter said it was premature to state whether the number of employees should be increased.
Responding to a Foster's query, the New Hampshire and Maine delegation issued the following statement on Sullivan's response to the hiring allegations, which union officials first voiced during a closed-door meeting at Kittery Town Hall Jan. 6:
"The Navy has assured us in its January 17, 2006 letter that 'there is no hiring freeze at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,'" the statement signed by U.S. Sens. Judd Gregg, John Sununu, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and U.S. Reps. Jeb Bradley and Tom Allen read.
"We will continue to work closely with yard labor and management leaders to ensure that there are appropriate levels of manpower to cover current and future work at the shipyard."
By Dale Eisman, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, January 27, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Navy has decided to proceed with an environmental review that could lead to the reassignment of a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier or other ships to Florida sometime after 2010, draining thousands of jobs and millions of dollars from the Hampton Roads economy.
The study will begin this spring, according to a memorandum signed Thursday by Adm. Mike Mullen, the chief of naval operations, and obtained by The Virginian-Pilot. It will cover what the Navy leader called “a broad range of ship positioning options” for the Navy’s base in Mayport, Fla., near Jacksonville.
A Navy official said the review will take 18 to 36 months to complete and that three more years would be needed to prepare the Mayport base to accommodate a nuclear-powered carrier. Nuclear ports require extra security, deeper channels and other special facilities that could cost $200 million or more.
The Florida base is home to the 38-year-old carrier John F. Kennedy, a conventionally powered ship that Navy leaders want to retire. About 20 other ships also are based there.
Mullen’s decision rekindles a year-old debate over the Kennedy’s future. The Navy decided in late 2004 to scrap plans to overhaul the ship, saving $350 million. Retiring the Kennedy would free up $300 million per year for new ship construction, the Navy said.
After an outcry from Virginia and Florida lawmakers, however, Congress in December ordered the service to hold on to the Kennedy.
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, agreed to revisit the issue, and the Defense Department’s “Quadrennial Defense Review,” a major study of U.S. force levels due in February, is expected to call again for the Kennedy’s retirement.
The review is said to envision a U.S. force of 11 carriers, one less than the current total and the fewest in decades. The reduction would be made in the Atlantic Fleet. Military planners say that the larger expanse of the Pacific and the emergence of China as a naval power dictate against cuts there.
Warner said Thursday that Navy leaders “consulted me on this matter” and that he agreed a full study of basing options at Mayport is “a necessary step so that the Navy can decide its future options based on changing threats.”
With crews of about 3,000 sailors each, carriers are enormous economic engines for the communities they call home. Preliminary estimates developed in 2005 by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, said the loss of one of the ships would take $225 million annually out of the local economy.
Both Mullen and his predecessor, retired Adm. Vern Clark, recommended in 2005 that Mayport be modified to accept nuclear ships if the Kennedy is retired.
Mullen’s memo holds out the possibility that the Navy could ultimately settle on less expensive ways to disperse the fleet. In addition to evaluating the effects of placing a carrier at Mayport, the environmental study should examine moving at least one large amphibious ship and additional cruisers and destroyers to Mayport, Mullen said.
Because those ships are not nuclear-powered, alterations to Mayport’s facilities to accommodate them likely would be cheaper than those required for a carrier. Their departure also would be a smaller blow to the Hampton Roads economy and a smaller boon to Mayport.
From Merco Press, 26 Jan 06
HMS Spartan, a 1982 Falklands’ conflict veteran hunter-attack submarine this week left HM Naval Base Clyde for the last time following a successful 28 years of service with the Royal Navy.
Sailing out of the Gareloch with her 45 m decommissioning pennant blowing in the breeze Commander Paul Halton, the Captain of Spartan said: “It is sad leaving Faslane for the last time. Over the years, the teams on the base have given us exceptional support to keep Spartan ready for operations and of course keeping the crew fed, watered and happy when alongside.”
Prior to her last sailing, and as is traditional in the Navy, a decommissioning ceremony was held on January 20 to mark the successful completion of her service and to thank the men who have served in the Swiftsure class submarine over the years.
Guest of honour at the ceremony was former First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Raymond Lygo KCB who’s late wife, Lady Emily Lygo, was the boat’s sponsor having originally named and launched her in 1978. She was commissioned in 1979.
‘Courage with great endurance’, the submarine’s motto is fitting for a boat whose life began just before the Falkland Islands conflict in which she played an important role and was afforded battle honours for her part during Operation Corporate in 1982 where she spent 74 days dived in operations against Argentine Forces.
Spartan’s last patrol was one of the most successful yet, having completed a five month long global deployment which saw her cover some 30,000 miles, transit three oceans and visit four continents before returning home just in time for Christmas 2005.
During this South Atlantic and Gulf deployment she conducted patrols and also found time to enjoy visits to Rio de Janeiro, La Reunion, Fujairah and Dubai.
Their goodwill port visit to Rio de Janeiro was a particular highlight as this was the first time that a Royal Navy nuclear powered warship had visited Brazil in twenty years and the boat’s crew conducted a two day exercise with the Brazilian Navy to further develop training and cooperation between the forces. Whilst there crew members also visited an orphanage where they helped to refurbish a children’s’ basketball court and cleared some land allowing a new accommodation building to be started.
HMS Spartan belongs to the Swiftsure class nuclear submarines which have a dived displacement of 4.900 tons and is 82 metres long. She’s armed with five tubes capable of firing Spearfish Torpedoes; Sub Harpoon missiles; Tomahawk missiles plus state of the art sensors, sonar and electronic warfare equipment.
Over the years the hunter killer; capable of detecting and destroying both surface and submerged targets has been involved in tracking, intelligence gathering, patrolling areas of heightened tension and remaining at readiness to deploy Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.
Although Spartan’s departure is one less submarine at HMNB Clyde, the Royal Navy’s new generation of attack submarines, the Astute class, will be base-ported at Faslane and will replace both the Swiftsure class and ultimately the Trafalgar class too.
The Astute class will be the largest and most capable attack submarines ever built for the Royal Navy, with the first vessel due on the Clyde in 2008