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Recently, the Norwegian government reminded us of the anniversary of the new phase of European development.
Five years have passed since Russia illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol on 18 March 2014. This act was a serious violation of international law and a challenge to the established international order. Norway therefore reiterates its condemnation of Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, which it urges Russia to reverse. Norway considers it essential that relations between states are guided by international law,’ said State Secretary Audun Halvorsen.
Russia committed several other violations of international law prior to the annexation. Under the false pretext of restoring law and order in Crimea, Russian forces entered Ukrainian territory and took control of important institutions and key societal functions. In the course of a few weeks, a part of Ukraine was forcibly placed under Russian administration.
The illegal referendum on 16 March 2014 was used to legitimise Russia’s use of force. In the absence of any form of international recognition, the referendum was presented as justification for the illegal incorporation of Crimea and Sevastopol into the Russian Federation two days later.
‘We are concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Crimea and Sevastopol. Norway urges Russia to fulfil its human rights obligations and to grant organisations such as the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe access to the peninsula without delay,’ said Mr Halvorsen.
The featured photo shows Russian tanks and soldiers storming a Ukrainian air force base in Belbek near the Crimean city of Sevastopol on March 22, 2014. (Viktor Drachev / AFP/Getty Images).
A Bomber Task Force deployment of B-52 Stratofortress aircraft, Airmen and support equipment from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, have arrived in the U.S. European Command area of operations for a deployment to conduct theater integration and flying training.
The aircraft will operate out of RAF Fairford, England. The deployment of strategic bombers to the U.K. helps exercise RAF Fairford as United States Air Forces in Europe’s forward operating location for bombers.
The deployment also includes joint and allied training in the U.S. European Command theater to improve bomber interoperability. Training with joint partners, allied nations and other U.S. Air Force units contributes to our ready and postured forces and enables us to build enduring and strategic relationships necessary to confront a broad range of global challenges.
Bombers are a key part of the US and NATO capability to provide for both conventional and nuclear deterrence.
In a recent discussion with Paul Bracken, we discussed ways in which NATO might effectively respond to the direct challenge which Putin is posing concerning nuclear deterrence.
There are a number of ways in which the US and NATO might shape a way ahead with regard to nuclear deterrence.
The first alternative would be that the US could leverage the current bomber force and perhaps ramp up the new bomber and build out the longer range strike weapons on them, some nuclear but most with conventional warheads. This force could then operate from outside of Europe but affect the battlespace within Europe.
The new bomber given the systems onboard the aircraft and its capacity to be highly integrated with the F-35 provides a wide range of contingencies in which the bomber strike force could be used to strike at key Russian choke points or axis of attack on key allies, notably the new European ones.
This would be especially important if Germany does not accelerate its ability to provide for credible conventional defense in depth.
The second would be to reorganize, restructure and build a new capability for shorter-range battlefield nuclear weapons. This would be a limited arsenal and designed largely to be able to underscore to the Russians that lowering the nuclear threshold which is their current approach makes no sense, because we have a range of options to deny them any combat or political value from a limited nuclear strike in Europe.
The key change agent here is the nuclear equipped F-35, which can operate with its nuclear weapon inside of the airplane and with decent range to strike inside Russia to affect military capabilities of the Russian forces themselves.
Legacy aircraft are much less useful because of their vulnerability in contested airspace whereby the Russians are combining defensive and offensive means for a nuclear tipped tactical aircraft to get through.
This option becomes real again with the F-35 and with the various F-35 users in Europe who could continue in the current nuclear sharing arrangements.
The third is to rebuild the maritime strike force to have lower yield nuclear weapons, again useful in limited contingencies to deny the plausibility for the Russians pursuing a low yield nuclear strike designed to have political effect.
The fourth option is simply to rely on the strategic triad and to do flexible targeting to achieve the deterrent effect; the difficulty with this option is that the use of the strategic triad is part of a much larger piece of deterrence, mutually assured destruction, and may be the equivalent of using a hammer to open an egg.
A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, above the coast English coast, March 14, 2019. The U.S. routinely and visibly demonstrates commitment to allies and partners through the global employment of military forces. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Emerson Nuñez)
With the patchwork quilt which NATO Europe is becoming and with the cross-cutting support the authoritarian powers are providing to one another, and with US uncertainties, it is not difficult to envisage a wide variety of crisis scenarios which would rapidly involve the question of how, when and for what purpose the Russians would threaten or use limited nuclear attacks.
Paul Bracken underscored: “If a major country like Germany believed that they have only two choices, nuclear war or capitulation, that is not a choice that is really beneficial for the US or the rest of Europe.
“In Germany, the diplomatic and military issues are so out of sync that we could get into all sorts of crazy scenarios in a crisis which no one has really thought about.
“We need to start doing so.”
In short, for the Russians, limited nuclear use can be considered a key part of any crisis management strategy in Europe and is part of a leveraging strategy to further goals of accelerating the disaggregation of Europe.
In looking at a variety of crisis management strategies for the US and its allies, there is a clear need to avoid the fallacy of nuclear denial and to focus clearly on the role of nuclear deterrence from the NATO side with regard to the return of direct defense in Europe.
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan Mckay, USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) Public Affairs
MANILA, Philippines (NNS) — U.S. 7th Fleet Flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) and embarked 7th Fleet staff arrived in Manila, Mar. 13, for the ship’s first port visit to the Philippines in three years.
The Blue Ridge and 7th Fleet team undertook a cooperative deployment with Philippine Navy (PN) BRP Davao Del Sur LD602 shortly before arriving in Manila to reaffirm longstanding ties with PN counterparts.
This port visit offers opportunities to reconnect after a few years away and staff talks aboard Blue Ridge will provide a venue for professional exchanges with PN counterparts. The crew will continue the tradition of community service events and cultural exchange ashore, including multiple 7th Fleet band engagements and community relations events.
“Our nations are longstanding allies and our navies have worked together for generations,” said Vice Adm. Phil Sawyer, commander, U.S. 7th Fleet. “Our visit to Manila strengthens the bonds between our navies and our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Blue Ridge commanding officer, Capt. Eric Anduze, will meet with PN officials and distinguished visitors for a tour of the flagship to explain the ship’s mission and goals.
“We are very proud to be back in Manila after a long absence,” Anduze said. “The Philippines has been an ally of our country for many years, and being able to show our appreciation for that friendship is something we always look forward to continuing to foster and maintain our deep relationships here are paramount to what we do in 7th Fleet.”
During the visit, 7th Fleet and Blue Ridge Sailors will spend time playing a friendly basketball game with a local college, and reading to children in local neighborhoods around Manila.
Chief Religious Program Specialist Ana Douglas is leading these events for more than 30 Sailors from the 7th Fleet-Blue Ridge team.
“It is always a great opportunity to participate in community events with children in other nations,” said Douglas. “It gives our Sailors a unique chance to experience cultures outside of what we see in our homeport. I always leave events like these with a smile on my face.”
Many Filipino-American Sailors will also have the chance to reconnect with their heritage during the port visit. One such Sailor, Seaman Charmaine Dalusung, will see the country she was born in for the first time since she was a child.
“I am very excited to come back to my first home,” said Dalusung. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen the friends and family I grew up with, so I’m extremely grateful to the Navy for giving me the opportunity to reconnect with my roots and culture.”
Blue Ridge recently completed a nearly 2-year extended dry-dock selected restricted availability period and numerous certifications, to ensure she remains ready to provide security in the Indo-Pacific region. Blue Ridge is commanded by Capt. Eric Anduze and serves under Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 7/Task Force 76, the Navy’s only forward-deployed amphibious force.
It is not just about getting better intelligence through space-based systems to have an historical record of what killed you.
It is about the kill web executing the kill function.
This report focuses on the way ahead now and for the five year period ahead.
The future is now; the threat is not just about the hypothetical world of 2030.
This report by Ed Timperlake looks at shaping a realistic way ahead now which can be built upon for the mid and long term as well.
It is not about wasting resources on legacy thinking or abstract long term concepts.
With the immediacy of challenges facing the US and its allies, it is about what the military can do now and in the next five years which are the basis for shaping realistic crisis management approaches.
Simply ignoring the fifth generation revolution is not a strategy but myopia.
Leveraging the revolution and shaping an ever more effective distributed kill web clearly provides both for immediate and long term benefits for warfighting as well as providing a solid foundation for force transformation.
President Putin has just given all in America a wakeup call, butto the Russian Military everlasting regret if combat ever breaks outthe US Navy is always ready-NOW.
Over fifty years ago, 1965, in Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy, Plebes (freshmen) were required when making a very loud announcement to a gathering of fellow Midshipman to begin with the alert-“attention world, attention world.”
It was a time at Annapoliswhen some of those who had fought WWII in the great “Big Blue Blanket” war winning con-ops were still in uniform, several of the Navy Pilots who were featured in the great work “the Bridges of Toko-Ri” were still in uniform, and Vietnam Yankee and Dixie station Carriers were beginning to fight that war.
From Plebe to Four Star Admirals, all in the United States Navy and Marine Corps were constantly engaged and challenged in understanding and mastering the dynamic nature of war at sea and the role of Navy/Marine power projection from across the beach.
In those days sailors still in uniform wearing the Dolphins of the “silent service,” the Navy Submarine Community, would proudly point out that with the loss of 52 subs “still on patrol” that their community sunk over 50% of the tonnage of the Imperial Japanese Navy in WWII.
All Navy commanders have to practice over and over to evolve a much broader scope of understanding and direction in this 21st Century information world.
It is a 21st Century challenge to understand the dynamic learning from a computer-human interface while also recognizing it is the goal of a reactive enemy to attempt to destroy not only individual platforms, sink ships and subs and shoot down aircraft, but wreck the very synapses of all things command and control.
Information assurance with redundancy and reliability is critical but also the ability to act independently as systems are degraded to fight and win cannot be forgotten in all training exercises.
The enemy always gets a vote but so does the United States Navy.
The decade ahead is not a repeat of the past 15 years; it is not about a continuation of the land-centric and counter-insurgency slow motion war.
ASW platforms which can operate in an interconnected manner are the crucial ones to build, deploy and sustain in the period ahead, versus those which are very limited in their capability to provide synergy to joint or coalition forces in the battle space.
This means as well that force packages need to be examined, less in and of themselves terms, than in terms of their synergy and capabilities in shaping dominant combat power in the interconnected battle space.
In a lasting reminder to anyone who threatens America from the sea there is a monument at the sea wall at theUS Naval Academy, of those “Still on Patrol,” the names of lost Submarines from a fading war that are ever within the ethos of the fighting courage of sailors in today’s Silent Service.
Courage does run deep.
Bluntly put, an overemphasis on sensing of hypersonic missiles from space really misses the point — it is not about being alert to what is about to kill you — it is about killing the archer and the arrow.
And we have in our hands the means to do so as we knit together key platforms which are delivering the S cubed revolution.
The future is now and working enhanced integrative capabilities moving forward with the new platforms and the relevant legacy ones is a core priority; not preparing for a new space world in 2035.
This is the tenth and final piece in our series on the response to Putin’s escalatory rhetoric and force structure planning with regard to threatening the US with sub strikes using high speed hypersonic missiles.
The featured photo shows Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to deliver his annual state of the nation address in Moscow on February 20, 2019.
My initial 2011 paper “winning Air/Sea Battle” only looked at F-35 as early warning platform 1
Essentially, I focused in that paper on the F-35s as providing a “heads up” to fleet surface ships about “incoming” missiles threats but in the non-stealth mode the F-35 can carry more ordinance than F/A-18 or F-16.
So instead of just a “heads-up” to the NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander or an Admiral commanding aCarrier Strike Group to make ready American shore defenses or a fleet for close in defensive measures, why can’t an F-35 carry anti-HSCM designed ordinance to kill HSCMs in flight?
Design a missile that can link to the fusion cockpit for an immediate fire control solution and launch a missile with an appropriate warhead to take down an incoming HSCM.
In an email exchange with Dr. Lewis, he raised a significant challenge which needs to be addressed in R and D and the shaping of effective con-ops.
“The biggest threat I see is actually a swarm attack of high-speed incoming, that might overwhelm any solution. The Chinese have been rather open about this tactic.”
“It is very fair to say it is truly a wicked problem, but he also adds; “the good news is there are indeed solutions that will stop them.”
“The one point in favor of the HSCM intercept to a kill shot is the need to just get in front of the missile with something that abruptly and directly disrupts its forward motion.
“The key to defeating it is to make it beat itself to death– the old joke about you only have to be close in horseshoes and hand grenades applies.”
Again quoting Dr. Mark Lewis from that email exchange:
“One method of stopping them simple kinetic will be effective, with the challenge that a high-speed maneuvering missile will be rather hard to catch with dumb ordnance.
“And with a rapid closing speed, the window for that kill chain is of course small.
“There are other very promising options as well.
“Stability and control of a hypersonic craft is a key element. The DARPA HTV-2 failed twice due to control losses, something that the Air Force warned DARPA about ahead of time.
“In the case of HTV-2 flight 1, the loss occurred due to yaw-roll coupling; essentially, the vehicle developed a small asymmetry, began to yaw, and corrective control action caused it to roll out of limit.
“That was a case of bad design, but also an example of how easy it is to mess with these craft.
“HTV-2’s second flight was lost because an important protection system failed again making it uncontrollable.
“I can’t help drawing an analogy to the old German V-1’s, that could be disabled by flying alongside in a fighter and hitting their wing tips. The resulting roll made them unstable!
“The third flight of X-51, where a fin broke off the cruise vehicle during solid rocket boost, and when it separated from the solid motor (at Mach 4.8) it almost immediately lost control. So when you are flying at hypersonic (or even supersonic speeds) and take even minor damage, survival is unlikely.
“Coincidentally, and as a funny historical quirk, there is a pretty long list of hypersonic programs that have been lost due to fin failures completely unrelated to the hypersonic portion of the flight: X-43 first flight, the Australian HyShot first flight, and now most recently, AHW’s second flight.
“That last one is especially painful; the booster lost a fin a few inches above the launch pad due to an entangled thermal blanket.
A hypersonic missile must travel between Mach 5 and Mach 10, or 3,840–7,680 miles per hour in order to be considered hypersonic.
One should think a mile a second.
By comparison, a current missile AA missile, the AIM-120 has the characteristics seen in the graphic to the left (credit Wiki).
Thus, there is a speed differential of between 1 and 6 Mach and also the HSCMs are also in flight, the intercept missiles are at a standing start.
The first look at intercepting a HSCM inbound against the fleet is one of the first verbal math problem we all had in Algebra 1-“A train leaves a station going 50 mph… Another train leaves it’s station going 80 mph.. etc etc.”
The logic of that example is that both HSCM and intercept missile are on the “same track” and a parallel track for a perfect “face-shot.”
However, the crossing angle to intercept may be much more significant, say for example an F-35 flying on a heading of 090 and the pilot’s cockpit’s fusion display picks up a HSCM coming at the Fleet heading 180 and the closes point of approach for the physical passing of the F-35 on station and HSCM for intercept is offset by say 30 miles and at a different altitude.
The F-35 sensor shooter for an example could be 90 degrees off the nose for an intercept vector and also off set by some miles and altitude from the physical closes point of approach, this is a very hard shot.
The F-35 at best can try to point and shoot with the missile arming and independently maneuvering but having been initially launched many degrees off the aircraft’s initial route of flight.
The challenge is that at some point in space and time, the kill missile must get in front of the HSCM.
It is not necessary to hit a bullet with a bullet.
With the current significant Mach differential shown above a conventional missile cannot run down a HSCM.
With focused R&D perhaps a future hypersonic-interceptor missile is possible but in this example I am using the current art of the possible and assuming a +6 Mach advantage given to the HSCM and it is already in flight while interceptor missile is on the rail at the start.
Therefore, detection and reaction time for launch and missile light-off the intercept angle for the missile altitude differential make time and distance of flight against HSCM everything.
At around 88 miles per minute incoming, depending on altitude it is a very hard problem.
The first issue is simply just getting a missile off an F-35 in the time of calculation for sensing something approaching at a high rate of speed.
Using the CNO’s formula heat=sensing, an F-35 can see something moving very fast at a distance.
How far away is one key BUT not a showstopper.
Because if the F-35 can sense at a whatever distance it is reacting electronically at the speed of light and there is the possibility of doing something about it.
Slaving an immediate launch fire-control solution from the F-35 fusion cockpit sensed HSCM route of flight vector to an interceptor missile loaded on the aircraft hardpoints is one way.
But just as significant the F-35 sensor can off load the kill shot to another F-35 with a better chance.
To have any chance of success the launching F-35 has to have a certain head on aspect – if the HSCM is beyond the wing-line the engagement is lost at first detection.
The kill-shot game for that one F-35 in launching a counter-missile is already be over.
But now think of a 21st Century “chainsaw” as a solution set and a way ahead.
The USN strike commander is currently using F/A-18s to refuel F/A-18s. Since stealth in not an issue against an HSCM swarming missile attack, a mix of F-35s with F/A-18 tanking assets can put as many F-35s on a combat air patrol station as far away from the surface fleet as possible for early detection. That effort can then feed-back for defense in depth combat engagements.
Against even a Mach 10 threat the F-35 data linked information dominance sensor can off load at the speed of light the incoming track of swarming inbound HSCM threats to other F-35s standing CAP right over the Fleet.
Additionally, all USN combat platforms can also light up; AEGIS ships, Growlers, E-2 Hawkeyes and other close in defensive combat weapon systems.
Additionally, the Ford CVN-78 has been specifically designed with an area on the flight deck to configure the air wing aircraft quickly and efficiently with the appropriate ordinance for the appropriate mission.
In alternating between offensive strikes, using active or passive stealth with weapons in a weapons bay or non-stealth with a significant weapons load, the combat ordinance on an F-35 can be configured quickly.
As the combat situation dictates the defensive requirements of loading anti-HSCM missiles as stated above can also be done quickly. USN ship design teams working on the CVN-78 figured this all out; switching ordinance and/or reloading.
It is no small issue; the Japanese carriers were sunk at the battle of Midway because they were caught in an arming, de-arming, arming cycle. From that moment forward they were going to lose the war.
The challenge for the R&D community is to immediately give a lot of thought and research on what type of ordinance, missiles and warheads are best to defeat a HSCM.
The challenge for strategic planning is to consider a return “back to the future” and establishing an East Coast Air Defense string of bases for the F-35A/B/C.
F-35 wide area sensing targeting and mapping capability against, air -breathing HSCM, enemy aircraft andsurface ships is beyond excellent.
They can fulfill the target acquisition requirementof a Payload Utility function.
“The difference between a good and great officer is about ten seconds”. Admiral Burke.
The US Navy now has many great officers moving in the air at sea and under the ocean surface at light speed sensingacting and if necessary killing.
If F-35s are stationed to stand air defense alert in a21st Century “Cold War basing” con-opsfrom Otis ANG Base to NAS Pax River, (or Quantico air field)Langley field, NAS Oceana, MCAS Beaufortand NAS Key West (Bocha Chica) then appropriately networked to other “kill shot” platforms both at sea and Army ADA we might survive an attempted first strike.
If Putin and the Russian military saw this type of preparedness they might always hesitate.
Even if a Russian cruise missile sub gets off a shot it is dead dead dead because the F-35, P-8 and Triton will know exactly where it is on launch and can deliver an effective payload for its defeat and provide other options as well.
This is the ninth piece in our series on the response to Putin’s escalatory rhetoric and force structure planning with regard to threatening the US with sub strikes using high speed hypersonic missiles.
The enhanced capability of the US and allied navies is coming not just from platforms but from kill web integration.
There is no greater case in point than how the US Navy and the allies are integrating their Aegis destroyers.
Earlier, this year, the Australian Navy demonstrated its ability to integrate with the US Navy with regard to the CEC system.
According to Andrew McLaughlin in an article published on January 7, 2019:
The tests were conducted in conjunction with the US Navy at the vast Pacific test ranges near Hawaii and off the coast of California, and saw the vessel’s systems and crew challenged in realistic tests and demonstrations. This included testing the vessel’s ability to integrate with US Navy assets via the Co-Operative Engagement Capability (CEC), a US high-end naval networking capability so far made only available to Australia.
“We were presented with some of the world’s toughest and most challenging threats; modern anti-ship missiles, maritime strike aircraft, fighters and high-speed attack craft,” Commanding Officer of HMAS Hobart, CAPT John Stavridis told Navy Today. “On every occasion we successfully defended all threats.”
Part of HMAS Hobart’s systems validation included a series of at sea tests known as Combat System Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT) which aim to achieve a sustainable level of combat and weapon system readiness.
“This ship represents the future of the Royal Australian Navy’s surface combatants: capable, competent and lethal,” Fleet Commander, RADM Jonathan Mead said upon HMAS Hobart’s return to Sydney. “With her recently commissioned sister ship, HMAS Brisbane, and soon to be delivered NUSHIP Sydney they will be able to defend our Fleet against any threat.”
As part of the increasingly integrated maritime threesome — the US, Australian and Japanese Navies — the Japanese recently added a new platform to the mix.
Japan’s second Asahi-class destroyer, the JS Shiranui, entered Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) service in a ceremony at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Nagasaki Shipyard on February 27.
The lead ship in the class was commissioned a year before, on March 8, 2018.
The 5,100-ton general-purpose escort destroyers were previously designated as 25DD and are designed on the basis of Akizuki-class destroyers but with a focus on anti-submarine instead of anti-air warfare.
JS Shiranui (DD-120) was launched in October 2017 and was commissioned without delays.
Asahi-class destroyers are lauded as fuel-efficient ships featuring COGLAG, a combined gas turbine engine and electric propulsion system. They measure 151 meters in length and reach speeds of 30 knots, according to the Japan defense ministry. Armament includes Mark 41 vertical launch systems for self protection, 62-caliber naval guns, close-in weapon systems and two Mark 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes.
The destroyers will have a complement of around 230 and embark one Mitsubishi-built SH-60J/K are anti-submarine patrol helicopter.
Asahi-class destroyers are the first JMSDF ships to deploy with periscope detection radars in addition to being equipped with new towed array sonars.
Earlier, when the first of the new destroyers was launched from its shipyard last year, the integration piece was highlighted.
Japan launches first 27DDG-class AEGIS destroyer from a shipyard in Yokohama today (July 31). She has named “Maya” after mountain in Japan and WWII heavy cruiser.
The US$1.5 billion vessel is the seventh Aegis destroyer acquired by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, but the first to be fitted with the advanced Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system. With a displacement of 8,200 tons and a length of 170 meters, it is scheduled to enter service by 2020.
Supplied by the US, the CEC system enables real-time sharing of intelligence on battlefield situations and hostile targets between ships in allied navies, while information and parameters are synced across all platforms linked to a sensory network. Sharing of radar and fire-controlling data will also be possible with the US Navy.
Warships equipped with this system can intercept incoming ballistic missiles in steep, lofted trajectories, and track dozens of targets simultaneously while firing clusters of defensive missiles, according to Japan Times. One such missile is the SM-3 Block IIA.
Japan will have eight Aegis destroyers with a ballistic missile defense capability by 2021. At their core will be a computer-based command-and-decision element capable of mounting simultaneous operations against a range of threats.
Because all three of these navies are part of the F-35 global enterprise as well, integration of F-35s with Aegis is part of the combat capability facing adversaries in the Pacific.
We first wrote about such integration nearly a decade ago.
ESQUIMALT, British Columbia – The namesake of the U.S. Navy’s newest class of guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000), arrived in Esquimalt, British Columbia, March 11.
“We are excited for this opportunity to visit Canada and further strengthen the close partnership between our navies and communities,” said Capt. Andrew Carlson, Zumwalt’s commanding officer. “By working together with partners like the Royal Canadian Navy, we help ensure the security, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.”
The visit marks an opportunity for the crew to experience the hospitality of the Canadian port, as well as showcase the U.S. Navy’s newest class of destroyers.
“USS Zumwalt possesses stealth, size, power and computing capacity that provide the Navy multiple-mission ships capable of meeting today’s maritime missions as well as the ability to incorporate new technologies to counter emerging threats tomorrow,” Carlson said.
During the scheduled port visit, Zumwalt is slated to host Canadian Forces, Marine Forces Pacific Commander, Rear. Adm. Bob Auchterlonie, and U.S. Consul General in Vancouver Katherine S. Dhanani.
The Zumwalt-class destroyer is capable of performing the critical maritime missions of deterrence and power projection and creating battlespace complexity for adversaries with its abilities to operate both near to shore and in the open sea.
Zumwalt is 100 feet longer and 13 feet wider than the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer at 610 feet long, providing the space required to execute a wider array of surface, undersea, and aviation missions.
Zumwalt is under operational control of U.S. 3rd Fleet. Third Fleet leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. Third Fleet coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security, and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations.
And in an article published in USNI News by Sam LaGrone on March 8, 2019, the time in San Diego for the new ship was discussed.
Since arriving in San Diego in 2016, the first-in-class Zumwalt has been in an intensive process of installing and activating the destroyer’s combat systems as part of a post-delivery yard period led by contractor Raytheon which is set to be completed later this year.
“We continue to focus hard on delivering this first in class destroyer with advanced capabilities to the fleet, said Capt. Danny Hernandez, a Navy acquisition spokesman said in a Saturday statement to USNI News.
“This underway is another positive step towards testing as we get closer to the ship’s final delivery, later this year.”
In January, the Zumwalt-class program manager briefed reporters that the testing for the combat system activation and post-delivery trials would occur at the same time.
The new bomber given the systems onboard the aircraft and its capacity to be highly integrated with the F-35 provides a wide range of contingencies in which the bomber strike force could be used to strike at key Russian choke points or axis of attack on key allies, notably the new European ones.
The 5,100-ton general-purpose escort destroyers were previously designated as 25DD and are designed on the basis of Akizuki-class destroyers but with a focus on anti-submarine instead of anti-air warfare.