Naval Group in Australia and the Future Submarine Program: A May 2021 Update

05/13/2021
By Pierre Tran Paris - Naval Group has appointed Lilian Braylé as executive vice-president to run the Australian program to build 12 ocean-going Attack class submarines, the French shipbuilder said May 11. “Lilian Brayle will join Naval Group on 31 May as executive vice-president for the Australian Future Submarine Program,”…

Rethinking Expeditionary Operations in the North Atlantic

05/12/2021
By Robbin Laird As the U.S. Navy reworks how to do blue water expeditionary operations into and through the North Atlantic with integrated capabilities with our Nordic and Baltic allies, how best to shape an expeditionary approach for an offensive-defensive enterprise?  What building blocks are essential to work more effective…

The Marines and Naval Integration: The F-35 and the New UK Carrier Force

05/11/2021
We have heard a good deal about the desire to work Navy and USMC integration. What can be forgotten in this discussion is how important USMC air is in such an effort., It is not surprising for as the U.S. Navy refocuses on the high-end fight, at the heart of…

Nuclear Submarines and Nuclear Power in Australia?

05/11/2021
By Denis Mole In Adelaide’s The Advertiser newspaper on 7 March, former defence minister Christopher Pyne said, ‘Then there is the nonsensical argument that the Attack Class submarines are no good because they aren’t nuclear. Almost all of these arguments are driven by people who either know nothing at all about submarines and…

Reshaping ISR for Navy-USMC Integration

05/10/2021
By Robbin Laird The terms C2, ISR and training are changing significantly in the shift from the land wars to the high-end fight. C2 is migrating from hierarchical direction to mission command and distributed operations; ISR is moving from intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance to INFORMATION to decision making for an integrated…

Trojan Footprint 21: Working the Black Sea Region Challenges

05/09/2021
Trojan Footprint is the premier Special Operations Forces exercise in Europe. While the exercise is focused on improving the ability to SOF to counter myriad threats, it also increases integration with conventional forces and enhances interoperability with our NATO allies and European partners. Most importantly, however, Trojan Footprint builds upon…

French Naval Group Delivers First Air Defense FREMM Frigate to the French Navy

05/09/2021
The FREMM DA Alsace  was launched April 18, 2019 at the Naval Group shipyard of Lorient thirteen months after its keel laying. It is the ninth FREMM frigate built by Naval Group and the seventh one for the French Navy. According to Naval Group: "On April 12, 2021 in Toulon, in the presence of…

The MEB and Naval Integration: Working the Next Phase of Atlantic Defense

05/07/2021
By Robbin Laird The Russian seizure of Crimea set in motion the return of direct defense for both Europe and the United States. With Putin’s Russia reshaping it defense capabilities and concepts of operations, there is a significant reset in terms of how the United States and the allies are…