Deputy SecDef: 4th submarine to be deployed to Guam*

A fourth Navy submarine will be added to the three “forward-deployed” submarines to Guam in a little more than a year, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said Monday.
Carter said the deployment of a fourth submarine to Guam will occur in fiscal 2015, which begins in September next year. He did not name the submarine that’s being deployed to Guam.
As Carter made the announcement, the Navy submarine Charlotte, was heading toward Western Pacific waters.
Charlotte left Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on April 2 for a scheduled six-month deployment, the Navy in Hawaii confirmed. The Charlotte can be equipped with Tomahawk missiles, navy.mil states.
The deputy defense secretary made the announcement to station a fourth submarine to Guam at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington while reiterating the Defense Department’s plan to shift more forces toward the Asia Pacific.
As announced by the Pentagon last year, 60 percent of the U.S. Navy’s assets would be assigned to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020 — a substantial and historic shift, Carter said.
Guam currently is home to Los-Angeles-class, fast attack submarines Key West, Chicago and Oklahoma City, information from the Navy website states.
The Key West arrived on Guam in November last year, trading places with the Buffalo, which was moving from Guam to Honolulu.
Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear III, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said submarines “are re-emerging in the (international) security environment.”
He said there are about 300 submarines in the world today and the United States has the most advanced and the best submarine crew.
Sen. Harry Reed asked Locklear at the hearing if submarines are the preferred “weapons class” other countries seem to be competing with the U.S.
India, China, Malaysia and even Vietnam are expanding their submarine capabilities, Reed said.
Locklear said there’s “a general trend around the globe” that countries want to be able to protect their exclusive economic zones through their waterways, while some countries would like to project power with submarine acquisitions.Marine move
Another component of the plan to shift U.S. military forces to and within the Asia-Pacific region — specifically on reducing the presence of Marines in Okinawa and moving several thousand of them to Guam, Hawaii and Australia — was discussed at the Senate Armed Services Committee oversight hearing yesterday.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said: “while I support the concept of re-stationing Marines from Okinawa to Guam, it must be done in a fiscally and operationally sound manner.”
Levin said he and Sen. John McCain and then-Sen. Jim Webb, who did not seek re-election last year, “advocated” for the United States and Japan to revisit its 2006 agreement that includes the military buildup on Guam. Both countries announced revised changes to the plan last year. Levin said the revised plan “reflected an appreciation by both governments of the need to make adjustments in order to support the goal of achieving a more viable and sustainable U.S. Marine presence in Japan, on Guam and elsewhere in the region.”
“The Department of Defense is currently working to develop the details of this new plan and the final construction schedule and total costs are not yet known,” Levin said. “After we receive that plan we will be in a position to judge it. But until that plan is forthcoming, the committee has deferred action on associated requirements until previously adopted conditions are met.”
The initial buildup cost was estimated in 2006 at more than $10 billion and would have involved moving 8,000 Marines and about 9,000 of their dependents to Guam.
The revised plan would move about 4,700 Marines to Guam, about 2,500 to Darwin, Australia and about 2,700 to Hawaii, a report last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows.
At the hearing, McCain asked Locklear when the buildup master plan would be submitted as requested by the Armed Services Committee and the Congress.
Locklear said he didn’t have a date for when the Office of the Secretary of Defense would submit the master plan.

*Notícia publicada a Navy Times. El "pivot" al Pacífic en fets.

Navy Leaders Announce Plans for Deploying Cost-Saving Laser Technology*

ARLINGTON, Va. (NNS) -- Citing a series of technological breakthroughs, Navy leaders announced plans Apr. 8 at the Sea-Air-Space exposition to deploy for the first time a solid-state laser aboard a ship in fiscal year 2014.

"Our directed energy initiatives, and specifically the solid-state laser, are among our highest priority science and technology programs. The solid-state laser program is central to our commitment to quickly deliver advanced capabilities to forward-deployed forces," Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder said. "This capability provides a tremendously affordable answer to the costly problem of defending against asymmetric threats, and that kind of innovative approach is crucial in a fiscally constrained environment."

The announcement to deploy the laser onboars USS Ponce (AFSB[I] 15) comes as Navy researchers continue to make significant progress on directed energy weapons, allowing the service to deploy a laser weapon on a Navy ship two years ahead of schedule. The at-sea demonstration in FY 14 is part of a wider portfolio of near-term Navy directed energy programs that promise rapid fielding, demonstration and prototyping efforts for shipboard, airborne and ground systems.

"Our conservative data tells us a shot of directed energy costs under $1," Klunder said. "Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to fire a missile, and you can begin to see the merits of this capability."

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Naval Sea Systems Command recently performed demonstrations of high-energy lasers aboard a moving surface combatant ship, as well as against remotely piloted aircraft. Through careful planning of such demonstrations and by leveraging investments made through other Department of Defense (DoD) agencies, researchers have been able to increase the ruggedness, power and beam quality of lasers, more than doubling the range of the weapons.

"The future is here," said Peter A. Morrision, program officer for ONR's Sold-State Laser Technology Maturation Program. "The solid-state laser is a big step forward to revolutionizing modern warfare with directed energy, just as gunpowder did in the era of knives and swords."

Officials consider the solid-state laser a revolutionary technology that gives the Navy an extremely affordable, multi-mission weapon with a deep magazine and unmatched precision, targeting and control functions. Because lasers run on electricity, they can be fired as long as there is power and provide a measure of safety as they don't require carrying propellants and explosives aboard ships.

Lasers complement kinetic weapons to create a layered ship defense capability, providing improved protection against swarming small boats and unmanned aircraft at a fraction of the cost of traditional weapons.

The advancing technology gives sailors a variety of options they never had before, including the ability to control a laser weapon's output and perform actions ranging from non-lethal disabling and deterrence all the way up to destruction. 

"We expect that in the future, a missile will not be able to simply outmaneuver a highly accurate, high-energy laser beam traveling at the speed of light," Klunder said.

Following the USS Ponce demonstration, the Navy and DoD will continue to research ways to integrate affordable laser weapons into the fleet.

Video of the demonstration of the high-energy laser aboard a moving surface combatant ship and against remotely piloted aircraft can be seen here: http://youtu.be/OmoldX1wKYQ

* Notícia publicada al web de la US Navy. Comença el despleganent de lasers a bord de naus de de la US Navy. Un pas ferm per entrar al segle XXI.

Brazilian Navy's third Amazonas-class OPV sails for sea trials*

The Brazilian Navy's third and final BAE Systems-built Amazonas-class ocean patrol vessel (OPV), Araguari (P122), has sailed from Portsmouth to undergo an extensive sea trials programme off the UK coast.
During the two-week maiden sea trials, the ship will validate all of its integrated element's functionalities including its propulsion and combat systems.
BAE Systems Maritime commercial director Nigel Stewart said: "The BAE Systems team will test Araguari's performance and work with her crew to ensure they are ready for the challenges that the ship will face when delivered to Brazil to provide maritime security, humanitarian relief and search-and-rescue."
In 2011, the Brazilian Navy placed orders with BAE to deliver three OPVs and ancillary support services, including a manufacturing licence for further vessels of the same class that will be constructed in Brazil.
Based on the UK Royal Navy's River-class OPVs design, the 90m-long Amazonas-class ships will be used by the navy to conduct maritime security in its territorial waters, including protection of the country's oil and gas reserves.
Capable of carrying a crew of 80, with additional accommodation for 40 troops or passengers, the vessel features a 30mm cannon, two 25mm guns, two rigid inflatable boats as well as a helicopter flight deck capable of landing a medium-sized helicopter.
Expected to be delivered to the Brazilian Navy in June 2013, Araguari ship's crew of 81 has already started training to handle the OPV at HM Naval Base Portsmouth, UK.

* Notícia publicada a Naval texhnology. Comprtim aquesta notícia com a complenent de les anteriors referents al Brasil.

Black Sea Naval Force starts active drills*

MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - Warships from the six nations participating in the international Black Sea Naval Force (Blackseafor) exercise left the Bulgarian port of Varna for the active phase of the drills, the Russian Black Sea Fleet command said on Tuesday.
Bulgaria’s Reshitelni corvette, Georgia’s Sukhumi coastal patrol boat, Russia’s Ropucha-I class Novocherkassk large landing ship, Romania’s Macelariu corvette, Turkey’s Heybeliada corvette and Ukraine’s Cherkassy minesweeper will conduct a three-day exercise at sea, Russian Black Sea Fleet spokesman Capt. 1st Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev said.
After the active part of the exercise the warships will call at the Romanian port of Constanta on April 12 as part of the second stage of Blackseafor’s 12th activation, running from April 5 to April 23.
The sea exercises will include joint defense drills, the boarding of suspicious civilian ships to prevent human trafficking or the smuggling of arms and dangerous substances, as well as rescue operations at sea and helping ships in distress.
Blackseafor was established in 2001 on Turkey's initiative and comprises Turkey, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia and Russia.
It is an on-call force and currently has no permanent headquarters. The Blackseafor is activated twice a year and the command structure is based on a rotation principle. Each littoral member state assumes leadership for a one-year period.
According to its charter, the purpose of Blackseafor is to promote security and stability in the Black Sea maritime area and beyond, to strengthen friendship and good relations among the regional states and increase interoperability among those states' naval forces.

*Notícia publicada a RIA Novosti. Un fet curiós que, sense haver-se solucionat el contenciós entre Rússia i Geòrgia practiquin exercicis conjunts.