Monthly Archives: December 2009

Spanish Navy – Spanish Sub Fleet Back to Two, up from One

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Defense Technology International – Spanish Sub Fleet Back to Two, up from One

Spain’s submarine fleet is beginning to regain operational capacity a year after the serious accident aboard the Tramontana in which water began infiltrating the hull while it was 300m deep and 15 nautical miles off the coast of Cartagena. The crew were able to get the submarine back to port. The incident led to the temporary withdrawal of the four submarines of the Agosta-class in order to review them.

Geopolitics / China – The New Security Drama in East Asia: The Responses of US Allies and Security Partners to China's Rise

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US Naval War College Review – The New Security Drama in East Asia: The Responses of US Allies and Security Partners to China’s Rise

In the theater of East Asia, a geopolitical drama is unfolding. The growing presence of China in regional economic and security affairs—generically referred to as the “rise of China”—is changing interstate relations. While the major powers in East Asia are the protagonists, there are no bit players in this drama. Think King Lear, not Macbeth. China’s rise is affecting the perceptions, interests, and policies of all nations throughout East Asia. For the United States, the responses of its allies and security partners are uniquely consequential. These countries are the foundation of American presence in the region as well as the edifice of a regional security architecture that has produced decades of relative stability and prosperity.

Dutch Navy – Bleak Christmas for Dutch naval crew

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Radio Netherlands – Bleak Christmas for Dutch naval crew

The crew of a Dutch Royal Navy frigate off the Somali coast is facing the prospect of a bleak Christmas this year. Instead of going home to enjoy the festive season with their families, they are stuck with 13 Somali prisoners on board with no country willing to take them.

(Thanks to Justin for the link!)

Chinese Navy – Using the Land to Control the Sea? Chinese Analysts Consider the Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile

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US Naval War College Review – Using the Land to Control the Sea? Chinese Analysts Consider the Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile

For China, the ability to prevent a U.S. carrier strike group from intervening in the event of a Taiwan Strait crisis is critical. Beijing’s immediate strategic concerns have been defi ned with a high level of clarity. The Chinese are interested in achieving an antiship ballistic missile (ASBM) capability because it offers them the prospect of limiting the ability of other nations, particularly the United States, to exert military infl uence on China’s maritime periphery, which contains several disputed zones of core strategic importance to Beijing. ASBMs are regarded as a means by which technologically limited developing countries can overcome by asymmetric means their qualitative inferiority in conventional combat platforms, because the gap between offense and defense is the greatest
here. Today, China may be closer than ever to attaining this capability.

Chinese Navy – China's Antiship Ballistic Missile: Developments and Missing Links

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US Naval War College Review – China’s Antiship Ballistic Missile: Developments and Missing Links

China’s pursuit of an antiship ballistic missile (ASBM) has been called a potential “game changer,” a weapon that could single-handedly shift the strategic balance with the United States. A retired U.S. Navy rear admiral asserted as early as 2005 that an ASBM capability could represent “the strategic equivalent of China’s acquiring nuclear weapons in 1964.” Whether or not this is accurate, an effective ASBM capability would undoubtedly constitute a formidable antiaccess weapon against the U.S. Navy in the western Pacifi c, particularly during a conflict over Taiwan. However, as the Chinese literature demonstrates, it would mean more than that. Fully operational ASBM capability along with essential C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance) support would be a barometer of China’s greater military modernization effort, a potential instrument for regional strategic ambitions, and perhaps an important element in tipping the long-term maritime
strategic balance with respect to the United States.

Intelligence – Who's in Big Brother's Database?

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New York Review of Books – Who’s in Big Brother’s Database?

James Bamford reviews a history of the National Security Agency. The most interesting part:

“…Instead, what the agency needs most, Aid says, is more power. But the type of power to which he is referring is the kind that comes from electrical substations, not statutes. “As strange as it may sound,” he writes, “one of the most urgent problems facing NSA is a severe shortage of electrical power.” With supercomputers measured by the acre and estimated $70 million annual electricity bills for its headquarters, the agency has begun browning out, which is the reason for locating its new data centers in Utah and Texas. And as it pleads for more money to construct newer and bigger power generators, Aid notes, Congress is balking.

The issue is critical because at the NSA, electrical power is political power. In its top-secret world, the coin of the realm is the kilowatt. More electrical power ensures bigger data centers. Bigger data centers, in turn, generate a need for more access to phone calls and e-mail and, conversely, less privacy. The more data that comes in, the more reports flow out. And the more reports that flow out, the more political power for the agency.

Rather than give the NSA more money for more power—electrical and political—some have instead suggested just pulling the plug…”