Monthly Archives: September 2010

Editorial Note – Facebook Page for NOSI

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NOSI now has a Facebook page, which will contain copies of the posts on this site. The big difference is that on Facebook, you will be able to comment on each post if you wish. Feel free to join (or Like) the page and let me know what you think: NOSI Facebook Page.

Also, please note to accommodate this new feature, I have tweaked the template for each post slightly. Starting today, to read the article described in the post, you may click on either the title of the article in the title of the post, or you may click on the name of the source of the article.

US Marines – With outposts growing, Marines are spread thin

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– San Diego Union Tribune – The 3/1 Battalion has about 1,000 Marines spread over nearly 50 positions and 1,000 square kilometers. The proliferation of bases was prompted by a counterinsurgency strategy based on persistent contact between troops and the local population. And it was made possible by technological advancements allowing the posts to stay in communication with each other in ways they couldn’t when the war began nine years ago.

US Navy – Shrinking Budgets and the Future of Joint Naval Ops

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– Defense Technology International – In the interest of providing a little more perspective on what the recent postponement of the Littoral Combat Ship downselect and what frequent criticisms of the program might mean for the future of the U.S. Naval force as a whole, you have to look at some of the figures–numbers of ships, yearly shipbuilding goals, etc.–that the Navy is projecting in its five and thirty-year shipbuilding plans.

US Navy – More Bad News for the LCS

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– Defense Technology International – Just a week after the Navy announced that it had pushed its contract award date for the Littoral Combat Ship back yet again, only committing to make its decision between the competing Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics hulls “as expeditiously as practicable,” the Government Accountability Office has come out with a highly critical report that raises some serious questions about the next two hulls that the bidders are currently building.

Russian Navy – Russia and the Mistrals: Will They? Won't They?

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Defense Technology International – Russia and the Mistrals: Will They? Won’t They?

Fortunately for their nerves, many senior managers of French military shipyard DCNS have been on holiday for most of August because the Russians have been blowing hot and cold over what appeared to be exclusive talks to purchase up to four Mistral-class helicopter carriers worth an estimated 1.5 billion euro ($1.9 billion) from them.

Royal Navy – Royal Navy To Get F-35Cs -Why?

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Defense Technology International – Royal Navy To Get F-35Cs -Why?

Following the Times report that the UK is looking seriously at Boeing’s upgraded international F/A-18E as a substitute for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, the Daily Telegraph now reports that the UK will acquire the catapult-arrest F-35C instead, as part of the current defense review. According to the Telegraph, the F-35C is expected to cost less than the F-35B.