ABC – In the final days of May, a Chinese research vessel ventured 74 kilometres into Palau’s waters and reportedly spent 14 hours moving slowly through the island nation’s maritime zone. With a bow built to push through a metre of Arctic sea ice, the 89-metre icebreaker Ji Di might have looked out of place in the warm waters of the North Pacific.
The Existential Estuary – Taiwan’s Defense on the Tamsui River
USNI News – Taiwanese forces mobilized mechanized units, engineering troops and mines across a river estuary crucial for the defense of the island’s capital city during the opening days of Han Kuang 42. Among the paths for a potential Chinese invasion of the island’s capital, the approach from the Tamsui River will be critical for both attacker and defender.
Royal Navy ships take respite in Kenya after months in Middle East
Navy Lookout – HMS Dragon and RFA Lyme Bay have arrived in Mombasa for maintenance, resupply and crew rest after several months deployed in the Middle East. The visit takes the two ships temporarily away from preparations for a potential multinational operation in the Strait of Hormuz.
2026 and All That: Another Benchmark Year in Royal Navy Decline
War On The Rocks – For other navies, including the U.S. Navy, the Royal Navy’s experience offers a blunt warning: When naval leaders rely on political leadership to preserve fleet size, industrial capacity, and force design, decline can arrive by increments and then suddenly become irreversible.
Chinese, Indonesian naval frigates complete maritime exercise in waters east of China’s Taiwan island
Global Times – The Chinese Navy’s guided-missile frigate Honghe (Hull 523) and the Indonesian Navy frigate KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai completed all scheduled exercises in waters east of China’s Taiwan island on Wednesday morning, marking the conclusion of a China-Indonesia maritime passage exercise,
Royal Navy Reports 25 Percent Increase in Russian Activity in U.K., North Atlantic Waters
USNI News – Russian activity around the U.K. and in the North Atlantic has risen 25 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same time frame in 2025, according to the Royal Navy.
China’s stealth test ship swaps weapon for a mystery system
Defence Blog – Social media images published Sunday show China’s unnamed experimental stealth corvette fitted with a new system in place of its previous missile turret. Analysts differ on whether the system is a sonic weapon or a naval version of a high-power microwave weapon designed to counter drone swarms.
(Thanks to Alain)
Inside the Royal Navy’s new mine warfare mothership programme
Navy Lookout – The RN’s autonomus mine hunting systems will be deployed on board up to three new Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) or ‘motherships’ procured in partnership with Norway. Recent work by Dstl and NDP provides the clearest indication yet of what the ships may need to look like, suggesting something much closer to a large commercial offshore vessel than a conventional naval auxiliary. Here we look at what is known about this programme.
Florida company 3D prints a drone boat using robotic arms
Defence Blog – Haddy, a St. Petersburg, Florida manufacturing company, announced on Saturday it produced the TF-179 Drone Boat using large-format robotic additive manufacturing.
(Thanks to Alain)
US Navy wants submarine launchers for weapons and underwater drones
Navy Lookout – The US Navy has begun seeking a new generation of submarine payload launchers designed to deploy uncrewed systems as well as weapons. The move raises questions about how far the Royal Navy’s future SSN-AUKUS boats will share in the evolving American approach to undersea payloads.
What is hidden inside Israel’s new submarine?
CTECH – The INS Drakon’s unusual design has prompted speculation about advanced launch systems and strategic capabilities.
(Thanks to Alain)
Navy Is Getting A Unique Virginia Class Seabed Espionage Submarine
The War Zone – One Block V Virginia class submarine will be unlike any other, capable of highly specialized intelligence and sabotage missions on the seafloor.
Chinese Army Drones Target Unmanned Surface Vessels in Exercises
USNI News – The People’s Liberation Army Ground Force trained last week to use armed drones against unmanned surface vessels.
Drone Sightings Are Happening At Diego Garcia, America’s Remote Strategic Island Outpost
The War Zone – The sightings highlight concerns about drone attacks from the sea, especially at a time of extreme hostility between Iran and the U.S.
Marines Learn to 3D Print Raiding Craft, Attack Drones in the Western Pacific
USNI News – Marines are learning how to 3D print raiding craft and attack drones while in theater as part of recent exercises in Hawaii, Japan and South Korea.
Chinese Components In Royal Navy’s New Drone Boat Raise Cyber Security Concerns
The War Zone – The issue highlights supply-chain risks amid growing concerns over Beijing’s cyber access to Western military capabilities.
Spain’s Naval Aviation Crossroads: The F-35B, the Harrier, and a Capability Gap
Naval News – Keeping fixed-wing naval aviation alive will force Spain to choose between paying the price of continuity, and accepting that the retirement of the Harrier will leave the Spanish Navy without carrier-based fighters for a generation.
New Organization New Rules: Information Warfare Can Thrive in the New OPNAV
CIMSEC – NAVADMIN 123/26 affords the Information Warfare Community a once-in-a-generation chance to overhaul its officer career paths and shift attention to resourcing and requirements, changes that would yield significant long-term benefits for both the community and its personnel.
HMCS Moncton and HMCS Edmonton part of a NATO mine countermeasures mission
ReadyAyeReady – Canadian coastal defence vessels HMCS Moncton and HMCS Edmonton are currently operating in European waters as part of a NATO mine countermeasures mission, with a recent port call in Kirkwall, Orkney, underscoring efforts to protect critical subsea infrastructure amid heightened concerns over potential threats.
Russian Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarines Are Now Cocooned In Nets
The War Zone – From recent satellite imagery, the Russian Navy now looks to be using nets to protect submarines from drone attacks at a highly strategic base on the country’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
USS Theodore Roosevelt Is The First Carrier With A Drone Control Center Ready For MQ-25 Stingray Ops
The War Zone – While Theodore Roosevelt is ready now, the Navy is not aiming to start flying the MQ-25 operationally until 2029, years behind schedule.
China Maritime Report #57: Sailing Thousands of Miles Without Losing Course: The Roles and Authorities of the PLAN Party Standing Committee
China Maritime Studies Institute – The Navy Party Standing Committee (NPSC) is the Chinese Navy’s core leadership body, but it does not operate independently; it functions within the broader Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and PRC military hierarchy.
The thin grey line: Britain’s dwindling frigate force holds the line in the Euro-Atlantic
Navy Lookout – HMS Somerset has returned to Devonport this week after around four months on Operation CETO, while HMS St Albans has taken over this key anti-submarine standing commitment. The low-key handover comes as the frigate fleet reaches its smallest size in decades, with just five Type 23s left in commission.
Jet-Powered JDAM Production Is A Go For The U.S. Navy
The War Zone – Putting JDAM-LR into production will give the Navy an important new stream of lower-cost standoff munitions for its carrier air wings.
Russia’s Drone Machinations: Reflexive Control and Cognitive Warfare in the Maritime Domain
CIMSEC – Originating in 1960s Soviet strategic military doctrine, reflexive control (RC) allows the user to employ and orchestrate manipulative tactics, including disinformation, deception, overload, provocation, and distraction, to compel adversaries to voluntarily adopt courses of action favorable to the user’s interests. Since the intensification of the Ukrainian-Russo War and NATO’s extended support to Ukraine, Russia has attempted to reconfigure the environment’s balance of power and assess the limit of the alliance’s collective deterrence.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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