Navy

PARIS — The Netherlands plans to buy a torpedo-killing torpedo as early as 2029, replace the armed forces’ standard assault rifle starting this decade and equip its heavy infantry brigade with tracked armored general-purpose vehicles, as part of 17 equipment projects for the coming years.
Total spending on the planned projects will be at least €1.45 billion (US$1.65 billion), based on the lower end of the budget range for each project, according to a so-called “A letter” from the Dutch Ministry of Defense sent to parliament on Wednesday outlining equipment requirements.
“It’s essential that the Ministry of Defense has the necessary defense equipment at its disposal in good time to increase our deterrence and be a reliable NATO ally,” State Secretary of Defence Gijs Tuinman wrote. “With this omnibus A letter, the Ministry of Defense is taking the next step toward greater flexibility and less internal bureaucracy in the procurement pro..

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Taiwanese authorities this month charged the Chinese captain of the cargo vessel Hong Tai 58 for damaging an underwater communications cable connecting Taiwan to the Penghu Islands near the Chinese coast.
The legal move is a reminder that sabotage of vital seabed cables, which is notoriously difficult to prove, has firmly entered the canon of gray-zone tactics meant to find weak spots in an adversary’s defenses.
Taiwan’s coast guard had detained Hong Tai 58, a Togolese-flagged cargo vessel crewed by Chinese sailors, in late February.
A similar incident occurred north of Taiwan in January, but on that occasion a Hong Kong-owned commercial vessel was fingered as the culprit.
Taiwan has reported five cases of seabed cable damage this year already, compared with just three each in 2023 and 2024. Taiwan’s coast guard has created a blacklist of nearly 100 suspicious China-linked ships.
A growing problemDespite Beijing’s denials, some ..

Marine leaders will decide this year whether to outfit each of their divisions with a maritime reconnaissance company and brand new medium-sized ships to scope out the littorals.
Lt. Col. Brian Lusczynski mapped out some of the work already completed on the new unit concept today at the annual Modern Day Marine military exposition in Washington.
The companies, one for each of the Marine Corps three active-duty divisions, could contain as many as a dozen to 18 multi-mission reconnaissance watercraft and an undisclosed number of unmanned vessels that would accompany each of them during operations.
“We don’t expect to be trading lead and paint with a destroyer,” Lusczynski said.
The medium-sized watercraft would be larger than the Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats currently in inventory. They must take on open-water sea conditions and haul Marines, their gear and enough command-and-control equipment for a variety of missions.
“You get 10 to 15 miles offshore and you star..

PARIS — France detonated a naval explosive drone against a decommissioned cargo vessel at sea, the latest in a string of live-fire experiments as the French Navy seeks to prepare its ships and crews for high-intensity combat in what the government here calls an increasingly unstable international context.
The test explosion on April 26 will allow to France to perfect remotely-operated naval munition systems, including their guidance and pyrotechnics, the Armed Forces Ministry said in an emailed statement. The weaponized unmanned surface vehicle (USV) was deployed by a Navy offshore patrol vessel off the coast of Toulon, the home of France’s main naval base.
“The aim of the experiment was to confirm the French Navy’s ability to deploy a remotely-operated naval munition from the sea,” the ministry said. “Given the tougher international context, it now seems appropriate for the French Navy to carry out such experimental campaigns at sea.”
USVs pac..

MILAN — Sweden has said it will assist NATO in its efforts to bolster the alliance’s presence in the Baltic Sea by providing up to three warships and other defense equipment to help deter any potential sabotage of undersea infrastructure.
The Swedish military will also contribute one of its ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, manufactured by Saab, and the country’s coast guard will deploy four ships to help patrol the area, a government statement said on Jan 12.
This development comes as the military alliance announced last month that it would enhance its naval posture in the Baltic Sea, following increased concerns about possible Russian activities there.
According to Finnish media reports, NATO is likely to send a maximum of ten warships to the area of interest in an attempt to better protect critical underwater infrastructure, which include in part submarine cables as well as power transmission and telecommunication cables.
The Estonian navy has spearheaded the patrol o..

For the U.S. Navy to achieve a proposed plan to expand its fleet of battle force ships, the service would need to spend $40.1 billion on shipbuilding every year through 2054, for a total of more than $1 trillion, according to new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
Over the next 30 years, the Navy wants to grow its fleet of battle force ships to 381 to face swelling global threats, according to the service’s most recent proposal. There are currently 295 in the fleet, and that number is expected to drop to 283 ships in 2027, when the Navy is planning to retire 13 more ships than it will commission.
“The pace of shipbuilding would be fastest in the early 2030s, reflecting the service’s desire to increase the size of the fleet as quickly as feasible,” the Congressional Budget Office said of the Navy’s proposal.
The office, which provides cost estimates of proposed legislation, estimated the plan for the future fleet would require Congress to fund t..

MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine security official said Tuesday that China is “pushing us to the wall” with growing aggression in the disputed South China Sea and warned that “all options are on the table” for Manila’s response, including new international lawsuits.
A large Chinese coast guard ship patrolled the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal in recent days and then sailed toward the northwestern coast of the Philippines on Tuesday, coming as close as 77 nautical miles, Philippine officials said in a news conference.
After Singapore summit, a question of US priorities in Asia’s ‘hot zone’
“The presence of the monster ship in Filipino waters … 77 nautical miles from our shoreline, is unacceptable and, therefore, it should be withdrawn immediately by the Chinese government,” Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the National Security Council, said at the news conference alongside senior military and coast guard officials.
“You’re pu..

Raytheon is investing in its Standard Missile 3 lines to accelerate the production rate of the U.S. Navy weapon, as global interest in procuring the capability expands amid successful intercepts against ballistic missile attacks in the Middle East.
Raytheon produces both the SM-3 Block IB and the newer SM-3 Block IIA capable of defeating short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The SM-3 became combat proven in April 2024 countering missile attacks on Israel from Iran.
The SM-3 Block IIA also played a key role in the Missile Defense Agency’s first test of an initial capability established on Guam to defend the strategic island in the Pacific from possible air and missile threats in the region. The interceptor, fired from a Vertical Launch System on the island, took out a medium-range, air-launched ballistic missile threat target in the test last month.
And while the Missile Defense Agency attempted to end SM-3 Block IB production in its fiscal 2025 budget request in order to pu..

BERLIN — Chinese scientists have been researching ways to cut undersea cables since at least the late 2000s, according to a recent report in the U.S. magazine Newsweek. The revelation comes amid a series of events in which undersea infrastructure in geopolitically tense regions was damaged under unclear circumstances.
Reporters at Newsweek uncovered two patent applications Chinese researchers filed for towed undersea cable-cutting devices and associated methods to inflict such damage.
The patent applications, which the magazine reported were both ultimately dropped for unknown reasons, show devices shaped similarly to anchors that are meant to be dragged along the ocean floor to dig up and sever undersea cables.
There is a striking similarity to recent events of purported sabotage of undersea cables by ostensibly civilian vessels dragging their anchors along the seabed. This happened in the Baltic Sea, severing communications and data transfer cables. It has also recently occurre..