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Sea State<\/strong><\/p>\n More plans are surfacing in response to Sen. John McCain\u2019s defence budget white paper<\/a> and the US Navy\u2019s Force Structure Assessment<\/a>. The Centre for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments (CSBA<\/a>) and MITRE<\/a> have both produced reports that share some common goals: grow the fleet, cancel the LCS and increase the number of attack submarines<\/a>. But MITRE\u2019s plan is \u2018more radical\u2019<\/a> than CSBA\u2019s, not least because it recommends the USN expand to a whopping 14 aircraft carriers (up from 11). CSBA\u2019s call for a larger small carrier fleet has created some buzz too; see here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Best steer clear of the Indian Ocean this week, lest you be mistaken for a pirate or a Chinese submarine. India and Pakistan are both carrying out large-scale naval exercises in the region. The Indian Navy\u2019s 30-day long TROPEX 2017<\/a> is the \u2018largest-ever naval theatre-level\u2019<\/a> exercise to take place off its western coast. Exercises will focus on anti-(Chinese)-submarine warfare scenarios. The Pakistan Navy\u2019s AMAN 2017<\/a> (involving 36 countries including Australia), focuses on multilateral counterterrorism and counterpiracy operations. It\u2019s worth noting<\/a> that this is the first time the Pakistani exercise has brought Turkey and Russia into the fold.<\/p>\n And finally, after last week\u2019s heatwave, now might be a good time to take a look at this National Geographic<\/em> piece<\/a> about what the US military is doing to fight climate change.<\/p>\n Flight Path<\/strong><\/p>\n A US Navy P-3C aircraft and a Chinese KJ-200 aircraft came within 305 metres of one another<\/a> last Wednesday near the disputed Scarborough Shoal. The KJ-200 \u2018crossed the nose\u2019<\/a> of the P-3C, forcing the latter to make an immediate turn. US Pacific Command<\/a> characterised the incident as \u2018unsafe\u2019, but believes it was unintentional. The news follows two \u2018unsafe\u2019 intercepts<\/a> of US reconnaissance aircraft by Chinese fighters in 2016, which occurred despite Washington and Beijing\u2019s 2015 MoU<\/a> on unplanned air and sea encounters (PDF).<\/p>\n Following Indian Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar\u2019s visit to Jakarta in mid-January, Indian media outlets reported last week<\/a> that India and Indonesia have agreed to host their first-ever joint air combat exercise. The two sides have also agreed to deepen their existing maritime and land military exchanges, as well as enhance defence industry cooperation<\/a>. Check out The Diplomat\u2019s <\/em>commentary<\/a> on that development within the broader context of India\u2013Indonesia defence cooperation.<\/p>\n A squadron of US F-22 Raptors\u2014the \u2018most feared aircraft in the world\u2019<\/a>\u2014has arrived at RAAF\u2019s Tindal base<\/a> for three weeks of integrated training with Australia\u2019s F\/A-18A\/B Hornets. Their arrival comes ahead of the massive aircraft contingent<\/a> that will accompany the sixth rotation of US Marines in Darwin in April.<\/p>\n Rapid Fire <\/strong><\/p>\n Indonesia’s military chief has accepted a personal apology<\/a> from the Australian Army chief Angus Campbell over offensive training material that\u00a0led to a partial suspension on joint language training exercises. Following the \u2018defence spat\u2019, Indonesia confirmed President Widodo will visit Australia<\/a> on February 26.<\/p>\n Trials of Australia’s\u00a0Land 400 Phase 2\u00a0<\/a>contenders have taken place on\u00a0HMAS Canberra to determine their suitability for deployment. Contenders for the program include the Rheinmetall Defence\u00a0Boxer<\/a> and the BAE Systems-Patria\u00a0AMV35<\/a>.<\/p>\n Commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, recommended to Congress that NATO forces operating in the country require thousands of additional troops<\/a>. In a surprising twist, he also accused Russia of seeking to ‘prop up the Taliban.’<\/a> The Trump administration now faces one of its first major military strategy questions: should America \u2018double down\u2019 and commit more troops to this seemingly endless conflict? Will that help make America great again?<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s coming under increasing scrutiny over military training exercises alongside its border with Lithuania and Poland. The exercises, due in September, could involve at least 100,000 troops<\/a>\u2014a fact US General Phillip Breedlove called \u2018a bit alarming\u2019. At the same time, President Putin ordered a \u2018snap air drill\u2019<\/a> involving 45,000 troops, 150 aircraft and 200 anti-aircraft units. What exactly they\u2019re trying to prove remains highly contested, but readers should watch this space.<\/p>\n Zero Gravity<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s \u2018Old Space\u2019 versus \u2018New Space\u2019 in Politico<\/em>\u2019s account of internal White House documents<\/a>. Proposed strategies will redirect NASA\u2019s mission to \u2018large-scale economic development of space\u2019 by way of increased, near-term privatisation of cislunar space<\/a>. In headline-speak, The Atlantic<\/em> reports: Trump\u2019s Advisors Want to Return Humans to the Moon in Three Years<\/a>. That\u2019s quite an ambition\u2014 such a plan would entail a huge pivot toward \u2018New Space\u2019 industries. The prize is vast\u2014the current space economy is worth an estimated US$314 billion annually (PDF<\/a>); if private American investors no longer fear government competition, the US will be head of a \u2018trillion-dollar\u2019 table.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the plan, but, as ever, there\u2019s friction between rhetoric and rockets. As NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio tweets<\/a>, quoting Casey Dreier, director of the Planetary Society: \u2018Just because you have private companies involved doesn\u2019t mean you can ignore physics or the harsh environment of space.\u2019<\/p>\n Forgive us if we tell you to watch this space with some scepticism.<\/p>\n Not to be silenced during the Super Bowl<\/a>, and perhaps on behalf of \u2018Old Space,\u2019 NASA claimed the record for the \u2018longest Hail Mary pass ever\u2019 (video<\/a>). At a cheeky 516,328 metres, that eclipses the previous record of 72 metres<\/a>. Lesson learned: aim to be moving at 28,000 kilometres per hour<\/a> when you throw a football in zero G.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sea State More plans are surfacing in response to Sen. John McCain\u2019s defence budget white paper and the US Navy\u2019s Force Structure Assessment. The Centre for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) and MITRE have both …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":30542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1695,1062,287,803],"class_list":["post-30541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-f-22","tag-land-400","tag-military-exercises","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n