Category Archives: Strategic Outlook
Wrapping Up Alternatives to DDG Flight III
Last month we challenged contributors to take their best shot (or really any shot, so long as it was interesting) at articulating alternatives to the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class DDG Flight III. We originally intended the series to run a week, but never ones to reject late-but-coherent thoughts, we kept it going as long as the submissions kept coming in. The [...]
Read MoreThe Capability Cost of a Flight III Ballistic Missile Sea Shield
The following is part of our series “Alternatives to the U.S. Navy’s DDG Flight III“ DDG-51 Flt III and the Shifting Sands of BMD Requirements To intercept a ballistic missile intercept, platforms must be at the right place at the right time to detect, track, and engage. Depending on the capability of the sensors and [...]
Read MoreThe Greenert Gambit: Playing Moneyball with the Pivot to the Pacific
CNO’s 30-Year Shipbuilding Strategy Reflects Lessons of his Favorite Book Armchair Admirals and defense analysts alike lit up the blogosphere when President Obama first announced the strategic “Pivot” from Mid-East counterinsurgency operations to the Pacific, with visions of Surface Action Groups, Carrier Battle Groups, and Amphibious Task Forces the like of which haven’t been seen [...]
Read MoreThe View from the Cheap Seats: Alternatives to DDG-51 Flight III
As a civilian observer of naval affairs, I’m forever fascinated by the churn that surrounds every major platform design or acquisition. The nice thing about viewing all this from the cheap seats is a wider perspective – you get to look around just because you’re that much removed from the action on the floor. The [...]
Read MoreFlight III – A Piece in The Surface Combatant Puzzle
For a distant observer, commenting on alternatives to the DDG Flight III would be difficult without the well written documents by Congressional Research Service writer Ronald O’Rourke. His Navy DDG-51 and DDG-1000 Destroyer Programs: Background and Issues for Congress lists most of the program’s considered possible alternatives, reducing the scope of the issue to selecting evaluation criteria and identifying [...]
Read MoreWhither The Flight III
Back in March our readers voted on topics they’d like us to cover for a week of analysis. The winner was “Alternatives to the U.S. Navy’s DDG-51 Flight III”. Alas not many have felt comfortable venturing outside their expertise comfort zones to weigh in on the issue. Those few brave writers who did accept the [...]
Read MoreIndonesia’s Strategic Flexibility
By Natalie Sambhi Brad Nelson has a neat overview in the Jakarta Globe earlier this month of Indonesia’s strategic options vis-à-vis China and the U.S. Enabled by what he calls ‘strategic flexibility’ (which I think is actually an extension of Indonesia’s so-called ‘dynamic equilibrium’ approach), Indonesia can stay neutral, pick China or the U.S., be a [...]
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