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A one-time associate of Osama Bin Laden died in New York on Friday while awaiting trial for allegedly plotting the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Abu Anas al-Libi, 50, was captured in Libya by U.S. commandos in Oct. 2013 and brought to New York where he was due to stand trial. He had been wanted for more than a decade and there was a $5 million reward for his arrest. Al-Libi had pleaded not guilty. The al Qaeda terror suspect has been in poor health and suffered liver disease as a result of hepatitis C, according...

America’s $400 billion, top-of-the-line aircraft can’t see the battlefield all that well. Which means it’s actually worse than its predecessors at fighting today’s wars. When the Pentagon’s nearly $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finally enters service next year after nearly two decades in development, it won’t be able to support troops on the ground the way older planes can today. Its sensors won’t be able to see the battlefield as well; and what video the F-35 does capture, it won’t be able to transmit to infantrymen in real time. Versions of the new single-engine stealth fighter are set to...

After five years, the U.S. Navy has decided to do away with the “global force for good” slogan and replace it with something that hits a little closer to home.

PENTAGON — The Navy will beef up the weapons, armor and sensors on its two existing classes of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) in an answer to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s call for a tougher Small Surface Combatant (SSC), the Navy announced in a late Thursday briefing with reporters. The two variants of the ship will replace the last 20 ships in the initial plan for 52 Flight 0 Lockheed Martin Freedom-class and Austal USA Independence-class LCS hulls as part of the SSC directive the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) outlined to the Navy in a January memo....

The U.S. Navy received Milestone C acquisition approval earlier this month to begin low-rate initial production (LRIP) of an infrared search and track (IRST) sensor pod for the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin and partner Boeing will deliver six pods in the first LRIP lot. The AN/ASG-34 IRST sensor gives the F/A-18E/F a long-range, passive search and tracking capability against multiple targets, supplementing the jet’s APG-79 active electronically scanned radar and other sensors. The pod is mounted on the nose section of the Super Hornet’s centerline fuel tank. It completed a first flight aboard an F/A-18F in February. “Integrating...

America's primary anti-ship missile, the Harpoon, has been in service now for close to 40 years and the Navy has been very reluctant to evolve when it comes to its anti-ship capabilities. Times are changing, with China's Navy on the rise and Russia flexing its muscle, the Cold War staple just won't do. Enter Lockheed's ninja-like Long Range Anti-Ship Missile to save the day. The Harpoon was once the 'gold standard' of anti-ship cruise missiles, but its subsonic flight profile, limited range, less than stealthy design, and relatively simple targeting and navigation methodology have left it as almost an afterthought...

China has plans to grow its navy to 351 ships by 2020 as the Chinese continue to develop their military’s ability to strike global targets, according to a new report. The 2014 U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission recommended to Congress the U.S. Navy respond by building more ships and increase its presence in the Pacific region – a strategy they U.S. military has already started. The commission asked Congress to increase its Pacific fleet up to 67 ships and rebalance homeports such that 60-percent of the force is based in the region by 2020. The commissions’ recommendations, which are...

“Stand by, Admiral Gorshkov, Aegis is at Sea!” The U.S. Navy’s first Aegis-equipped surface warship, the USS Ticonderoga (CG-47), joined the Fleet in January 1983, and all-but dared the Soviet Navy to take its best anti-ship cruise-missile shot. The Navy’s newest Aegis guided-missile destroyer in the fall 2014, the USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), was commissioned in December 2012. Murphy is the Navy’s 102nd Aegis warship. Another 10 Aegis DDGs are under construction, under contract or planned––a remarkable achievement! Aegis surface warships were conceived during the height of the Cold War to defend U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups from massed Soviet...

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy’s surface fleet is in need of some short-term payload adjustments to regain an advantage in offensive surface strike capabilities. “The surface fleet today really can’t do offensive sea control,” said Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), a Washington think tank, and a former special assistant to the chief of naval operations, speaking to reporters Nov. 17. Clark, author of the new CSBA assessment, “Commanding the Seas: A Plan to Reinvigorate U.S. Navy Surface Warfare,” said the Navy needs a short-term — meaning by 2025 — adjustment in its...

Yesterday, four EA-6B Prowlers belonging to Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ-134 'Garudas' made a triumphant but bittersweet return to NAS Whidbey Island in upstate Washington. The squadron had been deployed aboard the USS George H.W. Bush for the last nine and a half months, and their arrival marked the end of the last EA-6B carrier deployment. The EA-6B Prowler has been flying for over 46 years. The aircraft it directly descends from, the A-6 Intruder, was first flown some 54 years ago. The Prowler also represents the end of a long line of over-engineered and incredibly capable naval jet aircraft built...

Protesters yelling “Yankee go home!” attacked three U.S. sailors in Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday, while the warship USS Ross was in port. The sailors were not injured and all returned to the ship, said Capt. Greg Hicks, a spokesman for U.S. European Command.

Hie thee hence, sea fighters, to peruse Information Dissemination‘s take on the U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyer. Pseudo-pseudonymous pundit “Lazarus” gives a nifty profile of the newfangled vessel. That’s worth your time in itself. Though not in so many words, moreover, he depicts the attention-grabbing DDG-1000 stories of recent weeks and months as a red herring. Sure, Zumwalt features a “tumblehome” hull that makes the ship look like the second coming of USS Monitor. (This is not a compliment.) The hull tapers where it should flare and flares where it should taper. Zounds! Yet more than cosmetics occasions commentary. Some navy-watchers...

An incredible air-to-air engagement, where one U.S. pilot alone survived to six North Vietnamese MiGs. A true milestone in the progress of naval aviation, the Vought F-8 has been one of the few carrier-based fighters that could outperform most land-based counterparts. Being the first genuinely supersonic naval aircraft, the Crusader, was a single seat, single engine swept fighter that introduced an unusual feature, the variable incidence wing. Armed with four Colt Mk 12 cannons, the F-8 was called “The last gunfighter”: these guns combined with its high thrust-to-weight ratio and with its good maneuverability, made of the Crusader a good...

The U.S. Navy conducted the first arrested landing of an F-35C Joint Strike Fighter carrier variant on November 3. Cmdr. Tony Wilson, a Navy test pilot, landed test aircraft CF-03 on the flight deck of the carrier USS Nimitz off the coast of San Diego after flying from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. The first arrested landing came at the start of initial at-sea developmental testing of the F-35C, which is expected to last for two weeks. The carrier testing involves test aircraft CF-03 and CF-05, both fitted with a redesigned tail hook after problems with the initial design...

We have been glued all week to the sub saga off the coast of Sweden, where six days in Swedish forces have only now called off their search for an elusive sub hiding in the waters off Stockholm. Yet what nobody has mentioned is just how deadly and capable Sweden's own subs are, and there are few better weapons for catching a sub than another sub. Sweden's submarine force is relatively tiny, just five boats make up the entire inventory, but those five vessels are extremely stealthy and lethal, especially their three Gotland Class diesel-electric submarines. Entering service in the...

Raytheon's Standard Missile-6 had a pair of successful intercepts during recent testing highlighting the system's ability to use targeting information provided from a remote source. The "engage on remote" scenario involved two SM-6s launched from the USS Chancellorsville against anti-ship and cruise missile targets. The scenario included the SM-6s being launched prior to its own radars detecting the incoming threats, and instead using targeting information from the USS Sampson, another Aegis ship in the area. The first SM-6 intercepted a low-altitude, short-range supersonic target while the second intercepted a low-altitude, medium-range subsonic target. The SM-6 and Standard Missile-3 are produced...

Pentagon: Ship Leaves for Italy to Destroy Syrian Chemical Weapons By: Sam LaGrone Published: June 25, 2014 12:48 PM Updated: June 25, 2014 12:52 PM The U.S. ship that was quickly put into service to neutralize Syrian chemical weapons has departed Rota, Spain to take on the arms at an Italian port, Pentagon officials announced on Wednesday. MV Cape Ray (T-AKR-9679) will take on the chemical weapons at Gioia Tauro and neutralize the weapons taken from the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as part of a deal — negotiated by the United Nations — that prevented U.S. retaliatory strikes...

The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile has been completed, Barack Obama has said. The US President welcomed the development, but said Washington would seek to ensure Damascus fulfils all its commitments. "Today we mark an important achievement in our ongoing effort to counter the spread of weapons of mass destruction by eliminating Syria's declared chemical weapons stockpile," he said. He added that the destruction, carried out aboard a US Navy ship on the Mediterranean Sea, sent "a clear message that the use of these abhorrent weapons has consequences and will not be tolerated by the international community".

The last decade has seen some pretty awesome looking warships hit waters around the globe. On the "blue water" side of things the Star Wars looking Zumwalt Class and the minimalist art-like Lafayette Class were clearly designed with stealth in mind. Yet the "brown water" is where the most exotic vessels roam, and this is precisely where the X3K was born to fight. An Indonesian Combat Trimaran Designed In Sweden The X3K was built by Indonesian-based Swedish boat builder North Sea Boats, and designed in part by renowned exotic boat builder LOMOcean Design LTD. The goal was to build a...

Some folks question why the U.S. Navy would need such exotic weapons as the Phalanx and SeaRAM systems, or even electromagnetic rail guns. These Russian-made, radar-guided anti-ship missiles are two such reasons. The P-270 Moskit and P-800 Oniks have caused so much consternation that the Navy has begun developing a helicopter-based electronic warfare system—the Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW)—to defend against the threat. Both are ramjet-propelled cruise missiles, both carry 550 to 710 pounds of high explosive in their warheads, and neither is one you want to see streaking towards your ship.