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The Navy on Thursday awarded a $9.4 billion contract to begin construction work on what has for years been its biggest modernization priority: A project to build a new class of at least a dozen nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines that’s expected to cost $110 billion once all is said and done.

On a training exercise from its home port in Guam, USS Minnesota is a forerunner to four Virginia class submarines that will be hosted at a Western Australian naval base from 2027, under the AUKUS partnership to transfer nuclear submarine capability to Australia. Commanding officer Jeffrey Corneille says the Virginia class submarine is “the most advanced warship in the world.” “If someone wakes up and they say ‘Is today the day?’, we make sure that they say ‘Maybe not’,” he says, describing its deterrent role. Around 50-80 United States navy personnel will arrive by the middle of the year at...

Elon Musk dropped a shocking revelation about how the government handed the Navy $12 billion to build new submarines, only to find that not a single submarine was built with the money. Musk, who revealed that he first heard the revelation from Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), said Navy officials shrugged when asked where the money for the submarines went. “There’s a case where I think Senator Collins was telling me about how she gave the Navy $12 billion for more submarines, got no extra submarines, and then held a hearing to say where the $12 billion went,” Musk told Joe...

Elon Musk just revealed that the government handed the Navy $12 billion to build new submarines—and not a single submarine was built. When investigators asked where the money went, Navy officials shrugged and said they had no idea. “There’s a case where I think Senator Collins was telling me about how she gave the Navy $12 billion for more submarines, got no extra submarines, and then held a hearing to say where the $12 billion go. “And they were like, we don’t know. That was it. I mean, basically, stuff is so crazy. Only the federal government could get away...

Amid reports of a new US military plan for an underwater drone release, scientists say China has already done it better, The US military is reportedly considering a tactic that involves deploying a submarine near the Chinese coast to release a large number of drones from under the water. These drones would then form a swarm in the air and launch surprise attacks on the People’s Liberation Army fleet during any potential attempt to land in Taiwan, thereby reducing the need for US ships to get too close to the combat zone and risk being hit. But there’s a twist:...

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to give away sovereign territory in the Indian Ocean which contains a strategically critical U.S. base is so “stupid” he must be on drugs to consider it, a Republican Senator says. President Trump and the new U.S. Secretary of State (foreign affairs minister) Marco Rubio have been briefed on the Chagos Islands situation created by the British government, says U.S. Republican Senator from Louisiana John Kennedy — no relation to President John Kennedy — and that the dictates of the United Nations should be ignored. Reminding others on the Senate floor (1hr 55m)...

The United Kingdom has confirmed that one of its Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarines surfaced close to the Yantar, a notorious Russian spy ship late last year, to make it clear it was being observed. The revelation came as the Royal Navy was once again closely tracking the Russian ship after it returned to British waters. According to the U.K. defense secretary, the Yantar has, in recent months, been “mapping the U.K.’s critical underwater infrastructure,” at a time when NATO, in general, is increasingly concerned about apparent sabotage to undersea cables. The Yantar was sailing in British waters in November last...

...Two fifths of the subs that ventured into the Mediterranean were sunk and when a submarine sank it became a communal coffin - everyone on board died. That was the rule.In fact, during the whole of the war there were only four escapes from stricken British submarines. And the most remarkable of these took place on 6 December 1941, when HMS Perseus plummeted to the seabed...He dragged any stokers who showed signs of life towards the escape hatch and fitted them and himself with Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus, a rubber lung with an oxygen bottle, mouthpiece and goggles.This equipment had...

In December 2023, for 17 continuous days, a fleet of drones appeared at night over Langley Air Force Base (AFB), Virginia and other facilities in the greater Virginia Beach area. This was reported at the time, but the story was fleeting. Two other events occurred in the area that are relevant to the story. In February 2023, a pair of F-22s from Langley shot down the Chinese spy balloon as it exited the United States over South Carolina into the Atlantic Ocean. In January 2024, a Chinese graduate student at the University of Minnesota, was arrested for flying a drone...

Women were barred from the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s submarine forces from 1901 until 2011, and the first females returned to active duty in 2014. While that was certainly a victory for them, the cohabitation of men and women in such confined spaces under the sea was not without problems. The results of an internal investigation were published, showing that women in the Royal Navy’s submarine forces have suffered multiple incidents of abuse and harassment by male submariners. The investigation also revealed that some of the abusers were senior officers, and the misconduct included ‘at least’ one report of rape....

Politicians serious about preventing another Sept. 11 should listen to the leader of Hizballah, and then read an indictment unsealed this month in Detroit."Let the entire world hear me," said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27, 2002. "Our hostility to the Great Satan is absolute."There's good reason to take this sheik seriously. In 1983, his Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist group attacked the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Americans. According to the opinion of U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in the case of Peterson v. the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nasrallah attended the meeting in Baalbek, Lebanon, where the...

The U.S. Navy has big plans for modernizing existing major end items. The maritime branch is excited about the next-generation DDG(X) destroyer and the F/A-XX next-generation fighter jet. Now, the SSN(X) futuristic submarine that will replace the Virginia-class boats is experiencing delays. The SSN(X) may not come to fruition until the early 2040s, which is hard to fathom. Who knows what the U.S. military will look like in two decades?

In what is hopefully a significant blow to drug trafficking operations, the Costa Rican Coast Guard intercepted a semi-submersible vessel yesterday, seizing approximately two tons of cocaine. The operation, which took place 148 kilometers off our southern Pacific coast, demonstrated the unwavering commitment of our nation’s authorities in the fight against narcotics trade. Acting on intelligence provided by U.S. patrol aircraft, our Coast Guard swiftly located and intercepted the vessel. In a dramatic turn of events, the three suspects aboard – two Colombians and one Ecuadorian – attempted to sink their craft to destroy evidence. However, our skilled officers thwarted...

The final resting place of an iconic U.S. Navy submarine that was sunk 80 years ago during World War II was located 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface, the Naval History and Heritage Command said Thursday. The USS Harder – which earned the nickname "Hit 'em HARDER" – was found off the Philippine island of Luzon, sitting upright and "relatively intact" except for damage behind its conning tower from a Japanese depth charge, the command said. The sub was discovered using data collected by Tim Taylor, CEO of the Lost 52 Project, which works to locate the 52 submarines sunk...

The U.S. needs all three legs of its nuclear triad, including the land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles maintained by the Air Force, as well as the sea-based weapons that are the domain of the Navy. In a nuclear conflict where adversaries launch a first strike, it's possible they might render U.S. ground-based and air-launched systems unusable. But the U.S. still maintains deterrence though sea-based systems, which guarantee a second-strike capability— the ability to strike back. "If you think about it from the adversary's perspective, anything that they may think they could do as an initial strike, that...

It goes without saying that every war film (and a few other besides) that Hollywood made during World War Two was a propaganda film. Nobody would mistake Destination Tokyo (1943) as anything but propaganda, made by Warners, arguably the most jingoistic of the Hollywood studios, and at the moment when the tide of battle finally seemed to be turning in the Allies' favour – after the Soviet triumph at Stalingrad and the defeat of Rommel in North Africa, the Dambuster raid and the withdrawal of German U-boats from the North Atlantic. The film looks back at the first months of...

The U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom, members of the AUKUS partnership, are considering cooperation with Japan on advanced capabilities projects. An aim of AUKUS is identifying the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability, as well as cooperation on a range of other advanced defense technologies. Japan is being considered because of its strengths and its close defense partnership with all three countries, said Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, who held a press conference today. Singh noted that this was announced in a joint statement by the three nation's defense leaders: Secretary of Defense...

The US Congress has passed legislation allowing the country to sell Virginia class submarines to Australia under the Aukus security pact. Sweeping legislation covering a wide range of military priorities including Aukus passed the US House of Representatives on Thursday Washington time, a day after it cleared the Senate. The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said Australians could “have a sense of confidence about this multi-decade arrangement actually coming to pass” because of the strong bipartisan votes in the US Congress. “We are on the precipice of historic reform that will transform our ability to effectively deter, innovate, and operate...

FBI Intelligence Analyst Arrested, Accused of Passing Classified Information; Former Philippines National Police Official Also Charged NEWARK - An FBI intelligence analyst at Fort Monmouth and a former official with the Philippines National Police were arrested Saturday morning, charged in a federal criminal complaint with acting as unregistered agents of a foreign official and passing classified information to that official and others in the Republic of the Philippines, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie and FBI Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wiser, Jr. announced.Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested by Special Agents of the FBI at his home...

The 31st day of the war - 450 targets were attacked, the IDF took over a Hamas outpost [...] In the Gaza Strip it was reported that there is a gradual return of the communication services that were cut off in the IDF attack last night • A stabbing attack in Jerusalem: an MGB fighter was mortally wounded, another fighter was slightly injured • After the inciting post she published, Ahed Tamimi was arrested • Report: Biden administration to Iran Hezbollah - "We will intervene militarily if you launch an attack on Israel" • Regular updates News reporters 12 |N12|...