With an eye on China, the Navy will begin arming its attack submarines with ship-killer missiles for the first time in decades. The weapon of choice: an updated model of the decades-old Harpoon.
In a little-noticed announcement posted earlier this month on a government contracting site, the Navy said it was entering into negotiations with Boeing to refurbish and recertify Harpoon anti-ship missiles for Los Angeles-class subs. It’s a major shift after decades in which submarines focused on projecting power ashore — stealthily collecting intelligence or launching Tomahawk Land-Attack Missiles (TLAMs) — with their only anti-ship weapons being their rarely-used torpedoes.
I mentioned this move back in June.
I am very glad to see this move, especially because I hadn't noticed the loss of the Harpoons in the fleet because some of our surface ships continued to have Harpoons:
Give [the Navy] their Goddamn Harpoons back.
My 2013 wish has been fulfilled. Although not for the LCS which seems trapped in the littoral era of power projection ashore.
In related news, the Navy is thinking of boosting its presence in Alaska:
The US Navy is looking at a number of ways to increase its presence in the Arctic around Alaska, including deployments of the service's advanced maritime patrol aircraft, the P-8A Poseidon, the Navy's top civilian official said last week.
This would be at Adak in the Aleutian Islands. These planes are useful for ocean surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-ship warfare. If the Chinese try to operate east of Japan this will be useful. And the Russians will have to be wary of sending their subs out.
UPDATE: The F-35 will soon get the ability to strike naval targets. Well I should hope so.
Also, Turkey is not going to lose their position in the production supply chain. That could be a problem given Erdogan's problem as an ally.
