Putting a Laser on a Warship Could Break the Retrofit Budget
Directed energy retrofit budget report I think the hardest part of putting a laser on an existing warship is not buying the laser. It is proving the ship can power it, cool it, aim...
Warships Are Getting Over-the-Air Updates: 10 Controls Every Combat-System Software Vendor Will Need
Combat-system software and OTA update report I think the most important shift is that a warship software update is no longer just an IT patch. Once radar, sonar, weapons interfaces, combat-system baselines, and command-and-control...
Navy Plug and Play Consortium Could Fast Track Shipboard Tech
Shipboard plug-and-play procurement report I think the Navy’s new plug-and-play consortium is important because it does not reward the most futuristic technology by itself. It rewards advanced systems that can touch existing ships, networks,...
Who Owns the CAD File? 8 IP Battles Coming With the Navy’s Digital Spare-Parts Strategy
Digital spare-parts and naval IP report I think the Navy’s additive manufacturing strategy creates a rare supplier question: when a spare part becomes a certified digital file, the value shifts from the warehouse shelf...
Saronic vs Anduril: Software Defined Naval Shipyards Become the Next Arms Race
Shipyard of 2035 investment report I think the Saronic versus Anduril story is really a contest over the future factory model, because autonomous warships will need shipyards that behave more like software-defined production systems...
Pearl Harbor Dry Dock 5 Turns Infrastructure Into a Supplier Goldmine
Naval infrastructure and shipyard supplier report I think the most useful way to read Pearl Harbor’s Dry Dock 5 is as a whole industrial system, because the visible concrete basin only works if the...
At Sea 3D Printing Moves From Novelty to Naval Readiness
Naval additive manufacturing readiness report I think the strongest use case for at-sea 3D printing is not printing everything, but certifying the few naval parts that repeatedly strand ships, take too long to procure,...
Portugal’s FREMM EVO Deal Opens a 30 Year Naval Market
FREMM EVO lifecycle supplier report I think the most important part of Portugal’s FREMM EVO deal is not the three-frigate headline, but the 30-year support market that forms around combat systems, maintenance, training, technology...
Container Payloads Turn MUSVs Into Modular Warships
MUSV payload and modular warship report I think the most interesting part of high-capacity MUSVs is that the hull is becoming a reusable truck for combat power, while the real market moves into the...
The $3 Billion Autonomous Shipyard & The Top Technologies Traditional Naval Yards May Have to Copy
Autonomous shipyard and naval production report I think the most important part of Saronic’s Port Alpha plan is not simply that it is big, but that it treats the shipyard itself as a software-defined...
Canada’s Arctic Submarine Bet Tests the Supplier Base
Canadian submarine supply chain report I think the real test in Canada’s Arctic submarine bet is not only whether TKMS can build a strong Type 212CD, but whether enough specialized suppliers can qualify, deliver,...
Naval Cyber Toolkits: 8 Shipboard Security Markets Behind Carrier and Submarine Protection
Shipboard cyber procurement report I think the important signal in naval cyber is that security is starting to look like shipset procurement, with hardware, software, installation teams, training, spares, and lifecycle updates packaged for...
Naval Chilled-Water Plants & The 9 Reasons a Radar Upgrade Can Turn Into an HVAC Modernization
Naval HVAC and combat-systems modernization I think one of the easiest radar-upgrade costs to underestimate is the chilled-water plant, because the new sensor gets the attention while the ship quietly has to move a...
Commercial Standards vs MIL-SPEC: 12 Systems Navies Could Buy Cheaper Without Sacrificing the Mission
Naval procurement and shipbuilding report I think the most interesting part of commercial ship standards is not that they are cheaper, but that they force navies to decide which systems truly need warship-grade survivability...
Zumwalt Hypersonics Expose the Real Modernization Bill
Zumwalt hypersonic modernization report When I look at the Zumwalt hypersonic upgrade, the most interesting part is not the missile itself, but everything the ship has to absorb around it. Putting hypersonic missiles on...
SPY-6 Refits Reveal the Real Radar Bill
Naval radar retrofit economics report One thing I keep in mind with SPY-6 is that the radar is only the visible part of a much larger modernization bill. SPY-6 retrofit economics are not defined...
Magnetic Signatures Move Back Into Naval Refit Budgets
Naval refit and signature-control report One thing I keep in mind with naval refits is that some of the most important survivability upgrades are the least visible. Degaussing modernization is one of the quietest...
Towed Array Sonar vs Variable-Depth Sonar: Which ASW Upgrade Gives a Frigate More Capability for the Money?
Frigate ASW upgrade report From my perspective, sonar value comes down to how well the system matches the frigate, the operating area, and the submarine threat. Towed arrays and variable-depth sonars both give frigates...
Navies Race Toward Six Month Mine Clearance
Mine countermeasures procurement report I see this sprint as a strong signal that naval procurement is becoming more comfortable with mature commercial systems and modular mission packages. The Navy’s six-month mine countermeasures sprint points...
Pirates With RPGs: 8 Naval Response Lessons From the MV Golden Arsenal Attack
Gulf of Aden piracy response report The MV Golden Arsenal attack shows the modern piracy problem in one clean sequence: RPG threat, citadel discipline, distress reporting, multinational coordination, aerial surveillance, and a naval boarding...