Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week messaging and communication. Joining us will be our podcast partner, longstanding defense journalist Vago Muradian to discuss the need for the Navy to share its story, the impact of gag orders from the Secretary of the Navy and what we hope to see and hear at the upcoming Surface Navy National Symposium.
Please send us feedback by DM’ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.
This Week’s Naval Round Up:
The US destroyer USS CHUNG-HOON DDG93 carried out a Taiwan Strait transit January Fifth, the first such passage of 2023 and the first since November Fifth. As usual the move was closely watched by the Chinese, who, responding to US Pacific Fleet’s news release on the transit, said the US “hyped it up publicly.”
The Chinese and Russian navies carried out a seven-day exercise in the East China Sea that wrapped up on December 27. The Joint Sea exercises have been held each year since 2012 and covered a number of missions, including air defense, anti-submarine warfare, blockade and control and rescue missions.
Meanwhile, a Chinese naval task group led by the aircraft carrier LIAONING carried out a relatively wide-ranging cruise, conducting heavy flight operations in mid-December near the Japanese island of Okinawa before heading into the Philippine Sea and approaching the territorial waters of Guam on December 28. Chinese media, noting the long-range cruise missiles carried by destroyers accompanying the LIAONING, said the demonstration served as a deterrent against potential US provocations.
A Chinese Navy J-11 fighter intercepted a US Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft December 21 in international airspace over the South China Sea. The Pentagon released a video of the incident on December 30 and said that the Chinese jet maneuvered with 20 feet of the US aircraft’s nose and forced the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers. The Chinese military released its own video of the US Air Force aircraft taken from the J-11, claiming the Rivet Joint was in Chinese air space.
The Russian Navy commissioned three warships on December 29, with ceremonies for all three featuring a live video link from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Most significant of the three was the Project 955A Borey-A-class ballistic missile submarine GENERALISSIMUS SUVOROV, along with the Buyan-M-class missile corvette GRAD and mine countermeasures ship ANATOLIY SHLEMOV.
Two Iranian warships are in mid-Pacific carrying out a worldwide circumnavigation voyage that began in late September to demonstrate the intended growing military and maritime reach of the Iranian state. The light frigate DENA and base ship MAKRAN were reported December 25 to be near French Polynesia, tracked by a French surveillance aircraft. So far, Iran has not publicized a schedule of port calls for the two ships.
The Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter was approved on December 21 for full-rate production. The helo, the largest helicopter operated by the United States military, is intended to replace existing CH-53s in service with the U. S. Marine Corps. While similar in appearance to earlier CH-53s, the Kilo is a greatly upgraded and redesigned version with entirely new avionics and more powerful engines. The aircraft reached its initial operating capability in April 2022, and 42 Kilos already are in low-rate production. The Corps plans to buy a total of 200 CH-53 Kilos.
