USWN 03FEB12



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Today In Undersea Warfare History:

1944 | USS Mingo (SS-261) began her 5th war patrol. Although her primary operation was lifeguard duty in support of the US Thirteenth Air Force strikes on the Philippines and Borneo, she sank 4 coastal freighters.

1945 | USS Billfish (SS-286) arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. from her last war patrol and was ordered to the Atlantic.

U.S. Undersea Warfare News

First Enlisted Female Submarine Sailors Start Training In Conn.

Michael Melia, Associated Press, Aug 27

Women's Roles In Special Operations: Breaking Barriers

Gidget Fuentes, San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug 26

International Undersea Warfare News

No Secret Submarine Deal Between Japan And Australia

Susmita Pathak Mishra, International Business Times, Aug 27

Why India's Submarine Fleet Is Deployed For Just 6 Out Of 10 Days

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, NDTV, Aug 27

Japan Struggles To Woo Australia In Bid For $35 Bln Submarine Contract

Matt Siegel, Reuters, Aug 26

Australian Military To Get Cozier With U.S.

Rob Taylor, Wall Street Journal, Aug 27

U.S. Undersea Warfare News

First Enlisted Female Submarine Sailors Start Training In Conn.

Michael Melia, Associated Press, Aug 27

The first four of the female enlisted sailors selected for the Navy's "silent service" began training this week at submarine school in Groton, the latest milestone in the elimination of one of the U.S. military's few remaining gender barriers.

The barracks at the Navy base have been reconfigured for privacy, but officials say the first co-ed class of enlisted recruits is not being received differently from any others.

The commander of the Naval Submarine School, Capt. Andrew Jarrett, said he communicated to his staff that it will be business as usual. The only adjustment made in anticipation of the women's arrival, he said, was the addition of a few senior enlisted female sailors to the school's staff.

"We wanted to have some senior enlisted female representatives on staff who could mentor the young ladies as they move through their training," Jarrett said in an interview. "We wanted the young female enlisted sailors to look around and see senior enlisted female sailors, so they could sort of see where they might be several years from now."

The Navy ended a ban on women serving aboard submarines in 2010. It began integrating crews by introducing female officers, who already have been assigned to ballistic-missile and fast-attack submarines.

The Navy and its contractors are still working out design changes needed to accommodate mixed-gender crews on submarines, where privacy is scarce for all, but especially the enlisted sailors. While many volunteers say they are drawn to the camaraderie, sailors on the roomiest subs sleep nine to a bunk room, with four showers and seven toilets for the roughly 140 enlisted men. And passageways are so narrow that crew members can barely pass one another without touching.

As the Navy was assessing how quickly to integrate the enlisted crews last spring it issued a survey to more than 50,000 enlisted female sailors that found significant but not overwhelming interest in submarine duty. Of the 12,700 sailors who participated, 28.5 percent indicated they would be open to volunteering for submarine service, according to Lt. Cmdr. Tommy Crosby, a Virginia-based spokesman for the submarine force.

The military has been spreading word of new opportunities in the undersea force. A "road show" led by a special task force toured Navy bases earlier this year to answer questions from enlisted women about life on submarines.

The four women who began their training Tuesday at Naval Submarine Base New London are among the 38 female sailors named in June as the first selected for submarine duty. They are part of a class of 79 sailors who are in for eight weeks of training at Basic Enlisted Submarine School. The female sailors, who are in the Submarine Electronics Communications Field training pipeline, will then receive 18 weeks of specialized training in submarine electronics.

Jarrett said the women will have the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

"It will be good for the Navy, it will be good for the young ladies, it will be good for the submarine force," he said.

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Women's Roles In Special Operations: Breaking Barriers

Gidget Fuentes, San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug 26

The military services are poised to lift all restrictions that have barred women from some of the front lines of combat and the advancements in rank and job that come with it. That is, unless the services make good arguments to keep as male only those combat-arms jobs, including thousands in special operations.

Two years ago, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta directed an end to the combat exclusion rule that kept female troops from direct combat jobs. The service secretaries have until Jan. 1 to evaluate performance standards to ensure they are gender-neutral and integrate women into those occupations. At the time of his decision, women made up about 15 percent of the military.

Technically speaking, as of Jan. 1, every position will be open to women. But the services also can argue to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff why it wants a job specialty or an assignment to remain closed to women, but the final decision rests with the defense secretary. “Exceptions must be narrowly tailored and based on a rigorous analysis of factual data regarding the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for the position,” Panetta wrote in the 2013memo lifting the ground combat exclusion.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has voiced his support, telling the Senate Appropriations Committee in May that the military should continue “to expand combat positions available to women – because everyone who’s able and willing to serve their country should have full and equal opportunity to do so.”

Since Panetta’s move, the military has been chipping away some corners of the door that blocks women from certain jobs and combat assignments. But it remains unclear just how far the services and the military’s special operations components will go to open the door wide in every job field and, more importantly for women, every assignment slot.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who has extensively studied women and special operations forces, said U.S. Special Operations Command has been studying integration and is expected to submit its recommendations in July. Lemmon stopped short of predicting whether those premier special- ops assignments will include women, but she believes many in the community who have worked alongside women support the change – as long as standards remain the same.

“The Rangers I speak of, even the ones who didn’t like the idea, felt it was inevitable,” said Lemmon, an author who spent two years writing about the experiences of female soldiers who trained and deployed as part of female engagement teams alongside Army Rangers. “Whether (women) would qualify, that was another story.” “The wars we fight are changing, and so are the people,” she said.

Breaking that glass ceiling in the special operations community, however, is seen by women as an opportunity to serve, fight and sacrifice equally. The special operations forces that conduct “direct action,” including Navy SEALs, Marine Raiders, Army Rangers and Green Berets, are seen as the ultimate front-line assignment, Lemmon said, “doing something that they see as making a difference to the mission. It’s about purpose – it’s always about purpose.” The Army on June 16 lifted gender restrictions on 20,563 jobs, including combat engineers; not necessarily combat engineer slots in special operations units, however.

“We’ve just approved opening up all positions in engineer to females, we’re very close to approving all positions in field artillery for females,” Gen. Ray Odierno told soldiers during a “virtual” town hall with troops before that decision was announced. A decision on the Army’s biggest combat-arms communities – infantry and armor – may come out in October after ongoing tests and assessments are completed, he said.

In February, the Army opened 4,100 special commands, including Army Special Operations Command, Army National Guard Special Forces Group, Military Information Support Operations Command and Military Free Fall Operations. But it “does not include currently closed occupations and positions with closed skill identifiers,” Army Secretary John McHugh wrote. Those include Army Rangers and Special Forces, which have remained along with infantry, cavalry and armor.

The Navy’s elite “silent service” took another big step June 22, when the Navy announced the first group of female enlisted sailors to be screened for training and assigned to a submarine. Those women will join men who crew the Ohio-class submarine Michigan. Female officers have served on its larger submarines for several years in an initial test of crew integration.

The Navy had more women interested and qualified to take the job than it had spaces for them, officials said. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the amount of interest shown by enlisted women in wanting the opportunity to serve in the undersea warfare domain,” Rear Adm. Charles Richard, who commands Submarine Group 10 in Kings Bay, Ga., and led the Enlisted Women in Submarines Task Force Commander, said in a statement. “It’s an exciting time in the submarine force as we continue to move forward in shaping the future of our force, drawing from the best pool of talent possible.”

In recent years, female soldiers have accompanied special operations forces, including Army Rangers and Special Forces, attached as “cultural support teams” to better interact with local women in Afghan villages. But whether U.S. Special Operations Command will agree to any lifting of the exclusion to allow women assignment as Rangers, or Green Berets or Navy SEALs or Marine Raiders waits to be seen. Sentiment within the community is mixed.

A Special Operations Command survey found doubts among men that women could meet the demands of special operations, The Associated Press reported in April. Women also were concerned about the lowering of standards and, in turn, how that might reflect negatively on them.

Lemmon said Rangers she met who trained or worked with the female soldiers on the teams said “these women aren’t any different from us,” she said. “There’s no question, after 9/11 special operations folks I see speak about how these women made a difference.” Moreover, she said, “the most important thing, among women and men, was that the standards remain high.”

Lemmon detailed the work of those female soldiers in her book, “Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield.” It tells the story of Combat Support Team soldiers. One of them was 1st Lt. Ashley White Stumpf, who was killed Oct. 22, 2011, when improvised explosive devices detonated during a patrol with Rangers. Two of the Rangers also died, including Rancho Bernardo High graduate Kristoffer B. Domeij, 29, a veteran Ranger on his 14th combat deployment.

“This is a positive story about what women could do. This is a story of what they have already done, and the difference they made in the battlefield” – in special operations and across the military services, she said. Those women “had a skill set that was useful, and they were seen as contributing to the mission.”

That the female soldiers excelled in that training and mission in a spec-ops community that’s been continuously deployed and primed to solve whatever problem is in front of them is a testament to all of them, Lemmon said. “It’s not an easy thing to come in, fit in and make a difference.” With deadlines looming, it seems all eyes this spring have been on the Army’s Ranger School.

In late June, three female soldiers were hoping the third time could be the charm for them. The women had passed the Army’s physical fitness test for entry into the two-month Ranger School, held at Fort Benning, Ga. It was their third try for the school, after having been dropped twice from the first phase of the training, called the Darby Phase. They, along with a number of men, were allowed to recycle into the next class, which started June 22. Col. David Fivecoat, who commands the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, which runs Ranger School, told the Army Times newspaper that the women “earned” another shot, having completed the fitness test during the Ranger Assessment Phase.

“The overall performance of the three ... was very high. All three were close to making it through the Darby Phase ... That is a daunting task for anyone, male or female.” Roughly fewer than half the students graduate from the school, which is considered the Army’s premier leadership course.

Opening the school to women, however, doesn’t mean female soldiers who graduate Ranger School get to be Rangers. Graduates are Ranger-qualified and earn the coveted “Ranger” tab to display on their shoulders. But to get the coveted tan beret and to serve and be assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment, a Ranger must complete the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program, which has been closed to women.

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International Undersea Warfare News

No Secret Submarine Deal Between Japan And Australia

Susmita Pathak Mishra, International Business Times, Aug 27

Japan delegation with a bid to build Australia’s next submarines has denied it is involved in rumoured secret dealings with the Australian federal government to win the contract.

Masaki Ishikawa, one of the representatives of Japan’s defence ministry, said during a press conference in Adelaide on Wednesday that such speculations did not come from Japan, and that they should not be blamed for it.

The Japanese delegation also said the federal government has already warned the bidders, which include France and Germany, about the “competitive evaluation process.” The final submission with all details will be submitted by the end of November 2015.

However, the delegation from Japan remained tight-lipped when asked about where they would prefer building the new fleet of Australian submarines if their contract is successful. Instead, representatives indicated that they planned on presenting three options, including building in Australia, in Japan and in both countries.

“At this moment we have not yet determined which is good and which is bad,” the head of the delegation, Admiral Takashi Saito said to the media.

Representatives of the bid said that if successful, the deal would strengthen the strong defence bond between both countries. It is the first time Japan is sharing its advanced and sensitive technology with another country.

In February 2015, Prime Minister Tony Abbott had denied any agreement was made on the submarine deal with Japan regarding replacement of old submarines with Japanese Soryu-class vessels. Today’s delegation in Adelaide introduced 200 representatives outlining the Soryu class submarines.

Defence Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith of South Australia specified that the government is clear about building submarines in Australia, especially in Adelaide. He also mentioned that approximately $50 billion will be spent on building and maintaining the next fleet of Australian submarines.

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Why India's Submarine Fleet Is Deployed For Just 6 Out Of 10 Days

Sudhi Ranjan Sen, NDTV, Aug 27

Indian submarines, on an average, are available for just six out of 10 days for operational deployment. And of every 10 tasks allotted to the fleet, it has to drop at least one, a senior Naval officer told NDTV.

India needs at least 24 conventional submarines but only has 10 - which includes a nuclear submarine leased from Russia in 2002. The last conventional submarine was acquired in the late '90s. Each conventional boat in the fleet is around 20 years old.

In contrast, China has 60 -- 48 conventional and 12 nuclear submarines. Pakistan has five submarines and is acquiring 8 Shang class submarines from China.

The depletion of submarine fleet isn't the Navy's only cause of concern.

"We have major issues with spare parts that reduces availability of platforms," the officer told NDTV. India's efforts to reverse engineer spares have been successful, "but it is not perfect," the officer said.

"The aging fleet means that the stress to run the boat is more and leaves the crew with less and less time for critical tasks," the officers added.

Submarines are critical for "sea-denial" - refusing the enemy space to navigate and dominate the sea. Indian Navy's charter spreads over a vast mass of water stretching from Gulf of Aden in the West to the Straits of Malacca in the South.

In 1999, the government had approved a 30-year submarine building programme. The plan proposed building six submarines in India by 2012 and six more by 2030.

But although India signed up with French Weapons manufacturer DCNS to acquire six Scorpene Disel-Electric attack submarines in 2005, the process has been delayed by half a decade.

The first boat - INS Kalvari, being built in Mumbai's Mazagon Dock - will be out for sea trial this year and is expected to join the Navy in late 2016.

The plan to build six more submarines under the "Make in India" programme is yet to take off. South Block is yet to decide which shipyard should be given the contract.

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Japan Struggles To Woo Australia In Bid For $35 Bln Submarine Contract

Matt Siegel, Reuters, Aug 26

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – Japan's effort to charm Australian politicians and the public over its bid for a A$50 billion ($35.60 billion) submarine project appeared to stumble on Wednesday, with officials from Tokyo resisting pressure to commit to building the vessels in Australia.

Japanese defence officials and executives from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries made their first major pitch to build 12 stealth submarines for Australia's navy during public briefings in Adelaide, a ship-building hub.

Once seen as the frontrunner to win the contract, the Japanese bid has since come under scrutiny over whether Tokyo would build any of the submarines in Australia, where manufacturing jobs are a hot-button political issue.

Rivals ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany and France's state-controlled naval contractor DCNS have both said they would build entirely in Australia, emphasising the economic and political benefits of their proposals.

The European firms have also courted the Australian defence industry and media in key cities.

The Japanese delegation, led by retired Admiral Takahashi Saito, stressed Japan's cutting-edge technology, track record in manufacturing and strategic relationship with Australia during an open forum for local industry leaders.

But two sources present at separate private meetings between Japanese and Australian officials said the Japanese did not seem to have much understanding of the political sensitivities and appeared to have lost ground to their rivals.

They said the delegation gave few details about the Japanese proposal beyond reassurances they would adhere to the bidding rules.

"It seems like the (Australian) federal government just told them that they had to come down here and talk to us," one source told Reuters under the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"I think they're really struggling to connect to the public. It's just not in their DNA to speak publicly about defence issues."

A defence industry source in Tokyo said the German bid was shaping up as the one to beat.

"There is some concern in the Japanese government," said another industry source in Tokyo familiar with the proposals.

Both sources said Japanese defence ministry officials had informally asked U.S. contractors with close ties to Japanese industry, including Raytheon Co and Lockheed Martin Corp , to advise Mitsubishi Heavy on managing its first ever bid to sell military equipment to an overseas government.

No Secret Deal

Australian media has said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe privately agreed last year that Japan would get the contract, which also involves maintenance of the vessels. Both sides have denied such a deal.

The issue dominated a news conference held by the Japanese delegation.

"The current situation has us a little bit perplexed and confused why such speculation is still being voiced," said Masaki Ishikawa, director general for acquisition reform at Japan's Ministry of Defence.

Ishikawa declined to be drawn on whether Japan would build the submarines in Australia.

Abbott has described Japan as Australia's "closest friend in Asia.” The United States is also keen to spur security cooperation between two key allies.

Officials in Adelaide, capital of South Australia state, insisted on at least 70 percent local worker participation in the project.

"The French and the Germans have been out there in the public domain making their case and, look, that's understandable because this is an argument that will be determined in the court of public opinion," South Australia defence minister Martin Hamilton-Smith said in an interview.

Influential independent Senator Nick Xenophon, who met with the delegation privately, told Reuters the Japanese had put themselves in a position to play catch up.

Senator Sean Edwards, chairman of the economics committee in the upper house of Australia's parliament, said he had repeatedly told the Japanese officials the political importance of pledging to build in Australia.

"They get it," he told Reuters.

The Japanese declined to meet with labour union leaders, said Glenn Thompson, assistant national secretary of the powerful Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

"We would have thought the Japanese ... would have liked to have talked to the unions," he said.

Each of the bidders has been asked to provide three estimates: one for construction overseas, one for a partial assembly in Australia and one for a full build in an Australian shipyard.

An expert advisory council is expected to deliver its recommendation in November.

($1 = 1.4047 Australian dollars)

(Additional reporting by Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Dean Yates)

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Australian Military To Get Cozier With U.S.

Rob Taylor, Wall Street Journal, Aug 27

Defense Minister’s Speech Thursday Will Preview Coming White Paper’s 20-Year Military-Upgrade Plan

SYDNEY – Australia’s coming strategic blueprint will call for more closely entwining its military with its U.S. counterpart, including a more visible presence in the country of U.S. naval ships and warplanes.

Defense Minister Kevin Andrews was to give a preliminary outline Thursday of the 20-year, $300 billion Australia dollar (U.S. $214 billion) plan to boost the military, which will be detailed in a future white paper.

“Through this white paper, the government will seek to broaden and deepen our alliance with the United States, recognizing that the U.S. alliance will remain fundamental to our security and defense planning and the highest priority for our international cooperation,” Mr. Andrews planned to say in a speech to U.S. and Australian business groups. Parts of the speech were obtained in advance by The Wall Street Journal.

The much-delayed paper, now expected in October, is based on the long-standing belief that Australia’s security is most effectively underpinned by a strong U.S. presence in Asia, offsetting a more assertive China.

But while it will lay out a more muscular approach in line with Washington – and welcome the U.S. strategic rebalance toward the region, as Mr. Andrews’s speech says – it will also look to avoid overt criticism of Beijing.

Six years ago then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd enraged China, Australia’s biggest trading partner, with a defense white paper that argued Beijing’s rise posed regional security risks.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has promised to boost military spending to 2% of gross domestic product inside a decade, with a military budget of A$32 billion next year and a cumulative A$132 billion over the next few years.

Last year Australia ranked sixth globally in weapons imports, according to the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research, spending almost A$14 billion on arms.

A large chunk of the added spending will go to a stronger open-ocean presence for Australia’s navy, including eight new submarines, nine frigates and up to 20 corvettes at a cost of A$89 billion. Australia is also introducing two amphibious carriers and missile destroyers as well as stealth fighter planes.

Submarine makers from Japan, France and Germany are pursuing the business. Japanese shipbuilders and defense officials were in Adelaide on Wednesday to push a 10-year, A$50 billion deal for Soryu submarines. Japan is seeking to become a major weapons exporter for the first time since World War II.

“This white paper will deliver a future Australian Defense Force that is potent, agile and ready to respond whenever our interests are engaged across the world,” Mr. Andrews was to say in his speech, according to the excerpts.

It added that “Force Posture Initiatives” being discussed with the U.S. and likely to be reflected in the white paper would enhance the ability of their militaries to operate together, building on current rotations by U.S. Marines in Australia’s north.

“We are also continuing to develop enhanced cooperation between the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Air Force, and we are examining a range of practical options to enhance naval cooperation,” the speech says.

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