Midrats

In a sharp departure from the ideas that brought them to the fleet, the Navy, "...appears poised to sunset the MK VI and Cyclone-class patrol craft programs in rapid succession, with no replacements on the horizon."Why are these small craft in our Navy today, what missions are they doing, and what risk are we accepting if we let this capability go? What follow on craft could even do the job better?To discuss these and related issues will be LCDR Jordan Bradford, USN.The starting point for our conversation will be his article from the May 2021 Proceedings, "The MK-VI id Dead - Long Live the MK VII."Lieutenant Commander Bradford is the commanding officer of USS Typhoon (PC-5). He is a 2009 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has formerly served as strike officer on board the USS Vicksburg (CG-69), navigator on board the De Wert (FFG-45), and combat systems and operations officer on board the Detroit (LCS-7). His opinions are his own and do not reflect any endorsement by the Navy, the Department of Defense, or the United States government.

After two decades of a low boil, but highly demanding series of conflicts in Asia required an extensive focus on the now - in both funding and leadership time. America finds herself facing the 2020s with a rested, increasingly well equipped and confident People's Republic of China on the other side of the Pacific stretching herself on a global scale.Advances of the last few decades that were made were focused on the fight at hand, but they may not be the right equipment for the expected fight to come. What does the USA need to start investing in now to ensure we are better positioned at the end of this decade than we were entering it?This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, join my guest co-host Mark Vandroff and me to discuss these and related issues with Hallie Coyne, a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute. We will use as a starting point for our conversation the recent report she co-authored with Mackenzie Eaglen, The 2020s Tri-Service Modernization Crunch.Hallie supports work on defense budget analysis, defense reform and acquisition, and US military strategy. She has published on trends related to military construction funding and the national security implications of data protection regulations. Before joining AEI, Coyne worked at the multinational technology company Oracle as a business development consultant, with previous experience at the US Embassy Ottawa and the International Trade Administration in the US Department of Commerce. She holds a BA with honors from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, with majors in international relations and history. She has also completed academic work at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) and the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.

OK, it is the day after May Day ... but that's close enough for government work.As the entire maritime world this week decided to pick up on some Midrats favorites - poaching the Army's budget and making the Taiwanese porcupine a bit more imposing - could there be a better time for another Sal & Eagle One green range?Open topic, open chat room, open phones. We'll cover the waterfront and invite you to come on board for a broad ranging discussion of national and maritime security issues.Sunday, 5pm Eastern!

Home is thousands of miles away on the other side of the great Pacific Ocean. A deadly and relentless enemy is challenging ships and sailors for every island, cove, sea and shipping lane.There is no time – or yardspace – for damaged ships for travel home for repairs or resupply. Large shore facilities and ports anywhere near the fight are either under enemy control, or too dangerous and damaged to be useful.How can the US Navy fight and win under these circumstances? We know the answer. We’ve been here before.How can the war games of a century ago, and the war they helped win less than two decades later, help us today as we face another rising power in the Western Pacific?For the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to discuss this and related questions, will be Lieutenant Command Ryan Hilger, USN. We will use as a starting point for our conversation his recent article over at CIMSEC, Service Squadron TEN and the Great Western Naval Base.Ryan is a Navy Engineering Duty Officer stationed in Melbourne, Florida. He has served on USS Maine (Gold) and USS Springfield as Chief Engineer. He holds a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Sometimes, Midrats is like a VLS cell; you don't know what you have until ... wait ... bad analogy... but you get the concept.Today for the full hour, come join us for a classic Midrats melee ... we take on all topics as they come in to range. I'm sure we'll cover the latest Black Sea happenings, interesting justifications for more DDG in Rota, and WESTPAC always makes and appearance.

Our comfortable, modern life exists on a delicate fabric of global transportation, laws, and lines of communication supported by assumptions of stability, peace, and professional competence. Over the last twelve months, from COVID-19 to EVER GIVEN in the Suez, the delicate nature off the global system of trade that allows affordable technology, food, and the full spectrum of consumer goods has broken in to the open for everyone to see.Is the global system of trade as delicate as it seems? Where are its weakest points, and how robust is it to various disruptions? Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and related topics will be Ross KennedyRoss is a U.S.-based logistics and supply chain expert with more than fifteen years in international transportation, procurement, and analysis. His unique blend of operations, sales, and strategic planning allows him to provide creative, agile solutions for his public- and private-sector clientele.

Wars are full of accidental battles, unexpected horror, and the valor of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.Often lost in the sweeping stories of the Pacific in WWII, there is a story that - if not for one man's inability to properly recognize one ship from another - should have never have happened. Because of that one man's mistake, and a leader's stubborn enthusiasm to double down on that mistake, the lived of hundreds of men were lost - and possibly the course of a pivotal early battle changed.Our guest for the full hour will be author Don Keith to discuss the tale of the USS Neosho (AO-23) and USS Sims (DD-409) at the Battle of the Coral Sea in his latest book, The Ship That Wouldn't Die: The Saga of the USS Neosho- A World War II Story of Courage and Survival at Sea.Don is an award-winning and best-selling author of books on a wide range of topics. In addition to being a prolific writer, he also has a background in broadcast journalism from on-the-air personality to ownership.Don’s web site is www.donkeith.com

Can a military organization suffer from attention deficit disorder? There are very few moments in time – the mid-1990s was a rare one – where a nation’s national security apparatus has the luxury and white space to get distracted and complacent. 2021 is not one of those times.With a new leadership team in place in DOD, are we sure they are focused on the important challenges of China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia?What are the top distractions that those concerned with the proper stewardship of our nation’s defense need to make sure don’t entice away time, money, and effort?With his recent article, Don’t Let the Department of Defense Become the Department of Distraction, as a starting point for our conversation, our guest this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Thomas Spoehr, Lieutenant General, USA (Ret.).Thomas is the director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense where he is responsible for supervising research on matters involving U.S. national defense. He is an expert on national defense policy and strategy, and has testified before the U.S. Congress on defense strategy, budgets and equipment modernization. His articles and commentary have been published widely in both civilian and military media and he is often called upon to provide expert commentary and analysis.He earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, a Masters of Arts in Public Administration from Webster University in St. Louis, MO, and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA.

The Navy wants to talk some more about unmanned systems, the unknown war we have been fighting for years along the bleeding edge of Islam in Africa seems to be going nowhere we want it to go, China decides to let the mask slip at last, in the mandated extremism training The Pentagon realized the military reflects the nation it serves and not the readers of The Washington Post ... and we still don't have any Service Secretaries nominated.This week produced more news than can be covered in one Midrats, but we're going to try.This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern come join us for a Midrats free for all.Open topic, open chat, open phones.

While the rest of the world paused to focus on COVID-19 the last year, even though the pandemic started there, the People's Republic of China did not stop her long, steady push out to the world to take the place she feels she in entitled to.From the border of India to South America and back to the Western Pacific, China feels the wind at her back.Where is China signaling she will be be the greatest challenge to her neighbors and the global community?Returning to Midrats this Sunday for the full hour will be our guest Dean Cheng.Dean is the Senior Research Fellow for Chinese political and security affairs at the Asia Studies Center of The Heritage Foundation. He specializes in Chinese military and foreign policy, and has written extensively on Chinese military doctrine, technological implications of its space program, and “dual use” issues associated with China’s industrial and scientific infrastructure. He is the author of “Cyber Dragon: Inside China's Information Warfare and Cyber Operations.”Before joining The Heritage Foundation, he was a senior analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research and development center, and a senior analyst with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC, now Leidos), the Fortune 500 specialist in defense and homeland security. He has testified before Congress, spoken at the (American) National Defense University, US Air Force Academy, and the National Space Symposium, and been published in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.