One thing is for sure, there is only 1 thing worse than having a US Navy aircraft carrier show up on your coast, and that is having a US Navy Wasp class amphibious attack ship show up instead.  Of course, we would also send an aircraft carrier, but sometimes aircraft carriers travel alone for mere psychological projection.  When one of these guys shows up…this vessel is designed for nothing else but to invade an conquer enemy territory from their coastline.  Carrying up to 2,000 marines along with attack crafts of various designs, this ship is one of the…

The United States and British navies have some pretty incredible military technology at their disposal. One of the best strategic military technologies that the United States and their allies have developed is the ability to fire ballistic missiles from a submarine. This isn’t a particularly new technology but advances and upgrades are being made to this technology every day.  The addition of supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles to these subs is in the pipeline. Vessels such as the Ohio class submarine, as featured in a couple Tom Clancy novels, carry Trident-II intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBM’s. The Trident II has 8 independently targeted reentry vehicles or a MIRV setup as it is called, all of which can carry warheads to different targets. The Ohio class submarine is what makes up a lot of the United States nuclear weapons threat. The United States has 18 Ohio Class submarines in its arsenal serving as a friendly reminder to any hostile nations. Check out the video below of a British submarine with similar ICBM technology to the Ohio class fire a missile while …

Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman [NYSE: NOC]
Sometimes I have trouble controlling myself when it comes to some of this stuff. I have seen it before on TV, but just simply haven’t gotten around to writing about it. I’m talking about the awe-inspiring Fire Scout UAV helicopter. A remote control helicopter capable of autonomous take-off, landing, and flight, it really just makes me giddy. Not to mention that this death machine’s release was coupled with an upgrade to the Hydra 70 rockets typically fired from the rocket pods mounted on Ah-64 Apaches. Now they’re laser-guided. …

A technology that will increase the Navy’s capable strike distance by ten fold is on the way. Proposed in the 1970’s under the “star wars” Strategic Defense Initiative, railguns are no longer a thing of the past or just an idea on the drawing boards. The United States Office of Naval Research has successfully fired a Railgun and has plans to incorporate the technology into Naval Ships by the year 2020. The main idea in developing the Railgun is to overcome the limitations of chemical projectiles. The Railgun will deliver projectiles to its intended target much…

LCS 1 USS Freedom

Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT]

As part of a modernization drive by the US Navy aiming to incorporate recent advances in naval stealth technology, land attack capabilities, and hull design; the industrial might of the US defense industry has spawned a new class surface combat ships: The Littoral Combat Ship. Littoral is an adjective used to describe the coastal regions of any body of water, as intended to convey the new ships intention to establish preeminence in these areas, both foreign and domestic. The Navy contracted with both General Dynamics and Lockheed…

The Phalanx MK 15 Close-in-Weapon-System
Manufacturer: Raytheon [NYSE: RTN]

Designed to defeat terminal threats to naval assets such as missiles and close in enemy aircraft, the Phalanx MK 15 is the US Navy’s own innovative CIWS (pronounced “sea wizz”) close-in-weapon-system design. A CIWS is an autonomous electronically guided robot 20 mm gatling gun, which can effectively down incoming missiles or aircraft with a hail of highly destructive gunfire. The machine gun locks onto the incoming target using its own sophisticated radar systems, but the Phalanx recieves instructions as to what incoming targets to engage as designated by the Aegis battle…

Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman Newport News [NYSE: NOC]

The United States Navy is undoubtedly the largest and most powerful navy to ever exist. Likewise, the navy currently employs the largest warships ever built, the NIMITZ class aircraft carriers. In fact, the Nimitz class carriers dwarf other nations attempts at aircraft carriers by such a degree that they have been dubbed “super carriers“. With the oldest carrier in the US fleet reaching it’s final years, the USS Enterprise will be replaced by, once again, the largest warship to have ever been built. Construction began this year on…