Midrats

Latest Episodes:

Episode 629: Making a Great Maritime Partnership Better, with Emma Salisbury Jul 25, 2022

Show notes

The Royal Navy and the United States Navy share a common heritage, and in the last century built one of the greatest maritime security partnerships over a longer period than any other pair of nations.
In more recent years, they also shared common challenges in keeping their once unchallenged sea power relevant, capable, and funded.
What are the lessons from both nations' recent stumbles in naval planning, program management, and managing the military industrial base that enables both? What have we done right that should be replicated, and where should we take the hard won lessons of failure to heart and move on?
We have a great guest for the full hour this Sunday to discuss these and related subjects, Emma Salisbury.
Emma is a PhD candidate at Birkbeck College, University of London, researching the history and theory of the U.S. military-industrial complex.

Episode 628: Mid-Summer Melee Jul 17, 2022

Show notes

From Snake Island to the San Diego waterfront, from DC to the Baltic Sea - if there's a maritime issue worth considering, we'll try to pack it in for the hour this Sunday.
As with the normal Melee format, we have open topic, open chat, and open phones - so if there is an issue you'd like covered, now's your time.
- USS Bonhomme Richard Article: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/07/15/vice-admiral-and-two-dozen-others-punished-for-uss-bonhomme-richard-fire/
- Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences report on Chinese demographics: https://theconversation.com/chinas-population-is-about-to-shrink-for-the-first-time-since-the-great-famine-struck-60-years-ago-heres-what-it-means-for-the-world-176377
- EU Allows Cargo To Flow Via Russian Port Of Kaliningrad: https://gcaptain.com/eu-cargo-russian-port-of-kaliningrad/
- The End of Global Order: A Conversation with Sam Harris, Peter Zeihan and Ian Bremmer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqsVR9Hl2oQ
Books:
- Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., USN: Fleet Tactics: Fleet Tactics And Naval Operations: https://amzn.to/3cnU5n9
- Sandy Woodward: One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander: https://amzn.to/3cfHPFj

Episode 627: America's Maritime Disinterest, with Jimmy Drennan Jul 11, 2022

Show notes

Few navalists can look around them and feel content that their peers, government, and the American people understand - or for that matter seem to care - that our nation's wealth, health, and security is all based on the fact that we are a maritime and aerospace republic. Without excellence, mastery, and control of these two areas in the face of the challenge from China, all else is in danger.
Inside and outside government, what needs to be done to create the conditions so we can provide for those generations who follow us the place and the world previous generations earned for us?
Making a return to visit, our guest for the full hour to discuss this broad ranging topic will be Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Drennan, U.S. Navy, former president of the Center for International Maritime Security.

Episode 626: Turning the Tables on China with Brent Sadler Jun 27, 2022

Show notes

While everyone is distracted by the Russo-Ukrainian War, the People’s Republic of China continues to work to solidify her ability to control the South China Sea and to bring more nations in to her orbit.
Though not a cold war, it is a struggle for presence, influence, and setting the conditions for advantage should conflict come.
The United States and her Navy are not required to be in a passive posture, allowing China to shape the environment without pushback.
This episode of Midrats will focus on American options and actions we can take to blunt Chinese influence and to prevent her from setting up the Western Pacific to her advantage relative to the United States and her friends and allies.
Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and more will be Brent Sadler, a senior fellow for maritime security and advanced naval technology at The Heritage Foundation.

Episode 625: Combined Amphibious Operations in the Indo-Pacific Jun 07, 2022

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Along the spectrum from peacetime exercises to wartime combined operations, successfully integrating multinational forces is not a pick-up game. To do it right requires leaders and institutions years of practice, trust, and demonstrated ability.
This is true of all military operations, but especially true when moving forces ashore during amphibious operations.
In our constellation of allies, partners and friends along the shores of the Indo-Pacific theater, since 2015 the United States Marine Forces Pacific has led the multi-national Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium.
Today we are going to dive in to not just the symposium itself to the broader topic of combined amphibious operations in the Indo-Pacific with our guest, Major Evan “Zach” Ota, USMC from the International Affairs Branch, U. S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific.

Episode 624: Larter, Returning ... You Never Get the Sea out of Your Blood May 23, 2022

Show notes

If you've missed having David Larter on the Navy beat, well you're in for a treat.
Though everyone's favorite former OS2 is no longer a defense journalist, like most Sailors, he doesn't leave his love of the sea or affection for his Navy behind.
Returning to Midrats, but this time with a little California sunshine kissing his cheeks, David will be with us for the full hour and we will cover the board from Ukraine, fleet size, how we treat our Sailors, global food security, China, and the things navalists should be thinking about, but aren't.
Don't miss it!

Episode 623: the USN's Port Arthur Problem - with Matthew Hipple May 15, 2022

Show notes

What do the numbers tell us about the USN's expected fleet during the rest of what we call the Terrible 20s?
We are going to spend an hour digging in to that with returning guest Matthew Hipple, active duty Surface Warfare Officer & former president of the Center for International Maritime Security.
As a starting point for our conversation we will reference his May 9th article over at CIMSEC, "20 Years of Naval Trends Guarantee a FY23 Shipbuilding Plan Failure."
"The FY23 Shipbuilding Plan proposes a 10-year drop in fleet numbers that deviates in spirit from every shipbuilding plan since 2012. During this dangerous decade, the FY23 Shipbuilding Plan returns the fleet to a size that precipitated the period of panic that inspired Congress to enshrine the 355-ship goal into law (Figure 2). The FY23 Long Range Shipbuilding Plan will miss the defunct, minimum goal of 300 ships by another decade, and is less likely to meet the Navy’s legal and operational 355-ship requirement."

Episode 622: China’s Assassin’s Mace in WESTPAC w/Gerry Doyle & Blake Herzinger Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

Since the March 1996 humiliation in the waters around Taiwan handed to the People’s Republic of China by the US Navy’s world-dominating Carrier Battle Groups – as they were then known – China and her armed forces started a long-term, disciplined effort to ensure that a point in the not so distant future, their part of The Pacific west of Wake would no longer be considered and American lake.
With a little over a quarter century passed, has China successfully closed the gap?
Come join us for the full hour this Sunday for a deep dive in to the subject with our guests Gerry Doyle and Blake Herzinger as we discuss their recent book, Carrier Killer: China's Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles and Theater of Operations in the early 21st Century (Asia@War).

Episode 621: Russian Military SITREP with Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

For over 11-years, once a year or so today’s guest has joined us on Midrats to discuss the latest military and national security developments with Russia.
With the war waging in Ukraine and in the process of transitioning to a new phase, there couldn’t be a better time to hear from Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg who will be with us for the full hour in a wide ranging discussion about the buildup to war, and the important takeaways so far.
Dmitry is an expert on security issues in the former Soviet Union, Russian military reform, Russian foreign policy, and ethnic politics and identity. His recent research topics include decision-making processes in the senior Russian leadership, Russian naval strategy in the Pacific and the Black Sea, and Russian maritime defense doctrine.
He is author of "Nationalism for the Masses: Minority Ethnic Mobilization in the Russian Federation" (Cambridge University Press, 2003), and has been published in journals such as World Politics and Post-Soviet Affairs. In addition to his role at CNA, he currently serves as editor of Problems of Post-Communism and is an Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. From 2009 to 2016, he edited the journal Russian Politics and Law.
He previously served as Executive Director of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES). He received a B.A. in international relations from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He blogs on issues related to the Russian military at Russian Military Reform. He is a native Russian speaker.

Episode 620: War, Pestilence, and Famine - the World's Logistics Falters Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

If it's April, it's time for a return visit by Ross Kennedy to Midrats!
A little under a year ago, we had Ross on to discuss the impact of COVID and related structural issues to the global supply chain. A year later, we find conditions have not just remained, but with war in Ukraine and a new COVID variant working its way through coastal China, in many ways the global trade in essential items has turned for the worst.
If you are worried about the cost and availability of fuel, food, and everyday items you've spent the last decade assuming were always going to be there at a price you're happy with, then you need to join us from 2-3pm Eastern this Sunday.
Ross 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.

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