Impressive for Yukon part timers

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The Yellowknife-based 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group (1 CRPG/GPRC) has wrapped up its stirring snowmobile-borne High Arctic sovereignty patrol.

Op Nanook-Nunalivut, supported by RCAF No. 440 Squadron and the Joint Task Force North, trekked over 3,200 miles across Canada’s “roof” showing the flag and visiting isolated communities that rarely see the military closer than a 30,000-foot flyover. Further, they were able to hold operations with other far-flung 1 CRPG patrols in the process.

Some stats from the accomplishment:

Now, explain to me why we aren’t doing this in Alaska?

Livet? I love it!

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Imagine a remote control 8-shotgun turret optimized for drone killing, capable of dumping 80 12-gauge anti-drone shells in under two seconds if needed, as solenoids are faster than fingers. Load each one up to the brim with specialized heavy-dram tungsten counter drone rounds, and you can create a cloud of heavy metal out to 100m.

You know, this kind of stuff:

Such a mount, even with motor, guns, and tracking, shouldn’t be over a few hundred pounds, so you can install them on the roof of bunkers and pillboxes, or on small trailers that can be pulled by something as small as a bongo truck. Plus, as it is mostly commercial-off-the-shelf stuff, you can field these cheaply and quickly, which means you can field several in small detachments.

Sure, you have to stop and reload after such an 80-round salvo– and pronto if other UAVs are incoming and you don’t have supporting mounts to cover the slack, but you get the idea.

And it is apparently a real thing.

Meet the LIVET RCWS.

Via Beretta Defense Technologies:

At the upcoming Eurosatory 2026 in Paris (15-19 June), visitors to the BDT booth will have the opportunity to discover one of the latest additions to the growing BDT C-UAS portfolio: the new LIVET RCWS (Remote Controlled Weapon Station).

Born from the proven and pioneering B.A. S.p.A. Drone Guardian M4 platform, and enhanced through DUALEE technology integration, LIVET represents a new step forward in kinetic Counter-UAS capabilities.

Equipped with 8 B Drone Guardian systems, the LIVET platform integrates advanced target auto-tracking functionalities, remote engagement capabilities, and extremely rapid reaction times designed for today’s operational C-UAS scenarios, supporting the protection of strategic assets and critical infrastructures.

This new solution further strengthens the already extensive BDT Counter-UAS portfolio, offering layered and modular capabilities tailored to different operational contexts and threat environments.

Come and visit us at our impressive 221 sqm modular BDT booth to experience LIVET RCWS up close, together with one of the most comprehensive C-UAS solution portfolios currently available on the market.

(Keep in mind this is a military-only item that is being advertised overseas. Civilians shooting down drones over here on this side of the pond is what they call a “felony,” so we are not advertising anything of the kind.)

Uncle Chester makes final (scheduled) overseas portcall

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Nimitz off Jamaica with local dignitaries aboard, a VF-137 F-18E blisters by in the background (U.S. Navy photo)

The oldest operational aircraft carrier in the world, USS Nimitz (CVN 68), along with her the embarked Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17), escorting tin can USS Gridley (DDG 101), and the MSC-manned replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201), left Bremerton as CSG-11 on the morning of 7 March, bound for Norfolk where the flattop will begin her long decommissioning evolution which is set for March 2027.

Nimitz’s past three months have been busy with just about every maritime force in Latin America and the Caribbean as part of the 11th iteration of Operation South Seas, one of the few times that 4th Fleet has had a CVSG on the payroll for more than a couple of weeks.

Nimitz is set to call at Kingston for the next five days, leaving on 5 June for Norfolk.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gridley (DDG 101) pulls alongside Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during a sea power demo in the Atlantic Ocean, May 23, 2026. Gridley is deployed with Nimitz Carrier Strike Group as part of Southern Seas 2026, which seeks to enhance capability, improve interoperability, and strengthen maritime partnerships with countries throughout the region through joint, multinational, and interagency exchanges and cooperation. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Frankie M. Guage)

Traveling light

For the record, Nimitz’s final carrier wing, CVW-17, includes the MH-60R/S Sea Hawks of Helicopter Maritime Squadron (HSM) 73 “Battlecats” and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6 “Indians,” a C-2A Greyhound det of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40, two squadrons of F -18E/F Super Hornets (Fighting Redcocks of VFA-22 and the Kestrels of VFA-137), and the EA-18G Growlers of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 139 “Cougars.”

She is traveling light and is missing her typical third and fourth Rhino squadrons (VFA-94 and VFA-146) as well as her E-2C Hawkeye AEW det of VAW-121 and CV-22 det of VRM-30, all left behind in California at NAS Lemoore.

What about Cuba?

However, if the Cuban question arises, and, if tasked, even just her two squadrons of Rhinos, with the road cleared by the Growlers, would be more than a match for the Defensa Anti-Aérea y Fuerza Aérea Revolucionaria’s 50~ MiG-29UB/A, MiG-23ML/UB, and MiG-21MF/bis fighters, most of which are considered non-operational, while the country’s air defense is via 1970s-era S-125M/M1 Pechora/SA-3 Goa SAMs.

What could prove more of a pucker factor for CVSG-11 is Cuba’s rumored 300 Iranian and Russian drones.   

Plus, the 24th MEU, operating under the designation of Littoral Combat Force-24, has just “officially assumed the mission as the premier tactical force-in-readiness within the U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility,” in support of Operation Southern Spear, based out of Rosie Roads. While without a big-deck LHD/A to call home, they do have the 25,000-ton USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) at their disposal.

Plus, the extra room on the Nimitz flight deck could be used to help airmail the 24th MEU to GTMO if needed. It’s been done before. USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) in 1993 worked up with (most) of her airwing and an SPMAGTF consisting of a Marine rifle company, a command staff, and various detachments, including an 18-man reconnaissance platoon; and a heavy helicopter squadron with a component from a utility and at­tack helicopter squadron, totaling 538 Marines, including 227 aviation personnel.

Not wishing things would turn hot in the Caribbean.

Just saying.

Probably just gunboat diplomacy, which is really what every MEU and CVSG is all about, anyway, right?

I mean, they even put Cuba on the patch.

The official logo for Southern Seas 2026. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) will deploy to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility as part of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet’s Southern Seas 2026 deployment. Southern Seas aims to enhance regional maritime partnerships, interoperability, and security throughout the Caribbean, Central, and South America. (U.S. Navy graphic illustration by Ensign Paul Archer)

Palmer Luckey at the USMA

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Palmer Luckey recently held a fantastic talk at West Point. If you are interested in the future of warfare (Anduril Industries has a plant near me and seems to be doubling in size every six months), this is a great way to kill an hour.

He talks not only about drones (air, sea, and ground) and the changing quantity of warfare but also subterrenes (underground or through-ground vehicles) and a number of other subjects.

Enjoy.

Hanging it up after 50 years: Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum at Fort Worden closing

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The Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum’s 50th year at Fort Worden State Park is its last; the independent, non-profit museum is closing its doors on Sept. 7, 2026.

Fort Worden was an active U.S. Army post from 1890 to 1953, serving most of that time as headquarters for the Harbor Defense of Puget Sound from its position on Point Wilson.

The Coast Artillery Museum’s roots date to 1976, when veterans of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps’ 248th Regiment turned their 18th annual reunion into a mission to “preserve and interpret” why Fort Worden, in particular, existed and operated.

That year, a one-room museum was opened in Building 200. The much more expansive museum in Building 201 opened in 1985. Admission is by donation.

Earlier this year, CAM’s board of directors made the decision to close. Building 201 is the last of the Fort Worden barracks that has not been significantly updated since the state’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center for juveniles operated from 1958 to 1970. The building is old, but the museum’s larger issue has been the “aging out” of members and volunteers.

Museum visitation has always been strong. The CAM hosted an average of 12,000 visitors a year before the pandemic. The museum was closed for most of 2020 and reopened in 2021 with updated displays. Visitation reached 9,500 in 2025, including instructional tours for school children.

The Museum plans to sell its collections.

6th Frigate Squadron at Play, 1961

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After covering the “Crazy Y” during the Falklands last week, where she was the oldest of two dozen RN frigates and destroyers in the liberation task force, here is a glimpse back to when she was young, new, and beautiful.

Check out these images of the 6th Frigate Squadron off Malta in November 1961, steaming for a photoex after spending a year deployed to the Med, prior to leaving for home. They include HMS Yarmouth (F 101), HMS Blackpool (F 77), and HMS Llandaff (F 61). At the time, Yarmouth was just 20 months old, commissioned in March 1960, and had spent most of those forward deployed.

IWM A 34560

IWM A 34559

IWM HU 130051

Both Yarmouth and Blackpool were Type 12 anti-submarine frigates, with the latter being a Whitby-class vessel commissioned in 1958. LLandaff was a Salisbury-class radar picket (AD in British parlance), commissioned the same year as Blackpool.

The squadron was commanded at the time by Capt. Henry R. Hewlett aboard Yarmouth, his flagship, before he was appointed Director, Maritime Tactical School. Note the “6” squadron flagship marker on Yarmouth’s funnel. IWM (MH 27578)

Yarmouth would survive them all in RN service, with Llandaff transferred to the Bangladeshi Navy in December 1976 as BNS Umar Farooq (later scrapped in 2016), while Blackpool, leased to the Royal New Zealand Navy, was scrapped in 1978.

A toast to the Marina de Guerra del Peru

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As part of my curiosity when it comes to everything naval, I follow a lot of fleets around the world, and the Peruvian Navy has been very busy in the past few months.

Besides the Caribbean cruise of the tall ship BAP Union to participate in Operation Sail 250 (which is what I am enjoying in New Orleans this week!), the fleet has been getting it done.

Submarino BAP Chipana

Peru has a rich 100+ year submarine tradition and operates a six-pack of German-made Type 209/1100 (Islay-class) and 209/1200 series (Angamos-class) SSKs delivered in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

One of these, the Angamos-class BAP Chipana (SS-34), recently left her homeport headed West to join U.S. forces in RIMPAC and SUBDIEX, both of which she has participated in in the past.

Commissioned in October 1982, Chipana gave 35 years of dedicated service without incident in the first half of her career.

I say “first half” because Chipana last year completed an intensive 7.5-year (December 2017 to June 2025) reconstruction and modernization by SIMA in Callao. This consisted of the installation of the new Kallpa fire control and combat system, 480 new high-performance batteries, four new Rolls-Royce-MTU engines, a new Siemens electric motor, a new Hensoldt SERO 250 optronic mast, the Elbit Timmes II ESM system, and the ability to launch SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles and AEG DM2A4 Seehecht (SeaHake Mod 4) and Leonardo WASS Black Shark torpedoes.

She was essentially hauled on dry land, cut open, scooped out, and refilled with all new stuff, then put back together and refurbished, all under the watchful gaze of ThyssenKrupp advisers sent from Germany.

This is expected to give her at least another 15 years of service life, and her three Type 209/1200 sisters will follow in similar modernizations. This should buy enough time to develop a local submarine production line (with assistance from HHI) at SIMA.

Peruvian Type 209s have deployed to California’s Naval Base Point Loma as part of the U.S. Navy’s Diesel-Electric Submarine Initiative (DESI) program no less than 20 times since 2001, typically a 2-3 month deployment that sees the submarino both serve as a “target” for ASW forces and work alongside surface assets to better interoperate in multi-national task forces.

PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 1, 2019) An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter from the Magicians of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 35 conducts a hoist exercise with the Peruvian navy submarine BAP Angamos (SS-31) off the coast of San Clemente Island. HSM-35 is conducting antisubmarine warfare training to maintain readiness by utilizing a live submarine. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Patrick W. Menah Jr./Released)

Meanwhile, in the green inferno

The Peruvian Naval Infantry brigade (Infantería de Marina del Perú) has also been heavily involved with the Army’s 2a Brigada de Protección de la Amazonía along the country’s Amazon border regions with Colombia and Brazil in counter-narco operations and in wrapping up illegal mining operations and general banditry.

The IMP (unfortunate acronym) is distinctly armed with a combination of FN 2000 “Tactical Tuna” rifles, IMI Galils, and FN SCARs, so they stand out.

And, of interest to all the gun nerds that follow this page, the captured weaponry taken off aforementioned narcos and banditos is amazing, including homemade MAC-10s, condemned FALs, shorty Galils, and the occasional MP5K and M1A1.

 

Luminaries, via Regia Marina

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This black and white photograph captures unidentified Italian cruisers illuminating the La Foce suburb of Genoa, with searchlights in May 1938.

Photo credits, Giorgio Parodi, naviearmatori.net.

Occasion: The scene was part of a display for an official visit by El Duce to the city, during which much of the Italian battle fleet was moored in the harbor from mid to late May as part of a fleet review.

Regia Marina cruiser Zara departing Genoa on 30 May 1938.

Harrier Sunset

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The final USMC AV-8B Harrier deployment with a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a det of VMA-223 “Bulldogs” with the 22nd MEU aboard the USS Iwo Jima, earlier this month returned home to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, North Carolina.

A U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 263 (Reinforced), 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), prepares to land aboard Wasp-class amphibious assault USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) during flight operations while underway in the Caribbean Sea, Nov. 26, 2025. 

U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II aircraft with Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 223, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, fly over the coast of North Carolina, May 15, 2026. The “sundown” of the AV-8B, an iconic aircraft that has supported joint and Marine Corps operations for over 40 years, also represents the dawn of a new era; it paves the way for 2nd MAW’s full transition to the F-35B and C Lightning II. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. David Ornelas Baeza)

U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II aircraft with Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 223, Marine Aircraft Group 14, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, fly over the coast of North Carolina, May 15, 2026. The “sundown” of the AV-8B, an iconic aircraft that has supported joint and Marine Corps operations for over 40 years, also represents the dawn of a new era; it paves the way for 2nd MAW’s full transition to the F-35B and C Lightning II. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. David Ornelas Baeza)

The first deployed Marine Harriers, 14 AV-8As of VMA-231, went to sea in October 1976 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42) for a Mediterranean deployment with the Sixth Fleet, thus bookending an almost perfect 50 years of Devil Dog jump jet operations underway and 55 years, counting the first at-sea evaluations aboard USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) in 1971.

USMC AV-8A Harrier Evaluation Onboard USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7), March 1971. Now that’s a beautiful aircraft

Now, the AV-8B in Marine service will be retired.

VMA-223 will host a Sundown Ceremony at Cherry Point from 2 – 4 June 2026.

That just leaves the navies of Spain (12 EAV-8B Plus and 1 TAV-8B operated by 9. Escuadrilla) and Italy (14 AV-8B Plus and 1 TAV-8B of Gruppo Aerei Imbarcati along with 15 stored airframes) as the keeper of the Harrier flame outside of the U.S. with the Spanish planning on putting the type to bed in 2030 and the Italians doing the same in 2028. Both allies will undoubtedly be inheriting the final couple of pallets of parts from the USMC.

Just 824 Harrier models of all types were produced, making the bird a rare one, with only about 60 airframes preserved worldwide.

So yeah, at this point, there are more jump jets in museums than in active service.

The Harrier line-up at Pima

Kirkwall by Night

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Warship Wednesday will be back next week! I am on the road with limited access to the interwebs.

Until then, enjoy this shot, some 115 years ago this evening.

How about this great shot of the RN’s 1st Destroyer Flotilla illuminated at anchor in Orkney’s Kirkwall Bay, 27 May 1911, on the lead up to HM George V’s coronation. The greyhounds in attendance include HMS Amazon, HMS Blenheim, HMS Swift, HMS Tartar, and others.

At the time, the 1st Destroyer Flotilla’s flag was held by Commodore (Capt, D) Robert Keith Arbuthnot. Arbuthnot, 47 when the above photo was snapped, was a career officer and the eldest son of Sir William Wedderburn Arbuthnot, Third Baronet, late a major in the 18th Hussars.

Passing his cadetship exam 42nd out of 46, the younger Arbuthnot walked onto the training ship Britannia at age 13 and was soon serving as a midshipman on service around the globe. Earning high marks, he was one of Lord Fisher’s favorite mids and picked up his first command, that of H.M. T.B. 59, in 1889. By 1910, he was commander of the battleship HMS Lord Nelson and would soon become ADC to George V himself.

Arbuthnot

Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Keith Arbuthnot, Fourth Baronet, K.C.B., M.V.O., Royal Navy, perished at Jutland at the head of his rushing First Cruiser Squadron, which was one of the most terribly mauled British units at the battle, going down with HMS Defence, his flagship. Only 10 of Defence’s 903-man crew survived the clash.

Sir Rosslyn E. Wemyss, then Commander-in-Chief on the East Indies Station, wrote to Captain Roger J. B. Keyes on 17 July:

It is difficult to judge what Robert Arbuthnot & all those cruisers were doing—Poor Robert—anyway, I expect he died perfectly happy in a blaze of glory and gallantry.

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