36: State of the US Navy Pt1 with Dr Emma Salisbury

In the first of two podcast episodes on the State of the US Navy as it (and a troubled world) sail into 2025, guest Dr Emma Salisbury chats with host Iain Ballantyne

They look first of all at areas Emma wrote about in the recently published Warships IFR ‘Guide to US Navy 2025’, namely: the USA’s ‘shipbuilding woes’; the future size and composition of the USN; the US Navy and AUKUS - is it mission impossible?

And is there a solution for the latter - enabling the AUKUS project to survive - should it be impossible to provide the Australians with Virginia Class attack submarines (SSNs) off American production lines?

Among other topics discussed are the impact of the second Trump presidency (as the new POTUS takes office in January 2025). Also, what kind of message is the UK sending to the USA by cutting naval vessels ahead of its own defence review?

Emma and Iain look at how US Navy anti-missile and drone defences may evolve and other topics include the elephant in the room - the future of NATO, and whether or not President Trump will pull the USA out of the Alliance. 

The importance of drones and how they might enhance American naval mass and global presence is weighed up, along with how important the US Navy is to us all.

To obtain the ‘Guide to the US Navy’ https://warshipsifr.com/news/guide-to-the-us-navy-2025/

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* Dr Emma Salisbury is a fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, specialising in naval matters, defence-industrial policy, and military procurement. She recently completed her PhD with a dissertation focused on the history of the US military-industrial complex. She is also a senior staffer for a UK Member of Parliament and an assistant editor at War on the Rocks. Follow her on X @salisbot

* Iain Ballantyne is the founding and current Editor of Warships IFR (first published in 1998) along with its ‘Guide to the Royal Navy’ (since 2003) and ‘Guide to the US Navy’ (since 2018). Iain is also author of the books ‘Hunter Killers’ (Orion) and ‘The Deadly Trade’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), both about submarine warfare, plus ‘Arnhem: Ten Days in The Cauldron’ and ‘Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom’ (published by Canelo). In 2017 Iain was awarded a Fellowship by the British Maritime Foundation, which promotes awareness of the United Kingdom’s dependence on the sea and seafarers. Visit his web site Bismarckbattle.com and follow him on X @IBallantyn