Overview

Jane's Fighting Ships is widely acknowledged to be the standard annual reference book for the world's navies. Edited by Commodore Stephen Saunders, a former Royal Navy officer, and published each June, it reflects the changing capabilities of modern navies, their ships in service and under construction, maritime aircraft and weapons systems. The book contains authoritative inventories for 164 navies around the world and also includes an executive overview, flags and ensigns, ranks and insignia, senior appointments, personnel numbers, and country overviews. Throughout the publication, some 5,000 photographs, mostly in colour, and line diagrams are incorporated both to illustrate the text and to meet recognition and threat assessment needs. The 2007 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships is a substantial revision of the 2006 edition. There are over 180 new entries and over 2,000 have been revised. In addition, about a third of the photographs have been replaced. The United States Navy, the world's largest, is undergoing significant change, reflecting plans announced in 2006 to grow the fleet to 313 ships. The latest edition reflects details of the Ohio class cruise-missile submarines, Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarines, the next-generation aircraft-carrier Gerald R Ford, the Zumwalt class DDG 1000 destroyer and recent developments in the Littoral Combat Ship programme. Ballistic-missile defence upgrades to cruisers and destroyers are included while the principal amphibious ship programmes have also been updated. The US Coast Guard is being re-capitalised through the Deepwater programme; Jane's Fighting Ships 2007 includes the details of the Legend class National Security Cutters and of the Offshore Patrol Cutter programme. The Asian region contains a number of security 'hotspots' and its naval markets are among the busiest in the world. China, Japan, India, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore are currently funding a number of significant naval programmes, the highlight of which is the potential re-activation of an ex-Russian aircraft carrier by the Chinese Navy. Also high on the current security agenda is the Gulf where a number of interesting Iranian programmes have come to light; these are included in the new edition. In Europe, France and UK are co-operating on new aircraft-carrier programmes while new destroyers have been launched in both countries. The French future nuclear submarine programme has also got underway. Elsewhere, Italy's new aircraft-carrier has started sea trials, Spain's Strategic Projection Ship is to be launched in 2007 and Germany has initiated the Type 125 class future frigate project. The navies of Scandinavia are also undergoing radical change as, in common with other nations, they transform to an expeditionary posture. Meanwhile, the Russian Navy, at a low ebb over the last decade, is beginning to show signs of life. A new ballistic-missile submarine has just been launched and there are a further two under construction. Launch of the new attack submarine Severodvinsk is expected in 2007. Latest developments in the Steregushchiy class and Admiral Gorshkov class frigates are also included. South of the equator, both Australia and New Zealand are in the process of completely reshaping their naval forces while re-capitalisation of the Chilean submarine and surface fleet has almost been completed. The new South African navy is also taking shape; the second new German-built Type 209 submarine arrived at Simon's Town in April 2007 while all four Valour class frigates have now been commissioned. In a wide-ranging Executive Overview, Commodore Saunders emphasises the broad spectrum of operations which may have to be undertaken by the world's navies while highlighting maritime ballistic-missile defence as an emerging requirement in a number of nations. He stresses the important role of intelligence, particularly against the background of lapses by the Israeli navy during operations against Hezbollah in 2006. A new maritime strategy is under development by the United States Navy and, with the potential to have an impact worldwide, some of the emerging themes are described. In China too, a fast-developing navy is also in the forefront of strategic thinking while in the wider East Asian region, recent North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile tests continue to resonate. The United Kingdom's Royal Navy has also been in the news following recent announcements to maintain a nuclear deterrent and widely publicised concerns about the adequacy of funding for conventional forces. The Iranian 'hostage' incident of March 2007 is also reviewed.

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