AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company has announced that AgustaWestland North America, Inc. has delivered AW139 aircraft to the Egyptian Air Force via its contract with U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) Contracting Center for Foreign Military Sales. “We’re fully aware of the team it ta
Rear Admiral Rainer Endres, Deputy Commander (DCOM) EUNAVFOR, as part of his recent visit to Djibouti to oversee the Operational Handover between the outgoing Flag Ship, ESPS PATINO (Spain) and incoming French Flag Ship FS MARNE , took the opportunity to visit the Japanese Maritime Patrol Aircraft D
The Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2013 Initial Planning Conference (IPC) took place in Garmisch, Germany, March 28-30. The three-day conference provided a venue for participating partner nations from Africa, Australia, Europe and North America to meet and continue the dialogue for building future
In a ceremony held on Saturday (7 April) onboard Spanish warship ESPS Patino, and presided over by the EU Naval Force Deputy Commander – Rear admiral Rainer Endres (German Navy), the French warship FS Marne became the new flagship of the EU Naval Force, Somalia, under the force command of Rear Admir
On the morning of 7 April, French Navy frigate ACONIT was heading towards a position in the north of the Horn of Africa to join with Spanish frigate INFANTA ELENA, and take over the escort of a World Food Programme ship. Meanwhile, in Djibouti, Spain was about to hand over command of Task Force 465
Great Britain and France are forming strike task force in order to destroy land infrastructure of Somali pirates, reports BBC. The task force includes French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, British light aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, amphibious assault ship HMS Bulwark, and s
EUNAVFOR – the counter piracy task force sent by the European Union to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa, has been joined by two additional warships. The Dutch multi-role frigate HNLMS VAN AMSTEL has arrived in the area, as well as Spanish frigate ESPS REINA SOFIA. Both ships have helicopters
The Algerian Defence Ministry has sent a letter to the German manufacturer ThyssenKrupp Marine SystemsKrupp (TKMS), in relation to the Contract No. 674/889, signed on March 26, 2012, confirming the purchase of two Meko A200 frigates. This purchase represents a part of modernization of Algerian naval
Deployed since 15 March to take part in the fight against piracy, a Falcon 50M from the French Navy has left the operation and been relieved by a maritime patrol aircraft Atlantique 2. It will operate from Djibouti as is also the case since 26 March for the detection and air control aircraft Awacs E
On Thursday 29th March Spanish warship ESPS INFANTA ELENA, operating as part of the European counter piracy force (EUNAVFOR), came to the aid of a Somali fishing vessel, adrift off the coast of Mogadishu. INFANTA ELENA was patrolling the waters off the coast of Somalia as part of its mission to dete
“Not only must we tackle the pirates at sea, when they are ready to strike, but also on land, where their criminal networks are based. In that way, we – and not the pirates – will gain the initiative”, argued Minister of Defence Hans Hillen in Brussels during a meeting with his European Union counte
EU Counter Piracy Naval Forces (EUNAVFOR) have tracked down and stopped a group of suspected pirates who were believed to have tried to attack a Hong-Kong flagged tanker approximately 400 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia. EU Naval Force warship FS Aconit was called to investigate after the ta
