Over an intensive two week sea assessment period in October, seven Marine Technician sailors achieved their Marine Systems Controller qualifications in HMAS Parramatta as part of the Project METEOR pilot event. In addition the time at sea also enabled two sailors to achieve Marine System Manager qua
HMAS Sirius recently returned home to the Diamantina Wharf, Fleet Base West following a busy seven month deployment. It has been a very busy year for Sirius with two extended maintenance availability periods, including several months in dry dock in Sydney, before an assessment period in October, par
HMS Queen Elizabeth Progress on Track UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon visited Scotland to see the progress being made in building the UK’s Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers. UK Navy’s New Strike Fighter Flies Fully Bombed-Up This is UK Navy’s next-generation strike fighter fully bomb
Papua New Guinea held a commissioning ceremony for its new Landing Craft Heavy HMPNGS Lakekamu yesterday in Port Moresby. HMPNGS Lakekamu was formerly the Royal Australia Navy Landing Craft Heavy HMAS Labuan, which was decommissioned from Australian service at a ceremony in Cairns last month. Defenc
Forty-nine naval officers graduated initial training yesterday during a formal passing out parade for New Entry Officers’ Course 51 at the Royal Australian Naval College, HMAS Creswell. Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Tim Barrett reviewed the parade which was the culmination of 20 weeks’ training in lead
Coastal Mine Hunter HMAS Huon and Armidale Class Patrol Boat HMAS Launceston conducted a rendezvous in Australia’s northern waters recently to allow their bridge teams and junior watchkeeping officers to conduct a series of training manoeuvres. Both ships have been operating in support of Operation
New Zealand has decided to equip two of its MEKO-class frigates (jointly procured with Australia) with Rheinmetall’s Multi Ammunition Softkill System, or MASS. The contract, issued by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence under an ANZAC modernization programme, is worth €4.2 million. In this project,
This week the crew of a Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) P-3 Orion from the Royal New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) completed their support to NATO’s counter-piracy Operation OCEAN SHIELD (OOS) Task Force 508 (CTF-508). Between 13 and 30 November, the NATO partner nation’s detachment of more than 50 cr
HMA Ships Sydney, Parramatta and Stuart sailed from Fleet Base East on 24 November with the next generation of warfare officers and sailors embarked. Having completed several months of classroom theory at the School of Maritime Warfare, and practical training in the warfare simulators at HMAS Watson
Australian Navy Commander Ashley Papp relinquished command of HMAS Choules, handing the weight of command to Commander Chris Aulmann on 15 November in Brisbane. HMAS Choules is a Landing Ship Dock which originally served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as RFA Largs Bay from 2006-2011. Choules is a la
Sailors assigned to Commander, Navy Expeditionary Forces Command Pacific (CTF-75), Coastal Riverine Squadron 3 and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 helped off-load two Riverine Command Boats (RCBs) from USNS Soderman (T-AKR 317) and transported them to Naval Base Guam, Nov 24. The new boats w
One of Australian Navy’s most comprehensive implementation programs aimed at improving ships’ seaworthiness and fleet sustainability and preparedness has been completed. The Rizzo Reform Program, a joint Navy and Defence Materiel Organisation initiative, was established in response to the Plan to Re
