USS Chancellorsville Finishes Combat Systems Upgrades Naval Sea Systems Command completed the first-ever Air Defense Cruiser Aegis Baseline 9 combat systems upgrade for USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), March 29. The upgrade, part of the Navy’s Cruiser Modernization program, began in April 2012 at BAE S
Having participated in the NATO exercise Joint Warrior, HMS Blyth began her Operational Sea Training (OST) package in late October. This meant undergoing a demanding programme of world renowned intensive training, designed to train crews in a series of realist challenging scenarios. The first two we
A Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose based Merlin Mk 1 flight is en route to the Philippines. The seventeen strong team, currently embarked in Portsmouth based amphibious helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, were in the latter stages of the UK Response Force Task Group’s Cougar 13 autumn deployment whe
UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary, RFA Lyme Bay is heading for home having completed a 32 day tour of duty with Operation Atalanta – the European Union’s counter piracy operation off the coast of Somalia. RFA Lyme Bay departed the UK in mid August to form part of the Cougar 2013 Response Force Task Group (RF
In the early morning of Tuesday 19 November, EU Naval Force warship ITS Libeccio carried out a replenishment at sea (RAS) with the American auxiliary ship, USNS Arctic. The RAS, which was conducted in coordination with the US Fast Combat Support Ship, required the two ships to sail very close togeth
On Wednesday, 20 November 2013, NATO`s Operation OCEAN SHIELD flagship HNoMS FRIDTJOF NANSEN conducted boarding and medical exercises together with the flagship of ROK Escort Task Group, ROKS CHOI YOUNG. Boarding teams from both ships simulated boarding NANSEN, providing important insight into each
On Thursday, 21 November 2013, NATO and the Ukrainian Navy formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding sealing the country’s participation in the Alliance’s counter-piracy operation OCEAN SHIELD. This event occurred as the Chief of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Yurii Ilin, is attending the NATO Mari
Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), a joint venture between DRS Technologies and Thales, successfully demonstrated advanced mine-hunting capabilities with the US Navy during the 2013 Fleet Experimentation (FLEX) Unmanned Systems (UxS) Campaign. By towing the unmanned high resolution synthetic aperture
HNLMS Johan de Witt and RFA Lyme Bay have participated in the US led international exercise ‘Cutlass Express’. The exercise, which was held in several operational areas in the waters off East Africa, is a maritime exercise, designed to improve cooperation, tactical expertise and information sharing
Earlier this week during a port-call at Dar es Salaam the Spanish Ocean Patrol Vessel ESPS ‘Meteoro’, as part of the EU Naval Froce (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta has carried out a series of trainings with personnel from the Tanzanian Navy as part of the Local Maritime Capacity Building (LMC
A KDC-10 transport aircraft of the Royal Netherlands Air Force delivered 29 tonnes of aid to the city of Cebu in the Philippines last week. The aid, made available by the affiliated aid organisations in the Netherlands (SHO), is intended for the thousands of victims of the destructive force of typho
Commodore Paddy McAlpine, Commander United Kingdom Task Group, met his US Navy counterpart, Captain Malcolm Potts, Commander Amphibious Squadron One, in the waters off Djibouti to discuss continuing amphibious interoperability between the two allies. Captain Potts, based on board USS Boxer, and Colo