Turkish Navy minehunter TCG Anamur has discovered historical unexploded ordnance during mine countermeasures drills conducted as part of the Spanish-hosted multinational exercise MINEX 2018. According NATO Maritime Command, the ordnance was discovered by TCG Anamur on 8 May using the ship’s speciali
The UK and Norway have advanced their plans for international Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) cooperation in the North Atlantic. The nations’ defence ministers flew in an American P-8A Poseidon from RAF Lossiemouth on May 3. Defence Minister Guto Bebb hosted Secretary Tone Skogen, State Secretary in
Pacific Partnership 2018 engagements in Sri Lanka concluded May 9 with mission participants departing Trincomalee aboard Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) for the mission’s fourth port visit in Nha Trang, Vietnam. “We’ve continued to build upon the partnerships we forged du
Sailors aboard US Navy cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) and destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 102) returned to their homeports on May 9 after concluding deployments with their relevant carrier strike groups. Returning to Naval Base San Diego with its 350 crew, Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS
German Navy corvette FGS Braunschweig is scheduled to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea to represent the German contribution to operation UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon). The K130 corvette is set to depart its homeport in Warnemünde, Germany, on May 14, under the command of Frigate Ca
The Russian Navy is scheduled to commission its sixth Project 21631 corvette ‘Vyshny Volochyok’ by the end of this month, the Russian defense ministry announced on Tuesday. Vyshny Volochyok is part of the Buyan-M class of corvettes, an upgraded version of the three Project 21630 (Buyan) vessels whic
French defense technology company Thales announced it has started production works on the first Sea Fire radar for the French Navy’s FTI future medium-size frigates. The Sea Fire is fully solid-state multifunction radar with a four-panel phased array antenna. According to the company, it is designed
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver arrived in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on May 3 for the first port visit of her Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment. The Esquimalt, British Columbia, based frigate will visit several ports in the Indo-Asia-Pacific during a deployment dubbed operati
US Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) arrived at its new homeport in San Diego on May 8, concluding a homeport change from Sasebo, Japan. Bonhomme Richard departed San Diego in April 2012 for Sasebo, Japan, to replace USS Essex (LHD 2) as the Navy’s only forward-deployed amp
The US Navy-owned research vessel (R/V) Thomas G. Thompson returned to sea recently following an 18-month mid-life refit at Vigor Marine’s Harbor Island shipyard in Seattle. The vessel was “was refurbished from stem to stern”, according to Vigor Marine, and has received new operating systems and tec
The Guatemalan Navy, working with the US Coast Guard, intercepted the largest cocaine shipment in Guatemala’s history some 300 nautical miles off its coast. According to a Guatemalan Armed Forces statement on May 8, the narcotics were intercepted aboard a Tanzania-flagged cargo ship. Following the o
US Navy’s Spain-based Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) completed its sixth patrol in the US 6th Fleet area of operations, returning to its forward-deployed location at Naval Station Rota on May 7. Ross departed Rota Jan. 8, 2018, and in the course of its four-month patr
The US Navy has awarded BAE Systems a $175 million contract to deliver over 7,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) laser-guided rockets. This latest contract modification was made under the Navy’s 2016 $600 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, which is the contracti
French defense minister Florence Parly announced on May 4 that another Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarine was ordered for the French Navy. According to a defense ministry statement, the decision to order the fifth boat in the class was made during a defense ministry meeting on May 2. The new g
