Former Australian Navy’s heavy lift ship HMAS Tobruk will be scuttled off the coast between Bundaberg and Hervey Bay as a dive wreck, Australian minister for defence personnel announced. Tobruk had provided 34 years of service to Australia, sailing more than 947,000 nautical miles. It will continue
Norwegian ship services company Bergen Group Services AS has been contracted to carry out an inspection and survey project on the Norwegian Navy minesweeper KNM Rauma. The company said the project would start in early January 2017 and would take 12 weeks to complete. Bergen completed a similar proje
HMS Echo, a Royal Navy multi-role survey vessel, will be taking the place of sister ship HMS Enterprise which has represented UK’s contribution to the European migrant-crisis mission in the Mediterranean Sea. During her time spent with operation Sophia, Enterprise has saved over 9,000 lives of aroun
The Royal Australian Navy laser airborne depth sounder flight has deployed to assist in disaster relief efforts off the South Island of New Zealand. The Cairns-based flight has conducted a hydrographic survey of the sea floor in the coastal margins of the north-east coast of the South Island followi
The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command has awarded Boston Ship Repair a $9.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for a shipyard availability and regular overhaul and dry docking of the Henry J. Kaiser-class fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198). The 56-calendar day undertaking will incl
Bahrain was the stage for the 39th Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (SHADE) conference which was held November 30. The conference was a forum to discuss counter-piracy in the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean and the importance of cooperation between naval units in the region, industry and othe
The U.S. Navy’s Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with embarked marines departed the 7th Fleet area of operations after concluding several port visits and exchanges with partner militaries on November 30. By doing so, the Makin Island ARG is joining the Wasp ARG and the USS Dwight D. Eisenho
U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter departed Rota, Spain on November 30 to begin its regularly scheduled deployment. Porter’s operations will provide the ship and crew an opportunity to strengthen and build naval capabilities with allies and partners in the region and
Airbus Defence and Space has signed a a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UK’s Aeronautical & General Instruments (AGI) to work on the integration of Airbus DeckFinder products into AGI’s ship based visual landing aid systems. The companies have agreed to jointly market a system that will provi
U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) commanders and French officials from the Charles de Gaulle Strike Group (CDGSG) met while operating together in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Nov. 25, 2016. Having replaced the guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71), Mason is deployed to s
An independent report into UK’s naval shipbuilding has concluded that the small Royal Navy fleet is a result of too long procurement cycles, late orders for new ships and the policy of retaining old ships in the fleet beyond their sell date. Sir John Parker’s Independent Report into naval shipbuildi
The European Council extended operation Atalanta’s mandate to deter, disrupt and repress acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia until 31 December 2018. Operation Atalanta’s two-year mandate extension comes amidst concerns within European Union member states that whilst pirate attacks on merchant sh
The U.S. Navy’s unmanned aircraft Tern, under development by DARPA and the Office of Naval Research, has made another step towards its goal of performing an initial flight test by 2018. In mid-October, the Tern team completed a critical design review (CDR) of the air vehicle’s General Electric engin
Spanish company Indra has partnered with the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) to jointly develop and integrate the sensors for Spanish Navy’s future F110 frigate. The partnership agreement has been reached within the industrial plan for the PROTEC F110 program, through which Indra will boost c
