The US State Department has approved a possible sale of eight Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B missiles and thirteen SM-3 Block 2A missiles to Japan for an estimated cost of $561 million. In an announcement on November 19, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the contract also included
Article by: Peter Ong The United States Coast Guard’s only heavy operational Polar-class icebreaker, Polar Star, completed its annual scheduled refit at Mare Island, Vallejo, California, in a maintenance period riddled with challenges. The forty-two year old ship returned from Operation Deep Freeze
The US Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded VT Halter Marine a $9 million contract for further design engineering, procurement of long-lead time material and limited advanced production of the Oceanographic Survey Ship (T-AGS 67). The T-AGS 67 will be a follow-on ship to the T-AGS 60-class program
The United States will team up with Australia and Papua New Guinea for the redevelopment of the Pacific Island nation’s Lombrum naval base on Manus island, US vice president Mike Pence announced at the APEC leaders summit. Pence’s announcement comes a month after Australia announced an agreement wit
Two days after leaving her construction site in Maine, US Navy’s stealth destroyer Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) met with Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) for a photo exercise in the Atlantic Ocean. Joining the two on November 11 were Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer US
Qatari Emiri Naval Forces recently completed Eastern Sailor 19, an exercise conducted annually with the US Navy and US Coast Guard. Eastern Sailor 19 is an annual, bilateral surface exercise between the US Navy and the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces serving to expand levels of cooperation between the two
ARA San Juan – the Argentine diesel-electric submarine which was last heard of on November 15 – was discovered on Saturday, almost exactly a year after her disappearance. The navy and defense ministry confirmed that the ARA San Juan was found in a ravine in 920m of water, approximately 600 km east o
Future USS Sioux City will become the first US Navy ship ever to be commissioned at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, as she enters service in a ceremony on Saturday, November 17. The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) is also the first naval vessel to be named in honor
The US Navy has accepted delivery of its tenth Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF 10) – the future USNS Burlington – from Austal USA. The vessel was delivered in a ceremony on November 15. Burlington was delivered as part of a US$1.9 billion contract for 12 vessels and is the fourth ship Austal has d
Mine countermeasure ships from the navies of the US and Japan will be joined by their Australian counterparts for a mine warfare exercise off the coast of southern Japan which kicks off November 17. The drill is called Mine Warfare Exercise 3JA 2018 and is part of an annual exercise series organized
US Navy’s amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25) got underway from her San Diego homeport on November 12 en route to Peru where she will join the Peruvian Navy’s new landing platform dock ship B.A.P. Pisco for exercises. Somerset and Pisco will carry out joint simulation exercises for
The US Navy’s expeditionary sea-base platform ship USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) has embarked an MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter assigned to the “Blackhawks” of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 15 for the first time in the US 5th Fleet area of operations. The training, which concluded Novemb
A former US Navy master chief received jail time and a navy captain pleaded guilty Captain pleaded guilty in the expansive corruption and fraud investigation into an elaborate scheme to overcharge the US Navy for ship husbanding services in foreign ports. In an appearance before the US District Cour
US Navy destroyer USS Bulkeley (DDG 84) returned to Naval Station Norfolk on November 11, completing a seven-month deployment to the Navy’s US 6th Fleet area of responsibility. The ship operated as part of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) and also conducted independent operations in
