US Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) has embarked Marines assigned to 3d Marine Division (MARDIV) at White Beach, Okinawa, ahead of exercise Cobra Gold 2018. Bonhomme Richard embarked 3d MARDIV personnel, vehicles and equipment before continuing a scheduled patrol in which
US Navy ships assigned to the America amphibious ready group are on the final leg of their return home from a seven-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific. The ships are scheduled to enter Naval Station San Diego on February 2 after stopping at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, late January. Dur
The US Navy has awarded BAE Systems two contracts totalling $54.8 million to modernize the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and the guided missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG 71). Both contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring the total cumulative value of the awards t
Shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO laid the keel for the US Navy’s future USNS Miguel Keith (ESB 5) at a ceremony in San Diego on January 30. A keel laying is the formal recognition of the start of a ship’s construction. It is the joining together of a ship’s modular components and the authenticati
US Navy ships assigned to the Carl Vinson carrier strike group arrived in Guam on January 30 and 31 for the first port call of their Western Pacific deployment. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and guided-missile destroyers USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) and USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) a
Royal Canadian Navy auxiliary oiler replenishment (AOR) vessel Asterix has entered service after completing sea trials and testing. Asterix performed daily replenishment-at-sea (RAS) exercises with the RCN and conducted extensive RCAF CH-148 Cyclone helicopter operations to prove and demonstrate its
Royal Canadian Navy coastal defense vessels HMCS Summerside and HMCS Kingston got underway from Halifax on January 26, starting a deployment to West Africa. The two Kingston-class ships will foster relationships with partner navies and take part in exercise Obangame Express 2018, in the Gulf of Guin
The Canadian government has awarded Raytheon Canada a CAD$704 million contract for the upkeep and upgrades of close-in weapon systems (CIWS) aboard Royal Canadian Navy ships. The in-service support contract will be valid until late 2037, and comprises an initial 10-year service period with three opt
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Cardigan Bay hosted personnel from the US and Royal Navy for exercise Azraq Serpent 18 (AS18). The five-day exercise started January 14 and was aimed at developing interoperability between the two partners across the medical domain in the US 5th fleet area of operations. T
The US Navy announced it is starting a mission to survey the downed C-2A Greyhound aircraft that crashed into the Philippine Sea en route to aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan on November 22. The navy will carry out the mission with help from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s research vessel R/V Pet
The US Naval Surface Warfare Center has awarded engineering and IT company Engineering Services Network a $39.5 million contract for deliveries of combat system sequencing systems. Under the contract, ESN will be responsible for development, modification, validation and delivery of Combat Systems Op
A US Navy aircraft carrier is likely to visit Vietnam in March, in what would be a first since the Vietnam war ended in 1975. This was announced on Thursday by officials from both countries during a two-day visit of US defense secretary Jim Mattis to Vietnam, according to media reports. No specific
The US Coast Guard has released a request for proposal (RFP) for the design, construction and support of a new fleet of cutter boats. The new boats will replace the current fleet of 36 cutter boats that currently operate aboard the service’s 210-foot medium endurance cutters, 225-foot seagoing buoy
US Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23) successfully recovered NASA’s Orion capsule in the fourth test conducted ahead of the actual recovery mission in 2020. The latest test was completed on January 23. The underway recovery test-6 (URT-6) is part of a US govern
