The Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of six Collins-class submarines will likely necessitate substantial upgrades to remain in service until the new SEA 1000 submarines start arriving, navy chief Vice Admiral Mike Noonan indicated at an Australian senate hearing. “We’re expecting that we will upgrade a
Royal Australian Navy landing ship HMAS Choules started a month-long deployment to the Southwest Pacific where it will take part in maritime and land training activities with regional partners. Choules’ deployment to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu will contribute to a continuous A
A Royal Australian Navy task group composed of landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra, frigate HMAS Newcastle, and tanker HMAS Sirius, departed Sydney Harbour on February 17 to start a series of exercises and engagements with regional allies. The task group will spend the next several weeks participa
The Australian defense ministry has selected Raytheon Australia to act as the country’s Aegis systems integration agent. Defense minister Christopher Pyne announced that the ministry issued a limited request for tender to Raytheon to establish a deed of standing offer under which Raytheon Australia
The 38th iteration of multi-lateral exercise Cobra Gold kicked off with an opening ceremony at the Akathotsarot Camp, Phitsanulok Province, on February 12. Representatives of the Royal Thai Armed Forces and US Indo-Pacific Command were joined by the ambassadors of Japan and the Republic of Korea and
The Republic of Singapore Navy’s first Type 218SG submarine is scheduled to be launched later this month in Germany, in a ceremony attended by Singapore’s defense minister Ng Eng Hen. The defense minister will attend the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich on February 16, before attendin
The Papua New Guinea Defence Force commissioned the first Guardian-class patrol boat HMPNGS Ted Diro in a ceremony on February 1. The ceremony was attended by the Chief of the Australian Defence Force and the ship’s company of the Royal Australian Navy’s Armidale-class patrol boat HMAS Wollongong. T
The Australian government has signed an official contract with France’s Naval Group for the construction of 12 new submarines for the Royal Australian Navy. The contract signing on February 11 marks the conclusion of two years of negotiations after Australia selected the French shipbuilder over Japa
The Royal Norwegian Navy’s new logistics and support vessel HNoMS Maud is en route home after getting underway from Busan, South Korea, where it was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). The ship started her journey home on Sunday, after being accepted by the navy from DSME in No
After becoming the first Royal Navy ship to visit Auckland, New Zealand, in 20 years, Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose visited Darwin, Australia. Continuing a trend, the frigate became the first Royal Navy warship in a decade to visit Australia’s northernmost and remotest city. The Plymouth-based warshi
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat has seized more than 2.1 tonnes of hashish and 345 kilograms of heroin in two boarding operations in the Arabian Sea. The Australian Navy said the seizures were worth approximately AU$105 million and AU$103.5 million respectively. The interceptions took pl
Maritime patrol squadrons from the US Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force met up for a coordinated maritime patrol operational procedures (CMPOP) exercise in Okinawa, Japan, recently. US Navy’s “Golden Swordsmen” of Patrol Squadron (VP) 47 were joined by JMSDF’s Fleet Air Wing (FAW) 5 for
A Los Angeles-class attack submarine and P-8A Poseidon crews from the US Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force have completed their participation in the annual, multilateral exercise Sea Dragon. This year’s exercise was conducted out of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and concluded on January 22. P
China’s ministry of foreign affairs has voiced its opposition to foreign countries supporting the development of Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program. Speaking at a press conference on January 14, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China “firmly opposes arms sales to Taiwan by any coun
