The Italian Navy-hosted and NATO-led anti-submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Manta 2017 began yesterday off the Sicilian coast with ships, submarines, aircraft and personnel from 10 allied nations coming together to train. Submarines from France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United States,
The Royal Canadian Navy bid farewell to its last destroyer, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Athabaskan, during a paying off ceremony at HMC Dockyard in Halifax on March 10. HMCS Athabaskan, the last of the four Iroquois-class destroyers, served the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) for more than 44 years. These
Royal Australian Navy’s fleet replenishment tanker HMAS Sirius is preparing to return to the fleet following a four-month maintenance period at Captain Graving Dock, Garden Island. The ship recently sailed out of Sydney Harbour and into the Pacific Ocean for sea trials. She will return to Sydney bri
French Navy’s D’Estienne d’Orves-class aviso FS Commandant Birot replaced its sister ship FS Commandant Bouan in the EUNAVFOR-led operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea on March 10. FS Commandant Bouan earlier took over from FS Commandant Ducuing and served the counter smuggling mission from Febr
U.S. Navy’s Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) visited Australia’s largest navy base HMAS Stirling on March 7. Oklahoma City visited the Fleet Base West, Western Australia, during its regular Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment. With a crew of approximately 150, the submarine wi
U.S. technology company Battelle announced it received a U.S. Navy contract for work on the Naval Synchronization Toolset (NST) for the navy’s fleet of F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. NST is a forecast analytic system that helps synchronize aircraft capability sets with the reality of availability. Soon, th
Royal Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigate HMAS Stuart is set to complete her anti-ship missile defense upgrade this week, marking the completion of an Australian Navy capability upgrade program that spanned seven years. Completion of works on HMAS Stuart was announced by contractor BAE Systems who
U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG 103) assisted in the medical evacuation of a Pakistani Navy sailor on March 6. The sailor, assigned to Zulfiquar-class frigate PNS Aslat was in need of medical attention. “After finding out the status of the patient, I coordinated with my corpsme
European and Chinese counter-piracy task group commanders met in the Gulf of Aden during their regular patrols. The force commander of the European Union’s operation Atalanta, Spanish Navy Rear Admiral Rafael Fernández-Pintado Muñoz-Rojas, welcomed Rear Admiral Zhao Jicheng, commander of the Chinese
Members of the Slovak military police have traveled to Germany to prepare for their deployment to the EUNAVFOR-led Mediterranean Sea operation Sophia. A team of 10 have been training with German Navy Marines (Seebatallion) since January 30 and will spend the rest of this month preparing for the depl
Dynamic Manta 2017, NATO’s annual anti-submarine warfare exercise, is set to start on Monday next week, off the coast of Sicily, Italy. The two-week drill will gather ships and sailors from ten allied countries for ASW training in the central Mediterranean. Submarines from France, Greece, Italy, Spa
Australian shipbuilder Austal opened a new shipbuilding facility that will be used for the Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement (PPB-R) programme. Australian Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne MP officially opened the facility at Naval Base, West Australia in a ribbon cutting ceremony on March 8.
Warships from NATO’s standing mine countermeasure group 2 (SNMCMG2) joined the underway portion of the Romanian-hosted exercise Poseidon that is taking place between March 5 and 13. The exercise as a whole is hosted by Romania this year and will include more than 1,500 sailors and 17 warships from s
The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense has deployed a 12-man strong vessel boarding team to the European Union-led operation Sophia aimed at curbing human and arms smuggling activity in the Mediterranean Sea. The team embarked the German Navy tender FGS Rhein on March 6 during a ceremony at Lithuanian N