U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Wasp rounded off four months at sea as it pulled into Souda Bay, Greece, on October 24. The ship’s crew, embarked Amphibious Squadron 6 staff, and embarked marines spent 121 total days underway, interrupted only by a brief stop for fuel in Rota, Spain, in July
Bringing together armed forces from 21 NATO allies at the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, exercise Trident Juncture tests the NATO Response Force and how allies respond to a crisis situation. It allows NATO to demonstrate its readiness, flexibility and capability to respond to threats from a range of a
Spanish frigate ESPS Santa Maria completed her six month deployment with operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia and handed over her duties to another Spanish warship, ESPS Relampago, on October 24. During her deployment, ESPS Santa Maria conducted patrols at sea in the Gulf of Aden and Indian O
Allied nations’ warships concluded their participation in the international exercise Joint Warrior 16-2, October 21. The United Kingdom-led and -hosted Joint Warrior series is run by the Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS) from exercise headquarters aboard Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde i
South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) announced today that it signed a contract to build two 2,600 ton frigates for Philippine Navy. The frigates will be designed as a smaller version of the Incheon-class frigate which is already in service with the Republic of Korea Navy. Accordin
Ships from NATO’s Mine Countermeasures Group Two (SNMCMG2) completed a port visit to Algiers, Algeria on October 20. The crews of the ships participated in multiple activities ashore and after getting underway on Thursday, all four NATO ships participated in drills with Algerian naval forces to prac
The Five Power Defence Arrangements exercise Bersama Lima 2016 concluded on October 21. Bersama Lima was conducted in Malaysia, Singapore and over the South China Sea, and involved air, maritime and land elements from the five member nations; Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Unite
With an order book of over $3 billion, Austal is the only Australian company to make it into the top 100 defence companies in the world. Operating shipyards in Australia, U.S. and the Philippines, the company constructs ships for both the defence and commercial sector. Defence is at the company’s co
Aircraft can once again take off from the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) after the ship earned the flight deck certification while underway in the Pacific Ocean, October 20. The certification proves Nimitz’s flight deck and the sailors who conduct flight operations are capable of saf
The Royal Navy-hosted review of unmanned technologies which took place on the West Coast of Scotland concluded on October 20. The skies above the island of Benbecula, a remote Scottish outpost in the Outer Hebrides, have been clear and calm in October allowing several dozens of the world’s experts t
Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Portland is currently in Simonstown, South Africa, where the crew started their month-long break during a nine-month deployment. After adding 18,000 miles to her odometer in a patrol which has taken the frigate from Plymouth, through the Mediterranean, Suez and Strai
Minehunters from the US and UK kicked off the mine countermeasures exercise 17-1 in the Persian Gulf with a photographic exercise formation on October 19. The bilateral exercise encompassed the full spectrum of mine countermeasures (MCM) from mine detection and identification to mine clearance with
A Czech squadron of Gripen fighter jets have reached the second week of their air-maritime integration and carried out joint missions with Danish, French and Icelandic vessels off Iceland. Currently in charge of providing air interception capabilities for Iceland under NATO, the Czech JAS-39 Gripen
Russian cruiser-carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and other ships from its strike group were escorted off the Norwegian coast as they were sailing towards the Mediterranean. NATO said it deployed ships that were under its command to monitor the presence of Russian warships, noting it was routine procedure i
