On Thursday, 21 November 2013, NATO and the Ukrainian Navy formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding sealing the country’s participation in the Alliance’s counter-piracy operation OCEAN SHIELD. This event occurred as the Chief of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Yurii Ilin, is attending the NATO Mari
Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), a joint venture between DRS Technologies and Thales, successfully demonstrated advanced mine-hunting capabilities with the US Navy during the 2013 Fleet Experimentation (FLEX) Unmanned Systems (UxS) Campaign. By towing the unmanned high resolution synthetic aperture
General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co.(NASSCO) has received a $12.1 million worth contract modification to exercise the option for the fitting-out availability of San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, the USS Somerset (LPD 25). The contract includes engineering, planning, manage
HNLMS Johan de Witt and RFA Lyme Bay have participated in the US led international exercise ‘Cutlass Express’. The exercise, which was held in several operational areas in the waters off East Africa, is a maritime exercise, designed to improve cooperation, tactical expertise and information sharing
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus completed a visit to Doha, Qatar, Nov. 20. The visit was designed to build upon an existing relationship with Qatar, an important partner in the Middle East region. “Qatar is and remains a very valuable American partner,” said Mabus. “In our cooperation on a wide rang
Earlier this week during a port-call at Dar es Salaam the Spanish Ocean Patrol Vessel ESPS ‘Meteoro’, as part of the EU Naval Froce (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta has carried out a series of trainings with personnel from the Tanzanian Navy as part of the Local Maritime Capacity Building (LMC
The George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 2 departed Norfolk to begin Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX)Nov. 20. COMPTUEX is a series of training exercises designed to certify the carrier strike group deployment-ready by testing its ability to react to real-world scenarios and perform
More than twenty destroyers, corvettes, frigates, submarines and patrol vessels from four different NATO nations have taken part in the Turkish exercise ‘Dogu Akdeniz 2013’ in the Eastern Mediterranean. The exercise contemplated an asymmetric threat scenario where the participating units trained in
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Acoustics Division, with Bluefin Robotics, executed a record setting 507 kilometer (315 mile), long-endurance autonomy research mission using its heavyweight-class mine countermeasures autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), Reliant. NRL’s Reliant AUV, when eq
For two days, 20 Heads of Navy, 54 international delegations and 127 distinguished guests; including General Philip Breedlove USA AF, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, will gather under the auspices of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command, to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the maritime
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Ferguson returned Nov. 15 from an official visit to the People’s Republic of China. During the four-day visit, Adm. Ferguson held discussions with senior leaders of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA(N)) and visited several PLA(N) ships, including the 7,5
The Netherlands is to continue participating in the counterpiracy mission off the coast of Somalia for another year, until the end of 2014. This was decided by the government last week. From February to mid-May, the Netherlands will deploy the air-defence and command (ADC) frigate HNLMS Evertsen for
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) techniques that have been developed and refined during operations and conflicts around the world are now being put to good use in the Solomon Islands. EOD specialists from Australia’s Army, Navy and Air Force, along with forces from the United States, Canada and New
The opening ceremony of Wharf 10 in the Port of Townsville, Queensland was held on 18 October 2013. The ceremony was presided by the Australian Minister for Defence Senator the Hon David Johnston, who described the event as “a magnificent partnership between the State of Queensland, the Port of Town
