The Royal Australian Navy commissioned its second air-warfare destroyer in a ceremony held at the Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney on October 27. While being the second in her class, HMAS Brisbane (III) is the third Royal Australian Navy ship to bear the name. Her motto, ‘Aim At Higher Things’, en
Spanish sailors assigned to EUNAVFOR’s operation Atalanta captured and destroyed a pirate whaler in an operation off the Somali coast on October 28. The pirate vessel was detected following an attack on Hong Kong-flagged Bulk Carrier KSL Sydney. The attack against the KSL Sydney took place on Octobe
The Chinese People’s Liberation Navy and navies of ASEAN member states have completed the at-sea phase of the inaugural ASEAN-China Maritime Exercise. The exercise spanned five days from October 22 to 27 and concluded with a field training exercise in Zhanjiang, China. Co-organised by the Republic o
The US Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman and L3 Technologies contracts worth $35.1 million to demonstrate existing technologies for the low-band frequency jammer, the second increment of the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) program. The NGJ system will augment, and ultimately replace the EA-18G Growler
Over 40 vessels from NATO and ally countries gathered in Turku, Finland, to kick off a second major exercise in the Baltic Sea on October 25. The exercise is called Northern Coasts and is organized by Germany and hosted by a different Baltic Sea nation each year. It will run concurrent with Trident
Two US Navy ships were forced to return to Reykjavik, Iceland, after amphibious dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) was damaged in heavy seas while en route to Norway and exercise Trident Juncture. The ship was damaged on October 22 and is currently in Iceland for further assessment. The nav
The Royal Australian Navy hosted a commissioning ceremony at HMAS Albatross on Wednesday to mark the formal transition of the Naval Unmanned Aircraft Systems Unit (NUASU) to 822X Squadron. This is a major milestone in the Royal Australian Navy’s capability to operate unmanned aerial systems in the m
India’s state-owned company Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has awarded Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) an additional, $777 million contract for the delivery on Naval Barak 8 surface to air missiles for the Indian Navy. In September this year, BEL announced it received $1.2 billion in contracts f
The navies of Australia and Brunei have completed the 18th series of bilateral exercise Penguin which took place off Brunei. The four-day exercise concluded October 22. Exercise Penguin was joined by Royal Brunei Navy’s Darussalam-class OPV KD Darulaman and Itjihad-class inshore patrol vessel KD Ber
The French defense ministry will launch a study phase to look into the replacement of the French Navy’s sole aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle, defense minister Florence Parly announced October 23 at the Euronaval conference. The minister said the study phase would span 18 months during which th
Italy’s Fincantieri and French Naval Group have outlined plans for a possible future joint venture at the Euronaval conference taking place in Paris, France. The latest agreement is the result of a year’s work during which the two sides looked at ways of creating “a more efficient and competitive” E
A 98-meter experimental trimaran built for the Royal Navy in 2000 is currently being offered for sale by yacht brokerage Ocean Independence. The RV Triton spent over 15 years in service as a prototype demonstrator in the UK and later as a customs border protection vessel in Australia. It was designe
HMPNGS Rabaul, a Papua New Guinea Defence Force patrol boat which was gifted to the island country by Australia, has completed its final voyage to Port Macquarie from Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island after 31 years of service. The patrol boat was gifted to Papua New Guinea in May 1987 under the Pa
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57) met up with Egyptian Navy’s Descubierta-class corvette ENS El Suez (F-946) for a passing exercise (PASSEX) on October 21. Cmdr. Ian Scaliatine, commanding officer of Mitscher, welcomed El Suez’s leadership aboard Mitscher f
