The Irish Navy’s fourth Samuel Beckett-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV), future LÉ George Bernard Shaw, was floated out at Babcock’s Appledore, North Devon, shipyard, the shipbuilder has announced. The float out of the 90-meter ship was attended by representatives from the Irish Naval Service and
Italian-based defense contractor Leonardo has unveiled its new OTO Marlin 40 naval turret at the 2018 edition of Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition & Conference (DIMDEX) in Qatar. The new OTO Marlin 40 is a system designed for fast, lightweight vessels and suited for anti-missile defense
French autonomous systems developer ECA Group recently unveiled and demonstrated its new mid-sized mine counter measure autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the A18-M. A live demonstration of the company’s new AUV family member took place off Toulon, Southern France, on February 16. According to the
The Royal Navy has decommissioned its smallest ship, the HMSML Gleaner, in a ceremony at Devonport Naval Base. Crewed by just eight sailors, Her Majesty’s Survey Motor Launch (HMSML) Gleaner spent 35 years in service with the Royal Navy. Since her commissioning in 1983, Gleaner has operated in the m
French autonomous systems developer ECA Group announced its participation in the EU-led autonomous systems integration project OCEAN2020. With Italy’s Leonardo at the helm, ECA Group will join partners from 15 European countries to work on the first cross-European military research program to-date.
French shipbuilders STX France and Socarenam joined forces with Belgium’s EDR to try and secure a contract for the construction of 12 mine counter measure vessels for the navies of Belgium and the Netherlands. The two navies are jointly procuring mine countermeasure (MCM) vessels and frigates with B
The Belgian government on Friday, January 26, decided to give the department of defense its green light for the acquisition of six new mine countermeasure vessels. The order will be placed jointly with the Netherlands Navy which will acquire an identical number of MCM ships. In addition to mine coun
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developer UMS SKELDAR has joined the European Defence Fund’s OCEAN2020 autonomous systems project with its Skeldar V-200 UAV, the company announced on January 22. UMS SKELDAR is joining the naval surveillance technology project alongside its partner Saab. OCEAN2020 is t
Italian defense company Leonardo was selected to lead the first European Defence Fund’s initiative project which will see the integration of unmanned platforms in surveillance and interdiction missions. OCEAN2020, as the project is called, is issued by the European Union under the ‘Preparatory Actio
The French defense procurement agency DGA (Direction générale de l’armement) has awarded the Naval Group and Airbus Helicopters consortium a contract to develop a rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) demonstrator for the French Navy. According to a Naval Group announcement, the contract covers
The Royal Dutch Association of Shipping Technicians (KNVTS) selected Elbit’s ‘Seagull’ unmanned surface vehicle (USV) as the winner of their Ship of the Year 2017 award. The KNVTS award is granted to the most technologically innovative ship presenting superior design, economics and sustainability. S
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 joined NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, to take part in a series of experiments and trials last week. Royal Navy’s HMS Diamond, Turkish Navy’s TCG Barbaros and Spain’s ESPS Blas de Lezo visited Italy after
A Chinese Navy three-ship task group has concluded a three-day visit to Brunei Darussalam and is currently en route to Cambodia. Composed of Type 052C destroyer Changchun, Type 054A frigate Jingzhou and Type 903 replenishment ship Chaohu, the task group started its deployment on April 23 and has vis
UK defense contractor BAE Systems on Wednesday unveiled the latest version of its flagship mine counter measures (MCM) system NAUTIS 5 at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition in London. NAUTIS is used to counter the threat of naval mines and is installed on board more t
