Royal Navy landing ship RFA Lyme Bay on June 1 joined the French helicopter carrier BPC Tonnerre in the French port city of La Rochelle, in the Bay of Biscay, to embark an expeditionary force for the amphibious exercise Catamaran 2018. In addition to the two countries’ navy and marine forces, the ex
Future NRP Sines, the Portuguese Navy’s third Viana do Castelo-class offshore patrol vessel, has completed its sea trials. The latest phase of sea trials took place between May 28 and 30 and was completed successfully, the navy said. The vessel is set to join the navy in July this year, commanded by
French missile manufacturer MBDA recently carried out a second development firing of its Sea Venom/ANL missile using a French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA – Direction Générale de l’Armement) Panther test helicopter for launch at Ile Du Levant in southeast France. The firing took place on April 18
A Babcock-led industry team has officially unveiled the Arrowhead 140 concept as their design for the UK defense ministry’s Type 31e general purpose light frigate program. Babcock, Thales, OMT, BMT, Harland and Wolff and Ferguson Marine are all part of the team bidding for the UK MoD’s £1.25 billion
The Royal Navy has taken delivery of the first upgraded Commando Merlin Mk4 which has been designed for Royal Marine aircraft carrier operations. The helicopters are being upgraded to a faster and more powerful aircraft than their predecessors. With a new maritime grey coat, a folding main rotor and
Two Royal Navy Merlin Mk2 helicopters have returned home after two weeks of anti submarine warfare drills in the Norwegian Fjords as part of exercise Rogue Wizards 2018. The helicopters were flown by ‘Flying Sailors’ from the Merlin Training Squadron at RNAS Culdrose. 824 NAS is the unit which train
The first Royal Navy and Air Force F-35B jets are scheduled to fly into their new home at RAF Marham next month, the UK defense minister has announced. Four F-35Bs will arrive in the first tranche of stealth fighters to transfer from the USA to the UK, flying into RAF Marham in East Anglia. The Norf
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) arrived in Poti, Georgia, on May 14 after concluding their participation in the Romanian-hosted Black Sea exercise Sea Shield 2018. During the four-day port call to Poti, the ships’ crews will join Georgian Border Police for drills aimed at incre
A multi-lateral anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise in the Norwegian Sea got underway May 9 as navy assets from five ally countries gathered in Bodo, Norway, for the pre-sail conference. The exercise is hosted by Norway and led by the US Navy. ASW forces from Canada, France, Norway, the United Kin
The UK and Norway have advanced their plans for international Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) cooperation in the North Atlantic. The nations’ defence ministers flew in an American P-8A Poseidon from RAF Lossiemouth on May 3. Defence Minister Guto Bebb hosted Secretary Tone Skogen, State Secretary in
French defense minister Florence Parly announced on May 4 that another Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarine was ordered for the French Navy. According to a defense ministry statement, the decision to order the fifth boat in the class was made during a defense ministry meeting on May 2. The new g
The German Navy has ordered three Puma maritime unmanned aircraft vehicles from US-based unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturer AeroVironment. As announced by ESG Elektroniksystem- und Logistik-GmbH, a German system and software company which was chosen as the main contractor for the unmanned aircraft
A Spanish offshore patrol vessel replaced an auxiliary oiler as the Spanish Navy contribution to the counter-piracy effort off the Horn of Africa – operation Atalanta. On April 21, oiler ESPS Patino left the Somali basin after five months of operations as part of the EUNAVFOR-led operation. Filling
Dutch shipbuilder Damen recently hosted a keel-laying ceremony for the first of two Pakistan Navy offshore patrol vessels at its shipyard in Galati, Romania. The ceremony was attended by Pakistan Navy Rear Admiral Farrokh Ahmad, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (Projects), other navy officials and Da
