US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Chafee has become the latest US warship to carry out a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea. US defense officials said that the destroyer operated near the Paracel Islands on Tuesday. Known as Xisha in Chinese, the group of islands is als
The US Navy has awarded unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) manufacturer AeroVironment a $2.5 million contract for further work on the US Navy’s small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) program. The contract follows the first successful launch of a Blackwing UAV from a submerged position and will see the co
In another first on its maiden deployment, the US Navy’s America-class amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) arrived in Eilat, Israel, for a port visit on October 5. The flagship of the America Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) is on its first ever visit to the country. “The marines and sailors hav
The US Military Sealift Command ship USNS Comfort has departed San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is now underway standing ready for additional mission assignments. Comfort is currently underway and expected to arrive and provide medical services in the Aricibo-Manati region. While in San Juan, the hospital
A Dutch and a Royal Navy ship recently completed what was termed by the Royal Navy as “the easiest RAS ever”, as support vessel RFA Mounts Bay took on fuel from Dutch ship HNLMS Karel Doorman in the Caribbean. A difficult – potentially dangerous – manoeuvre it’s typically performed mid-Ocean between
An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter embarked on the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) rescued two civilians after their private plane crashed several miles off the coast of Dominica, September 28. The civilians, coming from French Guadelupe and Antigua, sustained minor injuries and were tra
The Brazilian Navy’s first upgraded Super Lynx Mk21B helicopter has performed its maiden flight from the Yeovil facility in southwest England. The flight success was announced by aerospace and defense company Leonardo which is in charge of upgrading eight Mk21B helicopters under a US$160 million con
Ships from the US Navy’s Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (BAT ARG), together with 4,000 sailors and marines aboard, returned to Naval Station Norfolk and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story on September 23 following a seven-month deployment. The amphibious group consists of assault ship U
US Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Berry (WPC 1124) became the first fast response cutter to be stationed in Hawaii arriving in Honolulu on September 22. The Oliver Berry is the first of three Honolulu-based FRCs that will primarily serve the main Hawaiian Islands. The 154-foot cutters are designed to pat
Navy ship from the UK and US concluded their regularly scheduled mine warfare drill in the central Persian Gulf on September 21. Mine Countermeasures Exercise (MCMEX) 17-3 is a quarterly bilateral exercise aimed at ensuring undisturbed operations of naval and support vessels, as well as commercial s
Amphibious ships from the US Navy’s America amphibious ready group along with the expeditionary support base ship USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) concluded over two weeks of drills off the coast of Djibouti on September 20. Marines and sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) with
In a move envisioned to bring more efficiency at a lower cost, the US Navy will have its sailors use Xbox controllers on future Virginia-class submarines. The video game controllers will be controlling the two photonic masts that provide submariners with a 360 degree real-time situational awareness
Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries delivered the 11th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock Portland (LPD 27) to the US Navy in a ceremony on September 18. Shipbuilders from HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, ship’s force and representatives of Supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast at
The US Coast Guard has offloaded some 1,800 kilograms of cocaine worth over $50 million in St. Petersburg, on Saturday. The cocaine was seized from a tanker in the Caribbean during a routine patrol in August this year. Crewmembers of the Coast Guard cutter Tahoma detected and intercepted a 226-foot
