Members of the Slovak military police have traveled to Germany to prepare for their deployment to the EUNAVFOR-led Mediterranean Sea operation Sophia. A team of 10 have been training with German Navy Marines (Seebatallion) since January 30 and will spend the rest of this month preparing for the depl
Dynamic Manta 2017, NATO’s annual anti-submarine warfare exercise, is set to start on Monday next week, off the coast of Sicily, Italy. The two-week drill will gather ships and sailors from ten allied countries for ASW training in the central Mediterranean. Submarines from France, Greece, Italy, Spa
Warships from NATO’s standing mine countermeasure group 2 (SNMCMG2) joined the underway portion of the Romanian-hosted exercise Poseidon that is taking place between March 5 and 13. The exercise as a whole is hosted by Romania this year and will include more than 1,500 sailors and 17 warships from s
Royal Navy frigate HMS Iron Duke set sail for the first time this year having spent the winter in her home port undergoing a sustained period of maintenance. The Type 23 frigate, which spent the first half of 2016 on NATO duties in the Baltic and waters of northern Europe, is now headed for operatio
U.S. Navy’s Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), together with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), entered the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations on March 7. While in theater, more than 4,000 sailors and marines of the ARG and MEU will train to share information, experiences, and work together.
Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean visited Beirut en route home, becoming the first Royal Navy vessel in five years to visit the Lebanese capital. The helicopter carrier arrived in Lebanon on March 4 having concluded a six-month deployment in the Middle East. Ocean’s captain, Capt Rob Pedre, was joined b
A Lynx helicopter embarked on the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Portland carried out one final Sea Skua anti-ship missile firing. Royal Navy will no longer be using the Sea Skua missile as the Lynx helicopters carrying it are set to retire in March. This will leave the Royal Navy with a helicopte
Spanish Navy frigate Reina Sofía (F-84) departed naval base Rota on February 27 to integrate into the Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1). During the two and a half-month mission, the Spanish frigate will participate in several training activities with other NATO units, among them exercise Join
Over ten ships from four nations are participating in the annual, Royal Navy of Oman-hosted exercise Khunjar Haad that takes place in the Gulf of Oman. Ships from the Royal Navy of Oman are joined by U.S., French and Royal Navy ships in gunnery and air defense exercises aimed at maintaining the sail
Having completed sea trials in January following a two-year refit, Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Westminster and her crew started combat readiness drills. The frigate has flashed up her main gun for the first time in two years – putting down 23 rounds a minute – and welcomed a submarine-hunting M
Italian Navy’s NH90 NATO frigate helicopters (NHSs) are set to receive new generation friend or foe identification systems following a contract with Leonardo. Under a contract worth €11 million, which the company announced on February 21, the NH90 aircraft will be fitted with a system called SIT434/
British company Kelvin Hughes will be supplying its SharpEye radar systems for the two follow-on Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessels HMS Tamar and HMS Spey. The announcement from Monday follows an earlier contract from 2015 for the delivery of same systems for the first three vessels in the
With the German Navy’s sail training ship Gorch Fock tied in port for extensive repairs, a number of German officer cadets have taken to Royal Navy’ flagship HMS Ocean for their first at sea experience and training. Thanks to a liaison between the home of Royal Navy officer training in Dartmouth and
Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight visited Havana, Cuba on the latest stop during her Caribbean counter-drug deployment. Other roles of the support ship include flying the flag for Britain in its overseas territories, being on stand-by to help out in the event of a natural disaster and generally prom
