Navy ships and personnel from eight European countries are set to begin the second European amphibious exercise Emerald Move 2016 (ERMO) off the coast of the Italian island of Sardinia on Monday, October 3. The ERMO 16 is an undertaking of the European Amphibious Initiative (EAI), an organization wh
French shipbuilder DCNS has informed that the fourth French Navy FREMM frigate, FS Auvergne, started sea trials on September 26. Auvergne left the shipyard just days after DCNS launched the fifth of overall eight frigates the French Navy is to acquire. In its first out at sea, the new frigate will s
Austrian unmanned air system manufacturer Schiebel and German defense contractor Diehl Defence have renewed a teaming agreement which would allow Schiebel’s defense products to enter the German market. One particular goal of the collaboration is to market Schiebel’s vertical take-off and landing UAS
Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond that recently joined Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean, hosted the Commander of the EU Taskforce carrying out the mission. The destroyer sailed from Portsmouth in August to support the operation to counter illegal arms trafficking in order to promote a
Spanish Navy F-100 frigate Almirante Juan de Borbón left her homeport to join the Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG-1) and serve as the group’s flagship until the end of December. Almirante Juan de Borbón (F-102) will relieve sister ship Méndez Núñez which is currently part of the group. This i
The Spanish Navy’s has recently conducted MAR-41, a fleet readiness exercise which took place in the Gulf of Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar. Participating units included F-80 frigates Victoria, Numancia and Canarias together with the landing helicopter dock (LHD) Juan Carlos I and the auxiliary s
A Royal Navy frigate and an offshore patrol vessel responded to a mayday call issued in the morning hours of September 21 from a sinking small boat off the Isle of Man. HMS Somerset scrambled her helicopter while HMS Severn rushed to the scene as it was just 20 miles away when it received the call.
The Arab Republic of Egypt has received the second and last Mistral-class helicopter carrier it acquired from France in October 2015. The change of flag ceremony for the amphibious assault ship which Egypt named Anwar El Sadat took place on September 16 and was attended by the two Chiefs of Staff of
Royal Navy frigate HMS Monmouth abandoned the scenario during a Canadian-hosted anti-submarine exercise in order to help a Canadian fisherman in the North Atlantic. The Plymouth-based ship was around 100 miles east of Nova Scotia when she picked up a mayday. The crew of the trawler Double Mischief r
Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond joined the European operation Sophia by replacing HMS Enterprise, another Royal Navy ship which was part of the mission for several months. Royal Marines and Royal Navy sailors from HMS Diamond conducted their final boarding exercise with HMS Enterprise pri
Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Charlottetown, currently part of NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2, recently conducted a cooperative boarding on the Togolese flag merchant vessel (MV) Byblos as part of NATO’s counter-terrorism Operation Active Endeavour. HMCS Charlottetown (FFH 339) conducted this c
In late August, the US Navy staged an anti-submarine warfare drill in the Arabian Sea which was joined by British, French and Australian Navy assets. Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Perth joined USS Nitze and USS Mason which also had MH-60R flights embarked. Also involved were the Los Angeles cla
A Russian SU-27 Flanker fighter jet came within 10 feet (3 meters) of a U.S. Navy P-8A maritime reconnaissance plane over the Black Sea on September 7, U.S. Navy officials said. Navy spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said the incident, which lasted 19 minutes and took place in international airspace, was c
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 1 made a port call in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the crews will prepare for the upcoming multinational exercise Northern Coasts 2016. SNMG1 is composed of F-100-class frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez – the group flagship, Portuguese Vasco da Gama-class frigate NRP
