US Navy cruisers and destroyers from the John C. Stennis carrier strike group are currently underway honing their surface, anti-submarine, anti-air and information warfare skills before starting the integrated phase of training with the CSG. Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21 cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG
French Navy frigate FS La Fayette seized over 400 kilos of heroin from a dhow it intercepted in the Indian Ocean in an operation on April 11. The drugs were intercepted after La Fayette’s Panther helicopter detected a suspicious vessel while on a routine surveillance in the international waters of t
HMS Forth, the first of Royal Navy’s five new Batch-2 River-class offshore patrol vessels, entered service in a ceremony held at her Her Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth, on April 13. At the ceremony, the ship’s Lady Sponsor, Rachel Johnstone-Burt, was joined by UK government and defense officials, a
Spain and Saudi Arabia have finalized a framework agreement which will see Spanish shipbuilder Navantia deliver five Avante 2200 corvettes for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF). The deal, signed during Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s official visit to Spain, is worth around €2 bil
India’s Mahindra Defence and Israel’s Aeronautics have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on naval shipborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As informed, the duo intends to offer Orbiter 4, a UAV system which can be launched and recovered from Indian warships. “Aeronautics has ente
The Indian Coast Guard commissioned the lead ship of a new class of offshore patrol vessels, ICGS Vikram, in a ceremony at L&T’s Defence shipyard at Kattupalli, near Chennai, on April 11. Vikram is the first of seven vessels in the class designed and built by Larsen and Toubro under a contract from
American technology company AeroVironment announced it has demonstrated its Puma-Switchblade combination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in an automated sensor-to-shooter (S2S) configuration from a US Navy coastal riverine craft. The UAV pair combines the existing RQ-20B Puma Block 2 small UAS wit
The US Navy is considering an acquisition of the full fleet of new presidential helicopters, Marine Corps program manager for the VH-92 program Col. Eric J. Ropella disclosed at the 2018 Sea Air Space Exposition, April 9. The news comes four years into a $1.2 billion contract for the new VH-92 presi
US Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane has seized approximately 7.8 tons of cocaine during its three-month stint in the Eastern Pacific. The ship wrapped up its patrols and returned to homeport on April 8. The drugs were seized from nine suspected drug smuggling vessels and are valued at more than $260
An Italian Navy Agusta-Bell AB 212ASW helicopter with five on board crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on April 5, the Italian Navy has informed. All five Italian Navy personnel from the helicopter were recovered immediately recovered but one crew member died during resuscitation attempts, the navy
US Navy and Marine Corps have cancelled the Alligator Dagger amphibious drill taking place off Djibouti after two back-to-back aircraft crashes. In addition to halting Alligator Dagger maneuvers, the US Naval Forces Central Command also cancelled all air operations in Djibouti after two separate avi
Spanish shipbuilder Navantia officially started construction works on the second Royal Australian Navy auxiliary and replenishment oiler (AOR) with a steel cutting ceremony on April 4. First steel for the ship was cut at the company’s Fene facility in northwestern Spain. According to Navantia, const
Spanish Navy’s ESPS Meteoro is joining the European Union Naval Force’s (EUNAVFOR) Operation Atalanta in the Indian Ocean. The offshore patrol vessel departed the Military Arsenal of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on April 1, 2018, the navy informed. As explained, the deployment of Meteoro is part of th
HNLMS Karel Doorman, the Royal Netherlands Navy’s multi-purpose amphibious ship, got underway from its Den Helder homeport on April 4 to join the NATO-led operation Sea Guardian. Karel Doorman will spend the next nine weeks patrolling the Mediterranean Sea monitoring patterns-of-life to detect suspi
