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
A group of Royal Australian Navy aviation support trainees recently became the first all-female team to secure an aircraft on the deck of a Royal Australian Navy ship. The team was part of a group of 14 trainees and their instructors from HMAS Albatross who joined landing helicopter dock HMAS Adelai
A crewman has been medevacked from the US Navy submarine USS Georgia off Cartagena, Spain, the country’s maritime safety agency Salvamento Maritimo said. As informed, the medical evacuation was carried out in the morning hours of March 28. Salvamento Maritimo said the crewman was evacuated as it los
The Royal Australian Navy helicopter frigate HMAS Anzac has departed Sydney on a three-month deployment to South East Asia. As informed, the ship will visit a number of ports while deployed in order to strengthen relationships and interoperability with some of Australia’s close partners in the regio
US Navy’s guided-missile cruiser USS Hue City (CG 66) rescued three fishermen off the coast of Georgia while taking part in pre-deployment preparations. On March 27, USS Hue City was notified by the US Coast Guard and guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57) that a small craft in their vicinit
Royal Navy’s former fleet flagship and helicopter carrier HMS Ocean was decommissioned on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by Her Majesty The Queen at the Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth. Queen Elizabeth, who is the ship’s lady sponsor, inspected the sailors and was later transported on an aircraft l
