F-35B Lightning II aircraft, the U.S. Navy’s next generation of stealth fighter jets, landed on the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) on October 28 to begin operational testing. America will embark seven F-35Bs; two are scheduled to begin the third shipboard phase of developmental test (DT
Airbus Helicopters’ Brazilian subsidiary Helibras recently officially presented the Brazilian Navy’s H225M multirole utility helicopter in a naval combat configuration. Developed and assembled locally by Helibras, this new H225M version is equipped with mission capabilities that include anti-surface
U.S. Navy’s Makin Island amphibious ready group (ARG) and embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations after concluding operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet. While in 7th Fleet, the Makin Island ARG/11th MEU will participate in bilateral training exercises a
The crew of the Australian minehunter HMAS Huon has found a missing American World War II plane during a mine clearance operation in the Solomon Islands. The South West Pacific nation was the scene of bitter fighting between US and Japanese forces from 1942 until 1945. At the request of the United S
U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) conducted its first at-sea ammunition onload in more than two years during an underway replenishment, October 23-24. Nimitz Sailors moved a total of 1,542 pallets from the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE 8) during the 48-hour,
Minehunters from the US and UK kicked off the mine countermeasures exercise 17-1 in the Persian Gulf with a photographic exercise formation on October 19. The bilateral exercise encompassed the full spectrum of mine countermeasures (MCM) from mine detection and identification to mine clearance with
U.S. Navy’s helicopter mine countermeasures squadron (HM) 15 carried out annual airborne mine countermeasures (AMCM) training at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) for almost two weeks earlier in October. HM-15’s annual helicopter advanced readiness program (HARP) HAWKEX t
Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, October 18 to conduct a goodwill visit as part of Westploy 16. Westploy 16 is HMCS Vancouver’s deployment aimed at building strong ties between the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the navies of Asia-Pacific countries while also
Leonardo-Finmeccanica announced Monday that its Osprey active electronically scanned array AESA radar has been picked to serve as look-out on-board the US Navy’s newly-upgraded unmanned helicopter, the MQ-8C Fire Scout. The unmanned helicopter is designed to take off from the decks of US Navy ships
The first iteration of the international mine countermeasure (MCM) exercise Clear Horizon 2016 started in Busan, Republic of South Korea on October 16. U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy mine countermeasures units will train alongside MCM forces from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United
U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) arrived at the Singaporean Changi Naval Base to begin a rotational deployment in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. Coronado’s arrival in Singapore on October 16 marks the first deployment of an Independence-variant littoral combat ship to Southeast Asia and
U.S. Navy’s Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHR ESG), with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, departed the Philippines after they completed the Philippine Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) 33, October 12. This is possibly the last such exercise between the U.S. and the Philipp
The U.S. Coast Guard began installation of a small unmanned aircraft system on Coast Guard cutter Stratton, a national security cutter based in Alameda, California, on October 3, 2016. The Coast Guard plans to deploy the Insitu ScanEagle sUAS on Stratton beginning in early 2017 and will use the data
Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Vancouver arrived in Singapore October 11 for a goodwill visit as part of Westploy 16. Westploy 16 is HMCS Vancouver’s deployment aimed at building ties between the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the navies of Asia-Pacific countries. Since departing its home port of
