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
The Indian Coast Guard commissioned the fourth of six offshore patrol vessels in Goa on February 21. Named Shaunak, the 105-meter vessel was commissioned at Goa Shipyards Limited facilities, which is in charge of designing and building these vessels. Shaunak is fitted with a 30 mm CRN 91 naval gun,
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/
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of UAE, commissioned the sixth and final Baynunah-class corvette on February 20. The commissioning ceremony for the corvette, built by Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), took place in Abu Dhabi at the IDEX 2017 exhibition. The 72-
Royal Australian Navy frigates could soon switch to Bluetooth headsets thanks to efforts of two sailors assigned to Adelaide-class guided-missile frigate HMAS Newcastle. Weapons Electrical Engineer Officers Lieutenants Jeffery Mandryk and Addison Clune, researched and developed a pair after concerns
Royal Australian Navy’s Adelaide-class frigate HMAS Melbourne celebrated 25 years since she entered service with the Royal Australian Navy on February 15. The guided missile frigate has steamed more than 1.5 million kilometres – about 37 times the earth’s circumference – and clocked up almost 62,000
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
U.S. Navy’s Singapore-based littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) arrived in Brunei for the first scheduled port visit on its deployment on February 16. While in port Coronado will host multiple ship tours and put the embarked MH-60S Seahawk helicopter and MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter on
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
The U.S. Naval Station Mayport will be serving as the East Coast forward operating base for the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). According to a U.S. Navy announcement from February 15, Mayport will be a permanent duty station for about 400 Triton UAS personnel and will support rotational
French Marine Nationale anti-air frigate FS Forbin (D620), which is currently part of Commander, Task Force (CTF) 50, assisted in the rescue of mariners from a sinking dhow in the Gulf of Oman on February 13. Having received word of a dhow taking on water, Forbin directed their helicopter, an NH90 w
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri marked the construction start of the first Italian Navy Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Ship (PPA) with a steel cutting ceremony at its shipyard in Muggiano (La Spezia) on February 13. The shipbuilder said the first of seven offshore patrol ships would be delivered in 20
British and American battlefield medics practised wartime operations and procedures off the coast of the United Arab Emirates aboard the UK flagship HMS Ocean. A specialist US medical team joined the helicopter assault group for the casualty drill, one of the tests of the Plymouth-based warship in h
