Just three days into the sea phase of Exercise KAKADU, a task group of six international warships has been locked in a steady battle of anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. The ‘Red Force’ task group is made up of a Japanese destroyer, an American destroyer, an Indonesian corvette and
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 U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has recently shared a video of an F/A-18 E/F strike aircraft firing the newest Joint Standoff Weapon, JSOW C-1, to sink the decommissioned frigate USS Rentz. The F/A-18 E/F fighter jet from USS Ronald Reagan’s air wing deployed the weapon during the U.S. exercise V
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
The Panamanian Navy is host to this year’s iteration of exercise UNITAS which is attended by the United States, Panama, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and the United Kingdom. The ten-day exercise kicked off September 18 and will includ
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
The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded Eastern Shipbuilding Group a $110.29 million contract for the production of the lead Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and up to eight follow-on cutters. If the Coast Guard opts to build all nine cutters the contract will be worth $2.38 billion. The OPC acquisition will r
Ships assigned to the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHR ESG), with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, joined the U.S. military exercise Valiant Shield 2016, on September 15. Valiant Shield is a biennial exercise held between the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force in an effor
HMAS Hobart, the first of three Royal Australian Navy Aegis-equipped air warfare destroyers, has started builder’s sea trials leaving ASC’s Osborne, South Australia shipyard for the first time. A number of alongside dock trials in preparation for Hobart’s first departure to sea were carried out, inc
U.S. ships and aircraft used live fire munition to sink a decommissioned U.S. Navy guided missile frigate in waters 30,000 feet deep and 117 nautical miles northeast of Guam on September 13. The boat sank in five hours after sustaining 22 missile hits, finally succumbing to hellfire missiles shots b
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 Australian Navy frigate HMAS Perth and its embarked MH-60R helicopter took part in a search and rescue off the coast of Seychelles for the first time on August 14. Two survivors were located by Perth’s MH-60R helicopter, call sign ‘Hellcat’, and were recovered by a civilian yacht. According to
The U.S. Marine’s F-35 Lightning II and the Navy’s Aegis air and missile defense weapon system worked together for the first time during a live fire exercise. According to Lockheed Martin, the company involved in the production of both systems, the event successfully demonstrated the integration of
Royal Australian Navy chief Vice Admiral Tim Barrett accepted the last of Navy’s 24 MH-60R maritime combat helicopters during a ceremony at Lockheed-Martin’s Logistics and Maintenance Facility at Nowra’s Aviation Technology Park on September 12. The Commonwealth of Australia chose the Romeo in June
