The Australian Minister for Defence Materiel Mike Kelly today announced the signing of a $21 million four-year contract with AMC Search Ltd to provide Pacific Patrol Boat (PPB) training services. Dr Kelly said AMC Search Ltd (AMCS) is the commercial arm of the Australian Maritime College, located in
Australia’s HMAS Newcastle has provided medical treatment and evacuated two badly burned Filipino merchant seamen from a stricken oil tanker in the Somali Basin. The seamen from the Liberian registered Merchant Tanker Perla, were severely burned during a machinery fire which left the tanker powerles
Pacific Partnership personnel and distinguished Samoan guests attended a closing ceremony for Pacific Partnership’s mission in Samoa, June 8. The ceremony, held on the pier next to amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52), the mission platform this year, included guest speakers from th
Indian Minister of Defence A. K. Antony and the Australian Minister for Defence Stephen Smith met in Perth on 4 June and Canberra on 5 June 2013 to discuss shared strategic and security interests, including maritime security and bilateral defence cooperation. The Ministers exchanged ideas concerning
CMDR MacDonald joined the RAN as a sailor in 1962 and received his Commission at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth UK in 1975. CMDR MacDonald served in ten different classes of warships and instructed in two warfare training establishments. An Anti-air Warfare Specialist (AWS), he developed
Samoan citizens, service members from U.S. and partner nations, and non-governmental organization volunteers kicked off Pacific Partnership 2013 with an opening ceremony, June 1. Pacific Partnership is the largest disaster response-preparation mission in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. It will spend e
The final fabricated blocks for the first destroyer, Hobart, have just been delivered to the Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance in Adelaide following a week-long journey by sea from Newcastle. AWD Alliance CEO Rod Equid said the four blocks arrived in Adelaide from block sub-contractor, Forgacs Engineer
Representatives from Japan, the United States, New Zealand, Britain, the Netherlands and Australia attended a commemorative service at Garden Island, Sydney today to mark the 71st anniversary of the sinking of HMAS Kuttabul. Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Senator David Feeney joined attendees t
HMAS Toowoomba (II) is making her way home to Australia after handing over maritime security and interception operations for Operation SLIPPER in the Middle East Area of Operations to HMAS Newcastle. The ship’s company of 191 completed a six-month deployment conducting counter piracy, counter narcot
The U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will travel to Hawaii, Singapore and Brussels beginning this week, senior defense officials announced on May 28. Hagel will speak at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, officials told Pentagon reporters during a background briefing. The annual conference draw
Australian Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and Minister for Defence Materiel Dr Mike Kelly today announced that three Tenderers have been selected to progress Project Air 9000 Phase 7 which will provide a new helicopter aircrew training system to meet the future rotary wing training needs of the
The 5th ADMM-Plus EWG on Maritime Security Meeting was held on May 29 at the Eastin Hotel, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Co-chairing the meeting were Ms Suriani Ahmad, Undersecretary, Policy and Strategic Planning Division, Ministry of Defence Malaysia, and Commodore Stuart Mayer, Director General Navy Ca
Australian engineering company Taylor Bros has been awarded a $15 million contract for the installation and fit-out of the living spaces for the three Air Warfare Destroyers that are under construction at Techport Australia, SA. Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Alliance CEO Rod Equid said the contract de
Defence kicked off National Reconciliation Week (NRW) celebrations in Canberra with an inaugural Keynote Address, delivered this year by Army Australian Defence Force Academy Officer Cadet Thomas Boase, himself a member of the Wakka Wakka people from Brisbane. The title of the address was ‘Let’s Tal
