After a challenging year bringing HMAS Arunta out of the Anti-Ship Missile Defence Upgrade and a deployment around Australia including participating as lead ship in the Albany Convoy Commemorative Event, Arunta’s Commanding Officer, Commander David Tietzel handed over command of the ship to Commande
On Friday 5 December EU Naval Force Spanish frigate, ESPS Navarra, rendezvoused at sea with the EU Naval Force flagship, ITS Andrea Doria, off the coast of Somalia. After sailing near to each other, the Commanding Officer of ESPS Navarra, Commander Alejandro Cuerda Lorenzo, and two Spanish journalis
The Australian Government has taken the next major step to put the $8.5 billion Air Warfare Destroyer program back on track to deliver critical capability for the Royal Australian Navy. Following a competitive procurement process, BAE Systems, Navantia SA and Raytheon Australia will take on increase
On Sunday 7 December Djiboutian Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed awarded Commander Bernard Baron (French Navy) the rank and dignity of Officer of the National Order of 27th of June. Commander Baron was presented with the award for his ‘outstanding service and assistance given to the Djibouti
On Tuesday 2 December Colonel Giampaolo Schiavo handed over command of the Djiboutian-based Italian Task Force Air (TFA) to Colonel Elio Volpari. During the past four months the TFA team has been operating with the EU’s counter-piracy Operation Atalanta, and conducted over 200 unmanned aerial flight
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems is being awarded a $12 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide additional hours for non-recurring engineering in support of the DDG 1000 program. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and Bath, Maine, and is expected to be com
Canada assumed command of Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) yesterday, a naval counter-terrorism task force that spans more than two million square miles in the greater Middle East region. Commodore Brian Santarpia officially took command of CTF-150 during a ceremony held at the headquarters of the
Rear Admiral Rando visited Brigadier-General Philippe Montocchio, the Commander of French Forces in Djibouti. They both discussed the current piracy situation in the Gulf of Aden. During the meeting Rear Admiral Rando said: A lot has been done, but we have to maintain focus as piracy is not yet erad
Papua New Guinea held a commissioning ceremony for its new Landing Craft Heavy HMPNGS Lakekamu yesterday in Port Moresby. HMPNGS Lakekamu was formerly the Royal Australia Navy Landing Craft Heavy HMAS Labuan, which was decommissioned from Australian service at a ceremony in Cairns last month. Defenc
General Dynamics, Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is being awarded a $44,5 million modification to a previously awarded contract for non-nuclear submarine repair work on Groton-based submarines under the New England Maintenance Manpower Initiative (NEMMI). Under the terms of the contract,
Coastal Mine Hunter HMAS Huon and Armidale Class Patrol Boat HMAS Launceston conducted a rendezvous in Australia’s northern waters recently to allow their bridge teams and junior watchkeeping officers to conduct a series of training manoeuvres. Both ships have been operating in support of Operation
On 30 November 2014 Royal Netherlands Navy warship, HNLMS Van Speijk and Belgian Navy warship, BNS Leopold I, completed their tour of duty with the EU Naval Force off the coast of Somalia. HNLMS Van Speijk joined the EU Naval Force on 24th August and during the last three months she has completed a
New Zealand has decided to equip two of its MEKO-class frigates (jointly procured with Australia) with Rheinmetall’s Multi Ammunition Softkill System, or MASS. The contract, issued by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence under an ANZAC modernization programme, is worth €4.2 million. In this project,
Over the past few weeks, the EU Naval Force warship, ESPS Navarra, has carried out several friendly approaches to fishing dhows off the northern coast of Somalia. After sighting several fishing dhows, the Spanish frigate established communications with the masters. After a short conversation, the Ma
