After completing port calls in Madagascar and Australia, ships from the Chinese PLA Navy’s 25th Task Group arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 15. The ships are on a goodwill visit tour in Asia Pacific following their counter-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden. Composed of two Type 054A fri
The U.S. Navy should develop a more accurate cost estimate for its second Ford-class carrier, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), if it wants to avoid the mistakes made on the lead ship, an independent watchdog has warned. The recently delivered USS Gerald R. Ford cost the navy over $2 billion
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Arunta interdicted 260kg of heroin in the north Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa on June 8. This is the frigate’s third drug interception as part of operation Manitou. The drugs were intercepted after the ship’s embarked Seahawk helicopter detected the suspicio
An Indian Navy task group of three ships sailed into Fremantle, Australia, to participate in a week-long naval exercise off the Western Australian coast. Exercise Australia India is a regular bilateral maritime exercise aimed at developing a deeper understanding and cooperation between the two navie
Belgian Navy’s multi-purpose frigate BNS Louise Marie departed Belgian naval base Zeebrugge on Monday to start her deployment to the European operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea. Over the course of the next 30 days, Louise Marie will be representing the Belgian contribution to the EU mission o
Royal Australian Navy’s Adelaide-class frigate HMAS Newcastle got underway from Garden Island, Sydney on Sunday to start her sixth deployment to the Middle East. This is Newcastle’s final deployment as she is scheduled to decommission in 2019. Family and friends joined the Acting Commander Australia
Five ships from Australia, Japan, Canada and the U.S. met in the South China Sea on June 8 for two days of maneuvers and exercises. The exercise included JMSDF destroyers Izumo and Sazanami, RCN frigate HMCS Winnipeg, Australian frigate Ballarat and US destroyer Sterett. During the exercise, the shi
Returning from a counter-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden, the 25th Task Group of the People’s Liberation Army – Navy arrived in Sydney, Australia, for a three-day port visit on June 8. The Task Group consisting of two guided missile frigates, Hengyang and Yulin, and one replenishment ship,Hong
A French Navy Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft conducted its first ever operational flight as part of EUNAVFOR’s Mediterranean Sea operation Sophia on June 7. An upgraded version of the Breguet Atlantic that made its first flight in 1961, Atlantique 2 is joining four other aircraft from Spain,
Australian shipbuilders Austal and ASC Shipbuilding announced they are teaming up for the construction of the Australian Navy’s SEA5000 Future Frigates. Under this arrangement, ASC Shipbuilding and Austal will act as one in support of the program, combining their skills and experience. “The Austal/A
The Western Pacific Naval Symposium Diving Exercise (WPNS-DIVEX) 2017, a disaster response-focused exercise organized by the Nine Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) nations, started on June 5 in Guam. Western Pacific Naval Symposium Diving Exercise 2017 is a biennial diving exercise conducted by
Defense forces from Australia and Indonesia concluded the coordinated maritime patrol AUSINDO CORPAT 2017 on Monday in Darwin, Australia. The joint operation, aimed at stopping illegal fishing and improving regional security, began in Benoa, Bali on 27 May and covered waters between Australia and In
The Royal Australian Navy commissioned its second Australian Defence Vessel (ADV), ‘Cape Inscription’, during a ceremony on June 6. ADV Cape Inscription was officially named in Henderson and had the Australian White Ensign hoisted on it for the first time. The two Cape-class patrol boats for the nav
A recent dive on the wreck of the Royal Australian Navy’s World War II cruiser HMAS Perth revealed that due to illegal salvage activity, only 40 percent of the vessel is in place. The findings are the result of a joint dive conducted by maritime archaeologists from the Australian National Maritime M
