The Philippine armed forces are hosting this year’s Balikatan which is set to run from April 4 – 16 in the province of Antique, Philippines. Balikatan is an annual multi-layered exercise between the Philippines and the U.S. Pacific Command which spans humanitarian and civic assistance events, and jo
Royal Australian Navy’s first Aegis-equipped Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD), HMAS Hobart, has begun integration and testing of the installed combat system. Testing will be facilitated by Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians who are responsible for testing the Aegis Combat System to ensure the equi
Royal Australian Navy’s landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra which was deployed to Fiji in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Winston is set to return to Australia March 30. Following a request from the Fijian government, HMAS Canberra was deployed to Fiji on March 1 to deliver humanitarian aid and assis
Dutch heavy lift company BigLift Shipping has shared photos of one of its vessels loading three former Royal Australian Navy, Balikpapan class, heavy landing craft bound for the Philippines. The company said that two vessels were loaded in Darwin and one in Cairns. All three were offloaded in Cebu,
Royal Australian Navy’s Survey Motor Launch HMAS Mermaid was recently conducting hydrographic survey work in Far North Queensland, Australia and visited the wreck of HMAS Warrnambol (I). The Bathurst class minesweeper was clearing a mine-field in the Great Barrier Reef when on September 13, 1947 she
Australian defence contractor Civmec has hosted a delegation of Japanese representatives aiming to land the Australian $50 billion submarine build. Hoping to bring the build of Australia’s future submarine project to Western Australia, Civmec welcomed eight members of a technical evaluation team fro
Royal Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigate HMAS Parramatta, the sixth ship to enter the Anti-Ship Missile Defence Upgrade programme, is preparing to undock in mid April. The ship has been undergoing a range of modifications at the BAE Systems shipyard in Henderson, Australia over the past 12 months
Although an official announcement has still not been made, Spanish newspapers reported that the Australian Department of Defence has chosen Spanish shipbuilder Navantia as the “preferred bidder” for the construction of two replenishment ships. This news sparked some outrage in Australia as the gover
Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Cerberus training facility located south of Melbourne, Australia is set to receive a new Kongsberg K-Sim Engine simulator model. The new model will run on the existing Kongsberg K-Sim Engine desktop simulator the Norwegian company delivered to HMAS Cerberus in 2013. The
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Darwin has uncovered and seized a large weapons cache after boarding a small fishing vessel approximately 170 nautical miles (313 kilometres) off the coast of Oman. The frigate’s crew initially conducted a flag verification boarding. After assessing the vessel to b
Royal Australian Navy’s Adelaide-class guided missile frigate HMAS Darwin has started patrols under Operation Manitou having replaced sister ship HMAS Melbourne. The crew of HMAS Darwin has benefited from mission-specific training in the Kingdom of Bahrain, prior to setting out on the ship’s first p
Royal Australian Navy’s Adelaide-class guided-missile frigate HMAS Melbourne returned to her Sydney homeport on February 28 after 203 days of deployment and five narcotics seizures. In the five interceptions, the frigate seized a total of 977 kg of heroin valued at approximately $390 million. Melbou
The Royal Australian Navy is relocating two of its decommissioned ships so that new ships, primarily the 27,500 tonne, 230m long Canberra class amphibious ships, HMA Ships Canberra and Adelaide, have more space. Decommissioned Navy ships Tobruk and Sydney will shortly be moved to the eastern side of
Representatives of the U.S. Navy and other Pacific Partnership nations gathered in Singapore February 22-26 for a planning conference in preparations for the 2016-mission. Now in its 11th year, Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief prepare
