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
U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the names for two new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in a ceremony at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 17. DDG 125, will be named Jack H. Lucas in honor of the Marine Corps hero and Medal of Honor recipient while DDG 126 would be named Louis H. Wil
U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) reached the halfway point of its Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) September 13, pierside at Naval Air Station North Island. PIA is a reoccurring part of a ship’s life cycle, scheduled approximately every 36 months. It’s
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
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is developing a new capability called the Naval Security Team (NST) that will be tasked with protecting Canadian Navy ships and sailors while on deployment. According to the navy, NST will be composed primarily of naval reservists and will include a full-time command te
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded General Dynamics’ division NASSCO-Norfolk a $21 million contract to carry out extended dry-docking selected restricted availability on USS Gonzalez (DDG 66). This availability will include a combination of maintenance, modernization, and repair of the A
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded Ocean Power Technologies a contract to design a new mass-spring oscillating PowerBuoy for mission critical sensors for the U.S. Navy. Under the approx. $250,000 contract, OPT is to design a PowerBuoy which will differ from the current PB3 type in t
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
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
A contingent of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7 staff embarked aboard amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) on September 11, to serve as the sea combat commander (SCC) for the expeditionary strike group during the upcoming joint exercise Valiant Shield. This will be the second time DESR
U.S. Navy’s Boxer Amphibious Ready Group is set to return to Naval Base San Diego from a seven-month deployment, Sept. 12. BOXARG is made up of amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18), and amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Northrop Grumman a $108,118,000 contract to deliver another ten Fire Scout MQ-8C unmanned air systems. Fire Scout is an unmanned helicopter system that provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to the U.S. Navy. There are tw
American defense company General Dynamics said its Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) successfully launched multiple Bluefin SandShark micro-autonomous underwater vehicles (M-AUV) as part of several capability demonstrations at the U.S. Navy sponsored 2016 Annual Naval Technology Exercis
