The Swedish Navy’s two new A26 submarines will be named HSwMS Blekinge and HSwMS Skåne, Sweden’s defense ministry announced on January 16. The names of the two new submarines were approved by Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf, according to the Swedish Navy ship naming tradition, the defense ministry said
Spanish shipbuilder Navantia held a steel cutting ceremony at its San Fernando shipyard on January 15 to officially mark the start of construction of the first Royal Saudi Navy Avante 2200 corvette. The ceremony was attended by company officials and representatives from the navies of Saudi Arabia an
German Navy minehunter FGS Dillingen will be departing its Kiel homeport on January 21 to join the Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group (SNMCMG1) for a six-month deployment. The vessel will first head for Zeebruge, Belgium, where it will join the international task group. After Dillingen joins
Frigates, destroyers and an aircraft carrier from four nations are currently underway in the Persian Gulf as part of the annual, multinational exercise Intrepid Sentinel 2019. The multilateral exercise is designed to increase capability and interoperability between the four nations. According to pho
The Spanish Navy’s Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez (F 104) arrived at Naval Station Norfolk on January 14 where it will become part of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 and conduct joint training and exercises. Méndez Núñez, homeported in Ferrol, Spain, was commissioned in 2006. She join
Royal Navy survey ship HMS Protector broke through nearly 300 miles of Antarctic ice to help scientists begin a five-year mission to understand how West Antarctica is contributing to global sea-level rise. Working together with British Antarctic Survey’s vessel RRS Ernest Shackleton, the Plymouth-ba
US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) assumed the role of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) flagship in a change of command ceremony in Denmark on January 14. US Navy Rear Adm. Edward Cashman assumed command of SNMG1 from Royal Danish Navy Commodore Anders F
The French Navy officially received its first Rafale M fighter jet upgraded to the F3-R standard in a ceremony at the Landivisiau Naval Air Base. The first flight of F3-R from Landivisiau took place on December 17, the defense ministry said. The aircraft was delivered after the upgrade was approved
The US Navy has selected a Navy SEAL to serve as Fleet Master Chief for the first time in the service’s history, US Naval Forces Europe-Africa commander Adm. James G. Foggo III has announced. Force Master Chief Derrick Walters will succeed Fleet Master Chief Raymond Kemp as Fleet Master Chief for US
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) departed Naval Station Rota, Spain resuming it’s eighth forward-deployed naval forces (FDNF) patrol in the US 6th Fleet area of operations, January 12. Donald Cook was in Naval Station Rota for a training and maintenance
The Royal Navy will deploy Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose to Japan later this year, where the ship will contribute to the enforcement of UN sanctions on North Korea. Montrose will be the fourth British warship to visit Japan and operate in the region in the past 12 months. Fellow Plymouth-based frigat
French missile systems specialist MBDA announced they tested the Mistral missile against fast boats such as fast inshore attack craft in a demonstration in front of a number of foreign delegations. The firing was performed from a SIMBAD-RC automated naval turret firing from the land against a fast m
Approximately 300 US Marines and an equal number Greek military personnel have arrived in the port city of Volos, Greece, to start exercise Alexander the Great 2019. ATG19 is a bi-lateral security cooperation training exercise involving primarily Hellenic Marines from the 32nd Marine Brigade and US
Russian Navy ships and submarines are poised to be equipped with a new and improved Kalibr cruise missile that is currently under development, according to a Tass report. The upgraded missile will have a range of over 4,500 km, twice that of the current 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missile (NATO codename SS-
