The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) Commander’s Conference took place in Bahrain on February 2 2016. The bi-annual conference brings together senior military representatives from CMF members, to update them on CMF’s achievements, assess operational effectiveness and discuss, in an open forum, ways of
After spending six months at sea, German Navy’s Frankenthal-class mine hunter Weilheim returned to its homeport in Kiel, Germany on February 7. The German Navy 3rd Squadron ship was part of both the German contribution to NATO’s mine countermeasures group, the Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Gro
U.S. Navy’s amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) arrived to Sattahip, Thailand February 5 to start the Thai-U.S. exercise Cobra Gold. Cobra Gold (CG) is a multinational joint exercise designed to advance regional security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and is scheduled to begin this we
The crew of the U.S. Navy’s next aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) held their first all-hands general quarters (GQ) damage control drill February 4. General Quarters, Battle Stations, or Action Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the all hands aboard a s
German Navy’s combat support ship EGV Bonn, together with the Italian frigate ITS Libeccio and the Canadian frigate HMCS Fredericton, headed for the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish frigate TCG Barbaros joined them in Aksaz, Turkey. The group conducted a range of drills before and after their port cal
The Letter of Intent, signed February 4 between the Netherlands and Germany, breaks the ground for the development of the Joint Support Ship initiative and the amphibious operation capability. Germany is thereby acquiring new capabilities while the Dutch Navy is enabled to equip its ships more effic
Royal Navy’s River class offshore patrol vessel, HMS Mersey, has sailed from Florida, USA after completing her final preparations to start Counter Drug Operations in the Caribbean and Central America. The ship arrived in Key West, Florida after battling storms en route. Key West is home to the Joint
The commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), Vice Admiral Clive Johnstone, welcomed the NATO International Military Staff (IMS) Director of Operations, Major General Josef Blotz, to the headquarters for a briefing on NATO maritime operations, February 3. During the visit, Major General
The U.S. facilitated exercise Cutlass Express 2016 is currently taking place in the western Indian Ocean, focusing on cooperation and teamwork. Its principle goal is to build and help to maintain the capability to protect the free flow of trade by countering maritime illicit activity. The eight-day
30 surface ships, motorboats and auxiliary vessels, more than 1000 servicemen and over 100 pieces of military equipment will be involved in the Russian naval exercise Caucasus 2016. The Russian Navy said that ship formations and Marine units of the Caspian flotilla started preparations for the strat
General Dynamics Mission Systems announced February 2 that the U.S. Navy recently awarded a follow-on, omnibus contract that continues work on fire control systems and subsystems aboard U.S. Navy and United Kingdom’s Royal Navy nuclear ballistic-missile submarines (SSBN). According to General Dynami
HMS Ramsey, a Royal Navy minehunting vessel joined her NATO counterparts in Kiel January 21 to practise mine countermeasure operations. The Sandown-class minehunter, usually based in Faslane, arrived in Kiel after first sailing through the famous 98-kilometre Kiel-canal. It took the ship 9 hours to
The crew of the U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110) completed the first Undersea Warfare Exercise (USWEX) of the calendar year, February 1. The anti-submarine warfare (ASW) team practiced fathometer, a sonic depth finder, familiarization and submarine detection exe
A Spanish Special Naval Warfare Force team (FGNE in its Spanish initials) is training Senegalese and Cape Verdean Forces on special operations missions as part of Exercise Flintlock 16. This multinational exercise is conducted by Sahel and NATO nations within the present Cooperative Security framewo
