HMS Medway (P223), the second of the Royal Navy’s new River-class offshore patrol vessels (OPV), has been officially welcomed into the navy with her commissioning ceremony at Chatham Dockyard on September 19, 2019. The Portsmouth-based OPV sailed to the docks in Kent on the River Medway – the waterw
The 84-meter vessel, Bamberg (BP 82), was christened and commissioned in Rostock.
The Royal Navy has picked Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 proposal as the preferred design for its Type 31 frigates. As confirmed by Babcock, the fleet of five ships will be built at an average production cost of £250 million per ship. The announcement of the preferred design also means that the Royal Navy’
Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll has lent its capabilities to a BAE Systems team trying out their unmanned Pacific 24 sea boat in trials at London’s Docklands. The trials are part of the Royal Navy’s NavyX autonomous hardware accelerator program and will take place over the course of this week. Type 23
Royal Netherlands Navy and Portuguese Navy Karel Doorman-class frigates are getting Thales-developed Vigile D radar electronic support measures as part of their planned upgrades. The solution will be fitted on three Dutch Navy vessels, and two Portuguese Navy frigates. As explained by Thales, Vigile
The UK defense ministry has authorized a new £177 million (approx. $218.4m) deal for the maintenance of some 2,200 boats used across the British military. The Boats In-Service Support (BISS) agreement, negotiated by Defence Equipment and Support, the procurement arm of the MOD, enables spares, repai
German offshore patrol vessels that will be used to patrol the country’s North Sea and Baltic coastlines are set to receive BAE Systems-built 57mm naval guns. The first gun system is scheduled for delivery in 2020. German shipbuilder Fassmer is building three 86-meter OPVs for the German federal pol
A total of four locally-built Indonesian Navy KCR-60 fast-attack craft will be receiving BAE Systems’ Bofors 57 Mk3 naval guns under an initial four-unit contract signed between the UK-based defense contractor and government-owned shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia. Two of the new 57 Mk3 systems will be f
Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster welcomed her crew back on board as it is nearing the end of a two year overhaul. One hundred and twenty-nine crew of the Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster have moved back on board the ship, breathing new life into the 4,500-ton warship following a two year over
The UK and Norway have reinforced their commitment to joint anti-submarine operations in the North Atlantic. On August 15, 2019, Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan hosted at RAF Lossiemouth Norwegian State Secretary Tone Skogen to discuss NATO and the UK’s role in the North Atlantic. The UK is in
Construction of the second of eight Royal Navy Type 26 frigates has gotten underway with a ceremony on the river Clyde. The first steel for future HMS Cardiff was cut at prime contractor BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard where the company has already assembled first blocks of the lead City-class frigate H
The submarines are currently undergoing a mid-life overhaul.
UK defense technology company BAE Systems has completed “one-of-a-kind” trials of the autonomous Pacific 950 rigid inflatable boat (RIB) demonstrator. The company now says that the autonomous technology will allow navies to go beyond the limits of human endurance with unmanned vessels that can trave
The UK’s first Poseidon MRA Mk1 (P-8A) maritime patrol aircraft has completed its first flight, marking another milestone ahead of delivery in early 2020. Following this first test flight, the aircraft will transfer from Boeing Commercial Airplanes to Boeing Defense, Space and Security to be fitted