Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender returned to her homeport in Portsmouth concluding her first underway period after undergoing an 18-month refit. The ship put her systems and personnel to the test over the seven-day period following the major upkeep which saw two new gas turbines fitted alon
Specialist engineering and support services company TP Group has secured a £12.5 million deal to deliver submarine atmosphere equipment for Royal Navy submarines. The contract, awarded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), is for a number of combined oxygen generating systems (COGS) and additional an
Portuguese Navy frigate NRP Bartolomeu Dias (F333) departed Portugal on April 26, heading for Den Helder in the Netherlands where it will undergo a modernization program. The midlife upgrade of the former Karel Doorman-class frigate is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019, the navy said. Bui
The UK defense secretary cut the first turf on April 19 for a new facility at RAF Lossiemouth which will house the UK’s new fleet of Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The £132m site will be the future home to the country’s nine-strong, new P-8A Poseidon MPA fleet. The aircraft’s key role will
The Italian Navy decommissioned its third Soldati-class patrol ship ITS Bersagliere in a ceremony at Italian naval base La Spezia on April 17. Bersagliere was decommissioned after 23 years of service in a ceremony attended by Italian Navy Chief Admiral Valter Girardelli and other government and defe
HMS Forth, the first of Royal Navy’s five new Batch-2 River-class offshore patrol vessels, entered service in a ceremony held at her Her Majesty’s Naval Base Portsmouth, on April 13. At the ceremony, the ship’s Lady Sponsor, Rachel Johnstone-Burt, was joined by UK government and defense officials, a
UK defense contractor BAE Systems has announced a £10 million (approx. $14.2m) investment into upgrades of the Maritime Integration & Support Centre (MISC) aimed at improving research into artificial intelligence, information and electronic warfare, unmanned vehicles and new weapons. Located in Port
A squadron of 12 French Navy Rafale M fighter jets, accompanied by three KC-135 refueling tankers, took off from the Landivisiau Naval Aviation Base in northwest France on April 4 to head to the United States for a two-month deployment. The aircraft usually fly from the French Navy aircraft carrier
Royal Navy’s former fleet flagship and helicopter carrier HMS Ocean was decommissioned on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by Her Majesty The Queen at the Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth. Queen Elizabeth, who is the ship’s lady sponsor, inspected the sailors and was later transported on an aircraft l
Construction of a new naval testing facility at the Portsdown Technology Park (PTP) in Portsmouth, UK, is set to begin soon, UK defense technology company Qinetiq announced as it unveiled the facility’s design. Together with the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Qinetiq is investing £23m in
UK-based engineering consultancy BMT and Turkey’s ARES Shipyard have received a new order from the Qatari Coast Guard which includes an additional nine vessels. The order was officially signed during Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) last week. The new order cove
The UK defense ministry has awarded a £160 million (approx. $226.5m) contract to a BAE Systems-led team to resolve the power and propulsion system issues experienced by Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers. The Power Improvement Project (PIP) will improve the resilience of the Type 45 class by installing
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Mounts Bay arrived in Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) waters on March 19 to help the the British overseas territory with a recent increase in the number of migrant arrivals from Haiti. TCI police and border control officials observed a surge in the number of illegal sloops
The Royal Netherlands Navy’s first upgraded Goalkeeper close-in weapon system recently passed its sea acceptance trials aboard landing platform dock HNLMS Johan de Witt, Thales – the company in charge of the system modernization – announced. The test came six years after the company was contracted f
