EU NAVFOR’s Operation Atalanta has welcomed back the Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Santa Maria. The ship was previously deployed on Op Atalanta in 2011 and will be conducting counter-piracy patrols over the coming five months. ESPS Santa Maria has an embarked Seahawk helicopter on board, allowing her to
Rear Admiral Ken Cheong, Commander of Combined Task Force (CTF) 151, recently visited the EU NAVFOR’s operation Atalanta flagship, FGS Bayern in Salalah in the Gulf of Aden. Radm Cheong, who works for Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), met the Force Commander EU NAVFOR, Radm Jan Kaack, onboard FGS Baye
German Navy’s diver support ship FGS Rottweil (M 1061) set sail for Klaipeda, Lithuania on May 12. The vessel and its crew will join minesweepers from different nation to take part in NATO’s ‘Open Spirit’ maneuver. Open Spirit arose from from the exercises of the joint mine countermeasures squadron
The Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System in Romania was deemed as operationally certified in a ceremony held in Deveselu, May 12, and thereby marked a key milestone to complete Phase II of the European Phased Adaptive Approach. This ballistic missile defense system represents an increase in the capab
Spanish Navy’s Segura-class minesweeper ESPS Turia will join NATO’s Standing Mine Counter Measures Group 2 which operates in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Crewed by 44 sailors and commanded by Captain Enrique Miguel García Morera, the ship set sail from Naval Base Cartagena, Spain on May 12 and i
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Missile Systems a $76,1 million contract for the procurement of Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) Block I production material. Raytheon’s ESSM missile is an international upgrade of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile. The missile was developed by
Crewmembers aboard the U.S. Navy’s hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) recently participated in an abandon ship drill while in its homeport at Naval Base San Diego. Mercy is preparing for Pacific Partnership 2016, the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparednes
The Royal Australian Navy has joined the fight against illegal fishing around Niue, securing greater maritime patrols of the Pacific island nation’s waters by having neighboring countries’ boats patrol Niue waters. The agreement was reached during a planning conference on Niue held in late April. Ma
China has blasted this week’s sail-by a U.S. Navy warship in the South China Sea, deeming it provocative and illegal. To remind, the USS William P. Lawrence destroyer on Tuesday, May 10, performed a freedom of navigation operation near the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. Responding to the o
German Navy’s Bremen-class frigate is scheduled to hold a change of command ceremony on May 13, 2016. Due to construction works at the navy yard in Wilhelmshaven the ceremony will take place at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. The 4th Frigate Squadron Commander, Captain at Sea, Thorste
American aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman informed that it has conducted a critical design review (CDR) for the U.S. Navy’s Block 3 AN/SLQ-32(V)7 electronic warfare system. The company said the CDR, a key component of the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program (SEWIP
U.S. Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) is set to carry out its planned maintenance availability after it completed its deployment by returning to Naval Station Norfolk, May 3. U.S. Navy’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia has awarded BAE System
The Royal Navy has hosted a number of organizations working on unmanned maritime systems for the main planning conference for October’s Unmanned Warrior. The demonstration of unmanned systems overlaid onto the twice-yearly multinational Joint Warrior exercise staged off western Scotland will allow t
The U.S. Navy has awarded Austal a $11,8 million contract to provide engineering and management services for advance planning and design in support of the Post Shakedown Availability for the Littoral Combat Ship Montgomery (LCS 8). Under the contract, Austal will provide design, planning, and materi
