The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded Leonardo a £260 million contract for the supply of next generation Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) technology. The system, called Mode-5, uses advanced cryptographic techniques and electronic technology to allow UK land, sea and air units to quickly identify frien
Having no standing army and operating just four coast guard vessels has not prevented NATO-member Iceland from hosting one of the organization’s largest anti-submarine warfare exercises. From June 26 to July 8, NATO ships and submarines will gather in Iceland for a series of drills aimed at improvin
Royal Navy’s Hunt-class mine counter measure vessel HMS Brocklesby has started her sea trials after spending 18 months in refit. According to shipbuilder BAE Systems, the trials started four months earlier than usual. Despite undergoing the largest work package for a Royal Navy mine countermeasure v
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) company UMS Skeldar has joined forces with Sentient Vision Systems to equip its SKELDAR V-200 VTOL UAV with a ViDAR (visual identification detection and ranging) system for its unmanned systems. The ViDAR payload on the SKELDAR V-200 will be deploying five to ten camera
Some 50 ships from 14 nations concluded this year’s edition of BALTOPS 2017, the largest NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea, entering Kiel, Germany on Friday. The U.S.-led drill saw participants hone their skills in air, surface, sub-surface, mine warfare and amphibious operations in the Baltic Sea. “E
Spanish Navy’s offshore patrol vessel Vigía arrived at naval base Puntales, Cadiz, on June 16, returning from a three-and-a-half month mission to the Gulf of Guinea. Vigía set sail from Cadiz on February 28 to conduct a series of activities in Africa as part of the Spanish government’s Defense Diplo
German naval contractor Atlas Elektronik has teamed with Canadian Kraken Sonar Systems to develop a solution for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Remote Mine Disposal System (RMDS). In addition to the RMDS program, Kraken and Atlas agreed to provide military grade KATFISH towed sonar systems to an undisclo
German soldiers and personnel assigned to the P-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA) detachment are concluding a three-month deployment to the EUNAVFOR’s operation Atalanta this week. Before the 85 personnel depart their current base in Djibouti to fly home to Germany, Atalanta Fo
U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) returned to Naval Station Rota, Spain on June 12, for a mid-patrol availability period. Carney is currently on its third forward-deployed naval force ballistic missile defense patrol in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. “So far, this patrol
The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has contracted Saab for maintenance and support of submarines and submarine rescue systems. According to Saab, the framework agreement covers the time span 2017-2019 and the initial order value amounts to SEK 69 million (approx. US$7.9M). The framewo
German Navy’s K130 corvette FGS Braunschweig is returning from a 13-month deployment to UNIFIL and is expected to enter her Warnemünde navy base on June 14. During her deployment, the corvette changed crews two times and sailed a total of 41,600 nautical miles. FGS Braunschweig was replaced by siste
Two frigates and a patrol vessel are conducting a maritime security operation in the Western Mediterranean as part of NATO’s operation Sea Guardian. Led by a French Navy Captain onboard French frigate FS Guepratte, along with Italian frigate Scirocco and Spanish Offshore Patrol Vessel ESPS Serviola
In the second attack on commercial vessels in just two days, pirates attempted to hijack oil tanker MT NAVIG8 Providence in the Arabian Sea on June 1. The incident, confirmed by EU NAVFOR, took place in the Gulf of Oman as the MT NAVIG8 Providence was sailing 100 nautical miles east of Muscat. Accor
French Navy frigate FS Guepratte, Italian frigate ITS Scirocco and Spanish offshore patrol vessel ESPS Serviola came together on June 1 to perform patrol duties in western Mediterranean waters. The ships will be working under NATO’s maritime security operation Sea Guardian. The group was briefed by
