Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare announced that the Australian Government had approved the acquisition of 24 MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ naval combat helicopters at a cost of over $3 billion. The 2009 Defence White Paper committed the Government to equippin
The Pacific Partnership 2011 team arrived in Dili, Timor-Leste, to begin the fourth phase of its humanitarian assistance/disaster response mission with representatives from Australia, Canada, France, Spain and the United States, June 16. Pacific Partnership is an annual humanitarian assistance initi
Multinational headquarters of the Sea Breeze 2011 Ukrainian-American naval exercise including representatives from third countries has begun realization of the active phase. According to Ukrainian defense ministry, one of exercise directors Capt 1 rank Igor Teryokhin said that during this phase coas
Minister for Defence Science and Personnel Warren Snowdon has cleared the way for more women to serve in Navy submarines by formally approving shared female and male accommodation on board every boat. Mr Snowdon said the move, which was a recommendation of the previous Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Rus
Britain’s flagship HMS Albion has passed through the Suez Canal as the Navy’s key deployment of 2011 resumes. Events in Libya saw the assault ship, her escorting frigate HMS Sutherland and tanker RFA Wave Knight, plus helicopter carrier HMS Ocean and ‘floating warehouse’ RFA Fort Rosalie, diverted t
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) departed Naples, Italy, June 14 after a three-day port visit. The ship is deployed in support of maritime support operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. This is the ship’s maiden deployment. Throughout the visit
Chief of Naval Research announced an incentive plan to award up to $8 million for ideas aimed at boosting K-12 education in the sciences, June 15. Rear Adm. Nevin Carr made the announcement during the Naval STEM Forum, being held in Alexandria, Va., June 15-16. “Today’s approaches to training and ed
Survey ship HMS Echo is giving the anti-piracy effort in the Indian Ocean ‘the edge’ by updating badly-needed charts of the region – eliminating no-go areas for Allied warships. The Devonport-based ship is gathering reams of bathymetric data – recording the depth of the ocean – in these troubled wat
Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Ray Mabus announced his plan to strengthen the service’s future workforce, June 15, at the Naval STEM Forum being held June 15-16 in Alexandria, Va. The plan reinforces President Obama’s call to improve America’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educati
Ingalls Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., was awarded a construction contract for the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) destroyer DDG 113. As this award represents Phase I of a competitive two-phased acquisition approach to procure FY11/FY12 DDG 51s, with Phase II including
Two boats used by Colonel Gaddafi’s special forces were blown out of the water and an anti-aircraft battery destroyed by Apache gunships operating from HMS Ocean. In the latest action involving the Army Air Corps helicopters aboard Britain’s biggest warship, the Apaches were scrambled to intercept h
The Bold Monarch 2011 joint submarine rescue exercise finished on June 10 off Spain. Russia was represented by Black Sea Fleet (BSF) assets – rescue ship Epron, salvage tug Shakhter, mooring lighter KIL-158, and diesel submarine Alrosa. Throughout ten days the joint force practiced search-and-rescue
HMS York is on the last leg of her five-month deployment to the southern oceans after passing through the world’s greatest manmade waterway. After the bulk of her deployment around the Falklands, Britain’s fastest destroyer warship shifted oceans to the Pacific to begin a seven-and-a-half-week passa
The skills needed to operate the future Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will be honed and perfected with the help of the US Navy, the heads of the US and Royal Navy confirmed on Monday. Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations for the US Navy, and Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, First Sea
