U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Wasp rounded off four months at sea as it pulled into Souda Bay, Greece, on October 24. The ship’s crew, embarked Amphibious Squadron 6 staff, and embarked marines spent 121 total days underway, interrupted only by a brief stop for fuel in Rota, Spain, in July
Minehunters from the US and UK kicked off the mine countermeasures exercise 17-1 in the Persian Gulf with a photographic exercise formation on October 19. The bilateral exercise encompassed the full spectrum of mine countermeasures (MCM) from mine detection and identification to mine clearance with
The U.S. Navy has awarded Austal USA a contract to provide engineering and management services support of the Post Shakedown Availability for the Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10). The US$12 million cost-plus-award-fee order is seen as a boost to the company
Australian naval officers recently graduated from a two month Aegis combat systems course at the Combat Systems Engineering Development Site (CSEDS) in New Jersey, United States. The officers learned to use the Aegis Combat System that is installed onboard the RAN’s newest Air Warfare Destroyer, the
U.S. Navy’s Whidbey Island-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) arrived in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, for a scheduled port visit, October 16. Germantown and the embarked Combat Logistics Battalion of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) arrived in Sihanoukville after completi
Units from from the U.S. Navy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 5 arrived in Busan for a port visit, October 16. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), and the embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), and the Arle
The U.S. Coast Guard began installation of a small unmanned aircraft system on Coast Guard cutter Stratton, a national security cutter based in Alameda, California, on October 3, 2016. The Coast Guard plans to deploy the Insitu ScanEagle sUAS on Stratton beginning in early 2017 and will use the data
U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) entered the Black Sea on October 10 to conduct theater security cooperation and key leader engagement events with allies and partners in the region. USS Mount Whitney is operating in the Black Sea in support of operation Atlan
U.S. Navy ships centered around the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan began a series of exercises with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy to strengthen maritime interoperability and tactics, techniques and procedures. The drill started October 10 and will continue until October 15. “This exercise is
The U.S. Navy said that it has successfully completed a restrained firing test of the Longbow Hellfire missile for the LCS surface-to-surface missile module (SSMM). In comparison to live fire testing, restrained firing usually costs less and allows the navy to examine the missile after the test. Loc
The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin an initial $148.9 million contract for full rate production of the surface electronic warfare improvement program (SEWIP) Block 2 systems to upgrade the fleet’s electronic warfare capabilities. Under this full-rate production contract, which has four additio
USS Nimitz (CVN 68), the lead ship of the class of U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, has started sea trials after spending 20 months in port. Nimitz got underway Oct. 5 for sea trials, following an extended planned incremental availability (EPIA) that started February 2015 at Puget Soun
The Mexican Navy has received the first of ten AS565 MBe Panther helicopters it purchased from Airbus in 2014. Airbus said three other units would be delivered before the end of the year and the remaining six by early 2018. The helicopters will be operated by the naval aviation in the Gulf of Mexico
U.S. Navy littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Sept. 30, following a port call which included participation in the Secretary of Defense’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference. While moored in Pearl Harbor, Fort Worth participated in
