The US Coast Guard is set to offload over 21 tons of cocaine worth more than $721 million in San Diego on January 25. The narcotics were seized in 23 separate interdictions in the eastern Pacific Ocean by US and Canadian forces operating in international waters off the coast of Central and South Ame
France, Italy and the United Kingdom have renewed an in-service support contract with Eurosam related to the upkeep of the land and naval systems in service with the three countries. The contract extension was awarded to Eurosam, a consortium between MBDA and Thales, by the European Organisation for
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developer UMS SKELDAR has joined the European Defence Fund’s OCEAN2020 autonomous systems project with its Skeldar V-200 UAV, the company announced on January 22. UMS SKELDAR is joining the naval surveillance technology project alongside its partner Saab. OCEAN2020 is t
Expeditionary Sea Base ship USNS Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams (T-ESB 4) has completed its first integrated trials, the US Naval Sea Systems Command announced. T-ESB 4 got underway Jan. 19, sailing from and returning to General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO) shipyard in San Diego.
The Royal Bahrain Naval Force received its first upgraded Al-Manama class guided-missile patrol combatant in a ceremony on January 22 at the main navy base in Mina Salman. The FPB 62 patrol combatant was delivered by Italian defense company Leonardo after the company was awarded a modernization cont
US Navy’s forward-deployed command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) completed her dry dock maintenance, undocking and mooring pierside at Fleet Activities Yokosuka on January 21. Blue Ridge is the oldest operational US Navy ship and this dry-docking period extended her life by approximately 20-plus year
US destroyer USS Hopper sailed within 12 miles of the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea under what the US Navy refers to as a freedom of navigation operation. Hopper sailed near the China-claimed island on January 17 as part of its Western Pacific deployment. China’s foreign ministry
Damaged US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) has arrived in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where it will undergo some two years of repairs after being involved in a collision with a merchant tnaker in June 2017. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer arrived in Pascagoula on January 19 aboa
The US Navy’s forward-deployed command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) pulled into Valletta, Malta, on January 19, 2018, for a scheduled port visit. During her time in Valletta, Mount Whitney is providing ship tours and enhancing relationships between the two countries. “The sailors and civilian mar
The Republic of Korea Navy received its seventh Type 214 submarine ‘Hong Beom-do’ in a ceremony held at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan on January 19. The ROK Navy received the submarine less than two years after it was launched in March 2016. The submarine is named after an independe
Russia’s defense industry agency Rosoboronexport will work with the country’s largest shipbuilding company in 2018 to boost worldwide export prospects for what the agency termed as small and ultra-small submarines. Rosoboronexport said this focus was in response to a growing interest for these vesse
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) welcomed the commander of the Royal Bahrain Naval Force while underway in the Persian Gulf on January 16. Commodore Mohammed Yousif Al Asam and members of the Royal Bahrain Naval Force visited the ship while the Bahrain Navy frigate RBNS Sabha
The Belgian Navy is now in charge of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One (SNMCMG1) after taking over from the Latvian Navy in a ceremony on January 15. Commander Peter Ramboer of the Belgian Navy relieved Latvian Commander Gvido Laudups in Zeebrugge, Belgium. Commander Laudups has led t
Former US Navy officers in charge of two destroyers involved in fatal collisions in the Pacific in 2017 are facing charges of dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide, the US Navy said in a statement on January 16. US Navy Admiral Frank Caldwell, the man in charge of a review
