US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) arrived in Varna, Bulgaria, April 15 for the first port visit of its Black Sea tour. The ship transited the Bosphorus Strait to enter the Black Sea on April 14. The navy did not say how long the destroyer would stay in the region but the 1936 [&he
The UK defense ministry is seeking proposals for the development of an autonomous version of an existing extra large unmanned undersea vehicle (XLUUV). The development would be part of a Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) multi-year themed competition which will seek to develop a platform to un
Two groups of ships assembled around aircraft carriers from the navies of the US and France gathered in the Red Sea for a three-nation passing exercise (PASSEX) on April 15. France’s Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group, composed of Marine Nationale’s FS Charles De Gaulle (R 91), F70AA-class air d
The Italian Navy has taken delivery of FREMM frigate Antonio Marceglia from shipbuilder Fincantieri at its Muggiano, La Spezia, shipyard. The eighth frigate in its class overall and the fourth in multipurpose configuration was delivered on April 16. The future ITS Antonio Marceglia was delivered aft
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) arrived in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on April 15, for its first port visit in seven years. The ship completed completed a mid-life overhaul in 2017 and has been working up for this deployment ever since. The visit marks the first liberty port cal
Ships from the navies of the US, the UK and France have kicked off the mine countermeasures exercise Artemis Trident in the Persian Gulf. “Mine laying poses a risk to naval ships as well as merchant shipping vessels,” the US 5th Fleet said in an announcement. “As mines threaten maritime traffic indi
The BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness shipyard was evacuated on April 10 after a bomb was reported to have been found on one of the Royal Navy nuclear submarines under construction at the yard. An estimated 1,700 staff are believed to have been evacuated in the process. “Following an extensive sweep of
German Navy F124 frigate FGS Hessen is scheduled to depart its Wilhelmshaven homeport on April 11 to join the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG 2). The air-defense frigate will replace another German vessel currently deployed to the mission in the Aegean Sea. Combat support ship Bonn deployed to
The Finnish defense ministry has selected Sweden’s Saab as the preferred bidder for the development and delivery of combat systems for the Finnish Navy’s Squadron 2020 vessels. Finland’s defense minister Jussi Niinistö announced on April 8 that Saab’s offer performed best in the comparison of quotat
US Navy aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and ships from its carrier strike group (CSG) arrived in the US 6th Fleet area of operations on April 8, seven days after getting underway from Norfolk. The strike group, which includes the aircraft carrier, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte
The US Navy recently completed developmental testing of the AN/AQS-20C (Q-20C) towed minehunting sonar, bringing the mine countermeasure system a step closer to joining the fleet. The Q-20C has advanced acoustic and electro-optic sensing capabilities that will detect, localize and classify bottom, c
German Bundeswehr Technical Center for ships and naval weapons, maritime technology and research (WTD 71) recently completed sea trials of the SeaSpider anti-torpedo torpedo in the Baltic Sea. The trials were carried out sometime in 2018 from a WTD 71 multipurpose vessel in cooperation with defense
The Spanish government approved EUR 4.3 billion of funds for the construction of five new F-110 frigates for the Spanish Navy on March 29. The council of ministers authorization comes roughly a month ahead of the construction start which is scheduled to take place in May this year. The new generatio
The UK defense ministry has announced an investment of £75 million into new Royal Navy robot and autonomous mine-hunting technologies. The funding boost will be spent on two new autonomous mine-hunter vessels with sonars to enable remote mine-hunting at higher range, speed and accuracy in the Persia
