The US State Department has approved the sale of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) anti-ballistic missiles to the the government of Japan, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced on January 9. Japan’s order is worth an estimated $133.3 million and includes four Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block I
US defense company Lockheed Martin has contracted naval architecture firm Gibbs & Cox for work on the functional design of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) ships. A derivative of the US Navy’s Freedom-variant littoral combat ships, Lockheed Martin’s MMSC was selec
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) got underway from Naval Station Rota, Spain, on January 8, to start its sixth forward-deployed patrol in Africa and Europe. Ross completed its previous four-month patrol in July 2017. The 2017 patrol saw the destroyer take part
Sweden’s defense contractor Saab announced it will be demonstrating its AUV62-AT anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training system to the US Navy this year. The AUV62-AT is based on an artificial acoustic system that mimics a submarine. The US Navy will evaluate Saab’s AUV62-AT against its own systems th
The US Naval Sea Systems Command has picked a Jensen Maritime Consultants workboat design to be used for the construction of workboats for the US Navy. Jensen Maritime Consultants did not identify the boat builder that will be in charge of delivering the vessels to the navy adding only that the boat
The US State Department approved the sale of RGM-84L Harpoon Block II surface launched missiles, Block II Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) tactical missiles and MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes to the government of Mexico. Mexico requested the systems, worth an estimated $98.4 million, for use on the
The US Navy announced it has located the C-2A Greyhound aircraft which has been missing since November 22. The C-2A with 11 crew and passengers crashed in the Philippine Sea on the way to USS Ronald Reagan. While the aircraft’s last position on the surface of the water was known, the depth of water
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and its carrier strike group will be the first to deploy in 2018, getting underway from San Diego on January 5. The strike group’s 6,000 sailors will deploy aboard four ships, including aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and the guided-missile
US Navy cruiser USS Lake Champlain is getting underway from Naval Base San Diego on January 4 to start a regularly scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific. The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser will deploy as part of the Carl Vinson Strike Group. Lake Champlain completed a six-month deplo
US Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) pulled into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, on December 28 for a final port call en route to her new homeport of Sasebo, Japan. Wasp departed Norfolk, Virginia, August 30, but was diverted to the Caribbean in the wake of hurricanes Irma and
The US Navy announced it would reduce the number of assets deployed in search for the Argentine submarine A.R.A. San Juan in the South Atlantic. The US actively joined the Argentina-led international search efforts within 24 hours of learning of the missing submarine on November 17 and will now draw
The Royal Canadian Navy’s Resolve-class naval support ship Asterix has completed all trials and is en route to Canadian Forces Base Halifax where she will enter Royal Canadian Navy service and be operated by Federal Fleet Services Inc. According to Davie Shipbuilding, the company in charge of conver
US Marines embarked aboard French amphibious assault ship LHD Tonnerre (L9014) concluded ten days of amphibious operations in the vicinity of Djibouti during the Alligator Dagger exercise. US marines and sailors from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Ma
The US Navy’s next generation of ballistic missile submarines could encounter cost overruns and unexpected delays caused by new and under-tested technologies, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has warned. GAO noted that additional development and testing on several Columbia-class subma
