Close to 5,ooo US Navy sailors and marines, utilizing seven ships and 33 aircraft, completed the amphibious exercise Dawn Blitz off the Californian coast on October 30. Dawn Blitz is a scenario-driven exercise designed to train and integrate Navy and Marine Corps units by providing a robust training
The US Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin $43.2 million contract for work on the US Navy’s Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) Orca. The contract is the first part of a two phase competition which includes the currently awarded design phase and a competitive production phase for up to nine v
US Navy’s Blue Ridge-class command ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) completed a ten-month maintenance period in Rijeka, Croatia, returning to its forward-deployed homeport in Gaeta, Italy on October 27. The flag ship of US 6th Fleet completed a shipyard maintenance evolution at the Croatian Viktor Le
Entering Colombo, Sri Lanka, on October 28, with ships from its carrier strike group, USS Nimitz became the first US Navy aircraft carrier to visit the country in 32 years. The visit follows the recent completion of the inaugural bilateral naval exercise CARAT Sri Lanka and the US Navy’s participati
After rescuing two mariners at sea last week, US Navy’s amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) arrived in Okinawa, October 30, to prepare for the joint US Navy/Marines exercise Blue Chromite. The port visit also serves as a disembarkation point for the two mariners who had been adrift in
US Navy amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) rescued two mariners who had been adrift at sea for five months following an engine casualty. The mariners, Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiaba, both from Honolulu, and their two dogs had set sail from Hawaii to Tahiti this spring. They had an en
General Dynamics Mission Systems has completed contractor trials for the US Navy’s Knifefish program, the company announced Oct. 26. The Knifefish UUV is a mine countermeasure (MCM) unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) operated in multiple mine test target fields at-sea using buried, bottom and volume ty
Marking the 20th anniversary of their collaboration on naval projects, Lockheed Martin and Navantia signed a new memorandum of agreement (MoA) to continue their cooperation on new naval projects. Under the agreement, the two companies will collaborate to explore mutually beneficial new business oppo
US Navy littoral combat ship USS Coronado recently helped researchers from the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) test their new, low cost, unmanned aerial vehicle ‘Nomad’. Tests concluded in August and helped demonstrate the Nomad’s upgraded launch and control capabilities as well as a new recovery
Divers from the US, German and Dutch navies concluded several days of expeditionary mine countermeasures (ExMCM) training as part of exercise Bold Alligator 2017 (BA17). The combined ExMCM force had members from the Royal Netherlands Navy Defense Dive Group Very Shallow Water (VSW) Dive Platoon, Ger
With the arrival of USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in the US 7th Fleet area of operations on October 25, the US Navy now has three aircraft carriers operating in the Pacific. The lead ship of the “supercarriers” is joining sister ships USS Ronald Reagan and USS Theodore Roosevelt. Not counting submarines, mine
Ships from the US, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and Republic of Korea Navy have kicked off a trilateral link exercise (LINKEX) in seas east of the Korean peninsula and waters near Japan. Taking place between October 24 and 25, Linkex is aimed at promoting communications, interoperability and pa
US Marines fired the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) from the flight deck of San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Anchorage (LPD 23) during the joint US Navy-Marines drill Dawn Blitz 2017. The HIMARS is a weapons system made up of the M142 five-ton chassis vehicle and
Guided missile cruisers and destroyers centered around Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) entered the US Navy’s 7th Fleet area of operations (AOO) on October 23. While there, USS Theodore Roosevelt and its carrier strike group will carry out maritime security operations, t
