Royal Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigate HMAS Ballarat has recently returned home to Fleet Base West following a six-month Pacific deployment. Commanding Officer, Commander David Landon said the deployment had a number of highlights, including acting as consort to one of Navy’s newest ships HMAS
Just three days into the sea phase of Exercise KAKADU, a task group of six international warships has been locked in a steady battle of anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare. The ‘Red Force’ task group is made up of a Japanese destroyer, an American destroyer, an Indonesian corvette and
Royal Australian Navy cadets had an opportunity to witness hydrographic operations at sea when they embarked in HMAS Leeuwin with Hydrographic Survey Red Crew for a 10 week survey task off Western Australia’s North West Shelf. When Leeuwin sailed from Cairns for trials, the ship’s company took the o
Two Royal Australian Navy minehunters, HMAS Huon and HMAS Diamantina, spent the past four weeks training together before they set sail for their south-west Pacific deployment and support to operation Render Safe 16. This year’s iteration of Render Safe will be taking place in the vicinity of the Sol
Following a request for information (RFI) for its Squadron 2020 project to construct four ice-going offshore patrol vessels, the Finnish Navy has now signed a letter of intent (LOI) with the Rauma-based shipbuilding company Rauma Marine Constructions. If the LOI is realized, the company will build f
The European Union Council gave its final approval to the European Border and Coast Guard on September 14 and the EU now estimates the body will start its activities in mid-October. The main role of the European Border and Coast Guard is to help provide integrated border management at the external b
The U.S. Navy has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries a $19.1 million contract modification to accelerate design work on the U.S. Navy’s amphibious warfare ship replacement, known as LX(R). In the original announcement on June 30, Ingalls was selected to perform the majority of the contract design
Navy commanders from 14 countries were hosted by Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer, for the inaugural Regional Commanders’ Conference to discuss maritime security and interoperability in the Asia-Pacific. The high level discussions between navies were attached to exercise Kakadu
The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded Ocean Power Technologies a contract to design a new mass-spring oscillating PowerBuoy for mission critical sensors for the U.S. Navy. Under the approx. $250,000 contract, OPT is to design a PowerBuoy which will differ from the current PB3 type in t
HMAS Hobart, the first of three Royal Australian Navy Aegis-equipped air warfare destroyers, has started builder’s sea trials leaving ASC’s Osborne, South Australia shipyard for the first time. A number of alongside dock trials in preparation for Hobart’s first departure to sea were carried out, inc
Royal Australian Navy chief Vice Admiral Tim Barrett accepted the last of Navy’s 24 MH-60R maritime combat helicopters during a ceremony at Lockheed-Martin’s Logistics and Maintenance Facility at Nowra’s Aviation Technology Park on September 12. The Commonwealth of Australia chose the Romeo in June
The 13th iteration of the Australian-hosted multinational maritime exercise Kakadu 2016 began with an opening ceremony on September 12 in Darwin, Australia. Exercise Kakadu is the Royal Australian Navy’s premier exercise and provides an opportunity for regional nations to participate in multinationa
The 2016 edition of the largest annual multilateral disaster relief preparedness mission Pacific Partnership concluded in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. The mission was led by Commander, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 23, embarked aboard hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). Approximately 1,200 military and civi
In late August, the US Navy staged an anti-submarine warfare drill in the Arabian Sea which was joined by British, French and Australian Navy assets. Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Perth joined USS Nitze and USS Mason which also had MH-60R flights embarked. Also involved were the Los Angeles cla
