German Navy’s Rhön-class tanker FGS Spessart has left the EU Naval Force and Operation Atalanta fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia. The ship spent eighty eight days and sailed over 13,600 nautical miles after leaving Wilhelmshaven navy base on April 18. The EU naval task force is deployed to t
Royal Navy mine disposal experts watched their Japanese counterparts work during the large-scale exercise 2JA 2016. Two British observers joined the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force at its major annual test of its minehunting forces in Mutsu Bay at the northern tip of main island of Honshu. Some
Following contracts for MK-31 RAM missiles and SM-3 missiles earlier this week, the U.S. Navy has now awarded American defense company Raytheon a $287.9 million contract for work on the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS). Under the latest firm-fixed-price modification, Raytheon will carry out MK
The world’s largest international maritime exercise concluded Aug. 4, after more than a month of training events conducted in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. Twenty-six nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel participated in Ri
UK’s Ministry of Defence is considering granting over £1 billion to Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems so they can start building the first of four Successor ballistic missile submarines. According to a report by The Financial Times, the Ministry might allocate approx. $1.3 billion of funds as early as Sep
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Missile Systems a $36.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract option for design agent and engineering support services for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) upgraded MK-31 Guided Missile Weapon System improvement program. The MK-31 RAM Guided M
German Navy minehunter FGS Datteln rescued 133 migrants 75 kilometers north-west of Tripoli, Libya on August 1. The ship was initially tasked by the Force Headquarters to neutralize two empty rubber boats. While doing so, the ship’s crew spotted an overcrowded rubber boat in the vicinity. Upon rescu
The annual Pacific Partnership deployment embarked aboard hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrived in Kuantan, Malaysia thereby marking the first time the mission has visited Malaysia, although Malaysia has provided teams to support the mission since 2006. Malaysian civilian and military leadershi
Lockheed Martin has delivered the 24th, and final, MH-60R Seahawk helicopter to the U.S. Navy in support of the Navy’s foreign military sales (FMS) program with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The milestone delivery took place during a July 27 ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Owego, New York facility.
Two Royal Australian Navy sailors deployed to Exercise RIMPAC have saved the life of a drowning man in Honolulu, Hawaii. According to the Australian Navy, Hawaiian resident Chad Gillingham fell more than four meters from the pier into the harbor shortly before midnight earlier this month and suffere
Pacific Partnership service members from New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia supported a Da Nang border guard-led Search and Rescue Field Training Exercise (SAR FTX) July 26 that began on the Han River and concluded aboard Vietnam people’s navy hospital ship Khanh Hoa and USNS Mercy (T-AH 19). The F
On Friday 29 July 2016 Rear Admiral Jonas Wikstrӧm (Swedish Navy) handed over the role of Deputy Operation Commander (DCOM) of the European Union’s counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia to Rear Admiral Cristobal Gonzalez-Aller (Spanish Navy). The handover took place at the operational He
Enhanced mine warfare capabilities will soon be a reality for the Royal Australian Navy, with Australia Mine Warfare Team 16 being officially named at a ceremony at HMAS Waterhen. The team, named after the 16th Mine Sweeping Squadron, achieved the milestone on Thursday 14 July, with Chief of Navy, V
Operation Atalanta’s warships are deployed off the coast of Somalia to ensure that the pirate attacks that terrorized seafarers in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden for a number of years are not allowed to resurge. In order to ensure that the EU NAVFOR warships are able to maintain their counter-pir
