The US Navy has completed developmental testing for the AN/AQS-20C mine-hunting sonar system for littoral combat ships at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, February 26. The AQS-20C is the next generation of the AN/AQS-20 system designed to be incorporated into the LCS mine coun
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) returned to Naval Station Rota, Spain, for a scheduled training and maintenance availability (TRAV) on February 13. The maintenance is being conducted after the ship completed a patrol in the US 6th Fleet Area of Operations.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems says it has received a contract from Advanced Technology International (ATI) to develop and demonstrate a prototype Lithium-ion Fault Tolerant (LiFT) battery system for the US Navy’s prototype “Snakehead” Large-Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV). T
US Navy Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis, the US 2nd Fleet (C2F) Commander, embarked the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), marking the first time the fleet has executed command and control over forces at sea. Lewis was aboard the carrier from January 31 through February 1. Un
US Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and ships from its carrier strike group (ABECSG) departed Naval Station Norfolk for the final pre-deployment exercise on January 25. The undertaking is called the Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) and is designed to assess a strike group’s abili
When the US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier entered service in July 2017, it did so without any functional elevators. The navy has now announced that the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) received its first advanced weapons elevator (AWE) at the end of 2018. AWE Upper Stage #1 was turned over to the ship o
An Indian Navy frigate reached a milestone recently as it became the first Indian warship to escort a vessel of UN’s World Food Program. INS Sunayna completed the escort for the first time since counter-piracy deployments began in 2008, following an escort request by EU NAVFOR. A WFP dhow was transp
Italian defense contractor Leonardo announced that its TH-119 IFR training helicopter successfully completed its maiden flight on December 20. The TH-119 is Leonardo’s bid to replace the US Navy’s aging fleet of TH-57 Sea Ranger training helicopters, a variant of the AW119, manufactured in the US. U
The “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 completed their carrier qualifications December 12 aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), the US Navy has announced. The carrier qualifications are the final required component for Commander Joint Strike Fighter Wing (CJSFW) to issue the squadron its sa
US shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries has launched the 18th Virginia-class submarine Delaware (SSN 791) at its Newport News Shipbuilding division. During a three-day process that began last Wednesday, the 7,800-ton submarine was moved out of a construction facility and into a floating dry doc
US Navy destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) was floated out from dry dock on November 27 and moored pierside at Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, where the ship is undergoing repairs after colliding with a merchant ship in August 2017. McCain’s launch is an important step in the ongoing effort
The NHIndustries-developed NH90 Sea Lion has recently achieved two important milestones ahead of the official first delivery of the helicopter to the German Navy at the end of 2019. As announced by Airbus, all ground and flight tests for the qualification of the new NH90 variant were concluded in th
An operation to raise the almost-submerged Royal Norwegian Navy frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad following a collision in the Hjeltefjorden fjord on November 8 is expected to be completed within some three weeks, the navy has said. Should all go according to plans, the stricken frigate will be loaded on
US Navy cruisers and destroyers assigned to the carrier strike group assembled around aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and other Norfolk-based units got underway from Naval Station Norfolk for the surface warfare advanced tactical training (SWATT) exercise on November 2. SWATT is the Su
