The U.S. Navy has awarded BAE Systems a $50 million contract option to upgrade four additional Mk 45 naval guns on guided missile destroyers (DDG 51s), converting the guns to a fully-digital Mod 4 configuration. The option, exercised under an initial 2015 award, brings the full value of the contract
German Navy replenishment oiler Rhön (A 1443) is set to leave its homeport of Wilhelmshaven on October 4 to join the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. Captain Egon Rhauderwiek is looking forward to the deployment following a longer dockyard period. Rhauderwiek said it was very important for him and th
A U.S. Navy helicopter squadron made history earlier in September when the MQ-8B unmanned helicopter they operated successfully tracked a target and served as a laser designator for an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter to fire an AGM-114N Hellfire missile The Northrup Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout detected targe
U.S. Navy’s Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS San Juan (SSN-751) returned to its homeport at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, from a regularly scheduled deployment. Under the command of Cmdr. John Craddock, San Juan and her crew returned from a deployment to the U.S.
Spanish Navy’s sail training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano arrived at Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde, following port visits to Lisbon, Portugal and Las Palmas, Canary Islands. As soon as the ship docked On September 21, a series of protocol activities commenced, starting with the official wel
U.S. Navy’s MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) was authorized for low-rate initial production approval following a successful Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) led review. This decision marks the beginning of the production and deployment phase of the U.S Department of Defense acquisition
A team of explorers from a Canadian government agency has confirmed that the recently discovered wreck located in Terror Bay on the south-west side of King William Island, Nunavut is that of HMS Terror―the second ship of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Parks Can
The Royal Navy is now capable of having its recompression chambers reach stricken submariners and divers faster as a recent trial showed that the navy’s six Type 45 destroyers can fit the chambers to their flight decks. Until now only the Navy’s thirteen Type 23 frigates were able to deploy the emer
U.S. Marines and sailors from the Bonhomme Richard expeditionary strike group (ESG) are scheduled to take part in a joint exercise with the Armed Forces of the Philippines which is set to start next week. The 33rd iteration of the Philippines amphibious landing exercise (PHIBLEX 33) will take place
The Singapore-hosted Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) exercise Deep Sabre 2016 kicked off September 27 at the Changi Command and Control Centre. This year’s exercise, which is held from 27 to 30 September, involves more than 800 personnel from 21 countries. According to the Singaporean Minist
Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond that recently joined Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean, hosted the Commander of the EU Taskforce carrying out the mission. The destroyer sailed from Portsmouth in August to support the operation to counter illegal arms trafficking in order to promote a
U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Momsen (DDG 92) arrived in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands for a regularly scheduled port call on September 24. The port call provided Momsen’s crew an opportunity to refresh after four months of operations in the Western Pacific and South China Sea as part
The Spanish Navy has recently concluded an anti-air missile firing exercise in the Gulf of Cadiz with the F-80 frigates Victoria, Numancia and Canarias. The navy said the training exercises were designed to verify the proper functioning of all systems (fire control, launcher, programs, etc.) and the
U.S. Navy’s Makin Island amphibious ready group (ARG) completed a two-week certification exercise (CERTEX) off the coast of Southern California, September 22. CERTEX is the final integrated training event for the Makin Island ARG and 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) before deployment. “The Makin
