A large-scale exercise which will see nearly 1000 Royal Marines hone their skills alongside their Albanian counterparts is now under way. Exercise Albanian Lion is the first major outing for the Response Force Task Group (RFTG) – a Royal Naval force involving four warships and five support vessels w
Earlier this month, the Dutch naval vessel HNLMS Amsterdam charted the infamous drug smuggling route Highway 10 between West Africa and South America. This was done at the request of the European counter-drug organisation Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N) in Lisbon. Over t
At this year’s Defence and Security event in London, DSEI (10-13 Sep), Marine security experts, BCB Marine, will be displaying a device which enables security teams to intercept, entrap and disable fast vessels used in narcotics trafficking, piracy or terrorist acts without using deadly force. UK-ba
Having arrived at Cape Verde (19th August), the crew of HMS Richmond did not waste any time in putting the theory learnt from the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Narcotics) (MAOC(N)) briefings (received previously in Lisbon, Portugal), into practice with an intensive training programme. A s
Royal Navy warship HMS Argyll has just completed an intense period of counter-narcotics operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean before making her way back home to the UK. The Plymouth-based Type-23 frigate worked alongside her US, Canadian and Colombian allies to help deter potential drug trafficker
Royal Navy warship, HMS Montrose could be used to launch a military strike against Syria, if needed, according to The Herald. HMS Montrose could be joined by an unnamed nuclear submarine. Nevertheless, the specific positions of the military assets have not been disclosed due to security reasons. Bri
Unmanned surface vessels (USV) still lag far behind their aerial equivalents in terms of technical capabilities, technology, and deployment. However, new threats, cost-benefit calculations, operational experiences in the past decade, and new technological developments are driving rapid growth in the
Spanish offshore patrol boat Arnomendi has set sail from Cartagena towards Newfoundland waters (Canada) to participate in the 2013 protection campaign of NAFO fishing grounds. Spain participates in this seasonal campaign providing naval assets to the European Union to perform monitoring and surveill
The Spanish frigate ‘Numancia’ has arrived at her home port in Rota Naval Base with 197 people on board after a five-month deployment in operation ‘Atalanta’ fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean as part of EUNAVFOR (European Union Naval Force). The Spanish warship has finished her second deployment i
They may have spent the last months hard at work at sea – but this has not deterred some studious members of HMS Dragon’s company roaring through their GCSEs and A Levels. Despite being almost constantly on operations and working in six-hour-on, six-hour-off ‘defence watches’, around 10% of the crew
HMS Bulwark sailed from Lisbon with Portuguese Marines embarked for a short training exercise in order to share knowledge, experience and skills of amphibious operations. The 38 Portuguese Marines received a demonstration on the equipment used by HMS Bulwark’s Assault Squadron Royal Marines (ASRM),
In the first week of August the Mexican Navy (Secretaria de Marina) and Damen Shipyards Group signed a contract for a fourth Damen Stan Patrol 4207. The Dutch ship design and shipbuilding company will supply the Mexican Navy with the design and material package with which ASTIMAR 1 (the Mexican Navy
Submariner, Commander Tony “Gecko” Ellis, has found new friends in far away places, during a visit to the Indian Defence Services Staff College at Wellington in Tamil Nadu, India. Commander Ellis is a student at the Australian Command and Staff College (ACSC) in Canberra. He, and a small delegation
The Plymouth-based Royal Navy warship HMS Argyll has left her South Atlantic patrol and is the way home through the Panama Canal. Sailing two seas in one day – the 50-mile long canal allows ships to sail between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in just ten hours and the crew took the time to improve
