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
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
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
The 2016 iteration of the U.S.-only exercise Valiant Shield concluded on the U.S. island territory Guam, September 23. 18,000 personnel and more than 180 aircraft from the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and nine surface ships came together on Guam and around the Marianas Island Range Complex
Cmdr. Stefan Walch is the commanding officer of USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer currently sailing off the coast of Canada taking part in the international exercise Cutlass Fury 2016. Undeterred by the exercise’s busy schedule, Cmdr. Walch has found time to take
The U.S. Navy has awarded Saab Defense and Security USA a $38 million contract to provide the AN/SPN-50 (V)1 shipboard air traffic radars for aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. According to Saab, the first award for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the progra
U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) launched the NATO Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile to engage a target drone during a fleet firing exercise. The missile was launched on September 18 off the coast of the U.S. territory of Guam during the biennial Valiant Shield exerc
U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) departed Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, on September 18, after a brief stop en route to Naval Base San Diego. Fort Worth arrived in Kwajalein September 17 for refueling and stores onload prior to continuing the transit to he
Royal Netherlands Navy offshore patrol ship HNLMS Groningem has seized two tonnes of cocaine after intercepting a small fishing boat in the Caribbean Sea. Five crew members were detained and transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard together with the found contraband. A U.S. maritime reconnaissance plane
U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) reached the halfway point of its Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) September 13, pierside at Naval Air Station North Island. PIA is a reoccurring part of a ship’s life cycle, scheduled approximately every 36 months. It’s
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is developing a new capability called the Naval Security Team (NST) that will be tasked with protecting Canadian Navy ships and sailors while on deployment. According to the navy, NST will be composed primarily of naval reservists and will include a full-time command te
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
U.S. ships and aircraft used live fire munition to sink a decommissioned U.S. Navy guided missile frigate in waters 30,000 feet deep and 117 nautical miles northeast of Guam on September 13. The boat sank in five hours after sustaining 22 missile hits, finally succumbing to hellfire missiles shots b
The U.S. Marine’s F-35 Lightning II and the Navy’s Aegis air and missile defense weapon system worked together for the first time during a live fire exercise. According to Lockheed Martin, the company involved in the production of both systems, the event successfully demonstrated the integration of
