The U.S. Navy and Raytheon Company have begun integrating the Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer variant into the U.S. Navy’s fleet of F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets. The integration process will include a series of risk reduction activities and technology demonstrations. MALD® is a state-of-the-art, low
Thales UK has signed a contract with Autonomous Surface Vehicles Ltd (ASV Ltd) to develop a re-configurable Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) to meet the challenges of future off-board Mine Countermeasures (MCM) operations. The vessel has been jointly designed to meet a number of key requirements and d
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected to supply the Platform Management System (PMS) for the Royal Navy’s fifth Astute-class submarine, Anson. Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit will supply the PMS for Astute Boat 5 under a performance partnering arrangement (PPA) with BAE Syste
Fresh from maritime security operations in the Indian Ocean, Merlins of 814 Naval Air Squadron decamped to Stavanger to hunt three diesel boats determined to ‘sink’ a German tanker. Normally they don’t make it quite as easy as this for the Navy’s top submarine hunters to find them… The tell-tale mas
Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today announced the launch of the second Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) at the Navantia shipyard in Spain. The launch represented a major milestone in the shipbuilding process and was attended by the Chief of Navy, Vice
Brand-new £1bn destroyer HMS Dragon saluted the seven cruise ships of world’s famous P&O line last night as they gathered in the Solent to mark the firm’s 175th birthday. The seven liners – displacing more than half a million tonnes in total – conducted a sail past out of Southampton, with HMS Drago
Teams from DCNS, the French Navy and defence procurement agency DGA recently completed a new test campaign aboard first-of-class FREMM multimission frigate Aquitaine, the last and most important being the first ever torpedo launch test from a FREMM frigate. After demonstrating FREMM frigate Aquitain
On June 27, the Netherlands Defence Materiel Organization and Thales Nederland signed an agreement to modify the four SMART-L volume search radars installed on the “De Zeven Provinciën” class air defence and command frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The new SMART-L radar will be optimized for
Portsmouth based warship HMS Ledbury will return home today after spending six months working alongside NATO counterparts in the Mediterranean Sea. The Hunt Class minehunter and her 42 crew sailed in early January. Since then Ledbury has clocked up 12,000 nautical miles and spent her time operating
A delegation from the Libyan Navy has visited HMS Raleigh and Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) for an insight into the methods used by the Royal Navy to train new recruits. The delegation was led by Commodore Hassan Ali Bushnak, Chief Of Staff Libyan Naval Force. During their time at HMS Raleigh
From 1 to June 14, 2012, EUNAVFOR frigate Guépratte has concentrated its patrols in the area south of the Strait of Bab el Mandeb and the western Gulf of Aden, areas prone to pirate attacks. The beginning of June usually marks the arrival of the monsoon in the Indian Ocean. It is characterized by su
This Summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games have presented HMS Puncher and the 1st Patrol Boat Squadron the chance to show their flexibility by re-rolling from their common training task into that of force protection assets. Tasked to operate with 539 Assault Squadron HMS Puncher will be based on the
Royal Navy mine hunter, HMS Penzance, will make a welcome visit to her spiritual home this weekend, as she sails into Penzance for a four day visit. Not only will the public be able to see HMS Penzance alongside in Penzance harbour all weekend, but the ship will be opening her decks to visitors on [
On Friday, Fincantieri Muggiano (La Spezia) shipyard held a ceremony to mark the launch of the “Qarnen”, a patrol vessel under construction for the United Arab Emirates Navy. Her sister ship, the “Ghantut”, was launched last January. The two vessels – whose names come from an area of the Emirates ne
