The UK government is setting aside £30 milion for the development of a laser weapon prototype that is to be developed under the Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) capability demonstrator. After several months of preparations, the UK Ministry of Defense on Wednesday officially awarded the contract t
The Italian Navy’s Bergamini-class frigate ITS Carabiniere left the Italian port of La Spezia for an ‘Italian industry showcase’ deployment to Australia and Southeast Asia. ITS Carabiniere is a FREMM frigate built for the Italian Navy by Fincantieri within the framework of an Italo-French cooperatio
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri said it has established an Australian subsidiary and announced the opening of a new Australian headquarters in Canberra soon. Fincantieri was short-listed by the Australian government to bid to design and build nine, new frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). D
The United Kingdom has formally named the Royal Navy’s fourth Astute-class submarine during a ceremony at the BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness. The nuclear submarine was named Audacious. Marking a milestone in the vessel’s journey towards joining the Royal Navy’s fleet, Lady Elizabeth Jones
David Brown Santasalo, a 150 years old gearbox manufacturer, has started work on gearboxes for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates at its newly opened facility in Huddersfield. UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon attended the opening ceremony of the facility on December 9. The establishment of the com
The UK Ministry of Defence announced Thursday that work on two new offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Navy will get underway with a £278M contract with shipbuilder BAE Systems. The two new vessels were named HMS Tamar and HMS Spey. Preparation works were already underway and Minister for Defence
British shipbuilder BAE Systems announced Wednesday that it has awarded further manufacturing equipment contracts for the Type 26 Global Combat Ship. With the contracts awarded to six companies, the total investment to date in the Type 26 supply chain was brought to more than £380m, BAE Systems said
UK’s Defence Secretary announced on Friday that first steel for the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates would be cut in summer 2017. Michael Fallon made the announcement during a visit to Govan in Scotland and added that the deal was subject to final contract negotiations. Fallon also announced a £100
The U.S. Navy recently shared news of the Marines’ F-35B stealth fighter jet conducting trials aboard the amphibious assault ship USS America. A total of seven of the STOVL (short take-off vertical landing) variants of the Lockheed Martin-built jet are embarked on USS America for both developmental
UK’s Babcock International Group announced Thursday that it has been awarded a contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat to support the manufacturing of 22 tactical missile tube assemblies for the UK Successor and US Ohio-class replacement submarine programmes. The work is part of the second phas
A damp day across the Western Isles greeted the dozens of range staff, RN augmentees and Joint Warrior liaison teams who turned out before first light on the first official Unmanned Warrior flying day and headed for the brightly lit Range Control Building 12 miles south of Benbecula on the island of
A 4 billion euro (approx. $4.5B) contract for the construction of the German Navy’s new MKS 180 (Mehrzweckkampfschiff) ship has been delayed by six month, news agency Reuters has reported. The German defense ministry is postponing the contract to ensure high-quality standards are met, the report sai
BAE Systems announced Monday that it has signed a ten-and-a-half-year contract extension to provide combat systems integration services for Royal Navy’s in-service and future platforms. The contract includes, among others, Type 45 destroyers, the new Queen Elizabeth (QE) Class aircraft carriers, and
British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon attended the steel cutting ceremony for the first Successor submarine yesterday at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness site. The event marked the official start of the production of four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines which will replace Royal Navy’s
