The Bulgarian Navy is staging a fleet wide drill with the aim of preparing units for the international Black Sea exercise Sea Breeze. Dubbed Black Sea – 2018, the local exercise is taking place from June 18 to 22 and will see the participation of 25 Bulgarian naval and auxiliary ships. The exercise
The US Navy-led and Lithuanian-hosted international exercise BALTOPS 2018 concluded on June 15 as participating ships arrived in Kiel, Germany. During the two-week BALTOPS exercise, over 100 drills in surface, subsurface, air defense, mine counter measures, maritime interdictions, and joint personne
Russian Navy’s Northern Sea fleet has kicked off a large-scale naval drill in the Barents Sea which will see over 30 warships take part in various maneuvers. This is the largest exercise the Northern Fleet has undertaken in the last 10 years, the navy said in a statement. Drills will include cruise-
US Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) and embarked Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) got underway from Piraeus, Greece, after completing a scheduled voyage repair and port visit. During the seven-day stop, New York completed maintenance
The Finnish defense ministry has awarded Kongsberg Maritime a contract to deliver its ST2400 variable depth sonar (VDS) for the Hamina-class missile boats. The contract was awarded to Kongsberg as part of the Squadron 2000 mid-life upgrade (MLU) program which will extend the missile boats’ service l
The UK defense ministry’s program for the development of a new class of nuclear missile submarines and Trident nuclear program renewal is facing a £2.9b “affordability gap”, a review by spending watchdog National Audit Office (NAO) has found. This is in addition to the pressure faced by the defense
Ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) arrived in Poti, Georgia, on May 14 after concluding their participation in the Romanian-hosted Black Sea exercise Sea Shield 2018. During the four-day port call to Poti, the ships’ crews will join Georgian Border Police for drills aimed at incre
The UK defense secretary is set to announce a £2.5bn investment for new Royal Navy submarines during his visit to BAE Systems’ shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria on Monday. According to the UK defense ministry, the investment includes £1.5bn for the construction of the seventh Astute-class sub
A multi-lateral anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise in the Norwegian Sea got underway May 9 as navy assets from five ally countries gathered in Bodo, Norway, for the pre-sail conference. The exercise is hosted by Norway and led by the US Navy. ASW forces from Canada, France, Norway, the United Kin
The Italian Navy has taken delivery of its newest frigate, Federico Martinengo. The delivery ceremony took place at Fincantieri’s Muggiano shipyard, La Spezia, on April 24. The newbuild is the seventh of a series of ten vessels of the FREMM program – Multi Mission European Frigates – commissioned to
The UK defense secretary cut the first turf on April 19 for a new facility at RAF Lossiemouth which will house the UK’s new fleet of Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The £132m site will be the future home to the country’s nine-strong, new P-8A Poseidon MPA fleet. The aircraft’s key role will
The Italian Navy decommissioned its third Soldati-class patrol ship ITS Bersagliere in a ceremony at Italian naval base La Spezia on April 17. Bersagliere was decommissioned after 23 years of service in a ceremony attended by Italian Navy Chief Admiral Valter Girardelli and other government and defe
The Royal Malaysian Navy has awarded Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace a EUR124 million (approx. USD$153.2m) contract for the delivery of Naval Strike Missile (NSM) systems for its new littoral combat ships. Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd is building the ships based on Nava
US, French and UK forces launched strikes on Syrian chemical facilities in the morning hours of April 14 in response to chemical attacks used by the Syrian government early April. US guided missile destroyer USS Higgins and USS Laboon, guided missile cruiser USS Monterey and Virginia-class submarine
