Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Mana has arrived in Canada to start her combat management system upgrades. The ship pulled into Canadian forces base Esquimalt on March 12 and will be modernized at Seaspan’s shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia. Te Mana is starting the upgrade after complet
Command and control ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), the US 7th Fleet flagship, arrived in Manila, the Philippines, on March 13, for the ship’s first port visit to the Philippines in three years. The Blue Ridge and 7th Fleet team carried out a cooperative deployment with Philippine Navy (PN) frigate Da
Assets from the navies of Japan, the UK and US are scheduled top take part in their second trilateral exercise later this week. The inaugural Asia Pacific exercise took place in December 2018. The drill will take place in the Western Pacific and is scheduled for kick off on March 14. Japan will be r
The Philippines defense ministry has awarded French defense contractor MBDA a contract to deliver surface-to-air missiles for its two José Rizal-class frigates currently under construction in South Korea. The contract is worth EUR 10.6 million (approx. USD 12 million) and will see the French company
Royal Navy’s Type 23 Frigate HMS Montrose arrived in Japan on March 8, becoming the fourth Royal Navy ship to visit the country in a year. HMS Montrose pulled into Tokyo for a six-day stay at Harumi Wharf before starting exercises with Japan’s Maritime Self Defence Force and the US Navy’s Seventh Fl
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat seized two tons of hashish worth an estimated AU$100 million in street value during a boarding operation on February 28. This is the sixth seizure of narcotics by Ballarat during her current deployment to the Middle East, which she started in October last
The search for the Royal Australian Navy’s sunken World War II destroyer HMAS Vampire is underway off the coast of Sri Lanka, with the navies of both countries contributing hydrographic assets to the cause. Nine sailors died when the destroyer HMAS Vampire sank after enduring an intensive Japanese a
The annual disaster response preparedness exercise Pacific Partnership began March 4 as US Military Sealift Command (MSC) expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Brunswick (T-EPF 6) got underway from Naval Base Guam to start the mission in Indo-Pacific. Pacific Partnership is the largest annual, mult
Japan’s second Asahi-class destroyer, the JS Shiranui, entered Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) service in a ceremony at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Nagasaki Shipyard on February 27. The lead ship in the class was commissioned a year before, on March 8, 2018. The 5,100-ton general-purpose
Royal Australian Navy’s communications and information systems sailors will benefit from a new simulator at the Defence Force School of Signals Maritime Wing at HMAS Cerberus. The learning system simulator was developed by Australian company Cirrus and was accepted by the School of Signals in Decemb
US Navy fleet replenishment oiler USNS Guadalupe (T-AO 200) and Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose (F236) met up in the South China Sea on February 18 for a series of maritime security and logistics training. The drills involved Royal Marine commandos, Royal Navy sailors and Guadalupe crew members. Dur
A Royal Australian Navy task group composed of landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra, frigate HMAS Newcastle, and tanker HMAS Sirius, departed Sydney Harbour on February 17 to start a series of exercises and engagements with regional allies. The task group will spend the next several weeks participa
The Australian defense ministry has selected Raytheon Australia to act as the country’s Aegis systems integration agent. Defense minister Christopher Pyne announced that the ministry issued a limited request for tender to Raytheon to establish a deed of standing offer under which Raytheon Australia
An unidentified US Navy Los Angeles-class attack submarine is set to take part in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Submarine Competition (SUBCOMP) exercise in waters south of Japan. The seven-day drill starts February 13. SUBCOMP is designed to evaluate and test Japanese crews across mu
