The U.S. Coast Guard received the 20th fast response cutter (FRC), named after Lawrence Lawson, in Florida, October 20. The Coast Guard said the ship would be the second FRC stationed in Cape May, New Jersey, and is scheduled for commissioning in early 2017. The service also noted that the ship was
Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, Detroit (LCS 7), became the newest LCS to join the U.S. Navy fleet during an October 22 ceremony in Detroit. USS Detroit, the fourth Freedom-variant in the LCS class, completed acceptance trials in July and was delivered to the U.S. Navy on August 12. It joins t
With an order book of over $3 billion, Austal is the only Australian company to make it into the top 100 defence companies in the world. Operating shipyards in Australia, U.S. and the Philippines, the company constructs ships for both the defence and commercial sector. Defence is at the company’s co
Aircraft can once again take off from the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) after the ship earned the flight deck certification while underway in the Pacific Ocean, October 20. The certification proves Nimitz’s flight deck and the sailors who conduct flight operations are capable of saf
Her Majesty The Queen has given her consent for the first of the next-generation nuclear-missile-armed submarines to carry the name Dreadnought. One of the most symbolic names in Royal Navy history is thereby being resurrected after more than 35 years. It’s a warship title which goes back to the rei
U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) took part in a passing exercise (PASSEX) with a ship from the Romanian Navy in the Black Sea as it departed Constanta, Romania, October 20. Mount Whitney participated in a minesweeping exercise with Romanian Navy corvette Admi
Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has contracted Canadian OSI Maritime Systems to supply two integrated bridge systems (IBS) to the Royal Australian Navy for the AOR (auxiliary oiler replenishment) program. The IBS is based on OSI’s warship INTS (integrated navigation & tactical system) design which OSI
Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Portland is currently in Simonstown, South Africa, where the crew started their month-long break during a nine-month deployment. After adding 18,000 miles to her odometer in a patrol which has taken the frigate from Plymouth, through the Mediterranean, Suez and Strai
The U.S. Navy said its future guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115) successfully completed Alpha trials on October 18, after spending two days underway off the coast of Maine. The trials were conducted by shipbuilder Bath Iron Works (BIW), a subsidiary of General Dynamics. Alpha tria
A Czech squadron of Gripen fighter jets have reached the second week of their air-maritime integration and carried out joint missions with Danish, French and Icelandic vessels off Iceland. Currently in charge of providing air interception capabilities for Iceland under NATO, the Czech JAS-39 Gripen
Senior lawyers from the US Navy and the Royal Navy met at the stone frigate HMS Excellent for formal joint talks concerning aircraft carrier operations. With the Royal Navy on the cusp of returning to ‘big deck’ aircraft carrier operations when HMS Queen Elizabeth joins the fleet next year, it is ke
The U.S. Navy is currently modifying its Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2) to make it capable of deploying the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Scheduled to be completed in March 2017, Essex will be the third big-deck platform to feature the upgrades and will be the first to do a
In collaboration with the French defence procurement agency (DGA), DCNS has unveiled the French Navy’s new FTI (Fregate de Taille Intermediaire) medium-size frigate design at Euronaval in Paris, France. According to DCNS, the 4,000-tonne front-line frigate will be equipped for anti-submarine warfare
Russian cruiser-carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and other ships from its strike group were escorted off the Norwegian coast as they were sailing towards the Mediterranean. NATO said it deployed ships that were under its command to monitor the presence of Russian warships, noting it was routine procedure i
