After passing through the Suez Canal on 1 April, the multipurpose frigate HNLMS Van Amstel officially began its participation in EU Operation Atalanta. The Van Amstel will contribute to the mission against pirates operating off the coast of East Africa up to the end of May 2012.Operation Atalanta is
HMS Westminster’s pirate-busters trained with their Kenyan counterparts when the Portsmouth warship visited the great port of Mombasa. As well as exercising with local forces, the frigate was used to promote trade between the UK and East Africa and launched an initiative by Anglo-Kenyan authorities
Pirate camps on the Somali coast may now also be tackled from Dutch ships. The Dutch Government approved the expansion of the Atalanta counterpiracy mission and informed the House of Representatives of the decision on 6 April. However, military personnel will not set foot on land for the purposes of
On Wednesday 11 April, in Harlingen the third of four Holland Class Oceangoing Patrol Vessels, “Friesland” built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding for the Royal Netherlands Navy, was transferred to the Defence Materiel Organization of the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands. After delivery the
HMS Daring has flown the flag for the Royal Navy – and UK industry – at the biggest naval showcase in the Middle East. Britain’s most advanced warship, on her maiden deployment, was joined by minehunter HMS Quorn in Qatar at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference. HMS Dari
The fifth of Britain’s Type 45 destroyers is ‘tuned to optimum performance’ after completing her second period of sea trials off Scotland. HMS Defender spent nearly a month off the Scottish coast testing her combat systems and sensors ahead of her impending handover to the Royal Navy. HMS Defender i
The biggest warship ever built for the Royal Navy has taken another big step towards completion. Two huge sections of HMS Queen Elizabeth are being joined on the Clyde to form the largest finished section yet of the future aircraft carrier. In a two-hour operation this section was moved from a large
BMT Isis Ltd, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has announced the completion of its latest project to validate BMT’s design for the Portsmouth Approach Channel, a design conceived to ensure that the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales ca
Black Sea Fleet (BSF) large landing ship Caesar Kunikov representing Russia in the spring activation of the BLACKSEAFOR joint task naval group left Sevastopol on Apr, 5 and set a course for Constanta, Romania. Recall that Russia took over command of that international task force in Aug 2011. Large l
Severnaya Verf shipyard and Algerian Navy signed a contract for integrated modernization of third pair of Project 1234E and Project 1159T ships. The contract was concluded under the agreement tied between FSUE Rosoboronexport and Algerian defense ministry. At present, Severnaya Verf is completing mo
On the morning of 7 April, French Navy frigate ACONIT was heading towards a position in the north of the Horn of Africa to join with Spanish frigate INFANTA ELENA, and take over the escort of a World Food Programme ship. Meanwhile, in Djibouti, Spain was about to hand over command of Task Force 465
Black Sea Fleet (BSF) frigate Smetlivy will continue deployment off Syria within a month, said an informed military diplomat. “At first, frigate Smetlivy will call at port Tartus to replenish water and food supplies; the crew will have a short rest there. After that, the ship will be deployed to eas
Great Britain and France are forming strike task force in order to destroy land infrastructure of Somali pirates, reports BBC. The task force includes French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, British light aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, amphibious assault ship HMS Bulwark, and s
Caspian Flotilla (CF) coastal missile battalion is practicing combat use of newest mobile missile system Bal at Adanak Test Range, Dagestan. During the joint exercise with CF strike group, the missilemen timely detected “enemy” sea target imitated by CF corvette Tatarstan. The battalion command post
