Construction of a new naval testing facility at the Portsdown Technology Park (PTP) in Portsmouth, UK, is set to begin soon, UK defense technology company Qinetiq announced as it unveiled the facility’s design. Together with the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Qinetiq is investing £23m in
French defense and technology company Thales worked with the Royal Navy recently to see if upgrades in submarine sonar systems could be applied on towed array sonars used on surface ships such as the Type 23 frigates. Sonar 2076 is the Royal Navy’s major sonar platform on all submarines, while the T
The UK defense ministry has awarded a £160 million (approx. $226.5m) contract to a BAE Systems-led team to resolve the power and propulsion system issues experienced by Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers. The Power Improvement Project (PIP) will improve the resilience of the Type 45 class by installing
US Navy’s Harpers-Ferry class dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) and the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) wrapped up their 15-day stay in the Black Sea, transiting the Bosphorus to return to the Mediterranean Sea on March 22. During their time in the Black Sea, US Navy sailors and
After concluding exercises and at sea maneuvers with Lithuanian Navy units, ships from NATO’s Standing Maritime Group One (SNMG1) started a series of naval exercises with the Polish Navy in the Baltic Sea. The exercise got underway on Monday and included a number of basic and advanced maritime opera
A Finnish Air Force pilot landed an F/A-18C Hornet on a US Navy aircraft carrier on March 17, becoming the first Finn ever to do so. Capt. Juha “Stallion” Jrvinen performed an arrested landing on the Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and is currently attached to Marine Fight
The US Navy’s froward-deployed Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) got underway from Spain, to start a patrol in the US 6th Fleet area of operations. The destroyer’s seventh patrol started on March 12, as the ship and crew departed Naval Station Rota. Donald Cook wi
Trent, the third of five River-class offshore patrol vessels (OPV) being built for the Royal Navy, has been named. The naming ceremony took place in Govan, Glasgow on March 13, BAE Systems Maritime informed. Trent is now set to take to the water for the first time and make the short journey across t
Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland got underway for the first time since 2016 after undergoing a major refit. The frigate was delivered to the crew by shipbuilder Babcock in October 2017 and is now starting trials and training evolutions before returning to operations. The 24-year-old fri
The waters around Norway’s capital are considerably safer after a two-week hunt by the crew of Royal Navy’s HMS Cattistock. Experts from the Portsmouth-based minehunter found more than ten WW2 mines and torpedoes during a concerted search for unexploded wartime bombs with a NATO task group, the navy
US Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) arrived off the coast of Israel on March 6 to take part in exercise Juniper Cobra 2018. Although Iwo Jima and the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will not participate directly in the ballistic missile defense portion of
UK’s defense procurement minister Guto Bebb on March 6 informed MPs that the UK defense ministry received the treasury approval to award a construction contract for the Royal Navy’s seventh Astute-class submarine. Negotiations are still ongoing, it was noted, and the new contingent liabilities assoc
German Navy’s Brandenburg-class frigate FGS Bayern is scheduled to get underway from her homeport of Wilhelmsaven on March 7 to start a six-month deployment to the Aegean Sea. During their time in the Aegean Sea, the frigate and her crew will operate as part of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SN
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) departed the Black Sea on March 3, after conducting maritime security operations. The US Navy vessel entered the Black Sea in February 2018, joining sister ship USS Ross. Carney’s crew visited Varna for a scheduled port visit to st
