US Navy Rear Admiral Patrick Piercey, US Pacific Command operations director, recently paid a visit to the Royal Navy’s carrier strike group commander Commodore Andrew Betton onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth. The Admiral was visiting the home base of the Royal Navy’s carriers as part of a wider UK visit
US Navy destroyer USS Carney exited the Black Sea on January 13 after making a port call in Ukraine and taking part in an anti-submarine warfare drill a Romanian frigate and a Turkish submarine. Carney spent a total of eight days in the Black Sea. “Our time in the Black Sea provided the opportunity
Royal Navy Hunt-class minehunter HMS Cattistock got underway from naval base Portsmouth on Thursday to join the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1). Cattistock will be spending the next three months in the Baltic Sea contributing to NATO mine countermeasure operations. “The ship’s c
Italian defense company Leonardo was selected to lead the first European Defence Fund’s initiative project which will see the integration of unmanned platforms in surveillance and interdiction missions. OCEAN2020, as the project is called, is issued by the European Union under the ‘Preparatory Actio
A squadron of Royal Marines engineers took to the shores of western Scotland recently for an exercise that tested their ability to provide support to an amphibious unit in the field. On paper, the boat group from Plymouth’s 539 Assault Squadron should be able to deploy two hovercraft, eight ORC raid
German Navy’s F124 air-defense frigate FGS Hessen will be joining a US Navy aircraft carrier strike group off the US east coast for joint drills. Hessen is scheduled to depart her homeport of Wilhelmshaven on January 15 and will be joined by a Norwegian frigate which will also be integrating into a
Royal Navy frigate HMS Sutherland and her crew started a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary deployment on January 9, getting underway from their homeport at HM Naval Base Devonport. What is special about the Type 23 frigate’s deployment is that Sutherland will be the first Royal Navy vessel to operate in
French shipbuilder Naval Group has selected navigation and positioning systems company iXblue to deliver its Marins systems for the French Navy’s new FTI (Fregate de Taille Intermediaire) medium-size frigates. As a prime contractor on the FTI project, Naval Group signed a contract with iXblue for th
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) got underway from Naval Station Rota, Spain, on January 8, to start its sixth forward-deployed patrol in Africa and Europe. Ross completed its previous four-month patrol in July 2017. The 2017 patrol saw the destroyer take part
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carney (DDG64) arrived at the Ukrainian Port of Odessa on December 8, three days after entering the Black Sea. This is the destroyer’s second Odessa visit within a year. In July last year, Carney pulled into Odessa before taking part in the international e
Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan got underway from naval base Portsmouth on December 8 to start her deployment to NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) and the Royal Navy’s operation Kipion tasking. HMS Duncan is the first Royal Navy destroyer to deploy in 2018. The remaining five destro
Finland’s Patria has contracted Swedish defense contractor Saab for work on the Finnish Navy Squadron 2000 mid-life upgrade program. The contract awarded to Saab is worth SEK 960 million (approx. US$117.7 million) with deliveries set to start in 2018. According to Patria, the total value of the upgr
UK helicopter carrier HMS Ocean has reportedly been bought by Brazil. The purchase was confirmed by Brazilian defense minister Raul Jungmann, according to UK Defence Journal. Brazil is reportedly paying £84 million for the UK helicopter carrier which recently returned from her final deployment as a
US Marines embarked aboard French amphibious assault ship LHD Tonnerre (L9014) concluded ten days of amphibious operations in the vicinity of Djibouti during the Alligator Dagger exercise. US marines and sailors from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51/5th Ma
