Training & Education
Royal Navy’s HMS Bulwark returns from five week training in UK waters
Royal Navy’s Albion-class assault ship HMS Bulwark has returned to Plymouth, England after five weeks of exercises and training across the UK. Leaving Plymouth in early April, the ship took part in Exercise Griffin Strike with other UK and French units including HMS Ocean for advanced naval warfare
Lithuanian-hosted exercise Baltic Fortress concludes
A total of 14 warships from ten nations took part in this year’s iteration of NATO’s ‘Baltic Fortress’ exercise. The drill was hosted by Lithuania and took place between May 6 and 13. Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG-1), with Spanish F-100 frigate Álvaro de Bazán at the helm, also took part in
Spanish, Moroccan Navy conduct MAES-16
One Spanish and one Royal Morocco Navy frigate met in the Gulf of Cadiz to conduct the bilateral exercise MAES-16 from May 4 – 12. Spanish Santa Maria-class frigate Canarias and Moroccan Sigma-class frigate Allal Ben Abdellah carried out a series of training activities in the Gulf of Cadiz under the
ESPS Santa Maria relieves ESPS Tornado in Operation Atalanta
EU NAVFOR’s Operation Atalanta has welcomed back the Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Santa Maria. The ship was previously deployed on Op Atalanta in 2011 and will be conducting counter-piracy patrols over the coming five months. ESPS Santa Maria has an embarked Seahawk helicopter on board, allowing her to
Combined Maritime Forces and EU NAVFOR bolster friendship
Rear Admiral Ken Cheong, Commander of Combined Task Force (CTF) 151, recently visited the EU NAVFOR’s operation Atalanta flagship, FGS Bayern in Salalah in the Gulf of Aden. Radm Cheong, who works for Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), met the Force Commander EU NAVFOR, Radm Jan Kaack, onboard FGS Baye
German dive support ship heads for mine clearance maneuver off Lithuania
German Navy’s diver support ship FGS Rottweil (M 1061) set sail for Klaipeda, Lithuania on May 12. The vessel and its crew will join minesweepers from different nation to take part in NATO’s ‘Open Spirit’ maneuver. Open Spirit arose from from the exercises of the joint mine countermeasures squadron
Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System opens in Romania
The Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System in Romania was deemed as operationally certified in a ceremony held in Deveselu, May 12, and thereby marked a key milestone to complete Phase II of the European Phased Adaptive Approach. This ballistic missile defense system represents an increase in the capab
Spanish minesweeper joins NATO’s standing maritime group
Spanish Navy’s Segura-class minesweeper ESPS Turia will join NATO’s Standing Mine Counter Measures Group 2 which operates in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Crewed by 44 sailors and commanded by Captain Enrique Miguel García Morera, the ship set sail from Naval Base Cartagena, Spain on May 12 and i
Raytheon lands Evolved Sea Sparrow missile contract
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Missile Systems a $76,1 million contract for the procurement of Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) Block I production material. Raytheon’s ESSM missile is an international upgrade of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile. The missile was developed by
Mine countermeasures a platform of cooperation for JMSDF and Royal Navy
Two Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ships worked worked closely with Royal Navy’s HMS Middleton during last month’s mine countermeasures exercise in the Gulf, IMCMEX. Hunt Class Mine Countermeasures Vessel (MCMV) HMS Middleton trained with the JMSDF ships Uraga and Takashima for several
German Bremen-class frigate changes command
German Navy’s Bremen-class frigate is scheduled to hold a change of command ceremony on May 13, 2016. Due to construction works at the navy yard in Wilhelmshaven the ceremony will take place at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. The 4th Frigate Squadron Commander, Captain at Sea, Thorste
Saab to provide optronic sensors for Royal Canadian Navy
Lockheed Martin Canada has awarded Saab a contract to add optronic sensors to the Canadian Navy’s Ceros 200 fire control directors. The Ceros 200 is a radar and optronic fire control director for naval ships which equips all of Canada’s Halifax-class frigates along with a land-based test site. When
Preparations for ‘Unmanned Warrior’ underway
The Royal Navy has hosted a number of organizations working on unmanned maritime systems for the main planning conference for October’s Unmanned Warrior. The demonstration of unmanned systems overlaid onto the twice-yearly multinational Joint Warrior exercise staged off western Scotland will allow t
US Navy littoral combat ship to deploy with Norwegian missiles
The U.S. Navy is progressing armament testing for its newly developed littoral combat ships. Norwegian Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has been contracted for the equipment and flight test support services for the second phase of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) foreign comparative testing (FCT) demonst