The Royal Australian Navy has awarded Austrian UAV developer Schiebel a contract for the supply of its Camcopter S-100 system and three years of follow-on contractor logistics support. The contract was signed at the end of December 2016, but the company announced it on February 6, 2017. The Royal Au
Australian shipbuilder Austal has rolled out Hull 380 at its Henderson shipyard ahead of the launch later this week. Hull 380 is the ninth Cape-class patrol boat designed and constructed by Austal and the first of two to be delivered to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 2017. The patrol boat will u
U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) arrived at the Singaporean Changi Naval Base to begin a rotational deployment in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. Coronado’s arrival in Singapore on October 16 marks the first deployment of an Independence-variant littoral combat ship to Southeast Asia and
The crew of HMAS Newcastle found their recent Sea Qualification Trials demanding, testing weapons and engineering systems after a lengthy maintenance period. Added to this hive of activity was the embarkation of the Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit and the Navy Unmanned Aviation Systems U
The New Zealand Defence Force’s Littoral Warfare Unit (LWU) hosted the Commander of the US 3rd Fleet, Vice Admiral (VADM) Nora Tyson, at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii on July 13. The LWU is the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) specialist unit comprising divers, hydrographers and mine counter m
The Royal Australian Navy’s division for unmanned aircraft systems recently achieved a milestone as their ScanEagle UAV completed the first of class flight trial in late March. During the trials, which were conducted onboard HMAS Choules, the Aviation Maintenance and Flight Trails Unit assessed all
Australia starts unrolling shipbuilding plans Austal, the West Australian shipbuilding company, is the first to benefit from the Australian shipbuilding program outlined in the recently released Defence White Paper. US Navy constructs unique pier U.S. Navy units started the construction of the Eleva
The waters in and around Jervis Bay were successfully cleared of ‘mines’ recently, during the Mine Counter Measure and Clearance Diving tactical training exercise – Exercise MULGOGGER. In a fictional scenario, HMAS Gascoyne entered Jervis Bay, in response to the request of a friendly nation, to coun
The Australian Coalition Government continues its commitment to increasing investment in Australian defence infrastructure. According to a report by Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Minister for Defence, reports of massive job losses in the industry are speculative. Over the last six years, defence spending dr
BAE Systems has offered a low-risk solution to provide the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) with deployable mine counter measures. The company has offered a mission system for the SEA 1778 request for tender, which incorporates products with proven overseas use that will be locally delivered and supporte
Currently operating off the coast of San Diego for exercise RIMPAC 2014 is the small team of six mine warfare sailors from the Royal Australian Navy’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Element (AUV), normally based at HMAS Waterhen in Sydney. Early in the sea phase of the six week long exercise, the A
The oil sample collected by Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield on Sunday within the search mission for missing MH 370 has now arrived in Perth and will be subject to detailed testing and analysis. Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said that it will provide details of the r
The US Navy is sending a sonar equipped underwater vehicle to search for the debris of the ill-fated Flight 370 Malaysian Airlines 777 plane, navy officials said Monday. The decision comes as a result of Malaysian government’s request from the Pentagon to provide underwater surveillance technologi
After an intense three weeks of operations, the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) Mine Counter Measures and Dive Exercise 2014 (MCMEX14) closed with a traditional ceremonial Beat to Quarters at the Navy Museum in Auckland, New Zealand. The MCMEX14 was hosted by the Royal New Zealand Navy and
