The Royal Bahrain Naval Service received its second upgraded Al Manama-class combatant at Royal Bahrain Navy headquarters in Mina Salman on November 15. The RBNS Al Muharraq was delivered by Italian defense contractor Leonardo under a six-vessel upgrade contract signed in 2015. The upgrades include
The US Navy’s expeditionary sea-base platform ship USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) has embarked an MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter assigned to the “Blackhawks” of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 15 for the first time in the US 5th Fleet area of operations. The training, which concluded Novemb
Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose became the first Royal Navy frigate to forward-deploy to the Persian Gulf as she got underway from Plymouth for a three-year deployment to the Middle East. While the Devonport-based warship will not return home for more than three years, her ship’s company will rotate in
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat got underway from her homeport Fleet Base West at Garden Island on October 28 to start her Middle East deployment. The 190 sailors and officer on board will spend the next nine months conducting maritime security operations as part of the Australian defens
US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mitscher (DDG 57) met up with Egyptian Navy’s Descubierta-class corvette ENS El Suez (F-946) for a passing exercise (PASSEX) on October 21. Cmdr. Ian Scaliatine, commanding officer of Mitscher, welcomed El Suez’s leadership aboard Mitscher f
The Pakistan Navy commissioned its new fleet tanker PNS Moawin in a ceremony on October 16. PNS Moawin was commissioned after being launched in August 2016 and starting trials in May this year. The 158-meter tanker was built by Pakistan’s Karachi Shipyard under a design provided by Turkey’s STM. Acc
Royal Fleet Auxiliary amphibious support ship RFA Lyme Bay has arrived at the port of Duqm in Oman to join the Anglo-Omani exercise Saif Sareea 3. The 16,000-ton ship sailed 5,000 miles from Falmouth to Duqm, where Britain has permanent facilities to support naval operations in the region. The port
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) has become the first US Navy ship to visit Israeli port of Ashdod in nineteen years. USS Ross arrived in Ashdod on October 8, 2018, for a scheduled port visit. As other navy ships usually call the port of Haifa when visiting the country,
Royal Navy amphibious assault ship HMS Albion has arrived in Oman ahead of the start of an exercise that will see the involvement of over 4,000 British personnel. Exercise Saif Sareea (Swift Sword) is the largest combined military exercise for UK forces since 2002 and HMS Albion will be in charge of
The first of ten future Royal Saudi Arabian Navy MH60-R Seahawk helicopters landed at Naval Station Mayport on October 2. Saudi pilots and crew are expected to spend the next three years training with HSM 40, a helicopter squadron based out of Naval Station Mayport. “This is an exciting day!” said L
French Navy frigate FS Floreal has seized over 7 tons of hashish from two dhows in the Indian Ocean on September 23 and 24. According to Combined Maritime Forces, the drugs are valued at $3.5m, based on street values in Yemen, which was the expected destination for the hashish. This is the most sign
Florida-based Comtech Systems, a Comtech Telecommunications Corp. subsidiary, was recently awarded a $9.1 million sole-sourced contract to support a C4I system in service with the Iraqi Navy. Awarded by the Program Executive Office (PEO) Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (
US Navy Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships from the US 5th Fleet’s Combined Task Force (CTF) 55 honed artillery skills during a Griffin Missile System (GMS) fleet firing exercise which took place between September 16 and 18 in the Middle East. Coastal patrol ships USS Firebolt (PC 10), USS Monsoon (
Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon got underway from her Portsmouth homeport on September 17 after a short, unspecified, delay. Dragon is now headed for the Persian Gulf where it is expected to spend several months an operational deployment. The destroyer is scheduled to work alongside coalition and regio
