Leonardo-Finmeccanica, an Italian multinational aerospace and defence company announced July 4 it received an order from the Italian Coast Guard for additional two AW139 intermediate twin-engine helicopters. By placing this order the Italian service will bring its AW139 fleet to twelve with options
Spanish Navy’s F-100 AEGIS-equipped frigate Cristóbal Colón arrived at her home port in Ferrol, Spain on August 2 after a 45-day deployment to North American waters where the ship carried out weapon systems trials. Cristóbal Colón visited the U.S. Naval Base of Norfolk for combat system ship qualifi
British defense contractor BAE Systems is upgrading its submarine construction site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria to prepare it for the construction of UK’s new Successor-class submarine. The company informed Tuesday it awarded another major contract and erected the first steelwork for the largest o
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Raytheon Missile Systems a $36.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract option for design agent and engineering support services for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) upgraded MK-31 Guided Missile Weapon System improvement program. The MK-31 RAM Guided M
German Navy minehunter FGS Datteln rescued 133 migrants 75 kilometers north-west of Tripoli, Libya on August 1. The ship was initially tasked by the Force Headquarters to neutralize two empty rubber boats. While doing so, the ship’s crew spotted an overcrowded rubber boat in the vicinity. Upon rescu
A division of NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 and maritime assets from other allied nations joined the U.S.-Ukraine co-hosted international exercise Sea Breeze in the Black Sea from July 27 to 30. Personnel from Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine,
German Navy minehunter FGS Fulda is scheduled to depart its homeport in Kiel, Germany to join NATO’s standing mine countermeasures group two on Friday, August 5. Manned by the 42 man strong ‘Charlie’ crew, Fulda will spend the next five months with the maritime group under the command of Captain lie
The U.S. Coast Guard maritime engagement team (MET) and the Royal Navy from HMS Portland (FS 79) recently carried out a visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) exercise at a training site in Bahrain. The exercise was held between July 26- 27 aboard Naval Support Activity Bahrain which included a Shi
Dutch Navy’s De Zeven Provincien-class frigate HNLMS De Ruyter will be taking over as flagship of the NATO mission in the Aegean Sea in September 2016. The German Navy said the Dutch ship would take place of the frigate FGS Karlsruhe which is currently at the helm of the Standing NATO Maritime Group
U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) aided in the rescue of 97 migrants adrift in the Mediterranean Sea on July 29. According to the Navy, Carney provided aid for the migrants until the SOS Mediterranee ship MS Aquarius arrived and took the migrants to safety.
Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG2) recently completed its third Black Sea deployment under the command of Turkish Navy Captain Ramazan Kesgin. SNMCMG2 started its deployment on July 8 in support of NATO’s assurance measures regarding alliance resolve and commitment to collective de
On Friday 29 July 2016 Rear Admiral Jonas Wikstrӧm (Swedish Navy) handed over the role of Deputy Operation Commander (DCOM) of the European Union’s counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia to Rear Admiral Cristobal Gonzalez-Aller (Spanish Navy). The handover took place at the operational He
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has signed a £183 million contract for a weapons system which will sit on board the Royal Navy’s new next generation Type 26 Global Combat Ship. The Maritime Indirect Fire System (MIFS) will be integrated onto the Type 26 Global Combat Ships, currently being designed by
Operation Atalanta’s warships are deployed off the coast of Somalia to ensure that the pirate attacks that terrorized seafarers in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden for a number of years are not allowed to resurge. In order to ensure that the EU NAVFOR warships are able to maintain their counter-pir
