The Royal Australian Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is supporting firefighting efforts on the east coast of Australia, during one of the most dangerous bushfire periods the nation has ever seen. Helicopters from three squadrons based at HMAS Albatross — MH-60R Seahawk helicopters from 816 Squadron, MRH-
Two Royal Australian Navy minehunters have returned home following a successful overseas deployment that saw them travel a record distance, the navy said. HMAS Ships Diamantina and Gascoyne traveled more than thirteen thousand nautical miles in the past four months as they deployed to East Asia for
JFD has successfully demonstrated its fully-integrated submarine rescue system during exercises off the coast of Western Australia. In a range of weather conditions, JFD’s system was used in the triennial Pacific Reach, a multi-lateral series of exercises. In 2019, the Pacific Reach was hosted by Au
New Zealand’s defense minister marked the official start of construction works on a new base for the country’s future P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft with a sod-turning ceremony on November 29. The home for the new fleet of submarine-hunting aircraft is being built at RNZAF Base Ohakea. “The
UK defense contractor Babcock has won a contract to design and build the weapons handling system for Australia’s new Attack class submarines. The contract with Naval Group, announced by the Australian Ministry of Defence, will support the operation and sustainment of the future submarines, including
The Royal Australian Air Force’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft has completed its first deployment to the Middle East. Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC said this deployment was a targeted and meaningful element of Australia’s broader contribution to the International
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and US Navy assets from Commander, Task Force (CTF) 72, completed their largest bilateral exercise, ANNUALEX, in the Sea of Japan Nov. 21. From CTF-72, the “Red Lancers” of Patrol Squadron (VP) 10 worked alongside the “World Famous Pelicans” of VP-45 dur
BRP Jose Rizal (FF150), the first of two multi-mission frigates built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries for the Philippine Navy, has started sea trials. Over the next several days, a technical crew from the shipyard will be onboard as the ship sails in waters off Ulsan, Busan and
The US Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) arrived at its new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk on November 18, completing a homeport shift after spending nearly two years forward deployed Japan. The ship had been assigned to Commander Fleet Activities Sasebo and operated in t
The six-nation submarine search and rescue exercise Pacific Reach 2019 has concluded off the coast of Western Australia. Held at Fleet Base West and in the Western Australian Exercise Area, the drill involved assets from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United Sta
South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has launched the third Daegu-class frigate for the Republic of Korea Navy. The future ROKS Seoul was launched on November 11 and is scheduled for delivery in early 2021. In addition to being the third ship in its class and the fourth ROK Navy s
The Royal Australian Navy’s laser airborne depth sounder flight (LADS) has completed its final sortie after 26 years of outstanding service. This world-leading capability was developed in South Australia and since 1993 has been providing the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian government survey
The Royal Australian Navy’s two Canberra-class landing helicopter docks (LHDs) and their associated landing craft have achieved final operational capability. The entire amphibious capability acquired under Joint Project 2048 – including HMA Ships Adelaide and Canberra, their 12 landing craft and amp
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the US Navy kicked off their bilateral maritime field exercise, Annual Exercise ‘19, off Japan, November 10. The annual bilateral exercise provides the two allies the ability to practice and evaluate coordination procedures and interoperability eleme
