The US Navy will commission Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Indiana (SSN 789) in a ceremony at the Navy Port at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday. The principal speaker will be US Representative Jim Banks from Indiana. Diane Donald, wife of retired Adm
The Mexican Navy’s Patrulla Oceánica de Largo Alcance (POLA) corvette is now 78 percent complete as the command bridge – the final Dutch-built module – arrived at the ASTIMAR 20 shipyard in Oaxaca late August. The Mexican Navy announced on Wednesday that the module had been installed and that a cere
The new flagship of US 7th Fleet’s amphibious forces carried out a live-fire exercise in the South China Sea on September 27. Joined by the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), the USS Wasp amphibious ready group (ARG) conducted an integrated Defense of the Amphibious Task Force (DATF) dri
The US Navy has awarded two contracts totaling over $9 billion for the construction of Flight III configuration Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. Awarded on September 27, the fiscal years (FY) 2018 – 2022 multiyear procurement (MYP) contracts will see General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (G
The US Coast Guard transferred two of its decommissioned Island-class cutters to Ukraine in a ceremony at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore, on September 27. The ceremony was attended by US Coast Guard Vice Adm. Michael McAllister, Ukrainian Navy chief Vice Adm. Ihor Voronchenko, and Ukraine’s presi
In a milestone for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, a Marine Corps F-35B flying from amphibious assault ship USS Essex carried out its first combat strike. The strike took place on September 27 in the US Central Command area of responsibility in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afgha
Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Argyll on Wednesday joined a Japan Maritime Self Defense Force task group led by helicopter carrier JS Kaga for maneuvers in the Indian Ocean. Prior to drills with the Royal Navy, JS Kaga’s group was part of the first known Japanese anti-submarine warfare drill in the
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
The Indian Navy has contracted Visakhapatnam-based shipbuilder Hindustan Shipyard Limited for the construction of two 118-meter diving support vessels (DSV). The contract was signed on September 20. The first vessel is scheduled to be built in a 36-month period, followed by the second, six months la
Philippine Coast Guard has become Philippines’ first operator of the H145 helicopter after ordering one unit for its operations. The new 4-tonne-class twin-engine helicopter is equipped with high-frequency radios, emergency flotation gear, fast roping, cargo sling, search light, and electro-optical
Indian shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) has contracted German submarine specialist thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) for work on the overhaul of the Indian Navy’s Type 209 submarine INS Shishumar. The exact value of the contract was not revealed and TKMS only said it received a “high two
The UK’s ability to provide the continuous submarine-based nuclear deterrent will be put at risk if a number of issues are not solved, a new report finds. At times of major international uncertainties, the country’s defense department needs to bridge a £2.9 billion affordability gap, according to th
Groton-based shipbuilder General Dynamics Electric Boat has delivered the 17th Virginia-class submarine to the US Navy. The future USS South Dakota (SSN 790) was delivered in a ceremony on Sept. 24. The ship began construction in 2013 and is scheduled to commission in early 2019. South Dakota is the
NATO’s operation Sea Guardian Special Operations Command Control Element (SOCCE) achieved full operational capability last week, NATO’s Maritime Command has announced. On September 20, under Maritime Command (MARCOM) guidance and SOCCE control, an opposed live boarding exercise commenced with the pa
