French Navy’s D’Estienne d’Orves-class aviso FS Commandant Birot replaced its sister ship FS Commandant Bouan in the EUNAVFOR-led operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea on March 10. FS Commandant Bouan earlier took over from FS Commandant Ducuing and served the counter smuggling mission from Febr
Royal Navy frigate HMS Portland returned home to Plymouth on Friday concluding her nine-month deployment. HMS Portland was welcomed to HM Naval Base Devonport by a crowd of family and friends while 42 lucky family members got an insight into life at sea by sailing as special guests on board from Por
With the decommissioning of Royal Navy Lynx helicopters set for March 31, 2017, the last Lynx to deploy – Flight 208 – returned home together with HMS Portland on March 10. Commander (Cdr) Phil Richardson the Commanding Officer of 815 Naval Air Station welcomed 208 Flight back into the fold amongst
South African defense contractor Denel has teamed up with German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems for joint work on South African Navy frigates and submarines. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on board the SAS Amatola, in Rostock, Germany, during the frigate’s deployment to European
U.S. Navy’s electromagnetic railgun program could get a new boost with improved high energy pulsed power containers. U.S. defense contractor General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced on March 9 that they have developed a new container which provides “twice the energy density than ex
The U.S. Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, PCU Rafael Peralta (DDG115), will be commissioned July 29 in California, acting secretary of the U.S. Navy Sean J. Stackley has announced. The ceremony will take place at Naval Air Station North Island. Rafael Peralta is the 65th A
French shipbuilder DCNS opened a new office in Bogota, Colombia, hoping to bolster its chances in securing work on the Colombian Navy’s Plataforma Estratégica de Superficie (PES) frigate acquisition programme. Under the programme, Colombia plans to acquire four frigates to replace the existing Almir
U.S. Navy’s Guam-based submarine tender USS Frank Cable headed for a dry-docking overhaul after five years of tending submarines and surface vessels assigned to the U.S. 5th and 7th fleet areas of responsibility. After its successful deployment in 2016, including port visits to India, Sri Lanka and
U.S. Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) ships completed their participation in this year’s bilateral training exercise MultiSail 17 on March 10. The six-day exercise consisted of surface action group maneuvers, anti-submarine training, and various other events that tested warfight
U.S. Navy’s Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) visited Australia’s largest navy base HMAS Stirling on March 7. Oklahoma City visited the Fleet Base West, Western Australia, during its regular Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment. With a crew of approximately 150, the submarine wi
U.S. technology company Battelle announced it received a U.S. Navy contract for work on the Naval Synchronization Toolset (NST) for the navy’s fleet of F/A-18 Hornet aircraft. NST is a forecast analytic system that helps synchronize aircraft capability sets with the reality of availability. Soon, th
Royal Australian Navy’s Anzac-class frigate HMAS Stuart is set to complete her anti-ship missile defense upgrade this week, marking the completion of an Australian Navy capability upgrade program that spanned seven years. Completion of works on HMAS Stuart was announced by contractor BAE Systems who
The Russian Navy’s Project 949A Oscar-class submarines will be rearmed with the 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missile, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on March 6. “The Zvezda shipyard is carrying out profound modernization of Project 949A nuclear submarines, including the replacement of arm
The UK Royal Navy today formally named HMS Forth, the first of its five new Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessels. The 90-metre warship, which will be tasked with vital counter-terrorism, anti-smuggling and maritime defence duties, was named HMS Forth in honour of the Scottish river in a cerem
