As part of a foreign military sales case, the U.S. Navy worked together with French military to execute France’s first aerial-target live-fire event using a GQM-163A Coyote Supersonic Sea Skimming Target (SSST), or missile, on April 4. France’s military procurement agency Direction Generale Pour L’A
Royal Naval Reservist Lieutenant Mark Bannister, 35, has recently returned from a six-month deployment fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia. The Business Development Manager from Burnham swapped his civilian life to work for the European Union Naval Force in Djibouti, north east Africa. Mark sai
Three “blue-nosed” Reservists from HMS Sherwood in Nottingham have returned from a major exercise inside the Arctic Circle The biggest war game of the winter, involving 16,000 service men and women from 12 nations, was played out amid the Norwegian fjords and mountains in the harshest of winter weat
The first Dutch F-35 Lightning II test aircraft, the AN-1, rolled off the production line in fully assembled condition at the Lockheed Martin factory in Fort Worth, Texas, on 5 April. In the coming weeks, the aircraft will be given a special coating. Lockheed Martin will then test the aircraft’s sys
Warships from across the globe – including a dozen Royal Navy warships, submarines and auxiliaries – are converging on Scotland for the largest military exercise staged in home waters in many years. Thirty two naval units, plus soldiers and air forces – some 8,000 personnel in all from eight nations
On 4 April, the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard intercepted a stash of 91 kilos of drugs near Curaçao. Earlier, on 20 March, 500 kilograms of cocaine had been found on a so-called go-fast boat in the international waters of the Caribbean Sea. These seizures were made during an operation led by the Royal
HMS Middleton demonstrated her minehunting prowess during an exercise with the US Navy – finding a grand total of 13 dummy mines in the Gulf. The two Allied navies worked hand-in-hand for ten days – just one important episode in a busy month for Bahrain-based Middleton And despite the trompe-l’œil o
After passing through the Suez Canal on 1 April, the multipurpose frigate HNLMS Van Amstel officially began its participation in EU Operation Atalanta. The Van Amstel will contribute to the mission against pirates operating off the coast of East Africa up to the end of May 2012.Operation Atalanta is
HMS Westminster’s pirate-busters trained with their Kenyan counterparts when the Portsmouth warship visited the great port of Mombasa. As well as exercising with local forces, the frigate was used to promote trade between the UK and East Africa and launched an initiative by Anglo-Kenyan authorities
Pirate camps on the Somali coast may now also be tackled from Dutch ships. The Dutch Government approved the expansion of the Atalanta counterpiracy mission and informed the House of Representatives of the decision on 6 April. However, military personnel will not set foot on land for the purposes of
On Wednesday 11 April, in Harlingen the third of four Holland Class Oceangoing Patrol Vessels, “Friesland” built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding for the Royal Netherlands Navy, was transferred to the Defence Materiel Organization of the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands. After delivery the
HMS Daring has flown the flag for the Royal Navy – and UK industry – at the biggest naval showcase in the Middle East. Britain’s most advanced warship, on her maiden deployment, was joined by minehunter HMS Quorn in Qatar at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference. HMS Dari
The fifth of Britain’s Type 45 destroyers is ‘tuned to optimum performance’ after completing her second period of sea trials off Scotland. HMS Defender spent nearly a month off the Scottish coast testing her combat systems and sensors ahead of her impending handover to the Royal Navy. HMS Defender i
The biggest warship ever built for the Royal Navy has taken another big step towards completion. Two huge sections of HMS Queen Elizabeth are being joined on the Clyde to form the largest finished section yet of the future aircraft carrier. In a two-hour operation this section was moved from a large
