The participants of the KAKADU exercise from the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean regions have completed the first sea phase of the Royal Australian Navy’s largest maritime warfare exercise. Occurring off the coast of Darwin from 25 August to 12 September 2014, eight ships and 26 aircraft from Austra
As Australia’s largest naval warfare exercise for 2014, KAKADU is providing an important opportunity to hone and exchange knowledge for Australia and fourteen coalition nations working together on a variety of air defence, anti-submarine and surface warfare serials. Five of the participating natio
On Tuesday 2 September 2014, eight ships of the coalition Task Force defended themselves against 11 opposition aircraft as a part of an air defence exercise for KAKADU. The ships faced threats from a range of aircraft and had to respond to a simulated use of long range and short range missile deploy
Over the weekend, the ship’s company of HMAS Stuart, weighed anchor to mark the start of the sea phases of Exercise KAKADU 2014. Stuart led the ‘Red Force’ Task Group 628.2 out of Darwin Harbour, before conducting Officer of the Watch Manoeuvres with members of the Command Task Group. HMA Ships Ar
Australian Minister for Defence Senator David Johnston announced the United States Navy has executed an Advanced Acquisition Contract for Australia’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft. Senator Johnston said this key Defence procurement would allow the withdrawal of the ageing AP-3C Orion fleet, and enable Bo
Taking hydrography to the sky is the unique task of the Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) flight is and one of the lesser known capabilities of the Royal Australian Navy’s Australian Hydrographic Service. The Navy’s hydrographic fleet is most visible through the fleet of two Hydrographic Survey
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) will receive a state-of-the-art electronic warfare (EW) system as part of the Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) capability, which will improve the ability to passively detect, identify and track threats including enemy ships, aircraft and anti-ship missiles. The AWD Allia
The world’s largest international maritime exercise, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014, concluded with the participation of 22 nations, 49 surface ships, six submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, August 1. Hosted by U.S.
The George Washington Carrier Strike Group (GWCSG) arrived in Sasebo, Japan, for a scheduled port visit, August 1. More than 5,500 GWCSG Sailors will have the opportunity to volunteer their time and efforts to help make a difference in various Japanese communities by participating in community rel
In the space of seven short months, NUSQN 725 has leapt from receiving their first MH-60R Romeo helicopters to firing the first Royal Australian Navy AGM-114 Hellfire missiles during a live fire exercise at the Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (AUTEC) in the United States. It was smi
The Royal Australian Navy’s newest maritime combat helicopter, the MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’, successfully fired its first Hellfire missile in the United States on 26 July 2014. The AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missile was fired by Navy’s 725 Squadron from aircraft currently deployed to the United
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Anzac Class Frigate HMAS Ballarat proudly celebrated her tenth birthday recently, on a characteristically windy day at Fleet Base West. It was a busy time for the ship’s crew as they were preparing Ballarat to enter the Anti Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade progr
Sailors from Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97) volunteered at Inarajan Elementary School in Inarajan, Guam July 18. Halsey made a port call to the island after departing their homeport in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for a deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet’s area of responsi
HMAS Darwin has completed a highly successful maritime security deployment to the Middle East and is now heading home to Sydney. Deployed under tasking to the US-led Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and Combined Task Force (CTF) 150, the Guided Missile Frigate with a Ship’s Company of 232 personnel
