U.S. Navy destroyers USS Sterett and USS Dewey arrived in Hong Kong on April 29 for their first foreign port visit on their Western Pacific deployment. The command staff of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 31 and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104), along with an embark
The U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70) arrived in Homer, Alaska, April 29 for a scheduled port visit prior to their participation in Exercise Northern Edge 2017. Northern Edge is a biennial training exercise conducted in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Comple
HMS Audacious, the fourth of overall seven Astute-class nuclear-powered submarines the Royal Navy will operate, was launched on April 28, at BAE Systems’ Devonshire Dock Hall, in Scotland. The naming ceremony of the 7,400 tonne, 97-metre long submarine took place in December last year, one year afte
The Finnish Defence Forces have signed a contract with Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) for the design of the Finnish Navy’s four Squadron 2020 project multirole corvettes. The 7.5 million euro design contract follows the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the Defence Forces and RMC
The Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) has contracted Saab for production of more next generation anti-ship missiles. The total order value amounts to SEK 500 million (US$56.7M approx.) with deliveries beginning in the mid-2020s. In March 2017, Saab announced an order from FMV for develop
The U.S. Navy announced it would christen its newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, the future USS Indiana (SSN 789), on Saturday, April 29, at Huntington Ingalls Shipyard in Newport News, Virginia. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who previously served as the 50th governor of Indiana, will de
The U.S. Navy said it carried out four flight tests of the surface-to-air Standard Missile-6 Block I (SM-6 Blk I) off the Hawaiian coast between April 6 and 13. These tests marked the next step toward the SM-6 Blk I’s achievement of full operational capability. In addition, the navy said these were
The U.S. Navy, together with Raytheon, completed the preliminary design review (PDR) for the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, confirming system development is on track for delivery to the designated ship classes. EASR is the U.S. Navy’s advanced radar for aircraft carriers and amphibious warfa
The U.S Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $95.5 million contract modification to continue development of the Common Missile Compartment for the U.S. Navy’s Columbia-class submarine and the Royal Navy’s Dreadnought-class ballistic-missile submarine. The contract modification will enab
U.S. Navy’s Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Jackson (LCS 6) tested its SeaRAM missile against an aerial drone, destroying the target in a test off the Southern California coast, April 22. The drone was simulating an anti-ship missile as part of a combat system ship qualification trials
By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Wednesday launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier, which will join an existing one bought second-hand, amid rising tensions over North Korea and worries about Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. State media has quoted militar
Australia started the construction phase of the replacement Pacific Patrol Boat program with a steel cutting ceremony in Western Australia on April 26. Up to 21 steel-hulled vessels are set to replace the existing fleet of Pacific Patrol Boats as part of Australia’s new Pacific Maritime Security Pro
Naval units from the U.S. and Egypt kicked off the bilateral exercise Eagle Salute in the Red Sea on April 23. Eagle Salute 2017 incorporates Eagle Response 2017, an explosive ordnance exercise, to provide opportunities for participating nations to collaborate on an even wider range of maritime secu
The U.S. Navy and Air Force achieved a historic milestone last week when an Air Force KC-135 tanker refueled the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. A Naval Air Station Patuxent River P-8A Poseidon was refueled by a 459th Air Refueling Wing KC-135. “The 459th and the Air Force Reserve Com
