FEBRUARY 2019 news

Naval Forces, Defense Industry, Navy Technology, Maritime Security


BAE Systems received a $US 114.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy to perform maintenance and modernization of the guided-missile destroyer USS "Bulkeley" (DDG 84) in its Norfolk shipyard.

On February 08, the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, announced that the Government of Canada has officially selected Lockheed Martin Canada for the design of 15 new Canadian Surface Combatants that will be built at Irving Shipbuilding’s Halifax Shipyard.

After a second massive dry docking for technical issues, French aircraft carrier, the "Charles de Gaulle", is ready to take part to new operations afloat, newly equipped with a 3D printer. Actually, it has already been part of Fanal exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, alongside the FREMM "Provence", the commandement ship "Marne", a nuclear attack submarine, Spanish SPS frigate "Cristobal Colon" and US destroyer "USS Donald Cook".

According to Britain's Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, the UK is to purchase 2 new Special Forces motherships to storm ennemy beaches. This move is to replicate a US government project which aims to convert commercial tankers into combat motherships for its Marines and Special Forces. This purchase would also mean a massive expansion for the Royal Navy's beach assault force.

On 31 January, Babcock announced that it had successfully completed a capability upgrade on the first of three Estonian Navy minehunter vessels at its Rosyth facilities in Fife, Scotland. This upgrade was finally completed after the Sandown-class EML Admiral Cowan minehunter vessel underwent a five month docking period at the shipyard between July and December 2018.

L3 ASV announced, on February 05, the successful delivery of a long-endurance autonomous vessel known as the C-Enduro to the Royal Navy. The C-Enduro will be used for military data gathering trials by the Mine countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability (MHC) programme as the Navy seeks to exploit autonomous technology.

Through its Neptune project, Ukraine announced in 2013 its desire to provide its forces deterrence against Russian sea power in the Azov region. Neptune uses a 150-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) warhead and can be deployed on air, sea, and land platforms.

The Myanmar government is to establish a coast guard force to safeguard its 2,080-km-long coastline and territorial waters, according to a coordination meeting held at the Ministry of Transport and Communication on January 22.

On December 18, the US Coast Guard accepted its 12th C-130J Super Hercules long range surveillance aircraft from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics’ Marietta, Georgia, facility. The Coast Guard’s newest C-130J, CGNR 2012, departed Marietta, Georgia, Dec. 20, 2018, after acceptance from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

The Central Scientific-Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering (TSNIITOCHMASH) of Rostec Corporation has commissioned an automated line for the assembly of cartridges for underwater firearms. The new line that comes as a result of a capacity upgrade effort will be producing more than 10,000 cartridges daily.

On January 03, Iran's Minister of Defense Amir Hataim and Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami signed a contract, worth $US 10 million, for the building of 4 vessels. These 4 vessels include 2 search and rescue ships and 2 ships carrying officers in charge of safety management onboard vessels.

On its website, Leidos, a FORTUNE® 500 science and technology leader, announced that the Office of Naval Research (ONR)’s Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vessel (MDUSV), Sea Hunter, became the first ship to successfully autonomously navigate from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and back without a single crew member onboard, except very short duration boardings by personnel from an escort vessel to check electrical and propulsion systems.

China, as part of its recent military and foreign policies, has planned to upgrade on a large scale its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, to sell it to Pakistan, its ally, in order to compete with India. This selling is to increase Pakistani Navy's strength, facing India equally and making of Pak a better ally for China.

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