November 2018 news

Naval Forces, Defense Industry, Navy Technology, Maritime Security


Austal today delivered the first Guardian Class Patrol Boat (GCPB) to the Australian Department of Defence and then in a handover ceremony, presented the vessel to the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government. The “Ted Diro” is the first of 21 GCPBs to be gifted to 12 Pacific Island Nations and Timor-Leste under the Commonwealths Pacific Maritime Security Program.

The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) saw the addition of a new member to its fleet this month; A Beechcraft King Air 350 WR maritime surveillance aircraft was commissioned into service along with two recently acquired Bell 429 helicopters at a ceremony held on Wednesday November 14,2018.

China has launched work on building its third aircraft carrier (known as Type 003), Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. In an article published on its WeChat account, Xinhua said that as the nation's second, and the first domestically designed, carrier has undergone sea trials, a "new-generation carrier" is being constructed at the shipyard as per schedule.

The Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft carrier of project 11435 received 52 damages in the floating dock accident on October 30. The cost of removing them will amount to almost 70 million rubles (1 million U.S. Dollars), Alexei Rakhmanov, the head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation , told TASS.

The first Damen SIGMA 10514 frigate for the Mexican Navy was launched on November 23, 2018 at The Astillero de Marina No. 20 Mexican Naval Shipyard (ASTIMAR-20) in Salina Cruz (Oaxaca). In the Mexican Navy, this ship is officially referred to as the "long-range ocean patrol ship" (Patrulla Oceánica de Largo Alcance - POLA). The vessel is called POLA 101 Reformador ("Reformer").

Leonardo DRS, Inc. announced today that it successfully delivered its 100th LM2500 Gas Turbine Package to GE in August, which will be installed on a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer. The delivery milestone represents a long relationship between the two companies that have provided the U.S. and international navies with reliable and high-efficiency naval power.

Rolls-Royce is to supply 18 MTU Series 4000 diesel generator sets to BAE Systems as part of the Power Improvement Project (PIP) to increase the resilience of the power and propulsion system in all six Type 45 destroyers. The two existing diesel gensets are to be replaced by three MTU gensets per vessel. The three MTU gensets will complement two existing Rolls-Royce WR21 gas turbines also supplying power to the electric propulsion system.

The U.S. State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of eight (8) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B Missiles and thirteen (13) Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 2A Missiles for an estimated cost of $561 million. These are intended to be deployed aboard the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) AEGIS destroyers.

Two of the world’s most technologically sophisticated warships, the future USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) and the British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), conducted a photo exercise (PHOTOEX) with the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) and RFA Tidespring (A136), a Tide-class replenishment tanker of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), Nov. 11.

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