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July 2018 news
Naval Forces, Defense Industry, Navy Technology, Maritime Security |
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Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division successfully launched the Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) guided missile destroyer Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) on Friday. DDG 121 is the sixth (of nine) Arleigh Burke-class, "Flight IIA: Technology Insertion" variant. "Technology Insertion" ships are fitted with elements from the future DDG 51 Flight III.
According to Spanish media, Saudi Arabia has finally signed the contract for five Avante 2200 corvettes for the Royal Saudi Navy. The deal, worth 1.8 Billion Euros, was signed during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Madrid, Spain. The negotiations started three years ago. The program will start at the end of 2018 and the last vessel will be delivered in 2022.
Today, Saab announces the RBS15 Gungnir next generation anti-ship missile system that is being shown at the Farnborough International Airshow 2018 for the first time. The littorals in the Baltic Sea has created the foundation and birth of the RBS15 missile family, designed for the most demanding environments and customers. The littoral environment already present countless threats but conflict scenarios can change. Armed forces therefore need to evolve their capabilities and the RBS15 Gungnir provides the solution.
The second prototype of the NH90 Sea Lion has performed its first flight in serial configuration on July 10. This event marks the beginning of the helicopter’s qualification phase together with the customer’s official authorities. When the qualification phase is finished, the German customer will release the military type certificate to allow the first serial delivery, which is scheduled for end of 2019. Altogether 18 helicopters are on order.
Live fire from aircraft, a submarine, and land assets (including Japan's Type 12 SSM and Kongsberg's NSM) sank the decommissioned ex-USS Racine (LST-1191) July 12 north of Kauai, Hawaii, during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise.
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) 13, the future USS Wichita, completed Acceptance Trials in the waters of Lake Michigan. LCS 13 is the seventh Freedom-variant LCS designed and built by the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-led industry team, and is slated for delivery to the U.S. Navy later this summer.
The Defense Ministry and the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) are completing the overhaul and upgrade of the Yastreb-class Neustrashimy frigate of project 11540. Navigation and communication systems have been fully replaced and new electronic means installed. The power plant has been overhauled. Two gas turbine boosters were overhauled by Russian experts at the aircraft plant in Samara, not in Ukraine, the Izvestia daily writes.
The Russian Navy will receive two upgraded Molniya-class missile boats of project 1241 by the beginning of 2019. They were initially planned for a foreign customer but the contract was cancelled and the Russian Navy displayed interest in the boats. They will be equipped with modern navigation and communication means and the latest arms. The architecture will change and crew conditions will improve. The boats will be armed with antiship Kh-35U missiles and Pantsir-M seaborne air defense, the Izvestia daily writes.
Panama City, FL, Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) has successfully conducted its Final Critical Design Review (FCDR) with the United States Coast Guard on 29 June 2018 for the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) Program. This accomplishment comes after a week of discussions, demonstrations, and design presentations by ESG’s design team to the USCG and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The purpose of the FCDR is to verify that the OPC detail design is integrated and internally consistent with the USCG requirements and points towards the exercise of the contract option for construction of the first hull USCGC ARGUS.
Our colleagues from East Pendulum are reporting that the Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard of the Chinese naval group CSSC launched a Type 054A frigate for People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) on June 30, 2018. This is the 15th frigate of this class (designated Jiangkai II-class by NATO) built in this shipyard, located in Guangzhou in Southern China, and the 30th overall in the series. This is the 13th vessel launched for the PLAN in 2018 (close to 100,000 tons for the first haf of the year) showing once again the fast pace of China's naval shipbuilding industry.
On 9 July 2018, the Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters announced that New Zealand will acquire four Boeing P-8A Poseidon aircraft, and training systems, to replace the ageing P-3K2 Orion fleet.
USS Coronado (LCS 4) and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 1 completed the first comprehensive Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) for the MQ-8C Fire Scout, June 29.
The NATO Seasparrow Project Office recently conducted a successful flight test of the Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2, intercepting a BQM-74E aerial target, the U.S. Navy announced, July 5.
The U.S. Navy's tenth Expeditionary Fast Transport vessel, Burlington (EPF 10), successfully completed Builder's Trials, June 29. The week of trials began dockside at the Austal USA Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
Nurettin Janikli, the Minister of National Defense of Turkey, reported on July 5, 2018 that the Turkish design and engineering company Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret (STM) won the tender of the Pakistani Navy and, in accordance with the contract, will deliver four corvettes of the Turkish MILGEM project (Ada-class) to the Pakistani fleet.
The construction of blue and green-water warships may be postponed until 2035 because of lack of funds, according to the Shipbuilding strategy of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry.
Minister of Defence Jussi Niinistö authorised the Finnish Defence Forces’ Logistics Command to make an agreement on purchasing Surface-to-Surface Missile System 2020 (SSM2020), on 5th July 2018.
Nevskoe Design Bureau offered the Russian Navy a modular landing helicopter-carrying dock ship (DVKD) with a displacement of close to 15 thousand tons and a universal landing ship (UDK) of 30 thousand tons, the annual statement of the company said.
Norsafe has carried out extensive research and development in the last few years to develop a new range of robust and safe boats for the Military and Professional market. Using the experience gained from the closed cabin 1200 andS1200 in the Munin range, an open version is now ready for sea trialsand will be launched at Seawork International on 3-5 July in Southampton, UK.
China’s first submarine unit using air-independent propulsion (AIP) technology recently broke a number of records set by the Chinese navy, Science and Technology Daily recently reported.
