The first P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy completed its initial flight on September 28, taking off from Renton Field at 12:02 p.m. Pacific time and landing two hours and 31 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle.

COTONOU — Benin and Nigeria launched joint sea patrols Wednesday to tackle a surge in piracy that has raised alarm in the shipping industry, with attacks seeing crews held hostage and fuel stolen. About 100 military members from the two West African countries at the naval base in the Benin economic capital Cotonou embarked on three patrol boats and four fast-attack craft from the Nigerian army for the patrols.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian Navy plans to start designing and building heavy vessels such as aircraft carriers, a senior Iranian Navy commander announced on Wednesday.

Suffren, first of the new Barracuda class of nuclear powered submarine, will begin its sea trials in the spring of 2016 for delivery to the French Navy in 2017. Assembled in the arsenal of DCNS Cherbourg, the 99.5 meters hull is almost finished, but there is still over four years of work to complete the first ship.

The restart of the U.S. Navy's DDG 51 Arleigh Burke destroyer building program swung in to a higher gear Sept. 26 with the award of two construction contracts and an option for a third.

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari announced that the country plans to move vessels into the Atlantic Ocean to start a naval buildup "near maritime borders of the United States"

Since July 27, 2011, French Navy Atlantique 2 joined the air detachment of Suda (Crete) as part of Operation Harmattan. Usually deployed for anti-submarine warfare and anti-ship missions, the maritime patrol aircraft proves to be a valuable asset by conducting reconnaissance missions over the Libyan territory.

The Qatari Emiri Navy will procure a batch of Exocet MM40 Block 3 missiles to equip its fleet of four Vita class Patrol Boats, missile developer MBDA has said.

Triple tests are underway on a highly advanced radar system which Iran announced last week would be mounted on its Jamaran destroyer, and senior Iranian Navy officials announced that other Iranian vessels will also be equipped with the same radar system in the near future.

After a hard-fought international competition, Sagem (Safran group) was chosen by
the South Korean Defense Ministry's Defense Acquisition Program Administration
(DAPA) to modernize the navigation system on the navy's KSS-1 class Chang Bogo
submarines. Each KSS-1 will be fitted with two Sigma 40XP inertial navigation
systems, integrated in the ship's combat system.

The official roll-out of the RBS15 Mk3 heavy anti-ship missile for the German Navy took place at a ceremony of the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement. High-ranking representatives of the Federal Ministry of Defence, the Federal Office of Technology and Procurement, the German Navy as well as the industrial partners Diehl Defence and Saab Dynamics participated in the event at the naval base Kiel on September 22, 2011.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir was the Chief Guest at the launching ceremony of the 1st Fast Attack Craft (Missile) vessel being built for Pakistan Navy here at Xingang Shipyard, Tianjin, China.

The long range land attack projectile (LRLAP), designed for the DDG 1000 Advanced Gun System, successfully completed two live-fire tests at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the Navy announced Sept. 22..

Preparations for the assembly of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers got off to a flying start today as Goliath, one of Europe's largest cranes, swung into action under the watchful eye of Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Peter Luff.

French naval shipbuilder DCNS and Malaysian Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BNS), announced that they have received a contract to build patrol vessels worth RM10 billion, according to a former law minister.

Taiwan is studying the feasibility of building diesel-electric submarines itself after the United States shelved its procurement request for many years, a local newspaper reported Monday.
The United Daily News cited unidentified military sources as saying that research on submarine building has been launched and that the military is trying to acquire production know-how from abroad.

The French Navy Flotille 11F has officially switched from the Super Etendard to the Rafale M. This second Rafale M unit should be operational next summer. Capitaine de Fregate Bertrand Lepoutre is the new commander of the 11F.

HMS Anson is the fifth in her class, and is being named after Admiral of the Fleet George Anson (1697-1762) who is noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War.

North Korea has stepped up its submarine drills this year, but the South Korean Navy hasn't been able to detect the vessels, an opposition lawmaker claimed Monday. Shin Hak-yong, a member of the main opposition Democratic Party who serves on the parliamentary committee on national defense, said there were 50 North Korean submarine drills in the Yellow Sea through the end of August this year, up from 28 drills over the first eight months of 2010.

Japan plans to build a 19,500-ton aircraft carrier capable of housing helicopters after China launched its first own aircraft carrier, Chinese media reported on Wednesday. Japan already has two helicopter carriers -- the Hyuga deployed in March 2009 and the Ise deployed in March 2011 -- but the planned new vessel will be bigger.

French shipbuilder DCNS has launched Morocco’s first and only FREMM frigate. The FREMM vessel will be delivered in 2013.The launch took place at DCNS’s Lorient shipyard yesterday in the presence of senior Moroccan and French officials, including Admiral Laghmari, Inspector General of the Royal Moroccan Navy, Admiral Verwaerde of the French Navy and Patrick Boissier, Chairman & CEO of DCNS.

The U. S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), a $1.8 billion contract for the construction of DDG 1001 and DDG 1002, the next two ships in the Zumwalt-class program. DDG 1001 is scheduled to be delivered in December 2015 and DDG 1002 is scheduled to be delivered in February 2018.

HMS Dauntless has today become the first of the Royal Navy’s new Type 45 Destroyers to visit the capital as she sailed up the Thames to dock outside the Excel Centre in London’s Docklands, which is hosting the Defence and Security Equipment International (DESi) event next week.

The Russian Navy is conducting trials to clear the Ka-52 for shipborne operations. Several Ka-52 helicopters will be procured in the near future by Russian Navy in order to place them on the future Mistral class vessels.

On Wednesday 31 August, the second of four Holland Class Oceangoing Patrol Vessels, "Zeeland" built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding for the Royal Netherlands Navy, left Vlissingen, The Netherlands, for her sea acceptance trials (SAT).