The MCMV JS Uraga . The ship sustained damages amidships after a collision with frigate JS Jintsū on 22 May 2022 in waters off Yokosuka. (NAVYPIX/Richard Scott)

A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Abukuma-class anti-submarine guided-missile frigate has collided with the service's lead Uraga-class mine-countermeasures vessel (MCMV) in waters off Yokosuka.

Janes has been informed by a source close to the matter that the collision took place at about 1545 h local time on 22 May while the frigate, JS Jintsū (230), was departing the Yokosuka naval base for a training mission in the Philippine Sea. At the point of collision, Uraga was berthed, and there were no inclement weather conditions, said the source.

Jintsū sustained damages to its bow, while Uraga sustained damages amidship on the starboard side. There have been no reports on casualties on neither Jintsū nor Uraga , but the damage to the former was serious enough to warrant a turnaround with its training mission aborted, the source added.

Jintsū

A Tub m/8502 400 mm torpedo launcher fitted inside the weapon deck of the Visby-class corvette HMS Nyköping . The new Tub m/20 torpedo tube will replace the m/8502. (NAVYPIX/Richard Scott)

Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has contracted Saab Dynamics to supply new 400 mm diameter torpedo launcher systems for Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) surface combatants.

Announced on 24 May by both Saab and FMV, the approximately SEK150 million (USD15.3 million) order covers the delivery of the new Tub m/20 launch tube previously developed for the Finnish Navy's four new Pohjanmaa-class corvettes. Deliveries are set to start in 2023.

The Tub m/20 – an evolution of the existing Tub m/8502 tube used on the RSwN's Visby-class and Gävle-class corvettes – will be used to store and launch both the in-service Torpedo 45 and the successor Torpedo 47. While the two tube types have a similar form factor, thus enabling a seamless transition in service, the Tub m/20 incorporates a number of improvements including remote monitoring from the command information centre, and improved accessibility.

An RGM-84L Harpoon missile on display at the Farnborough International Event and Conference Centre, in the UK. (Duncan Lennox)

Denmark is to supply a Harpoon anti-ship launcher and an undisclosed number of missiles to Ukraine to help defend its coast, the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd J Austin III announced on 23 May.

The announcement was made following the second meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which was attended virtually by more than 40 ministers and chiefs of defence, including the Ukrainian minister of defence Oleksii Reznikov.

It is envisaged that Denmark will supply the Harpoon coastal defence System (HCDS), which integrates Boeing's RGM 84L Block II missiles. The subsonic missile, which has a speed of 0.85 Mach and a maximum range of 124 km, will be positioned on the coast of Odessa as a coastal battery system. The missile uses a fourth-generation seeker featuring surface-mounted technology with digital processing that makes it possible to adjust the radar seeker's search pattern to reduce land clutter effects.