26 May 2023
by Kate Tringham
Stirling Castle has started sea trials with the RFA after completing its conversion into a mother ship for offboard autonomous mine countermeasure payloads. (RFA Nostalgia)
The UK Royal Navy's (RN's) new minehunting mother ship started sea trials with Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) personnel after completing its military conversion from an oil rig offshore support vessel (OSV).
Stirling Castle (ex-MV Island Crown ) was purchased second-hand from Island Offshore Management for GBP40 million (USD49.3 million) to serve as a host platform for offboard autonomous mine countermeasure payloads.
The ship arrived at His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB), Devonport, from Norway in late January to undergo its conversion. Modification work has been relatively minimal aside from the installation of specific military equipment for its new role.
The trials and RFA crew training period are expected to continue for the next couple of months, with a view to achieving initial operating capability in July–August 2023. The initial emphasis of trials will be on learning how best to run and maintain the 6,000 tonne vessel, test safety systems, and effectively write the instruction/operators' manual, Captain Ali Clack, the ship's commanding officer said.
18 March 2024
by Richard Scott
Naval Group's Black Sword Barracuda design has been selected as the basis for the Netherlands' Walrus-class replacement submarine programme. (Naval Group)
The Netherlands has selected France's Naval Group as its preferred bidder for a new class of conventional submarine to replace the Royal Netherlands Navy's (RNLN's) current Walrus-class boats.
Naval Group, offering its Black Sword Barracuda design, was chosen ahead of rival proposals from Saab (bidding the C718 expeditionary derivative of Sweden's A26 design) and Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (pitching the Type 212CD E expeditionary variant of the German/Norwegian Type 212CD). The Black Shark Barracuda is a scaled, conventionally powered derivative of the French Navy's Suffren-class nuclear-powered attack submarine.
Announcing the provisional award on 15 March, State Secretary for Defence Christophe van der Maat described the French offer as “a balanced, versatile, and realistic bid”, adding, “Dutch industry has a strong role to play, [which is] an important requirement in this award.”
15 March 2024
by Michael Fabey
With the keel being laid in 2022 for carrier Enterprise , the expected delivery date for the ship was scheduled for March 2028. The ship is now to be delivered in September 2029. (Janes/Michael Fabey)
Industry supporters caution that any delays in the previously planned acquisition schedules of aircraft carriers could have a cascading effect on cost and schedule in the wake of proposed carrier schedule changes in the proposed US Navy's (USN's) fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget, released on 11 March.
“Overall, changes to a shipbuilding plan do not help the industrial base, they harm it,” Lisa Papini, president and CEO of Dante Valve Company and chair of the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition (ACIBC), told Janes on 13 March.
“They inject inconsistency and uncertainty that cause companies to rethink their existing shipbuilding plans,” she said. “They cause a company to rethink whether they want to invest in navy shipbuilding because the work may or may not occur. It disincentives investment.”
14 March 2024
by Cem Devrim Yaylali
TCG Istanbul seen transiting the Bosphorus Strait enroute to the test site on 2 March. (Cem Devrim Yaylali)
The Turkish Navy performed its first Hisar-D missile launch from the Midlas vertical launch system (VLS) installed onboard the TCG Istanbul in the second week of March.
The event marked the first launch from the indigenous VLS on the high seas. The frigate was observed sailing northbound through the Bosphorus Strait to the test site on 2 March.
Haluk Görgün, the president of the Defence Industry Agency (SSB), shared a video of the firing on social media. The video showed the loading of the canisters with the missile on TCG Istanbul while the ship was at Karadeniz Ereğli naval base.
A single Hisar-D air-defence missile was launched from the Midlas VLS. The Hisar-D radar-guided missile used during the test is a naval version of the Hisar-O air-defence missile being developed for the Turkish Land Forces. The imaging infrared seeker of the original missile was replaced with an radio frequency seeker for the naval version. The missile has a dual-pulse engine with an approximate range of 25 km.
The UK Royal Navy's (RN's) new minehunting mother ship started sea trials with Royal Fleet Auxiliary...
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