The US Coast Guard could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars by procuring Offshore Patrol Cutters through block buys, the Congressional Research Service says. (US Coast Guard)  A block buy of Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) could save the US Coast Guard (USCG) a significant amount of money, according to the US Congressional Research Service (CRS).    “CRS estimates that if the coast guard were to use block buy contracting with EOQ [economic order quantity] purchases of components for acquiring the first several OPCs beginning...

Main features of the Blue Spear missile. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)  In his May 2023 interview with Janes, Commander of the Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN's) First Flotilla Colonel Ng Kok Yeng Daniel disclosed that the service will replace the Harpoon surface-to-surface missile (SSM) on its Formidable-class frigates with the Blue Spear SSM.  The missile will be incorporated as part of the Formidable class's mid-life upgrades (MLUs). This makes the RSN the first operator service to deploy the Blue Spear missile from seaborne units.  The Blue S...

A model of the FFX-III frigate on display at Hanwha Ocean's exhibition stand during MADEX 2023. (Janes/Ridzwan Rahmat)  South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has emerged as the preferred bidder in a programme to supply the country with two more Chungnam (FFX-III)-class frigates, the company confirmed to Janes on 17 July.  The programme, which is also commonly referred to in-country as the ‘Ulsan-class Batch III' project, seeks to equip the Republic of Korea Navy with a class of six frigates that will progressively take on duties associated wi...

An illustrative view of the MCH-101 helicopter with the Northrop Grumman airborne laser mine detection system. The aircraft type has since conducted deck landing trials on a Mogami-class frigate. (Northrop Grumman)  The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) has conducted deck landing trials of the MCH-101 airborne mine countermeasures (AMCM) helicopter on one of its Mogami-class guided-missile frigates.    The milestone was confirmed by Fleet Air Squadron 51, a unit of the    JMSDF's Fleet Air Wing, on 13 July via an offici...

The first of the Portuguese Navy's two Viana do Castelo-class offshore patrol vessels, NRP   Viana do Castelo  , was commissioned into service on 30 December 2010.  (Victor Manuel Saraiva Barreira)  The Portuguese Navy is to progressively upgrade its Viana do Castelo-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), service representatives told Janes.  The four OPVs – NRP Viana do Castelo (P360), NRP Figueira da Foz (P361), NRP Sines (P362), and NRP Setúbal (P363) – will be upgraded throughout their maintenance cycles.  The p...

USS   Connecticut   is in the re-certified dry dock in Bremerton, Washington.  (US Navy)  The US Navy (USN) finished structural upgrades meant as interim seismic mitigation on Dry Dock 5 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington, the USN confirmed on 12 July.  The USN has tested and re-certified the dry dock, the service said in a statement.    Seawolf-class attack submarine USS   Connecticut  (SSN 22) docked for its Extended Dry-dock Selected...

An artist's impression of the Dreadnought-class submarine. (Crown Copyright)  Thales has been awarded a GBP169 million (USD220 million) contract to equip the UK Royal Navy's (RN's) Dreadnought nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) with a new Integrated Combat System Mast solution.  Announcing the award on 13 July Thales said the new mast would provide the submarines' above-water situational awareness by – for the first time – combining advanced visual sensors, electronic warfare (EW), and communications capabilities into a sing...

The Ukrainian Navy's two newly acquired ex-Royal Navy Sandown-class minehunters completed their latest phase of training in the multinational ‘Sea Breeze' exercise, held in UK waters in late June/early July. (Armed Forces of Ukraine)  The Ukrainian Navy has completed its first multinational exercise series, ‘Sea Breeze 2023', operating the service's two newly acquired ex-Royal Navy (RN) Sandown-class minehunters, Chernihiv (ex-HMS Grimsby) and Cherkasy (ex-HMS Shoreham).  In a Twitter announcement on 12 July the UK RN said the exercise marked...

A model of the DP16 UAV displayed at the Defense & Security show in Bangkok in August 2022. ATIL used the DP16 to test-fire laser-guided bombs on 13 July. (Janes/Amit Kalra)  Thailand's Aero Technology Industry Company Limited (ATIL), which is partly controlled by the state-owned Defence Technology Institute (DTI), has test-fired laser-guided bombs (LGBs) using its DP16 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).  The test, announced by the DTI on 13 July, helped evaluate the strike capabilities of the DP16.  The DTI said two LGBs were launched from the D...

INS   Karanj  , the Indian Navy's third of six Kalvari-class submarines. The service may soon procure three more vessels in the class.   (Ministry of Defence, Government of India)  The Indian Navy has edged closer towards acquiring another three Kalvari (Scorpene)-class diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) now that the plan has been endorsed by a defence ministry decision making body.  The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 13 July that its Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) granted the procurement with an Acceptanc...

The US Coast Guard says it will need more icebreakers for polar operations. (VT Halter Marine/Technology Associates)  As the US Coast Guard (USCG) is planning for a bigger fleet of new icebreakers, the service is facing continued uncertainty about the delivery schedule for its proposed new Polar Security Cutters (PSCs), the Congressional Research Service (CRS) noted in a recent report.  “The coastguard testified in April and June 2023 that it had recently signed out a new fleet mix analysis that concluded that the coastguard will require a to...

The US Navy will be operating unmanned platforms such as Wave Glider during the ‘UNITAS' exercise. (Liquid Robotics)  US Navy (USN) Secretary Carlos Del Toro emphasised the potential for unmanned systems during the ‘UNITAS' exercise in his keynote speech on 12 July in Cartagena, Colombia.  “As we look for new ways to counter both narcotics smuggling and Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing, this year's iteration of UNITAS will include several opportunities to experiment with unmanned systems,” Del Toro said.  “Unmanned systems – above...

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a railway station in Seoul on 12 July. North Korea fired a Hwasong-18 ICBM earlier that day. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images)  North Korea has confirmed that the missile it fired on 12 July was a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), marking another milestone in the country's strategic weapons capabilities.  The confirmation was provided by state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in a statement published on i...

An Ocean Eagle 43 patrol vessel is seen with an unusual weapon during the inauguration of Angola's Soyo Naval Base. A 12-tube launcher mounted on the deck behind the bridge is obscured by the sailors standing in front of it. (Centro de Imprensa da Presidência da República de Angola)  Angola's President João Lourenço formally inaugurated the expanded naval base at Soyo on 10 July, the 47th anniversary of the Angolan Navy.  Located at the mouth of the Congo River in the far north of Angola, the Soyo base is far better located than the main nava...

The first two of four ex-USCG Island-class cutters, ex-  Adak  and ex-  Aquidneck  , have been delivered to Greece.  (Hellenic Navy)  The Hellenic Navy has taken delivery of the first two of four ex-US Coast Guard (USCG) Island-class cutters.    The two vessels, ex-  Adak   (WPB 1333) and ex-  Aquidneck  (WPB 1309), were towed to Salamis Naval Base on 4 July following their arrival at Piraeus port the previous day on board the heavy-lift ship M/V SLNC   Magothy  ....

The US Coast Guard acknowledged its Fast Response Cutters have a bridge-window view blind spot. (US Coast Guard)  A “blind spot” in the bridge-window view “hindered” the overall helm view of a Sentinel-class US Coast Guard (USCG) Fast Response Cutter (FRC) before the vessel collided with a fishing vessel on 8 August 2022, resulting in an injury and fatality aboard the civilian craft, according to a USCG investigation report of the accident, released on 7 July.  The report also noted that the FRC was travelling at relatively high speeds to emb...

The new BAM-IS is intended to replace the Spanish Navy's ageing salvage and rescue ship   Neptuno  (pictured).  (Spanish Navy)    Navantia staged a steel-cutting ceremony for the Spanish Navy's new submarine rescue ship (Buque de Acción Marítima Intervención Subacuática: BAM-IS), to be named   Poseidon  , at its yard in Puerto Real on the south coast of the Bay of Cádiz on 3 July.   The new vessel is based on the Spanish Navy's Meteoro-class BAM offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) but adapted for un...

NVL Group will build three new Type 424 SIGINT vessels for the German Navy. (NVL Group)  Germany's Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) and Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL) Group have signed a contract amendment covering the construction and delivery of three new Type 424 intelligence-gathering vessels (AGIs) for service with the German Navy.  Intended to replace the three Type 423 Oste-class AGIs, all of which entered service in the late 1980s, the Type 424 design has been developed to...

An artist's impression of the S-80 submarine that L&T and Navantia have offered for India's P-75(I). (Navantia)  Indian engineering firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has formed a teaming arrangement with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia to offer the latter's S-80 submarine design for India's Project-75 (India) or P-75(I) programme.  India has a longstanding requirement for six new air independent propulsion (AIP)-equipped diesel-electric submarines (SSKs), and the contract for these boats is expected to be India's largest defence acquisition project giv...

Lockheed Martin completed another milestone in its efforts to integrate the PAC-3 missile with Aegis. (Lockheed Martin)  Lockheed Martin's Patriot Advanced Capability – 3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor successfully communicated with the AN/SPY-1 radar, a key component in the Aegis Weapon System, for the first time, the company confirmed on 10 July.  “This successful test is a major step forward to fully integrate PAC-3 MSE into the Aegis Weapon System,” Tom Copeman, vice-president, Naval Systems, Lockheed Martin Missile...