Ukraine’s Navy said one of its Sargan-3000 uncrewed surface vessels destroyed a Russian drone boat in the Black Sea, describing the engagement as the first battle in history between two uncrewed naval vessels. The Navy said its Defense Intelligence partners spotted the Russian craft before the Sargan-3000 closed in and destroyed it using a remote-controlled […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded KestrelX, a small Florida-based aviation company, a contract worth up to $9,987,285 to supply low-observable target aircraft and engineering support for Navy and Department of War training exercises. The Navy did not obligate any funds when it signed the deal, and will instead pay KestrelX as it issues individual task […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Mission Systems a contract worth up to $184.25 million to move a new electronic warfare component for the EA-18G Growler into full-rate production. The contract covers manufacturing of the Next Generation Electronic Attack Unit, known as NGEAU, along with sustainment support for the unit and future sustainment work […]

Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck Russia’s naval base at Novorossiysk overnight on September 8-9, hitting the Kalibr-missile frigate Admiral Essen and starting a fire on its deck superstructure, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence agency, known as HUR. HUR said operators from its Active Operations Department carried out the strike as part of a joint deep-strike operation […]

American Rheinmetall has won a $7.28 million contract to deliver 12 Mission Master SP autonomous ground vehicles and five amphibious kits to the U.S. Marine Corps, the company announced. The Defense Logistics Agency is managing the procurement, with ADS Inc. serving as prime contractor supporting the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. The vehicles will be used […]

The U.S. Navy has added $38.2 million to a BAE Systems contract to overhaul two Mk 45 Mod 4 naval guns, the main deck gun mounted on the Navy’s destroyers and cruisers. Naval Sea Systems Command issued the cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to an existing contract, funded through fiscal 2024 shipbuilding money that will remain available beyond […]

A Russian military-affiliated Telegram channel has raised alarm that Ukraine’s reach at sea now extends beyond the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, framing a string of drone strikes on Russian-linked vessels there as part of a wider pattern that has already put Russian military and commercial assets at risk across three separate seas. Ukraine’s drone […]

South Korea’s Navy released footage this week of a combat experiment where a humanoid robot called PIBOT took the helm of a naval vessel, gripping the ship’s rudder controls and holding its heading, the same way a human sailor would. The test ran August 23 at a ship-handling simulator operated by the Navy Education and […]

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the country’s navy on September 6, where officials showed him two unmanned surface vessels now being built inside Azerbaijan through a joint production line with a Turkish shipbuilder. Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva were briefed on the SALVO armed unmanned surface vessel and the KAYRA kamikaze unmanned surface vessel […]

An F-35B fighter squadron from South Carolina has taken over rotational duty in Japan, replacing a Hornet squadron under a U.S. Marine Corps program that keeps U.S.-based units cycling through the Pacific. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 533, known as the Hawks, arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on September 5 under the Unit Deployment […]

U.S. Marines with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit ran two separate forward operating sites at once during a training exercise near Camp Pendleton, California, testing whether the unit can track ships at sea, direct combat operations, and keep aircraft armed and fueled from multiple locations simultaneously rather than a single base. One site, called a […]

U.S. Central Command forces struck and disabled three Iranian oil tankers on September 5, hours after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy warships patrolling the region, according to a CENTCOM statement. Both American vessels, an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer, evaded the Iranian missiles, and no U.S. personnel […]

HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to leave Portsmouth Naval Base at 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, carrying more than 800 sailors on a three-month deployment around British and northern European waters, according to UK Defence Journal. The deployment is the first extended sea period for the 65,000-tonne carrier since it took on a new […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics NASSCO $149.6 million to carry out a scheduled maintenance and modernization overhaul of the destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91), the ship that served as the lead hull for the Navy’s broader effort to upgrade its Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The fixed-price incentive fee contract covers what the […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin Space $90.2 million to continue design and development work on the second life extension of the Trident II D5 missile, the submarine-launched ballistic missile that forms the sea-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The cost-plus-fixed-fee modification adds to an […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries $336.1 million to begin buying materials with long manufacturing lead times for the future USS William J. Clinton (CVN 82), the fifth Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The contract covers advance procurement only, meaning the money goes toward ordering […]

Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island in Jacksonville, Florida, ran a four-hour active shooter and explosive threat exercise on September 3, testing how the installation and local first responders would handle a complex security emergency inside an occupied office building. The drill, called Exercise Urgent Response, combined Blount Island Command with Jacksonville fire and police, […]

The U.S. Navy demonstrated a system last month that can refuel an unmanned surface vessel at sea without any crew on board, a step toward keeping robotic boats on station indefinitely instead of returning to port when they run low on fuel. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division ran the demonstration off the coast […]

NATO’s Allied Maritime Command said this week that its ships are keeping a constant watch on Russian naval activity from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean, with Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 tracking Russian vessels transiting the Mediterranean as part of that effort. The command, known as MARCOM, did not name a specific Russian ships […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Missions Systems a $194.1 million contract modification for engineering support work on the Nuclear-Armed, Sea-Launched Cruise Missile program, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The cost-plus-fixed-fee modification adds to a previously awarded unpriced letter contract and covers technical and engineering support for the missile’s Fire Control […]