Foreign Military News

U.S.-based boat builder Metal Shark is expanding its presence in its home state of Louisiana with the addition of a third manufacturing facility and a new recruitment effort.The expansion follows the recent divestiture of its Alabama-based ship refit and repair business, after the company sold its operations to Birdon America.With a new 40,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Metal Shark is looking to boost its production capacity.Together with its nearby Jeanerette and Franklin production facilities…

Australia's Birdon Group announced its U.S. subsidiary has reached a deal to acquire Metal Shark Boats' shipyard in Bayou La Batre, Ala.Birdon America said it will utilize the 32-acre facility for vessel repair work as well as newbuild activity, including construction of the U.S. Coast Guard's $1.187 billion 27-vessel Waterways Commerce Cutter (WCC) Program awarded to Birdon in 2022.Birdon Group CEO, Jamie Bruce, said, “The investment in this facility will not only ensure we deliver on our promise to the U.S.

AUKUS defense ministers have reaffirmed their resolve to bolster security and stability and ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains a region free from coercion and aggression.A statement was released after Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosted Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Australia, and Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Defence, United Kingdom, at the Defense Innovation Unit Headquarters in California on December 1.AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region between Australia…

Russian state news agency RIA said overnight Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port of Izmail had hit port and grain infrastructure housing foreign mercenaries and military hardware, as well as a naval ship repair yard.RIA cited Sergei Lebedev, a man it described as a coordinator of an underground group in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv and who it said had sources in Izmail, Ukraine's main inland port across the Danube River from Romania.It quoted Lebedev as saying that there had been eight separate Russian strikes on Izmail and that an oil terminal had been hit…

Not every vessel in the U.S. Navy is built for major combat operations on the high seas. There are large numbers of boats and service craft that provide essential services to the sea services, the nation and its partners.The U.S. Navy procures about 100 small boats per year. Some of these boats are based on commercial designs, procured to a Navy developed specification that tailors the requirements to the end user needs. They are procured and managed by two Naval Sea Systems Command program offices—PMS 300 and PMS 325.Compared to warships and auxiliaries…

Marinette, Wis. shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) has been awarded a $526 million contract to build a fourth Constellation class frigate for the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Defense announced. The contract for the lead frigate and nine option ships, signed in 2020, has a cumulative value of $5.5 billion, including post-delivery availability support and crew training. FMM received the $795 million contract for the first frigate in the Constellation class program…

Marine salvage, rescue, emergency response and specialized services company Resolve Marine announced the formation of a government relations departmentRetired Navy Capt. Gregg Baumann has been appointed government program manager to lead the effort from the Washington D.C. area. In this newly created role, Baumann is responsible for developing strategy and objectives to grow the company’s government services business, with a primary focus on the United States and Canada. He will also oversee government business development and project mobilization and de-mobilization…

Navy vessels from Australia and New Zealand will be exempt from a temporary ban on foreign ships entering the ports of the Solomon Islands, the Pacific island nation's prime minister told parliament on Monday.Foreign military vessels responding to a request for assistance from the Solomon Islands government would also be exempt, Prime Minister Manesseh Sogavare said.The Solomon Islands signed a security pact with China in April, which a leaked draft said allows the Chinese navy to replenish in Honiara…

Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal Shark has been awarded a contract  to establish fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023 pricing for Near Coastal Patrol Vessels (NCPVs) seven through 10, and accompanying outfitting, testing, spares, tools, travel, reactivation, crew familiarization, exportation and transportation, the U.S. Department of Defense announced.Awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command, the deal is a $36,195,438 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite…

When he served as the commander of NWSC Carderock, Mark Vandroff woke every morning knowing that his counterpart in China had just gone to bed and had spent that day trying to make China’s Navy superior. His job, he figured, was to “get cracking and work to make our Navy even better.” Now the CEO at Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), Vandroff brings that passion for navy shipbuilding – and delivering on the new USN Constellation-class frigates contract – to work every day.Introducing a new class of warship usually comes with a heaping helping of pain, from cost overruns to technical glitches.

Bremerton, Wash. boat builder SAFE Boats International has been awarded an $89,717,984 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract for design, construction, outfitting, reactivation and training for six Mk VI Patrol Boats with an option for two additional vessels.This contract will provide Mk VI Patrol Boats to Ukraine via a U.S. State Department-approved agreement utilizing Building Partner Capacity (BPC) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds. Work will…

Ben Reed is a mechanical engineer from the U.K. now leading New Zealand-based waterjet manufacturer HamiltonJet as managing director.Raised in Shropshire, Reed graduated from Loughborough University of Technology in 1995 and later became a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering. He’s worked for a U.K. gas utility company developing natural-gas-powered engines; Ford Motor Company as a Systems Analyst, and 17 years for Caterpillar UK in diesel engine and transmission development for off-highway machinery and military products…

The Navy is known for its big ships. It has a lot of smaller boats and craft, too—3,200 of them.The three primary stakeholders for these craft are the Surface Fleet, Commander Navy Installations Command and Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. Other stakeholders include Submarine Forces; Air Forces (which own the aircraft carriers); Naval Special Warfare; the Coast Guard; Naval Facilities Command and the Naval Warfare Centers.Boats and craft are procured and managed by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Program Executive Office for Ships (PEO Ships)…

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dorado (WPB-87306) was decommissioned Wednesday after 23 years of service. The vessel was the Coast Guard's sixth 87-foot Marine Protector-class patrol boat to serve as the Coast Guard’s primary nearshore patrol asset.“I would like to thank my crew and all previous sailors for bolstering her highly successful service life,” said Lt. Rebecca Cotton, the Dorado’s commanding officer, during a decommissioning ceremony in Crescent City, Calif. “They made the Dorado an unforgettable cutter in which to serve the West Coast for the past 23 years.

Japan and Australia agreed on a breakthrough defense pact on Tuesday allowing reciprocal visits for training and operations, and voiced concern over the disputed South China Sea, where China is extending its military influence.It is Japan's first agreement covering foreign military presence on its soil since a status of forces agreement in 1960 that allowed the United States to base warships, jets and troops in Japan as part of an alliance that Washington describes as the bedrock of regional security.The Reciprocal Access Agreement strengthens defense ties between the two U.S.

Alabama-based boatbuilder Silver Ships said it has been awarded a contract award worth $6.12 million from the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to supply six Riverine Patrol Boats (RPB).The Riverine Patrol Boat is a U. S. Navy Foreign Military Sale (FMS) that will benefit a Pacific region ally. The 40-foot vessels are a rugged, center console design and are powered by twin Yanmar 440-horsepower engines and waterjets. They are armed, armored and have been designed to carry 20 personnel…

Fincantieri Marinette Marine and Vigor (Team RB-M) in August delivered two additional Response Boat-Mediums (RB-Ms) to the U.S. Coast Guard. These boats are part of an approved foreign military sale to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan through the Department of Homeland Security.Fincantieri Marinette Marine was the prime contractor and program manager for the project, and Vigor built the vessels at its Seattle facility.The Royal Jordanian Naval Force (RJNF) plans to operate the new boats from its base in Aqaba…

Barry Dreyfus Jr., CEO of United States Marine Inc. (USMI), doesn’t keep the recipe to his company’s success a secret. In fact, it’s displayed plainly for all to see on the homepage of USMI’s website: family, integrity and quality. These have been cornerstones of the 36-year-old firm, today regarded as one of the nation’s premier military small craft builders.Headquartered in Gulfport, Miss., with a maintenance/repair facility in Chesapeake, Va., USMI is a fully integrated manufacturer of military, patrol and special warfare boats available in lengths from 21 feet to 90 feet.

A Lockheed Martin-led team has secured a multibillion dollar order from the U.S. Navy to build four Multi-Mission Surface Combatants ships for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as part of the U.S.’s Foreign Military Sales program.Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), who has been working with Lockheed Martin, naval architect Gibbs & Cox and more than 800 suppliers in 42 states for the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, said it will build the ships at its Marinette yard in Wisconsin.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) and Vigor (Team RB-M) has announced the delivery of the first three on a six vessel RB-M contract to the US Coast Guard. The boats are part of a Foreign Military Sale to The Kingdom of Bahrain’s Coast Guard. Hulls four through six are expected to ship in 2020. A total of 182 RB-Ms have been built by Team RB-M.FMM was the prime contractor and program manager. Vigor fabricated the vessels at its Seattle, Washington facility using high temp resistant aluminum.

Australia will join the United States in a security mission to protect merchant vessels travelling through key Middle East waterways after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.Foremost among the areas to be patrolled is the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, through which about one-fifth of the world's seaborne crude flows out of the Gulf.Global commodity trading has been rocked in recent months by the seizure of the British tanker and a series of attacks on international merchant vessels that the U.S. and Britain have blamed on Iran, though it denies involvement. Britain this month became the first U.S.

Indian warships escorting merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf will remain deployed for the longer term, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as tensions between Iran and Western powers rise.But the two ships, backed by surveillance aircraft, will not be part of a military coalition that the United States is assembling to safeguard the waters off Iran near the Straits of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil moves, the two officials said.Since June following attacks on tankers that the United States blamed on Iran and Iran-aligned fighters…

Spanning 35 exciting years, USMI’s core values of Family, Integrity and Quality have served the firm and its military customers well. The next 35 promise to be just as compelling.Little more than one month ago, on April 16, 2019, Gulfport, MS-based United States Marine Inc. (USMI) celebrated its 35th anniversary of continuous Department of Defense production, with hopes of many more years to come. According to CEO and President Barry Dreyfus, Jr., they’ll do just that by exceeding customer expectations by adhering to USMI’s core values of Family, Integrity and, of course, Quality. Over three and one-half decades, the firm has thrived, primarily by evolving into one of the nation’s premier military small craft builders.RootsThe company originally built World Class racing sailboats.