Vard, Team Vigilance Unveil Vigilance Offshore Patrol Vessel at CANSEC
Vard Marine Inc. (VARD), a Fincantieri company, has launched the Vigilance Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) at the Canadian defense trade show CANSEC 2023, in conjunction with Team Vigilance partner companies Heddle Shipyards, Thales Canada, SH Defence, and Fincantieri.Collectively, Team Vigilance partner companies bring vast and impressive capabilities and experience to bear in naval ship design, Canadian and global shipbuilding, the integration of combat and offboard systems, modular payload systems, and life-cycle solutions.
UK Navy Buys Mine-hunting ‘Mother Ship’
A specialist ship purchased by the U.K. Royal Navy to support mine-hunting operations has arrived in Plymouth.When deployed, the vessel will be based at Naval Base Clyde and used as a mother ship tp support the safeguarding of U.K. waters from the threat of mines at sea, operating a range of uncrewed systems that will help keep personnel at a safe distance under Project Wilton.Purchased from Norway's Island Offshore, the the 96.8-meter-long vessel – currently named Island Crown…
UK Defense Ministry Buys Offshore Construction Vessel for Subsea Cable, Pipelines Protection
The UK defense ministry has acquired a subsea construction vessel that used to work in the offshore energy industry. The vessel, Topaz Tangaroa, will undergo a period of military modification and will be used to protect subsea cables and oil and gas pipelines.The Topaz Tangaora, to be renamed as it joins the Royal Fleet Auxiliary fleet, is the first of two future undersea surveillance ships, and it arrived at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead. Thursday.Once operational, the ship will be used to protect seabed telecommunications cables and oil and gas pipelines. "The 98-meter-long, adaptable offshore patrol vessel – the length of Big Ben – will act as a ‘mother ship’…
NATO RV Alliance is not just quiet, it’s ice-capable
An interview with Ian Sage, director for marine operations, NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation, La Spezia, Italy.NATO’s 3,100-ton, 305-foot research vessel NRV Alliance has been a leading platform for underwater acoustics research to the benefit of NATO navies. The ship operated with a civilian crew under the German flag for many years for the NATO SACLANT Center, later renamed the NATO Undersea Research Center, and now known as the NATO Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation. Now Alliance flies a new flag, and has a broader mission.
BMT Debuts VENARI-85 MCM Concept Design
BMT has launched VENARI-85, a new mine countermeasure (MCM) concept design said it be capable of clearing mines faster over a greater area and with less risk to the crew, while simultaneously providing broader utility to navies around the world. According to BMT, VENARI-85 offers a flexible platform that is capable of a spectrum of roles which is future-proofed and able to evolve as technology advances in the unmanned and offboard systems markets take shape. Combining BMT’s ship design pedigree with QinetiQ’s integration expertise…
Navy Competes for Resources at Home, against Asymmetric Threats Abroad
The U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Adm. The document presents Richardson’s priorities with four “lines of effort” to strengthen naval power at and from the sea; achieve high velocity learning at every level; strengthen our Navy team for the future’ and expand and strengthen our network of partners. It isn’t an earth-shattering document, and perhaps is most telling for what it doesn’t say, as opposed to what is says. The document makes a strong case for forward presence, which has been the raison d’etre for the U.S. Navy for decades.
A Boxed Set In Denmark Mine Warfare Capability Comes as a Boxed Set
The Danish Navy is the expert when it comes to flexible, modular combat capability. It created the StandardFlex modules for the Flyvefisken class of patrol vessels in 1995 that was built specifically to operate with the containerized modules. But Denmark is no longer facing a Cold War threat to its waters. Instead, it is assuming a broader role involved in international partnerships and coalitions. The Flyvefisken-class has been retired. Today, the new ships of the Danish Navy…
Freedom Gets Underway
The U.S. Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship will be commissioned in ceremonies at , on Nov. 8, 2008. LCS 1, christened Freedom, is the first of a new class of high-speed, modular and reconfigurable focused-mission ships. LCS is designed to counter threats including mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast, armed surface craft in the littoral or coastal regions of the world. Built by Lockheed Martin at Marinette Marine of , , Freedom recently completed builder's trials on , where the ship's diesel and gas turbine propulsion plant was tested along with communications, navigation and mission systems. The Navy is building two different designs for LCS, each designed and built by different industry teams. The 378-ft. Freedom is a semi-planing monohull.
LCS Mission Packages Being Assembled, Tested at Panama City
As the first two Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) seaframes are taking shape, the first mission packages are being assembled and tested at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Panama City, Fla. LCS will be a reconfigurable, focused-mission ship that employs modular mission packages to counter anti-access threats in the littoral from mines, submarines and small, fast attack boats. “It has a very focused mission in a particular operating environment against very specific threats,” said Capt. Walt Wright, program manager for LCS Mission Modules in the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Littoral and Mine Warfare. “We’re bringing a large number of individual systems primarily focused on unmanned platforms -- unmanned underwater vehicles…
