Navy News

China is deploying a large number of naval and coast guard vessels across East Asian waters, at one point more than 100, in the largest maritime show of force to date, according to four sources and intelligence reports reviewed by Reuters.China is in the middle of what is traditionally a busy season for military exercises, though the People's Liberation Army has not made any announcements of large-scale officially named drills.Still, the rise in activity is happening as China…

China's military sometimes simulates attacks on foreign naval vessels in the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan shares intelligence with international partners when they operate in those waters, a senior Taiwan security official said on Wednesday.China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait, a major trade route for about half of global container ships.Both the United States and Taiwan say the strait is an international waterway, however.U.S.

The New Zealand Navy will return to service in the third quarter of 2026 one of two offshore patrol vessels idle since 2021, the chief of the defence force said on Tuesday, at a cost running into millions of dollars.Tony Davies told a select committee of parliament the decision to bring HMNZS Otago out of care and custody arrangements followed the sinking of a specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, the Manawanui."Before you put it back to sea, it has to have quite a bit of work and money spent on it," Davies added.

Facility will include 150,000 square feet of covered manufacturing space optimized for serial productionNew yard will support 200 new jobs and expands shipbuilding capacity Master Boat Builders announced plans to build a new $60 million, 150,000 sq ft manufacturing facility dedicated exclusively to government and defense shipbuilding programs. The new 20-acre site is located directly across Bayou Coden from the company’s existing yard.“This new facility is about building more capability here at home,” said Garrett Rice, President, Master Boat Builders.

Fincantieri and the U.S. Navy have reached an agreement to redefine the future of the Constellation-class frigate program, ensuring work continues on the first two ships while cancelling four later units as part of a wider fleet review.The shift follows the Navy’s overhaul of its force-structure plans and aligns with new priorities aimed at accelerating next-generation ship designs and revitalizing segments such as icebreakers, amphibious platforms and special-mission vessels.Fincantieri…

The U.K. and Indonesia have agreed a $5.23 billion (£4 billion) maritime deal that will secure around 1,000 jobs in Britain and strengthen defense and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.The new Maritime Partnership Programme, led by British defense firm Babcock, will see both countries jointly develop maritime capability for Indonesia’s navy and build more than 1,000 vessels for its fishing fleet to support food security.The vessels will be built in Indonesia using British shipbuilding expertise…

In a shipbuilding industry defined by tradition, one new entrant is seeking to rewrite the rules of how naval vessels are designed, built and delivered. Saronic Technologies, founded just three years ago, is racing to create what CEO Dino Mavrookas calls “a next-generation shipbuilding ecosystem” — one capable of delivering unmanned surface vessels (USVs) at the speed and scale the U.S. and its allies will need to compete on tomorrow’s seas.Saronic Technology’s ambition is staggering: a vertically integrated…

Navantia and Thales have signed a partnership agreement to support the modernization of the Royal Thai Navy (RTN), including the supply of three Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems for two Pattani-class offshore patrol vessels and the HTMS Chang landing platform dock.The upgrade work will be carried out by Navantia and marks the first cooperation between the Spanish shipbuilder and Thales in Thailand. The IFF equipment will integrate with existing surveillance radars and…

The U.S. Navy needs to dramatically increase the fleet, especially submarines, but the available pool of skilled workers is not keeping pace.Submarine construction is ramping up. The Navy continues to build Virginia-class submarines, striving for two per year, and is gearing up build the new Columbia-class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. At the same time, the industry needs to support the ambitious Australia-U.S.-U.K. AUKUS program to make the Royal Australian Navy a nuclear submarine navy.Qualified workers are not only needed to build submarines…

Fincantieri has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with KAYO, an Albanian company specializing in strategic industrial infrastructure, to establish a joint venture (JV) for the construction and maintenance of military vessels in Albania.The signing took place during the Italy–Albania Intergovernmental Summit in Rome, chaired by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, in the presence of Fincantieri CEO Pierroberto Folgiero and KAYO CEO Ardi Veliu.Under the agreement…

The commissioning of China's latest aircraft carrier this week marks a new chapter in its military modernisation effort but security analysts and regional diplomats say tough challenges lie ahead before it can be made fully operational.President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning and flag-presenting ceremony of the Fujian in Hainan province on Wednesday, and boarded the vessel for an inspection tour, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.The Fujian is China's third aircraft carrier…

Austal Australia has received Approval in Principle (AiP) from classification society DNV, for their Autonomous and Remotely Operated Ships (AROS) Platform Controller.The AROS Controller, designed and developed by Austal at Henderson, Western Australia, is a safety control system that provides a standardised and managed interface between the vessel’s complex engineering systems and the navigational autonomy system. Managing the transfer of information in both directions, constantly checking system health…

The work of Australia's defence force to protect its sea trade routes, including through the South China Sea, is becoming more risky as Beijing undertakes the "biggest military build-up in the world today", Australia's defence minister said on Tuesday.Open sea lanes, including trade routes that go through the South China Sea and East China Sea, were at the core of Australia's national interest, Richard Marles said in an opening speech at a navy conference in Sydney."That work is challenging and in truth it is becoming increasingly risky.

The Pakistan Navy expects its first Chinese-designed submarine to enter active service next year, the country's top admiral told Chinese state media, bolstering Beijing's bid to counter regional rival India and project power toward the Middle East.A deal under which Islamabad will take delivery of eight Hangor-class submarines by 2028 is "progressing smoothly," Admiral Naveed Ashraf told the Global Times in an interview published on Sunday, adding the submarines would boost Pakistan's…

Marilyn Hubalde still remembers the first time she heard the thunderous chop of military helicopters swooping over this northernmost outpost of the Philippines, less than 90 miles from Taiwan. It was April 2023, when Filipino and American troops descended on the cluster of 10 emerald green islands of Batanes province for amphibious warfare drills.“We were terrified,” the 65-year-old Hubalde recalled. “We thought China might attack when they learned there were military exercises in Batanes.” Hubalde’s helper…

The Philippines and Canada signed a pact on Sunday for their armed forces to train on each other's soil, boosting defense cooperation to tackle common security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region.Canada's first such deal in the region, the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) takes to five the number of accords on troops Manila has concluded with allies, in the face of China's increasingly assertive regional stance.The deal broadens the Philippines' network of security ties while complementing a long-standing alliance with its treaty partner…

The Pakistan navy said on Wednesday it seized narcotics worth about $972 million in the North Arabian Sea in an operation with a Saudi-led task force.The navy's YARMOOK ship, operating under the Saudi-led Combined Task Force of the Combined Maritime Forces, carried out the operation, the navy said in a statement.(Reuters - Reporting by Asif Shahzad)

ST Engineering has launched the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN)'s first Victory-class Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV), Victory, at its Benoi Yard.MRCV Victory is the first of six MRCVs to be built by ST Engineering under a detailed design and construction contract awarded by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) in 2023.Measuring 150 metres in length, the MRCV is designed to serve as a “mothership” for unmanned systems, enabling seamless operability across air, surface, and subsurface domains.

BY Captain Bobbie Scolley, U.S. Navy (ret.) and Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, U.S. Navy (ret.)For more than six decades, spanning from 1905 to the late 1970s, the U.S. Navy’s diving apparatus for deep ocean operations and salvage remained fundamentally unchanged. During this period, the demographic of navy divers also saw little alteration. However, beginning in the mid-1970s and continuing to the present day, a series of developments initiated a gradual transformation in both areas with significant implications for contemporary Navy diving.Donna Tobias…

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has signed a strategic agreement to accelerate the development of autonomous surface units developed by Italian start-up Defcomm, which specializes in unmanned solutions for the maritime sector.The agreement focuses on a co-investment partnership to accelerate the development and industrialization of surface drones designed by Defcomm, which have already passed long run and endurance tests.These drones are designed for surveillance, intelligence…

NATO chief Mark Rutte mocked Russia on Monday over the "limping" condition of one of its submarines as Russian authorities denied it had been forced to surface because of technical problems.Russia's Black Sea Fleet said the diesel-powered submarine Novorossiysk had surfaced off France to comply with navigation rules in the English Channel, and rejected reports it had suffered a serious malfunction.But Dutch authorities said at the weekend that the submarine was under tow in the North Sea.

Russian warships have repeatedly sailed on collision courses, aimed weapons at Danish naval vessels and disrupted navigation systems in Denmark's straits that connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, its defence intelligence service said on Friday.Such incidents risk unintended escalation, it said.The Baltic region remains on high alert after incidents involving undersea cables, gas pipeline outages, airspace violations and drone sightings since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine…

Italy’s Fincantieri has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aeronautical Service, a small and medium-sized enterprise specializing in aerospace solutions, to advance the use of carbon-based composite materials in naval shipbuilding.The agreement aims to introduce composite technologies across civil and military platforms, reducing reliance on steel and extending Fincantieri’s technological perimeter into high-performance and stealth applications.The companies plan to collaborate on developing a new high-speed Fast Patrol Boat (FPB) vessel…