The US Navy’s Northrop Grumman-built MQ-8C Fire Scout – an autonomous, runway-independent helicopter system – has made its second operational deployment, and first deployment to the Indo-Pacific aboard USS Jackson (LCS-6).

Long thought of as the holy grail of future combat training, simulators and high-fidelity synthetic training devices are only part of the solution to training in the maritime domain.

The Commonwealth’s Pacific Maritime Security Program (PMSP) is a $2 billion commitment comprising the delivery of new Guardian-class patrol boats, region-wide integrated aerial surveillance, and enhancements to regional coordination.

The RAN’s latest and definitely its fastest surface asset, the Devil Ray T38, made its autonomous debut on Jervis Bay as part of Exercise Autonomous Warrior 2022.

The Royal Navy vessel HMS Tamar visits Darwin this week after successful completion of a first deployment in the Indo-Asia Pacific as part of Britain’s permanent naval presence in the region.

Fifteen years since its inclusion in the 2006-2016 Defence Capability Plan, Project Sea 1778 Phase 1 is now poised to provide the RAN with a deployable mine countermeasures (MCM) capability.

The crew of HMAS Stalwart recently achieved a major milestone in the ship’s short time in service when they successfully conducted the ship's first replenishment at sea.

A series of announcements immediately prior to, and during, the Indo Pacific 2022 exhibition in Sydney concerned Navy’s plans to acquire uncrewed undersea vehicles. Defence has since provided some background to the seemingly similar announcements.

Babcock has been awarded a 10-year contract to provide dry-dock maintenance for the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class (QEC) aircraft carriers.

When the final Hunter-class frigate is delivered to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s, Australia will have one of the largest fleets of surface combatants outside the United States Navy equipped with Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Combat System.

Since ADM last analysed the Navy’s Hunter-class frigate program in our October 2021 issue, the project has achieved some significant milestones but also received stinging criticism in mainstream media in the wake of a leaked engineering report.

Essential services provider Ventia Australia will take on the role of Operator and Facilities Manager for the Common User Facility at the Australian Marine Complex in Henderson.

The Royal Australian Navy publicly launched its Navy Mastery programme at Indo Pacific last week, aimed at developing a modern, flexible and innovative approach to its training and development continuum.

Defence’s new approach to sustaining the Navy’s growing fleet was officially launched at the Sea Power 2022 conference last week. The new program is called Horizon 3 and is part of Plan Galileo.

A&P Australia (Atlantic & Peninsula) and Naval Ship Management (NSM, a Babcock Australasia company) have announced an agreement to collaborate on large ship sustainment opportunities on the east coast of Australia.

The SeaWolf pilot project will develop a demonstrator 12m Autonomous Underwater Vessel (AUV) and existing technologies by early 2023.