The Submarine Institute of Australia (SIA) gathered in Adelaide in November to look at the issues facing submarines both in the present and in the future. There is much work to be done but there is an emerging understanding of some of the issues at play.

The Williams Foundation, at a seminar in Canberra, focussed attention on the relatively unexamined issues of how much the ADF needs to do, and understand, in order to achieve an effective amphibious capability.

In many ways the RNZN’s Operational Diving Team reflects both the Navy and the wider New Zealand Defence Force: small in numbers, stretched and strained yet multi-skilled and world-class in its personnel, training and kit.

Austal held a keel-laying ceremony for its second Joint High Speed Vessel, "Choctaw County", one of seven Austal-designed 103-metre US Navy Joint High Speed Vessels.

Austal's US operation has been awarded a subcontract by BAE Systems to provide structural maintenance services for "Sea Fighter", a US Navy Research Vessel.

DCNS and Thales has announced the launch of a supplementary phase for the Technology Demonstration of a system for automatic landing and deck-landing of UAVs.

The crew of HMAS Broome successfully prevented an environmental and maritime catastrophe off Papua New Guinea recently by providing assistance to a commercial container ship.

Austal responded promptly to a report on the ADM website that the US Navy is planning to slash the number of Joint High Speed Vessels built by Austal USA from 21 to just 10 ships.

The US Navy is slashing the number of multimillion-dollar catamarans it plans to acquire from shipbuilder Austal USA, a move that could terminate the Joint High Speed Vessel program.

Two more AWD keel blocks had been delivered to ASC in Adelaide from BAE Systems shipyard in Williamstown this week following delivery of the first keel block last month.

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has been awarded a Command Team Trainer Simulation Infrastructure contract, a central component of the Air Warfare Destroyer Command Team Trainer.

The US Navy christened the Joint High Speed Vessel "Spearhead" on September 17, 2011, at a ceremony at Austal's US shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.

The SOS Dan Buoy has been awarded the Excellence Award for the Welfare, Health and Safety category in the Sydney Division of Engineering Excellence Awards.

Navy's new CEAFAR radar system installed on the ANZAC Class frigate, HMAS Perth as part of the Anzac ship anti-ship missile defence upgrade, has been released for initial operational use.

The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith and the Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare last week released the terms of reference for the Review of the Sustainment of Australia's Collins Class submarines.

HMAS Tobruk has been docked in Sydney since May while Defence undertakes scheduled maintenance to further assure the safety and reliability of the ship and to return it to 48 hours readiness notice.