Home Blog
HMS Stirling Castle has been formally commissioned into the Royal Navy on the Firth of Forth, marking the operational start of Britain's unique minehunting mothership, which carries autonomous and remotely operated systems to hunt mines in place of traditional crewed minehunters.
HMS Prince of Wales and her carrier group joined NATO's Dynamic Mongoose anti-submarine exercise off Norway, with the UK fielding the largest national contribution as nine nations hunted German, Portuguese and Dutch submarines across two weeks in the High North.
Sweden's Quick Reaction Alert scrambled JAS 39 Gripen fighters twice on Friday to intercept Russian military aircraft over the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Air Force has said, after detecting a Russian Su-24 and a Su-34 near Swedish airspace.
Ferguson Marine has completed the first official engine start on Glen Rosa, the CalMac ferry being built at Port Glasgow.
Unite has called for guarantees that shipbuilding and repair work will stay in the UK after Balaena's acquisition of the parent of Cammell Laird and A&P, with general secretary Sharon Graham saying the deal shows "the absurdity" of sending such work overseas.
A written parliamentary answer has set out the seven core missions that the UK's F-35 force is built around, and although the aircraft is one of the most advanced in the world, several of those roles remain beyond its reach for the time being.
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation has begun market engagement on a facilities management contract for British forces in the Falkland and Ascension Islands worth an estimated GBP 500 million, running for ten years from 2030 with a possible extension to 2040.
3 Commando Brigade is to be officially known as the UK Commando Force, the King has announced, marking a decade of transformation that has seen the Royal Marines reshaped from a high-readiness amphibious brigade into dispersed, technologically advanced strike teams.
Al Carns, who quit as Armed Forces Minister alongside John Healey over the Defence Investment Plan, has warned that "the next war won't be won by armies, navies or air forces alone" and that Britain is "not being honest about what getting ready will cost".
RFA Lyme Bay has arrived in Cyprus after intensive Mediterranean training, carrying advanced autonomous minehunting kit and around 100 mine warfare and diving specialists for a potential multinational mission to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
