TCG  Istanbul  seen transiting the Bosphorus Strait enroute to the test site on 2 March.  (Cem Devrim Yaylali)    The Turkish Navy performed its first Hisar-D missile launch from the Midlas vertical launch system (VLS) installed onboard the TCG  Istanbul  in the second week of March.   The event marked the first launch from the indigenous VLS on the high seas. The frigate was observed sailing northbound through the Bosphorus Strait to the test site on 2 March.    Haluk Görgün, the president...

UK Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS  Richmond. (Gordon Brodie)    The UK Royal Navy (RN) Daring (Type 45)-class destroyer HMS  Diamond  (D 34) is returning to the Red Sea to replace Duke (Type 23)-class frigate HMS  Richmond  (F 239), the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 12 March.   Diamond  previously operated in the Red Sea from December 2023 as part of the US-led Operation ‘Prosperity Guardian' to protect ships against attacks by Yemeni rebel group Ansar Allah (popularly known as the...

TCG   Istanbul   seen transiting the Bosphorus Strait enroute to the test site on 2 March.  (Cem Devrim Yaylali)  The Turkish Navy performed its first Hisar-D missile launch from the Midlas vertical launch system (VLS) installed onboard the TCG Istanbul in the second week of March.  The event marked the first launch from the indigenous VLS on the high seas. The frigate was observed sailing northbound through the Bosphorus Strait to the test site on 2 March.  Haluk Görgün, the president of the Defence Industry Agen...

The US Navy is seeking more money for Tomahawk missiles and systems. (Raytheon)  The fiscal year (FY) 2025 US Navy (USN) budget request includes USD6.6 billion for weapons procurement, according to budget documents released on 11 March.  This request is a slight decrease from the USD6.9 billion requested in FY 2024, budget documents show.  The USN is seeking to buy 2,656 weapons in FY 2025, compared with the 2,773 weapons the service sought to buy in FY 2024.  “The [FY 2025] focus is to continue to build up critical munitions inventories whil...

The US Army's Precision Strike Missile is meant to strike targets as far as 400 km away. (US Army)  The multimode seeker that makes the US Army's Precision Strike Missile Increment 2 (PrSM Inc 2) unique and more advanced than Inc 1 is holding the capability back from its scheduled procurement in fiscal year (FY) 2025, according to budget documents.  While Inc 1 is designed for land targets, it is the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile multimode seeker that enables Inc 2 to perform maritime targeting for the army. The service is requesting funding f...

Japan's third Taigei-class submarine, JS   Jingei  , seen here at its handover and commissioning ceremony on 8 March 2024.  (Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency, Japan)  Japan has received and commissioned its third Taigei-class diesel-electric submarine (SSK).  The submarine, which is now in service as JS Jingei, was handed over to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) on 8 March, said the country's Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) in a 12 March post on its official social media pa...

The Pentagon's FY2025 budget request for Aegis ballistic missile defence would decrease spending compared to FY2024. (US Army)  The Department of Defense is requesting about USD1.3 billion for sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) in its proposed fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget, compared to about USD1.7 billion requested for FY 2025, according to budget documents released on 11 March.  The FY 2025 request includes 12 interceptors for USD491.4 million, compared to 39 interceptors for USD807.6 million requested in FY 2024.  The FY 2025 r...

The Netherlands is planning for a new class of amphibious transport ship to be delivered from 2032 to replace two LPDs and four patrol ships. Attendant work will examine if HNLMS  Rotterdam  (pictured) can be extended in service beyond its current 2028 out-of-service date until the first replacement vessel is ready.  (Richard Scott/NAVYPIX)  The UK and the Netherlands have dropped the idea of developing a future joint amphibious ship design but instead will look to engineer maximum interoperability and equipment c...

The US Coast Guard's FY 2025 budget request includes funding for the HC-130J programme management. (Janes/Michael Fabey)  The US Coast Guard (USCG) fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget request of about USD13.8 billion represents a slight decrease from the USD13.9 billion FY 2024 amount, annualised to reflect the continuing resolution spending restrictions and the USD13.9 billion enacted for FY 2023, according to budget documents released on 11 March.  The FY 2025 request includes USD1.1 billion to recapitalise legacy surface assets and make capital i...

The Agni V – pictured above taking part in India's Republic Day parade in 2013 – is a nuclear-capable missile that can carry either a single warhead or multiple warheads over ranges up to 5,500 km. (Indian Ministry of Defence)  India's state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) test-fired the Agni V intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) equipped with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology for the first time on 11 March.  According to a press release by the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD...

The US Navy's FY 2025 budget requests includes funding for unmanned underwater vehicles. (Boeing)  The proposed fiscal year (FY) 2025 US Navy (USN) budget includes USD172.2 million to develop enabling capabilities and critical technologies for unmanned surface vessels (USVs), including funding for medium, large, and long-range vehicles, according to budget documents.  The funding is intended for Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSVs), Large Unmanned Surface Vessels (LUSVs), and Long-Range Unmanned Surface Vessels (LRUSVs) including prototype...

The US Navy's FY 2025 budget request seeks more funding for a Constellation-class frigate. (US Navy)  The proposed US Navy (USN) fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget requests funding to continue proposed programmes for guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) and guided-missile frigates (FFGs).  The FY 2025 request includes USD6.5 billion for two Flight III Arleigh Burke-class DDGs and enough money to cover full funding for another two of those ships, according to budget documents released on 11 March.  Included in the FY 2024 request is USD4.5 billion for t...

US Coast Guard cutters, such as the icebreaker   Healy  , deploy to the Arctic, but the US needs greater presence, said Admiral Daryl Caudle, commander of United States Fleet Forces Command.  (Janes/Michael Fabey)  The US Navy (USN) must deploy more surface ships to the Arctic, and the US needs to improve its overall infrastructure for naval operations in the region to meet threats and competition in the High North, according to Admiral Daryl Caudle, commander of US Fleet Forces Command.  “We have to build a more-...

Despite struggling to deliver enough Virginia-class submarines to meet naval commitments, the navy is cutting a previously proposed submarine in its FY 2025 budget. (Michael Fabey)  Submarine acquisition programmes included in the proposed US Navy (USN) fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget underscore the importance of subsea operations for the service, with the USN proposing to spend about USD16.9 billion for combined Virginia-class attack submarine (SSN) and Columbia-class strategic submarine (SSBN) work, according to budget documents released 11 Ma...

The US Navy is seeking funds to buy another San Antonio-class transport dock in FY2025. (Michael Fabey)  The fiscal year (FY) 2025 US Navy (USN) budget request includes USD1.6 billion to buy one Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship (LPD), according to budget documents released 11 March.  Including that procurement, the five-year Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) included in the FY 2025 request includes three LPDs, with another ship being slated for acquisition in FY 2027 and then another in FY 2029.  The FY 2025 also incl...

The US Navy and Army are jointly developing hypersonic technologies through the navy's Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) offensive hypersonic strike capability and the army's Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW). (US Navy)  President Joe Biden's budget request for fiscal year 2025, unveiled on 11 March, includes about USD744 million in procurement for the US Army's delayed long range hypersonic weapon (LRHW) missile system, more than four times the amount requested for procurement in fiscal year 2024.  After failing two flight tests in fisca...

Introduced between 2002 and 2005, the four De Zeven Provinciën-class ships are planned to remain in commission through to 2032–35. (US Navy)  The Netherlands government has set out plans to acquire a new class of air-defence frigates and associated integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) capability to replace the Royal Netherlands Navy's (RNLN's) four De Zeven Provinciën-class air defence and command frigates (LCFs).  In a 1 March ‘A-letter' to the House of Representatives scoping the top-level requirement for a future maritime air-defence...

The US Navy's FY2025 budget requests includes funding for carrier Enterprise, being built now at Newport News Shipbuilding. (Michael Fabey)    The US Navy (USN) is requesting about USD1.9 billion in its fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget request to continue incremental funding of Ford-class aircraft carriers   Enterprise  (CVN 80) and   Doris Miller  (CVN 81), roughly the same amount requested for similar needs in FY 2024, according to budget documents released on 11 March.   The FY2025 represents the eighth increment...

HMS   St Albans  heads back out to sea after a longhaul refit at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth.  (Crown Copyright)    The UK Royal Navy's (RN's) Duke-class Type 23 frigate HMS   St Albans   (F 83) has returned to sea following the completion of a major life-extension (LIFEX) refit.   St Albans  departed HMNB Devonport on 1 March to begin a period of post-refit trials, the RN announced the same day.   After completing sea trials and subsequent UK-based training, the ship is planned to be...

USS   Portland  has been outfitted with a Laser Weapon System Demonstrator.  (US Navy)  US Navy (USN) Secretary Carlos Del Toro highlighted milestones and development of surface ship combat systems equipment and directed energy weapons on 7 March during the 2024 McAleese Defense Programs Conference.  “We are pushing the bounds of tactics and capability with the future [landing transport dock] USS Richard M McCoolJr (LPD 29),” Del Toro said. “Earlier this year, she was fitted with the Enterprise Air Surveillance R...