Navy

MILAN — Ukraine’s fleet of unmanned surface vessels is expanding with the emergence of a new, smaller type dedicated to riverine warfare for countering Russian presence in key waterways.
Ukrainian firm NoviTechNe debuted this month a new one-meter-long USV dubbed the Ursula, according to United24 Media, a government-run news website focused on Ukraine.
The multi-function system is said to be able to conduct river reconnaissance, act as a floating mine or as a drone carrier to launch two-kilogram, first-person-view drones from the water.
In a video published by the manufacturer, the naval drone is seen maneuvering through riparian vegetation while carrying what appears to be a small FPV drone.
The Ursula is not the first USV of this type that Ukrainian companies are experimenting with.
Over the winter, Brave1, a government defense-technology hub tasked with getting new capabilities field-ready, reported that Ukrainian troops were trialling the Black Widow 2. The system, whic..

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — China has failed to intimidate rival claimant states into surrendering their sovereign interests in the disputed South China Sea despite its intensifying “bullying tactics,” and the United States and other allied countries are ready to further boost deterrence against Beijing’s aggression, the U.S. Pacific Fleet commander said.
Adm. Stephen Koehler, who oversees the largest naval fleet command in the world, gave assurances Friday in a Manila forum of U.S. commitment to help defend freedom of passage and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific Fleet’s mission, he said, was to deter aggression across the region with allies and partners “and to prevail in combat if necessary.”
Filipino military pushes naval base upgrades, fearing Chinese spying
China’s tactics have “grown steadily and more aggressive with rammings, water cannons, lasers and sometimes worse,” Koehler said. “But desp..

The Navy hopes its Next-Generation Attack Submarine, currently known as the SSN(X), will be a successful combination of stealth, operational life and autonomous technology — but that idea may not become reality anytime soon.
A Wednesday report to Congress sent by the Congressional Research Service said the submarine’s development is projected to be significantly delayed.
While the Navy requested nearly $623 million in research and development for the program in its fiscal 2026 budget proposal, the timeline for the attack submarine has not changed since the service delayed its production from the 2030s to the 2040s last year.
Critically, the Congressional Research Service report lists among its issues for Congress the possible impact this delay could have on U.S. global seapower and warfighting capabilities, specifically “on the future U.S. ability to maintain undersea superiority and fulfill U.S. Navy missions.”
During the fiscal 2025 budget process, the planned pr..

Two new aircraft carriers will yet again experience delays in delivery, after already having previously delayed in past years, Navy budget documents reveal.
The delivery of the Navy’s next Ford-class aircraft carrier, to be christened the John F. Kennedy, will now be delayed by two more years, the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget justification documents show.
It had been scheduled to be delivered this month. Delivery is now pushed back until March 2027. Before this latest setback, the carrier had already been delayed by an estimated one year.
Additionally, another repeat delay is in store for the future carrier Enterprise, which was scheduled to be delivered in September 2029. The budget documents now show that “due to delays in material availability and industry/supply chain performance,” it is now projected to be finished in July 2030.
This is not the first delay for the Enterprise, either. It was scheduled for delivery in 2028 before being pushed back to 2029 last..

MILAN — U.S.-based Saildrone deployed a handful of unmanned surface vessels as part of NATO’s Task Force X demonstration in the Baltic Sea, which helped detect and track Russian shadow-fleet vessels operating in the area, according to the company.
Launched last year, Task Force X is led by NATO’s Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and seeks to accelerate the acquisition, development and integration of uncrewed maritime systems into naval operations.
The alliance’s top transformation branch hosted its second operational demonstration in June, where over 60 American and French-made uncrewed systems were stress-tested to assess their effectiveness against conditions on the Baltic Sea.
Among the platforms deployed were four Voyagers, Saildrone’s ten-meter USVs, which operated in the Gulf of Finland and the western Baltic Sea.
“Saildrone Voyagers detected and tracked hundreds of vessels daily and successfully identified the exercises’ ‘red fo..

MILAN — After announcing it was buying U.S. shipyard sites to build icebreakers, the Canadian shipbuilding company Davie is zeroing in on the need for such ships in Sweden.
The intentions were made public in a recent LinkedIn post by Davie’s chief executive officer, James Davies, who said the Swedish “aging icebreaker fleet needs urgent renewal” and that the company’s “shipyards are open and ready.”
An assessment about Sweden’s lackluster icebreaking chops was part of a recent report by Helsinki Shipyard, which Davie has owned since 2023.
Sweden currently has six icebreakers, some of which were built several decades ago. In 2022, the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA), or Sjöfartsverket, issued a tender for the construction of two new icebreakers, with the first one expected to be delivered in 2026.
The plan never materialized, as the SMA stated in 2024 that no bids met their outlined requirements, per a report from the Swedish me..

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is ramping up its maritime defense posture with plans to establish and upgrade several naval bases in critical areas across the archipelago, including an island base under a basing agreement with the United States and a former American base in Luzon.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters last month about plans to speed up infrastructure works in Balabac Island, a joint Air Force and Navy base in the southern end of Palawan province.
The island is a “strategic location” for the country, Teodoro said, adding that the increased presence of the military there will deter potential surveillance activities in the main island of Palawan, where the government worries about suspected Chinese espionage sleeper cells.
The remote island of Balabac is located 140 nautical miles from Mischief Reef, a China-controlled island in Philippine waters.
Mischief Reef lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, a claim backed ..

The Defense Logistics Agency Maritime Mechanicsburg awarded a $5 billion contract this month to six businesses with the goal of boosting ship manufacturing at speed.
The Maritime Acquisition Advancement Contract is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract designed to accelerate procurement processes. The MAAC has five one-year options at $1 billion each and can potentially reach up to $10 billion.
“There are significantly long lead times the Navy faces … this contracting vehicle streamlines and reduces our end of the administrative lead time,” Elizabeth Allen, DLA Maritime Mechanicsburg’s deputy director, said in a release.
The contract will see companies including SupplyCore, Atlantic Diving Supply, Culmen International, ASRC Federal, Fairwinds Technologies and S&K Aerospace manufacture parts for an array of U.S. Navy vessels, including Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines.
SupplyCore is taking on the task of supplying the Navy with co..

U.S. Navy warships conducting operations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea disrupted several Iranian air strikes, according to a release issued by the service Sunday.
The U.S. 6th Fleet positioned five Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers in the area to provide defensive support to Israel. Since June 14, the ships “intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles,” the release said. Those destroyers were: the Thomas Hudner, Arleigh Burke, The Sullivans, Oscar Austin and Paul Ignatius.
The ships used the Aegis Weapon System, an automated naval weapons system that utilizes high-powered radar to detect and destroy aerial threats. The release did not provide details about the targets of the missiles that the Aegis destroyed.
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Stuart B. Munsch, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa commander, visited crew aboard the Thomas Hudner during a port call in Sousa Bay, Greece, on Sunday and congratulated them on ..

ROME — The Italian navy has ordered two PPA multimission vessels from local shipyard Fincantieri, filling a gap after two PPAs previously ordered by the sea service were diverted to Indonesia.
The vessels will be delivered to the Italian navy by Fincantieri in 2029 and 2030 under a contract worth €700 million ($819 million) which also covers work carried out to convert the two ships sold to the Indonesian navy.
Sold in variants ranging from “Light” to “Full,” the new vessels for Italy are designated “Light Plus.” The 143 meter long, 31 knot, 171-crew ships are equipped with systems provided by Italian defense giant Leonardo thanks to an ongoing team-up with Fincantieri.
When Indonesia signed a €1.18 billion deal in March 2024 to acquire two PPA vessels, Italy agreed to speed up the deal by delivering vessels already being built to fulfill the Italian navy’s own order for seven ships.
The tactic of diverting ships already under c..