The Swedish Navy’s two first A26 submarines will be named HMS Blekinge and HMS Skåne, the country’s Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) said on January 15, 2019. The two submarines will be delivered to the Swedish Navy in 2024 and 2025.

Naval News spent two days with Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium formed by Naval Group and ECA Group to answer the Dutch and Belgian Navies’ joint Mine Countermeasures program (MCM). From stem to stern, let’s discover how this joint venture (called a « combination » by the Belgian military) has built an innovative and strategic offer covering all Belgian requests, and more…

On Wednesday 16th January 2019, the Armed Forces of Malta have signed a US$40 million contract for an additional Offshore Patrol Vessel, which will be named P71. The project of asecond and more capable OPV was launched in 2015, and has since then started to take shape.

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and BAE Systems Bofors AB recently signed an agreement to acquire two new Bofors Mk 4 40 mm guns for the country’s Navy.

On 15th. January, Navantia has initiated, in San Fernando shipyard, the construction of the first corvette for the Saudi Arabia Navy. The event has consisted of the cut of the first plate of the ship, belonging to the block 401, dimensions of 12 x 2,4 meters, a thickness of 7 millimeters and a weight of 1.254 kilos.

L3 ASV announced the completion of a series of demonstrations at the Australian Defence Showcase, Autonomous Warrior 18, in Jervis Bay, Australia. In support of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), L3 ASV operated a 9-metre (30ft) vessel outfitted with advanced autonomous navigation capability for reconnaissance, interdiction and patrol tasks.

The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), closed out 2018 on a high note with the acceptance of the ship’s first advanced weapons elevator (AWE), setting the tone for more positive developments in the year ahead, the Carrier's Public Affairs said on January 16.