Defense

The highly anticipated 3rd International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (IMDEC) is set to take place on 29-30 August 2023 at the Burma Hall, Ghana Armed Forces Headquarters, Accra, Ghana. The new dedicated exhibition hall in Burma Camp, purpose-built to accommodate the growing event, will also be inaugurated at IMDEC, the largest gathering of Africa's maritime industry.

Supported by Sweden and the United Kingdom, Saab has submitted its proposal for the replacement of Netherland’s current submarines. The proposal comprises four advanced Expeditionary Submarines with the latest innovations and technologies and includes a cooperation with Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Group.

Kraken Technology Group has announced a strategic partnership with Cosworth around the development of advanced battery solutions for its littoral defense and security range.

On 20 July 2023, the third submarine of the Barracuda class has left its construction hall in order to be transferred to the DME floating platform-type shiplift. It is part of a series of six SSNs that will gradually replace the submarines of the Rubis-class currently in service within the French Navy.

U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) declared Initial Operational Capability for Lockheed Martin’s Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) last month. This milestone represents a transformational capability for USSOCOM forces in Maritime and Undersea Systems.

East-Coast-Based Naval Special Warfare Operators (SEAL) showcased their capabilities and strengthened international partnerships during their participation in the multinational exercise UNITAS 64. As part of the exercise, SEALs trained alongside partner nation special operations forces in submarine operations, visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS), and close quarters combat (CQC), reaffirming the importance of collaboration in maritime defense strategies.

L3Harris, along with industry partners, developed and integrated a homing and docking solution that enabled launch and recovery of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from an underway submarine, referred to as Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery (TTL&R).

Bollinger Shipyards LLC (“Bollinger”) has delivered the USCGC William Sparling to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Florida. This is the 180th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 54th Fast Response Cutter (“FRC”) delivered under the current program.

Gecko Robotics, a leader in decoding the built world with robots and software, further expand its work with the U.S. Navy under a new $5 million ceiling contract with Huntington Ingalls Industries. The expansion will increase the speed and quality of maintenance cycles for U.S. Navy surface ships, including amphibious assault ships.

SeeByte, in partnership with Blue Bear, have been awarded a contract by Defence Science and Technology laboratory (Dstl) under the Progeny Maritime Research Framework to research and develop a secure architecture for Mixed Multi-Domain Swarms (MMDS) of Robotic Autonomous Systems (RAS).

Damen Naval has signed a contract with the first Dutch supplier for the new Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Frigates. Netherlands-based RH Marine will supply the Integrated Mission Management System (IMMS), the Integrated Navigation Bridge System (INBS) and the Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS) for each of the four frigates for the Dutch and Belgian Navies.

Israel Aerospace Industries and ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, a company of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, on May 10th, officially launched their latest joint development for advanced anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions at the Undersea Defense Technology (UDT) Conference and Exhibition in Rostock, Germany.