Category: News

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HMS Somerset returns to sea after £20 million refit

By Sharon Black

The Type 23 frigate has a new lease of life as one of the most advanced fighting ships in the fleet due to a £20 million docking and upgrade in her home port of Devonport Naval Base in partnership with Babcock Marine . HMS Somerset ’s commanding officer, Commander Mike Smith, said: I am incredibly proud to be taking HMS Somerset back to sea after what has been a highly productive upgrade

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Employers have their say on MOD reservists

By Sharon Black

The MOD held a workshop on Friday, 11 January, in London where representatives from companies such as Royal Mail , Lloyds Banking Group , Tesco and BAE Systems were encouraged to share their thoughts on a range of subjects that affect their businesses and the reservists they employ.

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Regional Survey – South Asia out to 2040

By Sharon Black

The Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre ( DCDC )’s ‘South Asia out to 2040’ regional survey identifies key strategic trends for South Asia over the next 30 years and explores the challenges and opportunities that surround an Eastern shift in global power. In 2010, DCDC published ‘Global Strategic Trends out to 2040’

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RAF C-17 aircraft depart for Mali mission

By Sharon Black

At Évreux-Fauville Air Base near Paris the aircraft will be loaded with armoured vehicles and other military equipment for transport to the Malian capital, Bamako. French forces are assisting the Malian government to contain rebel and extremist groups in the north of the country.

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Royal Navy teams help prevent tug sinking

By Sharon Black

Sailors from the frigate HMS Lancaster and offshore patrol ship HMS Severn struggled in dark, freezing conditions to plug a hole in the damaged hull of the Christos XXII and pump out tonnes of water to prevent it sinking.

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Royal Navy teams help prevent tug sinking

By Sharon Black

Sailors from the frigate HMS Lancaster and offshore patrol ship HMS Severn struggled in dark, freezing conditions to plug a hole in the damaged hull of the Christos XXII and pump out tonnes of water to prevent it sinking. They fought against the in-rushing English Channel, hammering wooden wedges into a foot-long gap caused when the vessel the tug was towing crashed into it shortly after 2100hrs on Sunday, 13 January, off Hope’s Nose, near Torbay.

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UK to provide logistical military assistance to Mali

By Sharon Black

On Saturday, 12 January, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, spoke to President François Hollande of France about how the UK can support French military assistance being provided to the Malian government to contain rebel and extremist groups in the north of the country. As a result of this, the UK has offered, at French request, 2 transport aircraft to help quickly transport foreign troops and equipment to the West African country.

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UK Defence ministers visit Armed Forces overseas

By Sharon Black

The Minister of State for the Armed Forces , Andrew Robathan, and the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology , Philip Dunne, visited personnel in Afghanistan to witness first-hand the progress being made in mentoring Afghan forces to take on their own security challenges. During their visit, they also met with International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) and Afghan military commanders as well as Afghanistan’s Ministers for Defence and Interior in the capital Kabul

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RAF Typhoon aircraft exercise in UAE

By Sharon Black

This has been the first time that aircraft, engineers and pilots from the squadron, normally based at RAF Leuchars, have deployed together on the Advanced Tactical Leadership Course ( ATLC ), which runs each year at Al Dhafra Air Base. Wing Commander Mike Baulkwill, Officer Commanding 6 Squadron , said: We have been sent out here to conduct this multinational exercise that looks at large scale air operations involving many aircraft. The exercise has been run over a number of weeks, giving the pilots, ground crew and support staff an opportunity to work alongside other nations.

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Royal Navy Lynx aids capture of suspected pirates

By Sharon Black

Flight 217 of 815 Naval Air Squadron is currently deployed on board the French frigate FLF Surcouf as part of Operation Atalanta, the EU ’s counter-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa. The Lynx was sent ahead by the French warship to find the suspected pirates after the USS Halyburton, operating as part of NATO ’s Operation Ocean Shield , received a distress call from a merchant vessel reporting she was under attack from 6 men armed with rocket-propelled grenades. Boarding teams approach a suspected pirate vessel as Flight 217’s Lynx helicopter hovers above [Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2013] Although the MSC Jasmine, sailing 260 miles off the Somali coast, managed to repel the attack themselves, a German EU maritime patrol aircraft was scrambled to track the suspect vessel, which was by then towing another boat with several more men on board.

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2013 Health Partnership Awards launched

By Sharon Black

The ceremony honours the people, projects and initiatives that provide serving military personnel, including reservists, and their families and veterans with the very best in healthcare and social care. The awards are open to civilian health staff and military medics working within the Defence Medical Services , the NHS , and private or voluntary sectors.

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2013 Health Partnership Awards launched

By Sharon Black

The ceremony honours the people, projects and initiatives that provide serving military personnel, including reservists, and their families and veterans with the very best in healthcare and social care. The awards are open to civilian health staff and military medics working within the Defence Medical Services , the NHS , and private or voluntary sectors. The 2013 awards ceremony, to be held on 21 May, is being hosted by the Welsh Government and, from today, people can nominate individuals or teams who provide care and support to Service personnel

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Royal Navy sailors help African community

By Sharon Black

25 volunteers from the Plymouth-based frigate’s company headed to the village of Kigamboni while their ship was berthed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The sailors helped to install windows and doors in the community centre building, repaired fencing, and built ‘hugle beds’, which will be used to grow vegetables in dry conditions.

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Royal Navy sails into London Boat Show

By Sharon Black

As an island nation, the UK’s prosperity and security is dependent on its ability to access the sea. That is why the Royal Navy is globally deployed and has a range of versatile ships, submarines and aircraft operated by professional sailors, aviators and Royal Marine Commandos. The Navy will be at the London Boat Show from 12 to 20 January, where visitors can learn more about naval life and how, every minute of every day, somewhere in the world they are protecting the nation’s interests

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Sapper Richard Reginald Walker killed in Afghanistan

By Sharon Black

Sapper Walker was shot in an apparent ‘insider attack’ by a member of the Afghan National Army ( ANA ) at Patrol Base Hazrat in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province on Monday 7 January 2013. He was working on a construction task with other military engineers from his Troop, as part of the preparations to hand the camp over to Afghan security forces, when the Afghan soldier turned his weapon on ANA and ISAF soldiers at the base.

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Sapper Richard Reginald Walker killed in Afghanistan

By Sharon Black

Sapper Walker was shot in an apparent ‘insider attack’ by a member of the Afghan National Army ( ANA ) at Patrol Base Hazrat in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province on Monday 7 January 2013. He was working on a construction task with other military engineers from his Troop, as part of the preparations to hand the camp over to Afghan security forces, when the Afghan soldier turned his weapon on ANA and ISAF soldiers at the base. The incident resulted in a number of casualties, all of whom were extracted to the Bastion Role 3 medical facility where Sapper Walker was pronounced dead.

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Libya operation recognition for Naval Air Squadron personnel

By Sharon Black

The 4 servicemen from 815 Naval Air Squadron are among 1,500 Royal Navy personnel to receive medals for their part in the NATO -led Libya operation. The aircrew and engineers, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, were presented with NATO Operation Unified Protector medals for their participation in the Libya operation while serving with 217 Flight on board HMS Liverpool . Left to right: Lieutenant Alastair Crawford, Petty Officer Paul Perry and Lieutenant Craig Farquharson with their Operation Unified Protector medals [Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2012] The four who received medals for the operation were Lieutenant Alistair Crawford, Lieutenant Craig Farquharson, Petty Officer Paul Perry and Air Engineering Technician Matthew Parker

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Marines train to tackle pirates

By Sharon Black

Among the ship’s company of HMS Monmouth is a detachment of Royal Marines , vital for HMS Monmouth’s tasking at sea. One of the major roles of the Marines is conducting boarding missions against suspected pirates and smugglers. To hone these skills they used their time on land to visit a specialist ‘Ship-in-a-Box’ facility owned by the US Coast Guard in Bahrain

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The defence training and education capability programme

By Sharon Black

Overview The DTEC programme was born from the SDSR 2010 that stated that the Ministry of Defence ( MOD ) should embrace a step change in its exploitation of modern simulation training systems in order to increase operational effectiveness, reduce costs and minimise the MOD ’s environmental footprint. A key aspect of the change is to increase the pace of MOD ’s acquisition processes to better exploit rapidly improving technology and to address the broader cultural barriers to the use of simulations. Current activities DTEC is reviewing a number of its activities including: An end-to-end approach to training led by operational needs and front line commands A systems approach to training products Standards and networking Research and possible industry input to DTEC A need to overhaul procurement arrangements to enable rapid acquistion of off-the-shelf solutions and applications Wider exploitation of networked training and learning systems to support mission planning/preparation Capability test, experimentation and evaluation For DTEC project support contact: Jon Brooking email: DESPTG-DTSI-PSF-ABMgr@mod.uk Tel: 030 679 30428 Mob: 07747 898124 Grant Bailey email: DESPTG-DSTI-PSF-RSMgr@mod.uk Tel: 030 679 71321 Mob: 07787 526920

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Pilots prepare for landing on Royal Navy’s new carriers

By Sharon Black

RAF and Royal Navy personnel have been training with the Flight Control Office – or Flyco – of the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth at the BAE Systems simulator at Warton in Lancashire. When the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35 comes in to land on the deck of the UK’s next carriers it will be vital that pilots are well-versed in the skills of landing on a moving deck.

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Soldier from 28 Engineer Regiment killed in Afghanistan

By Sharon Black

The soldier was killed by small arms fire from a suspected member of the Afghan National Army (ANA) who turned his weapon on ANA and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) soldiers at Patrol Base Hazrat in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Major Laurence Roche, said: It is my painful duty to report the death of a soldier from 28 Engineer Regiment who was shot and killed by a suspected member of the Afghan National Army at a patrol base in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province