Navy Lookout – The offshore support vessel, MV Topaz Tangaroa has been purchased by the UK Ministry of Defence for conversion to a Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) ship. She will arrive at Cammell Laird shipyard on Merseyside this week for conversion and will serve in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary renamed RFA Proteus.

Navy Lookout – To some extent, the capability of the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigate cannot be fully appreciated without understanding the background to its development. Public perception has perhaps been over-focused on cost and initial armament, obscuring what has been achieved. In this article, we look at the procurement process and design philosophy that underpins the project.

Navy Lookout – In the first of a series of articles focussing on the Astute class SSNs, we look at the programme’s history and how decisions made decades ago continue to impact today’s fleet.

Navy Lookout – The UK has completed the first phase of its forward-deployed frigate programme, with the Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose handing over to sister ship HMS Lancaster in the Gulf. The programme has demonstrated improved availability at sea and improved operational effect.

Navy Lookout – The Merlin helicopters equipped with the Crowsnest ASaC role kit provide are a critical aspect of the carrier strike programme. In this article, we look at how the troubled Crowsnest development project and efforts to bring the system into frontline service have progressed in the last year or so.

Navy Lookout – A multi-billion pound project to build 8 warships for the Royal Navy is now well underway on the Clyde. Here we look at the Type 26 frigate project in context, its progress to date and the likely future delivery schedule.

Wavell Room – Far from presenting a binary choice between European and Indo-Pacific theatres, UK Defence’s Integrated Review refresh should seek to harmonise these seemingly divergent approaches.  Understanding the different utility of Naval, Air and Land forces in meeting regional challenges and political goals would go some way to squaring the circle.

Navy Lookout – HMS Queen Elizabeth, her air group and escorts recently conducted a three-week period of training and re-familiarisation. Here we round up RN aircraft carrier activity for the latter part of this year.

Navy Lookout – MSubs Ltd has been awarded a £15.4m contract to build the first XLUUV (Extra Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle) owned by the Royal Navy.

Navy Lookout – As the first of class, HMS Glasgow prepares to begin the fitting out phase of construction, here we take an overview of the Type 26 frigate design. This is a highly complex warship and it is not possible to cover every aspect of the vessel in a single article but this provides a primer on the overall design, weapons and sensors.

War on the Rocks – The U.S. Marine Corps has made it a priority to address the rise of great-power competition in the Indo-Pacific. British forces in the Falklands operated in a similar manner to how the commandant envisions marines operating in the future: small formations distributed across vast expanses of maritime terrain, relatively limited indirect fire support, and limited traditional close air support. Vertical lift aircraft were critical to enabling British maneuver and logistical sustainment in the South Atlantic. But these aircraft are largely absent from new Marine Corps concepts.

Navy Lookout – While meeting with his Norwegian counterpart on board HMS Queen Elizabeth in Oslo today, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has finally confirmed the RN will purchase the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) to fulfil the interim anti-ship missile requirement.

Navy Lookout – Subject to final ministerial approval,  the Team Resolute consortium comprising BMT, Harland & Wolff and Navantia UK has been selected ahead of Team UK to build the three Fleet Solid Support Ships. This decision has been announced earlier than expected and will prove to be controversial.

Navy Lookout – In September 2022 the RN published the Maritime Operating Concept (MarOpC) which essentially lays out a vision of how the RN and other stakeholders in the maritime domain will evolve and develop to meet the challenges of the future. Here we examine aspects of the document and look at some of the questions around taking its ideas and making them a reality.

RUSI – An important feature of the UK’s 2021 Integrated Review was the tilt towards the Indo-Pacific. The announcement that the UK would seek to maintain a forward and persistently engaged presence in the region was of particular significance to the Royal Navy, given the region’s maritime character. The key question for the service to contemplate as it seeks to meet the objectives set by the Integrated Review is how to deliver strategic effect without mass.

The Sun – A nuclear-armed Navy submarine had to abort a top secret mission because of a life-or-death fire beneath the waves.

(Thanks to Alain)

European Defence Review – During Euronaval 2022 BAE Systems publicly displayed the Adaptable Strike Frigate (ASF) warship concept design. Based on the need for adaptable capacity to enable navies to respond “at the speed of relevance whilst operating at range for extended period,” the ASF has been designed “to embrace system of systems modularity to deliver a mission-ready, digitally enable platform.”

Navy Lookout – In development since 2018, the Kingfisher munition is a novel and low-cost solution for warships developed by BAE Systems to counter underwater threats, particularly proliferating UUVs. Here we look at this weapon in detail and consider its potential selection by the Royal Navy.

BBC – The head of the Royal Navy has ordered an investigation into allegations of bullying and sexual harassment against women in the Submarine Service.

Navy Lookout – In this article, we look at the RN’s aspirations to improve its soft-kill countermeasures for defence against anti-ship missiles.

RUSI – The Indo-Pacific is vital for the UK’s prosperity, but that does not make it the military’s main effort. The military’s craving for relevance in the theatre risks a strategic blunder.

Navy Lookout – HMS Dauntless has completed sea trials as the first ship to undergo a major upgrade to resolve the propulsion problems that have plagued the Type 45 destroyers. As part of our series covering these issues, here we report on progress and some of the technical aspects of the work.

Navy Lookout – Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced that the first Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS) will be purchased this year and be operational next year. A second vessel designed specifically for this task will subsequently be constructed in the UK. Here we take a brief look at the context and implications of this project.

Navy Lookout – It has been revealed that Full Operating Capability for the UK Lightning Force has been delayed by 2 years. Here we look at how UK F-35s numbers are building up, issues that impact the pace of aircraft delivery and how this affects the carrier air group generation.

Navy Lookout – HMS Tamar and HMS Spey sailed from Portsmouth on 7th September 2021 to be forward deployed in the Pacific for at least the next five years. A year on from their departure we look at what has been achieved and the benefits of a permanent Royal Navy presence in the region.