President Trump has signed into law H.R. 5515, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, authorizing the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to spend $9.6 billion for unmanned vehicle systems. The bill increases military spending for unmanned technologies by 28 percent over last year, according to an analysis by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
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Naval ships, aircraft and personnel from India, Japan and the United States participated in an exercise called Malabar 2018 held in June off the coast of Guam. Malabar 2018 was the first time the exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam, and the latest in a continuing series of exercises that has grown in scope and complexity over
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The Maritime Executive reports that Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Ltd. and subsidiaries will pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit involving allegations that the company overcharged the U.S. Navy for supplies and services at ports around the world between 2005 and 2014. The contract rate discrepancies were exposed when whistleblowers at the company came forward with information. Read more of the
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Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced Wednesday the renaming of the U.S. Pacific Command, which will now be called U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The announcement was part of a change-of-command ceremony at Pearl Harbor in which the new U.S. Indo-Pacific Commander, Admiral Phil Davidson, took command. Watch the video below from the U.S. Pacific Command announcement on Twitter or read more about
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The U.S. Navy combat ship USS Manchester will be commissioned on Saturday, May 26 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The 420-ft. vessel is the 14th Navy littoral combat ship. The commissioning includes events in Portsmouth throughout the weekend. Manchester‘s home port will be San Diego. View detailed images of the ship at Sea Coast Online or watch a WMUR news video
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SMi’s Unmanned Maritime Systems conference returns to London for its second year May 16-17, 2018. SMi has recognized that there is a continuing need to consider how unmanned platforms will be integrated into the fleets of the future. Mixing “information exploitation” techniques with a new generation of autonomous systems, navies are building strategic advantage by using these platforms for intelligence,
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