France Sails Helicopter Carrier on Medical Mission

03/23/2020
By Pierre Tran Paris - The French navy sailed a helicopter carrier to the Mediterranean island of Corsica to pick up patients hit by the coronavirus infection, the armed forces ministry said March 22. Florence Parly tweeted the arrival today of Thunder, a Mistral class helicopter carrier, at the port…

Industry and the Australian Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessel: The Role of CIVMEC

03/20/2020
By Robbin Laird The Australian Offshore Patrol Vessel or the Arafura Class OPV program is the launch program for the new Australian approach to shipbuilding. Termed a “continuous shipbuilding process,” the core point is to have an ongoing shipbuilding effort, rather than a start and stop approach built around a…

French Air Force Flies Medical Airlift in France for First Time

03/19/2020
By Pierre Tran Paris - On March 18, 2020, the French air force flew six civilian patients severely hit by the deadly coronavirus in an A330 MRTT military transport jet fitted out with an onboard medical evacuation unit, the armed forces ministry said. That was the first time the service…

Counter-Piracy Operations by Japanese Self-Defense Force

03/18/2020
By Japanese Ministry of Defense For Japan and the international community, the waters off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden are extremely important sea lanes. In response to the piracy incidents in the area, Ministry of Defense (MOD) and Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) takes measures for counter-piracy…

Industry and the Australian Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessel: The Role of Luerssen

03/18/2020
By Robbin Laird The Australian Offshore Patrol Vessel or the Arafura Class OPV program is the launch program for the new Australian approach to shipbuilding. Termed a “continuous shipbuilding process,” the core point is to have an ongoing shipbuilding effort, rather than a start and stop approach built around a…

US Navy Destroyer Visit to Cape Town Curtailed: A Coronavirus Concern Impact

03/17/2020
by Dean Wingrin The US Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carney (DDG64) arrived in Cape Town for a planned port visit on Sunday 15 March, but all activities have been curtailed to minimize the spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). Planned as the US Naval Forces Africa’s effort to build…

Australia’s Medicine Supply Chain Is Vulnerable

03/16/2020
By Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn AO (Retd) & Anne Borzycki, IIER-A In February 2020, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that Australia is dangerously dependent on imported medicine. The report referenced by the AFR was published last month by the Institute for Integrated Economic Research – Australia(IIER-A). The report highlighted that…