Latest news with #USSixthFleet
Daily Record
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
NATO kicks off huge drill with 6,000 soldiers and missiles flying over European waters
NATO's most important integrated air and missile defence exercise is taking place in the North Atlantic, North Sea, and Norwegian Sea A colossal defence training exercise, involving the interception of missiles over European waters, has been initiated, drawing on the combined forces of 11 NATO countries and engaging over 6,000 military personnel. Kicking off from regions spanning the North Atlantic, North Sea, and Norwegian Sea is Exercise Formidable Shield 2025, which stands as NATO's premiere integrated air and missile defence drill. Spanning a three-week period, this complex operation is carried out under the leadership of STRIKFORNATO and the US Sixth Fleet. The exercise features live-fire tests to intercept supersonic, subsonic, and ballistic threats, marking one of the most sophisticated air defence training scenarios ever devised. With participants that include the US, the UK, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, and Australia contributing radar sensor technology, an impressive count of 16 warships, 27 aircraft, and eight ground-based air defence systems are in active use. These training manoeuvres aim to examine the alliance's proficiency in sensing, tracking, and disarming various airborne dangers through NATO's collaborative command and control frameworks, as well as practising joint responses to missile strikes, reports the Express. Speaking with the UK Defence Journal, Captain Michael Dwan, Task Group 154.64 Commander and representative of the US Navy, underscored the importance of this training: "There is simply no substitute for the training and learning that occurs when we operate in these intensely realistic scenarios. "Exercises like Formidable Shield are critical for refining our collective integrated air and missile defense capabilities, ensuring we can respond effectively to any threat from any direction. "Training as a collective using NATO command and control reporting structure forges the bonds of interoperability and strengthens the alliance as a whole. Exercises like Formidable Shield are critical for refining our collective integrated air and missile defense capabilities, ensuring we can respond effectively to any threat from any direction and maintain a credible deterrent posture. "Operating together is not just a practice, it's the foundation of our shared security," said Commander Welmer Veenstra, a Commanding Officer on De Ruyter. "Exercises like Formidable Shield 25 ensure our forces stay sharp, adaptable, and credible. "Formidable Shield is one of NATO's most important deterrence exercises this year, and also Europe's largest at-sea live-fire exercise in 2025." Sergeant Jonny Karlsen from the Norwegian Joint Headquarters informed High North News. "The war in Ukraine shows the significance of integrated air and missile defense to protect the airspace. By extension, this joint IAMD exercise is very important for Norway and our allies."
Sky News
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Inside a NATO base in Poland - as residents bordering Russia say 'scare tactic' is needed
Along the thin strip of beach and woodland known as the Vistula Spit which marks the northernmost demarcation between Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, there is not much in the way of a border. Just some torn wire fencing and a few rotten posts which seem to stagger drunkenly into the shallows of the Baltic Sea. Beneath a sign barring entry, we find a couple of empty bottles of Russian cognac and vodka. It doesn't feel like the edge of NATO territory. "I don't see much protection. It's not good," says Krzysztof from Katowice, who has come to inspect the border himself. "We have to have some kind of scare tactic, something to show that we are trying to strengthen our army," says Grzegorz, who lives nearby. "At the same time I think I would not base the defence of our country solely on our army. I am convinced that Europe or America, if anything were to happen, will help us 100%." Poland is investing massively in its defence, with military spending set to hit 4.7% of GDP in 2025, more than any other NATO country. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said he will introduce voluntary military training for men of any age, and women too should they wish, so the army has a competent reserve force in the event of war. He is investing $2.5bn in stronger border fortifications between Russia and Belarus, a project called East Shield which will include anti-tank obstacles, bunkers and potentially minefields too. Along with its Baltic neighbours, Poland is withdrawing from the Ottawa convention against the use of land mines. It hasn't committed to using them, but it wants to have that option. We've been granted access to one of the cornerstones of Polish, and European defence, which is a couple of hours drive from the Vistula spit at the Redowicze military base. Aegis Ashore Poland, together with its sister site in Romania, are the land-based arms of NATO's missile defence shield over Europe, which is run by the US navy. They are symbols of the US commitment to NATO and to the protection of Europe. And despite changes at the top of the Pentagon it is "business as usual", says Captain Michael Dwan who oversees air and missile defence within the US Sixth Fleet. "Our mission to work with NATO forces has been unchanged. And so our commitment from the United States perspective and what capability we bring to ballistic missile defence and the defence of NATO is championed here in Poland." As far as Russia is concerned, NATO's two missile defence bases in Romania and Poland represent a NATO threat on their doorstep and are therefore a "priority target for potential neutralisation", per Russia's foreign ministry. NATO says the installations are purely defensive and their SM-3 interceptor missiles are not armed and are not intended to carry warheads. Russia counters they could easily be adapted to threaten Russia. Not the case, Captain Dwan says. "It's not a matter of moving offensive weapons here into the facility, the hardware and the infrastructure is simply not installed. "It would take months or years to change the mission of this site and a significant amount of money and capability and design." With so much marked "secret" on the site, it seems amazing to be granted the access. But for NATO, transparency is part of deterrence. They want potential adversaries to know how sophisticated their radar and interception systems are. They know that if they carried warheads on site, that would make them a target so they don't. Deterrence also depends on whether potential adversaries believe in the US's commitment to NATO and to Europe's defence. On an operational level, as far as the troops are concerned, that commitment may still be iron-clad. But as far as its commander-in-chief goes, there is still - as with so much around Donald Trump's presidency - a great deal of uncertainty. In the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon President Trump suggested he might bundle a potential US troop drawdown in Europe together with the issue of EU trade and tariffs. "Nice to wrap it up in one package," he said, "it's nice and clean". Probably not the way Europe sees it, not with a resurgent Russia on their doorstep, economic tailwinds breeding animosity and the notion of Pax Americana crumbling at their feet.
Gulf Insider
14-02-2025
- General
- Gulf Insider
US Aircraft Carrier Collides With Merchant Ship Off Egypt
In a highly unusual and embarrassing incident, a US Navy aircraft carrier has collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, a US Sixth Fleet spokesman revealed Thursday. The collision involved the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and the merchant vessel Besiktas-M at around noon local time on Wednesday. The vessels collided near Port Said, but there were no injuries reported on either ship. No injuries or flooding on the aircraft carrier were reported, and its propulsion plants 'are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition,' the Navy's 6th Fleet said. However, the Truman did sustain some damage, statements indicate: The Truman was approaching the Suez Canal to go from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, a Navy official told CBS News. There's no assessment at this time which vessel was at fault, the official said. The Truman sustained some damage above the waterline, the official said. It wasn't clear if it will be going in for repairs. The ship remained in the Mediterranean. The Navy is conducting an investigation and has released few other details, including which vessel was at fault. The Besiktas-M also sustained damage – likely more significant than that of the carrier. Read More Also Read: Houthis Vow to Unleash Hell on Red Sea Shipping Again as Gaza Truce Teeters
The National
13-02-2025
- General
- The National
US aircraft carrier collides with ship off Egypt
News US Incident involving the USS Harry S Truman occurred near Port Said in the Mediterranean The USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier has collided with a merchant ship near Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, the US Navy announced on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The incident occurred near Egypt's Port Said and the other vessel involved was the Panamanian-flagged Besiktas-M. It was involved in another collision in 2016 in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, according to 'The collision did not endanger the Harry S Truman as there are no reports of flooding or injuries. The propulsion plants are unaffected and in a safe and stable condition,' US Sixth Fleet spokesman Cmdr Timothy Gorman said in a statement. The US Navy did not provide details for the condition of Besiktas-M. In December, two US Navy pilots safely ejected after the F/A-18 fighter they were flying off the Truman was mistakenly shot down in a ' friendly fire ' incident over the Red Sea by a US guided-missile cruiser. Collisions involving US Navy ships are rare but two warships in the Asia-Pacific region were involved in collisions in 2017. The accidents, in which 17 sailors were killed, raised questions about Navy training and the pace of operations, prompted a Congressional hearing and the removal of a number of officers. At 333 metres in length, the Truman is almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall and has a crew of 5,000.
Egypt Independent
13-02-2025
- General
- Egypt Independent
US aircraft carrier collides with merchant ship in Egypt's Port Said
The US Navy announced in a statement Thursday evening that the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Port Said in the Mediterranean Sea. The US Sixth Fleet spokesperson, Timothy Gorman, stated that the collision resulted in no danger to the carrier, no internal flooding, and no injuries 'The Truman's propulsion systems were not affected,' the US Sixth Fleet spokesman said in a statement. 'The cause of the collision is under investigation,' he said, adding that more information will be released when it becomes available.
