Cmdr. Marc, commander of the French carrier airwing training at Naval Air Station Oceana. USNI News photo
NAVAL AIR STATION OCEANA, Va. — Since carrier flight skills atrophy over time, French naval aviators are spending two months training with US Navy air wings so they’ll be ready for missions this summer when their carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) finishes repairs after almost two years in the yard.
French navy Rafale Marine aircraft from the aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91) fly in formation above the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) on Dec. 8, 2017. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. – France is sending 350 sailors and naval aviators to deploy with a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier this spring as their nuclear-powered carrier finishes scheduled maintenance, French officials told USNI News. Read More
USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), left, and the French nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) transit the Northern Arabian Gulf in 2015. US Navy Photo
The French carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) will re-deploy later this year to continue strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, French President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday. Read More
Retired U.S. Marine Gen. James Mattis
With a firm, “No, I haven’t given any thought” to running for president in answering the first question from the audience, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis returned to discussing the Middle East now that the nuclear agreement with Iran is in place. Read More
Russian fighters operating from Syria. TASS Photo
Russia is set to start withdrawing troops from Syria as early as Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. Read More
A screengrab of an Islamic State propaganda video of militants in Nawfaliyah, Libya in 2015. Image via The Long War Journal
At the Surface Warship Summit in Bucharest, Romania, from Jan. 26 to 28, the commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command, Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone expressed concerns regarding several escalating situations in the Mediterranean. Read More
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga (DDH-181) leads a formation of US Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships in 2009. US Navy Photo
Leaders in Tokyo are now asking themselves more often what the United States would do if faced with simultaneous crises in the Middle East and the South China Sea, or on the Korean Peninsula, to keep the oil flowing to its industries, a leading Japanese foreign policy expert told a Brookings Institution forum Wednesday. Read More
Former NATO commander James Stavridis. VOA Photo
SAN DIEGO — Fifteen years after the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole (DDG-67) that killed 17 sailors, Navy ships and other deployed U.S. forces face real threat of attack by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL), the former NATO supreme allied commander warned a defense conference in San Diego. Read More
Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director, National Security Agency, chief, Central Security Service in 2015. US Navy Photo
The director of the National Security Agency told the Atlantic Council last week arguing over encryption seems like “a waste of time to me” and doesn’t resolve the ongoing divide between privacy and security. Read More
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon conduct a joint news conference at the Pentagon Dec. 11, 2015. DoD Photo
Britain’s Minister of Defense detailed steps his government is taking to show it is “bringing the full force of the Royal Air Force to bear” on the Islamic State and that it is a nation planning to invest more than $265 billion on new military hardware over the next decade to remain a world power. Read More
