It made another in October.

So frequent are the Chinese aircraft carrier CNS Liaoning’s publicly visible voyages that military analysts presume that the People’s Liberation Army Navy has fixed a routine that will let the relatively aged carrier help train and equip the fleet’s two more modern ones.

Still, the carrier group’s passages not far from Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines – places that have political or maritime sovereignty disputes with China – have raised alerts.

“The current voyage by the Liaoning appears to be part of an established evolving pattern of far-seas training deployments,” said Carl Thayer, an Asia specialist and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

“The Liaoning demonstrates China’s naval military capability and political influence through its constant presence in China’s near and far seas,” he said.

The aircraft carrier led a naval task group to the western Pacific Ocean on Oct. 14 for training, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy said via China’s official Xinhua News Agency. Citing the navy, Xinhua called the expedition a “drill” and part of an annual routine training plan aimed at “testing and improving combat readiness.”

China’s state-controlled Global Times news outlet called the Liaoning’s October voyage its second in the distant seas and hailed the carrier’s long-term progress as going from a “coastal pathfinder” to a “far-sea blade.”

The vessel, categorized as a “short take-off but arrested recovery” aircraft carrier, measures about 305 meters (1,000 feet) long and with flight deck width up to 75 meters.

As of Oct. 23, the carrier group had done exercises near the southernmost Japanese outlying islands and was headed for the South China Sea near the Philippines, according to local media reports in East Asia. The reports said it went with two large destroyers and a guided-missile destroyer.

The deployments are meant to show China’s two more-modern carriers, the CNS Fujian and the CNS Shandong, how to adopt new technology, experts said.

The nine-year-old Shandong carrier would learn about “new and emerging” technology as the older Liaoning tests flight operations, sensors and modern aircraft, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“The Shandong aircraft carrier is basically an improved version of the Liaoning,” Koh said. He said the current deployment was probably “meant maybe to validate certain technologies.”

Being the oldest of China’s three carriers, the Liaoning would “not be the frontline reaction force if there were a contingency”, said Alexander Huang, chairman of the Council of Strategic and Wargaming Studies in Taipei.

China’s maritime rivals have taken notice.

The Taiwan Ministry of National Defense said in mid-October it was monitoring the possibility of large-scale Chinese military exercises nearby as an outcome of the Liaoning’s movements.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take it. The PLA has stepped up military activity in waters near the island since 2022.

In the South China Sea, Beijing has already shored up its sovereignty claims over the past two decades by building artificial islands, often for military use. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam dispute parts of the sea with China.

In Tokyo, which disputes a group of uninhabited islets with Beijing, the defense ministry said it had seen fighter aircraft taking off and landing from the Liaoning carrier 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Japan’s Ishigaki Island.

The Chinese carrier group launched and recovered aircraft in Japan’s maritime exclusive economic zone during its deployment, said Colin Karotam, senior resident fellow with the Defence Strategy Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. That activity is “uncommon,” Karotam said, though it may have taken place before.

The Chinese carrier group’s activities also began shortly before the Keen Sword 27 U.S.–Japan military exercises launched on Oct. 19. The exercises on Ishigaki are biennial and include the Philippines among other nations. China sees the United States, a treaty ally of both Japan and the Philippines, as a military rival in Asia.

Xinhua said the Liaoning’s movements in October comply with international law and “are not directed at any specific country or target.”

The Royal Navy currently has only five Type 23 frigates for anti-submarine warfare in service, compared with a stated requirement of eight, and analysis suggests the number of frigates equipped with a towed array sonar could remain as low as five for the next three years, the Defence Committee wrote in an inquiry report published on Thursday.

Anti-submarine warfare frigates are “critical” to helping locate Russian submarines, both in the High North as well as in British home waters, including to protect the U.K.’s ballistic missile submarines that provide the country’s nuclear deterrent when entering or leaving their base in Faslane, Scotland, according to the report.

“Although new frigates will eventually join the fleet in sufficient numbers, the current fleet readiness picture raises doubts about whether the U.K. could sustain the maritime tasks required in the High North by 2030,” the committee said.

Citing the critical role of anti-submarine operations in the High North, the committee recommended the government ensures no further Type 23 frigates equipped with towed sonar leave Navy service until they’re replaced on a one-on-one basis by the future Type 26 frigates.

The U.K. has ordered eight Type 26 frigates from BAE Systems for the anti-submarine warfare role, with the lead vessel scheduled to enter service in 2028, and Minister of State for Defence Luke Pollard said in June that the program remained on track. Norway said in August 2025 it would buy five Type 26s, with delivery to start in 2030.

Should two of the Type 26 frigates being built for the U.K. instead go to Norway to meet the delivery deadline, the Royal Navy would take until 2037 to meet its requirement for a fleet of eight frigates equipped with a towed array sonar.

“Export success must not come at the expense of the Royal Navy’s own Type 26 frigate delivery timelines,” the committee said. “The government must ensure that naval exports expand industrial capacity and allied capability, rather than competing with U.K. requirements for scarce ships, systems and skilled labor.”

The High North, which the committee defined as the greater Arctic and parts of the North Atlantic, “has become central” in U.K. defense and security concerns, with climate change increasing access to the region, according to the report.

As melting ice sheets and sea ice expose Russian bases that were previously mostly inaccessible, Russia is seeking both to defend those bases as well as project force into the Atlantic and U.K. territorial waters, according to the committee. That threatens NATO supply lines from the United States to Europe, as well as undersea and onshore infrastructure, including the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent.

Lack of a credible under-ice capability means the Navy is less able to contest Russian freedom of action in the High North, which risks forcing the U.K. into a more defensive posture, according to the report. The Defence Committee asked the government to brief panel members on progress towards re-establishing an under-ice capability for at least some of the country’s Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines.

The Navy’s ASW frigates and nuclear-powered submarines offer the greatest deterrent against the threat posed by Russian submarines and underwater sabotage, though “unfortunately, they are either aging or too often unavailable due to maintenance issues,” the committee report said.

For the U.K. to lead an effective coalition would require the country to address “glaring gaps” in the availability of its maritime forces, and an agreed plan with European allies to deter and if necessary defeat any aggression in the High North from 2030, according to the report.

The committee asked the Ministry of Defence to provide a classified assessment of the capability gaps in case of a conflict in the High North in 2030 in which the U.K. and allies would operate without U.S. support.

“Royal Navy equipment readiness and platform numbers in particular are currently far worse than the government’s stated requirements,” the report said. “With 2030 identified as a key date by which to be ready to deter or defeat any Russian threat, dramatic progress is required before the end of the decade to improve the availability and capabilities of the U.K.’s Armed Forces for operations in the High North.”

The Royal Navy has a requirement for 13 frigates and six destroyers, but has struggled to meet those numbers, the committee said, with only the five Type 23 frigates and six Type 45 destroyers in service.

With the Northern Sea Route becoming more accessible, Russia may try to turn control there into a monopoly, and the government should prepare options for a U.K. state-owned vessel to transit the route to support freedom of navigation, the committee said. Sailing from Shanghai to Rotterdam takes about 14,900 kilometers via the northern route, compared with 19,500 km via the Suez Canal.

The report raised questions about the U.K.’s Hybrid Navy program to combine crewed and uncrewed vessels, saying the High North is “an exceptionally demanding environment” for autonomous systems, and the concept should not become a substitute for crewed capability before unmanned systems have been proven in harsh Arctic conditions.

The committee recommended the government explain within a year how it will test the Hybrid Navy’s main uncrewed systems in High North conditions before relying on them for operational tasks, looking at issues such as cold-weather performance, resistance to jamming and protection from capture.

The combined tonnage of combat ships built by China in the two years through to December 2025 amounted to 636,208 tons, compared to 270,509 tons for the United States, according to data compiled by Flottes de Combat and French maritime industry association Gican.

China accounted for more than a third of the global naval tonnage constructed in 2024-25, based on the Euronaval report. U.S. lawmakers and congressional researchers have warned that China’s greater shipbuilding capacity, combined with delays and bottlenecks in U.S. naval shipbuilding, could hurt America’s ability to keep up with Beijing’s expanding fleet.

“We are seeing a fairly substantial expansion of naval forces, and consequently of shipbuilding,” said Philippe Missoffe, the general director of Gican, in a press briefing here on Tuesday. “We’re seeing an increase in power capabilities, particularly nuclear-powered attack submarines for example.”

Global naval construction overall was booming in the period, with 1.47 million tons of combat vessels built in 2024-25, compared with 959,671 tons in the prior two years. The value of global naval construction amounted to $123.9 billion, climbing from $81.8 billion in 2022-23.

The value of Chinese combat-vessel construction was US$43.5 billion in the latest two-year period, compared with $26.8 billion for the U.S., the report said.

China has reversed roles from 2022-2023, when production of the country’s naval yards amounted to 202,520 tons, compared with 245,703 tons for the U.S., according to the previous edition of the shipbuilding report published in 2024.

The U.S. fleet of combat vessels of more than 200 tons amounted to 3.11 million tons as of Jan. 1, 2026, compared to 1.44 million tons for China’s fleet, the report showed, That compares with 3.22 million tons for the U.S. and 1.3 million tons for China two years earlier.

Russia was in third place in terms of naval construction in 2024-25, with 149,056 tons built, followed by India with 76,430 tons and Italy with 53,700 tons. Turkey, France, Japan, South Korean and Romania rounded out the top 10 of naval builders.

The four-day Euronaval show, the world’s biggest maritime-defense exhibition, is set to kick of in Paris on Nov. 3. The number of exhibitors will be more than 40% higher than in 2024, according to the organizers.

The French Navy plans to replace the Charles de Gaulle, the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in operation outside the United States Navy, with a future carrier to be named France Libre in 2038. As part of an upcoming major refit, France will look into whether the Charles de Gaulle can continue to operate longer, based on the state of onboard systems and the nuclear propulsion, Cluzel said.

With a single carrier, France is without one any time the Charles de Gaulle is in dock for periodic maintenance, and the issue of whether the country needs a second carrier tends to pop up whenever lawmakers question Navy brass.

One obstacle is cost, with the estimated €10 billion budget (US$11.2 billion) for the future France Libre carrier enough to fund at least ten new FDI-class frigates.

“Do we need two carriers? Two carriers allow you to maintain a standing alert from Toulon,” Cluzel told the National Assembly’s defense committee, referring to the Charles de Gaulle’s home port in southern France. “Two carriers is a political ambition, and it’s not for me to decide on its suitability.”

The admiral noted that keeping a permanent presence at sea would require having three carriers.

He said the future France Libre and the Charles de Gaulle will have two years of overlap in 2036-2038, with two aircraft-carrier crews on active duty, which the Navy chief said is necessary for a seamless transition of skills. That would be the first time the country has two carriers in service since the late 1990s, when the Navy operated the conventionally powered Foch and Clemenceau.

“The transition on a capability like this has to happen without any break, at the risk of losing skills and taking a very, very long time to rebuild them,” Cluzel said. “So from 2036 to 2038 there is a period when the Navy will again have two carriers able to be at sea simultaneously.

”France has said the France Libre will measure 310 meters and displace about 80,000 tonnes, compared to 261.5 meters and 42,000 tons for the Charles de Gaulle. The current carrier can carry an air wing of 40 aircraft, mainly the naval version of the Rafale fighter as well as two E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and a number of helicopters.

Studies on extending the Charles de Gaulle’s service life will look at the wear on the reactor cores at the heart of the carrier’s nuclear propulsion system, and the ability to extend operations by keeping fuel on board the carrier for longer, according to Cluzel. The results are due in early 2029 and will be the deciding factor, he said.

“But these studies will also cover all of the carrier’s arteries, because the carrier is as old as its arteries, and its availability must not ultimately hinge on or be compromised by the availability of even a single auxiliary system,” Cluzel said. “So they’re truly comprehensive studies.”

France is sticking to a plan to fit the France Libre with U.S.-made electromagnetic catapults, despite U.S. President Donald Trump ordering the US Navy to revert to steam-powered catapults. Cluzel said he expects to discuss the topic in a meeting with his U.S. counterpart Adm. Daryl Caudle in Washington next week.

Electromagnetic catapults have shown “formidable reliability,” with nearly 40,000 catapult launches since the U.S. took them into service, and an availability rate of around 98%, the French admiral said. “So this is remarkable for a catapult that also brings tremendous operational added value in terms of flexibility of use, in the ability to launch heavy aircraft as well as drones.”

The French Navy chief said he doesn’t see the contract at risk, also because the U.S. already operates three nuclear-powered carriers with electromagnetic catapults and arresting gear, meaning a production line exists, and a viable maintenance, repair and overhaul program.

France is committed to limiting its dependencies, and similar to what it did for the steam-powered catapults on the Charles de Gaulle, the country will buy a “substantial” inventory of spare parts for its electromagnetic catapults right at the start of the program, to ensure it can perform repairs independently, according to Cluzel.

Cluzel said he doesn’t see a need for France to operate short-takeoff and vertical-landing aircraft, which he said bring compromises in terms of either reduced range or armament. The France Libre is intended to be a “superiority carrier,” the admiral said. “And that is exactly what a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with catapults and arresting cables provides.”With air and sea superiority now contested, “perhaps everywhere,” Cluzel said superiority carriers are now needed, with the first step of any operation to regain local air-sea superiority. “In the middle of an ocean, the only way to have air superiority is to have this capability.”

The Navy chief also discussed the new Frégate de Défense et d’Intervention, which he said “has been delivering on all its promises.” He said the new frigate built by Naval Group has been criticized by industrial competitors, but has proven to be “extremely seaworthy and stable, contrary to what you may have read.

”Cluzel called the detection capability of the FDI’s new flat-panel radar “remarkable,” with a performance “at least of the same level” as the radar on France’s air-defense frigates, despite being mounted lower above the waterline. The native integration of digital processing on the frigate brings a “significant gain” in sonar detection capability, the admiral said.

The Bundestag budget committee had approved the first four vessels July 8, alongside an option for four more. The Defense Ministry said the decision to exercise that option will give the German Navy a single, eight-ship class intended chiefly for anti-submarine warfare.

Delivery of the first vessel is set for 2029, the agency said in a statement. The ships will support NATO missions in the Baltic and North seas, the Atlantic and the High North, according to the announcement.

Berlin selected the MEKO design after withdrawing from its contract with Damen Naval for six F126 frigates, which had initially been intended to supply the Navy’s future anti-submarine warfare capability. The ministry attributed its withdrawal to “considerable performance problems” by Damen, saying it had completed a broader assessment before terminating the arrangement.

The program change has already triggered a costly dispute. Damen is seeking €4.7 billion ($5.3 billion) in damages from the German government, arguing that Berlin’s termination was politically motivated and legally unfounded, Der Spiegel reported last week. The F126 effort had already cost Germany more than €2 billion without delivering a ship, according to public broadcaster ARD.

The initial four-ship MEKO purchase carried a reported €6.3 billion price tag, while the four-ship option was valued at €5.3 billion. Reuters reported that the second tranche, including project support and reserves, would cost roughly €5.6 billion; the projected operating costs for those four vessels through 2045 amount to another €1.55 billion.

The Defense Ministry argued that selecting one ship type should simplify training, maintenance and logistics. It also said variants of the MEKO A-200 are already in service with allied navies.

TKMS described the envisioned eight-ship production run as the company’s largest-ever surface vessel contract.

“With the four frigates already on order, the program has entered the implementation phase,” the shipbuilder said in a statement.

As part of its post-2022 buildup, the German military has put a heavy emphasis on anti-submarine warfare abilities in the Baltic, North Sea and, especially since the crisis over Greenland, in the Arctic. The F-126 was meant to be an integral part of this strategy. Other, more successful, procurements aimed at combating submarines include the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime-surveillance aircraft, the first of which landed in Germany almost exactly a year ago.

Belgium must have replacements on time, according to the country’s Chief of Defence Gen. Frederik Vansina, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Wednesday. Vansina told ANP that Belgium does not want to dictate terms to the Netherlands, but cannot afford to be left without major naval vessels, with its frigates Leopold I and Louise-Marie at the end of their usable lives in 2030.

The frigate project led by Dutch shipbuilder Damen has been plagued by delays, many related to its design, which increased in size over time and had to be corrected due to structural stability issues. From an original expectation that the first vessel might enter service around 2025, the Dutch Ministry of Defense now expects the first new anti-submarine frigate to be delivered no earlier than 2033.

Belgium is looking whether, for example, Italian-built frigates could be delivered more quickly, and is in talks with the Netherlands about interim solutions, such as Damen delivering a small frigate as a temporary stop-gap measure, ANP reported, citing Vansina. The general said the fact that Belgium has approached other frigate builders “is not abnormal and certainly not unfriendly.”

“It’s paramount for Belgium to maintain that operational capability,” Vansina told ANP. “The only naval firepower we have are those frigates.”

The Belgian Navy’s two frigates are former Dutch Karel Doorman-class frigates that were laid down and launched in the 1980s, with Belgium buying them second-hand from the Netherlands in 2005.

Dutch State Secretary for Defense Derk Boswijk discussed the frigate project and the importance of the countries’ bilateral maritime cooperation with his Belgian colleague earlier this week, he told parliament in a letter on Wednesday, responding to questions about reports of Belgium considering Italy’s FREMM EVO over the future frigates being developed by Damen.

Boswijk and Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken met in Brussels on Sept 28, and both posted on social media they had a “good and constructive discussion,” with Boswijk saying the two talked about the progress of various dossiers.

“Given the commercially confidential nature of this process, we agreed not to comment on media reports regarding our cooperation,” Boswijk told parliament.

An internal analysis by the Belgian Navy identified Fincantieri’s FREMM EVO frigate as the best alternative, with the Italian builder able to deliver the first vessel in 2030 and the cost remaining within Belgium’s budget of €3.2 billion ($3.6 billion) for three vessels, the news website of public broadcaster VRT reported last week, citing the internal document.

Naval Group’s FDI frigate is also considered a good option, but the 2030 delivery deadline is uncertain as the yard is already booked with orders from France, Greece and Sweden, according to VRT NWS.

The Dutch MoD said in its 2026 materiel project plan that delivery of the first new ASW frigate has been pushed back to 2033 from 2030 as the original ship design had to be fixed.

The project-goal letter in 2018 had envisaged a first frigate to be operational around 2025, with the Ministry of Defense saying at the time it would request offers from Damen and Thales Nederland without a competitive tender. In a Dutch-Belgian memorandum of understanding later that same year, the countries agreed that Belgium would receive its vessels in 2030 at the latest.

Following discussions with Damen as the intended shipbuilder and Thales for the radar and fire control system, the MoD told parliament in 2020 that a detailed design phase of about two years would be necessary before the start of construction, with the first frigate expected to be delivered in 2027 and operational the next year.

In the 2023 procurement proposal letter, the MoD expected physical construction to start in 2025, while expected delivery had been pushed back by a year. The procurement proposal also touted the possibility of cooperating with Germany around the F126 frigates to be built by Damen, a project that has since been scrapped following years of delays and cost overruns.

Under the original plan the Netherlands was to order two frigates for its Navy and two more on behalf of the Belgian Navy. The Dutch said in 2024 they would double their order to four, while Belgium announced in 2025 the country would increase its order to three.

In the 2023 letter to parliament, the ministry said the budget for two Dutch frigates had increased to €1.88 billion, a number that was revised upwards again to €1.96 billion in early 2024.

The size of the proposed frigate has crept up over time, from a plan in mid-2020 for a ship displacing 5,500 tons to a definitive design of around 6,400 tons, and compared to about 3,300 tons for the existing M-frigate class that the new vessels are set to replace.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced a $5.1 billion fixed-ceiling incentive contract with HII to complete the carrier’s mid-life overhaul at Virginia’s Newport News Shipbuilding.

The refueling and complex overhaul, or RCOH, comprises approximately one-third of the maintenance and modernization a carrier will undergo during its service life, according to the announcement.

The RCOH process on Truman will “include refueling the ship’s reactors, as well as extensive modernization work in thousands of compartments and tanks, as well as on most ship systems,” a HII release stated. “In addition, major upgrades will be made in the propulsion plant and combat systems.”

Truman’s overhaul notice comes a little over a year after the carrier completed a 251-day deployment that saw the vessel fire over 1.1 million pounds of ordnance and unleash the largest carrier-launched airstrike in history.

Despite making combat history, the carrier’s deployment was also plagued by incidents that prompted an array of investigations.

In February 2025, the ship collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M near Port Said, Egypt. The ship’s commanding officer Capt. Dave Snowden was subsequently relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.

Truman also lost a trio of F/A-18 Super Hornets during the deployment. One was shot down by the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg in a friendly-fire incident. Another experienced a failed arrested landing and went overboard. A third slipped off the hangar deck as a result of evasive maneuvers in response to an incoming ballistic missile and fell into the Red Sea.

Homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Truman will be the eighth Nimitz-class carrier to complete its mid-life RCOH in Newport News.

“Our team has been diligently working to get ahead on this critical engineering and construction project that will prepare USS Harry S. Truman for the second half of her service life,” Bryan Caccavale, the Newport News Shipbuilding vice president of program management, said in a release. “When the ship arrives at NNS, we’ll apply that same diligence to working with our suppliers and Navy partners to ensure a successful recapitalization of CVN 75.”

The announcement did not specify when work on the carrier would begin, but noted that the overhaul is expected to be completed by November 2031.

The contract includes additional options that, if applied, could bump its total value to closer to $5.2 billion.

Inked at $20 billion for the full-scale development phase, the contract, according to a Pentagon release, “procures multiple test aircraft for ground, airworthiness, systems, and weapons integration testing.”

“The F/A-XX is a critical pillar in our commitment to maintaining peace through strength,” Michael P. Duffey, under secretary of defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, said in the release. “F/A-XX will dominate contested airspace, extend operational reach, and deliver a decisive combat advantage for the warfighter.”

Equipped with an extended range to provide power projection from U.S. carriers, Boeing has promised that the F/A-XX will, crucially, be interoperable with both manned and unmanned platforms such as Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

“This achievement marks a new era for the U.S. Navy,” said acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao. “The Sixth-Generation fighter is a generational leap in air superiority and will provide the world’s best aviators with unparalleled capabilities to fight, win, and come home safe. We are excited to partner with Boeing, and for our warfighters to continue to dominate the skies and defeat our nation’s enemies.”

Boeing’s contract award marks another milestone victory for the company, which has now all but guaranteed its monopoly on sixth-generation fighters across the services.

In 2025, Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin for the contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s sixth-generation fighter under the Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD.

That aircraft, since dubbed the F-47, has entered its engineering and manufacturing development phase, one service official announced in July, with first flights expected as early as 2028.

The Air Force at the time announced plans to purchase at least 185 of the next-gen fighters, a number designed to replace the F-22 Raptor fleet.

The F/A-XX program, meanwhile, which has yet to receive its official designation, has been the subject of funding disputes for years, with engineering and supply chain concerns prompting some Pentagon officials to push for delaying the program.

The carrier-based fighter jet is slated to anchor the Navy’s next-generation fighter fleet — operating alongside the F-35 — and is expected to replace the aging inventory of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers beginning in the 2030s.

“It’s an honor to be selected to produce the Navy’s first sixth^–generation platform,” Steve Parker, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in a release announcing the deal. “Backed by decades of work, bolstered by game-changing innovations and solidified by the investments we’ve made in new facilities uniquely suited to build multiple products with next-generation capabilities, our dedicated and talented team is ready to execute this critical program.”

The recent SINKEX blended the firepower of U.S. Task Force 65, Task Force 67, Task Force 68, Task Force 69 and Task Force 1060 alongside the Royal Navy and the U.S. Air Force.

The USS Klakring, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate — laid up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since its decommissioning on March 22, 2013 — served as the target of the exercise.

Named for Rear Adm. Thomas B. Klakring, who was awarded three Navy Crosses as the commander of the submarine USS Guardfish during World War II, the USS Klakring entered the sea service on Aug. 20, 1983, and supported Operation Earnest Will to protect Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian attacks during the Iran-Iraq War.

The final blow to the USS Klakring on Sept. 25 came from the newly commissioned submarine USS Massachusetts, a nuclear-powered, Block IV Virginia-class fast-attack boat, which successfully struck and sank the decommissioned frigate with a Mk 48 Advanced Capability Torpedo.

“Atlantic Thunder demonstrates the unmatched lethality and interoperability of the United States and United Kingdom,” Capt. Kelechi Ndukwe, commander of U.S. Task Force 65, said in a release. “This sinking exercise not only validated the power behind U.S.-UK offensive weapons but delivers a clear message to adversaries that the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy remain a ready allied force.”

Led by the U.S. 6th Fleet in the North Atlantic, Exercise Atlantic Thunder 2026 came just days after the Royal Navy successfully launched a U.S. Navy Mk 48 Heavyweight Torpedo from a British Excalibur uncrewed underwater vehicle, or UUV, marking a significant step toward allied operational fleets of uncrewed vehicles.

The exercise highlighted capabilities within both the U.S. and U.K. fleets, with the guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius successfully inflicting maximum damage and range capability of an anti-surface variant of the Standard Missile 6 (SM 6), while the Royal Navy utilized its newest ship-busting missiles, the Naval Strike Missile and Sea Venom, per the release.

A follow-on agreement to the November 2024 Tasman Navy Framework (TNF), the new pact is meant to be a strategic guidance document governing the relationship between the two navies, a NZDF spokesperson said.

“It established the strategic dialogue architecture, defines the overarching goal of strengthening organizational and operational integration, and outlines the functional areas of cooperation,” the spokesperson told Defense News.

One new element includes an annual navy-to-navy strategic dialogue, led by the two deputy service chiefs, complete with working group devoted to various cooperation tasks, according to the spokesperson.

The new pact supports both nations’ commitment to closer defense relations and a shared vision of increasingly integrated naval cooperation aimed at securing the Indo-Pacific region.

Established in 1901, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has 16,000 sailors — about eight times more than the RNZN — and eight bases. The RNZN has one base, Devonport, in Auckland. Women provide about 25% of the personnel in both navies.

Seven Anzac-class 387-foot frigates serve with Australia and two with New Zealand. The frigates, like most of the RNZN fleet, will reach their end of life in the mid-2030s.

In April 2026 the RAN signed a contract for 11 Mogami-class frigates. New Zealand has yet to decide between the Japanese design or Britain’s Type 31 frigate, ordered by Indonesia and Poland.

In August 2025, the RNZN ordered five MH-60R Seahawks to replace its existing Kaman Seasprites, which have been in service since 2001.

New Zealand is also strengthening its regional defense links.

In December 2025 New Zealand signed defense agreements with Japan. Two Japanese warships visited New Zealand last year and a Mogami-class frigate was in Wellington in May this year.

Two months later, India and New Zealand signed a defense cooperation agreement and pledged to strengthen maritime security cooperation after upgrading their diplomatic relations.