September 1st Weekly Update

SHIP LOGS & EXERCISES:

Ship & Group Locations Checked & Updated (August 26 – September 1)

• NORTHERN EAGLE 2012 Begins (August 21) in North Sea / Barents Sea
• SEACAT multinational maritime interdiction exercise begins at Singapore (August 27)

FS La Fayette (FFG)

• (August 26) arrives at Mombasa, Kenya (French Defense Ministry )

FS Ventose (FFG)

• (August 31) rescues tanker from pirates near Togo (French Defense Ministry )

HMS Bulwark (LPD)

• (August 28) at Portland as command ship for Paralympic Games, directly protecting the sailing events (Royal Navy )

HMS St. Albans (FFG)

• (August 28) will be stationed as the Dartmouth Regatta guard ship (August 30) for 5-days (Royal Navy )

PLAAN Zheng He (TRN)

• (August 30) The chinese training ship will visit Brunei next month (Brudirect )

PLAAN “Varyag” (CV)

• (August 28) currenly at it's homeport Dalian after finishing it's 9^th Sea Trial, may not be deployable for 3-5 years (Yahoo News )

RFS Adm. Kulakov (DDG)

• (August 31) arrives at Cork, Ireland (Naval Today )

RFS Adm. Panteleyev (DDG)

• (August 28) arrives at Maizuru, Japan

USS BH Richard ARG (LHD-6)

• (August 28) at sea, N. Pacific Ocean

USS Buffalo (SSN-715)

• (August 27) arrives at Yokosuka, Japan ...currently on WESTPAC patrol (US Navy )

USS Enterprise CSG (CVN-65)

• (August 23) USS JE Williams (DDG-95) is in the Red Sea
• (August 30) USS Porter (DDG-78) continues receiving repairs in the UAE, and the CO was relieved of his command during an investigation of it's collision with a Japanese freighter (US Navy )

USS Ft. McHenry (LSD-43)

• (August 30) arrives at Dublin, Ireland ...currently on EUCOM patrol

USS G. Washington CSG (CVN-73)

• (August 26) begins CART-II training while underway (US Navy )

USS J. Stennis CSG (CVN-74)

• (August 27) Deploys to WESTPAC / CENTCOM for 8-months

USS Peleliu (LHA-5)

• (August 29) Family Day cruise at San Diego

USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15)

• (August 26) Ponce is operating in an undisclosed location in 5^th Fleet AOR, operating UAVs (US Navy )
• (August 29) Ponce operating with US Navy Mine-Countermeasures Ships ...probably in the Persian Gulf (US Navy )

USS Sampson (DDG-102)

• (August 30) returns to San Diego ...WESTPAC patrol ends (US Navy )

USS Swift (HSV-2)

• (August 26) arrives at Douala, Cameroon (US Navy )

USS Underwood (FFG-36)

• (August 28) arrives at Willemstad, Curacao ...currently on Operation Martillo patrol in Caribbean

GROUND UNITS LOGS & EXERCISES:

US Ground units logs updated per DOD reports, up to (August 25 to September 1) (DOD News Releases )

France, UK, Russia, China Army logs updated per various news releases and open sources

• VIGILANT EAGLE 2012: (August 27-29) NORAD air terror exercise in Colorado; USAF, Canadian and Russian AF units participating (RIA Novosti )
• KAVKAZ-2012: (September 17-23), upcoming Russian Army Ex in Caucasus

FRANCE

• 1^st Marine Regiment deploys to Kosovo (French Defense Ministry )

UK

• 40 Commando ready for deployment to Afghanistan next month (Royal Navy )

USA

• 4^th Infantry Division, 4^th Brigade – KIA @ Kalagush, Afghanistan (August 27)
• 101^st Airborne Division, 101^st Combat Av. Brigade – KIA @ Bagram, Afghanistan (August 24)

NEWS that makes me go Hmmmm......

RUSSIA

• (August 31) Russia is developing a sea-based missile defense system based on the new S-500 system, which is expected to be deployed in 2017 (RT )

SYRIA

• (August 29) Russian naval vessels leave Syria. Only the floating shipyard PM-138, all Russian personnel are aboard except two, and it has orders to return to Russia in September (Debka )
• (August 30) Egyptian president Morsi calls for intervention in Syria, prompting the Syrian delegation to walk out of a meeting with 120 non-aligned nations (Yahoo News )
• (September 1) Rebels seize an air defense facility and strike a military airport in Deir al-Zor Province in eastern Syria, following strikes on military airports near Aleppo and Idlib, near Turkey (Yahoo News )