March 09-15 Weekly News and Log Update

WEEKLY NEWS & LOG UPDATE March 09 – March 15

NAVAL-MARINE OPERATIONS

CHINA 16th ESCORT TASK FORCE •    NO NEWS PLAN Jianggangshan (Landing Ship) ·         (Mar 11) @ S. China Sea; Chinese landing ship joins PLAN Mianyang in search for missing Malaysian airliner (People's Daily) PLAN Weifang & Yantai (Frigates) ·         (Mar 14) @ N. China Sea; Chinese frigates conduct 3-day live-fire exercises (People's Daily) FRANCE WEST AFRICA CORYMBE TASK FORCE Task Force Units: FS Commadant Birot (Patrol Frigate) ·         NO NEWS JEAN DE ARC TASK FORCE Task Force Units: FS Mistral (Mistral Class Assault Ship); FS La Fayette (La Fayette Class Stealth Frigate) ·         NO NEWS FS Cassard (Destroyer) ·         (Mar 7) @ East Mediterranean; French destroyer conducts joint exercise with Lebanese off Beirut (MOD) FS Jean Bart (Destroyer) ·         (Mar 7) @ Red Sea; French destroyer FS Jean Bart conducts joint counter-narcotic operations with Australian frigate HMAS Darwin (MOD) RUSSIA MEDITERRANEAN TASK FORCE •    NO NEWS UNITED KINGDOM HMS Dauntless (Destroyer) ·         (Mar 13) @ Glasgow; UK destroyer visits it’s birthplace for a quick but busy port stop this weekend (Royal Navy) HMS Montrose (Frigate) ·         (Mar 12) @ Plymouth; UK frigate returns home from Indian Ocean patrol and escorting Syrian chemical weapons in eastern Mediterranean (Royal Navy) ·         (Mar 10) @ Malta; UK Frigate departs Valletta, will make brief stop at Gibraltar, then return home (Royal Navy) HMS Portland (Frigate) ·         (Mar 12) @ Sierra Leone; UK frigate visits Freetown, hosts president of Sierra Leone (Royal Navy) UNITED STATES US CARRIER STRIKE GROUPS USS Bush CSG ·         (Mar 13) @ Bulgaria; USN destroyer USS Truxton arrives at Varna for port visit, hosts NATO planning conference (USN)   US AMPHIBIOUS READY GROUPS & COMMAND SHIPS USS Bataan ARG ·         (Mar 13) @ Suez Canal; Bataan Ready Group transits canal, enters 5th Fleet (USN) USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) ·         (Mar 12) @ Hong Kong; USN Command ship visits China during its first patrol of the year (USN)   US WARSHIPS USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) ·         (Mar 14) @ Spain; USN destroyer departs for 6th Fleet security operations (USN) USS Kidd (DDG-100) ·         (Mar 10) @ S. China Sea; USN Destroyer USS Kidd joins USS Pinkney in search for missing Malaysian Airliner (USN) USS McCampbell (DDG-110) ·         (Mar 9-10) @ Pacific; USN destroyer conducts goodwill exercises with Japanese destroyer JS Takanami (USN)   OTHER REGIONAL POWERS / ORGANIZATIONS EU – OPERATION ATALANTA (CTF-465) •    NO NEWS NATO – OPERATION OCEAN SHIELD (CTF-508) (Patrolled by NATO-SNMG-2) •    NO NEWS NATO – SNMG-1 •    NO NEWS

AIR-GROUND OPERATIONS

AFRICA NO NEWS AMERICAS NO NEWS ASIA / PACIFIC RUSSIA ·         (Mar 14) @ Kotelny Island, Russia; 1-Battalion of paratroopers from the 98th Guards Airborne Division conduct paradrop on island and seize airfield for follow-on reinforcements as part of large-scale military drills (RIA Novosti) ·         (Mar 13) @ Belarus; Russian AF transfers (6) SU-27 Fighters to Babruysk airbase (RIA Novosti) ·         (Mar 12) @ Belarus; Belarus requests Russia to reinforce its AF contingent with up to 15-additional fighters in response to NATO reinforcing its AF positions in Poland (RIA Novosti) EUROPE UKRAINE ·         (Mar 14) Estonia warns that Russia intends to invade and occupy eastern Ukraine after Crimea (Bloomberg) ·         (Mar 9) Reports say Ukrainian army units leaving Lviv en-mass is part of an exercise, and aren’t being deployed to Crimea in response to Russian efforts to seize the territory (RIA Novosti)