April 3rd, 2014 defencetalk.com (Ria Novisti)

NATO will suspend cooperation with Russia on the maintenance of Afghan helicopters and a joint anti-drug operation, a source in the alliance told RIA Novosti.

Foreign chiefs of NATO’s 28 member states earlier froze “practical civilian and military cooperation” with Moscow but vowed to keep intact the NATO-Russia Council and diplomatic contacts at the ambassadorial level and above.

They also said Tuesday the Western military bloc would consider reviving ties with Moscow during the next Brussels meeting in June.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen earlier said the bloc hoped to continue working with Russia in Afghanistan and train anti-drug officials in Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to an anonymous source in the alliance, current trainees will be allowed to complete the training program. The project will then be scrapped.

The same future lies ahead for the maintenance program of Afghan helicopters, meaning NATO will have to think of another way to procure spare parts for the Russia-made choppers, bypassing the NATO-Russia Council.

The freeze in Russia-NATO cooperation will not affect the existing bilateral agreement on cargo transit to Afghanistan across Russian territory.

The source also noted that the freeze would stay in place indefinitely until the situation around Ukraine improved. These measures, the official explained, are linked to Russia’s handling of the Ukrainian crisis and would be lifted only when Moscow changed its stance on the issue.

Russia has been reluctant to negotiate with Ukraine, where an ultranationalist opposition has been in power since a February coup, calling the new government illegitimate.

The West has long been pressuring Moscow to recognize the Maidan regime, despite the fact that Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich has never been impeached and fled the country for fear of being executed by right-wing militia.

The Air Force's 2015 unfunded priorities list includes five HC-130Js. (Air Force)

Apr. 3, 2014 - By MARCUS WEISGERBER – Defense News

WASHINGTON — The US Air Force has sent Congress an $8 billion unfunded priorities list, with more than $3.3 billion eyed for new procurement programs, according to a copy of the list obtained by Defense News.

The undated list includes $200 million for the Combat Rescue Helicopter program, a last-minute add to the five-year spending projection contained in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2015 budget proposal, which was sent to Capitol Hill in early March.

The list also includes more than $400 million for five Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighters — two for the Air Force and three for international sales.

The list includes funding for five Lockheed MC-130Js, five HC-130Js and 12 General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft. Two F-35s, the C-130Js and Reapers also appeared in the White House’s Opportunity, Growth and Security Initiative.

About $1.6 billion of the funding would go toward more than five dozen weapons programs, for upgrade and enhancement work.

Another $3 billion would go toward facility maintenance.

In addition, the Air National Guard sent Congress a separate $2.6 billion 2015 unfunded priority list.

The wish list includes $720 million that would be used to purchase 10 new C-130Js. The aircraft would replace a squadron of C-130H aircraft.

The list includes $1.4 billion for modernization of Guard airlift, fighter and rescue aircraft. The eyed upgrades include electronic warfare suites, sensors, situational awareness displays and navigation equipment.

Another $40 million is eyed for five Air Guard cyber protection teams

3 avril 2014 par Jacques N. Godbout – 45eNord.ca

Les Nations Unies ont célébré mercredi le premier anniversaire du Traité sur le commerce international des armes, qui avait été adopté l’an dernier par l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies, et que le Canada tarde toujours à signer et à ratifier de peur de déplaire aux amateurs d’armes.

Le Traité sur le commerce international des armes a pour objectif d’instituer les normes communes les plus strictes possibles aux fins de réglementer ou d’améliorer la réglementation du commerce international d’armes classiques. Il veut aussi prévenir et éliminer le commerce illicite de telles armes et d’en empêcher le détournement.

Le 2 avril 2013, l’Assemblée générale avait en effet adopté le premier traité sur le commerce international des armes classiques, ouvrant le traité à la signature à partir du mois de juin de cette année là, à 154 voix pour et trois contre (Syrie, Corée du Nord, Iran).

Mais 23 pays s’étaient abstenus, parmi lesquels certains des principaux exportateurs (Russie, Chine) ou acheteurs de ces armes (Égypte, Inde, Indonésie).

Jusqu’à maintenant, précise le service d’information de l’ONU, le traité a été signé par 118 Etats et 18 États membres ont déposé mercredi les instruments de ratification, ce qui porte le nombre de ratifications à 31.

Chaque pays est libre de signer ou non le traité et de le ratifier, mais il n’entrera en vigueur qu’à partir de la 50e ratification.

Cinq des dix premiers exportateurs l’ont ratifié mercredi

Cinq des dix premiers exportateurs d’armes au monde, soit la Grande-Bretagne, la France, l’Allemagne, l’Italie et l’Espagne, ont donc déposé leurs dossiers de ratification à l’occasion de cette cérémonie marquant le premier anniversaire mercredi. Les 13 autres États à avoir déposé leurs dossiers de ratification sont la Bulgarie, la Croatie, le Salvador, l’Estonie, la Finlande, la Hongrie, l’Irlande, la Lettonie, Malte, la Roumanie, la Slovaquie et la Slovénie.

Les États-Unis, premier exportateur mondial d’armes, ont signé le traité mais sa ratification est bloquée par le Sénat américain, dont les membres s’y opposent vivement.

Quant au Canada, pire que les États-Unis, il ne l’a toujours pas signé, encore moins ratifié, bien qu’il ait voté pour le Traité à l’Assemblée générale en avril 2013.

Pour le gouvernement canadien, qui tient beaucoup à la liberté de possession d’armes, il existerait, dit-on, un lien potentiel entre la signature de ce traité et le registre des armes d’épaule au Canada, désormais aboli. le Canada craindrait que la signature et la ratification du Traité n’affecte les propriétaires d’armes au Canada.

Le Secrétaire général des Nations-Unies, Ban Ki-moon, s’est quant à lui dit «très préoccupé par le fait que des civils continuent d’être tués ou mutilés lors d’attaques ciblées ou aveugles avec des armes qui ne devraient pas tomber dans les mains des auteurs de ces attaques»

Le Secrétaire général a salué mercredi ces ratifications. «Cela suscitera davantage d’élan vers les 50 ratifications nécessaires pour l’entrée en vigueur du traité », a-t-il déclaré, appelant tous les États qui ne l’ont pas encore fait à signer et/ou ratifier le traité sans tarder.

09 April 2014 by European Defence Agency

Conference Video Available

Last week's annual conference of the European Defence Agency was a landmark event for the European defence community.

1/4/2014 Ami Rojkes Dombe - israeldefense.com

On Russia's target: Mainly sales of attack and transportation helicopters and of the MiG and Sukhoi aircraft
 

Russia intends to expand its arms sales to South and Central America in the near future, so was published by the news agency itar-tass. This was said by the Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Alexander Fomin after the International Conference FIDAE 2014 in Chile ended.

Ten companies, including the arms exporter Rosoboronexport, presented Russia’s military equipment at the event. Fomin headed the Russian delegation.

“There were very many contacts (at the FIDAE 2014) and meetings with our partners, such as Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela. We believe that our products can be in demand also in other countries of the region, especially all the types and kinds of helicopter equipment: the Mil (Mi) and Kamov (Ka) brands, both military-transport and combat and multipurpose types,” Fomin said.

He also noted the interest of the partners in the Russian aircraft. “The fighters of the MiG and Sukhoi brands, Yakovlev Yak-130 planes are also very popula

Le groupe français Renault Trucks Defense souhaite équiper le véhicule blindé russe Atom d'un moteur diesel de plus de 600 chevaux

02/04/2014 Michel Cabirol – LaTribune.fr (AFP)

Détenu par le groupe suédois Volvo AB, Renault Trucks Défense, qui a noué un partenariat avec le russe Uralvagonzavod en vue de développer un véhicule blindé de 32 tonnes, pourrait se voir interdire de poursuivre cette coopération par Stockholm.

02.04.2014 Helen Chachaty à Mérignac journal-aviation.com

C’est un avion très discret qui se trouve actuellement chez Sabena Technics, sur le site de Bordeaux-Mérignac : l’avion banc d’essai nouvelle génération (ABE-NG) de la Direction générale de l’armement (DGA), actuellement en phase d’essais en vol. Le Fokker 100 (F-GPXL), racheté à Regional, filiale d’Air France, devrait être mis en service pour le compte de la DGA Essais en Vol (DGA EV) en janvier 2015. Le contrat de modification de cet avion de ligne avait été notifié à Sabena Technics en 2009, pour une enveloppe de 35 millions d’euros. Cinq ans plus tard, l’avion est quasiment bon pour le service.

Selon la DGFA EV, l’ABE-NG devrait remplacer « trois à quatre Mystère 20 », des avions qui volent depuis près de 45 ans et qui seront touchés par l’obsolescence d’ici trois à cinq ans. Des performances insuffisantes engendrant des coûts importants, la baisse des budgets, le côté « mono-mission », autant de raisons qui justifient l’achat et la modification du Fokker 100. S'il y avait par le passé quasiment un Mystère 20 (XX) par programme, la baisse des budgets et les temps d’immobilisations « monstrueux » a changé les paramètres et obligé la DGA à trouver une solution moins coûteuse mais néanmoins efficace. Là où un Mystère 20 effectue 80 heures de vol par an - un nombre considéré comme un « beau score -, le but est aujourd’hui de quasiment doubler le nombre d’heures de vol de l’ABE NG, pour atteindre les 150 heures.

Suite de l’article

Sur les 118 pays ayant signé le traité à l'ONU, 31 l'ont pour l'instant ratifié.

2 avril 2014 Liberation.fr (AFP)

Ce traité, qui vise à moraliser le commerce des armes conventionnelles, est le premier en son genre. Il doit être ratifié par 50 Etats au minimum pour être appliqué.

Dix-huit pays ont déposé simultanément mercredi leurs instruments de ratification du traité sur le commerce des armes (ATT), au cours d’une cérémonie au siège de l’ONU à New York. Ces pays sont l’Allemagne, la Bulgarie, la Croatie, le Danemark, l’Espagne, l’Estonie, la Finlande, La France, la Hongrie, l’Irlande, l’Italie, la Lettonie, Malte, la Roumanie, le Salvador, la Slovaquie, la Slovénie et le Royaume-Uni. Un an jour pour jour après l’adoption du traité par l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU, le nombre de ratifications passe ainsi à 31 sur les 118 pays ayant signé le texte jusqu’à présent.

Ce traité, le premier du genre, doit être ratifié par un minimum de 50 Etats pour entrer en vigueur. «Au rythme actuel des signatures et des ratifications, le traité ATT pourrait entrer en vigueur au deuxième semestre de cette année», a estimé Virginia Gamba, haute représentante adjointe de l’ONU pour le désarmement. Le traité vise à moraliser le commerce international des armes conventionnelles, un marché de plus de 80 milliards de dollars par an. Chaque pays signataire devra évaluer avant toute transaction si les armes vendues risquent d’être utilisées pour contourner un embargo international, violer les droits de l’homme ou être détournées au profit de criminels.

Le conflit en Syrie alimenté par un trafic d'armes

Les armements couverts vont du pistolet aux avions et navires de guerre, en passant par les missiles. Le texte porte sur tous les transferts internationaux (importation, exportation, transit, courtage), sans toucher aux législations nationales sur l’acquisition et le port d’armes. Les Etats-Unis, principal acteur de ce marché, ont signé le texte après avoir obtenu que les munitions soient traitées à part, avec des contrôles moins complets. La Russie a en revanche fait part de ses réserves sur les critères choisis pour autoriser ou non les transactions. Le Parlement français avait ratifié le traité à l’unanimité en décembre.

Dans un message publié mercredi, le secrétaire général de l’ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a «invité tous les pays qui ne l’ont pas encore fait à signer et ratifier sans délai le traité», fruit de sept ans de négociations. «L’objectif de ce traité est de protéger et de sauver des vies», a souligné Anna Macdonald, représentante de la coalition d’ONG Control Arms qui a lutté pendant des années ans en faveur d’un tel traité. Elle a rappelé que le conflit qui ravage la Syrie depuis trois ans «est alimenté par des transferts d’armes et de munitions de la part d’acteurs extérieurs».

Apr 03, 2014 Spacewar.com (SPX)

Washington DC - Technology, like biology, constantly evolves. It is DARPA's mission to stay ahead of the shifting technology curve by making critical, early investments in areas that cut across fields of research and enable revolutionary new capabilities for U.S. national security.

Now DARPA is poised to give unprecedented prominence to a field of research that can no longer be considered peripheral to technology's evolving nature. Starting today, biology takes its place among the core sciences that represent the future of defense technology.

DARPA has created a new division, the Biological Technologies Office (BTO), to explore the increasingly dynamic intersection of biology and the physical sciences. Its goals are to harness the power of biological systems by applying the rigorous tools of engineering and related disciplines, and to design next-generation technologies that are inspired by insights gained from the life sciences.

BTO's programs will operate across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales-from individual cells to humans and other organisms and the communities in which they operate, and from the time it takes for a nerve to fire to the time it may take a new virus to spread around the world one sneeze at a time. All told, BTO will explore the intricate and highly adapted mechanisms of natural processes and demonstrate how they can be applied to the mission of national defense.

BTO expands on the instrumental work undertaken by DARPA's Defense Sciences (DSO) and Microsystems Technology (MTO) Offices. Recent progress in such diverse disciplines as neuroscience, sensor design, microsystems, computer science, and other longstanding areas of DARPA investment has begun to converge, revealing newly emergent potential ready to be realized.

"The Biological Technologies Office will advance and expand on a number of earlier DARPA programs that made preliminary inroads into the bio-technological frontier," said Geoff Ling, named by DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar to be the first director of BTO.

"We've been developing the technological building blocks, we've been analyzing our results, and now we're saying publicly to the research and development community, 'We are ready to start turning the resulting knowledge into practical tools and capabilities.'"

The initial BTO portfolio includes programs transferred from DSO and MTO, but will also include new opportunities, beginning with the recently announced Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX) program that expands on the work of DARPA's Revolutionizing Prosthetics and Reliable Neural-Interface Technology programs.

In keeping with DARPA tradition, future programs will be created from ideas brought to the agency by program managers and through conversations with the research community.

"Before BTO, DARPA had a handful of biologists, neuroscientists, engineers, and the like, interested in synthesizing their work but distributed across different offices," Ling said. "Now we're under one roof, so to speak, and looking to attract a new community of scholars, who will bring a host of new ideas at the intersection of traditional and emerging disciplines."

Three research focus areas reflect the scale and scope of BTO's mission.

+ Restore and Maintain Warfighter Abilities: Because military readiness depends on the health and wellbeing of service members, a critical focus is on cultivating new discoveries that help maintain peak warfighter abilities and restoring those abilities as quickly and fully as possible when they are degraded-including through the development of advanced prosthetics and neural interfaces. BTO will seek to develop new techniques and therapeutic strategies for addressing current and emerging threats, but its work will extend beyond medical applications to include exploration of complex biological issues that can affect a warfighter's ability to operate and interact in the biological and physical world.

+ DARPA's Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program is an example of work to restore lost function. It pursues advanced therapies to reduce the burden and severity of neuropsychological illness in afflicted troops and veterans.

+ The Autonomous Diagnostics to Enable Prevention and Therapeutics (ADEPT) program, which seeks novel ways to identify and protect against infectious disease, is an example of work to mitigate or neutralize biological threats.

+ Harness Biological Systems: The highly evolved functional and synthetic capabilities of biological systems can be harnessed to develop new products and systems in support of national security with advantages over what even the most advanced conventional chemistry and manufacturing technologies can achieve. BTO seeks to establish a fundamental understanding of natural processes and the underlying design rules that govern the behavior of biological systems, and apply that knowledge to forward-engineer new systems and products with novel functionality.

+ DARPA's Living Foundries program, for example, is focused in part on creating a biologically based manufacturing platform to provide rapid, scalable access to new materials with novel properties that can enable a new generation of mechanical, electrical, and optical products.

+ The Chronicle of Lineage Indicative of Origins (CLIO) program, meanwhile, aims to make biological engineering safer by establishing enduring control elements that protect against intentionally harmful genetic engineering, prevent illegal acquisition or misuse of proprietary strains, provide novel forensic tools to assist in the investigation of biological incidents, and allow responsible investigators to document compliance with safe biological manipulation practices.

+ Apply Biological Complexity at Scale: Biological systems operate over an enormous range of spatial, physical, and temporal scales. Some organisms thrive as individual cells but most depend on dynamic interactions with other species; humans, for example, are colonized by communities of foreign cells that greatly outnumber their own and have potentially significant but still largely mysterious impacts on metabolism, psychological state, performance, and health.

A better understanding of the interactions between mammalian and non-mammalian species and micro- and macro-organisms could foster new approaches to enhancing mental and physical health in routine and threatening situations. Similarly, disease vectors migrate around the globe slowly and stealthily at times, and at other times in devastating waves of breathtaking speed-reflecting poorly understood dynamics that can undermine national security.

And because they are so difficult to parse from larger biological and ecological phenomena, population-level effects of relevance to agriculture and food security remain largely unplumbed. BTO is looking into pursuing new insights derived from biological complexity and living-system dynamics with the goal of developing applications to enhance global-scale stability and human wellbeing.

+ The Biochronicity program studies the role of time in biological functions. By looking for temporal instructions, or "clock signatures," in biological organisms, the program aims to make it possible to manage the effects of time on human physiology.

Because BTO programs push the leading edge of science, they will sometimes be society's first encounter with the ethical, legal, or social dilemmas that can be raised by new biological technologies. For that reason, DARPA periodically convenes scholars with expertise in these issues to discuss relevant ethical, legal, and social issues.

Apr. 2, 2014 – Defense News (AFP)

UNITED NATIONS — A total of 18 countries filed documents Wednesday ratifying a UN treaty to regulate the $80 billion-per-year conventional arms trade.

One year after the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) was adopted by the General Assembly, 31 countries have ratified it.

The treaty will take effect once 50 UN member states ratify it. So far, 118 countries have signed it.

“It is fair to say that at the current pace of signature and ratification, the ATT could well enter into force in the second half of this year,” said Virginia Gamba, deputy to the UN high representative for disarmament affairs.

The 18 countries to file their ratifications during a ceremony at UN headquarters in New York were members of the European Union except for El Salvador. Among the EU members submitting documents were Germany, France and Britain.

The treaty aims to force countries to set up national controls on arms exports. The countries must assess whether a weapon could be used to circumvent an international embargo, be used for genocide and war crimes, or be used by terrorists and organized crime.

The first major arms accord since the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the ATT covers international transfers of everything from tanks to combat aircraft to missiles, as well as small arms.

The United States — which is the world’s biggest arms producer — signed the treaty only after a regulation on ammunition was dealt with separately, providing for less comprehensive controls. Meanwhile Russia expressed reservations over the criteria used to authorize transactions.

A UN statement Wednesday said secretary-general Ban Ki-moon “calls on all states that have not yet done so to sign and/or ratify the ATT without delay.”

Anna Macdonald, a representative from the NGO Control Arms, said that “nowhere is the need for an effective treaty more apparent than in the devastating humanitarian crisis in Syria.”

The conflict there, she said, “has been fueled by transfers of arms and ammunition from outside parties.”

April 1, 2014 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: General Dynamics Land Systems; issued April 1, 2014)

General Dynamics Awarded $75 Million for Cougar Survivability Upgrade Program

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. --- The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems – Force Protection a contract valued at $74.7 million for egress upgrade kits in support of the Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected (MRAP) program.

The company will develop, design and produce 916 egress kits for the Cougar vehicles. The kits will include upgrades to the Cougar's front doors, rear doors, rear steps and exhaust system. General Dynamics will complete delivery of the kits by September 2015.

General Dynamics Land Systems – Force Protection is part of General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics .

March 31st, 2014 By USMarines - defencetalk.com

Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle Anti-Tank prototypes are in the midst of developmental tests of upgrades that could extend their lives for decades to come. The modernization program is taking shape at various sites throughout the country.

Development of the LAV-ATs has already successfully met threshold testing as four of the prototypes have fired 14 missiles at government facilities. In mid-March, the vehicles were put through a swim test and landing craft air cushion tests at the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

“The LAV-AT modernization program is designed to improve mission effectiveness and supportability for Marines,” said Col. Mark Brinkman, LAV program manager.

Embedded in their original design, LAVs combine speed, maneuverability and firepower to perform a variety of functions, including security, command and control, reconnaissance and assault.

“They can operate on land and in water, carry communications equipment and provide a weapons platform,” Brinkman said. “The LAV isn’t just part of a combined arms force—it is one.”

In upcoming tests, the LAV-ATs will engage in electromagnetic environmental effects developmental tests at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and reliability, availability and maintainability, and performance tests at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz.

“The LAV has proved its worth since initial fielding in 1983,” Brinkman said. “The Marine Corps is committed to ensuring this platform remains viable until at least 2035.”

With the LAV’s future role for the Marine Corps in mind, government developmental tests started in December 2013. As of March 2014, no significant issues have surfaced. An operational assessment will follow developmental testing in late 2014. The initial production contract is expected to be awarded in September 2015.

In April 2012, the Marine Corps through Program Manager LAV awarded a contract to develop and integrate an anti-tank weapon system on four LAV-ATs.

The new anti-tank weapon system, or ATWS, will fire the Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided/radio frequency family of missiles. The system uses the Modified Improved Target Acquisition System for sighting and fire-control functions.

The new ATWS turret system will provide an enhanced capability over the existing sighting system, according to Brinkman. It will provide a second-generation forward looking infra-red, far target location and ability to acquire targets on the move. The ATWS system will have commonality with the already fielded Saber system to increase supportability and readiness in the field.

31 mars 2014 Lyas Hallas - maghrebemergent.com

Le porte-avion commandé en 2011 aux chantiers navals de la société italienne Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, filiale de Fincantieri, battra pavillon algérien dès le 4 septembre prochain, dans les délais contractuels,  selon Angelos Fusco, un représentant du constructeur, présent  ce lundi sur le Cavour, porte-avion du même type qui sera livré aux forces navales algériennes, en rade depuis dimanche  au port d’Alger. 

Le Bâtiment de débarquement et de soutien logistique (BDSL) baptisé Kalaat Beni Abbes ressemble au porte avion Cavour mais, un peu plus sophistiqué. En plus d'embarquer  des hélicoptères et autres chasseurs bombardiers à décollage vertical, il permet des opérations d’amphibies et le débarquement de troupes terrestres dans zones dépourvues de ports. Kalaat Beni Abbes est soumis actuellement aux essais d’usage et devrait rallier la base navale de Mers El Kebir début septembre.   Le montant du contrat de ce bâtiment de guerre reste la grande inconnue. « C’est une information qui est classifiée », a déclaré Angelos Fusco, un représentant du constructeur italien. Cependant,  il a révélé qu’un bâtiment pareil coûte entre 300 et 500 millions d’euros. « Cela dépend des équipements qu’on met à bord, systèmes de missiles, de radars, etc. », a-t-il précisé. Le contrat inclut par ailleurs des clauses sur la formation des marins algériens et le montage d’une unité de montage de chalands à Mers El Kebir.

Missions humanitaires

De nombreux représentants des fleurons de l’industrie italienne d’armement (Electronica, Beretta, Finmeccanica et Fincantieri) étaient présents à l’exposition du « made in Italy » organisée sur le porte-avion Cavour qui compose avec la frégate Bergamini, le navire ravitailleur Etna et le patrouilleur de haute mer Borsini , le 30e groupe naval  de la Marine militaire  italienne. Alger, 20e et dernière escale de la mission du groupe naval, était l’occasion pour les industriels italiens de faire la promotion du « made in Italy ». L’accès à l’exposition est ouvert au grand public moyennant une inscription sur le site Internet de l’ambassade d’Italie à Alger. L’escale algérienne va durer jusqu’au 03 avril et verra, en plus de l’exposition, des chirurgiens en pédiatrie, algériens et italiens, réaliser des opérations chirurgicales au profit de 14 enfants algériens souffrant de malformations faciales dans les blocs opératoires de l’hôpital de ce porte-avion. Dans une conférence de presse organisée en marge de cette mission, le vice-amiral Paolo Treu, commandant du 30e groupe naval, a indiqué que l’hôpital a accueilli des interventions chirurgicales similaires à Mombassa, Antseranana, Maputo, le Cap et Tema. Partie le 13 novembre 2013 de Civitavecchia en Italie, elle est passée par le canal Suez pour traverser la mer rouge, le golfe d’Aden, l’océan indien, le golfe persique et faire le tour de l’Afrique  avant de regagner l’Italie en passant par Alger.