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On Thursday, we paused to give thanks. Many of us probably offered up a prayer for our family, friends, and good food to eat. The guys in this video might have offered one up that had something to do with being alive. That’s because an observant Texas motorist noticed that, while stopped at a red light, there were two nearly identical Corvettes waiting to race. He turned on his camera in anticipation of something bad happening. As you’re about to see, he was right

Turkey introduces first self-produced warship amidst East Med tension 27 September 2011, Tuesday / TODAYSZAMAN.COM, Turkey on Tuesday announced that its first domestically produced warship, the Heybeliada, is operational in a ceremony held at the Ä°stanbul Naval Shipyard Command amidst ongoing tension over a Greek Cypriot drive to explore gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean. Speaking during the ceremony, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan proudly said Turkey has taken its place among 10 countries that can design and construct warships, as he introduced the warship. Recalling that the Heybeliada, a patrol and anti-submarine warship produced by the Ä°stanbul Naval Shipyard...

Betty Skelton Erde, an aviator and auto racing pioneer who became the fastest woman on Earth in 1965, has died. She was 85. Erde set female speed records at Daytona Beach and Utah's Bonneville salt flats more than half a century ago. In 2008, she was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in suburban Detroit. Dozens of firsts are attached to her name: the auto industry's first female test driver in 1954; the first to set a female world land speed record in 1956 (145 mph at Daytona Beach); and the world land speed record for women...

Russia to build two Tiger corvettes for Algerian navy ST. PETERSBURG, June 30 (RIA Novosti) Russia's United Shipbuiding Corporation and state arms exporter Rosoboronexport have signed a deal with Algeria to build two new Tiger class corvettes, the corporation said on Thursday. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing International Maritime Defense Show, IMDS-2011, in St. Petersburg. The biennial naval show offers exhibits from 300 companies, including 30 foreign ones. "We have signed two agreements together with Rosoboronexport to sell two corvettes to Algeria and three light [Molniya missile] corvettes to a former Soviet republic," said Roman...

East/West Divide Grows In the International Navy Shipbuilding Business June 2011 By Stew Magnuson The United Arab Emirates’ new corvette-class ship sat along the dock at a recent trade show. Its manufacturer, Abu Dhabi Shipbuilding, wanted to show off its indigenously built vessel and it was the main attraction at the first ever NAVDEX exhibition, a new section to the Middle East’s largest arms show, IDEX, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. But little of what the company featured came from the UAE. The design of the planned fleet of six Baynunah-class ships originated at Constructions Mecaniques de Normandie of...

Taiwan to build new 'stealth' warship TAIPEI - TAIWAN plans to build a new 'stealth' warship armed with guided-missiles next year in response to China's naval build-up, a top military officer and a lawmaker said on Monday. Construction of the prototype of the 500-tonne corvette is due to start in 2012 for completion in 2014, deputy defence minister Lin Yu-pao said in answer to a question by Kuomintang party legislator Lin Yu-fang at parliament. The warship, which the navy says is harder to detect on radar, is expected to emerge after China puts into service its first battle carrier group,...

Russia floats out 3rd stealth corvette St. Petersburg's Severnaya Verf shipyard floated out a new corvette for the Russian Navy featuring stealth technology on Friday. The Boiky is the third Steregushchy class (Project 20380) corvette designed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau. The first Project 20380 corvette, the Steregushchy, was put into service with Russia's Baltic Fleet in October 2008, and the second ship in the series, the Soobrazitelny, is expected to join the Russian Navy in 2011. The Project 20380 corvette can be deployed to destroy enemy surface ships, submarines and aircraft, and to provide artillery support for...

IDF to decide on what type of Navy it wants By YAAKOV KATZ 14/04/2011 IDF has yet to progress with procuring missile ships due to rising costs. The IDF is considering canceling plans to purchase two new missile ships for the Israel Navy, amid a new debate within the General Staff about the future of the navy, and its purpose within a changing Middle East. The Defense Ministry set aside about $330 million in 2007 to purchase two new large missile ships. The navy originally planned to purchase littoral combat ships, under development by Lockheed Martin – but abandoned those...

Ukraine Navy to Receive Four Corvettes by 2021 17 March 2011 The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has plans to spend $2bn on four indigenous corvettes by 2021, Ukraine Defence Minister Mikhail Yesel said. The lead ship is expected to be constructed in 2016 in the Mykolaiv-based Black Sea Shipyard. In order to minimise costs, the project will involve designing and constructing the ships in Ukraine with foreign ship weapons and equipment to eliminate foreign policy risk. The Ukrainian Government had approved a defence programme for building ten ships-class corvettes in March 2009, however, due to budget limits the project has been...

UAE-built ship launched First to be made in the region By Samia Badih, Staff Reporter Published: 00:00 February 21, 2011 Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB), the UAE's naval and commercial vessels supplier, launched its second naval ship Baynunah at Idex yesterday, the second of a series of six naval ships, in the presence of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. "It's the first ship ever to be built in this region," Mohammad Salem Al Junaibi, CEO of ADSB, told Gulf News yesterday. "This ship is...

First domestically produced warship to be exhibited at defense fair 10 February 2011, Thursday / ERKAN ACAR, İSTANBUL Turkey’s first domestically produced warship, the Heybeliada, will be exhibited at Turkey’s 10th biennial International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2011), which will be held on May 10-13. Previous IDEFs, which are organized by TÜYAP Fair and Exhibition Organization Inc., were held in Ankara, preventing the exhibition of naval defense products. IDEF 2009 was held in İstanbul and this year the fair will be held in İstanbul’s coastal Büyükçekmece district, allowing for the exhibition of such products. This year’s fair will mark the...

US Sought to Discourage Bulgaria from Buying Brand-New Fighter Jets, French Corvettes Back in Oct 2009 Bulgarian PM Borisov (right) claimed to have gotten French President Sarkozy to cancel the EUR 1 B deal for French corvettes. A US diplomatic cable reveals Bulgaria was under pressure from France for this deal. EPA/BGNES The US Embassy in Sofia sought to discourage Bulgaria from going for costly armament procurement deals over concerns with the latter's limited funds, a newly released US diplomatic cable provided by Wikileaks shows. The document entitled "Strategy to Shape Bulgaria's Military Modernization" is a US diplomatic cable sent...

New Sea Power For Brunei Last Updated on Saturday, 08 January 2011 09:15 Written by Waleed PD Mahdini MinDef accepts 2 Darussalam-class offshore patrol vessels Bandar Seri Begawan - In a significant bid to realise the goals that were stated in the Defence White Paper 2004, the Ministry of Defence yesterday officially accepted two new Darussalam class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN). According to a press release, issued yesterday, the construction and acceptance of these two new OPVs, bearing the names `KDB Darussalam' and `KDB Darulehsan', "manifested the commitment of His Majesty's government in further...

Videos of speeding spur OKC man's arrestThe YouTube postings show a Corvette driver zooming down freeways at nearly 200 mph. By MICHAEL KIMBALL NewsOK.com Last Modified: 12/23/2010 7:08 AM OKLAHOMA CITY - Dee Albert "Cody" Replogle posted YouTube videos of himself speeding down Oklahoma City-area freeways in his high-powered Chevrolet Corvette, reportedly in excess of 195 mph. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol used the videos to find him and arrest him, Patrol Capt. Chris West said Wednesday. Replogle, 30, of Oklahoma City was arrested Monday on two complaints of reckless driving in connection with the pair of YouTube videos, West said.

Swedish corvette is engineered for stealth By Edward Lundquist The Swedish corvette Visby is stealthily to the core, right down to the all-composite shaft. From the carbon fiber hull and radar absor­bent coating to the enclosed gun mount, flush antennas and telescoping mast, this ship has extremely low signatures. The camouflaged appearance is hard to see, and the engine exhaust being ducted into the water jets reduces the infrared signature (the engine exhaust mixed with the water does create a visible vapor “exhaust”). The machinery sits on vibration isolation mounts, and non-magnetic materials are used throughout. Despite this unique approach...

Oman Corvette Heads to Sea for the First Time (Source: BAE Systems; issued December 20, 2010) PORTSMOUTH, United Kingdom --- Al Shamikh, the first of three ships being built by BAE Systems for the Royal Navy of Oman (RNO), has embarked on her first sea trials in the Solent. Departing from the Company’s Portsmouth facility, a combined BAE Systems and RNO crew is putting the ship through her paces, undertaking extensive platform testing for speed, propulsion and manoeuvrability in the first demonstration of the ship’s capability at sea. Scott Jamieson, International Programmes Director at BAE Systems’ Surface Ships division, said:...

Navy asked to explain apparent ship plan delay BLAST FROM THE PAST:：A KMT legislator wondered whether an apparent lack of determination to complete a project was the result of the Lafayette frigate scandal By Rich Chang / Staff Reporter Tue, Dec 14, 2010 - Page 3 The navy yesterday was asked to justify an apparent decision to delay plans to launch a program to build submarine chasers to increase the nation’s coastal defense capabilities. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) told a Foreign and National Defense Committee meeting at the legislature that while the navy had assigned budgets...

Netherlands Threatened by Dutch Weapons? (Source: Radio Netherlands; issued Nov. 23, 2010) Four Italian-made frigates set out from the Venezuelan port city of Puerto Cabello in the middle of the night. They lead a fleet including amphibious landing craft and service ships, on their way to invade Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, three Caribbean islands forming part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A Dutch 'Falklands war' has begun. This is a nightmare scenario that Dutch military planners must nonetheless take into account, given Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez's repeated threats over the last two years. Political leaders on the three islands...

Equato Guinea seeks South Korean corvettes: report Written by defenceWeb Thursday, 18 November 2010 13:34 The government of oil rich but authoritarian Equatorial Guinea is reportedly negotiating the purchase of up to three corvettes worth an estimated price of $90 million from South Korea. The Defence Professionals website, defpro.com quotes the Yonhap news agency as saying a South Korean official confirmed Equatorial Guinea’s interest in buying three corvettes. According to Yonhap, negotiations began after Equatorial Guinea's President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, met his counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, in mid-August during a visit to Seoul. Park Young-june, a vice minister in South...

Photos provide clues for Chinese Type 056 corvette design By Ted Parsons and Mrityunjoy Mazumdar 18 November 2010 The first images of a probable new corvette design for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have emerged following a visit by the deputy commander of the Hong Kong military garrison to a local college. Photographs published on the Hong Kong University website showed Major General Wang Junli presenting a model of the vessel, which has an estimated displacement of between 1,000 tons and 1,800 tons and bears the pennant number 056, to the institution's vice chancellor during the visit on 4...