Spanish and South African companies are teaming to jointly develop naval systems and vessels for South Africa and other African nations.

The partnering by Navantia, a Spanish shipbuilder, and the Paramount Group, comes under a memorandum of understanding signed late last week and is an outgrowth of earlier cooperation on a south African naval project.

"Navantia and Paramount have been collaborating in the last months on a joint offshore patrol vessel proposal for Project BIRO for the South African Navy," said Navantia President Jose Manuel Revuelta. "An excellent relationship between both companies has been established and this agreement is a step further that sets the basis for cooperation on new business opportunities in South Africa and other countries in the region and broader international market.

"Navantia's experience in the design and construction of world-leading technology naval vessels and systems, transfer of technology, and through-life cycle support provides a key benefit to offer well-proven, low risk and value for money solutions for customers."

The companies have chosen five key areas for cooperation: through-life support management, combat systems and platform systems integration, procurement management of materials and equipment, operational maintenance training and technology transfer.

The companies said the agreement comes amid a growing need to protect and secure Africa's coastlines, great lakes and rivers, and political and economic assets, such as oil pipelines, shipping lanes, national borders and fisheries.

"There has never been a greater need for naval security in the waters around South Africa and the rest of the continent," said Paramount's Group International Marketing Director Eric Ichikowitz . "New oil and gas resources are being discovered every month and those resources, together with industries like tourism and fisheries, are critical to the growth of African states. "

Littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth debuts in Malabar 2015
Washington (UPI) Oct 19, 2015 - The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth made its debut when it participated in the Exercise Malabar for the first time in the Bay of Bengal.

Exercise Malabar was a joint military exercise between naval forces from the United States, India and Japan, with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force participating as a permanent member for the first time in the program's history. The exercise aims to improve collective military maritime relationships between the countries involved. The exercises concluded on Monday.

Fort Worth's commanding officer Cmdr. Christopher Brown said the harbor phase of Malabar 2015 was good for his crew.

"This was the first-ever participation of a littoral combat ship in Exercise Malabar and the sea phase provided a unique opportunity for Fort Worth to operate hull-to-hull with ships from both the Indian navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force," Brown said in a statement. "What we learned from each other will go a long way toward advancing our navies' interoperability in this critical area of operations."

Brown added that additional exercises in Malabar 2015 included gunning drills, strike warfare, maneuvering, air defense, communication, search and rescue, and others. In addition to bolstering combat skills, the program also aims to publicly display the military power and presence in the region.

Fort Worth is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the U.S. Navy. The ship was launched in December 2010, but did not go into active service until 2015