China’s navy goes global to protect its import sea lanes

The People’s Republic of China recently dispatched two navy ships — its most advanced No. 171 “Chinese Aegis” class DDG and No. 169 “Chinese Sovremenni” class DDG — to the waters near Somalia to engage in anti-pirate operations. As a Chinese expression goes, “Why use an ox-cleaver to kill a chicken?”

This high-profile action represents a great step forward for the People’s Liberation Army navy toward becoming a global blue-water maritime force. Its leaders seem to be following in the footsteps of Adm. Sergei Gorshkov, who commanded the Soviet navy for nearly three decades and built it into a global sea power. He said his navy would fly the flag of the Soviet Union in every corner of the five continents and four great oceans on Earth, as they all fell within the range of Soviet interests.

On Jan. 4 the People’s Liberation Army Daily published an article by someone named Huang Kunlun claiming that “Maritime trade has without any doubt become the lifeline of the Chinese economy, and the oceans are now China’s critical communication and navigation channels. Using maritime forces to protect national maritime interests is an important measure for the PLA navy to safeguard the national interest of our country.”

This article put forward for the first time the concept of a “national interest frontier,” implying that PLA operations should be extended to wherever China has interests. The author advocates “protecting the national interest frontier” as the call of a new era and an inevitable trend.

This concept of a national interest frontier is, in fact, the 21st century version of the Gorshkov theory, under which the Soviet naval commander advocated the strategic use of an oceangoing navy.

Warship Stops Pirate Attack on Chinese Ship in Gulf of Aden

Danish warship the Absalon, patrolling in the Gulf of Aden, stopped yesterday an attack by pirates against a Chinese freight ship, which had sent out a distress call.

The Absalon confiscated weapons of seven pirates, who had fired on the freighter, Denmark’s navy said late yesterday on its Web site. The Absalon and a U.S. warship offered medical aid to possible injured personal at the Chinese vessel, which was declined, according to the navy statement.

Chinese navy saves Italian ship from pirates: state media

Chinese naval forces thwarted a pirate attack on a Liberian-flagged Italian merchant ship this week in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, state media said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday when a helicopter from the Chinese destroyer Haikou saw a pair of small pirate vessels closing on the ship and fired a pair of signal flares to drive them off, Xinhua news agency said.

Sri Lankan navy fires at Indian fishermen at mid-sea

After a lull, the Sri Lankan Navy reportedly fired at Indian fishermen at mid-sea today.

According to reports reaching here tonight, a group of Indian fishermen while fishing near Katchatheevu Island were surrounded by a Sri Lankan Navy Patrol vessel, which allegedly opened fire injuring an Indian fisherman.

Later, the Sri Lankan Navy Personnel allegedly boarded the Indian fishing trawlers and beaten up the fishermen and warned them not to trespass into the Sri Lankan territorial waters.

Indian defence shipyards flush with orders for small, med boats

With the Home Ministry looking to procure more boats for uniformed forces under it, Indian defence shipyards are flush with orders for supplying small and medium sized boats.

The Goa Shipyard limited has received an order for 116 boats from the Home Ministry and the shipyard has supplied two boats each of five tonne and 12 tonne class to the Home Ministry, Defence Ministry said in a document listing its achievements in the last year.

Similarly, Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) yard has orders for construction of 78 interceptor boats from various Government agencies.

Some of these boats have even been exported to countries such as Maldives and Bhutan.

The Border Security Force under the Home Ministry has its own water-wing and uses it for patrolling riverine areas in the North-east and the Creek area on the western frontier.

H/T: Phibian

A large LTTE boat, boats manufacturing yard and LTTE torture camp found

Troops of 58 Division on final phase of the Wanni liberating offensive uncovered the largest LTTE boat ever found during the Wanni offensive from northwest of Puthukudiyirippu yesterday, 23 February. A boats manufacturing yard and LTTE torture camp were also uncovered in further search and clear operations military sources said.

The recovered sea tiger boat is nearly 60 feet long, military sources said.

LTTE terrorists have removed the engine and other accessories of the boat and abandoned it on a trailer when it was recovered by the troops.

Troops in further search and clear operations were able to locate the boats manufacturing yard in 500m away this morning, 24 February. Machineries used for the boat production, prototype of the boat and the removed accessories of the boat were also found from the boat yard, military sources added.

[Note - there are pictures available of what appears to be a fairly large, semi-submersible suicide boat. H/T: Eagle1]

Obama Will Unveil $205.5 Billion War Spending Through 2010

President Barack Obama today will seek $205.5 billion more for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $75.5 billion through the end of this fiscal year, according to three people familiar with the request.

It will be submitted later today along with the fiscal 2010 budget Obama sends to Congress. The proposal will also request $130 billion for the wars in fiscal 2010. That’s in addition to a total Defense Department budget of about $534 billion, the people said.
…
The $534 billion represents about 2 percent real growth, when adjusted for inflation, more than the $513.3 billion Congress approved for this year’s annual defense budget, said an analyst.

America Builds New African Partnerships to Tackle Piracy

The United States and other international partners are helping African governments confront piracy and improve maritime security on two coasts of Africa. While the waters off the coast of Somalia rank number 1 in the world for piracy and armed robbery at sea and the Gulf of Guinea on Africa’s west coast ranks closely behind in the number 2 spot, the two regions have different scenarios and different types of crime.

Jun Bando, the maritime security coordinator and U.S. Africa Command liaison for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, made that point February 19 in an interview with America.gov.

Looking at the problems in the two regions, Bando said, “What we are seeing off the coast of Somalia [is] … acts such as ship hijacking, which is often committed on the high seas or international waters. In the Gulf of Guinea, the balance leans toward criminal acts that happen within a country’s territorial waters.”

In the Gulf of Guinea, Bando said, “We are seeing hijackings, kidnappings, considerable levels of violence” in criminal acts that are “typically more violent than what we are seeing in the Horn of Africa.”

Small armed groups in the Gulf of Guinea tend to commit their crimes along the coastline, offshore and on offshore oil rigs as well.

“We have seen an increase in attacks” in the Gulf of Guinea, she said. “We are seeing a number of criminal activities that are happening not only in international waters but also within the territorial waters of countries, and involving everything from drug smuggling to trafficking in both arms and persons.”

Turning to the situation off the coast of Somalia, Bando said there “the international ‘actors’ have come to play a very visible role in combating piracy.” That, she said, “is a reflection of several factors, the most important being that Somalia has not had the capacity to deal with the situation on its own and has asked the United Nations Security Council for help.

“If we are talking about the Gulf of Guinea, it is a very different scenario where certainly international cooperation has a role to play” in prevention, she said, “but it would be hard to envision the same type of international reaction that we would see off the coast of Somalia” because there are governments in the Gulf of Guinea capable of acting, although they may require technical or other support.

APS Nashville Begins Training in Ghana

Africa Partnership Station (APS) Nashville kicked off training courses Feb. 23 aboard USS Nashville (LPD 13) as the ship conducts its scheduled 18-day port visit.

Nashville, the largest APS platform to date, welcomed more than 160 military trainees from Cape Verde, Ghana and Mozambique, along with 15 civilian students from maritime security and meteorological agencies. The training course will run until March 5 and include focal points of search and rescue, maritime law, small boat maintenance and intelligence procedures while in Ghana.

“The classes offered here are tailored toward the specific needs and requests made by our hosts,” said Lt. Olukemi Elebute, APS training officer. “They have identified key areas… to improve the overall level of effectiveness their navy and government agency in improving maritime safety and security.”

Maritime Shipping Makes Hefty Contribution to Harmful Air Pollution

Globally, commercial ships emit almost half as much particulate matter pollutants into the air as the total amount released by the world’s cars, according to a new study led by NOAA and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Ship pollutants affect local air quality and the health of people living along coastlines. The findings appear online this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The study is the first to provide a global estimate of maritime shipping’s total contribution to air particle pollution based on direct measurements of emissions. The authors estimate that globally, ships emit 0.9 teragrams, or about 2.2 million pounds, of particle pollution each year.

“Since more than 70 percent of shipping traffic takes place within 250 miles of the coastline, this is a significant health concern for coastal communities,” said study lead-author Daniel Lack, a researcher with the NOAA-supported CU Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, based at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 and is filed under Africa, China, Defense Policy, Denmark, Environment, Ghana, India, Maritime Strategy News, Piracy, Politics, Sri Lanka. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.