European Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

​

Sea Waves said:

In a surprise decision, the Dutch have cancelled the sale of the still under construction Karel Doorman.

That means that HNLMS Amsterdam will be paid off in 2015 (as planned).

This is the outcome of new negotiations between several opposition parties and the Government (to come to a majority for the plans in the First Chamber of Dutch parliament).

Several cuts were axed including the future of this brand new ship.

The new ‘Karel Doorman’ will sail with a limited crew and only for replenishment duties for the Dutch navy.

NATO partners can ‘hire’ the ship for the extra capabilities this ship was built for (JSS), such as heavy lift and transport and sea-basing.

Click to expand...

FORBIN said:

One big replace 2 more small ! Amsterdam have only 18 years, interesting for some country.

Click to expand...

​

Foreign Policy said:

As the Somali piracy blockbuster Captain Phillips raked in $26 million in its opening weekend on U.S. screens, Mohamed Abdi Hassan, better known as "Afweyne," was on a flight to Belgium with gainful plans to sell a very different story about East African marauders. Expecting to consult on a movie based on his life as a seafaring bandit, Afweyne and his associate were instead arrested by Belgian police and charged with the crimes of piracy and hostage taking. The two men had fallen for a hard-to-believe, reverse-Argo ruse -- a months-long sting operation set in motion to catch the mastermind behind the 2009 hijacking and ransom of the Belgian-owned dredging vessel Pompei.

While some 1,000 Somali pirate foot soldiers have been jailed in over a dozen countries, Afweyne --whose sobriquet means "big mouth" or "crybaby" -- will be the first pirate leader to be prosecuted by the international community when his criminal trial opens in Belgium.

Though his hopes of being immortalized on the big screen have been dashed, Afweyne, more than any other pirate, is responsible for making Somali piracy into an organized, multi-million-dollar industry. According to a recent World Bank report, Somali piracy raked in an estimated $339 million to $413 million in ransom spoils between 2005 and 2013. Like many of his comrades, Afweyne asserts that he not a "kidnapper," but the leader of a "legitimate self-defense movement" dedicated to protecting Somalia's marine resources. While some of Somalia's first pirates operating from the autonomous region of Puntland could claim -- for a time -- to be "coastguards" levying a taxes on illegal foreign fishing, Afweyne was not one of them. Rather, he was shrewd businessman who sought to replicate Puntland's cottage pirate industry on a commercial scale, based out of his native Harardhere in central Somalia.

Beginning in 2003, the former civil servant was plying investors with a self-described "very good business idea" and headhunting veteran pirates from Puntland to train his own "Somali Marines." The result was the birth of modern Somali piracy: organized bands of skiffs and supporting motherships hunting hundreds of miles from shore for commercial vessels that would deliver multi-million-dollar ransoms.

The boom years were good for Afweyne. The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea has linked the Somali kingpin to at least seven hijackings in 2009 alone, while secondary reports tie him to dozens of others, including those of the supertanker Sirius Star and the Russian tank-laden MV Faina in 2008. Afweyne even had something of a cult following and was revered as a national hero by the late Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, who invited him to a four-day celebration in Libya in 2009.

Like any good crime boss, Afweyne sought to diversify his investments while minimizing his personal risk. Given its popularity among pirates, trade in the leafy drug khat was a natural outgrowth of the flagship enterprise. Cash from Afweyne's ransom spoils, according to a 2011 U.N. report, was poured into khat procurement in Kenya. The produce was then flown back to Harardhere and sold up and down the Somali coast, with pirates willing to pay three times the street price. By 2010, Afweyne had handed the reins of piracy operations over to his son Abdiqaadir, enabling him to focus full-time on managing a business empire that stretched from Dubai to India.

Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. One business risk that required mitigation was the Islamist militia al-Shabab, which was encroaching on the pirate heartlands of Harardhere and Hobyo by 2010. Al-Shabab had initially vowed to shut down the un-Islamic crime of piracy, but the group's ideological purity quickly gave way to financial pragmatism. In 2010, Afweyne and his commanders reportedly became the first pirate operation to enter into a formal agreement with the Islamists -- pledging to fork over a $100,000 tax per hijacking ransom in exchange for non-interference. Afweyne himself admitted in an interview that al-Shabab were receiving 5 percent of his ransom spoils as a security fee. "There is no political relationship, only one based on money," he told the Spanish daily newspaper ABC. Afweyne has since denied that his gang was ever involved with the al Qaeda-affiliated militia, but the relationship was ongoing as of April 2012, according to statements made by his son.

That was also the year that improved security measures started to really cut into Afweyne's bottom line. While hijacked ships continued to bring in multi-million-dollar ransoms, it was becoming harder and harder to catch them -- and a lot more dangerous to try. In 2010, there were 49 successful hijackings off the coast of Somalia. In 2011, there were 28; by 2012, that number had fallen to 14. Not only were more and more ships carrying armed guards, EU and U.S. coalition naval forces had adopted more vigorous rules of engagement, arresting suspected pirates and destroying their vessels at an increased rate. It was likely with this cost-benefit calculation in mind that Afweyne publicly denounced the piracy business and proclaimed his retirement in January 2013.

Click to expand...

Kremer made the announcement on the sidelines of the 2013 AIAA Multinational Ballistic Missile Defense Conference in Warsaw. More than 300 participants from 20 nations gathered at the conference to discuss the increased role of missile defense on a global scale.

Potentially, ships using either SMART-L radars or the Aegis system could carry SM-3, Kremer said.

“This allows for collaboration and share of burden -- but more importantly, we’d fill coverage gaps for others areas of Europe.” Kremer said.

Beyond the current cooperative development agreement between the U.S. and Japan for SM-3 Block IIA, other navies have expressed interest in the interceptor, including the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Denmark.

Currently, U.S. Navy ships carrying SM-3s deployed off Europe’s coast provide the continent’s only “upper tier” defense from the growing threat of ballistic missiles, but this week in Romania, broke ground on the first land-based SM-3 site. Another land-based site will be deployed by the U.S. in Poland in 2018.

Click to expand...

navyreco said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

...but this week in Romania, broke ground on the first land-based SM-3 site. Another land-based site will be deployed by the U.S. in Poland in 2018.

Click to expand...

​

World Maritime News said:

On Monday, 11 November 2013, the EU Naval Force Operation Atalanta Flagship, HNLMS Johan de Witt, has hosted the Contact Group of Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) during the Counter Piracy Week in the port of Djibouti. Government representatives from all over the world took the opportunity to see how the EU Naval Force and other counter piracy forces are contributing to the fight against piracy.

The 150 delegates from over 20 countries visited the Netherlands warship, alongside Djibouti. The guests were welcomed on board by the Force Commander of EU counter piracy Operation Atalanta, Commodore Peter Lenselink, from the Royal Netherlands Navy.

In his opening speech, Commodore Lenselink emphasized the good cooperation between all those involved in countering piracy.

Commodore Lenselink said:

"Uniquely we are working together to take counter piracy to the next level."

Click to expand...

Lenselink is the Force Commander who is characterising the EU Comprehensive Approach and cooperation with the different counter piracy Task Forces and nation states in the region.

After the welcome, the participants were given an extensive briefing on Operation Atalanta as well as a capacity briefing of HNLMS Johan de Witt including a tour of the warship, which was called “a maritime unit that breathes counter piracy” by the Force Commander in his opening speech.

The day concluded with a reception in the hangar of the EU Naval Force Flagship, in order for all delegates to exchange their knowledge and experience on counter piracy.

The Commanding Officer of HNLMS Johan de Witt, Captain Frank Foreman, looked back on a productive day.

Capt. Foreman said:

“Our ship has more to offer than only the extensive operational counter piracy capabilities. Today was a great example of the multifunctional benefits of this ship. We are capable of providing a platform to host events like the one today, in order to work on counter piracy from a different perspective."

Click to expand...

Speaking about the event, Captain Peter Olive, Chief of Staff of EU Naval Force Operation Headquarters, stated:

Capt. Olive said:

"The Pirate business model has been fractured by ongoing, and tightening pressure applied at sea by the EU Naval Force, other counter piracy forces, Independent Deployers and the regional states working ever closer together. However, it has not been broken. The conditions, opportunity and motive remain in place for resurgence in piracy activity if the international response or industry self-protection is lessened.

Pirates are still active at sea and even one vessel taken now would be a tragedy but also re-prime the piracy business model.Military forces are key in successfully suppressing piracy and continue to closely follow the pirates as they seek to adapt their tactics to evade military forces and prey on vulnerable shipping.

Together, military forces, maritime industry managing vulnerability and legal finish have created the space in which other actors, working in support of the Somali authorities, can begin to address the causes. We commend the work of all military forces engaged in the fight against piracy.

We welcome the progress that has been made in Somalia since the 2012 elections, and we note with some optimism the increasing role for intelligence and information sharing being played by new regional intelligence coordination centres which are complementing the established roles of international police coordination centres like INTERPOL."

Click to expand...

The Counter Piracy Week is an initiative by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), an international group which aims to facilitate the discussion and coordination of actions amongst states and organizations to suppress piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Click to expand...

​

Sea Waves said:

Defence and security company Saab’s Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Skeldar is now operationally deployed on-board the offshore patrol vessel BAM Meteoro. Skedlar is supporting the Spanish Navy with surveillance capabilities while taking part in the EU Atalanta operation in the Gulf of Aden.

Earlier this year Saab announced a contract to deploy the Skeldar Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for maritime operations. Skeldar is now operationally deployed on-board the Spanish Navy’s offshore patrol vessel BAM Meteoro.
Mikael Franzén, Director of Saab’s Product Area Tactial UAS comments:

“The Skeldar UAS is operated together with a manned helicopter to enhance the vessel’s surveillance capabilities during its mission to fight piracy as part of the EU Atalanta operation in the Gulf of Aden.”

Prior to the Atalanta deployment successful integration trials were conducted on-board the BAM Relámpago in the waters outside the Canary Islands.

“Since signing the first contact we are seeing an increasing interest for Skeldar where more and more potential customers are discovering Skeldar’s unique strengths and features, including air worthiness, heavy fuel engine, high performance and operational capability,” concludes Mikael Franzén.

Skeldar is a rotary wing, short to medium range UAV that can be controlled from a tailored control station. It can be equipped with a wide range of payloads, including surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition and 3D mapping. The system can be used for both civil and military purposes.

Click to expand...