Modernisation of British Search & Rescue's force

A consortium involving Thales UK, CHC Helicopters, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Sikorsky has been named preferred contractor to take over Britain's search-and-rescue operations in a 9,4 billion $ deal announced Feb. 9 by the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Transport. The private finance initiative (PFI) deal for the SAR-H program could result in the Sorteria consortium operating about 24 new Sikorsky S-92 helicopters from 12 bases around mainland Britain's coastline, Defence Procurement Minister Quentin Davies said.

(Photo: Sikorsky S-92 helicopters, SIKORSKY)

Pictures: Work in progress for the new Danish AAW destroyer of the Iver Huitfeldt class

See a new round of view about work progress in Danish new AAW destroyers of the Iver Huitfeldt class. (Danish Navy)

View of the new Radar Mast for the ship, off-loading from a cargo ship. (Danish Navy)

The 3 ships of this class were planned to be commisisionned by 2012-2013

Floating bombs off Israel : The best exemple of "Asymmetric Naval Warfare" ?

During the last week, Palestinian militants claimed they had sent a barrage of floating barrels filled with explosives toward Israel's beaches.

Israeli police deployed robotic bomb squads along a large swath of southern Israel's coastline after 2 explosive-laden barrels washed up on shore, ready to blow up (one on the beach of Ashkelon, another one at Ashdod). Each had about 22 pounds (10 kilograms ) of explosives, police said. They said bombs of that size could cripple small civilian vessels but not Israeli warships. The barrels should not pose a threat to shipping lanes in the east Mediterranean since the tides would just carry them back to shore. Maritime authorities warned sailors and fishermen to be alert to possible dangers in the waters. In Ashdod, a crane-like robot crawled along the beach, prodding suspicious objects.

My opinion:
This is an excellent example of asymmetric naval warfare !
This is the "Naval Mine of the Poverty", a weapon enough serious to interfere with coastal navigation (or tourism). A heavier version (with 50/100kg of explosives) could be a more serious threat ..... in the Strait of Hormuz or Taiwan ....

Faced with this threat, the answer is:
- Intelligence & Surveillance (of course, as usually)
- Special team, Disposal team, Small ships (Coast Guards, Inshore Patrol Boats, Mid-Shore Patrol Boats), Airborne reco (Helico, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle "UAV") & Underwater Reco (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV))

Increasing Tensions in the Gulf, many US & Israeli ships converge

debkafile's military sources report that not only are Syrian leaders beating war drums, Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said in Damascus: "Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities" but Egyptian military sources have put out information purporting to outline Israel's preparations to strike Iran.
They report that the Israeli Navy together with the US Fifth Fleet have for some weeks been charting Persian Gulf waters and Iranian shorelines in preparation for attacks by Israeli naval and special operations forces. IDF intelligence and special forces officers, they also say, have been marking out routes for their air and ground forces to drive into Iran and hit its nuclear installations. According to these Egyptian sources, Saudi Arabia has demanded clarifications from Washington about reported US-assisted Israeli preparations to strike Iran and asks why they were not brought to the notice of Riyadh and the Gulf Arab governments. The Saudis added that several Gulf intelligence and naval units had tracked Israeli movements and gathered documentary evidence. Some of this information was leaked in Cairo Wednesday night to Shorouk, a publication which Egyptian intelligence often uses as an outlet for information held to be credible. Shorouk was first out with the story of the Israeli Air Force attack on Iranian arms convoys in Sudan in January 2009.

(article source here, february 3)

My Opinion: Remind you that 2 days ago (6-7 february), two Israeli naval vessels have crossed the Suez Canal (some Arab experts say that these 2 vessels could reach the Gulf by 4 days). The US Navy already has a significant naval force in the region and we are now seeing the fast deployment of Israeli Naval Vessels....in the Gulf.......

Political pression or real escalation ?

Russia Wants 4 Amphibs From France: French Ministry

The Russian navy wants to buy four huge, modern amphibious assault ships from France rather than just the one that was already under discussion, the French defense ministry said Feb. 8.

Reports that Moscow is in the market for a Mistral-class warship, and is for the first time prepared to buy one from a NATO member, have worried Russia's nervous neighbor Georgia and France's western allies. Last year, a source close to the negotiations told AFP that Moscow is also in talks with the Damen Schelde shipyard in the Netherlands and with the Spanish shipbuilder Navantia about buying amphibious assault ships. But the Moscow daily Moskovski Komsomolets reported Feb. 8 that Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has decided to buy one Mistral-class vessel from France for between 500/600 million € (up to $820 million).

(AFP)

Belgian Navy Orders Thales Sensors for its frigates

Thales Nederland has received a contract for 2 Seastar and Gatekeeper sensors, that are to be delivered and installed on the two multi-purpose M-class frigates of the Belgian Navy. The modernisation will take place in 2011 and 2013 in the scope of the M-frigates' upgrade programme.

The Seastar and Gatekeeper sensors provide the vessels with the capability to detect small targets encountered during missions, and to counter frontier-running, pollution, drugs trafficking and piracy. The two new sensors will be matched with the tried-and-true SMART-S surveillance radar and the STIR weapon control radar that are on board of the M-frigates.

Based on the cooperation between the Dutch and the Belgian Navy, this contract was already an option in the contract that Thales concluded in 2008 with the Royal Netherlands Navy, and that provided for the delivery of the Seastar and Gatekeeper sensors to the two M-class frigates of the RNLN.

(Source: Thales Nederland, Feb. 8, 2010), (Drawing: view of Dutch frigate of Karel Doorman class with new mast & sensors, drawing credit: MihoshiK & Vossiej)

Australian Navy agrees to India assuming policing role in Indian Ocean

Despite tensions rising in India over the racist attacks against Indian students Down Under, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has said that it is not against its Indian counterpart assuming a policing role in the Indian Ocean region. The RAN wants to have joint operations to counter threats from terrorists, pirates and other criminals in the sea lanes.

The RAN is participating in Exercise "Milan" hosted by India to bring together navies of the Asia-Pacific region to promote understanding and cooperation in the areas of common interest and safeguard sea lanes from poaching, piracy and terrorist activities, promote interoperability to the extent possible and engage in joint search and rescue and humanitarian operations. Australia has sent the HMAS Glenelg to participate in Exercise Milan, which started on February 4.

(Full article source here)