Briefings : 6 squadron, Anti-piracy, Talent

• The RAF has unveiled its newly reformed 6 Squadron which is equipped with Typhoons. 6 Squadron's job will be to provide quick reaction alert cover for the north of the UK from next year.
• 820 Naval Air Squadron has deployed to East Africa. The squadron's Merlin helicopters are embarked aboard RFA Fort Victoria and will carry out anti-piracy operations.
• Royal Navy submarine HMS Talent has returned home following an extended spell East of Suez.
• A rare German bomber from WW2 is to be restored by the RAF Museum after being recovered from the Goodwin Sands. The Dornier Do 17 had lain in the sands for 70 years after being shot down in 1940 and is said to be in good condition, the tyres are even still inflated!
• France is still confident it can sell helicopter carriers to Russia despite the Russians throwing the tender open.
• The Chinese media is calling for more anti-carrier weapons like the DF-21D though there are doubts being raised as to the effectiveness of weapons like these.
• Making sense of Anglo-French defence rumours.

Video : The Dutch Marines way of tackling piracy

Briefings (06/01/10) : UK, Piracy, Cyberwarfare

The UK is incapable of fighting modern wars according to a report written by former commanders. British armed forces are, the report claims, "institutionally incapable of keeping pace with rapid change and the associated willingness to adapt." Meanwhile the UK government is looking at proposals for a national food strategy and how to keep the population fed in future. Dig for victory!

The ELP Defens(c)e blog meanwhile ponders what kind of aircraft the USAF needs in the new decade.  Think Defence meanwhile reports that the UK is an unlikely beneficiary of the piracy problem off East Africa and elsewhere because "most of the P&I Clubs that insure shipping are based in London so War Risks Premiums go straight to the bottom line". Defense Tech asks if the US should start launching pre-emptive cyber strikes against terrorists, especially Jihadist recruiting sites.

Royal Navy to lead EU armada against pirates

An EU fleet under British command will, next month begin to tackle the piracy problem off the horn of Africa. The EU fleet, Operation Atalanta, will be led by HMS Northumberland though the rest of the fleet is currently unknown though should include ships from 10 countries. Originally the fleet was going to protect aid ships but now it will have a beefed up mandate and EU defence chiefs will work out rules of engagement. Presumably that means they shouldn't be too mean to the pirates who are merely misunderstood.


Merlin and Northumberland's helipad

Meanwhile pirates captured earlier by HMS Cumberland have been handed over to the Kenyan police. HMS Cumberland and RFA Wave Knight (which delivered the pirates to the Kenyan Old Bill) are in the region and so one assumes they will also be part of "Atalanta".

Time for the media & public to ask about the Royal Navy

The timing was perfect, the story of the hijacked oil tanker off Kenya appearing in the same bulletin as news that the largest LNG tanker yet has arrived at the UK and will form an important future part of our energy supply. The timing perfect as hopefully many people would be able to add 2 to 2 and make 5. If tankers loaded full of energy from the Middle East are to be part of our energy future then surely it would be a bad thing if they are hijacked en route right? Well hopefully it was a brief thought before attention changed to Strictly Come Sequins.



And maybe members of the public might now think about the Royal Navy and whether it is capable of protecting our energy shipments. So the time has come for the media to reveal the state of the surface fleet, how much it has declined in numbers under Labour and to ask if it can still meet the needs of our future security and whether it is ready for it's vital future role (now of course i know and you should know it has always been vital but i fear the mass of the public do not appreciate that and think all those goods on the shelves of Tesco appear by magic from the far off lands where they are grown/made).

This would require politicians and the public taking defence seriously however. Which tends to only happen when something bad has happened and the horse has already bolted. Some people have also expressed the opinion that the money spent on the navy and projects like CVF was wasted and that money should instead be spent on the troops fighting in AFghanistan and Iraq currently. OK back onto X Factor then, truly important matters.

Pirates seize oil tanker with British crew members

Pirates have seized the Sirius Star, an oil tanker with British crew members, in the Indian Ocean and are holding it near the Somali coast. Other crew members are from Croatia, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. The tanker is carrying 2 million barrels of oil and is said to be the pirates "most audacious" attack for some time. The double shock in this is the size of the prize and the fact it was seized some way outside the usual pirate operation areas and shows the sophistication of the modern day pirate. No more peg-legs and hard tack, more like GPS navigation and satellite phones me hearties.



Eagle1's blog has excellent coverage of this and similar issues and you can check out a live piracy map here.

British and Russian warships chase away Somali pirates

While their governments might be at loggerheads Royal Navy and Russian Navy units repelled an attack by Somali pirates on a Danish registered freighter in the troubled seas off Somalia. HMS Cumberland and the Russian frigate Neustrashimy both sent up helicopters to chase away the pirates attacking the cargo ship but it is unknown if either opened fire on the pirates.


RFS Neustrashimy (FF 712)

Update : RM Commandos killed 2 pirates and a third later died. What is the FCO going to say now? Surely the pirates' human rights were infringed! The Times has some pics, interestingly it also says the RN were unaware of the Russians also taking part in this.