NAVY NEWS WEEK 20-3 16 May 2017 Somalia Counter Piracy patrol seize huge heroin haul from dhow Combined Maritime Forces -- Boarding party from HMAS Arunta seen weighing seized heroin haul hidden in a dhow smuggling narcotics in the north west Indian ocean area. This seizure marks the second successful narcotics interdiction for HMAS Arunta since the frigate commenced its counter-terrorism mission as part of Combined Task Force 150 in December 2016. PHOTOS - COMBINED MARITIME FORCES Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Arunta has seized more than 250kg of heroin hidden in a dhow transiting the North West Indian Ocean. This seizure marks the second successful narcotics interdiction for Arunta since the frigate commenced its counter-terrorism mission as part of Combined Task Force 150 in December 2016. In March this year the warship seized 800kg of hashish. Commanding Officer HMAS Arunta, Commander Cameron Steil RAN said: "While the smugglers continue to try new techniques for hiding narcotics, our boarding parties have shown that their experience, training, and techniques are up to the task at hand." The Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft has repeatedly proven itself to be a key enabler in narcotics seizures. The aircraft combs the CTF 150 Area of Operation that spans over two million square miles searching for suspicious dhows. Information gathered on these patrols narrows the odds for ships like HMAS Arunta to intercept and board dhows across an ocean expanse twice as large as the Mediterranean Sea. Rear Admiral Lebas, Commander CTF 150, said: "This narcotics seizure demonstrates the determination and professionalism of the captain and crew of HMAS Arunta. Units operating under the command of Combined Task Force 150 continue to remove significant quantities of narcotics from international markets, and so prevent criminal and terrorist organizations benefiting from the trade." HMAS Arunta is Australia‘s major surface vessel for Operation MANITOU, part of the Australian Defence Force contribution to Combined Maritime Forces and CTF 150. Established in 2002, CTF 150 is primarily focused on disrupting terrorist organisations and their activities by denying them the freedom of manoeuvre in the maritime domain. In collaboration with international and regional maritime security partners, CTF 150 teams have seized and destroyed billions of dollars in drugs and captured thousands of weapons ensuring they are no longer available to organisations that would cause others harm. Under a French lead, the staff of CTF 150 is the first combined French-UK command which operationalises the French-UK naval co-operation under the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF). This framework was initiated in 2010 under the Lancaster House Agreement between Paris and London. The staff also includes officers from Belgium, Italy and Australia, and exercises command over ships and aircraft from several CMF participating nations. Source: http://www.coastweek.com Incidents of pirate attacks in Gulf of Guinea on the decline Incidents of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea has come down, following the acquisition of a modern Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS), Captain Inusah Abdul Nasir, Deputy Director in charge of Environment and Ship Safety at the Ghana Maritime Authority has said According to him, piracy is one of the illicit activities that they have been fighting and hitherto, it had been on the increase for a long time.However, he said, with the establishment of the new equipment, a lot of incidents have come down This, Captain Nasir said was because, with the VTMIS, ―the pirates know we are watching them so they don’t dare come close to our waters.― There have been fears that the Gulf of Guinea, which has been Africa‘s main maritime piracy hotspot since 2011, could become the world‘s most piracy-affected area. Indeed, the Gulf saw a significant rise in violence at sea in 2016 in contrast to global figures of piracy and armed robbery, which had declined significantly to 191 cases, the lowest level since 1998, which saw 203 incidents. Speaking during a courtesy call by the management of the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) on the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) in Accra on Wednesday, Captain Nasir compared 2016 incidents to that of the first quarter of 2017. Statistics In 2016, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recorded 53 attacks or attempted attacks in the Gulf of Guinea – including 36 for Nigeria. The Gulf of Guinea accounted for more than half of the kidnappings for ransom in 2016, with 34 seafarers kidnapped out of a total of 62 worldwide. ―Last year, we had about 53 incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and they comprised of two incidents of hijacking, where the whole ship was taken up,‖ Captain Nasir said at the meeting. In 31 of the cases, he said the pirates boarded the ship and did whatever they wanted to do. Adding, he said there were 16 attempts, where the Captains did what they could to prevent the pirates from taking over and in four incidents, the ships were fired upon. In terms of country wise, he said the maximum of the incidents occurred in Nigeria where there were a total of 34 incidents. Angola had 5, Congo had 5, Benin had two, Togo had one and Ghana had only one incident.In the first quarter of 2017 however, there were nine incidents, with zero recorded in Ghana. Nigeria has recorded six out of the nine. Captain Nasir said the most effective party of the VTMIS was that the pirates know ―we are watching them so they don’t dare come close to our waters.― Source: Graphic BLACK SEA (May 14, 2017) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79), background, and the Bulgarian navy frigate Drazki 41 conduct maneuvers during a passing exercise. Oscar Austin is on a routine deployment supporting U.S. national security interests in Europe, and increasing theater security cooperation and forward naval presence in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sean Spratt/Released) Chinese company in G2G submarine deal is state enterprise based, Navy insists May 15, 2017 19:18 By The Nation file photo : Admiral Jumpol Lumpikanon The Royal Thai Navy on Monday clarified the government-to- government (G2G) submarine-purchase deal with China, saying that the Chinese company it has been dealing with is state enterprise-based and falls under China‘s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence. China Shipbuilding and Offshore International – a state-owned and limited corporation company – has been authorised by the Chinese government to deal with the Thai Navy over its purchase of the submarine from China, Navy spokesman Admiral Jumpol Lumpikanon said. The Navy, he added, had verified the related documents. The head of the Pheu Thai Party‘s legal team, Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, had petitioned the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG), asking it to extend its investigation to cover the G2G deal made by the Royal Thai Navy. He alleged that the Chinese company involved used to deal with the Thai Army directly without passing through the G2G procedure. Ruangchai also questioned why the long- binding budget for the submarine deal had not been disclosed, despite budgets for other weapons purchases previously being made known. The deal could also have breached the Constitution, he claimed. Commenting on the long-binding budget, Jumpol stressed that the Navy had followed legal procedures for the fiscal 2017 state-budget requirements, and that this had already been explained to the OAG. Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com Forget Korea for a Moment: China Joins Ranks of Carrier Navies in Less Than 5 Years By Dean Cheng | May 15, 2017 While the eyes of the world are focused on security developments on the Korean peninsula, two recent events should re- sharpen attention on the Taiwan Straits. The Chinese launched a new aircraft carrier, and President Donald Trump indicated that he would check with Xi Jinping before he would take another phone call from the President of Taiwan. The new ship, whose name is as yet unknown, marks China‘s first domestically produced aircraft carrier. It joins the Liaoning, China‘s first aircraft carrier. Remarkably, the Liaoning itself only joined China‘s fleet in 2014; before that, China had no experience even operating an aircraft carrier. In short, China has joined the ranks of carrier navies in less than five years. This reflects the broader overall growth of the PLA Navy, as China has added a range of new surface combatants (including air defense destroyers), many new submarines, and an array of logistics and support ships that will allow the PLA Navy to operate for sustained periods far from its shores. Most recently, the PLA announced a five-fold expansion of the PLA Navy‘s Naval Infantry force—their counterpart to the U.S. Marines. This expanding set of naval capabilities, including an improved ability to conduct forced-entry operations and expeditionary warfare, directly affects Taiwan. Beijing‘s hostility towards the island has increased substantially with the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. Tsai‘s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was founded on the concept of promoting Taiwanese independence. Tsai has been very careful not to push that aspect in her policies, but this has done little to mollify Beijing. Instead, Beijing has repeatedly insisted that, to maintain cordial relations between Beijing and Taipei, Tsai must explicitly endorse the so-called ―1992 Consensus.‖ Intended to allow the two sides to engage in dialogue while bypassing the political status of Taiwan, the very meaning of this phrase is now debated.