India Gets Green Light to Chase Pirates Into Somali Waters

[82Rigger]

21 Nov 2008, 0200 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit


NEW DELHI: Finally armed with the green signal to undertake 'hot pursuit' of pirates even into the territorial waters of Somalia, India is now
dispatching a much more powerful warship to the Gulf of Aden.

Sources said a 6,900-tonne Delhi-class destroyer, the largest warship in Navy's combat fleet
after aircraft carrier INS Viraat, will be leaving for the Gulf of Aden in the next few days.

India plans to ''significantly augment'' its capabilities to take on pirates holding international shipping hostage with their sheer brazenness.

With the 4,000-tonne stealth frigate INS Tabar already proving its mettle by foiling two hijack attempts and sinking a pirate 'mother vessel' in the vital trade route, India has also renewed its call for greater synergy among foreign navies to battle the scourge of piracy.

Navies can act against pirates on the high seas but international laws and UN Security Council resolutions come in the way when it's a matter of chasing the brigands into some other country's territorial waters.

Now, after an ''informal agreement'' with the Somalian government, the Indian Navy is all set to take the battle right to the pirate hideouts.

A senior naval officer told TOI that a proposal by the shipping ministry to deploy as many as four warships to patrol the 480-mile-long ''danger zone'' in Gulf of Aden and protect Indian merchant vessels was also under the ''active consideration'' of the government.

But, he added it would be more feasible to have two warships, backed by a Dornier-228 medium-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft operating from a place like Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, at any given time in the region.

A step towards this will be the joining of the Delhi-class destroyer with INS Tabar, which destroyed the pirate mother vessel on Tuesday night, for some ''coordinated patrolling'' in the region before the frigate heads back to Mumbai for the ''turnaround'' towards November-end.

Though the cost of deploying a warship in the Gulf of Aden to protect Indian merchant vessels while transiting from Salalah (Oman) to Aden (Yemen) for over a month now has already run into Rs 6-7 crore, a senior defence ministry official said ''money was not the issue''.

What India wants is better coordination among the different navies operating in the region. ''We are already firming up plans to do joint patrolling with the French, US and UK navies,'' said the official.

India, in fact, has called for a UN peacekeeping force under ''a unified command'' to prevent piracy off Somalia in a concerted manner. In all, 91 vessels have been attacked, with 17 of them still being held hostage, since January.

''No nation or navy by itself can patrol the huge area and fight the pirates. There are around 15 warships in the region from Nato, Combined Task Force-150 and a few other countries. The European Union task force will join early December,'' said the Navy officer.

''So, there are a fair number of assets in Gulf of Aden and nearby areas. But there is lack of coordination. If all operate under the UN flag, you can economize as well as maximize your efforts," he added.

This has become all the more necessary since the pirates from war-torn Somalia, who have already collected around $30 million in ransom this year, have displayed the capability to even strike 400 to 500 miles off the coast as was seen in the stunning capture of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star last Sunday.

''The pirates, fairly skilled and combat trained after internal conflict in Somalia for the last two decades, are proving formidable foes for merchant vessels, with a new dimension of piracy in abducting for ransom. If there is collaborative effort among the different navies, they can be beaten back,'' the officer said.

Apart from a couple of other operations, it has primarily been the Indian Navy which has taken the fight to the pirates till now, earning praise from several quarters for its decisive action in sinking the pirate mother vessel on Tuesday.

''It's about time that such forceful action was taken. It's an action that everybody was waiting for. If all warships do this, it will be a strong deterrent,'' said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

[82Rigger]

Delhi-class destroyer

India has three of 'em.




Type: guided missile destroyer

Displacement: 6,700 tons

Length: 163 metres (534.7 feet)

Beam: 17 metres (55.7 feet)

Draught: 6.5 metres (21.32 feet)

Propulsion: 2 shafts, 2 cruise diesels, 10,000 bhp; 2 AM-50 boost gas turbines, 54,000 shp

Speed: 32+ knots

Range: 5,000 miles

Complement: 360 (including 40 Officers)

Armament: 16 Kh-35 Switchblade (SS-N-25) SSM (4 quad launchers), Barak SAM, 2x Shtil SAM system, 1 100 mm AK-100 gun, 4 x 30 mm AK-630 gatling guns, 2 RBU-6000 Anti-submarine mortars, 5 x 10-21 inch torpedo tubes

Aircraft carried: 2 Sea King Helicopters

[Seascamp]

There it is, four 30mm Gatling guns and grief, talk about the right stuff. Get good with Allah, pirates, the thunder cometh. Recall all the damage done by the A 10 during GW1. That was a single 35 mm Gatling gun working out.

Scamp

[82Rigger]

Scamp,

Yep, and if they have DU rounds for the gatlings, then there just ain't many
things the pirates can get behind that'll make any difference.




AK-630 WEAPONS SYSTEM

The AK-630 is a Russian fully automatic naval six-barreled 30 mm Gatling gun. It is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and directed by radar and television detection and tracking. The system's primary purpose is defense against anti-ship missiles, and other precision guided weapons. However it can also be employed against fixed/rotary wing aircraft, ships and other small craft, coastal targets, and floating mines.

It can be described as the Russian counterpart to the United States Phalanx CIWS.

The complete weapon system is called A-213-Vympel-A, which comprises the AK-630M Gun Mount, MR-123-02 Fire Control Radar System, and SP-521 Electrical-Optical Tracker. A single MP-123 radar system can simultaneously control two guns, either two 30 mm gun mounts, or two 57 mm gun mounts, or one 30 mm gun and one 57 mm gun. The radar system can engage aerial and surface targets at 4 km and 5 km respectively. The electro-optical system can detect MiG-21 sized aerial target 7 km away while torpedo boat sized surface targets can be detected at 70 km away. Features include surveillance and tracking modes, high jamming immunity, laser range finder and TV optical sight.



Gun: AO-18 six-barrel 30 mm Gatling gun. Weight: (Empty / with ammunition and control system)

AK-630/630M: 4,070 lbs (empty), 4,219 lbs (with ammunition), 20,050 lbs (with ammunition and control systems)

AK-630M1-2: 5,500 lbs (empty), 26,000 lbs (with ammunition and control systems)

AK-306: 2,420 lbs (empty), 3,586 lbs (with ammunition and control systems)

Elevation: -12 to +88 degrees at 50 degree/s

Traverse: 360 degrees at 70 degree/s

Muzzle velocity: 2,952 f/s (MPDS round).

Rate of fire: 83 round/s (5000 round/min).

Ammunition: Fixed (HE-FRAG, FRAG)

Ammunition Stowage: A single below deck magazine

AK-630/630M: 2,000 rounds

AK-630M1-2: 4,000 rounds

AK-306: 500 rounds

Weapons range: Effective range with HE-FRAG (0.54 kg) shell, 4,000 m (4,375 yd)

Search and track systems: A-213-Vympel-A, includes radar, optical, and TV control systems.

[Seascamp]

Steve,

My guess is that they have various type rounds for the Gatling’s. DU wouldn’t make much sense as an AA round but is definitely a ship buster, big time. Plus the Indians speak nuke so no doubt can whip up some DU. Aarrgg, mighty mean looking shooter, that one is.

Scamp

[revwardoc]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/1...islamists.html

Armed Islamists will attack pirates, says militant

A group of armed Islamist militants is reportedly headed to a Somali port Friday to attack pirates holding hostage a massive Saudi Arabian oil tanker.

Ships belonging to Muslim countries should not be seized, Abdelghafar Musa, a fighter with the Islamist group al-Shabab, told the Associated Press.
"We are really sorry to hear that the Saudi ship has been held in Somalia. We will fight [the pirates]," Musa, who claims to speak on behalf of all Islamic fighters in the Horn of Africa nation, told the Associated Press Television News.

Somali pirates captured the Sirius Star last weekend about 450 nautical miles southeast of Kenya's Mombasa port. It's believed to be anchored in the port of Haradheere, about midway up Somalia's coastline.

Islamist fighters also reportedly arrived at the Somali port of Haradheere seeking information on the Sirius Star, said a local elder.

"The Islamists arrived searching for the pirates and the whereabouts of the Saudi ship," said the elder, who declined to be named.

"I saw four cars full of Islamists driving in the town from corner to corner. The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship."

Islamist leaders, fighting a two-year insurgency against the government and its Ethiopian military allies, deny allegations they collude with pirates and insist they will stamp down on them if they win power.

Islamists in control of southern Somalia
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. When an umbrella Islamic group, which included the al-Shabab, controlled most of southern Somalia for six months in 2006, there were few reports of piracy.

That umbrella group has now split, but Islamist groups have taken control of large portions of southern Somalia in recent weeks, and al-Shanab reputedly holds the largest share.

The United States views al-Shabab as a terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda militants who were allegedly behind the 1998 bomb attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left over 230 dead.

Some analysts, however, say Islamist militants are benefiting from the spoils of piracy and arms shipments facilitated by the sea gangs.

The supertanker, which is roughly 330 metres long and three times the mass of a U.S. aircraft carrier, is carrying $100 million US worth of oil. The ship — itself worth about $100 million — has a crew of 25 people from the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Poland and Britain.

The pirates have asked for $25 million in ransom, according to unconfirmed reports.

Pirates holding 330 hostages
Cmdr. Jane Campbell, with the U.S. Navy's 5th fleet in Bahrain, said hijacked ships are docked in four or five ports along Somalia's coastline. Roughly 330 merchant mariners from 25 different countries are being held hostage, she said.

Pirates have conducted attacks in a nautical area covering 2.8 million square kilometres, she said.

While the high-profile hijacking of the Sirius Star has thrust the issue into the spotlight, Campbell insists the success rate for pirates in the region is dropping. In August, sea pirates had a 53 per cent success rate, she said.

That same month, the military started advising shipping companies on simple ways to prevent piracy, including how to train lookouts and quickly alter their course.

That, along with an increased military presence in the Gulf of Aden, resulted in October's success rate dropping to 31 per cent, she said.

Campbell said the problem of sea piracy must be dealt with on land through diplomatic, economic or military means.

"Piracy is not something that will be ended on the high seas," she said.

UN votes for sanctions
Countries have taken action to clamp down on the attacks. The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to impose sanctions on anyone engaging in or contributing to violence in the country.

Sanctions against an accused party would include the freezing of assets and a travel ban, although the 15-member council did not define which individuals or entities would be affected. That is expected to be decided later by a sanctions committee.

The British-drafted resolution also targets anyone obstructing delivery of humanitarian assistance to Somalia, where hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes.

The African Union is pressing the UN to speed up sending peacekeepers to Somalia, and one of the world's largest shipping companies has announced it will send some of its 50 oil tankers around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa rather than navigate the Gulf of Aden.

Other shipping companies, including Norway's Frontline Ltd., which transports much of the Middle East's oil to areas around the world, were considering similar moves.

Roughly 11 per cent of the world's seaborne petroleum passes through the Gulf of Aden, where NATO, the United States, Russia, India and several other countries have warships patrolling on anti-piracy missions. Reports from India Friday suggested the Indian navy may further increase its presence in the Gulf.

Earlier this week, an Indian warship, the INS Tabar, sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf and chased two attack boats.

[Seascamp]

Tic tok, tic tok, the prophecy comes true. The largest value piracy rip-off in world history is damn well sure to draw a crowd. Thin stuff, Moslems have been ripping off Moslems for centuries. Someone gets a leg-up and ya got war as sure as stink on dog poop, that is the way of things.

Scamp