Singapore to join anti-piracy efforts in Gulf of Aden
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 12 February 2009 1322 hrs



SINGAPORE: Singapore will be joining the international community with its anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Thursday that Singapore will be deploying a Landing Ship Tank, with two Super Puma helicopters for a period of three months this year.

The ship will work with the newly-formed multi-national Combined Task Force 151 to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden.

The LST will be deployed once the operational arrangements have been made.

Minister Teo explained that Singapore's involvement is because as a maritime nation, the country shares the concerns of the international community regarding piracy.

It is also committed to supporting international efforts to keep the sea lanes safe and secure.

He stressed that it is not possible for any country, including Singapore, to protect its own shipping in all the key sea lanes of the world.

Hence all countries have to depend on international cooperation to secure the sea lanes for everyone's use and that means littoral states, user states, and the international community have a role to play.

Minister Teo said there was an upsurge of piracy attacks recently in the Gulf of Aden.

In the past year, over 100 ships have been attacked by pirates, who have raked in an estimated ransom of US$120 million.

And in recent months, NATO, the European Union, the US, as well as countries such as China, India, Malaysia and Russia, have contributed to anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden.

Other countries, including Japan and Turkey, have announced their intention to send naval vessels.


- CNA/ir

Does that mean we are drawing down our Naval commitment to the 'Reconstruction of Iraq'?

just curious, wont this be really bad for the Super pumas ? given that their engines are not optimized for naval operations with salt air and moisture all about.

plus, that they are going to be parked at the open deck of the LST. exposure to alot of elements.

won't the super pumas need to have like IRST or some other searching device attached to them? I mean, our military eye power got that strong ah? :P

the Super Puma already can mount a FLIR turret for such purposes, though I'm not sure if this is fixed permanently or attached when and if necessary.
I will think its a bolt-on approach. Anyone can confirm on that???

Wow... our navy is really being stretched by all these commitments-- if the Iraq deployments are still on, that means we will have 2 LSTs continuously out at sea?

hmm… good reason to get a few more :ph43r:

I believe that the MNF-Iraq mandate for foreign troops other than US forces, ended on Dec 2008.

UN recognizes end of mandate of multinational force in Iraq

Dec 22, 2008

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council on Monday formally recognized the end of the mandate of the US-led multinational forces (MNF) in Iraq at the end of this month as requested by the Baghdad government.

The UN mandate is expiring after the United States, which supplies 95 percent of foreign troops in Iraq, recently signed an agreement with the Baghdad government which allows its combat forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted a US-British resolution that recognizes "the expiration of the mandate of the multinational force at the end of December 31 2008."

Link

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I believe the SPs would have been navalised before they are sent out.. logical that they do so. These commitments allow our Navy to operationalise in a more realistic environment in peacetime, and I think it is a good experience for those personnel to understand the intensity of actual ops.

There's actually a hanger (directly forward of the flight deck) on the endurance-class for two helicopters.

I don't think naval operations would have an adverse effect on the super pumas as long as proper maintenance is followed. Civilian super puma are used regularly in the north sea for transportation to-and-fro oil platforms.

Wow! Think the RSN's PROTECTOR will be very useful in this regard.

Imagine can park one of this USVs off and within sight (but away from RPG range) from Somalia's coast. Will be damn frustrating for the pirates :blink:, esp since the 'UnManned USV' is just 'waiting off and 'staring'... as compared to the current arrangement of them (pirates) to wait for a foreign warship to pass by and out of sight before launching their boats.

Seems like the 'Hunter being the Hunted'. B)

Will be nice to see a photo of one of our LPD streaming beside the USS San Antonio.

My money's on LST being armed with at least a pair of Typhoons and the SP being armed with door mounted MGs. Will be a sight to behold.

A few Protectors swarming around.. hmm, they can probably apply lessons from Iraq to the Gulf of Aden for that I guess..

hot damn! that'll be a good boost to the forces there...great for our ELINT teams there, especially with the PLAN ships there? B)

is there any open source literature regarding how the protectors were used during Blue Orchid? can't seem to find any...

[edit] okay, i found a pointer journal article but that's about it...was hoping i could get a foreign perspective on how we conducted ourselves :D

ah, i see.

i was worried about marine corrosion and how it might potentially impact readiness. guess its not in time for the S-70 seahawks ?

maybe if they rotate the LSTs, the next round would be S-70s

This is a good opportunity to show our capabilities; LPDs, Super Pumas and USVs. We are also showing that we can operate in various theatres of operation; Persian Gulf, etc.

Darn it. We need a LHD. Will it ever come? My heart aches for one. :(

....no forgetting our NDU teams may have a chance to go into real actions against these pirates if situations become nasty. B)

Anyway, the deployment is a good thing for the RSN, keep our "LST" operational in near blue-water condition.

I think this is as good a time for ST Marine to get a contract for 4 bigger Endurances... RSN place order plz.

LHD needs alot more helicopters devoted to the ship no? Please order more CH-47 .

are the S70s to be deployed on the LSTs too?

Why not? ;)

well they are integrated with the Formidable suites, so if they are used elsewhere then the FFG will be missing a chunk of the sensors.

Not necessarily. Anyway, look at this I found;

http://www.mediafire.com/?owljtzwdg2z

from Dtalk. There was a thread about this long ago. I wish I can put this there. Look at the modest crew requirement. It looks neat.

The Seahawks are meant to be deployed on the Formidable frigates but they can also be deployed on the LSTs.

The Seahawk is longer (1.06m) than the Super Puma but they have an electrical folding main rotor and a pneumatic folding tail to optimise storage space when not in use.

Though not specifically designed for naval operations, our SP did spent quite some time flying over seas due to Singapore being a tiny island and being deployed on the LSTs on many occasions. Thus they must have some kind of protection against salt water corrosion.

yes that's what I meant. would it be right to deploy the s70 on the LSTs as it might impact whatever the FFGs was supposed to do with the S70.

on a whim, can one operate an Apache on the LST? now wouldn't it be a nice surprise for the pirates to find an apache on their tail B)

i should think so. there was an article about RN trying out the apache on the invicilble or HMS ocean. trying to navalize it.

they wanted to use it so that they could support royal marine operations in afghanistan. but they scrapped it when they learnt of the cost.

probably not cheap.

i think flight gear/engines shouldnt be the issue. more at risk would be the electronics and other avionic kit.

It does. While it would do well as an extended humanitarian deployment vessal, can STK even build something of this size?

It IS a great design though storage space for 11 NH-90 + 6 on deck (OMFG)

It's big enough to ferry a whole ABG + AH to Australia for Wallaby!!

i remember having read that article...apparently the issue was navalising the Apache, as the seawater was affecting the components...

[edit] just to add on, quite a number of Royal Navy warships are capable of supporting the operations of apaches...in fact the british version, WAH-64D has folding prop blades for stowage...however the issue is about maintaining an organic apache squadron for maritime duties IIRC...

I think you can put 7 on deck if you are more conservative about the island. With a crew complement of just 90 plus(i think it includes heli techy guys ?), it is ok from a manpower perspective. You do not need to buy new helicopters to fill every single heli landing spot. 1-2 organic ones will do. And it confers those extra landing spots for other RSAF helicopters in exigencies, like say, Meluboh. And it is large enough to deploy LCACs. Just some crazy ideas. Im confident ST has the space or create space to build something of this size. I feel it is a question of expertise. And I feel we the time has come to up the ante with a new large ship project.

the next time I see Eric Khoo I will suggest to him to make a war movie :)

LST with apache hunting down pirates and rescuing beautiful hostages. :lol:

Just remember to ask him to check in with us on the "realism" of it. I'd rather die than to see SCUD missiles being launched off the rails of the Apache or something like that...

don't worry we wouldn't let him launch F15 VSTOL from the Endurance :P

you wanna sign up as calefeh?

Only if I get to wear a rank higher than Felicia Chin, and have her as my subordinate. =D

to continue the banal…

I second Fiona Xie as hostage #1.

jessica liu as hostage 3.

but then again, the SAF hostage rescue dudes would probably be the same old farts like tay ping hui and what not. quite a turn off watching the same old blokes.

what's wrong with old fars? :ph43r:

I recommend NOT having her as your subordinate, maybe make her the liaison officer from the PLAN. else you will have to observe professional decorum, how tiresome ;)

nothing in particular really, dont get too sensitive about that phrase :D

mediacorp very stingy on hiring actors. its always the same few making a merry go round. should have something like mickey rourke straight out of the wrestler.

TCH also spoke of more possible deployments..

We are also exploring additional operationally useful contributions, within our capabilities and resources, to the UN-mandated, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (or ISAF) in Afghanistan. We are working on the details of a 3-month deployment of a KC-135 tanker aircraft in the later part of this year to support coalition operations over Afghanistan. We also know that intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities are a priority need in Afghanistan. We are thus exploring the deployment of such assets, for example the deployment of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Task Group to Afghanistan to enhance ISAF's situational awareness and security.

Anyone else thought of this?

http://militarynuts.com/index.php?showtopi...post&p=10076360

Quite similar dimensions as well, except for displacement. I am guessing that the ThyssenKrupp is 15,000 t unloaded though.