Tigers Sink Fast Attack Craft (FAC) With Sea Mine

This is something to keep a close eye on.

A locally built Fast Attack Craft (FAC) of the Navy came under a sea mine attack off Kokilai in the North-Eastern waters around 2.25 a.m. yesterday, Navy spokesperson Commander D. K. P. Dassanayake said.

Commander Dassanayake told the Sunday Observer that the Fast Attack Craft was caught in a LTTE sea mine while it was engaged in a routine sea patrol along with another FAC off Kokilai in the North-Eastern waters around 2.25 a.m. yesterday.

"The second FAC which was in the vicinity rushed to the scene and rescued six sailors including the skipper of the vessel when the explosion occurred. Sixteen sailors were on board at the time the FAC came under attack.

A search for the other ten sailors is being carried out by Navy vessels," Commander Dassanayake said.

If the Sea Tigers have developed or imported Sea Mines, this could tilt the balance of power in the ongoing insurgency. MIW is cheap, but it is also indiscriminate, and could spill over to commercial shipping heading in and out of India. That would change the nature of the conflict at sea in Sri Lanka to one of an isolated insurgency at sea to one where major regional powers, like India and potentially NATO, are forced to get involved to secure the global commons.

MIW is no joke, serious business at sea and very difficult to clear. This is a development that is hopefully isolated, and doesn't mark the beginning of a trend.

Picture of the Day: Sea Basing Off Liberia

This is a good picture of the INLS in action off Liberia. Still attempting to gather more information to discuss further. I have to admit, this is a great beginning to a capability that can do so many good things, and we find ourselves impressed despite a number of questions.


Very cool. People keep saying this isn't a new capability. We tend to disagree, there is some fine print here that makes some of this very new, although we acknowledge there is a lot of existing here as well. What do we mean by fine print? Show me the last time a RO/RO offloaded to a LPD at sea without a port. Exactly.

Navy and Marines Form First Sea Base off Liberia

The Navy is leveraging an opportunity during the African Partnership Initiative deployment to establish its first Sea Base off Liberia. OK so it is a bit unclear what is being transfered, and it looks to mostly be humanitarian in nature, not exactly heavy military equipment, but it is certainly something we are interested in nonetheless. The news started on Thursday.

Military Sealift Command ships USNS 2nd LT John P. Bobo and USNS LCPL Roy M. Wheat arrived off the coast of Monrovia, Liberia, in the Gulf of Guinea March 20, to participate in a sea-basing and humanitarian aid distribution exercise in conjunction with U.S. Marines and Africa Partnership Station ships USS Fort McHenry and HSV-2 Swift.

Bobo and Wheat are U.S. Navy cargo ships that are part of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron One, or MPSRON One, one of three squadrons that preposition U.S. military equipment in strategic locations at-sea for rapid delivery ashore in response to military or humanitarian crises.

Pretty straight forward stuff, both Ro/Ros are big ships, so if they are fully loaded with humanitarian supplies Liberia is feeling the blessing of a considerable donation. We are unable to get a feel for the impact this has on Liberia, it is simply impossible to evaluate the impact of the supplies themselves without independent media coverage, which appears absent. However, we are very interested in the Sea Basing process, and the MSC article gives us an idea of what is going on.

Sailors embarked aboard Bobo and Wheat will assemble the MPSRON's Improved Navy Lighterage System, or INLS, which is a roll-on/roll-off discharge platform comprised of barges and ferries that allow ships to off-load cargo at sea and deliver it ashore when traditional harbor facilities are unavailable.

Once the INLS is assembled, cargo from Bobo, Wheat and Fort McHenry, including trucks, equipment and humanitarian aid supplies, will be transferred at sea from Bobo to Swift while the high speed vessel is docked on the discharge platform. Swift will then ferry these supplies to Monrovia where they will be delivered to a number of schools and medical clinics in Liberia.

That is the basic idea, but we get more detailed information from a Marine Corps News article from today.

“This seabasing portion is designed to take future operational concepts and execute them using today’s platforms,” said Michael Harvey, prepositioning officer, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe. “We are taking equipment that was originally designed for ship-to-shore movement and we are using it as a ship-to-ship connecter.”

Assisted by their naval counterparts, the Marines’ mission was to transfer seven Marine Corps vehicles embarked on the USNS 2nd Lt John Bobo of the Maritime Preposition Squadron One, to the Navy’s new Improved Navy Lighterage System. The INLS is a system of floating causeways designed to move equipment from ship-to-shore. After a short ride on the INLS, the Marines drove the vehicles from the INLS platforms directly into the well deck of the USS Fort McHenry, where they are being prepared for the next phases of WATC 08.

“We are dealing with multiple naval platforms during this exercise, tying in with African Partnership Station,” said Lt. Col. Clarence R. Edmonds, Eurasia regional planner, Marine Forces Europe. “[The INLS] gives us the stable platform we need to offload vehicles and equipment from one ship to another at sea.”

The exercise marked the first time that the INLS had been assembled and used in an open sea environment, Edmonds said. The capabilities provided by the INLS make it possible for the Marine Corps to operate in more flexible ways.

“The seabasing environment gives us the opportunity to offload select equipment, materials and supplies to conduct arrival and assembly operations at sea,” Edmonds said. “This gives us multiple capabilities to execute a mission ashore, within a very limited time frame and with a very limited footprint (ashore).”

The successful demonstration of the offload and transfer of equipment to the USS Fort McHenry marks only the first stage of the total WATC 08 mission. When vehicle preparations are complete, the Marines and sailors will load them back on the INLS for transfer to the High Speed Vessel Swift, which will then take the Marines and vehicles into the Port of Monrovia in order to conduct the humanitarian assistance mission.

The article notes the WATC 08 mission will continue through April 5th. Hopefully we will continue to get more photography and descriptions of the Sea Basing process, and maybe some American journalists who pretend to give a shit about Africa can find time in their busy schedule fawning over politicians to inform us what our Navy has been up to down in the Gulf of Guinea. Unlikely.

As the first official Sea Basing operation that best highlights the transshipment ideas of Sea Basing, naturally we are very interested. The promise of this capability in the future could change the way the Navy provides humanitarian assistance in the future, and also potentially change the way amphibious assault is conducted in the future. We have several questions. Which platform carried the INLS to the theater? How long did the transfer of 7 vehicles to the Fort McHenry take? Does anyone know what weight the crane on the Bobo is rated for? What about the INLS, how much weight can it support? Can we get some better details and statistics of the total operation?

We ask because while we are certainly pleased the capability is being evaluated, this looks like it would be slow, and we don't get the impression this scales beyond lightweight vehicles and lightweight supplies that are humanitarian in nature. Example, we wonder if this process would work for sending the supplies and Seabee equipment ashore necessary to build an air strip for C-130s, or even C-17s. I'd like to see how quickly a one of these Ro/Ro ships could transfer an entire MEU to a 3 ship amphibious group. If the Marine Corp can get to that point with existing equipment, we think that would be a major capability.

We know, baby steps, and we agree this is a great first step. There simply isn't enough information to get an idea of whether this is a legitimate capability, or simply a limited capability where we are getting a lot of news for what amounts to be a small demonstration.

France Inaugurates Final Le Triomphant Class

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was on hand as the French unveiled their 4th and final le Triomphant class ballistic missile nuclear submarine on Friday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, during the formal inauguration held at Cherbourg, Western France, of the nuclear submarine, "The Terrible", said that he plans to maintain a powerful nuclear program in response to the continuing nuclear attacks by some countries in Asia and the Middle East.

The French president cited countries in Middle East (Iran) and Asia (China and North Korea) who continue to develop ballistic missile capabilities which could reach Europe in less than a half-hour.

"I am thinking in particular of Iran. Iran is increasing the range of its missiles while grave suspicions hang over its nuclear program. Europe's security is at stake," the President was quoted as saying by National Public Radio.

By far and away the best coverage of the event can be found at The Sub Report. They have every angle covered and some great pictures. Check it out.

Taiwan Election News All Good

So much for surprises and close races, the election in Taiwan went according to script.

Taiwan's opposition candidate cruised to victory in the presidential election Saturday, promising to expand economic ties with China while protecting the island from being swallowed up politically by its giant communist neighbor.

Fireworks lit up the sky over Ma Ying-jeou's headquarters, and cheering supporters put up victory posters before the former Taipei mayor climbed on stage and declared victory.

This bit is just impressive.

Ma won 58 percent of the votes compared to 41.5 percent for his challenger, according to the Central Election Commission. Turnout was 76 percent, the commission said.

Imagine if 76% of all registered US voters took part in US presidential elections. 76% is simply astounding, Saturday was a good day for Democracy.

The markets will likely react positively to this news. If you follow the RoC markets, they have been booming with gradual improvements in economic relations between China and Taiwan.

Additionally, both ballet referendums calling on the government to work for the island's entry into the United Nations failed. Looks like the only fireworks are those celebrating Ma's victory, as it should be.