Marine security

Finland authorises work to begin on 'Squadron 2020' OPVs

The Finnish Ministry of Defence (MoD) has given its mandate to start work on the 'Squadron 2020' (or 'Laivue 2020') future offshore patrol vessel (OPV) project.

The project will cost about EUR1.2 billion (USD1.35 billion). The MoD has signed agreements with local shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) with a view to the company being likely to build the four new warships for the navy. These agreements have specified conditions to be met. The whole process (from design to commissioning) will be overseen by the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command (FDFLC), as the navy's equipment purchaser.

The FDFLC has stipulated that the vessels must be designed and then built domestically. RMC is the only major Finnish-owned yard that has the capacity to build and maintain surface combatants of the size of the OPVs. As IHS Jane's has previously reported, the new platforms will displace about 2,500 tonnes.

Marine security

Latest Warship Encounter Brings Russian Protest

The latest Russian-US kerfuffle at sea appears to feature a US warship making a close-in, high-speed pass on a Russian ship — but there may be more to the story than what a one-minute and two-second video shows.

The incident took place June 17 in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and involved the US destroyer Gravely and the Russian frigate Yaroslav Mudry.

In a video posted June 28 on YouTube by the Russian news agency Sputnik, the Gravely is seen coming up on the Mudry’s port, or left, side, on a roughly parallel course. The Gravely then appears to pick up even more speed and maneuver directly ahead of the Russian, pulling away and rocking the frigate with its wake.

Marine security

China's Mighty Missile Arsenal: The 21st-Century Kamikaze?

Like an urban dweller fearful of muggers around every corner, the U.S. Navy is now contemplating a grim future where no neighborhood is safe. Whether it operates in the South China Sea, the Baltic or the Persian Gulf, the Navy has to reckon on salvos of deadly antiship missiles. When even an organization like Hezbollah can get its hands on ship-killer missiles, it's a signal that world's oceans are a dangerous place.

But seventy-two years ago, the U.S. Navy faced a similar threat. By late 1944, the U.S. Navy was the mightiest fleet on Earth. The Nazi U-boat threat had been mostly vanquished, the Japanese surface fleet decimated, and Japanese airpower a shadow of its former glory.

Yet four months later, U.S. sailors were terrified. Japan had unleashed the kamikazes, the "divine wind" of suicide aircraft that over the next ten months would sink more than fifty ships and damage hundreds more.

Marine security

New Israeli Development: Marine Barrier

IMS, an Israeli company has developed a system that offers protection to marine installations and assets (protected zone) against spread of floating spill (e.g. oil, chemical, etc.) as well as providing barrier against intrusion.

The unique system enables control access for ongoing operations to the marine installation by submerging at least parts of the barrier, and furthermore providing bad weather serviceability by submerging the entire barrier with a focus on quality and customer needs based on long-term partnership, trust and confidence. 

The system, or some of its sections, may be integrated with other mechanical equipment such as: means to collect floating spill (e.g. skimmers), divers net, underwater sensors, sonar, light system, etc.