Feral Jundi

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Maritime Security: MPRI/L3 Awarded Maritime Security Work In Equatorial Guinea

Filed under: Equatorial Guinea,Maritime Security — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 11:11 PM

     Awhile back I posted the job ad for this contract, and it sounds like MPRI has been given the go for it.  For you guys that were on standby or are currently involved, congrats and I hope it works out for you.

     I am still a little foggy as to what exactly MSEP will entail, and there might be a little bit of everything there.  The original job ad had positions in security, search and rescue, detainee processing, information technology, logistics/maintenance, and administration. I suspect it will all be ‘teaching’, as opposed to ‘doing’.  But you never know with this stuff, and there might be a little bit of mentorship going on here. This is a PMC (or now maybe a PNC) standing up a coast guard for Equatorial New Guinea, and that is definitely significant.

     Also, MPRI has some experience with Equatorial Guinea, as well as other gigs in Iraq and Bosnia. This definitely diversifies their contracts and is a good move in my opinion (not everything is in Iraq, which is smart). If any MPRI guys are reading this and would like to fill in some blanks, we are all ears. –Matt

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L-3 Awarded Maritime Security Work in Equatorial Guinea

Feb. 24, 2010

NEW YORK (BUSINESS WIRE) — L-3 Communications announced today that its MPRI division has been awarded a $58 million firm-fixed-price task order with the government of Equatorial Guinea to establish a Maritime Security Enhancement Program (MSEP). This task order is the first part of a multi-year contract, with a potential value of approximately $250 million. The MSEP is designed to provide nationwide coastal surveillance coverage for the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

“This important contract award represents a strategic opportunity to contribute not only to the vital maritime security of Equatorial Guinea, but also provides a thoughtful approach toward establishing long-term stability for the entire region,” said Jim Jackson, general manager for MPRI’s International Group.

The MSEP envisions completion of a surveillance site network and operations centers in Equatorial Guinea within three years. This would be followed up by two years of sustainment and maintenance support for an estimated contract total of five years.

(more…)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Maritime Security: Lessons From Sri Lanka For Combating Terrorists At Sea

Filed under: Al Qaeda,Maritime Security,Somalia,Sri Lanka,Strategy — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 9:37 AM

   This was a cool little report, and I had no idea that LTTE was conducting swarming attacks like this. This also gives me pause in regards to our current maritimes security challenges.  What if Somali pirates started using swarming methods in order to take down boats?  Could a security team on a ship, hold off 25 to 30 speed boats, all buzzing around a ship like angry bees? Do security teams have the kind of firepower necessary to sustain a defense against something like this? Who knows, but it is something to think about.

   The other concern is if Al Qaeda and all of their little proxies started using the techniques of LTTE in order kick off some kind of sea based terror campaign?  Well low and behold, I just found a little report that barely got any mention of just such a thing. All I know is having a good defensive plan on a boat, with sufficient firepower (and a QRF if possible), will be key.  Especially for the ships that are massive floating bombs, like the natural gas tankers.  I could see a swarm attack against one of those just in order to capture it (much like terrorists hijacked a ship for their attack in Mumbai), then rig the thing for detonation and run it into a city port or industrial port somewhere.

   As for the professional navies out there and their defense?  I think they are pretty much covered for the defense, with plenty of armaments and surveillance stuff. But they are not immune either, and instances like the USS Cole attack in Yemen, are a prime example of such things. Check it out. –Matt

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Current maritime challenges, a Sri Lankan perspective

January 9, 2010

The summerised version of the speech delivered by Navy commander Vice Admiral TSG Samarasinghe at the biannual Langkawi International Maritime Conference and Maritime Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) at Langkawi Island, Malaysia in December 2009 on the theme “The changing nature of maritime security: challenges and the application of technology”.

Most of you seafarers, would have passed this Dondra-light many a time. As an island nation with this strategic location, the Sri Lanka Navy has a huge task and responsibility in protecting the territorial the contiguous and the Exclusive Economic Zone with the added responsibility of a large search and rescue region and in the near future a even large area after ratification of the continental margins.

(more…)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Maritime Security: Maersk Hires War Ship To Protect Tanker

Filed under: Maritime Security — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 11:45 AM

   I haven’t heard anything about Guardian GBS Security before, nor do I know anything about this warship they contracted out.  But if true, then that is pretty damn cool.  Although Blackwater is probably scratching their head right now, as they try to sell the MacArthur while it rusts away in Spain. If any of my Danish readers would like to add more to this story, I am all ears. –Matt

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Maersk hires war ship to protect tanker

Monday, 04 January 2010

Danish shippers are taking more extreme measures to provide safety for the fleets sailing in pirate waters

Danish shipper A.P. Moller Maersk has hired out soldiers and a warship from Tanzania to protect its fleet in pirate-ridden waters off the coast of Africa, and now other shippers are expected to follow suit.

Maersk hired the warship through former special forces soldiers working for firm Guardian GBS security in December 2008. The ship was charged with protecting the Brigit Maersk tanker from pirates. It is unknown how much the shipping company paid for the service.

 ‘The waters east of Africa are a grey zone because developing countries don’t have resources to fight pirates. It’s a temporary solution that a shipper has hired a warship from another country, but there’s no alternative,’ said Jan Fritz Hansen, vice-president of the Danish Shipowners’ Association.

(more…)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Maritime Security: Pirate Attacks Trigger Armed Guard Coverage

Filed under: Maritime Security — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 9:57 AM

   Hell, you know what that means when the insurance companies start jumping all over this?  They are reading the Tea Leaves and getting the picture that security contractors or ‘marine contractors’ on boats, armed with the necessary tools and skills to defeat these thugs, are the way to go.

   I also want to commend Zack Phillips for writing such a well researched little article.  There is a lot of meat in this thing, and I highly recommend checking out some of the maritime security companies he mentioned.  You might be able to get a job with them, by doing a little Google Fu. –Matt

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Pirate attacks trigger armed guard coverage

Programs protect shipowners against increased liability risk

Dec. 13, 2009

Zack Phillips

Insurers and brokers have begun to offer products that cover or facilitate the use of armed security guards onboard ships to defend against piracy.

But despite the persistence of pirate attacks, the shipping industry remains largely reluctant to put firearms on vessels, observers say.

Shipowners and their underwriters typically have been wary of arming merchant ships, due to a host of potential legal, logistical and safety problems. But in recent months, as pirates off the coast of Somalia have hijacked several ships and attacked scores of others, some insurance products have emerged that would cover the use of armed security personnel to ward off pirates.

“The attitude has changed but they never had this type of scenario before,” said Lars Gustafson, a New York-based senior vp at Marsh Inc.

Despite an international flotilla of naval ships shepherding merchant ships through safe-travel corridors, pirates off the coast of Somalia have hijacked 31 ships in 2009 and attacked 172, compared with 42 hijackings and 111 attacks in 2008, according to figures from the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Senior officers in the U.S. and British navies separately have encouraged ship owners to consider the use of armed security personnel on board. The Danish shipping giant Clipper Group announced in November it was carrying up to six Russian marines aboard some of its ships transiting the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.

(more…)

Monday, April 7, 2008

Industry Talk: Private Security Takes to the Sea

Filed under: Industry Talk,Kidnap And Ransom,Somalia — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:42 PM

This is a great little primer, as to the state of the Private Naval Company/Private Security Company industry.  Recent kidnapping and hostage events off the coast of Somalia, have brought this issue out in the open again, and it begs this question.  Where is the PNC/PSC industry heading, and who are the players?  -Head Jundi 

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Yacht 

ISN Security Watch

7 April 2008

Private security takes to the sea

With violent maritime piracy and the risk of waterborne terrorism on the
rise, states and non-state actors turn to private security, Patrick Cullen
writes for ISN Security Watch.

By Patrick Cullen in New York for ISN Security Watch (04/04/08)

Piracy, once generally perceived to have been eliminated as a security
threat, has re-emerged as a significant problem for state and non-state
actors alike. Though the number of pirate attacks had waned during the last
few years, new International Maritime Bureau statistics have shown that
piracy is again on the upswing worldwide. This upsurge in piracy – and the
market created for countering this threat – can be conceptualized along
three distinct lines.

Mapping the maritime private security market (more…)

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