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.