Please Note
Holidays is here !!!
Regards
Snooper
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THE ZAC SUTHERLAND UPDATE
Zac's Blog
My name is Zac Sunderland and I am 17 years old. I departed 14th June 2008 from Marina del Rey, California in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone by yacht.
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Further tales from our long haired solo sailor !
Photo : Jen Edney,
Caption : Well, that be ME !!!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2008
A Roar in the Night
Latest Position: 12/11/08 0400Z 29 22.386S 32 16.797E (70 miles out of Durban, South Africa)
The wind finally filled in yesterday around 10 pm. I had about 12 knots on the aft starboard quarter and it has been building and shifting towards the bow ever since. Last night I was about 160 miles out of Durban and going along at about 6-7 knots. At that speed I could make the harbor just on dark. Not a big problem because I have a full moon. I went to bed around 11 and was woken around 2 am by the roar of thunder. It just goes to further prove my theory that if it is going to happen, it will happen between 2-3 in the morning. So I got up to the cockpit and took a look at the gauges. I was going 8.3 knots with 25 knots on the beam. I had hit one of the currents that runs along the coast of Africa. Now that I was in the cockpit I could see the lightning striking all around me. I counted the seconds between the flash and the thunder and got to two! Not sure what that means but it was way too close for me. I altered course so I would get as far upwind from the squall as I could. But bashing into 25 knots makes it 30 knots so I had a pretty wild ride for about an hour. At its closest point I had lightning about a mile away while going through a squall. At 3-something this morning I was able to get back on course and go back to sleep. Over the night I passed about 10 ships. They were also dodging the scattered electrical storms. I'm not sure what happens when a massive metal ship gets hit by lightning but they were making some pretty sharp turns to avoid it. Another electrical storm/squall showed up on radar around 6am but it passed about 3 miles away. I am 60 miles from Durban as I type coming in fast with a 7 knot average. If the wind stays steady I should be in while it is still light. Have to get back to it here.
Cheers,
Zac
@Steve in Yuma: It is amazing spending all this time at sea and not getting bored. There is always something to do - though it is not always exciting.
@Melanie: Not sure how long I'll be in Durban. My push to get across the Indian Ocean is over and I now have some time to relax.
@Kate: I bought the canned Mac and Cheese in Cocos Keeling and it is pretty awful!
The latest blog from Pete Thomas from the LA Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/12/zac-sunderland.html
POSTED BY ZAC AT 8:39 PM
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Visit www.zacsutherland.com
YouTube Videos http://www.youtube.com/zacsvideos
Blog http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/
Email zacsworldadventure@yahoo.com
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Mike Perham aged 16, the youngest person to sail across the atlantic solo now has his eye's on an even more adventurous challenge.
To become the youngest person to sail around the world solo in an open 50 racing yacht.
No Update Received ………
Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
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Global sailors Zac Sunderland and Mike Perham, Yank versus Brit
9:23 AM, December 10, 2008
Zac Sunderland is on one side of Africa, Mike Perham is on the other. The Yank and Brit, 17 and 16, respectively, are both trying to become the youngest person to sail alone around the world.
Sunderland, who has been on his adventure since June 14, is currently attempting a tricky sail into Durban, South Africa, and is past the halfway point. But he still must round the treacherous Cape of Good Hope. The Thousand Oaks adventurer is on a grass-roots-type excursion aboard a 36-foot Islander named Intrepid.
He has been doing his own provisioning and is down to canned mac-n-cheese and canned curry.
Perham is aboard a sleek, fully provisioned 50-foot racing yacht. He left Nov. 15 and had planned on sailing nonstop and completing his journey in four months, beating Sunderland into the record book.
Many Sunderland fans perceive this to be a deliberate attempt to steal Zac's thunder. Truth is, Perham had been working toward this project for years.
But no one knows how things will turn out. Perham has been sidelined for more than a week in the Canary Islands because of problems with his autopilot, so his "nonstop" effort is over.
They are two different adventures. Sunderland (pictured above with girls he met in Mauritius) is stopping in ports and seeing the world. Perham just wants to get around it as quickly as he can.
But it has become a race of sorts and both will be winners merely by surviving the length of their odysseys. Sailing around the world alone -- with its storminess and piracy -- is a very serious, man-sized undertaking.
-- Pete Thomas
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/12/zac-sunderland.html
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Shipyards to watch orders plummet
Shipbuilding orders will fall by 60% next year and newbuild prices will drop by 30% from their peak by 2010, according to Bao Zhangjing, chief researcher at China Shipbuilding Economy Research Center (CSRC) in Beijing.
Lloyds List reports that Bao said that “owners will not order as long as they believe prices will fall further, though yards have no immediate need to cut prices, having a two to three year orderbook and are adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach”.
He predicted that newbuilding orders, which have already fallen sharply, from 14m dwt in August to less than 1m dwt in November, will drop by 60% in 2009 from the 2008 total of about 150m dwt.
There will be a further fall in 2010 to less than 50m dwt.
A modest recovery will appear in 2011 as yards start to seek to fill spare capacity from 2012, but it will be 2012 before new orders return to 100m dwt, Bao suggested.
Story By : Alan Peat
Date :12/11/2008
Related Sections : Other
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7074
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TPT to close terminals on Christmas and New Year
Transnet Port Terminals will close Durban Pier 1, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Container Terminals on December 25, 2008 and January 1, 2009.
TPT will extend the free storage periods and export stacks by one day to compensate for each day not worked.
Story By : Joy Orlek
Date :12/11/2008
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7081
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DryShips Cancels Acquisition of Four Panamax Drybulk Carriers
Thursday, 11 December 2008
DryShips Inc., a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes, announced yesterday that it has agreed to cancel the previously declared acquisition of four Panamax dry bulk carriers, which was announced on July 3, 2008, from companies beneficially owned by George Economou, Chairman and CEO of DryShips Inc. The aggregate purchase price of US$ 400 million would have represented a significant cash outflow from the Company's cash reserves given that the Company had not obtained bank financing for the acquisition. The Audit Committee of DryShips Inc. concluded that due to the significant deterioration in the dry bulk market since the time the agreements were entered into, it would not be in the best interest of DryShips Inc. to consummate the transaction. The Company will seek to amend, wherever possible, the contracts regarding dry bulk acquisition and newbuilding commitments, potentially resulting in significant capital expenditure savings.
As part of the agreement, the selling companies will retain the deposits totaling $ 55 million for the four vessels, comprised of (i) a 75,228 dwt Panamax vessel built in 2008 (ii) a 75,204 dwt Panamax vessel built in 2007 (iii) a 75,000 dwt Panamax vessel under construction in China scheduled to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2008 and (iv) a 75,000 dwt Panamax vessel under construction in China scheduled to be delivered during the first quarter of 2009.
Moreover, DryShips Inc. has entered into an agreement with the selling companies of the above vessels, providing DryShips Inc. with the exclusive option to purchase the abovementioned four Panamax dry bulk carriers on an en bloc basis at a fixed purchase price of US$ 160 million. The exclusive purchase option granted to DryShips Inc. by the Seller will terminate on December 31, 2009. In consideration of the cancellation of the acquisitions and the exclusive purchase option granted to the Company, DryShips Inc. has paid to each of the selling companies an additional fee in cash amounting on average to US$ 26.25 million per vessel. The agreement was negotiated and approved by a committee consisting of the independent members of the Company's Board of Directors.
In addition, the previously announced sale of the M/V Lacerta a 1994 built 71,862 dwt Panamax drybulk carrier for a price of approximately $55.5 million will not close due to the Buyer's decision to not perform its obligations under the Memorandum of Agreement. DryShips Inc. intends to pursue all legal remedies against the Buyer.
DryShips Inc., based in Greece, is an owner and operator of drybulk carriers that operate worldwide. As of the day of this release, DryShips owns a fleet of 38 drybulk carriers in the water comprising 7 Capesize, 29 Panamax, 2 Supramax and 5 newbuilding drybulk vessels with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 3.4 million tons, 2 ultra deep water semi-submersible drilling rigs and 2 ultra deep water newbuilding drillships.
Source: Dryships
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28356&Itemid=95
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Somali pirates hijack two Yemeni ships
Indo-Asian News Service
Thursday, December 11, 2008, (Sanaa)
Somali pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing ships and took 22 fishermen hostage in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, Yemen's interior ministry said.
The pirates attacked the ships as they sailed off the Mait area near the southern port city of Aden, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
Before the pirates took control of the ships, seven fishermen escaped on a small boat to report the attacks to the Yemeni Coast Guard Authority in Aden, the statement said.
Twenty-two other fishermen, all Yemenis, were held hostage on the hijacked ships, it said.
The reported hijacking took place late on Wednesday, hours after a German cruise ship evacuated 370 passengers and crewmembers in a Yemeni port before it headed to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden on its way to Oman.
The evacuation was a precautionary move out of fear of an attack by pirates. The passengers disembarked from the MS Columbus at the Red Sea port of Houdieda to bypass the Gulf of Aden by air to Dubai, port sources said.
Last week, Somali pirates freed a Yemeni cargo ship two weeks after they hijacked it in the Arabian Sea and demanded $2 million in ransom. Yemeni officials said it was released without ransom after negotiations between the pirates and Somali tribal leaders.
On Tuesday, the European Union deployed a naval task force off the coast of Somalia to protect vessels from threats by pirates.
A German warship warded off a suspected piracy attack on another German cruise ship, MS Astor, in the Gulf of Aden last week.
More than 60 incidents of piracy have been recorded in waters off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden in the first nine months of this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080076068
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Lloyd's Register Group reports strong performance in 2007/08
Thursday, 11 December 2008
In his report on the accounts for the year ended June 30, 2008, David Moorhouse, Chairman of Lloyd's Register, has announced that Group income rose by 19.6% to £594 million (2006/07: £497 million) with a marginal increase in surplus before tax generally in line with the budgeted target. The budgeted surplus for the year allowed for a significant increase in spending on projects and personnel in support of the Group's medium and long term business objectives.
"Following very strong growth in 2007 I am pleased to be able to report another year of strong underlying financial performance in 2008. While the recent global financial chaos had little effect on our results for the year to June 2008, it is clear that next year will pose a significant challenge to the Group. I am confident that if we take appropriate action in the short term the Group will achieve a positive outcome next year.
"Our charitable giving this year was £6.3 million, with £6.0 million going to the Lloyd's Register Education Trust and £0.3 million being awarded to various community charities.
"The acquisition in the year of ModuSpec represents the largest purchase ever made by Lloyd's Register and provides the opportunity for us to expand our oil and gas activity significantly in an area that has the potential to utilise other components of our Oil & Gas, Marine and Management Systems businesses. Other acquisitions in the year were Knowledge Based Management Limited (UK), Marine Container Consultants Limited (UK) and Martec Limited (Canada)" Mr Moorhouse said.
Richard Sadler, Chief Executive Officer said: "2007/08 has seen yet more investment in client relationship management and ensuring the alignment of our services with specific client sector needs. The Group recognises the role that our clients have in complex global supply chains and we aim to be able to support them at a local and global level, dependant on their need, by providing a wide portfolio of services in the energy and transport sectors. This vision drives our service development and acquisition strategy."
During the year, the UK Government published a further iteration of the new Public Benefit Test as part of the new charities law, which passed in to legislation in November of 2006. The forthcoming enactment of the new legislation has caused Lloyd's Register to amend yet again its governance structure in order to be compliant and to ensure effective management of its business.
"As a consequence of the restructuring we have had to say goodbye to the majority of our non-executives and I would like to thank Rodney Baker-Bates, Dr Tony Barrell, Peter Chrismas, Chris Knight, The Baroness Scott of Needham Market and Simon Sherrard, all of whom made a significant contribution to the success of the Group. Their collective and individual contributions will be greatly missed. A new board of Trustees has replaced the non-executives: John D Chandris (Senior Trustee), Christine Dandridge, Ron Henderson, Jan Kopernicki, Soren Skou and Lambros Varnavides" said Mr Moorhouse.
"I would like to add a special welcome to Alastair Marsh, our new Chief Financial Officer. Alastair, who until March of 2008 was the Group Financial Controller, brings a wealth of experience to the role and a rapport with his colleagues that makes him particularly well suited to the challenges that lie ahead."
Business highlights
Marine The Group's Marine business achieved revenues 14.7% up on the prior year. The marine market, having enjoyed a six year period of exceptional growth, has moved to a period of high volatility and significant decline in the number of new ship orders. While Lloyd's Register's new construction order book looks very positive through 2010, it is conscious of the potential for high levels of existing ship order cancellation and of the need to adopt a proactive stance in this challenging market. In the year, the Marine business again achieved great success in attracting quality tonnage to Lloyd's Register class and continued to put a very strong emphasis on the quality of the vessels in its classed fleet. Despite the number of vessels disclassed exceeding the number of transfers into class, new constructions entering the fleet have increased the total fleet size to a record 144 mgt as of June 2008.
Source: Lloyd’s Register
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28347&Itemid=79
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U.S. Asking UN to Back Pursuit of Pirates on Somali Territory
Thursday, 11 December 2008
The U.S. is asking the United Nations Security Council to authorize the pursuit of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia onto land, with permission from the nation’s provisional government, diplomats said. A draft resolution has been given to some member governments on the panel, and a vote may be sought as early as next week, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to be at UN headquarters in New York, according to Chinese, French and Indonesia envoys.
The move follows the Dec. 8 decision of the European Union to approve deployment of a naval force off Somalia, the 27-member organization’s first such mission. The force would try to suppress piracy in an area more than three times the size of France. Somali pirates have attacked about 120 boats in the region this year, seizing at least 40 vessels.
The draft will face concerns among council members such as Indonesia over concerns that pursuit of pirates onto land might violate provisions of the Law of the Sea. French Deputy Ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix said some countries might be “really very nervous” about authorizing landings and military engagements against pirates.
“We want to be sure we are not creating new international law,” Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa said.
The Security Council has adopted a series of resolutions authorizing increasingly aggressive operations against pirates. A Dec. 2 text gives naval forces the right to use “all necessary means to suppress piracy,” both in Somali and international waters, and to destroy the pirate ships.
The pirates operate along Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast, as well as in the Gulf of Aden, a transit point for the 20,000 ships a year that use the Suez Canal.
Among the ships the pirates are holding are a Ukrainian cargo ship with T-72 tanks and a Saudi tanker with 2 million barrels of oil.
Source: Bloomberg
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28337&Itemid=79
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Maersk Line warns shipping industry needs a lifebelt
Thursday, 11 December 2008
It was the one industry geared for huge volume growth. From China alone, annual double-digit percentage increases in trade had been the norm in the shipping world. But a sudden and sharp slowdown in global trade is hurting the cashflow of container shipping companies. The situation is so critical that a senior executive of Maersk Line said that the accelerating traffic decline could push a big group over the edge next year.
Maersk, the world's leading container shipping line, has slashed the rates it charges for transporting containers on its Asia-America routes and last week the Danish company said that it was laying up eight vessels amid worsening market conditions.
The eight ships, each with a capacity for 6,500 containers, will remain at anchor, probably in the Far East, until next summer. They are unlikely to represent the last capacity cut for the shipping giant, Michel Deleuran, head of network and product at Maersk, said: “We are certainly seeing a dramatic slowdown. The decline we are seeing in recent weeks is faster and deeper than what most people had expected only a few months ago. If we don't see improvements, we will be laying up more.”
The sudden drop in trade volumes on Far Eastern routes is causing havoc. Mr Deleuran told The Times that the failure of a big shipping group cannot be ruled out: “I think that would be realistic, looking at the cost figures and the uneconomic rates.”
Maersk has cut its container freight rates from Asia to the American West Coast by nearly a quarter and on Asia to Europe routes industry rates have collapsed to a fifth of what they were a year ago.
“If that does not change, one or more of the larger lines could be in financial difficulty next year. Some people could be really challenged by cashflows,” Mr Deleuran said.
The sudden drop in traffic from Asian workshops to the consumer markets in Europe and North America has surprised shippers. Further evidence of the decline emerged yesterday when Neptune Orient Lines, the Singaporean company that owns APL, the seventh-biggest container transporter, signalled that volumes had dropped by 12 per cent in November compared with the same four weeks in 2007.
Last month, Neptune Orient gave warning that it would cut its workforce by 9 per cent amid the worsening economic outlook.
China Merchant Holdings, the country's biggest port operator, said that it would curb its expansion plan because of the weakening shipping market. Fu Yuning, China Merchant's chairman, said that he expected slower throughput at the country's biggest ports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
The weak shipping market has put the brakes on companies that make containers, used for the avalanche of consumer products made in Chinese factories. On Monday, CIMC issued a warning in response to rumours that it had halted production: “Our company has warned of the risks as slowing demand is now a universal phenomenon due to the economic environment caused by the global financial tsunami.”
According to Mr Deleuran, traffic growth in the container market had been at the rate of 10 per cent a year every year, but the growth had suddenly declined and may have reached nil or decline.
According to shipping experts at Lloyd's List, the market was anticipating a capacity expansion of 50 per cent over the next three to four years.
“There have been a lot of lay-ups, 135 container ships are thought to be idle at the moment,” Janet Porter, of Lloyd's List, said.
Mr Deleuran said the question for the market was how much of the capacity under order had found charterers. “There are quite a number of ships under order. We are potentially seeing an over-tonnage situation in 2009.”
Maersk Line has a fleet of 470 vessels and in July the company placed an order with Daewoo Shipbuilding, of Korea, for 16 container ships to be delivered between 2010 and 2012.
Shifting world trade
World trade will shrink next year, the first downturn in global commerce since 1982, according to forecasts from the World Bank.
The fall in trade volumes is being driven by a sharp drop in demand in high-income countries and a slowdown in economic activity across the developing world.
The credit crunch is causing private investment, the most cyclical element in global trade, to dry up, but one new factor, cited by the World Bank in its annual forecast, Global Economic Prospects, is the effect of the credit drought on trade finance. Commercial bank trade credits are disappearing and companies are finding it hard to insure exposure to trade receipts.
The World Bank said there was evidence of shifting patterns of trade from consumer markets in the West to higher growth markets in the developing world.
For example, the proportion of India's exports going to the US fell from 17.1 per cent in 2004 to 15.3 per cent in 2007 but the proportion going to China rose from 5.5 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
Source: Times Online
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28346&Itemid=79
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BAE Systems Awarded Adelaide Class Frigate Support Contract
SYDNEY, Australia – BAE Systems has been awarded a five-year contract to provide engineering, maintenance and supply support to the Royal Australian Navy’s four guided missile frigates (FFGs).
BAE Systems will assume the Integrated Materiel Support service delivery for the Adelaide Class frigates, HMAS Darwin, HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Newcastle and HMAS Sydney from 1 January next year.
The performance-based contract is expected to generate approximately $60 million in revenue over the life of the agreement. The scope of the contract will see BAE Systems:
- Managing integrated materiel support including quality management;
- Undertaking engineering analysis, changes and support;
- Planning for all maintenance activities, preparing work instructions, responding to defects and preparing technical documentation, and
- Providing inventory analysis and planning, management of spares and other supply support.
BAE Systems Australia’s Managing Director Jim McDowell said today that the contract would also significantly enhance the company’s strategic footprint at the Garden Island naval facility in Sydney.
“This new contract will require BAE Systems to create 60 new jobs at Garden Island and North Ryde, more than doubling the size of our existing workforce there,” Mr McDowell said.
“The awarding of this contract is another example of BAE System’s capabilities in providing the best possible through-life support for the RAN.
BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 100,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems’ sales exceeded Ј15.7 billion (US $31.4 billion) in 2007.
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148357&Itemid=32
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European yards to banks: Asia's problems not ours
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Cancellations of bulk carriers and containership orders at Korean and Chinese shipyards are having a negative effect on European shipbuilders. According to CESA (Community of European Shipbuilders' Associations), European yards are being hurt as banks withdraw from financing shipyards because of the negative news from Asia. CESA and its national member associations are calling on European institutions and national governments to urge banks not to initiate "industry policies" based on over-simplistic market assessment. European shipyards serve healthy growth markets and are largely engaged in solid and profitable projects, says CESA, which declares that policy makers should not accept shipyard jobs being jeopardized by irresponsible behavior on the part of banks.
European yards are mostly concentrating on specialized market niches, such as cruise ships, OSV's, ferries, yachts, dredges, small and medium sized cargo ships and naval and coast guard ships. These markets have been very profitable in recent years and are still solid. Shiprepair and conversion activities at European yards also offer good prospects for the years ahead.
CESA says the long-term perspectives in shipping are robust and that the current deep crisis in dry bulk and container shipping results from tremendous ordering activity in recent years on speculative basis. Worldwide, more than 50% of all ships on order are either bulk carriers or containerships and many Asian yards have planned capacity expansions to cater for these ship types. In contrast, only 22% of the orderbook at European yards is exposed to these two segments. The yards involved have already adapted their product portfolio towards other market segments and are now in the process of completing this shift.
CESA considers that the current global orderbook shrinkage is a necessary correction from a status of unrealistic and unhealthy over-ordering. It says the correction comes at a timely moment as it will avoid more excessive shipyard capacity being created in Asia.
Source: Marinelog
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Koch ups oil tanker storage in US Gulf to 10 mln bbls
Thursday, 11 December 2008
U.S. oil firm Koch Supply and Trading has booked two more Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) to store crude offshore in the U.S. Gulf, shipping analysts and brokers said on Wednesday. The latest booking ups the amount of crude earmarked for "floating storage" in the region by the trading house to 10 million barrels, the industry sources said. Oil majors and independent trading houses are storing at least 24 million barrels of crude on oil tankers around the world, to take advantage of the steep contango in oil futures prices, traders say.
Shipping analysts said Koch had so far taken the Front Champion for nine months, the Songa Chelsea for six months, the Front Commander for five months, the Mercury Glory for eight months time-charters with storing options in the last few weeks.
Reuters had previously reported Koch booking the Dubai Titan for storage beginning on December 8.
A sixth VLCC taken by the oil trader was recently failed, they said.
Royal Dutch Shell, BP, oil trader Vitol and an unnamed oil trading house have also booked VLCCs to store millions of barrels of oil in the last three to four weeks.
Speculation is rife that Iran has also marshalled up to six of its own VLCCs for off-shore storage around Kharg Island in the Gulf.
However, industry sources point out that Iran is known to regularly anchor at least two of its own tanker fleet off Kharg year round.
Shipping brokers have said the trend to store crude on oil tankers, which they described as significant, has helped lift crude freight prices on major export routes.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28342&Itemid=79
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Decision due on UK aircraft carriers
Defence Secretary John Hutton is due to issue a written ministerial statement on the future of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers.
Reports suggest he could delay their entry into service - scheduled for 2014 and 2016 - by two years as the Ministry of Defence tries to cut costs.
Work on the £4bn project had been due to begin next spring.
The announcement affects shipyards in Appledore, in north Devon, Portsmouth, Barrow-in-Furness, Glasgow and Rosyth.
Former defence secretary Des Browne had given the green light for the creation of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales in May.
Contracts worth about £3.2bn were signed in July and the work was expected to create or underpin a total of 10,000 jobs at the yards.
But Mr Hutton told MPs this week there would be a new announcement on defence spending.
He said: "We will be setting out some ways in which we intend to improve value for money in relation to defence procurement.
"But we have got to make sure that the armed forces have a balanced range of kit available to them."
'Financial chaos'
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the government did not view cancelling major defence projects as an option. Instead, it was considering delays as a way of controlling the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) spiralling budget.
She said: "At least one of Britain's two new aircraft carriers could be put back by a year, or even two.
"There's already a delay to the joint strike fighter that will fly from the warships, so the MoD could argue it makes sense to put off the completion of the carriers."
But Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, a member of the Commons Defence Committee, said the MoD was in financial "chaos".
"Without the carrier contracts, many of those yards are going to find it difficult to keep going," he said.
"MoD contracts have been fundamental in keeping the skills together, keeping the technology alive and moving it on... delays will undoubtedly mean a lot of that good work and a lot of money will have been wasted."
Meanwhile, hundreds of jobs in Somerset are to be secured due to a new government order for 62 Future Lynx helicopters from Agusta Westland, BBC West has learned.
Mr Hutton is expected to confirm the order for the Yeovil production site later.
An immediate contract will also be awarded to upgrade existing Lynx helicopters to prepare them for battlefield sites such as Afghanistan.
The order, worth £1bn, has been delayed for more than two years.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7776695.stm
Published: 2008/12/11 02:50:55 GMT
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China's shipbuilding industry to face tough times ahead
Thursday, 11 December 2008
After two or three years' blowout, the Chinese shipbuilding industry will face a real test in 2011 to 2012, as the situation will be worse during the financial crisis. Shipbuilders in China are still busy because most orders are due to finish by 2011. Figures from China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry show in the past three quarters of this year shipbuilders finished 16.82 million deadweight tonnages up by 40%YoY with new orders of 57.17 million DWT, down by 11% YoY and the ongoing orders of 210.84 million DWT up by 63% YoY accounting for 25.6%, 38.8% and 35.4% of global market respectively.
But ship builders still can not sleep well despite these orders. Experts familiar with the matter said gloomy demand, cancellation of orders, and difficulty in raising funds are the potential problems for the industry.
The Baltic Dry Index on November 25 dropped to 824 points, down by 92.6% compared with a former record of 11,067 points in May of this year. Recent figures show there are 180 capesize ships casting anchors due to no transportation deals and the rent was reduced to USD 5,000 per day from USD 180,000.
A senior ship broker to the Shanghai Securities News reported that the negative impact has already emerged in the second-hand ship market. "The quoted price has dropped by 50 percent in three weeks. A ship's dealt price was USD 28 million, far lower than the quoted USD 60 million.”
Brokers said biggest problem for ship owners is having no goods to transport. And the order cancellations will be worse if second-hand ship prices keep dropping.
Source: China Daily
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28341&Itemid=79
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Ship firm calls jail term for tanker crew a 'disgrace'
(2 hrs 52 mins ago)
Managers of a Hong Kong supertanker -- V.Ships -- whose crew chiefs were jailed over South Korea's worst oil spill have blasted the decision as "a disgrace and insult'' to the world shipping community.
A South Korean appeal court has jailed the Indian captain Jasprit Chawla and chief officer Syam Chetan after ruling they were negligent in minimizing the spillage.
The accident happened in December 2007. V.Ships said the court's decision "will surely go down as one of the most disgraceful examples of a miscarriage of justice in a 'supposedly' advanced nation state.
"For Captain Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan to be sentenced to prison terms ...is a disgrace and insult to the whole shipping industry.''
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=10827&icid=3&d_str=20081211
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China exporters stagger
Dec 11, 2008
The value of China's exports was 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year ago, customs data showed on Thursday, the largest such drop in Chinese exports since April 1999.
BEIJING - DEMAND for Chinese exports of everything from furs to furniture shrank precipitously last month, sending a chill through the workshop of the world.
Chinese exporters have been left staggering, as the global financial crisis in the second half of the year battered their main markets in Europe and the United States.
The value of China's exports was 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year ago, customs data showed on Thursday, the largest such drop in Chinese exports since April 1999.
And the next few months could be worse.
A plastic Christmas tree exporter worries that Santa will not come next year. A sex toy maker reports limp sales and a deflated outlook.
'Demand has been falling, and fewer and fewer people are even inquiring about prices for products. When they do, they want the cheapest ones,' said Song Fei, export manager for the Shanghai-based Good Friends company, which sells sex toys, electric mosquito swatters and fungus.
'Next year will be worse. This is just the start, it's just gotten going. Our customers tell us their orders next year will be way down.' Chinese exporters have struggled with tight credit, higher raw materials prices and fierce competition for well over a year.
For some, the downturn could be the final straw.
'Many of these places will go out of business,' said Ju Xiangming, a petite sales clerk in Beijing's Russian quarter, where wholesalers ship mink coats to Russia.
'There's been a big drop in customers. Exports to America have dried up, but the Russians are holding strong for now. The economic crisis does not seem to have affected them as much - not yet at least.' Without buyers, some Chinese have already closed their doors.
'A lot of Chinese suppliers and manufacturers were shutting down daily in September. There's hardly any left,' said Jamie O'Neill, a buyer for British firm Advantage Fibres International, which ships cashmere and other fibres to Europe and Asia.
'This is only the start of the downturn. We won't see the full ramifications until the start of next year.' Some exporters that shipped long before the Christmas season could face worse times ahead, since orders are typically placed in the spring for shipment in the late summer.
'I think we'll feel the full effect only next year....
Customer confidence will certainly be hurt,' said Li Haiyan, sales manager for plastic Christmas tree manufacturer Emission Trading, which has had customers delay payments because of credit problems.
Chinese makers of cheap goods need a high volume of shipments to offset thin profit margins, and delays in payment can dangerously destabilise their cash flow.
'On the US side, credit is hard to get, and the buyers can't guarantee terms. So we can do small orders, but not big ones,' said coat hanger manufacturer Johnny Chan. With the Chinese market crowded with competitors in similar difficulty, he was considering abandoning hangers to open a clothing shop.
And there's another casualty.
'Because the market is bad, my American clients don't come to China anymore. So I haven't had any chance to practice my English, and I've forgotten a lot of it,' Mr Chan said. -- REUTERS
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Money/Story/STIStory_313075.html
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Last updated December 10, 2008 10:34 a.m. PT
Terrorism on the unguarded sea
H.D.S. GREENWAY
What if by sea? With security tightening on the land routes into the United States from Canada and Mexico, and with new warnings that the United States could face a nuclear or biological attack within five years, could the next outrage come through America's largely unguarded ocean frontiers?
The distance from Karachi to Mumbai is about the same as from Haiti to Miami, Tampico to Houston, Halifax to Boston, and Baja, Calif., to Los Angeles, says an old shipmate from my Navy days. Wouldn't it be simple for terrorists to acquire a ship, perhaps a fishing trawler, and sail it into any number of ports virtually undetected?
"There is now no routine surveillance of the broad oceanic approaches to the homeland," he says. "Only in the close approaches to major U.S. ports does the Coast Guard maintain the type of active radar coverage essential to the control of shipping, and this surveillance is focused on the relatively large commercial ships ..."
Because he is still involved with government work he asked that I not use his name.
Much thought has been given to the possibility that mass death could arrive in a closed container aboard a container vessel, and be shipped directly from its port of entry to anywhere in the United States. Efforts are made to inspect ships in their ports of departure, with the cooperation of foreign governments, but even so only a tiny fraction get inspected.
But my friend argues that terrorists, having gone to great effort to acquire their death-dealing devices, might not be willing to consign them to commercial shipping systems.
"There is no system in place for detecting and investigating the larger number of ocean-going, noncommercial vessels plying our coastal waters that are capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction," he says.
A yacht could slip into Miami from the Caribbean virtually undetected and blow the city to smithereens. A small freighter offshore could launch smaller attack boats, as the Somali pirates do, and as was done in Mumbai, and remain undetected until too late.
The same would be true of any number of European ports, especially in the Mediterranean with close proximity to the discontent of North Africa. It wouldn't have to be nuclear to do great damage. One remembers the French ammunition ship that blew up by accident in Halifax harbor during World War I, devastating the city. Port cities everywhere are vulnerable to what would be powerful, maritime truck bombs.
Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard officer, now at the Council on Foreign Relations, points out that in addition to our sea ports, most of America's inland cities are located along waterways, "and the level of patrols is next to none. We are very exposed to water-borne attack."
My ex-Navy friend thinks we need a sea-traffic control system, "analogous to the one that manages all air traffic. But, politically, this is proving to be very hard. Commercial and general aviation grew up under the eye of government air traffic control systems. Seafaring has been unregulated and uncontrolled since the beginning of time," he says. There is no mandatory identification system for smaller boats entering U.S. waters.
The Coast Guard does have a "Marine Domain Awareness" program, and a volunteer auxiliary in which civilians donate their time, their boats, and sometimes planes, to patrol our coasts and harbors looking out for anything unusual. According to Flynn, this is probably the best way to thwart an attack because terrorists like to carry out surveillance and make dry practice runs. People who work our waterfronts and in coastal waters are in the best position to notice something strange.
Flynn thinks this should be greatly expanded, with Homeland Security "engaging with the maritime public, yacht clubs, fishermen, coastal home owners, dock workers, and the like, telling them what to look for." He says the British are much better at alerting communities than we are.
Drug runners now use semi-submersible submarines to avoid detection. Terrorists could follow suit with something much worse than heroin aboard. The 9/11 attacks came from the air from our own airports. The fire next time could come undetected, as my Navy friend says, from the "great anonymity of the ocean."
H.D.S. Greenway's column appears regularly in the Boston Globe.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/391504_greenwayonline11.html
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Times Are Tough …….Pentagon seeks recruits on visas
Pauline Jelinek ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon temporarily will recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political-asylum status.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has authorized the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit certain legal residents whose critical medical and language skills are "vital to the national interest," officials said, using for the first time a law passed three years ago.
Although the military previously has taken recruits with green cards seeking permanent residency, Mr. Gates' action enables the services to start a one-year pilot program to find up to 1,000 foreigners who have lived in the states legally for at least two years on certain types of temporary visas.
The new recruits into the armed forces would get accelerated treatment in the process toward becoming U.S. citizens in return for serving in the wartime military in the United States or abroad.
"The services are doing a tremendous job of recruiting quality personnel to meet our various missions," sometimes with bonus pay and tuition for medical school, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy. But they haven't been able to fill their need for 24,000 doctors, dentists and nurses in the Defense Department.
The Pentagon's doctor and nurse corps remain 1,000 short of the numbers needed to treat patients, and Mr. Carr said he hoped the program would fill the gaps.
The military's most pressing need is for neurosurgeons and dermatologists to treat troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain and burn injuries caused by insurgents' wide use of roadside bombs and suicide bombs.
The force also lacks nurses with a broad range of specialties, Mr. Carr said.
It also needs people with special language and cultural skills for a war on terrorism that has taken the armed forces across the globe.
Though the military has been looking for more Arabic speakers and others to help with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new program looks to recruit speakers of some three dozen languages, including Albanian, Korean, Punjabi, Somali and Turkish.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/11/pentagon-seeks-recruits-on-visas/
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Don't take terrorists lightly, Mullen says
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) --
A lesson from the Mumbai attacks should be not underestimating terrorists' potential, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Wednesday.
"It shouldn't be lost on anyone how a handful of well-trained terrorists using fairly unsophisticated tools in a highly sophisticated manner had at bay an entire city and nearly brought to a boil interstate tensions between two nuclear powers," Mullen said during a briefing at the Pentagon.
The attacks on India's financial and entertainment hub in which more than 170 people died wasn't against a particular group, the Navy admiral said, but "an attack on all of us who love the sacred dignity of human life."
Mullen visited Pakistan and India last week to discuss the Mumbai attacks. While in Pakistan, he said he sensed officials appreciated the seriousness of the attacks and the growing threats of terrorism inside the country's borders.
Indian authorities said they believe the attackers were Pakistanis, specifically blaming Lashkar-e-Toiba, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities at first denied the attackers were from their country, blaming what they call "non-state" actors.
Since the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani army and police raided Lashkar-e-Toiba camps, arresting at least 20 terrorists, including the alleged masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Defense Department said.
"These are great steps," Mullen said. "I certainly hope and expect there will be more such steps taken by Pakistani authorities in the near future."
United Press International
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/27611.html
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Media briefing by SAfrica's Director-General Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba
Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:56:00 +0000
Question
Will South Africa be supporting the EU anti-piracy initiative in Somalian waters?
Answer With respect to the anti-piracy resolution, if I can put it like that, off course South Africa supports the efforts being taken on the Somalian waters. There was a UN resolution and South Africa supports that.
South Africa has also been approached at some time to be part of, through our navy, opening up a humanitarian corridor. South Africa is considering this but South Africa’s view has always been and we are therefore happy that the UN is taking this up, that we needed to ensure that the entire question of the creation of a humanitarian corridor in Somalia as well as any interventions around the question of piracy should really be done around the auspices of a very well thought out UN resolution largely because we know from past experience that there are different points of emphasis and the international community has different slants on how to deal with the question of Somalia and it has always been our view that it would be in the interests of the integrity of an intervention in Somalia if this were to be done under a very well thought out UN resolution and to the extent that this exists, yes, South Africa supports this.
I am unaware that South Africa has necessarily directly been approached on the anti-piracy side but I know that South Africa has been approached largely to assist with the creation of a humanitarian corridor and that is what South Africa is considering.
Full Media Brief at : http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/130/ARTICLE/3910/2008-12-10.html
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Top US Military Officer Concerned Economic Crisis Could Cause More Terrorism
By Al Pessin
Pentagon
10 December 2008
The top U.S. military officer says he is concerned that the global economic crisis could create instability and, potentially, more terrorism around the world, particularly in African countries and other relatively poor areas.
Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, 10 Dec 2008
Admiral Mike Mullen says the global economic downturn could create more terrorists.
"I'm very concerned about the global financial crisis and its impact globally on security," he said. "I think it will impact on security, over a period of time. As food prices continue to go up, as other costs continue to go up, as this pressure is brought globally, I think the possibilities for increased instability, as opposed to increased stability, are there. Without being precise about where that might happen, I just think the extent of this, or the length of this, is going to have an impact on increased instability in countries that are already under a great deal of pressure because their economies aren't that healthy in the first place."
Admiral Mullen says jobs are the key link between the economy and security.
"With a stable economy, jobs come," he said. "You are able to expand and create the kind of positive cycle that gets you away from the violence and other options for unemployed young men, in particular."
At a Pentagon news conference, the admiral also noted that terrorists need places to train and take refuge, and he says economic troubles can also result in more of those, as governments have fewer resources to devote to securing their territory. He says the problem puts "enormous" pressure on African countries in particular, where many governments have very large areas to defend and terrorists have been trying to gain a foothold.
"I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia, as I am in Yemen," Adm. Mullen said. "And I try to pay attention to the evolution of potential safe havens, these two in particular, and specifically to the one in Somalia. So I'm extremely concerned about that."
Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not suggest any U.S. military operations to eliminate or prevent the creation of terrorist safe havens. The Pentagon has a variety of programs designed to improve the defense capabilities of partner nations in Africa and elsewhere, and the U.S. government also has aid and development programs that may help ease the impact of job losses caused by the economic downturn. But the admiral says the effort to reduce global terrorism may get more difficult as job losses increase and all countries tighten their defense budgets, including the United States.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-10-voa63.cfm
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Lloyds establish piracy insurance
Written by Editor
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Lloyd’s of London broker Aon to cover for loss of earnings incurred by charterers, shipowners and cargo owners when a ship is being detained by pirates.
Against a background of increasing pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia involving kidnapping and shoot-outs, Lloyd’s underwriters are behind a new kind of marine insurance policy aimed at covering a gap in standard cover.
The policy, designed by Lloyd’s broker Aon - NYSE:AOC - covers the loss of earnings incurred by charterers, shipowners and cargo owners when a ship is being detained by pirates.
There were more than 50 reported attacks off the coast of Somalia in the first eight months of 2008, with 32 vessels hijacked.
Costs incurred
The average duration of vessel seizure is 60 days, which means that charterers have been incurring the cost of paying charter hire for these additional days without receiving any extra income.
Cargo owners also face the risk of cancellation of contracts due to the delay.
Hull and war clauses do cover physical loss or damage arising from piracy, while ransom is either dealt with by specific coverage or by owners attempting to recover as a ‘sue and labour’ expense.
But until now there has been a potential void in cover for the financial impact of business interruption or loss of earnings.
“We decided to do something about it across the marine industry so all parties affected by an attack could recover their loss of earnings,” Peter Townsend, Aon’s Head of Marine Hull, said.
Complementary policy
The new standalone loss of earnings policy, which complements existing hull, war, cargo and P&I insurance, is designed to cover:
• Charterers, who are paying for hiring the vessel even though the vessel is detained
• Shipowners, who in the event of contract frustration, may lose out on charter revenues
• Cargo owners, particularly of seasonal goods, who face cancelled contracts if the goods are held up
• All other interested parties to a venture with an insurable interest.
Risking the route
There are over 22,000 transits through the Gulf of Aden every year. But, as Mr Townsend points out, without piracy insurance shipowners and charterers risk incurring significant costs with no recourse.
“The only alternative shipowners and charterers have is to avoid the Gulf of Aden and transit around the Cape,” he says. “The additional cost of that 10-12 day detour with extra fuel and wages can be as much as $2m.”
Importantly, Aon’s cover is triggered from day one of the attack with nil deductible. The insurance is available worldwide, to cover other piracy hotspots, and is written on a voyage basis.
Potential to hinder trade flows
Piracy has become a serious problem off East Africa, potentially hindering international trade flows.
The European Council is so concerned it recently launched its first ever maritime military initiative, Operation Atalanta, to help improve security off the Somali coast.
More than a dozen ships are currently being held to ransom in the region, including the Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star, which has two British crew on board.
In November, two British security guards jumped overboard from a chemical tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The men, along with another crew member, were picked up from the sea by a German naval helicopter.
http://www.dofonline.co.uk/strategic-finance/lloyds-establish-piracy-insurance-120810.html
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Threat of piracy could push up cruise insurance
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It's an insurer's nightmare: Heavily armed pirates, emboldened by their success in capturing cargo vessels, hijack a cruise ship with hundreds of well-heeledpassengers and ask for massive ransoms. It hasn't happened yet, but the failed attack this week on the luxury American cruise liner MS Nautica has shown the threat is real - raising questions about what impact piracy may have on cruise ship insurance costs. "I don't know where the rates are going to go, but they're not going to go down," Rich DeSimone, president of Travelers Ocean Marine insurance, said by telephone from New York. "One of the greatest impacts on insurance rates is increased exposure. And if you have increased exposure to something like piracy, it's going to result in higher costs."
But he and other brokers said it was unlikely that passengers' costs for buying cruises would be greatly affected as companies would be reluctant to pass on the increases. And travel insurance companies indicated they would not boost rates for tourists taking cruises. "We are still offering travel insurance to customers who are on cruises and there will be no effect on premiums as a result of the attempted act of piracy recently reported," said Sally Leeman, a spokeswoman for the British insurance company Norwich Union.
Ian Crowder, spokesman for AA travel insurance, said he expected cruise companies would avoid pirate-infested waters. "Given that the shipping company is not playing Russian roulette with its passengers ... then we don't expect the premiums to increase," Crowder said. He said that while travel insurance would not cover ransom payments, his company's policies would cover costs such as medical expenses and repatriation were someone to be injured or suffer a heart attack when taken hostage.
Both AA and Sainsbury's Travel Insurance noted that their policies would not cover people traveling to areas where Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office had advised travelers not to go. The FCO advises against all travel to Somalia itself, and advises "mariners to maintain a high level of vigilance and to exercise extreme caution when anywhere near Somali waters."
On the ship industry front, brokers, underwriters and shipowners indicated that while the costs for insuring vessels against piracy were likely to increase, it was impossible to tell at this stage by how much. "It is a developing subject," said David Glass of the Greek shipping publication Naftiliaki. "It is something the insurance industry is now grappling with."
Although cruise ships have been the target of terrorism in the past, such as the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, there haven't been incidents of hundreds of passengers being held purely for ransom. "Because there's no case law, everyone is feeling their way," said one marine insurance broker with a firm of Lloyds brokers. "It's up in the air. Nobody knows who will respond to what. It is a dangerous situation," said the broker, who asked not to be named because the situation was still unclear.
Neil Smith, senior manager for underwriting for Lloyd's Market Association, said that while insurance costs would likely change, "it's impossible for us to put a figure on it because each individual underwriter will make a decision as they're approached."
Overall, cruise ships are probably in a better position than merchant vessels in facing pirates: they are faster than cargo ships, and their tall hulls make it harder for bandits to throw hooks over the side and board.
In the Nautica attack, a small band of pirates in two small speedboats fired shots at the roughly 180-meter (600-foot) long ship as it crossed the Gulf of Aden. The ocean liner increased speed and outran the bandits.
And with destinations such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean available to pleasure-seeking tourists, cruise ships don't necessarily have to sail through dangerous waters.
But passengers tend to book months in advance, and some companies have already set itineraries through the region. Silversea Cruises spokesman Brad Ball said his company was "taking a wait and see attitude" about future cruises in the region, but that no changes were being made yet. Andre Poulton, spokesman for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which also has ships scheduled to go through the area next year, said he was not aware of any increased insurance costs from the Nautica incident.
Cost increases are unlikely to be immediate, especially on contracts that are renewed annually, brokers and underwriters explained. And as no hijacked merchant ships have been damaged yet, insurance companies have had limited involvement.
In addition to annual policies, extra hijacking and ransom coverage can be bought for the days a ship will transit through dangerous waters. Christos Stoforopoulos, owner of Epirotiki Shipping, said piracy insurance costs for passage through the Gulf of Aden vary between $15,000 to $50,000. Costs for cruise ships could be higher.
He added that any increase in cruise ship insurance costs could be softened by the fact the ships are able to outrun pirates. "Cruise ships can evade pirates faster, so that might temper insurance costs," he said. "There might be a small markup, but I don't think it'll be significant."
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/28398
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Injured sailor in UK / Ireland rescue drama
Published Date: 11 December 2008
A BURMESE sailor injured on a cargo ship hundreds of miles off the west coast of Ireland was last night taken to hospital after a major rescue operation involving two US air force helicopters from East Anglia, a US Hercules aircraft and a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss in Moray.
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Injured-sailor-in-rescue-drama.4782210.jp
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International Conference on Piracy Opens in Nairobi
By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
10 December 2008
The two-day conference, sponsored by the United Nations, brings together officials from more than 40 countries, as well as representatives from regional and international organizations. The first day brought together technical experts, ministerial-level meetings are scheduled for Thursday.
The conference is seeking to develop an improved approach to pursuing, arresting, and charging pirates. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime is reported to have proposed a $1.3 million program to enhance justice and law enforcement efforts in Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and Yemen.
The meeting began just one day after the European Union outlined a new security mission off the coast of Somalia. Operation Atalanta joins existing deployments from NATO, Russia, and other countries that have sought to combat a sharp rise in piracy in the area in recent months.
Meanwhile, the German government approved a deployment of up 1,400 troops, along with a ship, for the mission. The German parliament is expected to vote on the deployment by December 19.
An official with the East African Seafarers' Association, Andrew Mwangura, said that international efforts would have little lasting impact without involving the local population in Somalia.
"If you are not going to involve the local community, it cannot achieve anything," he said.
Mwangura said a strategy to combat piracy needs to be part of a coordinated effort against other illicit activities in the region.
"If we want to stop piracy we need to fight all illegal activities in this region, because they are connected. Let us say piracy is connected to toxic dumping. Toxic dumping is connected to drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is connected to gun running. Those mafia-like businessmen are part of piracy, they do control pirate groups in Somalia. The real pirates are outside Somalia. In fact they do not go out to sea. Some of them are based in Nairobi, some are in Dubai," said Mwangura.
There have been more than 100 pirate attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden or the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia, and some 40 ships have been captured. Pirates are holding more than a dozen ships, and 300 crew members, in the hopes of receiving ransom payments that can number in the millions of dollars.
Among the ships being held are a Saudi Arabian supertanker, carrying $100 million worth of oil, and a Ukrainian ship carrying more than 30 military tanks.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-10-voa35.cfm
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Explosion may endanger SEAL mini-sub program
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Dec 10, 2008 12:09:37 EST
The long-stalled future of the U.S. special warfare community’s troubled mini-submarine is even cloudier after a serious explosion and fire struck the craft last month, ironically on the cusp of a new mission and a new way ahead for the program.
The Advanced SEAL Delivery Vehicle 1 (ASDS-1) was having its lithium-ion batteries charged Nov. 9 when an explosion started a battery fire that burned for about six hours. No one was aboard the 60-ton craft, which was on shore at its base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Federal firefighters sealed the ASDS to put out the fire and continued to hose it down for several hours to cool hot spots. The mini-sub remained sealed for more than two weeks before the hatch was opened.
“The Navy has not yet determined the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage,” Lt. Clay Doss, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Dec. 5. Two investigations are underway to determine the fire’s cause and the extent of the damage, he added.
Sources familiar with the incident said that, in addition to fire damage, the craft likely would have significant water damage from having its interior flooded to fight the fire.
The incident came at a key time for the mini-sub program. The ASDS was to have deployed in November aboard the guided-missile submarine Michigan — the first SSGN deployment for the craft.
And, more than two years since U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCom) canceled further ASDS acquisitions, Pentagon officials reportedly were preparing to submit new program plans in the fiscal 2010 budget due to be sent to Congress on Feb. 2. No details of the new way ahead for the program have been revealed, although Pentagon sources said the submission would need to be reviewed in light of the pending investigations into the ASDS fire.
A primary question investigators will have is whether the craft’s new lithium-ion batteries caused or contributed to the explosion.
The ASDS’s original silver-zinc batteries provided insufficient power for the craft’s missions, and more powerful lithium-ion batteries recently were substituted. Built at Yardney Technical Products in Pawcatuck, Conn., the lithium-ion batteries are known to present hazards if not properly handled, particularly when the batteries are being recharged.
Although SOCom canceled the ASDS program in 2006, the Navy and the special warfare community remain eager to field the kind of capability embodied in the craft. Five or six people can ride inside the ASDS in a dry environment, unlike existing wet submersibles, in which riders sit astride their vehicles wearing diving gear. The wet environment is very debilitating and causes fatigue even before the SEAL reaches his destination — problems the ASDS eliminates. The 65-foot-long mini-sub is intended to be carried to operational areas aboard submerged submarines and has an operational range of more than 100 nautical miles.
The ASDS is intended to carry out a wide range of covert missions, including reconnaissance and surveillance, infiltration, sabotage and diversionary attacks, and counterterrorism and foreign internal defense missions. Navy officials routinely tout the ability to carry the craft as a key capability of existing and new nuclear attack subs and converted SSGNs.
The ASDS has had a long, checkered history. The first batch of six craft was to have been completed in the late 1990s, but technical problems led to long delays and a twelvefold cost overrun — the original $70 million contract for the first boat in 1994 ballooned to expenditures of at least $883 million by 2007, according to the Government Accountability Office. Only the first ASDS was completed and “conditionally” accepted by the Navy in August 2001, but the craft suffered from noise, vibration, power and a host of other technical and reliability problems. Although some of those problems have been solved, others have only been reduced in intensity or remain as challenges.
However, the ASDS has been used on several classified missions while improvements continue to be made.
The now-defunct Oceanic Division of Westinghouse Electric received the original design and construction contract. The division was bought by Northrop Grumman in 1996.
Sources at Northrop Grumman and rival General Dynamics Electric Boat said both companies remain eager to compete in a new ASDS program.
One submarine expert familiar with the program expected, before the fire, a new program for three boats at a cost of about $1.2 billion. Early, unofficial estimates of about $100 million to repair the damage to ASDS-1 are “very uninformed” and likely very low, the source said.
Several sources said they expected the explosion and fire would not end the use of lithium-ion batteries in the ASDS.
“Lithium-ion batteries can be quite dangerous but they’ve been safely used many times before, and these batteries have gone through many cycles,” a Pentagon official said.
“It almost certainly was a procedural issue,” the submarine expert said. “Like most things, it is very safe if you follow the procedures. But if you don’t follow the procedures, things can happen that you don’t expect.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_dn_asdsfire_120908w/
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Submarine Co. Thriving, Looking To Hire
Company Has Hundreds Of Positions To Fill, President Says
POSTED: 5:38 pm EST December 9, 2008
UPDATED: 7:51 pm EST December 9, 2008
GROTON, Conn. -- Business is good for the submarine builder Electric Boat, company President John Casey said when he addressed legislators on Tuesday.
“I hope you all will be relieved to know that I'm not here this morning to request a bailout,” he joked.
In his annual address to regional lawmakers from Connecticut and Rhode Island, Casey said flat out that business is good.
Five of 10 Virginia Class submarines have been delivered, including two this year, he said. Maintenance and modernization is profitable, he said, and his 10,000-person work force participates in the community.
“Because our programs are funded very far in advance -- sometimes five to 10 years in advance of ships being delivered -- it’s important that we understand the impact of changes in government, changes in Navy priorities, changes in the performance of the vessels we build,” Casey said.
While Connecticut predicts more job losses next year, Casey said, Electric Boat is looking to hire 200 engineers, 50 designers and 400 trade staffers.
Employees also have a new, 65-month contract with the union, he said.
"We've contained costs,” Metal Trades Council President Ken Dellacruz said. “Our quality has been there as well as our performance. That plays a big part on the men and women that work here.”
Casey said building submarines is a cyclical business. He said next year looks good, but the company could face challenges beyond that, such as maintaining synergy with the sub-base so it stays off the BRAC list of closings.
“The fact that it’s a base that's devoted to submarines, if we can think of ways that expand what that base does beyond submarines, I think that would be a constructive effort,” Casey said.
http://www.wfsb.com/money/18239307/detail.html#-
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Singapore's Navy receives submarine support and rescue ship
07:01 GMT, December 11, 2008 The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is well on course to add a submarine support and rescue ship to its fleet, with the support vessel, Swift Rescue, being launched on 29 Nov by Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd (ST Marine).
Touted to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, Swift Rescue was conceptualised, designed and built by ST Marine, to enable it with the primary capability of submarine rescue, as well as to fulfill other secondary roles to meet the requirements of the RSN.
Besides being highly manoeuvrable with excellent sea-keeping capabilities, the ship also incorporates a helicopter deck and unique operational spaces.
Measuring 85m by 18m, it is designed to house a Submarine Rescue Vessel (SRV) and its handling systems on board. The SRV, which is still being built in Britain by James Fisher Defence, can be lowered to a depth of 500m underwater to reach a distressed submarine.
Should the need arise, Swift Rescue will utilise a Transfer-Under-Pressure system to allow the affected submariners to be transferred seamlessly from the SRV into the recompression chambers for immediate treatment.
In March 2007, the RSN awarded the contract to ST Marine to design, build and maintain the ship and the submarine rescue system.
The 20-year services contract is expected to commence next year, when the support ship and the SRV have been completed and integrated into a complete system.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4324/
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Greek Naval ship joins anti-pirate mission
Updated: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:10
SALAMINA, Greece - The Greek frigate Psara has sailed from a naval base near Athens to join European Union (EU)-led anti-pirate operations as the flotilla's flagship.
"The frigate will reach the Suez Canal on December 13 and the mission will begin," Rear-Admiral Antonis Papaioannou, who will be commodore of the EU force for four months, told a press conference on board.
Papaioannou, 51, will later hand over command to a Spanish officer, and the Netherlands will be in charge for the final period of the year-long mission, he said.
Over the year the force will comprise in total 20 warships from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Papaioannou said.
During his term he would have five ships, three aircraft and four helicopters at his disposal.
"We are going to try to ensure the region is safe for navigation," he said, while adding that there was a very large area to cover.
The mission, dubbed Atalanta, took over from a Nato operation patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean where more than 120 attacks by Somali pirates have been reported this year alone.
Its rules of engagement allow it to use "all means including force to protect, to deter and to prosecute all acts of piracy."
At least 15 ships and more than 300 crew are currently being held by pirates for ransom, including a Saudi super-tanker laden with oil and a Ukrainian vessel loaded with tanks and weaponry.
http://www.moneybiz.co.za/africa/africa.asp?story=0f1c0ec9-e2f7-4232-aaeb-b22235a4bc6a
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US 'spies on Israel nukes'
10/12/2008 21:48 - (SA)
Jerusalem - The United States routinely spies on Israel to try to gather information on its assumed atomic arsenal and secret government deliberations, a new official history of Israel's intelligence services says.
While espionage by allies on their friends is not uncommon, it is rare that state-sponsored publications acknowledge it.
Israeli-US ties have been especially touchy in this regard since a US Navy analyst, Jonathan Pollard, was jailed for life for treason in 1987 for passing classified documents to Israel.
According to Masterpiece: An Inside Look at Sixty Years of Israeli Intelligence, American spy agencies use technologies like electronic eavesdropping, and trained staff from the US embassy in Tel Aviv, for "methodical intelligence gathering".
"The United States has been after Israel's non-conventional capabilities and what goes on at the decision-making echelons," says the book in a chapter on counter-espionage written by Barak Ben-Zur, a retired Shin Bet internal security service officer.
Asked about the assertions, the US embassy spokesperson said only: "We don't comment on intelligence matters."
Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arms. Israeli officials refuse any comment on this under a longstanding "strategic ambiguity" policy.
Declassified Pentagon documents published in a 2004 book about then US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld estimated that Israel had 80 nuclear warheads. Last May, former US President Jimmy Carter put the number of Israeli bombs at around 150.
The issue has taken on new relevance recently given Western fears that Iran's nuclear programme could have military designs - despite denials by Tehran.
Israel has vowed to prevent its arch-foe from getting the bomb, but some analysts believe Israel could instead build up an overt nuclear deterrence against Iran.
Contacted by Reuters, Ben-Zur declined to give operational details on how the United States might be spying on Israel.
But, he described such efforts as largely benign given the closeness of defence ties between Israel and the Bush administration.
"At the end of the day, the United States does not want to be surprised," he said. "Even by us."
Due out later this month, Masterpiece is published by the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre and includes prefaces by chiefs of Israel's military intelligence, the domestic Shin Bet and the Mossad spy service active abroad.
- Reuters
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2440408,00.html
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Passing helicopter rescues fisherman
Man taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after boat sinks near Isle of Wight
guardian.co.uk, Thursday December 11 2008 09.59 GMT
A fisherman whose boat sank of the south coast of England was plucked to safety overnight by a passing rescue helicopter.
The man, in his 20s, was taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after being winched to safety from the Solent – a stretch of sea between the south coast and the Isle of Wight.
He called for help at 11.44pm yesterday when his angling boat Sea Raider started sinking as he returned home to the Isle of Wight.
"He was shouting, 'May day, may day'," said Paul Marlow, the deputy watch manager at Solent Coastguard.
"We managed to calm him down to get a location and a description of the vessel and then diverted our helicopter."
The helicopter was passing over the Isle of Wight on its way to a medical evacuation in Jersey.
"[The man] was in the water and basically saw the boat disappear from under him," said Marlow.
"Within a couple of minutes the helicopter was over the top of the vessel and could see the boat going down.
"He was pretty lucky that the helicopter was in the air at the time otherwise he would have been in the water a lot longer.
"It's not so much the water temperature, which is about 7C, but the air temperature is pretty cold. Shock is a bigger killer than the water."
Two lifeboats and another fishing boat went to help.
The man was recovering in Newport hospital on the Isle of Wight. There would be an investigation into what caused the 8-metre boat to sink.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/11/fisherman-rescue-solent-helicopter
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More than 35 feared dead in Cameroon boat accident
Wed 10 Dec 2008, 13:37 GMT
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - More than 35 people travelling from Nigeria to Gabon were feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Cameroon, a survivor and the Cameroonian navy said late on Tuesday.
Deaths at sea are common off West Africa, from where thousands of people each year attempt to reach Europe, a dangerous journey made more hazardous by the frequent use of small, overcrowded and unseaworthy craft.
The sinking on Sunday happened when a storm overturned the vessel which was carrying 43 passengers and crew, six of whom had since been rescued.
"The crew completely lost control, water entered the boat and it turned over," Emmanuel Akimba, one of two Nigerians known to have survived, told Cameroonian state radio.
"As it sank, we just hung onto anything that was floating that we could until fishermen came to our rescue before handing us over to the Cameroon navy," he said.
The navy brought the survivors, the other four of whom were from Burkina Faso, to a hospital in the southwestern town of Limbe, and it was searching for more survivors.
Authorities in Limbe said they believed all the people in the boat, mostly Burkinabe and Nigerian, had been hired to work on plantations in Gabon.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4B90JA.html
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HMAS Collins submarine again wins prestigious Royal Australian Navy award
09:34 GMT, December 11, 2008 HMAS Collins has become the first submarine to win the prestigious Royal Australian Navy training award, the Platypus Cup, for a second time.
Sponsored by ASC, the Platypus Cup is awarded to the Collins Class submarine whose crew best demonstrates the rigorous training needed to ensure the safe and effective operation of the vessel.
HMAS Collins won the inaugural Platypus Cup, presented in 2006, while HMAS Rankin won the award in 2007.
Executive Officer of HMAS Collins, Matthew Hoffmann, was presented with the Platypus Cup at a ceremony at HMAS Stirling on 11 December.
ASC Managing Director Greg Tunny said the challenge of operating a Collins Class submarine is reflected in the training its crew must undergo.
“ASC provides training services through the Navy’s Submarine Training School at HMAS Stirling and we know how demanding the training is for submarine crews,” he said.
“Before they are allowed to set foot on a submarine, they must complete up to nine months of training. Once they are on board, they can obtain their basic seagoing qualification know as their ‘Dolphins’ over another six months, and then continue with ongoing training and education.
“I congratulate the crew of HMAS Collins for their dedication and commitment to training this year, and also for the significant achievement of winning the Platypus Cup twice in three years.”
The Platypus Cup is presented annually to the Collins Class submarine demonstrating the best fleet, submarine and individual training performance for the preceding 12 months.
The name ‘Platypus Cup’ reflects the history of the original submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus and, later, the old submarine base (also known as HMAS Platypus) in Sydney which was the first home of submarine training in Australia.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4342/
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Bullish Seaspan takes delivery of new boxship
With more to come, Gerry Wang sees healthy growth in long term...
Seaspan Corporation recently announced delivery of the CSCL San Jose, a 2500 TEU newbuilding.
The new containership, which was constructed by Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., expands Seaspan's current operating fleet to 35 vessels with 33 remaining newbuildings to be delivered over approximately the next three years.
The CSCL San Jose was delivered on November 28, 2008.
The CSCL San Jose is subject to a time charter with China Shipping Container Lines (Asia) Co., Ltd. for a twelve-year period at a fixed rate. CSCL Asia is a subsidiary of China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd., the world's eighth largest liner company in terms of shipping capacity.
Under the terms of the fixed-rate time charter, CSCL Asia is responsible for fuel costs and all cargo operating and related expenses.
Gerry Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, commented,
"Seaspan continues to grow its revenue stream with the delivery of the CSCL San Jose. Nearly 90% of our total revenues are generated from major state-controlled Chinese liner companies and leading Japanese operators and we continue to receive charter payments on schedule.
"In addition, we have no revenue contract renewals until 2011 at the earliest.
"Container shipping still remains the most efficient means to transport goods on the ocean highways from areas of manufacturing to areas of consumption and over the longer term we believe that demand in the industry will continue to grow at a healthy rate to support globalization. We also believe that Seaspan's business model is well-positioned to take advantage of this growing demand in the industry over the long term."
http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10173.html
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Analysis: Ukraine aids China carrier plan
by Andrei Chang
Hong Kong (UPI) Dec 10, 2008
The People's Republic of China has been sending military personnel to the former Soviet republic of Ukraine to learn how the country trains its aircraft carrier pilots, in preparation for the aircraft carrier battle group it eventually plans to build.
According to a source in the Ukrainian military industry, China first sent a large naval delegation, headed by the deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army navy, to visit the Ukrainian navy aviation force training centers in the southern port cities of Odessa and Sevastopol in October 2006.
The Chinese visited the Research Test and Flying Training Center at Nitka on the Crimean peninsula, and the two sides discussed the possibility of Ukraine helping to train China's navy aviation force and aircraft carrier pilots, the source said. Since then, Chinese engineers, pilots and naval technical experts have made frequent visits to Nitka.
The focus of much of China's current military cooperation with the Russian Federation and Ukraine is on producing large aircraft and an aircraft carrier. Ukraine has provided China with a prototype of its T-10K shipborne fighter. By dissecting the T-10K -- an earlier variant of the Sukhoi Su-33 fighter -- China hopes to acquire the capability to independently develop its own shipborne fighters.
The single T-10K that China purchased from Ukraine originally was based at the Nitka center, which is equipped with a range of simulators to train pilots in jump takeoffs, arresting landings and contingency responses. The training modules simulate the release of the arresting hook on takeoff and its use on landing at a speed of 155 miles per hour.
The Nitka center previously trained a generation of Soviet pilots on the Sukhoi Su-33 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K fighters. Now the 297th Fighter Regiment of the Russian navy aviation force is undergoing training there.
As this author reported earlier for United Press International, China has imported four sets of aircraft carrier landing assistance equipment and arresting hooks. The Chinese are in the process of building their own aircraft carrier training base, which is why they have been so keenly interested in Nitka's simulators, training software, management procedures and technologies.
The training of aircraft carrier fighter pilots is a crucial step in putting together an aircraft carrier fleet. The training program is extremely harsh. According to the Ukrainian source, the most basic training for short-distance takeoffs, landings and ski-jumps would take at least six months.
Ukraine was once the main training center for the Soviet Union's aircraft carrier fighter pilots. It now intends to train navy pilots not only for China but also for India and other countries that aspire to possess aircraft carriers, a source from Nitka told United Press International.
The Indian navy is in the process of purchasing an aircraft carrier from Russia, as well as Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29UBK fighters, the first batch of which is expected to be delivered to India by the end of the year -- already a year later than scheduled. The pilots for those fighters most likely will be trained at Nitka.
China's dealings with Ukraine reconfirm that the People's Liberation Army navy is moving forward on its aircraft carrier project. The Chinese carrier apparently is based on a Russian design; otherwise China would not be interested in Ukraine's simulators. This means China's aircraft carrier very likely will adopt the Russian methods of ski-jump takeoff and landing.
China has also taken practical steps to build an aircraft carrier training base. The first step is to train shipborne fighter pilots at this base, followed by basic short-distance takeoff and landing training on the disabled Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag that China purchased in 1998.
Sources from the Ukrainian military industry have confirmed to United Press International on several occasions that the Varyag is unlikely to be restored to an operational fighter aircraft carrier, and most likely will be used only as a training platform.
Although the ship was purchased by a Hong Kong company ostensibly to be converted into a casino, Ukrainian sources told United Press International that they were aware of China's intentions from the beginning to use it for military purposes. The aircraft carrier, repainted with the colors of the PLA navy, is now in the Chinese port city of Dalian.
-- (Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_Ukraine_aids_China_carrier_plan_999.html
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Zumwalt Undersea Warfare Combat System Receives Navy Nomenclature
File image
by Staff Writers
Tewksbury MA (SPX) Dec 11, 2008
Raytheon's integrated undersea warfare combat system for the Zumwalt-class destroyer recently received its official U.S. Navy nomenclature, AN/SQQ-90.
Raytheon's SQQ-90 represents the U.S. Navy's next-generation undersea warfighting capability. The tactical sonar suite is composed of new integrated system capabilities, including the hull-mounted mid-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-60), the hull-mounted high-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-61), and the multi-function towed array sonar and handling system (AN/SQR-20).
These systems provide unique mission capabilities and are fully integrated with the MH-60R helicopter's combat system to deliver broad warfighting coverage for the Zumwalt-class destroyer.
"This is an exciting development for the Zumwalt team because it confirms the maturity and readiness of Zumwalt's integrated undersea warfare combat system," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' Robert Martin, vice president and deputy of Seapower Capability Systems.
"The SQQ-90 will provide the sophisticated and reliable undersea warfare capabilities that our warfighters need and depend on."
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Zumwalt_Undersea_Warfare_Combat_System_Receives_Navy_Nomenclature_999.html
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Lessons The Russian Bulava Missile submarine Program
by Martin Sieff
Washington (UPI) Dec 10, 2008
The troubled history of the Russian Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile program is a textbook example of the problems that can plague an ambitious weapons program -- and how they can be overcome.
As respected Russian military analyst Nikita Petrov wrote for RIA Novosti two months ago, "Russia's navy pins great hopes on the Bulava, which has been plagued by problems for 15 years. The missile is also the focus of intrigue, with some designers wishing it good luck and others good riddance."
In building the Bulava, Russia's top Defense Ministry experts made the same kind of mistake to which the U.S. Department of Defense has been prone. They gave a major military engineering job to a large, well-established and respected organization that had a first-class track record but little or no experience in the actual field it was now being asked to master.
As Petrov pointed out, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology -- also referred to as the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering -- had never built submarine-launched ballistic missiles before for the Russian navy.
The MITT got the job after the Makeyev Design Bureau in the city of Miass, which specialized in designing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, produced its own prototype Bark SLBM that failed in three out of three test launches. The job of designing a new long-range SLBM that could be fired from Russia's ambitious new Borey-class Project 955 submarines therefore was handed over to the MITT, which had just produced a winner in the mobile, land-based, single-warhead Topol-M. But the MITT solution proved to be a bigger headache than the previous unsuccessful project it was designed to replace.
Major weapons systems do not grow on trees. A vast amount of engineering know-how and experience, on the individual and institutional levels, is required to design and then develop such ambitious engineering projects. The MITT engineers were not used to working with salt water, and they quickly found that "virtual" solutions that worked wonderfully on computer screens and in software programs were a lot more difficult to deal with when they were turned into enormous steel missiles with solid fuel-powered engines that had to be launched below the surface of the sea through salt water. Again and again, the new Bulavas emerged from the ocean at awkward angles, wrecking the accuracy of their ballistic flight trajectory.
As Petrov noted, "Sea water is 800 times denser than air and always has been a challenge to a missile launched from a running submarine."
Weapons systems can appear "brilliantly" conceptualized and invulnerable in their computer screen simulations. But they still have to cope with the unforgiving realities the elements express through the relentless laws of chemistry and physics.
Weapons systems ultimately also have to be built by lots of human beings -- specially trained, experienced and skilled ones. And such expertise is usually never available in the numbers and reliability that is required. That was another problem the Russian industrial plants discovered when they worked on building the Bulava-M SLBM prototypes.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Lessons_The_Russian_Bulava_Missile_submarine_Program_Part_One_999.html
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US Navy Tests Seven Raytheon Standard Missile-2 Block IIIAs During Trials
"Standard Missile has been the U.S. Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon for more than three decades," said Kirk Johnson, U.S. Navy Standard Missile program manager.
by Staff Writers
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 11, 2008
The U.S. Navy fired seven Raytheon Company -built Standard Missile-2 Block IIIA anti-air warfare missiles as part of ongoing U.S. Navy shipbuilder trials and operational tests.
Four of the intercepts were conducted by the U.S. Navy's guided missile destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and USS Truxton (DDG 103). Three others were conducted by USS Antietam (CG 54) during exercises at Southern California Offshore Range Extension.
"The long-range SM-2 Block IIIA's ability to engage threats with low radar cross sections while performing high-g maneuvers makes it the most widely deployed area defense missile in the world," said Ron Shields, Raytheon Missile Systems Standard Missile program director. "Our customers trust the Raytheon design, because SM-2 variants are the most tested anti-air warfare missiles in service."
Advanced fuzing and warhead modifications were incorporated into the SM-2 Block IIIA design to counter the threat of sea skimming anti-ship cruise missiles.
"Standard Missile has been the U.S. Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon for more than three decades," said Kirk Johnson, U.S. Navy Standard Missile program manager. "When it comes to engaging anti-ship cruise missiles, aircraft or helicopters, the SM-2 remains our go-to weapon."
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Navy_Tests_Seven_Raytheon_Standard_Missile_2_Block_IIIAs_During_Trials_999.html
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Regards
Snooper
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