Gulf states hunt pirates, build up navies

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, July 6 (UPI) -- Eleven Arab states in the Gulf and the Red Sea are to establish a joint naval task force to go after Somali pirates plaguing the Gulf of Aden and now extending their operations to the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, gateway to the Gulf.

The proposed force marks a major step toward military cooperation between the Gulf states and their neighbors, which in the past have rarely collaborated in a meaningful way with each other.

It also coincides with a region-wide drive to bolster naval forces. This upsurge in naval procurement has more to do with countering the perceived threat from Iran than fighting pirates.

This is particularly true among the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain -- to protect their most valuable assets, offshore oil and gas fields, pipelines and tanker routes.

At a June 29 conference in Riyadh, naval commanders from Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen decided that the littoral states had to take action.

According to a joint statement, this was necessary to counter "the danger posed to shipping, particularly vital oil and gas exports which pass the Red Sea to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean."

The seizure of a commercial ship off the coast of Oman on June 12 marked a new departure for the pirates, who have never struck so close to the strait, through which 40 percent of the world's oil supplies pass.

According to officials of NATO, which has responsibility for an international counter-piracy naval force off Somalia, the capture of the ship, the German-owned MV Charelle, was unprecedented.

Pirates, operating from a mother ship and equipped with night-vision systems and heavy weapons, took the freighter 60 miles south of the Omani town of Sur.

This, and recent reports of attacks several hundred miles east of the African coast, indicated that the pirates were now more organized for long-range attacks well beyond the waters patrolled by the NATO force of some 35 warships from 16 countries.

As the Arab states prepare for their groundbreaking naval operation, the Gulf Cooperation Council states are forging ahead with naval expansion.

The first of six French-built Baynunah-class corvettes on order from the United Arab Emirates was launched at the Cherbourg yards of Construction Mecaniques de Normandie on June 25.

Under the $1 billion contract, the vessel is scheduled for delivery in mid-2011, with the other five, in various staged of completion, due to be handed over in the fall of 2012.

Saudi Arabia is interested in acquiring French-built frigates of the FREMM class to join the four Madina-class French F-2000 multipurpose frigates it already has.

This in intended to accelerate plans to transform the kingdom's navy from a coastal force to a strong blue-water force capable of long-range operations -- ideal for combating the wide-ranging Somali freebooters.

Oman's navy has ordered three 300-foot patrol frigates from Britain's VT Group Ship Building under a $715 million contract.

According to Jane's Defense Weekly, published in London, Kuwait is seeking to buy two large missile boats and has ordered 12 high-speed MKV-C boats.

The emirate's navy has "solicited offers from shipbuilders in Western Europe as well as Singapore Technologies Marine, Russian ASDC and South Korea's Daewoo to build missile-armed patrol boats," Jane's reported.

In the tiny archipelago of Bahrain, the Arab world's only island state, the navy is seeking as many as three frigates in 2009-10 to replace its aging U.S.-built ex-Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate Sabah.