Posted on 09/04/2005 3:40:21 PM PDT by Valin
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Navy will install radars at nine locations along the Malacca Strait to support security maintenance in the busy shipping lane, a spokesman said here Saturday.
"The Indonesian Navy has decided to install radars at nine points along the Malacca Strait to strengthen security in the air over the region," the Indonesian Navy Headquarters` spokesman, Commodore Abdul Malik Yusuf, said.
The decision to take the measure was a follow up to the agreement between the strait`s littoral states, namely Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, to conduct coordinated patrols in the channel.
At a meeting of the military commanders of four countries --Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand-- in Kuala Lumpur on August 1-2, Malaysia had offered to conduct coordinated patrols in the 500-mile shipping lane through an air patrol system called "Eye in the Sky".
At a subsequent meeting held in Singapore recently, it was decided that Indonesia would install radars at nine points along the strait.
"I cannot yet identify the locations of the radars but it is certain (the radars) will be set up at nine points along the Malacca Strait," Yusuf said.
The nine points would also serve as the closest security posts to which ship captains could report their situation when they meet an accident or become victim of piracy.
"Thus, every incident befalling passing ships can be reported and be acted on as soon as possible," Yusuf added.
Separately, Malaysian Navy Chief Admiral Datuk Ilyas Bin Haji Din said, he had offered cooperation in air security to support the coordinated patrols carried out in the Strait by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
The air patrol system called "Eye in the Sky" was aimed to optimize the coordinated patrols conducted by the three littoral states.
The coordinated patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore named Malsindo, were launched in July 2004 and required each littoral state to deploy seven warships and two airplanes to secure the busy lane.
However, because the Malaysian and Singapore navies did not possess recoinaissance patrol boats, the patrols were done by the three countires` air forces.
But the airplanes used by the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean air forces could not detect an object in detail.
The planes could see a ship as an object without knowing the type of the ship and its activities in the Strait because the airplanes were not designed to fly low and penetrate remote areas.
The cooperation in air patrols would function as "strategic surveillance" and those conducted among the navies as "tactical surveillance."
"Therefore, Malaysia has offered to carry out the coordinated air patrols over the strait as soon as possible," Datuk Ilyas said.(*)
LKBN ANTARA Copyright © 2005
Rhode Island has a Navy now...? :^)
Sorry, I had to open the article just to see what the headline really stood for.
Ping.
Malacca Strait is a big time location for pirates. Captains of large freighters run through there fast, heavily armed, and usually try to arrange convoys. Some even arrange for drone aircraft to provide air cover for them to prevent being surprised. I would want a few .50 machineguns at bow and stern, and a few trusted hands on the bridge with M-1 Garands.
It is a good thing that the Indonesian Navy is doing this. On the other hand the pirates can probably bribe elements of the RI Navy to stop ships, to make the merchies more vulnerable to the pirates.
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