India's military did a good job on Saturday when it stopped pirates who'd taken over the MV Ruen, a cargo vessel. The combined operation was an intricate affair that would have been a serious test for any first-rank military, and India carried it off in style.
New Delhi says naval surveillance assets were tracking the ship in the Arabian Sea, when the pirates fired on an Indian reconnaissance drone and the naval vessel from which it had been launched, the INS Kolkata.
“In a reckless hostile act, the pirates shot down the drone and fired at the Indian naval warship,” the Indian navy says.
In response, New Delhi launched its operation to liberate the Ruen, which involved additional naval vessels, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster, a Boeing P-8I Neptune maritime patrol aircraft and an unspecified high-altitude remotely piloted aircraft.
The Ruen was forced to stop after the Kolkata took unspecified action that “disabled the ship’s steering system and navigational aids”, according to India. Marine commandos then moved in.
While the hijacked vessel was under surveillance by an Indian navy P-8I, commandos parachuted from an Indian air force C-17 into the water several hundred metres from the Ruen.
The marine force boarded several motorised rigid inflatable vessels, which also appear to have been air dropped into the area, and then boarded the Ruen via a set of hull-mounted stairs.
Images of the operation show a number of commandos descending toward the sea under canopy, while a grey C-17 climbs after a low pass. A cloud of red smoke just off the Ruen’s bow marks the commandos’ aquatic drop zone, where their small boats are visible.
A single Hindustan Aeronautics Chetak helicopter bearing the orange, white and green roundel of the Indian navy is also visible in one photo, providing overwatch of the commando raid.
The marines were successful in boarding retaking the Ruen, according to New Delhi.
“Due to sustained pressure and calibrated actions by the Indian navy… all 35 Somali pirates surrendered,” India says. “All 17 original crew members of MV Ruen were also safely evacuated from the pirate vessel without any injury.”
There's more at the link.
It's been announced that, since they fired on Indian Navy assets, the pirates will be taken to India and tried there under international anti-piracy statutes. I suspect they'll spend a long time behind bars there.
To co-ordinate and mount such a complex operation at short notice, involving assets from more than one branch of the military over a distance of several thousand miles, would challenge even the best armed forces. It speaks well of India's that they succeeded on their first attempt.
One hopes that Somali pirates in general, who've been ramping up their activities due to the turmoil in maritime circles caused by the Houthi conflict in Yemen, will learn from this; but they've been a problem for centuries, and I daresay they'll go on being a problem until they're permanently eliminated, root and branch, from that part of the world.
Peter
It used to be acknowledged wisdom many years ago - Want to stop pirates? Go to where they launch from, burn everything and kill as many as you can. Yes it's brutal. Most pirates are short-lived; life is cheap, not heavy thinkers or long-range planners.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Indians did a great job, I suspect they made little impact.
Yep, thought something like this would happen eventually .
ReplyDeleteKudos to the Indians for pulling this off, and it's good to see that they're starting to take on responsibility for maritime security in that part of the world, because we don't have the capability to do it right now, and given the parlous state of our navy we won't for at least another couple of decades. And better New Delhi do it than Beijing.
Hey Peter,
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that the professionalism over the past 25 years has increased immeasurably for the Indian armed forces, the constant squabbles with Pakistan and their client terror groups has forced the Indians to improve to deal with the challenges and upgrade as they go.
They're pirates. They should be treated as such in every respect.
ReplyDeleteMeaning they should have been tried on the spot by a military court, sentenced to death, and executed immediately before returning to port, and the bodies dumped over the side.
All of that is legal under international law.
It would also set a valuable precedent in modern times, encourager les autres, and save huge sums of money overall.
For the same reason, international Letters Of Marque should be available for purchase by any interested parties, from any and all maritime nations.
The major ocean carriers would have small mercenary navies of same, most set up in surplus military combatant craft like frigates, corvettes, and such, in constant employ, and the problem would go away in about 15 minutes.
If a requirement was levied to put a suitable commissioned ensign or lieutentant aboard each ship as permanent liaison officer, that would satisfy all proprieties.
Governments would only have to do the very occasional hostage rescue, and pirates would have a life expectancy of about 5 minutes on the open ocean, thus making the juice never worth the squeeze.