Persian Gulf & Middle East Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

The FREMM "Tahya Misr" Navy frigate Egypt will depart from France in late July


(Defensa.com) At the end of this July, the type frigate FREMM (Frégate Européenne Multi-Missions) ENS "Tahya Misr" (FFG 1001) Egypt Navy must leave French territory towards Egypt, where on August 6 actively integrate in conmoraciones the opening of the new Suez Canal, an important strategic point in the country and one of its biggest sources of performance económico.El ship was formally transferred to the Navy of Egypt on June 23 at the premises of French shipbuilder DCNS in Lorient. The event was attended by the Egyptian Minister of Defense, General Sedki Sobhy, and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Driand, among other authorities.

The ship, originally built for the French Navy as FS "Normandie" (D651) and forecast delivery in late 2014, was acquired by Egypt under an agreement dated February 16, 2015 in Cairo. Original equipment installed in the ship destined for France were replaced by DCNS. Thus, under the contract, DCNS made a series of modifications to the ship including the translation of interfaces, eliminating the vertical launchers DCNS SYLVER A70 initially installed for the operation of cruise missiles ground attack long-range MBDA Mdcn (Missile of Croisière Naval) antennas and electronic countermeasures system Elettronica Nettuno


The ship keeps pitchers SYLVER A43 Aster 15 missiles hired MBDA France, sonars Thales UMS 4110 CL and CAPTAS 4 missile launchers MBDA Exocet MM40 Block 3 and Eurotorp MU90 torpedoes, anti-torpedo systems DCNS and Contralto-V Release Sagem NGDS multiple lures, the direction of pull electro-optical Sagem Vigy MM, the multifunction radar Thales HERAKLES and remotely operated weapon stations Nexter Systems NARWHAL 20B.

DCNS is also responsible for train crews in cooperation with the DCI (Defense Conseil International) NAVFCO, instructing Egyptian technicians to ensure maintenance and logistical support and technical assistance for a period of five years and parts supply spare. The ship, of 6000 tons displacement and 142 meters long, will be the combat unit more modern and capable of Egyptian Navy and one of the most advanced in the region frigates surface. The Navy currently operates old Egyptian frigates Oliver Hazard Perry (OHP) of American origin, ethnic Chinese frigates and ships Ambassador Mk III missiles armed with US-built by VT Halter Marine patrol.


Corvettes Gowind 2500
From 2017, Egypt will receive four corvettes Gowind DCNS 2500 contracted in July 2014. They will be equipped with modular mast DCNS MISP (Panoramic Sensors and Intelligence Module); the combat management system SETIS DCNS (Enhanced Tactical Ship Information System); dimensional surveillance radar Thales Nederland SMART-S Mk2; electronic warfare system Thales Air Systems Monitor 200; SAMs MBDA VL MICA; MBDA anti-ship Exocet MM40 Block III missiles; and Eurotorp MU 90 torpedoes.


DCNS currently under construction in Lorient 4 anti-submarine frigates Classe Aquitaine to the French Navy, including vessels FS "Languedoc" FS "Auvergne" and FS Bretagne ". The first units, FS" Aquitaine "(D650) and FS "Provence" (D652) were delivered in November 2012 and June 2015 respectively OCCAR (Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'armement) .Other two frigates version of anti-air warfare will be built within the framework of the Law on Military programming 2014-2019.

Link:


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The Heron UAV datalink evaluates a next generation that meets NATO standards


(Defensa.com) The French company Thales and Israeli Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have conducted a series of test flights with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Heron datalink equipped with the latest generation developed by Thales TMA 6000 and meets the specifications of NATO. The two companies have conducted tests for risk reduction Heron equipped with TMA 6000 Thales during which has been tested for compatibility of both systems and compliance with the specifications contained in the legislation NATO STANAG 7085. The Heron had TMA 6000 and installed the radio frequency modules and antennas Elisra Israeli company, Elbit Systems group. During the flights, the datalink transmitted in real time to the ground station navigation data, images and videos obtained by the electro-optical system of the UAV both day and night.

The TMA (Modem Thales for Air) 6000 is a next-generation data link operating in Ku band developed by Thales for the transmission of large amounts of data (up to 137 Mb / s) from electro-optical systems in real time. Among the features of this device it is optimized for applications transmission of special forces to have a high resistance to interference and can also operate satellite signals when the aircraft carrying it has this capability. It was certified in 2012 by the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) for cataloging the STANAG 7085, the first device of this type manufactured in Europe that meets the stringent US requirements. Standard rules NATO Agreement (STANAG) 7085 relates to the interoperability of datalinks for missions of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR for its acronym in English). In June 2013 the British Ministry of Defense studied the suitability of installing this technology in their WK450 UAV Watchkeeper

The Heron UAV is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE by its acronym in English) is one of the candidates of the Spanish Ministry of Defense to acquire a MALE capacity has been postponed since at least 2008.

Link:


Back to bottling my Grenache

Damaged homes are seen after clashes between members of the Libyan pro-government forces, backed by the locals, and Shura Council of Libyan Revolutionaries, an alliance of former anti-Gaddafi rebels who have joined forces with Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia, in Benghazi, Libya
Picture: Reuters


Back to bottling my Grenache

Royal Moroccan Navy Ordered a 50 Meters LCT Landing Craft Tank from PIRIOU Shipyard



French Shipyard PIRIOU based in Concarneau (Brittany) has just won a contract with the Royal Moroccan Navy for a 50 meters LCT (Landing Craft Tank) which will be operated in the coastal waters of Morocco. This new unit will be built in France with delivery expected in mid-2016.

navyreco said:

Royal Moroccan Navy Ordered a 50 Meters LCT Landing Craft Tank from PIRIOU Shipyard

French Shipyard PIRIOU based in Concarneau (Brittany) has just won a contract with the Royal Moroccan Navy for a 50 meters LCT (Landing Craft Tank) which will be operated in the coastal waters of Morocco. This new unit will be built in France with delivery expected in mid-2016.

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Nice LCT...but just one?

Jeff Head said:

Nice LCT...but just one?

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Well, they won't be using it for amphibious ops really...
If you read in details, Morocco will mainly use it as a Fresh Water producing station and tanker... strange I know...

navyreco said:

Well, they won't be using it for amphibious ops really...
If you read in details, Morocco will mainly use it as a Fresh Water producing station and tanker... strange I know...

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So, they put a desalinization unit on it and then run it around to make fresh water?

In the end, it is probably a pretty cheap option in terms of getting a vessel that can do that if that is what they need.

But is it going to be a Navy vessel? Sounds more like a non-military governmental task to me.

The Futility and Immorality of Iran Sanctions

HONG KONG -- "We have been trading with Iran for 500 years and the only barrier has been a strip of water. Why would we stop now because someone across the ocean demands it?" a top local banker asked me rhetorically during my recent stopover in Dubai on my way to Iran. The two-way trade between the UAE and Iran is estimated to be around U.S. $15 billion and in reality is twice as much since this does not account for the enormous informal sector.

Contrary to what many have come to believe, U.S. sanctions on Iran are not as crippling as they are made out to be. Unlike many of its neighbors who are almost entirely dependent on oil, Iran is a diversified economy with a functioning manufacturing, agricultural and service sector, albeit inefficient due to sanctions and inadequate investments. The World Bank classifies it as an "upper middle income" country and despite sanctions Iran, with a GDP of $415.3 billion, is still the second largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. Average life expectancy (74 years) is almost as good as any in the developed world, and when it comes to primary school enrollment, Iran is leagues ahead of its neighbors.

But, if anything, the Iranian people are resourceful and creative. They get around the problem through ingenuity and enterprise. A thriving currency market in the bazaars of Isfahan allowed me to exchange as much cash as I wanted for my travel and shopping, and sellers were happy to accept the Hong Kong dollar, renminbi and the yen. Carpet merchants, hoteliers and even taxi drivers are ever ready to swap foreign currencies for the riyal. Bank Melli Iran even issues pre-paid "cash cards" that allow tourists to swipe transactions just as they would in Hong Kong or Singapore.

The sanctions make those of us who are rich even richer and those who are poor even poorer.

This is not to say that sanctions do not hurt. Inflation has hit the pockets of ordinary Iranians, and the collapse of the Iranian riyal, which has fallen by 57 percent of its value since early 2012, has made imports more expensive. By eliminating market competition and leaving what little room there is for international trade to a very restricted list of individuals and organizations, sanctions have created huge inequalities in Iranian society. As one wealthy Iranian told me, "the sanctions make those of us who are rich even richer and those who are poor even poorer."

So if sanctions are ineffective, then why are they still in place? This comes down to what former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing called the "exorbitant privilege" granted to the U.S. via the Bretton Woods agreement. He used this to describe U.S.' unique ability to dominate the global financial system by virtue of the greenback being the global reserve currency. That extraordinary primacy of the greenback has allowed Washington to extend the notion of exorbitant privilege to exercising arbitrary force on those who dare not to play by its rules.

But the beneficiaries of the sanctions are many. These include the Gulf states, who are very aware of the windfall the sanctions on Iran gives them, and it is easy to see why they are beseeching Washington not to relax them. The motivations are probably more economic than sectarian. As the Dubai banker explained: "Iranians have a lot of money locked in Gulf banks, businesses and real estate. Guess what happens to all those shiny glass and marble shrines once Tehran rejoins the international financial system?"

What he implied was that much of that economic power could readily move to more fertile ground with a much larger consumer base. If the sanctions were lifted, the "music," at least for the Gulf states, could possibly slow down. But that might not be a bad thing as spreading the wealth in the region will create healthier competition and importantly help bring much needed political stability as commerce and trade expands. It will also unleash the untapped human capital of the largest and most educated pool of young people in the region -- and that would include women who outnumber men in universities in Iran.

So just how unfair is it for the world to let one nation have the exorbitant privilege to punish others just because it has an old axe to grind? No other country has been granted this, and it is about time the world took ownership of this "license" so that it is not abused.

You can drive the length and breadth of the U.S., but you will not find a single place with anything like the culture you will find at Imam Square. Why do they think we will bow to them?


Why? Successive U.S. administrations have shown the world repeatedly how badly it takes setbacks and seeks to punish others without global support. More than three decades have passed since the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, but that incident continues to color how American foreign policy frames Iran. For most Americans, Iran is a hostile place where their diplomats were once held hostage, not a warm and friendly country of about 80 million people and a GDP of U.S. $415.3 billion with whom they should have strong ties. Most Americans are either ignorant of or refuse to acknowledge that American and British conniving to protect oil interests thwarted Iran's first attempts at democratization in 1953.

On the humanitarian front, the tightening of the sanctions has resulted in serious shortage of lifesaving drugs, vaccines and other key medical supplies in the country. A much tougher sanctions regime on neighboring Iraq after the first Gulf war killed about half a million children under the age of five according to UNICEF. If such reports are anything to go by, then it is clear that sanctions did the same in more heavily populated Iran. But politicians in the West have become so trapped in this game of charades that even a threat to the lives of hundred of thousands of babies barely stirs their conscience. It would appear no price is high enough to pay to punish Islamic theologians whose worldview is not shared by the West.

But Iran is more than the simplistic image many in the West -- in their fear of Islam -- have of the country. To stand in the middle of Imam Square in Isfahan is to stand in awe of a culture that predates the arrival of the first pilgrims on the shores of North America. The Iranians know their place in history. Extremely learned, it is a culture that has developed a highly refined sense of literature, art and architecture. I met a 65-year-old master craftsman, who earns $200 a month investing three years of hard labor trying to fix an elaborately designed silk carpet made by a master weaver whose center was off by a mere two inches. What kind of a culture produces this kind of devotion to perfection? As my Iranian friend who has family in the U.S. told me, "you can drive the length and breadth of the U.S., but you will not find a single place with anything like the culture you will find just here at Imam Square. Why do they think we will bow to them?"

U.S. and European negotiators will do well to remember these words of a young businessman and not those of a religious fanatic. They should stroll through the bazaars of Isfahan and Shiraz if they have any second thoughts about inking the agreement with the Iranians. Neither the moderates, nor the hardliners will part with Iran's right to nuclear energy. If they are expected to play their role as responsible actors in global affairs, then they should be respected and trusted as equal partners. It is time for futile and immoral sanctions to go. The poor and weak have already paid an exorbitant price.

Oped not news Opinion.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

Oped not news Opinion.

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look at the title of this thread again , ''Persian Gulf & Middle East News & Views''
Consider my last post as my opinion about sanction , I didn't post it as news