5th Fleet Focus: International Request for Proposals

I know I am way behind on this, but I only caught this news today. I think this is an interesting dynamic in the political space not getting enough attention.

NATO, the European Union and others should launch land operations against bases of Somali pirates in coordination with Russia, the Russian ambassador to NATO said on Wednesday.

Dmitry Rogozin said the view of Russian experts was that naval action alone, even involving a large fleet of a powerful nation, would not be enough to defeat the pirates, given Somalia's geo-strategic position.

"So it is up to NATO, the EU and other major stakeholders to conduct not a sea operation, but in fact a land coastal operation to eradicate the bases of pirates on the ground," he said.

Sounds like hit and run amphibious operations. As I have contended, and been criticized for by Marines, this is why I believe the MEU and not the MEB is becoming more important as the Marines return to sea. These quick strike hit hard and pull off the beach operations are going to be very important in ungoverned spaces, because we can't commit to landing and staying in every location.

With the Russians proposing cooperative land attack activities, this represents something very new towards international cooperation. For years after the cold war many soldiers thought the US and Russian military would fight side by side, and now, in Somalia of all places, the Russians want exactly that. It will be interesting to see if the Russians deploy amphibious ships from the Black Sea Fleet down to the Somalian coast.

Gen. John Craddock was asked about the Russian suggestion today.

U.S. Gen. John Craddock, NATO's supreme allied commander, said Monday that the alliance's mandate is solely to escort World Food Program ships to Somalia and to conduct anti-piracy patrols.

Asked what he thought of a Russian proposal to jointly attack the pirate strongholds, Craddock answered: "That's far beyond what I've been tasked to do."

NATO has four warships on duty off the coast of Somalia, an impoverished nation caught up in an Islamic insurgency that has had no functioning government since 1991. The U.S. 5th Fleet based in Bahrain also contributes to policing the coast, along with frigates from Russia, India, Malaysia and Denmark.

Essentially, if you are following the headlines (and the links on the blog) there are two new proposals on the table. Shipping owners are calling for an all out blockade of Somalia and more air power, while Russia is calling for a joint, international strike on land against pirate strongholds, including what appears to be a land force element to that attack.

If Russia intends to deploy amphibious ships to the coast of Somalia, don't expect it until at least after the Peter the Great rounds the Cape of Good Hope to exercise with India. Several have speculated the Russian warships would join the anti-piracy activities off the Coast of Somalia after those exercises, and in reading the cryptic news reporting from Russian Navy officials, I'd say that is a good bet right now.

The maritime strategy is working exactly as intended on this issue. With the media still all over this issue, and likely to stay on it as the industry continues to pay ransoms and see ships hijacked, not to mention other governments now leading proposals for military solutions, the United States is putting the next administration in position to choose its response.

In the meantime, based on recent responses in the comments regarding US fleet activities off the coast of Somalia, and what I term the absence of any actual pirate fighting, I think it is time to begin the conversation regarding what the US Navy is doing. There is a perception the US is really engaged in TF150, it is a bad perception, it is probably time to quit avoiding the conversation and discuss the true role of the US Navy off the Horn of Africa, because it has nothing to do with piracy.