Category: Security policy

Kiel defies all upheavals

Geography determines the strategic and military policy significance of the navy, which is stationed in and around Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, to a disproportionately high degree. As a strategic partner, Kiel's naval shipbuilding companies are highly relevant in terms of security, economic and employment policy as well as technology. Kiel has traditionally been closely associated with the navy. This goes back to two epoch-making strategic military decisions that still shape the city today: firstly, the decision of the Frankfurt National Assembly on 14 January 1848 to build the first German imperial fleet, with Kiel becoming the main war port of the German navy, and secondly, the order issued to the city of Kiel on 24 March 1865 immediately after the end of the German-Danish War...

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The naval arsenal mobilises

On board the floating units, the servicemen and women are to carry out more repairs themselves again. They receive support from the naval arsenal. In this day and age, you might ask yourself what the headline is supposed to mean. Is the naval arsenal calling in reservists for support? Has it recently started using its own boats in order to be more mobile? To answer these questions, a short preface is necessary. The Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, General Eberhard Zorn, has commissioned the Navy to take the lead in addressing the issue of immediate repairs in order to increase operational readiness. By January 2021, cooperation with the Naval Arsenal (MArs) in...

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Nordic defence

The Scandinavian navies can look back on a long history. Due to the confrontation with Russia, their importance in the North and Baltic Seas is growing again. The Scandinavian states of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland are traditionally closely linked. They are represented in the Nordic Council for cultural and political cooperation and in the Nordic Defence Cooperation Nordefco. The aim of the latter is to coordinate joint defence projects in the areas of procurement, logistics, training and defence planning. Norway, Denmark and Iceland, which do not have their own armed forces, are members of NATO, while the neutral states of Sweden and Finland have joined the EU and the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme.

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One last time HELGE INGSTAD

Three years after the sinking of the Norwegian frigate, the final questions have now been answered. As is so often the case, a chain of avoidable mistakes led to the disaster. The Norwegian 5400-tonne frigate HELGE INGSTAD was one of the Scandinavian kingdom's five major naval warships. It was built between 2006 and 2009, mainly at Navantia in northern Spain. The design was based on the Spanish type F 100 frigate, also known as the ÁLVARO DE BAZÁN. Construction number four of the FRIDTJOF NANSEN class collided with the Maltese 113,000-tonne tanker SOLA TS in Hjeltefjord, the northern entrance to Bergen, on 8 November 2018. The collision, which lasted for days,...

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Small forces, big impact

The Swedish navy also reduced the number of its units after the end of the Cold War. However, Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014 prompted those responsible to change their minds. On 18 May, the Swedish government officially submitted its application to join the NATO defence alliance. At the same time, NATO headquarters in Brussels received an application for membership from neighbouring Finland. In addition to the two Scandinavian countries, NATO itself will also benefit greatly from the accession - once all hurdles have been cleared and all 30 existing NATO member states have given their approval. Both countries bring modern and highly trained armed forces to the alliance, whose respective priorities...

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