Category: Security policy

Back to the roots

During the Cold War, the aim was to deny the Warsaw Pact access to the western Baltic Sea. At the same time, the North Atlantic had to be secured for the supply of material and troops from the USA and Canada. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the focus shifted to the Mediterranean. First there were crisis operations in the Adriatic, then the Mediterranean became the EU's southern flank and later its external border, which is still evident 30 years later in the Navy's numerous Mediterranean deployments. Since then, it has also been involved in numerous missions in the Horn of Africa between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The navy is currently operating to protect shipping...

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Oceans in danger

Millions of people are directly dependent on a well-functioning marine ecosystem - and many more indirectly. The global fight against illegal fishing is an important element in preserving this basis of life. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF) is a significant problem for both regional and global maritime security. IUU fishing has significant negative economic and environmental impacts and even affects inter-state relations. Fish stocks, the maritime environment and entire economic sectors are affected. IUUU includes fishing without proper licences, misreporting of catches and the...

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Cable clutter

Underwater cables are one of the lifelines of the global economy. Time and again, dubious incidents occur on the seabed. Pipelines on the seabed have recently been in the news. But what about the other underwater infrastructure, the telecommunications, supply and energy cables, here and in the hot spots of the earth? In 1858, the first transatlantic submarine cable was put into operation between the USA and Europe. Since then, 600 submarine communication cables have been laid worldwide, totalling four million kilometres in length, through which, among other things, 97 percent of all Internet data is transported. Compared to these fixed connections, communication via satellite is around fifteen times more expensive. Underwater cables...

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With mosquitoes against the bear

Interview with the former Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Igor Kabanenko, by Hans Uwe Mergener and Holger Schlüter. Can you give us an insight into the current state of the Ukrainian navy? How do you see its future? Ukraine's naval forces entered the war when the Strategy for the Development of Ukraine's Naval Forces until 2035, adopted in 2018, was just beginning to be implemented, i.e. during a transitional period. A key part of this strategy included the creation of so-called Mosquito capabilities, i.e. a fleet of small, fast and highly manoeuvrable manned combat platforms. Let me take this opportunity to access marineforum digital+ You are already...

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Performance-based awarding of ship maintenance services

How can public clients set the right incentives in order to obtain optimal offers for the maintenance of naval units? Because not (everything) is a question of price. There is public consensus on the subject of Bundeswehr procurement: It needs to be accelerated and improved. There is less unanimity on the question of how exactly this should be done. The Bundeswehr Procurement Acceleration Act of 11 July 2022 focuses on deregulating the framework conditions under procurement law. It therefore saw the acceleration of procurement as essentially a regulatory task. The Federal Minister of Defence set access marineforum digital+ Are you already a registered user? Log in here now - also...

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