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Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata launched ‘Kamorta’ the first Anti Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC) for the Indian Navy on April 19. The event coincides with Golden Jubilee Anniversary celebrations of GRSE.

Some interesting features of ASWC Kamorta and the launch are:

• Kamorta signifies an island, in the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands.
• Launched by Smt. Mamatha M, wife of the Minister of State of Defence, Shri M.M. Pallam Raju.
• Stealth corvette (Yard 3017), the first of the series of four under construction as Project 28.
• Expected to be commissioned by mid-2012.
• Three remaining corvettes are also under construction and are expected to be inducted into the Indian Navy by early 2015.
• Equipped with the latest indigenously developed Sonar to detect submarines, torpedo tubes, Improvised Rocket Launchers (IRL) and scutter (torpedo decoys) launchers.
• Has a very low signature of radiated underwater noise.

Here are some photographs from Press Information Bureau.

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A national seminar “Coast WATCH 2010 – Coastal Security of India” was held on February 24 at Seafarer’s Club, Chennai. The seminar enlightened the audience on Coastal Security scenario, its challenges and required responses.

Some interesting features of the seminar are:

• Conducted by the Department of Strategic Studies, University of Madras and the National Maritime Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
• Coast WATCH focused on Wherewithal, Attitudes, Technology, Coordination, Human resources relating to Coastal Security of India.
• The Seminar:
  • Inaugural session
    • Welcome Address was given by Prof Dr Gopalji Malviya – Head, Department of Strategic Studies, University of Madras.
    • Keynote Address was given by Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal, AVSM, the Commandant, Naval Academy, Ezhimala.
    • Special Address was given by Mr Rajesh Das, IPS, Inspector General of Police, Coastal Security Group, Tamil Nadu.
  • Plenary I – Strategy and Policy: Chair – Rear Admiral Venkat Shankar, VSM, CI (Navy), DSSC.
  • Plenary II – Functional and Institutional Security: Chair – Commodore S Shekhar, Regional Director, National Maritime Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
  • Plenary III – Systems and Technology: Chair – Mr R Ramamurthy, President, Cyber Society of India.
• The seminar was followed by an Open House: Moderator – Captain H Balakrishnan, Navy Foundation.
• Convenors
  • Dr S Utham Kumar Jamadhagni, Assistant Professor, Department of Strategic Studies, University of Madras.
  • Commander R Venkatesan, National Maritime Foundation, Chennai Chapter.

The seminar and the response from the audience highlighted certain thought provoking issues:

• During rough seas, sea sickness is bound to affect the performance of marine police as they are not professional seafarers.
• Need to recognise the role of fishermen in coastal security and to integrate them in coastal security operations like Territorial Army.
• Fully using Customs and Police (as they have informers) intelligence to enhance coastal security.
• Using acoustic sensors to detect low flying aircrafts along with coastal radars being installed in light houses.
• Use of GenKey’s Biocryptic Identity Management System to identify fishermen at sea with handheld units. This helps to instantly and accurately identify militants entering the coast through sea.
• All citizens need to have awareness on security.

However,

• developing indigenous nano-satellites by ISRO (like Nanosatellite Tracking of Ships – NTS in Canada) as a long term, cost effective solution for coastal security needs has to be taken up.
• developing marine mammals to detect underwater threat as a means to counter threats through underwater and means to identify and eliminate threats from armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones – launched from sea) need to be taken up.

Here are some photographs covering the seminar.

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The BEA (Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile), the French agency investigating the accident of Air France (AF) Flight 447 on June 01 over the Atlantic Ocean, has released the second Interim Report on December 17.

The search for locating the Flight Recorders and the aircraft wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean was carried out in two phases from June 10 to July 10 (phase 1) and from July 27 to August 17 (phase 2). The Flight Recorders could not be located from the ocean.

Now the BEA has recommended near-term, medium-term, long-term solutions to European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on aircrafts on public transport flights.

The recommendations are:

• near-term solution to implement as early as possible:
  • to extend the regulatory transmission time for Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) installed on flight recorders of aircrafts on public transport flights over maritime areas to 90 days from the existing 30 days.
  • to make it mandatory for aircrafts on public transport flights over maritime areas, be equipped with an additional ULB capable of transmitting on a frequency (for example between 8.5 kHz and 9.5 kHz) and for a duration adapted to the pre-localisation of wreckage.
• medium-term solution: to study the possibility of making it mandatory for aircrafts on public transport flights to regularly transmit basic flight data like position, altitude, speed, heading to Air Traffic Control.
• long-term solution: ICAO to ask the FLIRECP(19) group to establish proposals on the conditions for implementing deployable recorders of the Eurocae ED-112 type for airplanes performing public transport flights.

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HMS Astute, the biggest and most powerful stealth nuclear attack submarine, being built for the Royal Navy (RN) is ready to commence her first set of sea trials. Three more Astute class submarines Ambush, Artful and Audacious are under construction by BAE Systems shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria.  Astute is expected to be available for deployment by RN in 2010.

Some interesting features of Astute class submarines are:

• More complex than a Space Shuttle.
• Will never need refueling.
• Sonar suite has the processing power of 400 laptop computers.
• 97 metre long and the length is more than the length of 10 London buses.
• Has 11.2 metre beam that is more than the width of 4 London buses.
• To displace 7800 tonnes of sea water when fully loaded, equivalent to 65 blue whales or 975 unladen London buses.
• Modular construction followed.
• Has around 110 km of cabling and pipelines, that is equivalent to driving from Bristol to Oxford.
• Has more than three times the displacement of the last ‘conventionally’ powered submarine (HMS Upholder) built for the RN.
• Will be able to carry more torpedoes and tube launched missiles than any previous class of RN submarines – nuclear or conventionally powered.
• Can circumnavigate the world without surfacing and its dived endurance is limited only by the amount of food that can be carried and the endurance of the crew.
• Her sanitary fittings comprise five showers, five toilets, two urinals and eight hand basins for a crew of 98 (the Commanding Officer has his own hand basin).
• First RN submarine not to be fitted with optical periscopes.
• Has individual bunks for the whole crew and eleven extra bunks for ‘passengers’ and ‘sea riders’.
• Can produce its own oxygen from sea water to replenish the onboard atmosphere.
• Can purify the onboard atmosphere by removing and disposing of waste carbon dioxide, hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
• Can operate independently of the earth’s atmosphere for extended dived periods.
• Can compact and store onboard all the food waste and garbage arising from an extended patrol for eventual disposal on arrival back in harbour.
• Faster underwater than on the surface.
• Uses Sonar 2076 that has the world’s largest number of hydrophones of any sonar system in service today.
• On a 10 week patrol the crew would get through (on average) 18000 sausages and 4,200 Weetabix for breakfast.
• A team of 5 RN chefs (1x Petty Officer Caterer, 1x Leading Chef and 3x Chefs) provide 24 hour service to the crew of 98.

Here are some photographs from Royal Navy: HMS Astute during construction and leaving Barrow-in-Furness on her maiden voyage to start sea trials.

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NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) in Italy conducted the CATHARSIS2 sea trial from October 5-20 in the waters near Elba Island, Italy to investigate underwater object detection technologies. On October 20, harbour security demonstration for local military and civilian authorities was conducted at La Spezia, Italy. For the first time, U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Fleet Systems participated in these exercises.

Some interesting features of U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Systems (MMS), NURC and CATHARSIS2 sea trial are:

• U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Fleet Systems
  • Assigned to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group ONE (EODGRU ONE).
  • Uses dolphins and sea lions to find and mark the location of underwater objects.
  • Dolphins with their exceptional biological sonar can detect objects in the water column and on the sea floor.
  • Sea lions have very sensitive underwater directional hearing and exceptional vision in low light conditions.
  • MMS MK 4, MK 7 and MK 8 use dolphins.
  • MMS MK 5 uses sea lions.
  • MMS MK 6 uses both dolphins and sea lions.
  • MMS can be deployed rapidly within 72 hours of notice through ship, aircraft, helicopter, and land vehicles anywhere in the world and they regularly participate in major Fleet exercises.

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October 24 is an international day of climate action.

Here is the message from 350.org.

Dear World—

This is an invitation to build a movement—to take one day and use it to stop the climate crisis.

We are a group of people from around the planet—young and old, scientists and writers and activists—who have one thing in common. We know the most important number on earth: 350. And we know how to use that number to finally get global action on the worst crisis humans have ever faced. But we can only do it if you help.

A year ago, our greatest climatologist—NASA’s James Hansen—and his team produced a landmark series of studies. They showed that if we let the amount of carbon in the atmosphere go above 350 parts per million, we can’t have a planet “similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted.”

The bad news: We’re already past that number—we’re at 390 parts per million, which is why the Arctic is melting, why drought is spreading across the planet, why people are already dying from diseases like dengue fever and malaria occurring in places where they’ve never been seen before.

The good news: that number gives us a target to aim for. When the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to reach agreement on a new climate treaty, we need them to go farther than they’ve planned to go: we need to make sure they’ll pay attention to the latest science and put forward a plan that gets us back to safety.

So here’s the plan. On October 24, we need you to organize an action in the place where you live, something that will make that most important number visible to everyone. People in more than 1000 communities around the globe have already announced plans—they’ll be school children planting 350 trees in Bangladesh, scientists hanging banners saying 350 on the statues on Easter Island, 350 scuba divers diving underwater at the Great Barrier Reef, and a thousand more creative actions like these. At each event, people will gather for a big group photo that somehow depicts 350—and upload that photo to the web 350.org. As actions take place around the world, we’ll link all the pictures together electronically via the web–by the end of the day, we’ll have a powerful visual petition linking together the entire planet that we can deliver to the media and world leaders.

So far more than 150 nations are taking part—it’s shaping up to be to be the biggest day of grassroots action on global warming ever. But we need it to be much larger—we need you, in your village or town or city, to take part. It’s not hard—we can help you with materials and ideas. But you need to take the first step, by registering an action and starting to let your friends and neighbors know about it.

Involve groups that you’re in—everything from your church, mosque or synagogue to your local bicycle group. People want to help, especially if they see the chance for something that might actually matter. This is even more important than changing your lightbulb—this is your chance to help change the way the whole world operates. October 24 comes six weeks before those crucial UN meetings in Copenhagen. It’s a great chance to take a stand—maybe the last great chance, given what the scientists tell us about the momentum of global warming.

It can only happen with the help of a global movement—and it’s starting to bubble up everywhere. Farmers in Cameroon, students in China, even World Cup skiers have already helped spread the word about 350. Churches have rung their bells 350 times; Buddhist monks have formed a huge 350 with their bodies against the backdrop of Himalayas. 350 translates across every boundary of language and culture. It’s clear and direct, cutting through the static and laying down a firm scientific line.

This is like a final exam for human beings. Can we muster the courage, the commitment, and the creativity to set this earth on a steady course before it’s too late? October 24 will be the joyful, powerful day when we prove it’s possible.

Please join us and register your local action today.

Onwards,

Bill McKibben – Author and Activist- USA Vandana Shiva – Physicist, Activist, Author – India David Suzuki – Scientist, Author, Activist – Canada Bianca Jagger – Chair of the World Future Council – UK Tim Flannery – Scientist, Author, Explorer -Australia Bittu Sahgal – Editor of Sanctuary magazine – India Andrew Simmons – Environmental Advocate, St. Vincent & The Grenadines Christine Loh – Environmental Advocate and Legislator – Hong Kong

P.S.—We need you to do something else, right away, that’s pretty easy. Please forward this message to anyone you know who is even remotely appropriate.

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The 8th Annual Maritime Security Expo (MSE) 2009 Conference is ready to commence on October 20.

Some interesting features of the two day MSE 2009 Conference are:

• To be held at Long Beach Convention Center – Long Beach, CA
• Over 80 speakers are to focus on: Weathering the Perfect Storm – Faltering Economies, Climate Change and Maritime Security Regulations – How do we improve the security and flow of maritime commerce in challenging times?
• Topics to be discussed
  • Small Vessel Security: What have we learned? What’s next?
  • Underwater Security: Who can respond? What technology can help?
  • Maritime Fusion Centers: Preventing information overload – How do we cut through the clutter to see the threats?
  • Piracy: Prevention and Protection- Government provided or self-help? – What are the challenges and solutions and is the threat spreading beyond the littorals?
  • Anti-Piracy Training and Research: What are the current best practices and how can it be enhanced?
  • Piracy: Ship and Crew Captured- now what? Is paying ransom the best answer? - Challenges and solutions to a vexing problem
  • TWIC: Implementation has started- What’s been done, how is it working, does it improve security, and what can be done better?
  • Smuggling: Ensuring cargo integrity before loading and in transit- CSI and long-range vessel tracking – Where are we? What are the challenges? What are the risks and costs? What can technology do to help?
  • Traffic Management: Port closes, where to? – What are the issues, who makes the decisions, and are regulations required?
  • Persistent Surveillance Vehicles- New tool for Maritime Security?
  • Cyber Security & Technology: What are the maritime vulnerabilities? What are the protection strategies?
  • Northwest Passage: What’s happening in the Arctic?
  • Shipping LNG, LPG, Oil: What are future trends, risks, and mitigation options?
  • International Port/Facility Security: Are there too many security redundancies between U.S. and foreign ports? What can be done to create a more effective and efficient international security system?
  • Small and Medium Ports: How much security is required? What can be done to make it affordable?
  • Your Security Patrols- Are they really random? How do you maximize their deterrence value?
  • Security Intelligence: Information received, now what? How do you sanitize and distribute with a feedback loop?
  • After Action Report on Mumbai Attack

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World’s first ever underwater cabinet meeting was held in Maldives on October 17. The underwater meeting is part of world wide campaign by international environmental NGO 350.org. to bring atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide to the safe threshold of 350 parts per million (ppm) from the present level of 387 ppm.

Some interesting features of the underwater cabinet meeting in Maldives are:

• Meeting to draw global attention to the pressing issue of climate change.
• Meeting held about four metres below sea level at Kaafu atoll, Girifushi.
• President Mohamed Nasheed signed a declaration calling for global action on climate change. The statement will be presented at the landmark UN climate change talks in Copenhagen this December.
• Prior to the meeting, ministers took scuba diving lessons from Divers Association Maldives (DAM). President Nasheed is already a PADI Advanced Open Water diver.
• President Mohamed Nasheed and his ministers dressed in scuba suits used hand signals and slates to communicate underwater during the meeting.
• The signed wet suits of the ministers are being auctioned to raise money for coral reef protection in the Maldives.

Here are some more photographs of the underwater cabinet meeting.

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The 49th Genoa International Boat Show is ready to start on October 03.
Some interesting features of 49th Genoa International Boat Show are:

• To be held from October 03 to 11 at Genoa.
• Over 1,450 exhibitors.
• 2,400 boats – from small rowing boats to maxi-yachts.
• Organized by Fiera di Genova and UCINA-Confindustria Nautica.
• Conferences and other events:
  • Boating Industry General Assembly with a goal to identify practical, effective solutions to some of the main issues involving the boating sector, including taxation, protected marine areas, the creation of a widespread boating culture, and the organisation of nautical tourism.
  • Round Tables with specific themes: The boating industry – a new geography of “Made in Italy”; Nautical tourism as a driving force for coastal areas: from ports to inland areas; EU boating policies for the Mediterranean; The Boating Sector meets the Environment; When the sea washes schools: from playing to building a career.
• 300,000 square metre exhibition surface both ashore and in the sea.

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A tsunami as a result of a strong underwater earthquake in the South Pacific, in Samoa islands region on September 29 killed hundreds of people in several islands. Though every tsunami is a result of an ocean floor earth quake, every underwater earthquake does not trigger a tsunami. Tsunami with 3 metre high waves was observed at Apia, Western Samoa, Pago Pago and American Samoa.

Though earthquakes and subsequent warnings on possible tsunamis are issued by international agencies, the information takes long time to reach the likely victims. As a result loss of human lives are not minimized.

It seems in Samoa initially tsunami warning was issued and later withdrawn causing confusion to the general public about tsunami.

Stay up-to-date on earthquakes and tsunamis, by subscribing to get Earthquake Notification Service and Tsunami Warnings to your email account/mobile phone.

Here are the details available on Earthquake and subsequent Tsunami warnings of the Samoa islands:

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INMEX India 2009, a Trade Exhibition and Forum on “Transforming India as a Maritime Hub” starts on September 24 at Mumbai.

Some interesting features of INMEX India 2009 are:

• On its 10th year, the 6th edition of INMEX India 2009 aims to develop India as a Maritime Hub.
• Over 400 Indian and international exhibitors are participating.
• Exhibitors are from: Shipbuilding, Ship repair, Marine offshore technology, Dredging, Ports and port technology, Ocean engineering, Marine equipment, Underwater robotics.
• Visitors are from: Navy, Coastguard, Port authorities, Government, Shipping companies, Shipbuilding and design, Dredging companies, Offshore and oil rig companies, Cargo handlers, Logistics providers.
• Also has Round Table Sessions and exclusive B2B meetings:
  • Round Table Session-1: Role of Ports & Logistics in Building a Maritime Hub.
  • Round Table Session-2: Shipping as an Infrastructural Sector of the Maritime Hub.
  • Round Table Session-3: Roadmap for India as a Hub for Ship Building & Equipment Sources.
  • Round Table Session-4: Offshore Services beyond Resource Exploration – An Insight.
  • Round Table Session-5: Profitable Logistics through Costal Shipping & Inland Waterways Infrastructure – The Reality.
  • Round Table Session-6: Regional Maritime Corridors & Maritime Promotion Council – A Unified Strategy in Transforming India as the Maritime Hub of the Future.
• Exclusive Maritime Workshop – in partnership with Holland Marine Equipment Association & The Royal Government of The Netherlands
  • Session 1: State-of-the-Art Dredging Technologies.
  • Session 2: Sustainable Port Development.
• Being held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai till September 26.
• Exhibitor list is here.

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Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) first submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman (KD TAR), arrived at KD Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, naval base in Pulau Indah,  Malaysia on September 03. The submarine received a grand welcome from Yang Di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, RMN captain-in-chief the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Scorpene (SSK) on delivery by French military shipyard DCNS, left France on July 09. submarine acquisition by Malaysia will not set off a submarines race in the region as neighbouring countries like Singapore has four submarines and Vietnam has ordered six Kilo-class submarines. Malaysia’s development of a submarine base at Teluk Sepanggar, Sabah indicates that the submarine would be active in the South China Sea.

Commemorative stamps and first-day covers of KD Tunku Abdul Rahman were also released as part of the event.

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The world’s largest fully integrated defence and security biennial exhibition, Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) 2009 is scheduled to be held from September 08–11 at ExCeL London.

The latest land, air and sea capabilities from more than 1,350 companies from 40 countries are expected to be displayed.

Latest products in the following categories are to be displayed: Soldier systems & equipment; Communications; Surveillance; UAV; Marine; Electronics; Commercial; British Army Export Support Team – demonstration; Weapons, Defensive Systems, Munitions and Accessories; Field equipment; Vehicles & Equipment.

Some of the marine products to be displayed are:

• Fast Marine Target Drones (FMTD) System: high speed, cost-effective expendable target by ASV FMTD.
• New range of rigid inflatables from Watercraft specialist Brunswick Commercial and Government Products.
• Combat Ballistic Amphibious Shield System (CBASS) by CamlockTGE (Tactronics Tactical Systems Division).
• Virtually unsinkable floating barrier by Cochrane Steel Products.
• Next generation vessels by the DCNS Group.
• Free standing aircraft flight deck handling system by Douglas SPD, the special products division of Douglas Equipment.
• Combined navigation and C2: Integrated Navigation and Tactical System (INTS) by OSI Geospatial Inc.

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The Deep Siren Tactical Paging (DSTP) system being developed by Raytheon, allows a command station to communicate with a  submarine in real-time regardless of the submarine’s operating speed or depth.

Presently submarines have to come closer to the sea surface to communicate by using Electro Magnetic (EM) waves in ELF band (Extremely Low Frequency; 30 Hz – 300 Hz), in VLF band (Very low frequency; 3 kHz – 30 kHz), in HF band (High Frequency; 3 MHz – 30 MHz).

Some interesting features of DSTP are:

• Comprises of
  • a command station
  • one or more EM to acoustic gateway expendable buoys
  • an acoustic receive station on board the submarine
• The vital Deep Siren acoustic gateway buoy
  • can be launched
    • from a submarine through the trash disposal unit
    • from a maritime patrol aircraft through the sonobuoy launch tube
    • by a surface craft
  • has worldwide connectivity with the command station through a commercial satellite data link.
  • translates satellite communication messages into a reliable low data rate underwater acoustic signal that is received and decoded by the acoustic receiving station onboard the submarine.
• Communication range is in excess of 150 nautical miles from the buoy.
• November 2007: Raytheon was awarded a U.S. Navy contract valued at $5.2 million for development of DSTP system.
• August 2008: U.S Navy successfully completed a series of tests of DSTP system at the Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) deep water range in the Bahamas.
• Further evaluation by the Royal Navy was conducted this year during TAURUS 09 deployment.
• Raytheon leads the team by providing Mission Systems Integration along with partners
  • RRK Technologies, Ltd (U.K) for Deep Siren long range acoustic transmit and receive algorithms
  • Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems (Canada) for building the expendable buoy and launch vehicle
• Raytheon is further working on airborne certification of Deep Siren, which will allow the system’s buoys to be deployed by aircraft.

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NEPTUNE Canada, the world’s largest cabled ocean observatory is nearing completion and is expected to be operational by September. This regional seafloor observatory is a project of Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a not-for-profit society created by the University of Victoria. ONC aims to build and sustain Canada’s world leadership in ocean science and technology.
Some interesting features of NEPTUNE Canada are:

• Acronym for: North East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Network Experiments.
• The underwater seafloor observatory is coming up, off the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
• This regional-scale underwater ocean observatory provides an opportunity to surf the seafloor through internet.
• Ocean scientists across the world, will be able to run offshore and deep-sea experiments and receive real-time data without leaving their laboratories and universities.
• The network, which extends across the Juan de Fuca plate, will gather live data from the seafloor instruments deployed in a broad spectrum of undersea environments.
• Data will be transmitted via high-speed fibre optic communications from the seafloor to an innovative data archival system at the University of Victoria.
• This system will provide free Internet access to an immense wealth of data, both live and archived throughout the life of the observatory.
• To remain operational for a minimum period of 25 years.
• Applications:
  • useful for broad studies on seismic and tsunami activity, ocean-climate interactions and their effects on fisheries, gas hydrate deposits, and seafloor ecology.
  • will also promote new developments in marine underwater technology: fibre-optic communications, power systems design, data management, and sensors and robotics.
• The University of Victoria, signed a contract with Alcatel to design, manufacture and install the infrastructure for NEPTUNE Canada’s cabled ocean observatory in October 2005.
• Cost: more than $100 million.

The system components:

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