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Finmeccanica subsidiary Selex Sistemi Integrati has signed a EUR 20 million (currently about $26 million) contract with the Yemenite Coast Guard for the supply of its Vessel Traffic System (VTS). The delivery, due to be completed within 2008, includes a national control center in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a, an area control centre in Aden, 6 local control centers, 12 radar workstations and 2 mobile units. All centres will be in net and connected with the national centre in Sana'a. VTS is already in use with Greece, Russia, Poland, and Italy which boasts the largest installation. See release.
The system will provide coverage of about 450 kilometres along Yemen's Red Sea coasts, and in front of the Eritrean and Somalian coasts, and "represents a first step of a complete surveillance programme including two further development phases." The release adds that Yemen's system "will deploy its capabilities also to prevent piracy, intrusion, international smuggling and will be open to allow integration of further capabilities for naval security."
This all needs to be seen in the context of events across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Smuggling via Yemen has been a major point of entry for radical Islamists from many countries who are sympathetic to the Salafist Islamic Courts guerillas in Somalia, and for supplies. Piracy is also a growing concern in that area, so close to the passage from the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal. Control of that area is critical, and reference to "the Eritrean and Somalian coasts" quietly leaves out Djibouti - an important base for western navies, the French Foreign Legion, and US Marines in the region. Selex Sistemi's contract and follow-on phases will make it far easier for Yemen's government to control those access points in future - or to allow others to do so. If they wish to.
Minor detail - the map is a bit outdated - it has Ethiopia on the Red Sea vice Eritrea. I recommend this one (for the same perspective). The Perry-Castaneda collection at UT on line is generally a pretty good source.
Ethiopia is now land-locked, unless you count the Somali coastline ....
Thanks for the tip. Fixed that and switched the map.
Hi
I think this last comment is a fake.
Readers may be aware of "Alan's" recent formal ban from my threads. This would seem to be an open defiance of that ban.... BUT looking at the IP addresses logged for the comments that triggered the ban, and for this comment, show that the original set was in the USA (dyn.optonline.net and NJ College of Medicine and Dentistry), while the "Hi" comment comes from someone in Britain.
Though the commenter signs with a QinetiQ (defense R&D firm) address, the IP traces to a cable.ntl.com node. Somehow, I doubt that QinetiQ uses cable modems.
The IP address of the person who attempted this deception is banned, and will remain so pending an attempted email to the address given and possible response.