SAF HANDS OVER COMMAND OF CTF 151

Rear-Admiral (RADM) Harris Chan from the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) handed over the command of the multi-national anti-piracy task force, Combined Task Force (CTF) 151, to Captain (CAPT) Jim Gilmour from New Zealand, on board United States Navy (USN) destroyer USS Mason on 30 Jun.

As the coordinator for the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden, the command team coordinated counter-piracy operations with naval forces from the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), the European Union Naval Forces, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces as well as navies from other countries.

The Singapore-led command team was in charge of CTF 151 from March to June this year, and comprised 27 Singaporeans and eight liaison officers from the navies of Brunei, Indonesia, New Zealand, Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

"During our three-month tenure, I'm happy to report that no merchant vessels suffered from pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin. The credit goes to not only CTF 151, but also the counter-piracy task force of the European Union and NATO," RADM Chan said at the handover ceremony.

In fact, the last report of a pirated vessel occured on 8 Sep last year. RADM Chan credited this achievement to the various able IRTC coordinators before him.

"I'm very proud to report that we commanded six disruptions on pirate vessels, and worked very closely with the warships from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States during these disruptions," added RADM Chan.

Vice-Admiral (VADM) Mark Fox, Commander of CMF, who was the witnessing officer at the ceremony, said: "As an active member of CMF, the RSN is a key partner in deterring, disrupting and suppressing piracy. Singapore has led the counter-piracy task force for the second time with a professional and dedicated attitude, and under the command of RADM Chan, CTF 151 has made a tremendous impact on the counter-piracy effort."

The Singapore Armed Forces also deployed a Fokker-50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft in April this year to perform maritime air surveillance in the Gulf of Aden. It will return to Singapore at the end of July.

Another task group, comprising Landing Ship Tank RSS Endeavour and two Super Puma helicopters, will be deployed to the Gulf of Aden in August this year.