Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

Another Deadly fisheries Dispute–India v. Sri Lanka

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We have a report of another fatal encounter between fishermen and fisheries enforcement personnel. In this case, it is Indian Fishermen and the Sri Lankan Navy, with shots fired at three fishermen and one killed. There are calls for the Indian government to protect the fishermen from the Sri Lankan Navy. The initial reaction from Sri Lanka is that its Navy was not in the area, is under strict instruction not to use deadly force, and they will investigate. At least this time, it is not a question of who has jurisdiction over the waters.

Thanks to http://combatfleetoftheworld.blogspot.com/ for the heads up.

Return of the Swarm

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A couple of interesting posts over at Information Dissemination today that bear on unconventional naval warfare in general, and Iran’s swarm tactics in particular.

First there is a discussion of how the Sri Lankan military defeated similar tactics by the Tamil Tigers separatist group, essentially by developing a swarm of there own, and by putting security teams on merchant ships.

There is also a discussion of why the US Navy appears unprepared to deal with these tactics.

We touched on this earlier. If there was an urgent need to develop a “swarm” of our own, it’s likely the Navy would again turn to the Coast Guard as a source for a large number of trained coxswains and small boat operators. They might even want some of our boats.

I can’t see our navy using swarm tactics offensively. They would use helicopters for that. But I can see them using them defensively, to protect vessels transiting the Straits of Hormuz.