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South Africa:CSIR Technology to Support Anti-Piracy Operations |
| Source: |
www.csir.co.za/ |
| Source Date: |
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 |
| Focus: |
Knowledge Management in Government
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| Country: |
South Africa |
| Created: |
Jul 24, 2012 |
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As a result of increased piracy along the east coast of Africa, a growing number of shipping companies have had to route their ships via the Cape Sea Route instead of using the Suez Canal. After requests from foreign governments and industry, and after incidents on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) coastline, South Africa has had to consider effective means to combat such activities and safeguard the integrity of South Africa’s maritime domain. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) identified the need to have a more extensive, more agile and high-speed maritime capability ready for rapid deployment at sea; it soon became clear that Navy ships needed to carry more than just their own workboats. The solution also needed to be rapidly deployable and recoverable from and to the ship while underway.
Based on their research into controlled surface deployment of boats from moving ships, the CSIR’s maritime security team came up with a removable davit system that fits onto a shipping container footprint mounted and adapted on the ship’s deck. The system was put through stringent sea trials along the Cape Peninsula with various boats of differing design from the Maritime Reaction Squadron, South African Special Forces as well as the SA Navy.
The davit system can accommodate boats of various hull shapes weighing up to 5 tonnes. The system comprises a wave compensating hydraulic davit system mounted on a load vector compensating base. The base also houses the drive system with local and remote controls, stored energy for a full deployment and recovery operation, as well as the logistic support equipment needed for the boat. Boats, as well as crew, can be lowered and retrieved safely by the davit system while the ship is underway. Two of these davit systems are normally fitted to a ship, with another two boats housed in the ships boat bay on CSIR-developed cradle systems.
During the development phase and sea trials, the SANDF needed to respond to an actual piracy threat on the east coast of Africa. With the pilot model installed, the SA Navy had their first success with the CSIR’s new system – despite it still being a demonstrator version. With such technology as building blocks to a highly mobile, integrated maritime capability, the SA Navy is in a stronger position to counter maritime threats, protect maritime assets (including natural resources), as well as economic sea-lines of communication, against multi-national crime syndicates. It is also better equipped to safeguard the integrity of territorial waters along the South African – and broader African – coasts.
These trials with the davit system, ended with the SA Navy awarding the project team a Bravo Zulu – Navy-speak for a job well done.
Apart from successfully supporting integrated naval operations on the east coast of Africa, the CSIR-developed capability has also allowed the SA Navy to conduct extended operations up the west coast of Africa, ensuring that the SANDF’s mandated responsibilities within the SADC and African Union security environments are met.
More systems were subsequently developed to outfit navy frigates, as well as the combat support vessel SAS Drakensburg, for missions on a rotation basis. This allowed the SA Navy to integrate its warship capability with various specialised elements within the SANDF to create an extended off board capability. This capability includes visit, board, search and seizure, interdiction, insertion and recovery over beaches, as well as augmenting search and rescue capabilities.
The development of the removable davit system has resulted in technology packages that have attracted international attention. The system also potentially offers good business opportunities for small and medium enterprise (SME) organisations to support the manufacturing processes involved, stimulating the engineering environment supporting ship building and support within South Africa.
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South Africa:CSIR Technology to Support Anti-Piracy Operations The CSIR developed a novel hosting system that allows for the loading of more – and different types of – boats onto ships giving the South African Navy SA Navy an effective and rapidly deployable tool against acts of piracy
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