 |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Military authorities here have confirmed Tuesday's Korea Times report that classified information on the possibility of Somali pirates' acquisition of U.S. surface-to-air guided missiles was recently reported to the Ministry of National Defense.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) belatedly promised Wednesday to come up with countermeasures. Earlier, the JCS public affairs office denied the information.
According to an informed military source, the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul delivered a memo to the defense ministry's information bureau on April 5.
Carrying a picture of the U.S. Stinger missile system, the memo said intelligence was collected that Somalia's pirates were presumed to have obtained the shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile from al-Qaeda, so South Korea's military should be on alert and come up with proper countermeasures, the source said.
The information was subsequently distributed to the Cheonghae unit operating off the coast of Somalia and other related naval units here, he said.
The source added the information is believed to have been gathered either from the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain or the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida.
The Stinger missile is a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile developed in the United States for service in 1981. The shoulder-launched weapon has to date been responsible for downing 270 aircraft. The missile can hit targets flying as high as 3,500 meters at a speed of Mach 2. It has a range of 8 kilometers.
Cheonghae's Lynx helicopter is known to be vulnerable to any anti-aircraft guided missile attacks since it has no missile countermeasure devices and sensors, including flare dispensers and radar warning receivers.
Almost all other coalition forces' patrol helicopters operating off Somalia's coast are equipped with proper anti-aircraft missile protection equipment.
``Even after receiving the warning message, unfortunately, the JCS has been quite lukewarm toward coming up with proper countermeasures, citing budgetary problems or saying the intelligence has not been proved 100 percent,'' the source said.
``It's very regretful because we can't and shouldn't exclude even 1 percent of the possibility that our soldiers overseas would lose their lives because of insufficient equipment or lack of preparedness,'' he said.
A JCS spokesman said that necessary surveillance equipment, including 25-kilometer-range marine glasses for helicopter pilots, would be delivered to Cheonghae soon as part of short-term measures.
In mid- to long-term measures, the JCS is considering setting aside money to fit anti-aircraft missile protection systems to a Lynx helicopter of Cheonghae's second contingent to be deployed by September to replace the first contingent, said the spokesman.
``We will come up with countermeasures required to cope with any potential threats, including that from Stinger-like anti-aircraft missiles, by pirates against Cheonghae,'' he said.
Since it was deployed in March, the 4,500-ton destroyer-based Korean naval contingent has shown one of the most outstanding anti-piracy performances among coalition forces operating off the troubled waters.
From the time it began operations last month, the unit's Lnyx ― carrying sharpshooters ― has successfully rescued four foreign vessels, including a North Korean cargo ship, from the heavily-armed pirates.
The Somali pirates reportedly run sophisticated operations using high-tech equipment such as satellite phones, rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers and GPS receivers. They are also known to have acquired Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles such as the SA-7 and SA-18.
Located along the route of a crude-oil pipeline connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and racked by civil war, Somalia's coastline has become infamous for piracy.
Each year, about 20,000 ships, including some 460 South Korean vessels, sail throughout the Gulf of Aden headed for the Suez Canal, an important shipping route for international trade that links Europe to the Middle East and Asia.
The International Maritime Organization counted 111 attacks in 2008 in the Arabian Sea near Somalia, the most notorious location for such activity.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
![[INTERVIEW] Actor Ko Kyoung-pyo explains why he doesn't obsess over lead roles](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/5dfecd3b148845758412eb8826adf928.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
