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Report (exclusive) with the "Luxembourgish" planes of Atalanta in the Seychelles

AirplaneMerlinIIISEYCH-898b.jpg(BRUSSELS2 / Mahe, Seychelles) Outside, the blue lagoon, the sun and the luxury boats. Inside a house, rather charming, functional, which looks more like a holiday residence than a work building. A few computers on a table, maps and documents.

We are at the PC of CAE aviation, a private Luxembourg company commissioned by the government of the Grand Duchy to operate within the EU anti-piracy force "EUNAVFOR Atalanta" (*). I was, in fact, able to obtain from Luxembourgers who were very, very discreet about this participation, the authorization to enter the holy of holies: the office-housing which serves as headquarters for the "Luxembourgish" airmen and analysts (among them many French or British).

Seasoned "private"

A dozen people, pilots, co-pilots, observers take turns to serve two “Merlin III” maritime surveillance planes (another plane is in reserve). Most of the people present on this mission are former soldiers, often French, experienced in various security assistance missions. Cost for the Grand Duchy: 4 million euros, according to the Ministry of Defence.

This is the first time that a private company has been integrated into an EU military system in this way. It is not a question of a few people, as sometimes, in charge of stewardship or logistics, but it is an entire operational unit which is entrusted to the private sector. The advantage is obvious: flexibility, discretion, and… speed of deployment. Thus CAE Aviation arrived in the archipelago before the signing by the European Union of a SOFA agreement with the Seychelles. The civil structure also has the advantage of requiring less formalism and fewer men than a military structure.

The usefulness of this mission no longer needs to be demonstrated. Its positioning in the Seychelles has been very useful, with the extension of the area of ​​action of the Somali pirates. It has enabled a number of missions to locate ships seized by pirates, starting with the Spanish fishing vessel alakrana or the Chinese freighter By Xin Hai, guidance of naval forces, which led to some arrests of pirates.

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... It's 8 am, time for the briefing

The three crew members concerned gather in a corner of the room to be described the mission plan. The different landmarks are mentioned: presence of warships from Atalanta for example (the Bremen this time in the zone), the other planes present (in reserve the French Atlantique II). And of course, the obligatory weather report: great weather today... The team leaves for the airport, located a few kilometers away. This is the advantage of this positioning. In a few tens of minutes, the crew can be in the air. When the alert for theAlakrana, within 40 minutes the aircraft was in position.

CAEAviationBriefMorning*014b

Two analysts remain on site at the PC who serve as an interface between the plane and the Atalanta HQs (FHQ on board the ship or OHQ in London). They are responsible for preparing the mission, transforming the ATO (the flight order) into a cartographic background: “ we draw a theoretical flight line and the turning points (where the plane turns to take another direction), with identification of points of reference worthy of interest (such as Atalanta units) ". The aircraft normally does not overrun the ATO.

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The links with the aircraft are made by e-mail – according to a simplified messaging system – and if necessary by VHF radio. In the event of a suspicious boat, a message is immediately sent – ​​with the coordinates. Then, in general, the continuation is done by direct telephony (Satacom or VHF Marine). The links with the PC of Atalanta pass, in general, by the secure computer system of "chat", "Mercury", or, if necessary, by telephone. Each warship present in the zone announces itself with, in general, the usual formula of "Buenos dias".

On the somewhat boosted Macintosh screen, several windows (which I was able to observe for a long time and of which I cannot trace everything, due to a defense secret) are displayed at the same time: the skytrack, a web application making it possible to follow the plane in real time (altitude, position, etc.) with a "google" type base map. Preformatted messages (merchant ship, suspicious ship, etc.) have been pre-recorded to speed up the writing and transmission of messages. When a message arrives, a "beep" sounds to warn the analyst to dive back into the screen as soon as possible...

An in-house software system (CAE Workshop) was designed, which “ makes it possible to manage everything: flight hours, classified documentation, storage of information necessary for the mission, coupled with a base map (with Geoconcept) making it possible to identify, geographically, each of the missions. We trace the events so that they are then in the report explains one of the image analysts (IMINT).

On board the plane, a pilot, a co-pilot, and a camera operator (Senso). But the most important thing, in a way, is also the material. The Merlin III have a total autonomy of 7h30 in flight (or 6 hours of flight if we take into account a reserve). They are coated with a special paint that reflects less than 20% light and infrared, quite difficult to detect in flight.

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These devices are equipped with MX 15 HD cameras, high definition, which can go up to a resolution of 50 MB. The whole coupled with a system of digital maps and video recorders, very useful when it comes to to transmit what has been seen, to establish a report, or even to serve as evidence (or beginning of evidence) in the event of legal proceedings. At 2500 meters in height and 3500 meters away from the "target", we can thus identify whether a man is armed on a boat or " a man's cigarette ».

As soon as the aircraft returns, there is a debriefing with the operator. " We recover the cassette and the computer file. The raw images are immediately sent to CTF 465 HQ (Atalanta). In a more detailed way, an analysis of the images is then made. All these elements (the ATO, the flight line, the images shot, analysis, etc.) are found in a report sent to Atalanta HQ, in the form of a Powerpoint document.

The "Luxembourgers" have little time for this: according to the contract, in fact, they must send their mission report within two hours. " In case of positive detection, we also send a video report with a small story board. The video brings an interesting element. It is easier to grasp actions, such as, for example, the transfer of weapons to a boat or the fact of getting rid of weapons in water. The movement allows to apprehend the details »

Images are essential, indeed. They can be used as evidence, if necessary in court for indictment, and first of all to convince a State to agree to bring suspects to justice. They are also used to feed the database on identified suspicious vessels. " The pirate ships stand out from each other. If the skiffs are identical, they also have marks, defects, which allow them to be identified. We thus spot details on the hull, on the frame for the mothers ships. We study the engines. So we can say with near certainty that such a boat is the same as the one that took part in an attack or not, or that it is probable “, explains one of the persons in charge of the operation. " We actually do second level analysis ».

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

CAE Aviation, from aircraft maintenance to Frontex operations and Atalanta

Based in Luxembourg, in Findel, CAE Aviation has 86 employees, of 14 different nationalities, often former soldiers, has a turnover of 13 million euros (for a company with a capital of 800.000 euros). Initially focused on aeronautical maintenance, it specialized in air support for government services and NGOs. In particular, she worked for Frontex, the European border security agency in Malta, Greece, Slovenia and Hungary, but also in third countries: in Senegal and Mauritania in particular, to “trace up immigration channels. It is more easier "for a civil aircraft to do this job than for a military aircraft we explain to CAE Aviation. "It's more discreet. And this therefore makes it possible to go to the countries at the source migration ". She also operated for the EU military operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Althea). CAE Aviation has 14 aircraft, with quite a few flight hours to their credit: 4000 hours for 2009 (3500 hours for 2008). It also has its own parachute training ground, civil and military, in Lapalisse. The Dutch parachute brigade finished its training there. Advantage for the armed forces, “ the cost is three to four times lower than military training and it frees up the necessary military resources (NB: the Dutch forces have only two C130 planes, one is occupied by the links with Kandahar, the other is under review or maintenance).


(*) This report was produced in mid-October 2009

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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