The Seychelles: an air hub in the fight against piracy
(BRUSSELS2) The Seychelles are becoming, more than ever, an essential point in the fight against piracy at the air level. The ambition of the Seychellois transport minister, Joel Morgan, to create a "hub" (1) is now somewhat realized.
At the moment, according to the information I have, from a good source, there would be 5 to 6 EUNAVFOR Atalanta maritime patrol or surveillance planes, based in the Seychelles: the two Luxembourg planes (+ 1 reserve), the Swedish coast guard plane Dash 8, the Portuguese P3 Orion (planned for Djibouti, it was finally placed in the Seychelles, no place in the parking lot), and a French Falcon 50 (which will "stay" there for a few weeks). Each of its planes has a purpose and can cover the entire southern Somali basin. Within a shorter radius are the Luxembourg Merlin IIIs; beyond that, the other aircraft which can reach as far as the Kenyan or Tanzanian coasts (up to the limit of 11° South set as the operating limit for Atalanta).
The Swedish Dash 8 were particularly noticed by specialists. " VS'is quite ingenious what the Swedes have done. They took a basic civilian plane and then installed a whole series of electronic and communication devices inside, from the national industrialist Ericson, but also from Israeli manufacturers. This also explains why some photos of the Dash 8 (Blue bird), released by official sources, have been masked or blurred.
Other means: Drones, Patmar, Helicopters, Awacs... Useful?
US drones would no longer be active on the island. The objective of the US drones was perhaps not only to locate the pirates... But their usefulness of observation was noticed. " The big advantage is their duration in flight. And also their flexibility of commitment (the safety rules are obviously less strict than for planes and helicopters that carry personnel). On the other hand, they have no possibility of intervention. In this, the couple maritime patrol aircraft (PatMar for short) - helicopter remains an unequaled instrument. We can go far enough, set an objective, and guide a helicopter on it which can intervene and thwart directly l'attaque. In general, at the sound of the helicopter and the first warning shot, the pirates decamp ". The Spaniards could in turn deploy drones according to press reports. And the Americans still have drones on board ships.
The Patmar-Helicopter couple is thus one of the most effective and innovative vectors of the EUNAVFOR-Atalanta operation. The Europeans are, in fact, the only ones to have all this panoply. The Americans and Australians of CTF-151 have a large number of P3 Orion planes but use them very little against piracy. As for NATO, it has no planes. Well, not yet, it should be equipped soon.
As for the Awacs, the French experience has not yet been renewed and does not seem ready to be. NATO would like to be able to deploy them. But this deployment comes up against a financial question - as for Afghanistan elsewhere. Who will pay? The Germans are not warm (apart from the legislative difficulties of agreement of the Bundestag ...), the French either. The interest of the Awacs in the fight against pirates is not really proven, according to the sailors of Atalanta. " It does not make it possible to distinguish numerous small skiffs in the Indian Ocean (...) and, above all, to qualify them as suspects, as a PatMar can do, which can spot, on a photo, ladders and other piracy paraphernalia ". Its interest lies rather elsewhere: in the identification of larger ships (used by traffickers of all kinds, weapons, drug traffickers...).
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(1) With three US drones, a "hub" anti- piracy to Seychelles
(2) It is true that they are sailors and not aviators 
. But on the airmen side, I haven't yet found anyone to really contradict them.