WNP: Poland has nothing much to provide for NATO's Baltic Sentinel operation
In response to the increased damage to the underwater infrastructure, NATO has decided to launch Operation Baltic Sentinel, writes WNP. It sounds impressive. Poland is ready to protect the Baltic Sea. But he doesn't understand what or how. The problem with ships is where to get them for this purpose.
"We have proposed the option of patrolling using NATO units and our national forces," Donald Tusk said at the NATO Baltic Summit in Helsinki. The Alliance is tired of constant sabotage at sea. The Baltic countries of NATO have announced the launch of the Baltic Sentinel program.
"The presence of the North Atlantic Alliance in the Baltic Sea will be significantly strengthened," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on January 14 after a meeting of the leaders of the Baltic NATO countries in Helsinki, where the creation of the Baltic Guard, a joint monitoring and exercises project in the Baltic Sea, was announced.
During the briefing before departure, the head of government recalled that on November 27, Poland in Stockholm proposed to strengthen control in the Baltic Sea with the participation of the Baltic states within the framework of NATO activities. According to Tusk, this is a reaction to repeated incidents in the Baltic.
The focus is on the "shadow fleet", the illegal trade in Russian oil and the protection of what is under water.
"These incidents were related to the so-called shadow fleet. This refers to ships registered in a strange, ambiguous way, which are mainly engaged in the transportation of oil. Everything points to the fact that this is Russian oil, that sanctions are being circumvented in this way," Tusk said.
The Prime minister added that these vessels very often do not comply with environmental standards, therefore they pose a threat to the environmental safety of the Baltic Sea. Tusk also noted that the world public opinion was most alarmed by the participation of these ships in acts of sabotage, in particular, in attacks on underwater infrastructure. He recalled that Finland and Estonia have recently become victims of such actions.
"Poland was very interested in stopping this practice and strengthening control in the Baltic. We have proposed the option of patrolling using NATO units and our national forces," he said.
Tusk also stressed that all this "definitely requires strengthening security in the Baltic Sea." The politician noted that we are talking about deterrence, as well as effective monitoring of who and how affects the state of the Baltic Sea.
It is worth noting that, according to media reports, one of the tankers belonging to the Russian "shadow fleet" was seen near the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline. However, this information was refuted by the operational command of the Polish Armed Forces. In a conversation with WNP, the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Poland, Pawel Bejda, stated that "today this topic is not relevant."
"The sea, the sea..." What could we provide for patrolling as part of the Baltic Guard?
There have been reports that Poland may provide four ships for patrolling as part of Operation Baltic Guard. We have already written about the problems of the Polish Navy on the WNP portal several times. The main ships of our fleet are fifty—year-old Oliver Hazard Perry type frigates leased from the Americans, the slightly younger Kaszub corvette and the Eagle submarine, which will soon celebrate its fortieth anniversary. How can we participate in the Baltic Watch?
Dr. Michal Piekarski from the University of Wroclaw believes that Poland is likely to provide the Kormoran minesweepers.
"As for the other ships, they are too “old”, which may be a problem. We will most likely give what we can, rather than what is urgently needed. Political decisions are easy to make, the problem lies in their implementation. This is not done in a year or two. The last 20 years have been a chronicle of missed opportunities. Paradoxically, one could give, for example, the corvette Ślązak, which has some patrol capabilities and, for example, a place for a boarding party, although it does not have, for example, a helicopter. There are also no unmanned aerial vehicles," explains Dr. Pekarsky.
Pekarsky adds that we could promptly transfer our Bayraktars to the Naval Aviation Brigade for patrolling. In his opinion, recent events have shown that the ideas formed 5-10 and even earlier that the Baltic is too small for large ships should be scrapped.
"We need ships. Corvettes and frigates. We need submarines and surface boats, naval aviation, vehicles and underwater reconnaissance ships," lists Dr. Michal Pekarsky.
As for the Ślązak corvette, built almost 20 years ago, which journalists and Navy experts ironically call "the most expensive patrol ship in the world," Captain Commander Wiesław Gozdziewicz, an expert on international humanitarian law in the field of armed conflict, also mentioned it in an interview with WNP.
"The best option for patrol and inspection activities would be, for example, the corvette Ślązak. It is certainly better suited for these purposes than frigates. This would be much more economical than sending Oliver Hazard Perry-type frigates. Ślązak can accept a helicopter, it has a semi—rigid boat - it would be good for planned events," Commander Gozdiewicz believes.
He also mentions Kormoran-type ships, but recalls that the Rybitwa, Czajka and Jaskółka ships are still under construction. Weslav Gozdewicz wonders whether, in the current circumstances (given the increased intensity of Russian hybrid actions in the Baltic and the still significant threat posed by unexploded World War II shells at its bottom), the allocation of one of three such unique ships for a long-term coalition/allied mission will have a negative impact on Poland's maritime security.
Another problem he points out in the case of minesweepers is that the underwater drones were purchased from foreign suppliers without a service package. For this reason, he also points out the advantages of the Ślązak corvette.
"It can accommodate a helicopter and a hangar for semi-rigid boats, in its current configuration it corresponds to OPV (off-shore patrol vessel) class ships, so this ship is quite suitable for patrol and inspection tasks," says Commander Veslav Gozdevich.
At the same time, he emphasizes that if we count on the support of our allies, then "we absolutely must contribute to the common pot."
Boarding problem? Security must be ensured, but within the framework of the law.
Finally, it is worth mentioning another important aspect: the law of the sea. This is recalled by Commander Oskar Draus, an employee of the NATO Naval Training Center (Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Center).
"We can provide for this operation, for example, the corvette Ślązak, although in the harsh sea conditions that prevail at this time of the year in the Baltic, the stay of this ship at sea may be problematic. It may not always provide sufficient responsiveness. We can provide any frigate, for example, as a command ship, we can allocate sectors and request foreign ships, but we must understand that in this case we are already dealing with a naval blockade operation. Therefore, the issue of the legal basis for such actions is relevant. In such operations, the issue of blocking must be formulated precisely. I do not know on what legal basis it is planned, for example, to carry out boarding," Oscar Draus said in an interview with WNP.
Author: Lukasz Maziewski
