Panorama Two-Year-Old Exclusive Still Pose Same Question

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 Wednesday, July 29, 2020 - 09:55 Leo Olivero

Will New Gib Squadron Vessels Change RN Gibraltar Mission?

The recent announcement by Jeremy Quin, UK Minister for Defence Procurement, that the RN Gibraltar Squadron is to receive two purpose-built boats to replace current navy seaborne fast patrol assets is of course hugely welcomed in Gibraltar. Although not a surprise as Panorama in June 2018 in an exclusive report, also published a similar comprehensive account that went much further than the acquisition of two new patrol vessels for the resident RN detachment.

The recent news of a £9.9 million six-year contract signed with Merseyside-based Marine Specialised Technology to build two fast patrol vessels to be used to patrol Gibraltar British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW) is a massive boost not only to the defence but importantly as the primary physical presence at sea in the protection of the Rocks sovereignty!

POLITICAL TURMOIL

The two-year delay in confirming the new navy assets for the Gib Squadron can be explained and easily understood for those who follow UK politics. When the Panorama report first broke on 9 June 2018 Theresa May was head of the British government and on shaky ground, after the 2017 general election. It was also two years after the 2015 British election. By then, the UK was seriously grappling with Brexit and the referendum and Brussels. Then followed the after effects of the referendum, where UK ministers were moving round as fast as a children’s merry-go-round. Instability and political turmoil were the order of the British political day. Then a change in prime minister in Westminster and the Boris Johnson era and yet another UK general election in late 2019. The small matter of a global pandemic would have delayed the best-laid plans, especially for constructing new navy vessels and it did!

However, the statement a few days ago, by the UK Minister for Defence Procurement regarding the construction of two new RN vessels for the protection and defence of Gibraltar waters, was and still is, as we understand it, only half of our exclusive and original report published in June 2018.

The exclusivity of the report was two-fold, the acquisition of the two new fast patrol crafts for the Gib Squadron which is hugely important news particularly for the ‘Maritime Security BGTW. But also, Panorama also exclusively confirmed in the same report, that the MOD when they published the official tender for the procurement of the two-purpose designed and built vessels also gave away an important information regarding the future operational use of the new vessels once ‘in situ’ or in operational use when in Gibraltar!

TENDER PROCEDURE

During original and official MOD tendering procedures for the vessels the tender notice specifically explained and pointed out the following information:

The Royal Navy Fast Patrol Launch(s) will be based at the Naval Base in Gibraltar conducting operations locally in British Gibraltarian territorial waters (BGTW) and in the wider Western Mediterranean environment within its MCA certification day and night in all weathers up to sea state 7.

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