UMM QASR, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's fledgling navy plans to get 21 new boats over the next two years as it prepares to take over the security of offshore oil terminals, the main gateway for the country's petroleum exports, a senior naval official said Wednesday.
At present, the terminals are guarded by U.S. and Iraqi sailors while British ships provide a cordon of protection. A British Royal Navy team is also training the Iraqi Navy at its base in Umm Qasr.
The Iraqi navy - created after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in March 2003 - has in operation 10 fast aluminum boats and two other boats in operation, said Commodore Thamir Nasser, head of operations for the Iraqi Navy. A two-year equipment acquisition program will result in the purchase of 15 patrol boats, four corvettes and two offshore support vessels, Thamir told journalists touring the Iraqi and British patrol boats. The delivery of the first vessels is expected by 2008, and the purchases would be funded by the government and foreign money, he said without elaborating. |