Abu Dhabi: HMS Dragon, part of the British Royal Navy’s fleet, is patrolling the Arabian Gulf and has just arrived in UAE waters as part of its seven-month-long deployment.
The ship’s presence is part of a long-term commitment between the British and the UAE governments to provide security and stability in the region, Captain Iain Lower said.
Commenting on the ship’s mission and its importance given the situation in Syria, Captain Lower told Gulf News: “[Our presence] is part of wider region stability and it’s part of the fact that if anything were to happen in the wider region, the nation is making a commitment to this area, [and this] is a factor that nations will have to take into consideration.”
He said that he has noticed increased participation from GCC naval forces, saying they are indeed asserting a more dominant role in the region. “We have GCC liaison officers on board and, when we’re out on patrol, it’s incredibly useful that we can feed this information back in straight away, so the coordination is there.”
“We just bring the capability that we bring and the GCC nations also bring a different capability, a patrol capability, which is fast because it knows the area and most of these capabilities really complement each other,” the commanding officer added.
With 230 crew members on board, the HMS Dragon will be in the UAE for around three weeks and is scheduled for a maintenance trip to Port Rashid in Dubai.
“If we come out at the end of it with our equipment refreshed and maintained and ready to deal with another few months of a very hot, very dusty environment; if my people have got a smile on their faces because they’re in Abu Dhabi and if they continue to smile, then it means we’ve invested enough in people over the next couple of weeks,” Captain Lower said.
HMS Dragon, a Type 45 Destroyer ship, is currently on its first deployment and was built by a British defence manufacturing company. The ship has been posted with the aim of “maintaining maritime security and counter-piracy operations.”
Captain Lower said that he has noticed a reduction in piracy incidents around the coast of Somalia. He added that the presence of navies from different countries in the troublespot boosted surveillance capabilities, which deters pirates.
