BAGHDAD - The Iraqi navy plans to acquire 21 new vessels, including four new patrol ships from Italy costing 100 million dollars, US and British naval officers said Sunday. Its manpower will also swell from a current 1,200 personnel to between 2,000 and 2,500 by 2010, US navy Captain Michael Zamesnik told reporters.The modernisation programme will also see the Iraqi navy buying three Malaysian-manufactured patrol boats, he added. ‘The Iraqi navy has taken great strides in rebuilding itself from the ravaged effects of war,’ said Zamesnik, who is part of the transition team working with the fledgling force. He said the navy was being developed with the aim of ensuring ‘the security and protection of Iraqi territorial waters, key infrastructure and to counter terrorism, smuggling and illegal activity at sea.’
Captain T. Radakin of Britain’s Royal Navy said the Iraqi navy had already made significant progress in the past three years. ‘There has been significant reduction in piracy activities, smuggling oil oil,’ he said.
Roughly half of the navy’s current personnel are former members of Saddam Hussein’s armed forces, the two officers said. ‘In the officers cadre, about 75 to 80 percent are from the previous regime,’ Zamesnik added.