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Sealing the STRAIT
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Military presence
A number of armed forces have a presence within the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
The US maintains elements of the US Coast Guard and the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet (the
naval component of Central Command, headquartered in Bahrain). 23 The Fifth Fleet
provides ‘mariner assistance, protection of infrastructure, piracy deterrence, and
combat operations’. The US admiral in Bahrain commands both the Fifth Fleet and
coalition naval forces in the Gulf. In addition, a coalition commodore is directly in
charge of coalition maritime forces. 24 Around 30 US warships patrol the Persian Gulf
and regional waters. 25 The US also has an Air Force base in Qatar. 26
In 1977 the US officially established a Navy Support Facility on the island of Diego
Garcia, located approximately 870nm south of India in British Indian Ocean Territory.
The base is an important centre for the support of US military units in the Indian Ocean
and the Persian Gulf, comprising a communications station, maritime prepositioning
ships, and Military Sealift Command. 27 During the 1990-91 Gulf War NAVSUPPFAC
Diego Garcia provided heightened support for US operations in Operation DESERT
STORM, deploying the Strategic Air Command Bombardment Wing.
In 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened ‘Peace Camp’ in the UAE,
France’s first military base in the Gulf. Situated on the shores of the strait, the base
accommodates 500 troops and operates a navy and logistical base in Abu Dhabi,
a desert aviation detachment at Al Dhafra and a training camp. 28 At the opening,
Sarkozy stated that ‘France is ready to shoulder its responsibilities to ensure stability
in this strategic region’. 29
Multinational task forces also operate in the Gulf. Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 is a
force of warships operating within an area of over two million square miles from the
Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Its mission is to counter terrorism and smuggling and
to develop a ‘lawful maritime order’. 30 Pakistan, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark,
Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the US have all provided warships to the force.
The Iranian Navy has at times demonstrated agreeable working relations with CTF
150, such as in 2001 when it cooperated with Australian and British ships to counter
the Iraqi oil-smuggler Seawind. 31 Created in 2004, CTF 152 conducts Theatre Security
Cooperation Activities and Maritime Security Operations with all GCC states to combat
destabilising activities in the Gulf. 32 In January 2009 another multinational task force,
CTF 151, was established to perform counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and
off the coast of Somalia. Its mission is to ‘deter, disrupt and suppress’ piracy for the
protection of maritime security and freedom of navigation. 33