Shipyard Damen wants to build for Azerbaijan

Photo: Kommer Damen of Damen Shipyards talking with president Aliyev of Azerbaijan at WEF in Davos source

Dutch Damen Shipyards considers building military naval vessels for Azerbaijan, a country that is involved in an arms race with neighboring Armenia.

 

Mid Janauary, Kommer Damen CEO and owner of Damen Shipyards visited the WorldEconomic Forum in Davos to strengthen cooperation with Azerbaijan. He met the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev personally to discuss construction of military and civilian vessels and ships for unspecified government tasks, reports Trend News Agency.

In September 2014, arms fair ADEX was organised in Azeerbaijan. One observer noted: "There seem to have been a lot of shipbuilders and navy-related companies at ADEX; Dutch shipbuilder Damen was the "platinum sponsor" of the show and Chinese and Turkish shipbuilders also exhibited, suggesting they think there is naval business to be had in Azerbaijan." It seems the assumption was correct.

 
Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea in the turbulent Caucasus. It is currently engaged in an arms race with neighboring Armenia. The Bonn International Center for Conversion stated in a report that Armenia and Azerbaijan belong to the ten most militarized countries in the world. Armenia ranks third, a higher position than even Syria.

 
In 2013, Armenia's military expenditure reached the amount of 427 million dollars. Azerbaijan spent $ 3.4 billion in the same year on the military. In Armenia about 4 percent of the Gross National Product was spent on defense, in Azerbaijan 4.7 percent. Compared with other European countries this is significant. On top of imports Azerbaijan boosted its own arms production substantially.

Scientific research indicates that countries in a potential conflict area which buy huge amounts of weapons have a bigger chance to get at war with each other. And with Azerbaijan and Armenia, conflict is never far away; allthough there is a ceasefire since the war of 1994, throughout 2014 a total of 72 people were killed on both sides. 

Human Rights Watch states in its annual report for 2014 Human Rights Watch states that: "The Azerbaijani government’s poor record on freedom of expression, assembly, and association dramatically deteriorated during the year. This crackdown was the backdrop for the October 2013 presidential election, in which incumbent President Ilham Aliyev was re-elected for a third term with 84.5 percent of the vote.” 

At the same time the Dutch branch of Amnesty International launched a campaign for the release of two Azeri human rights activists, Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif, who were arrested last year on charges of treason and fraud. According to Amnesty, the charges were made up to silence the activists in the run-up to the first edition of the European Games next summer.  

Meanwhile, the largest arms exporter in the Netherlands, Kommer Damen, visits the Azerbaijani President in Davos to discuss military production. Not only from a human rights point of view is this irrsponsible, but also because of the tense situation in the region. Control based on the arms export regulatuons an easy task. Damen Shipyards Group is a company that operates in 18 countries and has 35 shipyards and builds complete warships in Asia, the America's, Africa and other parts of Europe. The latest of its foreign operations is the licensing of its vessel designs to Louisiana boat-builder Metal Shark Aluminum Boats. Because of this internationalisation it will be easy to circumvent the Dutch arms export guidelines. 

 
Thales Nederland, another prominent Dutch arms exporter, once said that is will not bite the hand which feeds it. For Damen, a significant part of its 'food' is provided by the Dutch government in the form of purchasing naval vessels and export support when selling them abroad. Damen for example knows very well how to use the of attractive Dutch export credit guarantees and Oret Miliev development grants. In the case of Azerbaijan, let's hope the Dutch government will warn Damen not to sell military vessels, instead of giving its support.

 
Written for Stop Wapenhandel Dutch version see Ravage Webzine

Damen contributes to arms race in Chinese Sea region

Recently, the Dutch (military) shipbuilder Damen opened the Song Cam Shipyard, a joint venture with a Vietnamese partner, not far from the Chinese border and in the direct vicinity of the headquarters of the Vietnamese Navy in Hai Pòng. The wharf is one of the largest in the Damen Group. Pim Schuurman, Managing Director of Damen Holding Vietnam stated: “We have successfully built 226 vessels in Vietnam with our partner yards. Vietnam has a lot of shipbuilding knowledge, the people are very hard working.”

Photo: Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks at a ship launching ceremony at Damen Song Cam Shipyard, Reuters June 17, 2014.

Damen has already sold four Sigma major surface vessels to the Vietnamese navy. The first two ships will be built in the Netherlands (Flushing), the next two in Vietnam. The ships will be fitted with missiles (8x Exocet and 12 x Mica SAM) of European missile company MBDA (owned by the Airbus Group, BAE Systems and Finmeccanica), three Italian Oto Melara guns (1 x 76mm and 2 x 30mm) and will be equipped with Thales Netherlands sensors, fire control and combat management system. The ships can harbour one Russian Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopter.

“Almost every Asian nation is building up its capacity in the air and on the sea. The people of the region must hope that it is a complete waste of money,” wrote David Pilling in the Financial Times. His contribution - 'Asia follows China into an old-fashioned arms race' - argues, like many observers do, that the trend will gather pace in the coming years. This arms race obviously opens export possibilities for arms companies. Dutch shipbuilder Damen took the opportunity by establishing a wharf where the action is. Vietnam is not the only location in Southeast Asia where Damen is active. Near the Indonesian city of Surabaya, East Java, Damen closely cooperates with PT Pal in building naval vessels of steadily bigger size.

“Be not mistaken; the navy is the key issue,” wrote neocon writer Robert Kaplan in his recent book on security in the Chinese Sea region*. One look at the map shows clearly why the 21st century will be “the century of the navy:” Asia is full of long coastlines, many islands, important shipping routes, conflicts for reefs and barriers (because of natural resources like oil and fish) and Chinese claims for a bigger share of the region's wealth. They provide the ingredients for blue water maritime military ambitions in the region.

In the linear world view of Kaplan, a shift in economic power will - as if guided by the invisible hand of Ares, the God of War - automatically lead to more conflict, more arms procurement armaments and possibly war. According to Kaplan, China has the right to have bigger claims and stronger armed forces. But this will change the balance of power and cause a weaker position of the United States in the region. Other countries must take responsibility and Vietnam can and will play a key role in this power struggle by balancing China, writes Kaplan. One can conclude that the Dutch shipbuilder has chosen the right spot for expansion.

However, other world views are possible. One can also argue that in regions of tension it is better to build on dialogue and create confidence, mutual understanding and stronger regional organisations including all countries. War is not the inevitable outcome when a changing balance of power is managed with care. But for certain, an arms race in a region with many disputes brings this region closer to serious armed conflict.

The Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe recently wrote: “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.” He continued, “that is particulary true where Asian security is concerned. (…) The fruits of prosperity should be reinvested in improving peoples lives, not in weapons that can take them.” These are wise words, and Abe says he wants to cooperate with regional allies and partners, “including the US and ASEAN.” Unfortunately he forgets to include the biggest regional player of all, China, in the “rock-solid zone of stability” he is aiming at. The Japanese Prime Minister also relaxed Japanese arms export and military deployment policies, which is helpful neither to create more trust.

Tension is growing in Southeast Asia. The influx of more European arms will not make it any better.

Written for Stop Wapenhandel

* Asia's Cauldron. Author used the Dutch version: Het Aziatische Kruitvat; Het einde van de stabiliteit in de Grote Oceaan, Spectrum, 2014.

No problem with arms sales to Qatar?

At the closing ceremonies of the DIMDEX Arms Fair Qatar announced arms acquisitions valued at €17 billion ($23 bn.).  This is more than twice the total Dutch annual military budget. Amongst others, the deal includes attack helicopters, guided missiles, tanker planes and naval vessels. Different segments of the orders have a Dutch component. The arms race on the Arabian peninsular has a new player.

On the picture: Patriot PAC-3 being fired.
Qatar is providing political support and weapons to islamists in several internal conflicts in the Middle East, such as in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Nusra in Syria has recently created a rift in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

But because of its missile defence capabilities close to Iran, the presence of a US-UK air force base and its rejection of Iran's influence in the region, Qatar is a partner of the West. The arms acquisition plans of the Emirate are part of the military ambitions of the Gulf State to become a stronger player in the Arabian world, on par with its growing soft power influence. Qatar is also the country where Al Jazeera is based.

Amongst others, Qatar wants to buy 22 NH-90 military helicopters from the NH Industries division of European aerospace group Airbus (formerly EADS), worth €2 billion. The Airbus' head offices are located in the Netherlands for tax reasons, but although the Netherlands provides its tax heaven facilities, it has no obligations to control the companies' arms export policies. A win-win situation for Airbus and the Dutch State treasury. Dutch aircraft company Stork Fokker is participating for 5.5% in NH Industries and thus will profit considerably from the Qatar deal.

Another part of the deal is the sale of over €1.5 billion in Patriot missile defence system equipment made by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Dutch Fokker Aerostructures “is one of the suppliers for materials of the Lockheed Martin (LMMFC) – PAC-3-program, which is a military program.”

The deal also shows the growing footprint of Dutch shipbuilder Damen in Qatar. At DIMDEX Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Qatar Armed Forces to build seven military vessels. “The vessels are highly sophisticated state-of-the-art naval ships based on proven designs providing unparalleled seaworthiness. (...) A large Integrated Logistic Support package is also mentioned in the MoUs” according to the Damen website. NDSQ is a joint venture between Nakilat and Dutch shipbuilder. The Dutch extreme islamophobic political party PVV asked Parliamentary questions on the deal. According to Minister for Trade and Development Ploumen, the deal is in line with Dutch export policies.

All Dutch and international arms control codes, regulations and treaties of the past forty years included regional security, regions of tension and human rights as criteria to measure and refuse arms sales. It seems Qatar is a highly qualified applicant for all three of them. Moreover, because Qatar is notorious for selling its arms to other conflict regions, at least the question has to answered how the end use of the exported equipment will be monitored. According to minister Ploumen:  “When transfers of knowledge take place the Dutch arms export policy offers enough guaranties against undesired effects.” In the case of Qatar, a more concrete and detailed description of these guarantees is no luxury.

Written for Campagne tegen Wapenhandel In Dutch Broekstukken or Sargasso.