The
new German Detachment has come from their home-base in Nordholz, Germany
and consists of 50 personnel, under the command of Lieutenant Commander
Kai Hansen.
MPRA provides
a maritime picture on the operational area and adjacent coastlines.
The German Detachment is able to fly up to 15 missions each month
and as the Spanish P-3 Detachment flies a similar number of missions
this means that Operation Atalanta maintains an eye in the sky on
an almost daily basis.
The picture provided
by the MPRA teams give the Force Commander up to date awareness on
what is happening at sea and along the coast. This allows decisions
to be made to ensure Operation Atalanta’s mandate to deter and
disrupt piracy is maintained.
The German Navy currently operates eight P-3C CUP+ maritime patrol
aicraft, based at NAS Nordholz and run by the Marinefliegergeschwader
3 Graf Zeppelin.
German
P-3C Orion Maritime Patrol Aircraft Deployed on Operation Atalanta