Corvette Ternopil entered upon Operation Active Endeavour

16.11.2010 Ukrainian corvette Ternopil left Greek naval base Souda Bay on Nov 14 and began to perform tasks of anti-terror Operation Active Endeavour, reports Ukrainian Navy Press Center.

The crew will interact with Italian frigate Espero while patrolling, interrogation and, if necessary, search operations onboard suspect vessels in accordance with NATO standards.

An operational briefing was held on the Italian frigate in order to coordinate joint actions. The parties determined routes of further patrols, discussed rules of information support and arms use procedures; comm officers installed special automatic data transfer system on Ternopil. This system is installed only on ships of NATO's partners and designed for on-line data exchange among task force ships. In addition, the ship has advanced surface surveillance equipment which provides the crew with detailed information about shipping in certain area and allows to report of interrogation results.

First patrol of Ukrainian corvette is planned to last several days; afterwards, the ship will return to Greek base Souda Bay to replenish fuel and food resources.

As was reported, corvette Ternopil left Sevastopol on Nov 7. Presumably, the cruise will last 45 days.

NATO anti-terror Operation Active Endeavour is conducted in the Mediterranean Sea. The Alliance practically implemented Article 5 of the Washington Treaty after terrorist attacks of 9/11. At request of the U.S., NATO agreed to launch an anti-terror operation in the Med Sea. Practical phase of the operation started on Oct 6, 2001.

The operational objective is counterterrorist actions within operation zone by preventing illegal shipments of arms and ammunitions, human trafficking, and other unauthorized activities with the use of civil vessels.

Main tasks are patrolling and control over movements of vessels within operation zone.

Ukraine is the second non-Allied country joined NATO Operation Active Endeavour. Participation of Ukrainian military in the operation lies in functioning of primary National Contact Point at the basis of Ukrainian Navy HQ, work of a Ukraine's representative at operation headquarters (Naples, Italy), involvement of Ukrainian personnel in inspection of suspect vessels, and dispatching of Ukrainian warships to joint forces engaged in Operation Active Endeavour.

Except for Ternopil, some other Ukrainian warships also took part in the operation - frigate Getman Sagaidachny and corvette Lutsk.