Turkmenia to establish Naval Force

25.01.2010
Turkmenian President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov approved National Naval Force Development Program, says REGNUM.

That decision was made at extended session of Turkmenian State Security Council where "Turkmenian National Naval Force Development Program for the period till 2015" was presented and discussed as well as a range of plans for defense ministry and border service to implement the new program. Turkmenian Naval Force is planned to be established on the basis of defense ministry.

According to the president, the country's armed forces which are to be formed on the principle of brigades must become a basement for Turkmenia's grand strategy. The country's doctrine provides neutrality with effective securing state's sea border.

Before transformation into Naval Force, Turkmenian Navy was subordinated to border service command. The main naval base is located at the port of Turkmenbashi; total manpower with coastal services is up to 2,000 men.

In 2002 dozens of new patrol boats were commissioned into Turkmenian Coast Guard; they were bought from Ukraine, mostly Kalkan-M and Grif-T. In 2003 Iran handed over seven coast guard boats and one destroyer to Turkmenia under long lease. Besides, under cooperation program with US Department of Defense, Turkmenian Navy obtained Point-class patrol craft Jackson. On Dec 10, 2009 it was reported that Turkmenian Navy had received two Russian patrol boats Sobol.

In the context of reinforcement of Turkmenian coastal area, in Aug 2009 the President declared the necessity to establish a naval base at the Caspian Sea where national Naval Force will be based on the permanent basis. The purpose of the new base is to create effective offshore zone location and optical surveillance system. To reach this goal, it was planned to purchase two state-of-the-art guided missile warships apart from patrol craft.

Source: Lenta.Ru, photo: patrol boat Sobol (arms-expo.ru)