German navy working with SANDF
2010-03-01 20:03
Cape Town - The South African National Defence Force needs to enhance and maintain its defence capabilities, chief of the South African navy Vice-Admiral Johannes Mudimu said on Monday.
The navy needed to continuously test and sharpen its skills to achieve this, he said.
The German navy is in South Africa to take part in exercise Good Hope IV and to share its experience of hosting the FIFA World Cup.
It would inform the SANDF of any dangers to be on the alert for, Mudimu told the press during a media day onboard the SAS Amatola.
"I want to assure you that South Africa is safe and the world is safe in our waters and on our land," he said.
Piracy, terrorism
Captain Kevin Packer, the South African task group commander for Good Hope IV, said the two navies would learn from each other in the exercise, which is done every two years.
Vice-Admiral Wolfgang Nolting, chief of the German navy, said all countries faced the challenges of piracy and terrorism.
It was important for navies from different countries to get together to learn to communicate properly and understand each other.
If people could understand each other, the world would be a more peaceful place, Nolting said.
Missiles, machine-guns
The media was taken out to sea on the SAS Amatola so that the navy could show its capabilities.
The vessels which participated in the exercise were two South African frigates, the SAS Amatola and the SAS Spioenkop, the submarine SAS Queen Modjadji I and two German frigates, the FGS Brandenburg and the FGS Niedersachen.
A German Lynx helicopter demonstrated a landing on the SAS Amatola.
The exercises have been conducted near Cape Town for the past three weeks and will culminate with the firing of missiles, guns and anti-submarine war games.
- SAPA