State is considering US invitation to take part in PFP naval exercise

The US has invited the State to participate in maritime training exercises held under the aegis of the Partnership for Peace.

The US defence attache issued a request to the Department of Defence for an Irish naval patrol vessel to participate in the exercises in the Baltic this summer.

The invitation, it is understood, is not contingent on PFP membership. Defence has said the invitation is still being considered.

Last week the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the Government was working towards joining the NATO-led PFP by the end of this year, without holding a referendum.

The Irish branch of the Nautical Institute, an international organisation representing mercantile and naval officers, has called on the Government to accept the invitation.

The institute also favours Irish membership, saying it would enhance the ability of the Naval Service to carry out its responsibilities in Irish waters.

It has also proposed that the Naval Service be expanded on a US Coast Guard model.

BaltOps, as the training is known, takes place every year in the Baltic Sea and involves ships from many countries, including neutral states like Finland and Sweden.

Fleets from Russia, Poland and other central and eastern European states also take part.

Ireland has sent observers twice within the last five years, but has never sent a ship.

The training includes disaster relief, drug interdiction and policing of an exclusion zone, and the US Coast Guard normally sends pollution control teams and experts in disaster operations to pass on skills acquired over many years.

"The Naval Service has developed into a professional maritime policing agency, but has done so on its own, and it hasn't been able to avail of expertise gained by other similar organisations through contact in exercise situations," the institute says. It contrasts this with the Army which, it says, has benefited from considerable exposure internationally, through peacekeeping duties.

"As a result, the Army has grown professional to the point that it is recognised as one of the leading peace-keeping forces," the institute says.

Mr Adrian English, an Irish defence analyst and contributor to Jane's Defence Weekly, who observed one of the BaltOps exercises in 1996, says the training is not a NATO exercise by definition.

But it does have a military dimension, as anti-submarine warfare is included.

"However, Ireland doesn't have a naval vessel with antisubmarine or mine warfare capability, so any Irish ship wouldn't be in the same league as most of the other BaltOps participants," he said.