I Wonder?

As today is the closing of the Pakistan International Naval Exercise Aman 2009 held in Karachi in which our own KD Kedah participated, I do wonder if she will be directed to remain in the area to continue escorting our merchant ships through the treacherous Gulf of Aden. This is especially since the host navy announced their own intentions to send their warships to the Gulf soon. It is my opinion that since we have already sent the patrol ship to the region already, she might as well be berthed there for a while further where at a minimum she should wait for a convoy of our merchantmen to organise and then be shepherded through the treacherous waters before returning home. This would give more bang for our money in these lean times as the cost of sailing to and from Pakistan can be further defrayed to cover the cost protecting our shipping in the area no matter how temporary. If the cost of deployment from a friendly harbour is prohibitive, then the KD Kedah can be kept deployed at sea as her endurance at sea as a patrol vessel should allow her to just that and this would be a great opportunity to test the capabilities of the ship and crew. KD Kedah can further also conduct trials and tests of her combat systems and war intelligence centre while she is there as this was part of the reason given for her participation the naval exercise. Let's see if the KD Kedah immediately returns home or as I suspect or she will remain in the area to escort our merchantmen. In the meantime please enjoy some photos of KD Kedah leading the line of warships participating in the Aman exercise that you may not be able to find in our local media.