This vis BFBS.
Rising tensions between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar will be discussed tomorrow when the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, hosts talks in London with his Spanish counterpart.Sidenote 1:
It comes after weeks of stand-offs at sea involving Royal Navy and Defence Police vessels.
They have been scrambled regularly to prevent Spanish trawlers casting their nets inside the Rock's territorial waters.
Gibraltar's Chief Minister has described the incursions as a "carefully premeditated challenge to our indisputable sovereignty".
The Spanish police are demanding their government sends in its own warships to protect them against the Royal Navy.
This is shaping up to be quite a challenging year for the Royal Navy in particular and the British version of our State Dept in general. First the trouble between the UK and Argentina and now between the UK and Spain? I would think that some type of alliance between Spain and Argentina would be unthinkable but stranger things have happened. Additionally these disputes all revolve around natural resources...in this case fishing rights or potential oil leases.
Sidenote 2:
The Brits list the Archer class patrol boat as the smallest warship in the British Navy. Spain also considers it a warship and wants to respond in kind. The reason why this is interesting is because the Coastal Riverine Force is getting the Mark VI which is considered too small to get the job done or too compromised to do it well. Compared to the Archer its a beast of a ship. Perhaps more importantly the Mark VI compares favorably with the River Class OPV and is more heavily armed. Interesting and Outstanding.
