India Rewards Pilot for Air-Drop Raid to Capture Somali Pirates
The Indian Air Force has awarded a medal for gallantry to a cargo jet pilot who dropped off the commando team that rescued the bulker Ruen from Somali pirates early last year.
On December 14, 2023, Somali pirates boarded the Bulgarian-operated bulker Ruen at a position about 380 nautical miles east of the island of Socotra, far out in the Arabian Sea. The attackers took 17 crewmembers hostage and navigated the vessel back towards the Somali coast, where they opened negotiations with the shipowner.
Unusually, the Ruen did not stay at anchor off Somalia for long. Instead, the pirates decided to pull up anchor and head for the Indian Ocean, likely to serve as a "mother ship" for conducting more pirate attacks.
On March 15, 2024, an Indian Navy long range maritime patrol intercepted the Ruen at a position about 260 nautical miles to the east of Somalia. The warships INS Kolkata and INS Subhadra took up position alongside the Ruen, and the pirates decided to open fire, shooting down one of the vessels' surveillance drones.
To resolve the standoff safely, the Indian military called up a team of 18 marine commandos and an Indian Air Force C-17 transport aircraft. The plan was to air-drop the commandos and their inflatable rubber boats into the ocean near the Ruen, like a U.S. Air Force pararescue team.
Wing Commander Akshay Saxena (IAF) headed up the airdrop operation as pilot of the C-17. The intervention came with a risk of small arms fire, and would require Saxena to navigate through another nation's airspace for four hours, undetected and without authorization.
The C-17 and the raiding team got under way in short order. Saxena turned off the airplane's transmitters and dropped to a low level to avoid detection. As they approached the drop zone, the location of the intercept changed, and the aircrew adapted, according to Saxena's commendation. Without issue, Saxena made the airdrop, and the 18 commandos parachuted into the water. They conducted their boarding and forced 35 pirates aboard Ruen to stand down and surrender.
The Indian Ministry of Defense commended Saxena for "flawless execution of an extremely grueling mission" and for displaying "exceptional courage, dynamic leadership, outstanding professionalism, and steadfast determination."
In addition, the Indian Navy recommended another officer for a medal of gallantry for his efforts to save a hijacked Iranian dhow from another group of pirates. On February 2, 2024, operating from the warship INS Sharda, Lieutenant Commander Sourabh Malik and his commando squad carried out an opposed boarding of the fishing vessel Omari. Despite the hijackers' attempts to repel the boarding with "heavy and constant" small arms fire, seven armed pirates were captured and 19 fishermen were freed.