Madagascar Navy

Considering it is an island nation, Madagascar’s navy is inadequate to protect its maritime domain and the country’s armed forces as a whole are considered inadequately equipped to defend the territory from external threats. It would be considered a "Rank 8: Constabulary Navy" - capable of police functions only and not able to deal with a naval threat of any sophistication. The 500-member [1975] Malagasy navy included 100 marines but lacked a seagoing capability. It performs a coastal patrol mission from bases at Diego Suarez, Tamatave, Fort Dauphin, Tulear, and Majunga. The naval inventory consists of one patrol boat and three amphibious craft.

The ever greater sophistication of weapons and the corresponding expenses complicate the "real world" naval problem. Inshore territorial defence can adequately be conducted by fast attack craft; add the "offshore" role and airborne surveillance systems, improved command and control, larger hulls for better seakeeping and anti-air self defence weapons are immediately required. The progression to commerce protection involves another leap, this time into anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures, underway replenishment and organic helicopter operations - the list goes on and the costs magnify both for setting up and for the maintenance of the new capabilities. This is why progress between categories takes longer to achieve with each step from one level of capability to the next.

As of 2012 no Mozambique Channel country used maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to monitor the channel regularly. The region also had few automated identification system (AIS) monitoring locations and/or coastal radars. In 2012, South Africa stepped into the maritime security void with Operation Copper. It signed an agreement with Mozambique and Tanzania for the South African Navy to conduct permanent counter-piracy patrols in the Mozambique Channel.

The monitoring and enforcement system in Madagascar was composed in 2011 of 3 monitoring vessels, 8 speedboats, 18 inspectors and 22 observers, which has led to increasing illegal fishing in the waters of Madagascar. These illegal fisheries are unlikely to be addressed by Madagascar.

Madagascar’s Minister of National Defence, General of the Army Corps Rakotozafy Dominique, accompanied by General of the Army Corps Rasolofonirina Blessed Xavier, Head of the General Staff of the Malagasy Army, attended a ceremony on 13 February 2016 christening the Malagasy V17 back into servoice. Joining six other ships in the class, and after a year of restoration work, the ship would be home ported at Antsiranana Naval Base.

The Minister congratulated the crew of patrol RC Trozona, having represented the Malagasy Army during the Cutlass Express 2016 exercise, which was held in Seychelles from January 30 to February 6, 2016. Cutlass Express 2016, a regional exercise organized by the US Navy, brought together 18 countries in East Africa and the Indian Ocean. It promoted interoperability of naval assets in multinational operations as well as the exchange of information between countries in the sub-region to improve the safety and maritime security. Two surveillance aircraft and six warships, including RC Trozona commanded by Lieutenant Commander Alex Ralaiarivony, participated in this event. With the prospect of greater maritime activity by the naval forces in the near future, the Minister expressed the need to increase naval personnel resources.

This list includes all surface combatants, submarines, mine warfare vessels and patrol craft over 100 tons displacement, and all amphibious ships and auxiliaries over 500 tons displacement. Non-self-propelled craft and vessels without seagoing capability are not included. Ships not yet commissioned, or in long-term overhaul/conversion, are listed. All designations & classifications are unofficial; they may or may not correspond to "official" designations.