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Iran acquires high-tech powerboat
The Globe and Mail ^ | April 5, 2010 | Paul Koring

Posted on 04/09/2010 9:19:18 AM PDT by myknowledge

Iran has outwitted U.S. and British efforts to keep it from acquiring a superfast powerboat that could be loaded with high explosives and used in a suicidal attack against one of the huge U.S. aircraft carriers deployed to the Persian Gulf.

Unidentified intelligence sources quoted in published reports say Tehran's Islamic regime managed to acquire the Bradstone Challenger, a 15-metre-long craft designed especially for sustained high speeds, early last year.

While naval analysts differ over whether a serious threat exists from so-called swarm attacks by such fast small boats against larger, less-manoeuvrable warships, fears that the rulers in Tehran wanted to use the high-tech Bradstone Challenger – which averaged nearly 100 kilometres an hour in a record-breaking 27-hour circumnavigation of Britain – as a weapon prompted both Washington and London to try to block any sale.

(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bradstonechallenger; iran; powerboat; suicideboat
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Bradstone Challenger. The IRIN would be able to rig the British-built speedboat into a bomb-laden suicide vessel, so that they can sink a CVN in the Strait of Hormuz USS Cole style.

Map of the Persian Gulf.

1 posted on 04/09/2010 9:19:18 AM PDT by myknowledge
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To: myknowledge

They’ll probably get the diapers on their heads and their dresses caught in the screws.


2 posted on 04/09/2010 9:23:10 AM PDT by RC2
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To: myknowledge

From what I have read, they are planning to use these boats as platforms to launch supercavalating torpedoes, then ram the boats into the carriers themselves.


3 posted on 04/09/2010 9:26:26 AM PDT by Thunder90 (Fighting for truth and the American way... http://citizensfortruthandtheamericanway.blogspot.com/)
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To: RC2

I doubt it’s faster than a quad minigun.


4 posted on 04/09/2010 9:26:54 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( FIRE STUPAK: LindaForCongress.com)
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To: RC2

Ok, so they can out run a battleship, but I doubt that they can out run a cruise missile


5 posted on 04/09/2010 9:26:55 AM PDT by Cyclone59 (I ROCK, Guitar Hero said so........)
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To: myknowledge

I’m sure that a multi-square-meter target closing at more than 60 mph will prove a daunting challenge to, um....


6 posted on 04/09/2010 9:27:50 AM PDT by Grut
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To: myknowledge

I am not worried.

If CWIS can hit a missle inbound at Mach 3, it can hit a speedboat 100+ times the size of that missle traveling at 70 knots.

This is not to minimize the danger of being hit with an explosives laden boat, but our crews will be on the lookout, so this won’t be a surprise, and a few of those 20mm shells crashing into the piles of explosives might make driving the boat a risky proposition.


7 posted on 04/09/2010 9:30:54 AM PDT by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: RC2

8 posted on 04/09/2010 9:32:36 AM PDT by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: myknowledge

Just a tad slower than the Phalanx system.


9 posted on 04/09/2010 9:33:39 AM PDT by snowrip (Liberal? YOU ARE A SOCIALIST WITH NO RATIONAL ARGUMENT.)
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To: myknowledge
Iran has outwitted U.S. and British efforts...

I hope we will soon learn more about how THAT happened (or not, as long as the situation "resolves" itself).

The boat is British-made. That means SOMEONE in Britain is primarily responsible for the Iranians obtaining it. That "someone" COULD soon meet with an unfortunate accident, as could the individual(s) in South Africa who actually released the boat to the Iranians.

Also, the boat itself COULD meet with an unfortunate accident. If it is in the water, it COULD develop a bunch of sudden leaks. If it is in a warehouse, the warehouse COULD accidentally catch fire.

Such "unfortunate" accidents, which coincidentally helped the positions of the United States and its allies, USED to happen all the time.

I miss those days...

10 posted on 04/09/2010 9:38:06 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: Grut

This is no issue....

just give it a hellfire.


11 posted on 04/09/2010 9:48:15 AM PDT by himno hero
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To: WayneS

That must have been back in the day when God smiled upon us and provided us with wise leaders...


12 posted on 04/09/2010 9:48:57 AM PDT by stefanbatory (Weed out the RINOs! Sign the pledge. conservativepledge.org)
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To: Thunder90
Folks should check out Jeff Head's Dragons Fury series. I think the supercavitating torpedoes pretty dangerous.
13 posted on 04/09/2010 9:50:29 AM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
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To: myknowledge

I’m thinking a radar controlled 20mm chain gun firing HEAP, HE and AP rounds would make quick work of this boat.


14 posted on 04/09/2010 9:51:25 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: myknowledge

I doubt it can outrun a Phalanx system.


15 posted on 04/09/2010 9:52:30 AM PDT by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to...otherwise, things would be different)
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To: myknowledge

Don’t wait... blow it up NOW


16 posted on 04/09/2010 9:56:22 AM PDT by faucetman (Just the facts ma'am, just the facts)
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To: myknowledge
keep it from acquiring a superfast powerboat that could be loaded with high explosives

Oh for heavens sakes, why does everyone always think the worst of these guys? Just because they're in the middle east doesn't mean they don't water ski there........

17 posted on 04/09/2010 10:03:48 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: Thunder90

I don’t think they will be able to get that close. Being tied up for refueling is one thing, Being on ready operational status is something else.


18 posted on 04/09/2010 10:07:25 AM PDT by EEDUDE
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To: EEDUDE
What is the current ROE, barry probably wouldn't let our guys shoot until it was too late
19 posted on 04/09/2010 10:24:37 AM PDT by sticker
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To: sticker

Hey I wonder if Andrew Sullivan and all the rest of anti-American crowd feel bad at all about encouraging a bunch of Iranian college students and middle-aged Iranin women out into the streets WITHOUT ANY F@%$ing guns? I hate the pieces of crap that run Iran more than anyone, but guess what? They have guns and the kids in Iran don’t. Iranians like many other peoples have allowed themselves to become unarmed. Colombia: no guns, Egypt: no guns, Greece: no guns, Australia: they let them melt the guns! England, France, Spain, Italy? So we expect some college kids in designer jeans to beat back government thugs with shouts and anger. Makes me want to puke!


20 posted on 04/09/2010 10:37:45 AM PDT by Paddy Irish
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