a basic Hellfire is ~$25,000 each... pretty expensive shooting there Tex
Posted on 07/27/2012 1:11:47 PM PDT by Dysart
It's getting easy to overlook the tired rhetoric and hollow tension surrounding Iran, the U.S. and Israel.
It's been months, and months since the back-and-forth began. First, Iran's shutting the Strait of Hormuz, then its saying it'd never shut the strait. Then Israel's planning a solo attack. No, they're not.
It's frustrating, but that doesn't mean the situation couldn't turn ugly at the drop of a hat.
Joby Warick at The Washington Post reports improved Iranian weapons and an enhanced plan of attack could nail the U.S. fleet parked in the Gulf and there may be little Navy officials can do about it.
From The Post:
[Iran's] emerging strategy relies not only on mobile missile launchers but also on new mini-submarines, helicopters and hundreds of heavily armed small boats known as fast-attack craft. These highly maneuverable small boats, some barely as long as a subway car, have become a cornerstone of Iran’s strategy for defending the gulf against a much larger adversary. The vessels can rapidly deploy Iran’s estimated 2,000 anti-ship mines or mass in groups to strike large warships from multiple sides at once, like a cloud of wasps attacking much larger prey.
“This is the scenario that is giving people nightmares,” said [an] official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in discussing strategy for defending against a possible Iranian attack.
We recently wrote on one strategy for thwarting a multi-pronged attack against a naval task force, but Raytheon's new system isn't up for handling the hundreds of heavily armed small boats officials believe Iran would send against the U.S. fleet.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Given who we have as Commander-in-Chief, I wouldn't bet on a statement like yours. The possibility is greater that we will try to reach out to the Iranians, try to figure out why we made them mad, and attempt to forego violence.
if the iranians are willing to incur heavy loses they HAVE THE CAPABILITY to overwhelm a carrier battlegroup defenses. the chinese PLAN has been studying this fir years. here are some considerations. the gulf is crap for ASW, especially against diesel boats. they don’t have to be as good as ours; consider what havoc just the threat of a submarine caused n the falklands. it is an integrated defense system for the carrier. ignore the carrier and take out a couple of DDGs or CGs and the defense integrity of the battle group will have seriously compromised. given a large number of SSMs launched from boats and land approaching on multiple axis, coupled with the threat of a submarine attack and some airlaunched SSMs and there will be leakers. you don’t have to sink a ship, just mission cripple her. this is okinawa all over again with the “kamikazes” bases really close. mines are always a problem, especially if they are just allowed to float free on the currents. add to this tactical consideration political restrictions on rules of engagement and a fear of losing even one sailor or marine or a ship and there could be command paralysis by analysis.
of course those little boats probably don’t have the range to get to a carrier group 250 miles off the straits and the SSMs look like exercets or some chinese variant with a range of less then 100 miles and things look much better. doubt the iranian air force would be a huge threat at that distance nor the submarines. IF WE HAVE THE WILL TO FIGHT AND THE COMMON SENSE TO FIGHT TO WIN.
Yes...I have been concerned about that sort of scenario for a while now. His internal polls in September will show him the election is lost...landslide numbers. He will not go gently into the night.
Excellent points, especially #4. Their terror network is far reaching and Persians aren’t stupid and nothing if not calculating. The EMP threat is closer to a true nightmare scenario than that tendered in the article. I just don’t know if they can manage to move a cargo ship close enough to pull it off. You wouldn’t think so.
All Obambi has to do is order the Navy not to shoot back.
Limited wars might make sense between superpowers and their proxies. A limited war with terrorists does not. Killing them half dead won’t work. Take them down all the way and insist what rises in their place cannot be an enemy. This should have been done after Iraq fell. If you can get a coup to do it great, if not use the power needed to do it right.
We are pretty helpless alright.
Target rich environment.......
a basic Hellfire is ~$25,000 each... pretty expensive shooting there Tex
That's fine but it does nothing to change my point that the Iranians have a lot of options as to the time and manner by which hostilities are commenced.
eleven missiles, how fast can they reload the rolling frame missiles?
The straight is a relatively constrained space. If that have been able to acquire a limited number of nukes I’d have to wonder about the possibility of them using them as remote detonated mines, and trying to lure a carrier group over them.
All the battleships of the dreadnought navies were obsolete in 1926, after General Billy Mitchell blew them up from the air.
The ten CBG's the US employes to keep international shipping afloat will function just fine until Fourth Generation naval combat sinks a few of our carriers. At one particular spot in the Straight of Hormuz, a sunken ship of that size would effectively close the entire waterway. The IRRG knows exactly where that spots located. I pray this never happens, but the USS Abraham Lincoln has been the ship destined for martyrdom, just as the great martyr that gave her it's proud name. Only God knows?
“don’t know if they can manage to move a cargo ship close enough to pull it off. You wouldn’t think so.”
Unless the ship was detected being modified for a missile launch, it wouldn’t be that hard to get it close enough to the US coast to launch. There are hundreds of ships transiting the Atlantic at anyone time.
The ship would be licensed under a phoney owner and then promptly sunk after launch.
Remember the Cole?
What happened after the Cole was hit?
Nothing.
If I were cyclical, I mean.
Put an “s” on the word carrier, and you will be closer to their plan.
No offense meant to you personally, but some of us really need to change our mindset. In the middle east it is not about winning. It is about bringing the fight to the great Satan’s. We are too humane to take out the entire country. We would clearly neuter their military, but the political leadership will survive...and they will rule that part of the world.
Plus taking them out, effectively shuts down oil production in the area for years. That puts Russia front and center.
There is no good ending for this.
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