Posted on 03/28/2003 10:33:08 PM PST by kattracks
Kuwaiti officials say the missile that hit the shopping mall in Kuwait City tonight was a Chinese made "Silkworm" radar guided anti-ship weapon, Fox News reported tonight.
According to NewsMax.com arms expert Charles Smith China has exported several types of cruise missile systems to Iran, including long-range C-802 Silkworm missiles..
Adding to tbe suspicion that the missile was indeed a Silkworm is the fact that the missile is designed to fly at sea-skimming levels only a few feet above the surface in order to avoid radar contact. Reports indicate that the missile that struck the Kuwait city shopping mall was not detected by radar.
Separate issue...unless "Iran" was a typo.
This sort of thing is especially dangerous in a day and age where our surface fleet is not accustomed to getting it's nose bloodied frequently (which it has not experienced since WWII). The loss of a major American ship would be a HUGE propaganda victory for any enemy state.
I didn't really need another reason to hate the Red Chinese, but if anybody else was looking for one, here it is.
Those darn NATO codenames. I wonder if in the interest of political correctness they will rename the MiG-15?
I wouldn't particularly worry about the Silkworm threat to our naval ships. About the only combatant they might be able to successfully attack would be our O.H. Perry class frigates. Against any of our newer ships (Aegis-equipped, i.e., Burkes or improved Ticos), they would just be shot down. Of course, there are other Chinese SSMs that are a major threat, but those aren't exported (yet).
While most of the west embargoed selling weapons to Iran (hence Iran turning to Chinese sources)during the Iran - Iraq war, Iraq still had decent access to western arms during the war with Iran (e.g. French made Exocet anti-ship missiles, far superior to the primitve Chinese Silkworms).
But since Iraq's access to the international arms market have been largely blocked since the 91 Gulf War, Iraq has had to be more creative in acquiring weapons. The HY-T2 Seersucker is actually an Iraqi made copy of the Chinese Silkworm missile - probably from captured Iranian Silkworms or having acquired Chinese Silkworms through other unofficial channels.
While most of the west embargoed selling weapons to Iran (hence Iran turning to Chinese sources)during the Iran - Iraq war, Iraq still had decent access to western arms during the war with Iran (e.g. French made Exocet anti-ship missiles, far superior to the primitve Chinese Silkworms).
But since Iraq's access to the international arms market have been largely blocked since the 91 Gulf War, Iraq has had to be more creative in acquiring weapons. The HY-T2 Seersucker is actually an Iraqi made copy of the Chinese Silkworm missile - probably from captured Iranian Silkworms or having acquired Chinese Silkworms through other unofficial channels.
The CIWS Phalanx System is pretty good at killing these types.
LOL! When I was in high school, we had a German exchange student who approached one of my friends and asked if he could "pinch a fag" (bum a cigarette in Americanese). Trent looked kinda shocked and said, "Whatever you do on your own time is your own business."
Actually, they may not be (they started out life as Chinese variants of the old Soviet Styx missile, and were designed not only for an anti-shipping role, but for actual deployment on smaller ships. One of their earliest deployments was on the Osa patrol craft, and the PRC still uses them on their Hegu and Osa class PTMs). Of course, the one that hit Kuwait was probably shore/land-launched, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility of an Iraqi patrol craft having fired it (since they've definitely had such craft armed with Styx in the past).
I'm not an expert on naval weapons system by any means,
I was, but my experience is a bit dated now (I'm familiar with the PRC C801, but I've never actually seen the C802, so I'm making some assumptions here).
but isn't it possible that in an engagement with China, they could lob so many missiles at us that we'd run out of stuff to knock them down with?
Well, it's certainly possible (and again, even likely with some of our older ships. A lone OH Perry, like the Stark that was hit by an Iraqi Mirage F-1 with a couple of Exocets in the 1980s, would probably be caught in such a trap), but it would be nearly impossible to do so and not have the concentration of launchers noticed. Our more modern ships would be able to detect the incoming missiles and not only defend against them, but also counter-attack the launching platform(s). And, of course, we have other defenses against missiles than just the SAMs.
Even as unlikely as it is, I suppose Communist China might be able to do it, but they would be more likely to use far more effective systems (like the Sunburn) available to their navy. As far as Iran and Iraq go, they're not a serious threat, because they simply couldn't field such a number of missiles to overwhelm the defenses of an aegis platform. The only chance Iraq has of hurting us is if they get lucky with an undetected mine or catch us seriously off-guard (Iran is another, if similar, issue, but their navy seems to be getting a lot more professional than it was in the 1980s, and I have by doubts that they would even obey an order to attack U.S. shipping anymore. I'm pretty certain this attack came from Iraq).
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