• U.S. Navy: Iran prepares suicide bomb boats in Gulf
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[QUOTe=YAHOO NEWS] MANAMA (Reuters) - Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats that could be used in suicide attacks, but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said on Sunday. Iran has made a series of threats in recent weeks to disrupt shipping in the Gulf or strike U.S. forces in retaliation if its oil trade is shut down by sanctions, or if its disputed nuclear program comes under attack. "They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory." "We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear program," Fox, who heads the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said at a briefing on the fleet's base in the Gulf state of Bahrain. Iran now has 10 small submarines, he said. Military experts say the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet patrolling the Gulf - which always has at least one giant supercarrier accompanied by scores of jets and a fleet of frigates and destroyers - is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's navy. But ever since al Qaeda suicide bombers in a small boat killed 17 sailors on board the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a port in Yemen in 2000, Washington has been wary of the vulnerability of its huge battleships to bomb attacks by small enemy craft. Asked whether the U.S. Navy was prepared for an attack or other trouble in the Gulf, Fox said: "We are very vigilant, we have built a wide range of options to give the president and we are ready... What if it happened tonight? We are ready today." Iranian officials have threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the outlet to the Gulf through which nearly all of the Middle East's oil sails. Asked if he took Iran's threats seriously, Fox said: "Could they make life extremely difficult for us? Yes they could. If we did nothing and they were able to operate without being inhibited, yeah they could close it, but I can't see that we would ever be in that position." He added that diplomacy should be given priority in resolving the tension. "So when you hear discussion about all this overheated rhetoric from Iran we really believe that the best way to handle this is with diplomacy... I am absolutely convinced that is the way to go. It is our job to be prepared. We are vigilant." Contacts between the U.S. Navy and Iranian craft in the Gulf region were routine, Fox said, referring to cases where his sailors helped Iranian ships that were in distress or threatened by pirates. In addition to commanding the Fifth Fleet, Fox is also the commander of a multinational naval task force charged with ensuring Gulf shipping routes stay open. Although most of its firepower is American, the task force also includes other Western countries and the Gulf Arab states. The European Union slapped an embargo on Iranian oil last month, which is due to kick in completely by July 1. The United States and EU have both imposed new sanctions on Iran's central bank which make it difficult for countries to pay Tehran for oil and for Iran to pay for the goods it imports.[/QUOTe] [URL]http://news.yahoo.com/u-navy-iran-prepares-suicide-bomb-boats-gulf-092222371.html[/URL]
That's part of their strategy right, swarm attacks of small watercraft? Like taking on a carrier flotilla with 1000 jetski's packed with C4? It actually sounds like it may be effective. Especially in a surprise attack supported by standard surface ships and aircraft.
[QUOTE=DaysBefore;34689175]That's part of their strategy right, swarm attacks of small watercraft? Like taking on a carrier flotilla with 1000 jetski's packed with C4? It actually sounds like it may be effective. Especially in a surprise attack supported by standard surface ships and aircraft.[/QUOTE] I don't see how that would work considering the ridiculous range on the radars
[QUOTE=DaysBefore;34689175]That's part of their strategy right, swarm attacks of small watercraft? Like taking on a carrier flotilla with 1000 jetski's packed with C4? It actually sounds like it may be effective. Especially in a surprise attack supported by standard surface ships and aircraft.[/QUOTE] Even if they swarmed them, most of the ships have CIWS's, even if it is an anti-air or missile turret, im sure small boats will be no problem for it.
The carrier is going to sit outside of the range of any shore launched missiles and do exactly what it does constantly anyways: deploy patrol aircraft. The RADAR on the ship itself will cover the area around the carrier itself while aircraft extend that considerably out to hundreds of miles. A fleet of small ships will be detected a considerable distance from the carrier. The carrier will laugh, scramble interceptors equipped with CBU-97's and annihilate them. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBU-97[/url] A single F/A-18E (So could an F/A-18C, it would seem) could fill all 11 hardpoints with 97's and still not be anywhere near its weight limit. (2 are wingtips hardpoints and only accept missiles. So only 9 theoretically can accept them.) Each CBU-97 has 10 BLU-108 submunitions, each of which carry 4 individual hockey puck warheads. A single CBU-97 deploys 40 warheads that each individually target and destroy lightly armored vehicles. Given that an F-18 can carry 9 of them, that is an aircraft with 360 guided micromunitions. That is a single F-18. The carriers sitting off the coast of Iran each carry anywhere from 40-60 hornets. (Plus a variety of other fixed wing aircraft and helicopters). I highly doubt they have anywhere near enough of the CBU-97's to outfit all of them or even most of them, but really they only need a handful and any suicide boat attack is just going to be a joke. A fleet of boats all launching anti ship missiles might get further, but even then I don't think they have the ability to move a fleet of sufficient size into position to simultaneously launch enough missiles to overwhelm the anti missile defenses of the fleet. Any way you slice this, those carrier battle groups are in a pretty good position and Iran is pretty well fucked if they decide to spin up the war machine.
Shipboard Phalanx systems would make short work of any fast attack boats before they got anywhere close, I'm sure.
[QUOTE=GunFox;34689408]The carrier is going to sit outside of the range of any shore launched missiles and do exactly what it does constantly anyways: deploy patrol aircraft. The RADAR on the ship itself will cover the area around the carrier itself while aircraft extend that considerably out to hundreds of miles. A fleet of small ships will be detected a considerable distance from the carrier. The carrier will laugh, scramble interceptors equipped with CBU-97's and annihilate them. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBU-97[/url] A single F/A-18E (So could an F/A-18C, it would seem) could fill all 11 hardpoints with 97's and still not be anywhere near its weight limit. (2 are wingtips hardpoints and only accept missiles. So only 9 theoretically can accept them.) Each CBU-97 has 10 BLU-108 submunitions, each of which carry 4 individual hockey puck warheads. A single CBU-97 deploys 40 warheads that each individually target and destroy lightly armored vehicles. Given that an F-18 can carry 9 of them, that is an aircraft with 360 guided micromunitions. That is a single F-18. The carriers sitting off the coast of Iran each carry anywhere from 40-60 hornets. (Plus a variety of other fixed wing aircraft and helicopters). I highly doubt they have anywhere near enough of the CBU-97's to outfit all of them or even most of them, but really they only need a handful and any suicide boat attack is just going to be a joke. A fleet of boats all launching anti ship missiles might get further, but even then I don't think they have the ability to move a fleet of sufficient size into position to simultaneously launch enough missiles to overwhelm the anti missile defenses of the fleet. Any way you slice this, those carrier battle groups are in a pretty good position and Iran is pretty well fucked if they decide to spin up the war machine.[/QUOTE] OK. Now in English
[QUOTE=The Jackal;34688948]Iran has built up its naval forces in the Gulf and prepared boats [B]that [I][U]could[/U][/I] be used in suicide attacks[/B], but the U.S. Navy can prevent it from blocking the Strait of Hormuz, the commander of U.S. naval forces in the region said on Sunday.[/QUOTE] So could any boat? This article is fear-mongering.
If the US gets involved in this, my god. People are going to lose their minds.
[QUOTE=Sickle;34689659]So could any boat? This article is fear-mongering.[/QUOTE] I'm not too afraid knowing what the USN has.
[QUOTE=rabid duck;34689597]OK. Now in English[/QUOTE] The US has jets that drop bombs that spray tiny heat-seeking bombs everywhere that blow up anything with a heat source. Like an Iranian suicide boat. It also has a lot of jets to drop them. Iran doesn't have the number of boats to overwhelm the number of tiny bombs dropped by the very large number of jets.
[QUOTE=rabid duck;34689597]OK. Now in English[/QUOTE] If Iran tries to ram an American carrier with explosives, the Americans will sit back, laugh, and fuck their shit with one plane.
Oh no, here come the fishing boats!
"The US general used war scream" "Target has exploded" It's super effective!
What's with every country always thinking suicide attacks help the most
[QUOTE=Shiftyze;34689748]What's with every country always thinking suicide attacks help the most[/QUOTE] The Iraq-Iran war saw the first suicide attacks, from the Iranian side if I do believe. Not like they're changing strategy.
[QUOTE=Shiftyze;34689748]What's with every country always thinking suicide attacks help the most[/QUOTE] Pretty sure the suicide boats only serve one purpose and that's to attempt to overwhelm any countermeasures with numbers in hopes that a few of the boats will reach their destination. And having a person pilot the boat is a lot cheaper than a machine.
[QUOTE=GunFox;34689676]The US has jets that drop bombs that spray tiny heat-seeking bombs everywhere that blow up anything with a heat source. Like an Iranian suicide boat. It also has a lot of jets to drop them. Iran doesn't have the number of boats to overwhelm the number of tiny bombs dropped by the very large number of jets.[/QUOTE] Thanks
[QUOTE=GunFox;34689676]The US has jets that drop bombs that spray tiny heat-seeking bombs everywhere that blow up anything with a heat source. Like an Iranian suicide boat. It also has a lot of jets to drop them. Iran doesn't have the number of boats to overwhelm the number of tiny bombs dropped by the very large number of jets.[/QUOTE] Wouldn't the carriers escorts blow the larger ship out of the water before the carrier could scramble its units?
You can read about similar Japanese Shin'yō (suicide boats) used in WWII, specifically Okinawa, [url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/OkinawaEMB.htm]here.[/url] Ultimately, an ineffective weapon.
Instead of this just drop mines EVERYWHERE.
[QUOTE=beanhead;34689907]Wouldn't the carriers escorts blow the larger ship out of the water before the carrier could scramble its units?[/QUOTE] Hrm? You'll have to clarify what you mean. What larger ship?
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/obaminacon.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=GunFox;34690004]Hrm? You'll have to clarify what you mean. What larger ship?[/QUOTE] the one carrying anti-ship missiles
Don't underestimate the Iranians. You don't know what sort of shit they have up their sleeves.
[QUOTE=desertdog11;34690626]Don't underestimate the Iranians. You don't know what sort of shit they have up their sleeves.[/QUOTE] Kebab! :v:
[QUOTE=beanhead;34690546]the one carrying anti-ship missiles[/QUOTE] The ones they load with anti ship missiles tend to still be very small. Imagine a speed boat with a pair of missiles on the roof and you are about 70% of the way there.
[QUOTE=GunFox;34690928]The ones they load with anti ship missiles tend to still be very small. Imagine a speed boat with a pair of missiles on the roof and you are about 70% of the way there.[/QUOTE] For some reason that just has me picturing the Top Gear "Toyotaboat" with a missile strapped to the bed :v:
What if Iran took hostages on the small boats. Would the US carriers fire on the boats given the presense of civilians?
[QUOTE=Maloof?;34691074]What if Iran took hostages on the small boats. Would the US carriers fire on the boats given the presense of civilians?[/QUOTE] No.
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