Iran rapidly bolsters retaliation capability in gulf, experts say

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

Iran is rapidly gaining new capabilities to strike at U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, amassing an arsenal of sophisticated anti-ship missiles while expanding its fleet of fast-attack boats and submarines, U.S. and Middle Eastern analysts say.

The new systems, many of them developed with foreign assistance, are giving Iran’s commanders new confidence that they could quickly damage or destroy U.S. ships if hostilities erupt, the officials say.

Although U.S. Navy officials are convinced that they would prevail in a fight, Iran’s advances have fueled concerns about U.S. vulnerabilities during the opening hours of a conflict in the gulf.

Increasingly accurate short-range missiles —combined with Iran’s use of “swarm” tactics involving hundreds of heavily armed patrol boats —could strain the defensive capabilities of even the most modern U.S. ships, current and former military analysts say.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-bolsters-retaliation-capability-in-gulf-experts-say/2012/07/26/gJQAQuFUCX_singlePage.html

[SCVDem]

1. If we worry about this

WTF are we spending BILLIONS in defensive (offensive) on?

If all this money amounts to squat, then lets cut the military budget in half because obviously it is gaining us nothing!

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Yes, exactly.

[NickB79]

3. We're still in a Cold War military mentality

Thinking we'll face off against another large, sophisticated country fielding tanks, fighter jets and soldiers wearing body armor. And it's possible that may be the case 20 years from now if China becomes a military threat. But for the time being, we're still not taking seriously the threat of small but agile enemies employing unconventional military tactics.

[Brother Buzz]

4. General Van Riper and Millennium Challenge 2002 gave our military a heads up - I hope they listened

It appears the Iranians did.

Van Riper played the opposing force commander, and easily sunk a whole carrier battle group in the simulation with an inferior Middle-Eastern "red" team in the first two days. After the simulation was restarted with different parameters, he claimed that the wargame had been "fixed" to falsely validate current doctrine of the US Navy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002

[gmpierce]

5. lessons learned

Our senior naval commanders did their best to ignore and minimize the results of Millennium Challenge, but it's likely that some of the junior officers in 2002 actually learned something. Ten years later these guys are now in command.

This probably explains why the USNS Rappahannock attacked an Indian fishing vessel with 50 caliber machine gun fire and killed a number of innocent civilians.

The circumstances in the Gulf are kind of similar to what our Marines found in Afghanistan. You might be attacked at any moment and your chances of surviving go up if you shoot at anything that moves.

Under circumstance in either Afghanistan or the Gulf, there are no "rules of engagement" that make any sense and also protect the innocent.

[msongs]

6. Iran faces bloodthirsty war loving savages in Washington DC, it better prepare nt

[lib2DaBone]

7. 10 years of war and Trillions$$.. you 'd think America would be tired of war....