No doubt all our readers will have seen on the news and Internet extensive coverage of the Iranian Great Prophet 5 naval exercises in which various types of Iranian armed speedboats tear around the Gulf, using a years worth of training ammunition (well that would be the case if it were RN) and setting off pyro laden special effects explosions that Hollywood would be proud of.
Mike over at New Wars suggests that Special Warfare Combatant Craft, a heavily armed ‘underwater knife fighting team’ of gung ho US Naval Special Forces may be an answer to the threat.
As usual the british Armed Forces can be relied on to add a dash of humour; this is a video of Royal Artillery (not the RM as usually reported) having a spot of fun on a beach at Al Faw in Iraq. As usual, there are several versions of events, it was a training run for an operation later on, it was a setup and it was a demonstration of the benefits of hovercraft.
Whatever the truth, this never gets old!
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4 Comments
Love that video, when I first saw it I was unsure if it was a hoax or not :-) Gotta love those marines.
As for swarms.
You have to wonder why the Royal Navy do not have more vessels like the Saar class vessels (I believe Israel, Chile and Greece operate them).
http://www.widescreenstuff.com/2010/03/chilean-saar-class-attack-craft.html
These are suited for coast guard activities (therefore can be operated as coast guard vessels and press into service if needed), and perfect for anti piracy where expensive vessels lose out to a more numeric presence of cheaper vessels covering larger areas.
They would also appear perfect for escorting other vessels.
Cheap therefore larger in numbers, larger area coverage, more places/presence.
Whilst losing any ship is tragic, I would rather one of these was hit/lost than a Type45 or capital ship.
ROFL _ even the green death are not totally infallible ! “get that bloody weapon out of the mud boy…..” :-)
The problem with using corvette/FAC-sized vessels to combat the swarm is that they are typically too small to be easily sustained on the other side of the world without a significant land base nearby. Also, corvettes and larger FACs aren’t that cheap, so you many only improve the odds slightly over buying a larger frigate.
I’ve thought about carrying a counter-swarm of smaller patrol boats on either commercial vessels, or purpose-built, small craft tender/transports.
A squadron of, say, 16 Super Dvora Mk IIIs could provide a useful screen for larger vessels. They are fast, well-armed (for their size) and have multi-day endurance. They are also small enough to be carried on davits, or lifted on/off via cranes.
Smaller CB90s are also an option, but they don’t typically carry the same level of armament and aren’t set up for multi-day patrols.
Also, patrol boats like Super Dvoras are too small to be worth shooting at with an ASCM.