Bloomberg reports, not on the steakhouse, but on a Russian missile that is giving US planners indigestion with its ability to make mincemeat of US naval defenses....
The missile, known in the West as the "Sizzler,'' has been deployed by China and may be purchased by Iran. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has given the Navy until April 29 to explain how it will counter the missile, according to a Pentagon budget document.
The Defense Department's weapons-testing office judges the threat so serious that its director, Charles McQueary, warned the Pentagon's chief weapons-buyer in a memo that he would move to stall production of multibillion-dollar ship and missile programs until the issue was addressed.
"This is a carrier-destroying weapon,'' said Orville Hanson, who evaluated weapons systems for 38 years with the Navy. "That's its purpose.''
"Take out the carriers'' and China "can walk into Taiwan,'' he said. China bought the missiles in 2002 along with eight diesel submarines designed to fire it, according to Office of Naval Intelligence spokesman Robert Althage.
A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia also offered the missile to Iran, although there's no evidence a sale has gone through. In Iranian hands, the Sizzler could challenge the ability of the U.S. Navy to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, through which an estimated 25 percent of the world's oil traffic flows.
Brrr....
(hat tip to initechnology) [Taiwan] [US] [China] [Taiwan Independence] [Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)] [Russia] [Iran]
I wouldn't be too concerned. There's often a tendancy to over-exaggerate the threat from all these foreign anti-ship missiles - it's good to get more money spent to "counter" them.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, carrier groups are protected by a cordon of AEGIS destroyers and cruisers - they'd pick them up on the radar long before it got anywhere near the carrier.
Second, US (and European) SAM missiles have been designed to deal with this sort of threat - the fact it flies low isn't much of a problem. They're also a lot more agile than they used to be. Then you've got the carrier-based defence systems (both Phalanx and RIM-116 on the Nimitz-class). Not easy to get past all that.
Third, it would be difficult for Chinese submarines to get into firing-position. They're not that quiet and with USN ASW patrols they'd probably get picked up before they got close enough - China doesn't have good enough surveillance technology to allow them to far at anything like the SSN-27s maximum range.
Of course complacency would be a horrible mistake - it's important the USN has a gameplan to follow, though of course Congress needs to realise they can't publicise it so will have to deal with it carefully.
Why bother? A well place neutron warhead within 50 miles of any carrier groups will kill everyone on board. Any nation with the crappiest missle system but with the warhead can do it.
ReplyDeleteThose fancy gagets are just for show. The are exactly the same thing as our M1 tanks and all the weapons that can't do jack in Iraq. Hello, it is the era of asymmetric warfare.