USNA grads gettin a workout- Malabar06

Colleges and Universities A-Z Service Academy Parents
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<p>Stratfor.com
U.S.: Operation Leading Edge
October 30, 2006 22 13 GMT</p>

<p>The United States, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, Bahrain and South Korea were among the 25 nations that took part in Operation Leading Edge, targeted at training forces to stymie the transportation of weapons of mass destruction and attendant equipment, approximately 20 miles outside of Iranian waters on Oct. 30. The naval operation was part of the U.S. Proliferation Security Initiative and was the first such drill to take place in the Gulf.</p>

<p>I have no opinion as to the source of the following with link provided
Israeli news Debka October 30, 06</p>

<p>"In any case, the Iranians suspect that at the end of the joint US-Indian exercise in the Arabian Sea, Boxer will veer west and head into the Persian Gulf. There would then be four US air carriers with task forces parked opposite Iranian shores, including the USS Enterprise Strike Group, the USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group and the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which are already in place.</p>

<p><a href="http://debka.com/article.php?aid=1223%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://debka.com/article.php?aid=1223&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I've wanted to point something out to prospective USN Officers, but haven't really wanted to start a whole thread about it. With your permission, WF, I'd like to use yours as it's somewhat related.</p>

<p>Surface Warfare has often gotten a bit of a black eye in the great totem pole of service selections. SEALs, USMC, Aviation, and even Subs have always been viewed as the elite, with Surface Warfare being the sump that catches the remainders. I will freely admit that this was the attitude in my day, and I tasted the bitterness of that reality first-hand.</p>

<p>Fast-forward 15 years.</p>

<p>Surface Warfare today is rapidly becoming a far more dynamic and powerful arm of the military than in decades past. Before, we concentrated primarily on defending carrier battle groups and merchant convoys from the likes of OSCAR-class SSGN's and the Regimental Backfire raid. With the fall of the USSR, that became less of a threat (although there is still China out there).</p>

<p>Nowadays, SWOs are involved in all manner of escort, strike, interdiction, and sea control activities which were in their infancy in my day. Additionally, new platforms and system of mind-boggling capability are coming online. The Stealth Ship (SEA SHADOW), the new SAN ANTONIO-class LPD's, the FREEDOM-class littoral combat ships, and the incredible SEA FIGHTER (FSF-1) are all designs that were barely on the drawing board in my day, when the TICONDEROGA-class cruisers were the Death Stars of the age (if it flies, it dies!). These days, the TICO class looks much like my beloved DALE looked in 1991: proud, but obviously past her prime.</p>

<p>The bridge of a modern Navy warship looks more futuristic than the bridge of the Battlestar Galactica. Multi-color displays with electronic charts overlaid with radar information and linked to the CIC. The old helm replaced with a joystick. Etc., etc...</p>

<p>Finally, smaller ships offering commands to younger and younger officers. The CO of NEW YORK graduated only two years ahead of me at USNA. It's surreal.</p>

<p>An amazing new horizon has opened up to modern SWOs, and no one should be ashamed to want to be one, as they were made to feel back in my day. Modern surface vessels can see and kill anything within hundreds of miles in any direction, including straight down and out into space. They can strike deep inland with pinpoint precision, and can serve as intelligence-gathering and special-operations platforms.</p>

<p>To be quite blunt, I'm jealous as all hell. You guys have no idea how good you've got it! Now get out there and sieze the opportunities! :)</p>

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<p>^^^^^ ah, another post forwarded to the thorpedo!!!
Thanks Z!!!</p>

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<p>Thanks Z</p>

<p>forwarded that analysis to my Mid also.</p>

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<p>follow up to my original post on this thread</p>

<p>DEBKAfile’s Military Sources: The spectacular swarm of sophisticated missiles fired in Iran’s surprise military exercise stuns military planners in the US, Israel and Europe</p>

<p>November 5, 2006, 2:43 PM (GMT+02:00)</p>

<p>Our sources reveal that scores of surface missiles – a record for any war games anywhere - were tested simultaneously at a desert testing site some two hours drive from Tehran Thursday, Nov. 2. Precisely planned, the testing went smoothly. Input has not yet come in about the accuracy of their targeting.</p>

<p>A senior American missile expert told DEBKAfile that the Iranians demonstrated up-to-date missile-launching technology which the West had not known them to possess. They also displayed unfamiliar warheads. But their most startling feat was the successful first test-fire of the long-range Shehab-3 with its cluster of tens of small bomblets, as DEBKAfile revealed Oct. 31. The entire range bore the imprint of new purchases from China.</p>

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<p>Fear not. The United States Navy is not oblivious to such threats, and has been preparing for them since we started escorting tankers through the Gulf in 1988 or so.</p>

<p>If Iran tries to pull any funny business, their forces will have a brief, exciting, and terminal existance. Yes, we may have a ship or two get hit depending on any number of factors, but I'll remind you that we know damage control pretty damned well, too. We didn't lose the STARK, the COLE, or that cruiser that hit a mine in the gulf many years ago (can't remember the name). We didn't lose FORRESTAL off of Vietnam, either, and that was we call a "massive conflagration".</p>

<p>We are the best. We can handle these vermin. Trust me.</p>

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<p>They throw their best "made in china" hardware up in the air and thump there chests screaming allahu akbar.</p>

<p>Having bumped my head on a tomahawk cruise missle in the torpedo room of
SSN760 a few weeks ago I know we can handle em when necessary. </p>

<p>Few will ever be able to appreciate or realize the firepower of our sub fleet. </p>

<p>I know I never will.</p>

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<p>A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times has learned.
The surprise encounter highlights China's continuing efforts to prepare for a future conflict with the U.S., despite Pentagon efforts to try to boost relations with Beijing's communist-ruled military.
The submarine encounter with the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships also is an embarrassment to the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon, who is engaged in an ambitious military exchange program with China aimed at improving relations between the two nations' militaries.
Disclosure of the incident comes as Adm. Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, is making his first visit to China. The four-star admiral was scheduled to meet senior Chinese military leaders during the weeklong visit, which began over the weekend.
According to the defense officials, the Chinese Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine shadowed the Kitty Hawk undetected and surfaced within five miles of the carrier Oct. 26.
The surfaced submarine was spotted by a routine surveillance flight by one of the carrier group's planes. The Kitty Hawk battle group includes an attack submarine and anti-submarine helicopters that are charged with protecting the warships from submarine attack.</p>

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<p>Diesel submarines are notoriously difficult to detect.</p>

<p>As for the "before being detected" part........ Well, let's just say that our submarines screen our CVBG's, too, and very little escapes their gaze.</p>

<p>So, the article is possible, but I wouldn't panic over it.</p>

<p>OTOH, there is a REASON for the old saying: "There are two types of ships in the world: submarines and targets."</p>

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<p>sort of like an insurgent with an RPG camping out inside the fence on the White House lawn and the secret service wondering how they got there. </p>

<p>a few weeks ago at Electric Boat, I asked RADM , ret. John Padgett about sonar sensitivity and he sort of looked at me with a stare as in dont ask me those types of questions.</p>

<p>If you dont think the chinese are the future threat to our nation read the following from Robert Kaplan.</p>

<p>The alumni association paid abt $2million to have him as a visiting professor.</p>

<p>HOW WE WOULD FIGHT CHINA</p>

<p>The Middle East is just a blip. The American military contest with China in the Pacific will define the twenty-first century. And China will be a more formidable adversary than Russia ever was</p>

<p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200506/kaplan%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200506/kaplan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I have the full article.</p>