Just wait for them to perform a Crazy Inga at the bottom of the hour.
Posted on 04/18/2006 1:35:46 PM PDT by dagnabbit
Just wait for them to perform a Crazy Inga at the bottom of the hour.
Because we are a Constitutional Republic...an ongoing experiment in self government. When our elected officials let us down, by abdicating their Constitutional responsibilities to maintain defenses...squandering the monies they appropriate elsewhere...and neglecting dealing with very real vulnerabilities...they endanger us all.
We, all of us, as John Q. Public need to know these things. So we can demand accountability. Otherwise we would never be the wiser until the next Pearl Harbor. And we would be wrongly praising the very Politicians who posture as pro-defense...but aren't getting it done. None of these deficiencies is likely news to the Red Chinese. They study our military in real depth. Heck, they get to go along on our training exercises.
Smart. Real Smart.
Who do you think authorized that little gesture...which Communist PRC leader Hu Jintau demanded?
This web article is a real service to our national defense: US Navy Struggles to Recapture, Keep ASW Proficiency.
Read it and weep:
US Navy Struggles to Recapture, Keep ASW Proficiency
In the past several years the US Navy has reacquired an urgency about anti-submarine warfare. A poor step-child of the Navy since the fall of the USSR (along with mine-hunting), ASW is once again being recognized as a critical capability.
Of the more than 10,000 hours flown by Navy P-3Cs in the Persian Gulf, none of this time involved ASW. Rather, the missions involved supporting ground troops in Iraq and performing maritime interception operations as part of the coalition's stopping illegal smuggling of oil. While meeting the current needs of the service after essentially abandoning ASW after the collapse of the USSR, the world’s navies – the US Navy in the forefront -- find themselves ill-equipped to counter the explosive growth in the Third World fleet of stealthy, fourth generation diesel-electric subs like the U-212/214-class and the Scorpene-class. Such current technology subs can stay submerged for days without need for snorkeling. Equipped with Air Independent Propulsion closed-oxygen diesel drives that burn ethanol and liquid oxygen to make steam to drive a turbo-electric generator, the design permits retrofitting into existing submarines by adding an extra hull section. Typical cost for a new submarine powered by AIP is $250 million. These warships are openly for sale to almost anyone with a big enough checking account (except Taiwan, but that’s another story). For the budget-conscious – or someone simply in a hurry to raise hell with an allied navy -- a Russian P-130 or Piranha-T Small-class submarine may be purchased for a fraction of the cost of a Scorpene. In the past several years, both US and allied forces have been dismayed to have their ships “sunk” (including an aircraft carrier) by small but new diesel-electric submarines such as Sweden’s “Gotland” playing the enemy in exercises.
Recognizing this large hole in national defense, the US Navy in 2004 stood up the Fleet ASW Command and allocated more money to oversee ASW training. In addition to a new generation of active sonobouys, the Navy is working on such advanced technologies as floating sensor grids and other networked, distributed systems that operate without a vessel or aircraft nearby. The P-8A aircraft, to replace the P-3C (and perhaps the EP-3E as well) has been in development for several years, although its eventual production in sufficient numbers to do the job remains in serious doubt.
In late 2005, the Navy released additional information regarding current and foreseeable multiple missions with a smaller, more disperse maritime patrol and reconnaissance force – today’s P-3Cs and the promised P-8A replacement. The Navy’s fleet of operational P-3Cs has decreased from a listed 227 in 2003 to just 150 by mid- 2005, with 54 of these grounded for serious maintenance or re-winging (the P-3 was designed for a service life of 20,000 hours; many are now pushing 30,000 hours and are 40 years old, flogging through the harsh, unforgiving environment of salt water spray and constant low-level flight). The P-8A isn’t scheduled to hit the fleet starting in 2013 and replacing the last P-3C in 2019. Whether the Navy buys the P-8 as the replacement for the EP-3E is unknown. The Army recently rejected the ERJ-145 planned replacement for the Aerial Common Sensor Aircraft. The 145 was to have served both the Army and the Navy.
The critical shortage of P-3Cs has resulted in an almost total cessation of training when a squadron returns home from deployment as most of its aircraft are quickly cycled back to the fleet for overseas operations. In 1991 the Navy had 25 active and 13 reserve VP squadrons, each with nine airplanes. Today it has 12 active operational and six reserve squadrons, with all reserve squadrons to have been decommissioned by 2007. There are simply no aircraft to spare for the reserves any longer. Today, the Navy is down to just three deployment sites with each squadron having just eight airplanes each, a total of 24 planes. With the P-8 still just a drawing, the future of US Navy patrol aviation is in serious doubt at a time when the threat from Middle Eastern diesel-electric subs is ever more intense. The Navy’s decommissioning of its S-3B squadrons leaves the fleet even more vulnerable to this threat. Further, the P-8 is a big airplane unsuitable for the low-level (i.e. 200 feet over the water) active prosecution tactics used by the P-3 with such sensors as MAD. Instead, the Navy is planning to go with such untested upgrades as a new generation of extended echo range (EER) active (pinger) sonobouys, each equipped with GPS so as to have a constantly updated tactical plot.
While -- according to the Navy’s ASW Command/Fleet Replacement Patrol Squadron THIRTY -- ASW is still the primary mission focus for P-3s, annual ASW training done at the squadron level is approximately one-third of that conducted twenty years ago.
As the Navy plans for a fleet of perhaps 265 warships (down from 586 in 1988 and the smallest Navy since 1912), it states that the P-8A is fully funded through fleet introduction planned for 2012-2013. Full funding for replacement of the P-3C is yet to occur and not a sure thing, especially as the War on Terrorism is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. The Navy admits that even today’s 12 active VP squadrons are “likely to decrease” in number. This reporter estimates a total of four active P-8 squadrons plus a fifth fleet replacement squadron. Each active squadron (there will be no reserve VP squadrons) is likely to have eight aircraft. With another twelve or so for the FRS, we are likely to see, at best, fifty P-8 aircraft trying to do the job of over 200 P-3Cs. Look for UAVs to assume an ever greater portion of military aviation. While the outlook for success under this plan is clouded, the danger posed by enemy submarines is sharply defined.
In recent fleet exercises, the Swedish diesel-electric submarine "Gotland" gave the US Navy a run for its money
I don't think the Swiss lake patrol boats are actually part of a formal Navy. They may be Army or Police or or something (post office? animal control?)
Haha.. cool.. thanks. I figured it must have been something like that or you were severely bored at work!
Maybe Sweden will offer their trained, America-evading submarine crew to the highest bidder. I bet Iran would pay huge for a steathy sub crew to help them launch their new rocket-propelled torpedo.
Okay, I get the LOX, but what about exhaust?
Doesn't NKorea have diesel subs?
Indeed. My projects for them were all hush-hush.
That is too stinking funny to try to read. Just looking at it made me start laughing.
Of course, we've found their sub.
Here you are:
North Korea builds small- and medium-size submarines mainly in the Nampo and Wonsan Shipyard, but also in other small- and medium-size shipyards along the two coastal lines where naval and military bases are scattered.
snip
Submarines, most of which are of the 20-some Romeo-class, are outdated and slow, but they are sufficiently capable of blocking sea lanes. These vessels could attack ROK surface vessels, emplace mines anywhere within the ROK maritime territory, or secretly infiltrate commandos into the South.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/navy.htm
Ha that could be Mrs. Gefreiter on the far right. She's a Pole, not a Swede, and keeps her hair shorter...
If she was holding a P220 it'd be closer.
The Swedes did get to Delaware - History of New Sweden in America
(Rustling sound in background as BtD dons Kevlar undies...)
Actually the whole Swiss navy is extremely quiet.
If they ever get out of Lake Geneva we are all screwed.
That also gives your position away. A torpedo up the stern can put a hurt on your whole day.
U.S. Navy puts new emphasis on anti-submarine training
There is a real threat out there — over 140 diesel submarines in the Pacific — and the technology on them is getting better every day,” said Capt. David F. Steindl, who directed the ships and aircraft during the exercises. “We need to train constantly to be ready if we ever have to face that threat.”
Snip
Steindl, commander of Destroyer Squadron 7 since April, said he has been spending twice as much time on anti-submarine warfare exercises than he did the last time he served at sea, four years ago. Now, he said, his team is training almost constantly for anti-submarine warfare.
Starting last summer, sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan spent months off San Diego matching their wits against the Gotland, a Swedish vessel that is among the world’s quietest and hardest to detect diesel submarines.
The Gotland uses advanced technology to muffle its sound. It can also stay underwater for weeks at a time. Most diesel subs have to surface every day to recharge their batteries, making them vulnerable to attack.
Steindl said his sailors found ways to track the Gotland during their exercises, though he declined to say how. He said the training prepared his crew well.
“If we can go against her, we can go against anyone,” he said.
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