[Enchante]

"Iran is holding a 10-day military exercise in an area from the eastern part of the strait out into the Arabian Sea"

I trust we are tracking every ship and sub they have so that all may be sunk in the opening minutes of any conflict. The big problem may be surface-to-ship missiles which are easy to hide onshore?? Don't know if we have made progress on that problem.....

[GonzoGOP]

The big problem may be surface-to-ship missiles which are easy to hide onshore.

Finding the Kilo class boats they have would be no picnic either. If they get those into the Indian Ocean before the shooting starts we will have a devil of a time running them to ground. We just don't have the ASW assets we had back in the cold war. With the S-3 Vikings retired the carriers are no longer in the sub hunting business. And our SSNs don't do well against quiet diesel boats in the shallows.

In addition to direct torpedo and missile attacks the Kilos would be excellent mine layers. We might use the helicopters on our DDGs and FFGs to keep the immediate area around a convoy clear, but they know the path we have to follow. They would be a long way off before they convoy's ASW assets show up. Just dump mines in our path and wait for something to go bang.

[Georgia Girl 2]

The Iranians have some silkworms that could do some damage but we would detect one being launched immediately and we would start sinking their entire fleet. We have 80 attack aircraft on each carrier. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. The Iranians know this. They are just pulling our chain. It is irritating though.