Posted on 01/14/2024 10:43:06 AM PST by Kazan
Joe Biden, amidst his mental confusion, must think he is John Mccain reincarnated. I bet he’s humming, “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb; Bomb Bomb Iran.” You know how it is, Iranians, Yemenis, they all look alike. While the bombs are causing some damage in Yemen, Yemen has seen it before and is unfazed. In fact, the bombing appears to be strengthening the resolve of Yemen to continue its blockade of the Red Sea.
The United States does not have enough bombs to force Yemen to surrender. Why? Yemen’s rocket and missile force is mobile. They can move dozens of missiles at the same time in different directions, which then forces the United States, notwithstanding robust ISR, to find the needles in the haystack that is Yemen. The U.S. can kill and destroy some, but not all.
But that is not the big problem. The U.S. Navy does not have the ability to sustain its presence off the coast of Yemen. My friend, Stephen Bryen, has written his usual excellent article detailing the problem:
The first answer relates to the number of missiles aboard a ship. US ships are relying on SM-2 missiles, part of the AEGIS system. One expert estimates the number available as follows:
“The [AEGIS] destroyers have a complement of 96 VLS cells, while the [Ticonderoga class] cruisers have 122. …However, they need to fit a mixture of weaponry in those cells so they can’t all be used for air defense. This includes:
ESSM (quad packed into a single cell)
SM-2 (and its newer counterpart the SM-6)
Tomahawk cruise missiles
ASROC anti-submarine missile
SM-3 anti-ballistic missile
The exact ratio of these weapons is largely dependent on the mission and the possible threats faced. However, at least 200 ESSM and another 100 or so SM-2 or SM-6 seems like a fair guess. Maybe a bit more.”
In short, each of the AEGIS has around 100 missiles.
The British Sea Viper air defense system is the main defense system HMS Diamond relied on to fire at Houthi drones and missiles. “Type 45 Destroyers, also known as Daring-class destroyers, are specifically designed around the Sea Viper (PAAMS) air-defence system. Each Type 45 destroyer is equipped with a 48-cell A50 Sylver Vertical Launching System. This system is designed to accommodate a mix of up to 48 Aster 15 and Aster 30 missiles.”
Neither the US nor the British ships can be reprovisioned at sea, so they have a limited ability to “stay in the fight” if it continues for any length of time.
There you have it. Yemen can launch a hundred drones and missiles at U.S. ships and the destroyer escorts will exhaust their supply of air defense missiles. In the 1970s the U.S. Navy had ship tenders that could pull alongside a destroyer and resupply it. Not today. The Vertical Launch Systems have to be reloaded in a port. That means the destroyers will have to sail to Dubai, which means the U.S. aircraft carrier they are accompanying will have to follow because it relies on them for protection from ballistic and cruise missiles.
Here’s the bottomline, if you are going to get into a gun fight you better have enough ammunition on hand to finish it. Only we’re not talking about having a million rounds of 9 mm pistol ammunition. The missiles the Aegis system uses are damn expensive. Here’s Stephen’s take:
One needs to add that using missile defense is very expensive. Each SM-2 missile costs $2.1 million each. Sea viper, which can either be an Aster 15 or Aster 30 costs either £1m to £2m a time ($1.25 million to $2.5 million). Nor does this take into account the challenge of replacing these missiles, once expended. It not only will be more expensive, but could take years of production time.
Yemen is showing how a so-called third rate military can effectively bankrupt the Naval power of a “Superpower.” The neo-cons urging Biden to attack Iran are math challenged. Iran has more missiles, drones and rockets than Yemen. If little Yemen is doing this to the U.S., just imagine the havoc Iran could cause.
Washington is like the degenerate gambler who is playing a losing game of blackjack. Instead of accepting his losses, Joe Biden seems intent on doubling down and destroying the reputation of the U.S. Navy as the most powerful force in the World. I suspect the Russians and Chinese are enjoying some heaping buckets of buttered popcorn as they watch this spectacle of national suicide.
Do you get paid for your posts? Or a least get to snuggle with some cute KGB agent?
More nonsense from Sonar21's propagandists. There is no need to force the Houthis to surrender, and the USA has plenty of bombs to rain down on them as needed.
That's a misleading, stupid question - a red herring.
What's dividing people is YET ANOTHER deep-state/MIC military action in a 3rd world sh**hole. Tell us the end-game this particular action, Mr. neocon.
Bkmk
What part of the USA supports the Houthis?
Its a stupid question. No part of the USA supports the Houthis
But that's not the issue, and you know it, with your asinine rhetorical questions.
Bachelor in Journalism, she’s well-prepared for modern military challenges, no doubt.. she clearly was taught how to write and, hopefully, read..
Again why do US Navy supply ships call on Indian Island munitions depot? For fun? RR&R? Too crowed at Bremerton?
Essentially, all modern navies have gone to VLS, and with the size of long range air defense missiles, no one is reloading them at sea. We do still reload our smaller non-VLS systems underway.
Then who made the reloading at sea YT videos aboard Navy ships?
Stephen Bryen
Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy and the Yorktown Institute
Now, perhaps, you can tell us why you know more than Mr. Bryen.
Johnson been absolutely spot-on on the failed proxy war in Ukraine, which has been total failure.
And Johnson has been consistently wrong on Ukraine. He's constantly claimed the war was over, Ukraine defeated. He missed Russia's retreat from Kyiv. He missed Russia's loss in the Kharkiv offensive. He called the Kherson offensive a failure until Ukraine captured Kherson and forced Russia over the Dniepro River. He clearly overestimates Russia's capabilities. Everything he writes is anti-US, Anti-Israel, Anti-Ukraine, Pro-Russia, Pro-Hamas, Anti-capitalism. He was even invited by Russia to speak at a "multi-polarity" conference to bash the USA in Moscow, with Joe "Valery Plame's Husband" Wilson.
To show just how deep Johnson's hate for the west goes (all the way back to Christopher Columbus), here's a quote from his anti-American screed in Moscow, where he stopped just short of giving Putin a blowie, at least in public.
"We are blessed to live in a watershed moment in history. We are witnesses to the end of the era of the Western Colonial empires. This era began with Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama setting off to “discover” the world in the late 15th century. In the ensuing 6 centuries the nations of Europe battled with themselves and others for control over territory in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In the process they subjugated and, at times, enslaved, the inhabitants of nations we now call the Global South. I refer to this period as the era of the European Empires because, notwithstanding the internal battle for dominance among Portugal, Spain, France, England, Germany, all of these countries shared a common goal of exploiting foreign resources and populations for their own national benefit."You have to read it all to fully appreciate his hate for democracy, capitalism and the west. https://sonar21.com/my-speech-to-a-seminar-on-multipolarity/
Which ships exactly? What exactly were they loading? When did they do it?
L
The Ticos and Flt I Arleigh Burkes had cranes that could be used for reloading at sea, but I have never seen VLS canisters transferred by unrep. We did use our crane to move some missiles (while underway) a couple times when we had a VLS module fail. On later ships, the Navy got rid of the cranes, as they took up 3 missile cells each, or 6 total.
Since a CVN deploys with 3 or 4 Aegis ships, allowing one or two to sprint to port to reload is acceptable. Even if we did unrep VLS canisters, it would require calm seas. I’ve reloaded hundreds of missiles into VLS dockside, and it takes a day to load a 61 cell launcher under ideal conditions. When unrepping, you would have to first offload the empty canisters to the AOE, prepare/configure the launchers for new missiles and load them as they are transferred. All this with 3,000+lb, 25’ long missile canisters that have to be transferred, moved on deck, lifted vertically and slid into the launcher. Anything but calm seas would make it an extremely dangerous evolution.
People want an Air Defense Destroyer/Cruiser to be a master of all trades. Air Defense for a CVN Battle Group, ASW for CVN Battle Group, Anti Surface Strike, Area Ballistic Missile Defense, Long Range Shore Strike, Naval Shore/Air Gunnery. A Cruiser/Destroyer can only carry so much ordinance, and Ticos/Burkes are nearly “Armory Ships” as configured. They are already carrying over a hundred missiles in VLS, 8 Harpoons, 11 RAMs (+ reloads), a dozen or more MK 54 Torpedoes, 600/1200 rounds of 5” gun ammo, plus 25mm, CIWS, .50 cal and more, not to mention armed helos with additional torpedoes and anti-surface capabilities.
From a strike and long range air defense standpoint, more cells would be great. From a self defense standpoint, the new ESSM Blk 2 is a huge improvement that has largely solved any desire for more self defense missiles. Loading 32 cells with these gives you 128 medium range missiles with 30+ miles range and active radar guidance in just 1/3 or 1/4 of your cells, leaving plenty of room for SM-6 for long range air defense/hypersonic strike, SM-3 for Ballistic Missile defense, Tomahawks/LRASM for strike/anti-ship, and ASROCs for ASW. SSGN subs in a CVN Strike Group can carry a 154 Tomahawks, freeing up VLS cells on surface combatants for air defense.
The biggest problem is our silly reticence to kill humans and “civilians.” We should be using napalm, white phosphorus, depleted uranium on Houthis whenever they gather together such as these silly Soviet-style parades they have had lately. We should unleash the Saudis to do far worse on the ground. Mass causality events. We should be sinking an Iranian ship every time Yemen launches an attack on anything. At sea, in port, all fair game. Run out of ships? Take out the Mullahs or presidential Palace in Tehran. The West is so meek. It was not always so.
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