Free Republic

Israel's military said on Wednesday it had developed a version of its Iron Dome missile interceptor system that can be fired from the deck of a cruising navy ship to protect its offshore gas platforms. The augmented defense system passed a live test two weeks ago when it shot down several short-range ballistic missiles from a moving boat, said Colonel Ariel Shir, the navy's head of operational systems. Israel has boosted its naval defenses over the past decade after the discovery of sizeable natural gas deposits off its Mediterranean coast. While the biggest fields are far from shore, the gas...

AN Australian port could be attacked or a ferry hijacked by terrorists to transport weapons of mass destruction, because of gaps in the maritime border security net. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has found a lack of awareness from states and the federal Government about the specific threats posed from the sea. "A determined and expert terrorist is still likely to have little difficulty in entering Australia by sea, and will probably only be defeated by advance intelligence of his movements," the institute says in a report titled Future unknown: the terrorist threat to Australian maritime security. "We have high...

U.S., Britain Plan Seaborne Attack on Iraq-Source By Peter Graff LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain are planning a massive seaborne invasion of Iraq from the Gulf as the first stage in any ground war, a British defense ministry source said on Saturday. "Discussions on future amphibious operations are at an advanced stage," the source said, adding that Britain would commit its elite 3 Commando Brigade of Royal Marines to the proposed invasion. In the 1991 Gulf War U.S.-led forces assembled a large amphibious task force in the Gulf, but never mounted an assault by sea. Instead, infantry...