Changing face of naval war
As rocket propelled grenades, flame-throwers, and missile launchers get smaller and cheaper, the protective and attacking capabilities of our militaries are proportionally reduced. Furthermore, the dissolution of the USSR means vast stockades of arms are now easily available for those scrupulous enough to know how to get them. The impact of this on global shipping is that piracy (the old kind) has increased.
More sinister is the impact on our navies: terrorists and enemy nations like Iran can equip small fast boats with powerful weapons capable of destroying Cold War era lumbering ships.
From the International Herald Tribune:
In the days since the encounter with five Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz, American officers have acknowledged that they have been studying anew the lessons from a startling simulation conducted in August 2002. In that war game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships — an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels — when they were sunk to the bottom of the Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.
“The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack,” said Lieutenant General Paul Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who served in the war game as commander of a Red Team force representing an unnamed Gulf military. “The whole thing was over in 5, maybe 10 minutes.”
The incident with Iran did not play out badly, but we now know from the Strait of Hormuz incident & the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that this is a real threat for which we must be prepared. Cheap, small powerful weapons on light, fast boats now have the potential to sink an aircraft carrier. That’s frightening.
