Gulf of Oman incidents

[BlackLabel]

6th Gear said:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/us...

More US troops sent to the Middle East.

And they want to send thousands more.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/us...

[andy_s]

It's quite annoying when someone you hold in low regard says something you think is vaguely sensible:

https://time.com/5608787/iran-oil-tanker-attack-ve...

[NRS]

Mastodon2 said:

The Atlanta class were primarily escort cruisers used with defence from aircraft in mind but their 5" rifles, all 16 of them, would be highly effective at engaging light surface targets. With the configuration of the turrets, which were dual purpose allowing for flat firing angles for surface engagement and the ability to get 14 of the 16 guns trained onto one target, coupled with a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute on each gun, that is going to put a lot of holes in any target!

Of course, it's all just deck-launched guided missiles these days. Perhaps even more likely that a drone would be used to strike the target so as not to risk damaging or losing a ship.

I guess the problem there is if anyone launches something at you then you have very little time to intercept it. That said, I doubt anyone is stupid enough to launch something at a US ship, unless they can smuggle and launch from a rival country without getting caught.

I imagine UK is more just protecting our own boats/trying to look important on world stage. You’d be a stupid politician to go to war after Iraq and seeing the public’s reaction, if nothing else.

[BlackLabel]

It's remarkable how easily governments can find money for this kind of stuff - we cannot fund, properly, mental health services specifically for veterans yet can quickly send 1000 marines to the Gulf.

The Americans cannot fund healthcare for 9/11 First Responders yet can find the money to send 1000 more troops (and potentially a further 9,000) to the Gulf.

[andy_s]

BlackLabel said:

It's remarkable how easily governments can find money for this kind of stuff - we cannot fund, properly, mental health services specifically for veterans yet can quickly send 1000 marines to the Gulf.

The Americans cannot fund healthcare for 9/11 First Responders yet can find the money to send 1000 more troops (and potentially a further 9,000) to the Gulf.

They'd be somewhere anyway, there's little additional cost involved.

[6th Gear]

Iran says it has shot down US drone as missile strike in Saudi Arabia raises tensions

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/20/iran...

[ApOrbital]

Yet no pictures of said drone in a mess on the ground.

[BlackLabel]

With tensions high let’s hope nobody misidentifies a passenger jet and shoots it down.

[ecsrobin]

ApOrbital said:

Yet no pictures of said drone in a mess on the ground.

Because it was over water. US have confirmed but said in international airspace.

[red_slr]

Quite a risk given just how busy that area is with civilian air traffic.

[red_slr]

The US has said its lost an MQ-4C Triton - quite the trophy for Iran given that's one of the newest variants of the Global Hawk that the US has and was designed specifically for maritime operations. $200m in the drink.

[Countdown]

red_slr said:

The US has said its lost an MQ-4C Triton - quite the trophy for Iran given that's one of the newest variants of the Global Hawk that the US has and was designed specifically for maritime operations. $200m in the drink.

Depends on what it was doing before getting shot down and how useful that information would in mapping radar/SAM sites. Reminds me a little bit of KAL007.

[sgtBerbatov]

BlackLabel said:

With tensions high let’s hope nobody misidentifies a passenger jet and shoots it down.

Again.

[funkyrobot]

Countdown said:

red_slr said:

The US has said its lost an MQ-4C Triton - quite the trophy for Iran given that's one of the newest variants of the Global Hawk that the US has and was designed specifically for maritime operations. $200m in the drink.

Depends on what it was doing before getting shot down and how useful that information would in mapping radar/SAM sites. Reminds me a little bit of KAL007.

Indeed. Helps to show what sort of equipment Iran has in that area.

[red_slr]

I could think of better aircraft to lose though, not a brand new airframe with virtually no operational flight time.

[Petrus1983]

red_slr said:

I could think of better aircraft to lose though, not a brand new airframe with virtually no operational flight time.

Ok - slightly conspiracy theory but I’ve been thinking about it this morning.

How do we know that’s what was actually shot down? They could be flying some stty last generation drones around provoking Iran to shoot something down - then when they go to congress they can say Iran has been the aggressor. And also provoking SAMs in a relatively busy commercial airspace too knowing what happened in the Ukraine.

[DAVEVO9]

https://en.irna.ir/news/83362061/Iran-shoots-down-...

[Petrus1983]

andy_s said:

They'd be somewhere anyway, there's little additional cost involved.

Maybe not in manpower costs but if you start losing $200m drones by getting involved then things start to get expensive. That one drone is equivalent to the average annual salaries of 4,150 cops alone.

[andy_s]

Petrus1983 said:

andy_s said:

They'd be somewhere anyway, there's little additional cost involved.

Maybe not in manpower costs but if you start losing $200m drones by getting involved then things start to get expensive. That one drone is equivalent to the average annual salaries of 4,150 cops alone.

Well yes, but we were discussing the cost of deployment of 100 UK marines rather than American hardware.

Conflicts cost, I'm sure everyone understands that, but so far it isn't costing the UK much.

[Hosenbugler]

DAVEVO9 said:

https://en.irna.ir/news/83362061/Iran-shoots-down-...

Its a fake. The image was taken 2 years ago in Yemen