Iran Tests Second New Torpedo in Gulf

[WhiteTara]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_war_games


Iran successfully tested its second new torpedo in as many days Monday, the latest weapon to be unveiled during war games in the Gulf that the military said are aimed at preparing the country's defenses against the United States.

A spokesman for the elite Revolutionary Guards suggested the new, Iranian-made torpedo was more powerful and capable of going deeper than others in its arsenal.
snip
Ali Ansari, an Iran specialist at Britain's Royal Institute for International Affairs, cautioned that there is likely "a little bit of bluster" in Iran's claims for its new weapons.

"They're trying to impress," he told The Associated Press. They aim to "prove to the West that they can hit Israel and close the Straits of Hormuz. They're saying if you hit us, then we can hit back."

Iran's leaders also want to reassure Iranians the country can defend itself. "There's a lot of worry (among the public) over what direction the country is taking, and they want to show that Iran can hold its own against the U.S."

Damn Bush to hell if he goes into Iran.

[The Sushi Bandit]

1. Do you blame them?

[Warren Stupidity]

2. If the Russians have shared their torpedo technology

with the Iranians we could be in serious trouble.

http://www.periscope.ucg.com/mdb-smpl/weapons/minetorp/torpedo/w0004768.shtml

[Sirveri]

10. I'm not 100% concerned.

Assuming identical specs to weapon in link:
Mk-46 torpedos have a range of 8km, so we out range them with our last generation torpedos, and the new Mk-48 torpedos have a range of 8 Nautical Miles (14.8km). Mk-48 was being installed into the fleet in Jan '05 when my copy of all hands (my source for this info) showed up, I would assume that all the sub community has them by now. The torpedo is also not capable of homing along with making an incredibly loud underwater sound profile, if launched at max range it will take at least 1 minute to reach its intended target, which is enough time for a submarine to deploy counter measures and change course. Add to that a TNT based warhead which means it requires more weight and space that a PBXN and RXN warhead for the same killing power. Then on top of all of that they have to find our submarines first which are some of the quietest submarines on earth. I heard personally from an FC1 that he found subs faster than the sonar man did with surface radar when they finally put their periscope above water (he was at the time insulting sonar men and calling them useless). End result, sub warfare is a complicated subject, and while this probably increases their chances of scoring a hit on our subs, the chance still isn't that good.

This isn't to say that I think we can 'take' Iran. That's stupid talk, it's mainly me practicing the speach I need to give my mother when she asks about this stupid thing again.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Why wouldn't they use them against surface ships?

The Iranians don't need to take out our submarines, they need to shut down the straight if we attack them. I honestly don't know enough to do anything other than point people to the available information (the sci-am article from a few years back and the google-able fallout from the kursk affair.) If they can shut the straight down for a week or more I think they have basically won round one of the upcoming conflict, and I assume that is their analysis as well.

[Sirveri]

12. Well that's the real question.

The reason I bring up submarines is because of the range of this weapon, it's fairly useless against surface ships compared to Exocet's and those newer missles they bought from Russia (I recall them being called sunbursts or something) which have ranges of nearly 100Nm. The question you asked about the strait is an accurate one though, how long can they shut it down for? I'd argue that it depends on who moves first. One angle not considered is how much it would anger the house of Saud, would it irritate them enough upon losing a major oil export path to bar Iranian citizens access to Mecca? How would that play with Iran's clerics? If they moved to secure the straight pre-emptivily it could have signifigant negative consequences as it would force a confrontation. But, they'd have the advantage of initiative (them being dug in with our troops out of position). But If we struck first we'd like have 3 or 4 carrier strike groups in the region, possibly more, in which case we could gain nearly instant air superiority and easily clean the gulf of Iranian flagged ships and do signifigant damage to land based artillery platforms. The problem becomes what would the rest of the world do if we moved to sieze the 3rd largest oil reserve while sitting on the second and having troops in the 1st. Going in would be stupid due to a massive worldwide backlash as well as having exhausted troops in a already hostile area with signifigantly increased partisan activity being assaulted by fresh Iranian forces armed with fairly modern russian military hardware. Our troops are damned good at killing people, but I don't think they're that good. I'm hoping the admin understands that it can't afford to go into Iran, that the overstretched budget deficeit can't take the added strain, nor can our foreign relations. No matter how rich they think it will make Halliburton and their other friends, it's better to funnel tax dollars out of the already giant money pit that is Iraq. I'm hoping they're greed has the ability to deal with things in a sane manner.

[Brundle_Fly]

3. this sounds like good old

saber rattling.

probably more of a story Bush wants you to read than Iran.

[HuffleClaw]

4. its provocative crap like this that will destabilize the region

how DARE they hold military exercises? its criminal, the actions of a terrorist-supporting regime!

but seriously, they are far more prepared for the coming attack than the us seems to think. things are gonna get really ugly. sounds like they are gonna attack really soon too, most likely just before the new details of tom delay's criminal activities are made public and before fitzgerald comes out with new indictments.

[tatertop]

6. They ain't attacking anybody

But they are definitely ready to teach us a lesson
once we cross the Rubicon.

[tatertop]

5. I think they can definitely close the Straights of Hormuz

Between this, intelligent mines, and Yokunt class missiles
they are going to light us up. Goodbye America, looks like
you will get what you deserve.

[Hardrada]

7. Or maybe Shrub will use this as an excuse to use

more sailors as fighting forces in Iraq so they will be out of Iran's reach!

[JCMach1]

8. Iran Tests Powerful New Torpedo

Iran on Monday successfully tested its second new torpedo, the latest weapon to be unveiled during war games in the Gulf...

A spokesman for the elite Revolutionary Guards suggested the new torpedo was more powerful and capable of going deeper than previous ones in Iran's arsenal.

Gen. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani told state television the ship-launched weapon can target submarines at any depth and is powerful enough to "break a heavy warship" in two. He did not announce the details...
http://gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10030582.html

[doc03]

9. The US will find an excuse to bomb Iran first,

we will wipe out all their defenses and it will be a walk in just like in Iraq. The problem comes when you try and occupy a country, it looks like little Iraq alone will do to us what Afghanistan did to the USSR. The war in Iraq started 6 months before anyone set foot in country, every day the US claimed we were being targeted by radar and used that as excuse to go in and take it out. By the time the war started the Iraqis were defenseless. I heard a couple Wing-nut radio people say the war had already started, this was at least 6 months before the official invasion.

[oblivious]

13. "Iran tests third missile" - Al-jazeera

Wednesday 05 April 2006
Iran says it has successfully tested a 'top secret' missile, the third within a week.

State-run television on Wednesday called the missile an "ultra-horizon" weapon and said it could be fired from all military helicopters and jet fighters. A brief video clip showed the missile, fired from a helicopter, hitting a surface target on water.

...The television said the new missile does not require the OTHT (over the horizon targeting) system that other missiles need to maximise their range. Iran is the first country to develop such a missile, it said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DB611ED4-7E91-4434-8FFF-80C7537AEEB7.htm

[oblivious]

14. Iran tests 'flying boat'

Iran says it has successfully tested what it described as a "super-modern flying boat," the latest in a series of domestically produced weapons to be wheeled out during a three-day military exercise in the Gulf.

"A super-modern flying boat was successfully tested in the 'Great Prophet' wargame in Persian Gulf waters," state television reported on Tuesday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FEDEFC09-0BEC-4809-95F1-708BD3E4FDF4.htm