via the Free Beacon.
A fifth U.S. warship steamed toward the eastern Mediterranean on Thursday to join four other cruise missile destroyers poised for strikes on Syria, as U.S. and allied military planning continued for a bombing campaign against Syria.I hate these demonstrations of power without an actual military goal. Besides being wasteful, besides causing unnecessary casualties...they also give the enemy (in this case the Russians, Chinese and Iranians) a pretty good look into our operations.
U.S. intelligence agencies, meanwhile, continued to put the finishing touches on an assessment the Obama administration expects will conclusively link Syrian government and military leaders to the deadly nerve agent strike near Damascus Aug. 21.
A defense official said the fifth destroyer, the USS Stout, would soon arrive in waters near Syria. The warship is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
It also gives the bad guys a glimpse into the combat loadouts of our warships. If the Russians and Chinese are smart they'll be sending intel ships to the scene at flank speed just so they can count missiles coming off each ship.
Additionally there is suppose to be a submarine in the area that's been converted into a Tomahawk carrier. That's the real battleship in this scenario and that makes counting warheads from the destroyer even more important. How does a US Sub launch its payload under combat conditions? What is the ratio of missiles fired to the platforms deployed? How far off the coast do we stage our ships when a credible anti-ship missile is available (the Syrians supposedly have the P-800 in service)
We're doing more than wasting missiles on a questionable mission. We're giving the enemy another look at our playbook for free.
This has the makings of some red-force reaction scenario where the war-game is reset by referees and played on anyway even after the red force causes a bloody nose.
ReplyDeleteyeah its all fun and games until someone decides to launch an anti-ship missile and gets a hit on a Burke. i'm just amazed at how we're slow walking a damn war. its like every President decides to play variations on the first gulf war with talks, un inspectors etc...this shit will blow up in our face one day. someone is going to balls up and take a serious wack at us and it'll be lights out....
ReplyDeleteCome now, your ships are hardly that weak. And hard to get a look at the ship loadouts through a VLS cell.
ReplyDeleteIf you are worried, then you'll really freak out at IMDEX and other defence shows. You can even get a walkround, with USN guided walkthrough, much less just a peak.
you can get a pretty good idea by the number of ships being deployed, the number of cruise missiles fired etc...
Deletetheory is one thing. actual wartime activity is something else. how much would you pay if you were the chinese to know what the loadout of antiaircraft vs tomahawk missiles is on a burke? i imagine you could plan your strikes on a carrier much better with that info. also you have to know that the cells are a static number...a number that is getting pushed around with the need for the burkes to carry antiballistic missiles. so yeah. i think warload is a key to many questions.
You could walk all over the Forrestal with a sailor as a guide yet never see the service stores magazines nor what is inside.
DeleteAnd how are you going to see into sealed VLS cells again? You imply that people can see what is inside the cells simply by a sail by, which is false.
ReplyDeletei implied no such thing. as is usually the case, you did a quick skim of my first few sentences and jumped to a conclusion.
Deletei said to count the number of missiles fired from each ship, determine which ships are listed as ballistic missile defenders and then use other open source methods to help you make an educated guess at the warload.
you're working so hard to shit can my idea that you can't see how wonderfully practical it is.
amazing. you remind me of another guy that used to post here.
Nice to know that I'm not the only one confused by where you go sometimes. Get the feeling that you complain a lot.
Deleteget the feeling that you need to go somewhere else bitch? this is my blog. its not a democracy and its not a feel good society. i was clear....you were an ass...don't go mad, just get the fuck out.
DeleteUS Navy counted shitters hanging over the water at Tawara/betio by flying and sailing by and got a very accurate count of how big the ground force garrison was.
DeleteELINT/ECM can do wonders just by sailing by.
Daniel
ReplyDeleteTwo points you appear to have missed
What if Russia and / or China have a team with a first rate AShM on the coast.
What if they have a battery.
They get a free shot at a US fleet with utter deniability.
This isnt about how many missiles a Cruiser can carry, its about what a cruiser looks like, before during and after a launch, and what it looks like on Radar, on Infra Red, on accoustic, hell, why not point a few ultra violet cameras at it.
Its not about how many missiles a Cruiser can carry, its about the order in which they are fired, its about the pattern those missiles are fired in, about the timings of fire.
Its not about how many missiles a Cruiser can carry, its about the electronic emissions that come from the ship and the surrounding fleet as they prepare for a launch.
But its not just cruisers, they can get a good look at a carrier during combat launch, they can get a good look an F18 as it takes off with a combat load, as it lands after a sortie, they can record the emissions from the F18s radar, and the communications between the aircraft and the carrier.
How much encrypted comms traffic do you think they need to pull before they can crack it?
If they are using NSA approved encryption algorithms and procedures, the time to crack encrypted comms is a concern at all. We're talking several thousands of years. All to get an encryption key that will be obsolete by the time they could ever use it.
Deleteyeah but so much of our electronics are produced in China that you can never be sure that every key stroke we type isn't somehow recorded and sent back...memory chips etc...are sourced from that country so nothing is really secure is it.
DeleteInstead of wasting the Tomahawks, send the Raptors for it's official début before they retire with out seeing any action. If they are so invisible, the enemies won't collect any information.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ausairpower.net/APA-SDB.html
Negative Ghost Rider! no need to send a man where you can send a bullet...or a missile. if the plane retires without firing a shot in anger then that is the ultimate victory.
DeleteYou are not sending a bullet... you are sending a hole fleet.
ReplyDeleteFew Raptors with stand off bombs and few tankers for few hours is not big deal to a little punishment for using chemical weapons.
But if the plan is to start a long campaing like in Lybia to remove the regime ok, send a carrier, subs, frigates, tomahawks, Super Horents, Growlers, Harries, etc, etc,
A reporter asks General Nathan Bedford Forrest how he was so successful at war, he replied;
Delete"Ma'am, I got there first with the most men."
Hit hard, hit fast and hit often fustest with the mostest.