.Iran test fires new torpedo
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran test fired a new torpedo in the Strait of Hormuz off its south coast, the world's main nexus for shipping oil, state television reported on Monday.
Iran rarely gives enough details of its military hardware for analysts to determine whether Tehran is making genuine advances or simply producing defiant propaganda while pressure ratchets up on its nuclear programme.
Although Iran can draw on huge manpower, its naval and air force technology is largely dismissed as outmoded.
"Revolutionary Guard naval forces a few minutes ago test fired a powerful torpedo in the Strait of Hormuz. This torpedo is capable of destroying enemy warships and submarines at any depth and moving at any speed," state television said.
The test comes in the middle of Gulf wargames that started on Friday. Iran earlier in the wargames said it had tested a radar-evading missile and an underwater missile that can outpace enemy warships.
The Pentagon said on Monday it is possible Iran has produced missiles capable of evading radar and sonar as Tehran has stated in recent days, but added that the Iranians have been known to "boast and exaggerate."
Iran said in February last year that it had started a mass production line of torpedoes.
The Islamic Republic has three elderly Kilo class diesel-electric Russian submarines. These are capable of firing homing torpedoes but military analysts say these vessels are unsuited to modern naval combat.
Iran has also started building midget submarines, which it says are capable of firing torpedoes.
Earlier in the day, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani said Iran would have further important announcements to make over the course of the wargames.
"We are going to have very important news that will make our nation proud in the next few days," he told state television.
"We know that the Iranians are always trying to improve their weapons systems by both foreign and indigenous measures. It's possible that they are increasing their capability and making strides in radar-absorbing materials and targeting," said Bryan Whitman, a senior Pentagon spokesman.
"However, the Iranians have been known also to boast and exaggerate their statements about great technical and tactical capabilities," Whitman added.
"Iran's military developments have centred on its ballistic missile program, which Tehren views as its primary deterrent. It has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East," Whitman said. "Over the past year, Iran has continued testing its medium-range ballistic missiles, and has also tested anti-ship missiles," Whitman added.
Western nations have been watching developments in Iran's ballistic missile capabilities with concern amid a standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Tehran says the programme is only civilian.
The United States and Israel have consistently declined to rule out military action against Iran if Tehran fails to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomatic means.
Reuters
More Russian technology? Is the white House asleep at the switch? The Russians are proliferating at will, they are giving our enemies military technology at an alarming rate, and what are we doing about it? Nothing.
Here is some background on the Russian technology in question:
Superspeedy Underwater Weapon
You may have seen recent news reports about Iranian tests of a new high-velocity underwater missile. The New York Times (April 2) said that the new subsurface weapon is among the world's fastest and can outpace an enemy warship. Gen. Ali Fadavi of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards stated that "even if an enemy's warship sonar can detect the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed." Fadivi added that it took six years to build and that "only Russia had a missile that moved underwater as fast as the Iranian one, which he said had a speed of about 225 miles per hour."
This story may ring familiar to long-term SciAm readers, who may recall an article the magazine published some five years ago on supercavitating weapons--unusual devices that can travel underwater at surprisingly high speeds because they are surrounded by large, friction-cutting air bubbles. ["Warp Drive Underwater"; Scientific American Magazine; May 2001; by Steven Ashley, pages 70 to 79].
The scenes from the Iranian state television video broadcast of tests (available here) almost undoubtedly depict a supercaviting torpedo, likely similar to the Russian "Shkval" underwater rocket described in the article.
Sciam
Here is the search i did to find the story
Iran rarely gives enough details of its military hardware for analysts to determine whether Tehran is making genuine advances or simply producing defiant propaganda while pressure ratchets up on its nuclear programme.
Although Iran can draw on huge manpower, its naval and air force technology is largely dismissed as outmoded.
"Revolutionary Guard naval forces a few minutes ago test fired a powerful torpedo in the Strait of Hormuz. This torpedo is capable of destroying enemy warships and submarines at any depth and moving at any speed," state television said.
The test comes in the middle of Gulf wargames that started on Friday. Iran earlier in the wargames said it had tested a radar-evading missile and an underwater missile that can outpace enemy warships.
The Pentagon said on Monday it is possible Iran has produced missiles capable of evading radar and sonar as Tehran has stated in recent days, but added that the Iranians have been known to "boast and exaggerate."
Iran said in February last year that it had started a mass production line of torpedoes.
The Islamic Republic has three elderly Kilo class diesel-electric Russian submarines. These are capable of firing homing torpedoes but military analysts say these vessels are unsuited to modern naval combat.
Iran has also started building midget submarines, which it says are capable of firing torpedoes.
Earlier in the day, Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani said Iran would have further important announcements to make over the course of the wargames.
"We are going to have very important news that will make our nation proud in the next few days," he told state television.
"We know that the Iranians are always trying to improve their weapons systems by both foreign and indigenous measures. It's possible that they are increasing their capability and making strides in radar-absorbing materials and targeting," said Bryan Whitman, a senior Pentagon spokesman.
"However, the Iranians have been known also to boast and exaggerate their statements about great technical and tactical capabilities," Whitman added.
"Iran's military developments have centred on its ballistic missile program, which Tehren views as its primary deterrent. It has the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the Middle East," Whitman said. "Over the past year, Iran has continued testing its medium-range ballistic missiles, and has also tested anti-ship missiles," Whitman added.
Western nations have been watching developments in Iran's ballistic missile capabilities with concern amid a standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the West says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Tehran says the programme is only civilian.
The United States and Israel have consistently declined to rule out military action against Iran if Tehran fails to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomatic means.
Reuters
More Russian technology? Is the white House asleep at the switch? The Russians are proliferating at will, they are giving our enemies military technology at an alarming rate, and what are we doing about it? Nothing.
Here is some background on the Russian technology in question:
Superspeedy Underwater Weapon
You may have seen recent news reports about Iranian tests of a new high-velocity underwater missile. The New York Times (April 2) said that the new subsurface weapon is among the world's fastest and can outpace an enemy warship. Gen. Ali Fadavi of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards stated that "even if an enemy's warship sonar can detect the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed." Fadivi added that it took six years to build and that "only Russia had a missile that moved underwater as fast as the Iranian one, which he said had a speed of about 225 miles per hour."
This story may ring familiar to long-term SciAm readers, who may recall an article the magazine published some five years ago on supercavitating weapons--unusual devices that can travel underwater at surprisingly high speeds because they are surrounded by large, friction-cutting air bubbles. ["Warp Drive Underwater"; Scientific American Magazine; May 2001; by Steven Ashley, pages 70 to 79].
The scenes from the Iranian state television video broadcast of tests (available here) almost undoubtedly depict a supercaviting torpedo, likely similar to the Russian "Shkval" underwater rocket described in the article.
Sciam
Here is the search i did to find the story
posted by madtom at 2:21 PM
9 Comments:
"News from those who's lives have come in direct contact with Conflict. Live, Unfiltered, Unedited, Uncensored. Straight from the mind of Madtom"
whose, not who's. who's = who is, bro. A fun quiz for you.
http://homepage.smc.edu/quizzes/cheney_joyce/Whoswhose.html
Hey thanks.
Who would have guessed. I'll fix that right away.
One who knows told me that the supercavitating torpedo has only one use---propaganda. It is line of sight weapon, meaning it can not be steered on target, is very loud underwater so that it is easily tracked and counterred--doesn't have to be outrun--would only be effective if used at very close range--and that isn't going to happen. Those are among the reasons why the US Navy isn't so equipped. The Kursk is the likely reason why the Russians stopped bragging about having them--and maybe why they sold them to the Iranians. This was clearly a propaganda move that was greeted with laughter--I doubt the Iranians will be as amused when the bunker busters are tested in Nevada--700 TONS of explosives underground? Anybody believe that? Is it a coincidence that the smaller tactical nukes yield just about that much? Kerry's big claim to importance as a junior Sen was his fight to prevent development of small nuclear bunker busters which are just the thing to persuade Iran to rethink their strategy--wanna bet such weapons are being developed 'off the books'?
That was my understanding of the torpedo's limitations as well. But I think, and I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, that there are workaround to those limitations. The Russians have no doubt been working on this for about five years, they may have found some.
The issue I am trying to raise is that the Russians seem to be hell bent on our failure in the ME. Look at the resent report of the SA14 shoulder fired missiles that keep popping up in Iraq. Who is supplying them? And Iran's last test of what they claimed was a radar evading missile with multiple warhead capability are no doubt also Russian.
Seems to me that after transferring all that technology a few nukes more or less would not be completely out of the question Would the Russians go that far to defeat the US in the ME? I don't know.
Anybody believe that? Is it a coincidence that the smaller tactical nukes yield just about that much?
But not the gamma rays. I have no doubt they are being developed, I think we have said as much in public, but a live test would be detected. I think they would most likely do computer modeling.
and realtime tests with real equivalant explosives---surely you remember the predictions of losses resulting from the invasion of Iraq? gloom and doom fed by the leftists and cowardly who don't know evil when it knocks on the door---you know MT, you just won't acknowledge it because you find the leader who is most identified as its enemy abhorent----get over it already. We went through this in the 80's and learned nothing.
I can't decide if I hate Bush or War more.
Hey Five Things..
Welcome to the blog.
Well war is sometimes a necessary evil, Bush on the other hand is I believe an unnecessary evil, so I think we could easily do without him.
Interesting perspective...
Nettie,
Thanks welcome to the blog.
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