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> and their navy consists of speed boats. > and they have good ballistic missile capabilities That's not a bad resource mix to potentially defeat the US Navy
by Seenso 7y ago
> and their navy consists of speed boats.
> and they have good ballistic missile capabilities
That's not a bad resource mix to potentially defeat the US Navy using asymmetric tactics:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a30392654/millennium-challenge-qassem-soleimani/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a30392654/millenni...
>> Once U.S. forces were within range, Van Riper’s forces unleashed a barrage of missiles from ground-based launchers, commercial ships, and planes flying low and without radio communications to reduce their radar signature. Simultaneously, swarms of speedboats loaded with explosives launched kamikaze attacks. The carrier battle group’s Aegis radar system—which tracks and attempts to intercept incoming missiles—was quickly overwhelmed, and 19 U.S. ships were sunk, including the carrier, several cruisers, and five amphibious ships. “The whole thing was over in five, maybe ten minutes,” Van Riper said.
> The problem? U.S. forces had expected Van Riper to sit back and come under attack, and then to launch a counterattack with his surviving forces, which could be easily brushed aside. Van Riper, who actually wanted to win the exercise, refused to sit on his hands and let the Americans attack first.
- DuskStar 7y agoI'm a big fan of Naval Gazing, which has an article on that exercise: https://www.navalgazing.net/Millennium-Challenge-2002 https://www.navalgazing.net/Millennium-Challenge-2002 As you might guess, it has a slightly different view of what went down, and how representative it would be of a real conflict. One of the most glaring issues in your quote is this: > The carrier battle group’s Aegis radar system—which tracks and attempts to intercept incoming missiles—was quickly overwhelmed This wasn't actually the Aegis radar that was overwhelmed, it was the system to simulate an Aegis radar for the purposes of an exercise. Actual Aegis systems don't seem to have the same problem.