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Iranian Navy no match for US battle group - Russian military official
Published: 29 December, 2011, 18:10
US Fifth Fleet in the Strait of Hormuz
TAGS: Military, Russia, Politics, Iran, USA, Robert Bridge
According to a high-ranking Russian naval official, the combat potential of a US naval group that has entered the Strait of Hormuz is more powerful than the Iranian Navy and coastal forces in the region.
“The Iranian Navy's combat resources are incomparable with the potential of the US aircraft carrier group that has entered the Strait of Hormuz and are incapable of opposing it. No, certainly no," Deputy Navy Commander Adm. Ivan Kapitanets told Interfax on Thursday.
The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and escort ships have entered the area of an Iranian naval exercise east of the Strait of Hormuz.
Kapitanets said the US naval force would “smash” the Iranian coastal installations.
“The Iranian Navy is coastal and can protect the country's interests in the coastal waters. As for the Americans, they have full-scale oceanic naval forces,” the Russian naval commander said. “Therefore, there can be no comparison here. An aircraft carrier with its deck fighters and escort ships can smash Iranian coastal installations and surface ships.”
The Iranian naval commander disagrees.
Seyyed Mahmoud Musavi, the Iranian Navy’s deputy commander for operations, said that the Iranian Navy was ready to confront foreign naval groups that could enter the area of its military exercises, where it is holding maneuvers.
Despite the tense situation and militant rhetoric on both sides, Kapitanets believes both sides will show restraint.
"The US's actions are certainly provocative, but the matter is unlikely to go as far as direct military confrontation,” he said. “Certainly, the situation in the region is very complicated, but it is unlikely to grow into military actions.”
The Iranians say the exercises are within the norms of international law and should be respected.
"We are ready to confront the violators who disregard the security perimeters set for the drills in line with international law," Musavi said.
29.12.2011, 17:44
22 comments
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Wonder what answer the US Navy has against the S-300PMU anti-aircraft system recently sold by the Russians to Iran despite spirited US and Israeli objections, and which is more lethal than the Patriot missile. It is capable of tracking 100 targets simultaneously while engaging 12, and can take down both cruise missiles and Aircraft.
Even more formidable in the Iranian arsenal are the Sunburn and Onyx anti-ship missiles designed by the Russians to sink US Aircraft carriers in confined spaces such as the Persian Gulf. They can be launched from anywhere not just ships, from aircraft or mobile flat-bed trucks. This mean in theory that the US Fifth fleet in Bahrain can be surprise attacked from within Bahrain itself, and which is a majority Shia country with plenty of Iran sympathisers.
While the Sunburn can fly 150kms at Mach 2.1 towards a target at an elevation of 60 metres, the Onyx can do Mach 2.9 at a ground hugging 45 metres. The kinetic energy alone from a single 5500 explosive slamming into an AC at supersonic speed would ensure certain sinking of the AC. The US Navy has not yet developed an effective counter measure to this missile that requires a 5 second response time, too fast for any computer to calculate a response from a short range attack.
Question then is: how would Americans react to an incident where they lose 6000 sailors, and risk lose even more in an escalation? The Iranians have themselves demonstrated in the recent past that they would die in their hundreds of thousands if invaded; how many lives would the US be prepared to lose without using nuclear weapons? Would it be worth the risk of certain world war, with unpredictable outcomes when the Russians and Chinese get sucked in?
It is up to Americans to reign in their thuggish rogue leaders who are leading them to certain disaster, and they have only themselves to blame for behaving so irresponsibly in letting matters get to this stage.
Fact is Iran is no match to US's Naval and airforce... that goes without saying.
However, US is no match , at current strength , for Iran's land forces .. that has been agreed by many US generals and invasion of Iran would be death knell for US.
So Iran is free to fight "lebanon 2006" kind of warfare from Israel all the way to Alfganistan and US forces would have no helis or planes to fly because Iran would be using SAMs on large scale. So US forces would be bunkered down in their bases.
Oil exports? Most oil producing industrial complexes would have been destroyed together with Irans'
The end result.... 10 years of warfare at astronomical oil prices will spell the end of US dollar and economy.. US have to end the war using UN for forc Iran for ceasefire. Iran can go on foreever , US cannot.
That is my analysis.. Naval and air forces alone cannot win any war.
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