Monday, December 30, 2019

Military And Intelligence News Reports -- December 30, 2019

A filtered and enhanced version of the Planet Labs image that has been circulating online showing USS Abraham Lincoln in the middle of USS Farragut, sailing in front, and USS Leyte Gulf, following behind. A commercial tanker is seen sailing at the top right. The multitude of small Iranian boats are also clearly visible all around. PHOTO © 2019 PLANET LABS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Warzone/The Drive: Navy Confirms Boat Swarm Seen Alongside Carrier Group In This Satellite Image Was Iranian

The image shows 18 small craft sailing next to the USS Abraham Lincoln and her escorts in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month.

The U.S. Navy has confirmed that "multiple" small Iranian boats running alongside the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other ships from her strike group as she sailed through Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman earlier this month, as seen in commercial satellite imagery. The service has rejected reports that any of the Iranian craft harassed or otherwise acted provocatively toward the carrier, saying the activity was within "normal behavior patterns." Still, the image of 18 small boats in very close proximity to Lincoln and her escorts is eye-opening and a stark reminder of the inherent risks of each transit through the Strait.

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Military And Intelligence News Reports -- December 30, 2019

This is how the US military is protecting the Strait of Hormuz. -- Military Times

Iran, Russia and China complete all stages of joint naval drills -- TASS

Iranian Admiral Reveals What Prompted Russia, China to Join Iran for Tripartite Drills -- Sputnik

Navy proposes construction cutbacks, ship retirements, curtailing fleet goal -- The Hill

355 or Bust? U.S. Navy Struggles to Grow With Flat Budget -- Robert Farley, Diplomat

Navy Buys Three MQ-4 Tritons, Pays For Growler Jamming Upgrade Development -- USNI News

Navy proposes cutting future production of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers by 40% -- Stars and Stripes/Portland Press Herald

New Submarines to Take Names of Pearl Harbor Battleships -- AP

New in 2020: Planks on the Marine PFT — and how the Corps will try to stay the most fit branch -- Marine Times

'The guy is freaking evil': Eddie Gallagher's platoon Navy SEALS describe him as 'toxic' and trigger-happy in previously unseen interviews with investigators before his trial for war crimes -- Daily Mail

National security adviser defends Trump’s handling of war crimes case -- Politico

Enlisted Medal of Honor Recipients, POWs Can Now Have Full-Honor Burials at Arlington -- Military.com

Are you getting enough sleep? The Air Force wants to know more about airmen’s sleep patterns -- Air Force Times

F-16 shoots down drone at Eglin AFB in cruise missile defense test -- UPI

Raytheon nabs $768.3M contract to provide AMRAAMs to foreign partners -- UPI

Boeing awarded $265.2M modification to GMD missile upgrade contract -- UPI

Inside Palantir’s support of the Army’s massive data problem -- FedScoop

WH national security adviser on North Korean 'Christmas gift': 'We'll have to wait and see' -- The Hill

House Armed Services Committee chairmen resolve to narrow defense bill in 2020 -- Defense News

Time and cost of relocation of U.S. base in Okinawa to double -- PBS

The Weakness of US Navy Intelligence and Surveillance in the South China Sea -- Bonnie Evans, Epoch Times

Pilot shortages could ground China’s plans to develop combat-ready carrier fleet -- SCMP

What planes will be on board China’s second aircraft carrier, the Shandong? -- SCMP

China's test of sub-launched missile a threat to peace, retired captain warns -- Washington Times

Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat Becomes Country’s First Chief of Defence Staff -- Sputnik

Why Japan Chose The F-3 Over America's F-35 Stealth Fighter -- National Interest

Russian Defence Ministry to Get Modernised Su-34M Bombers Under New Contract - Producer -- Sputnik

Russia deploys hypersonic missile into 'combat duty,' state media claims -- CNN

Polish armed forces chief on walking the line with Russia -- Defense News

Sweden’s defense minister on relations with America, Russian threats and the European Union -- Defense News

Allies join Space Force for multinational collaboration -- UPI

Does the US Army have enough weapons to defend Europe? Exercise Defender 2020 will reveal all. -- Defense News

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That Iranian boat "swarm" of about 12-15 ships (I assume the smallest ones are the Iranians with 3 of them to the bottom right catching up) were really damn close.. if they were to come in by 20,30% more the US Navy would have to open up fire to protect itself (as these ships can approach quickly you might miss for a couple seconds, so you need to start firing before they can come close enough @ explosions).. the numbers are problematic too... think about how many ships were to the left of the trailing larger US navy ship.. perhaps up to 8 could have approached it.. I'm obviously not an expert but I think that would have overwhelmed the US defense and 2-3-4 of those fast ships could have hit the US navy ship and potentially crippled or sunk it. But, thankfully nothing happened, but the Iranias are definitely pushing it

Anonymous said...

Any actual attacks would be suicide missions. They may be true believers, but I doubt they’re idiots. I’ll bet the US ships are porcupined with something like remote controlled miniguns. Boom boom out go the lights.

Adam said...

Looks like good targets for those nrw guided hydra rockets.

Adam said...

New*