Am I right in assuming that the missiles the NATO ships are using to shoot down $500 drones probably cost at least $1,000,000 apiece? How about we try ships' helos' door gunners?
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Red Sea - Missiles vs. Drones
- Thread starter erikpolcrack
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Defense contractors.
No. A lot of people seem to think of all drones as being those toy like things we see buzzing around various places.
What the Houthi are launching are much larger and produced more along the lines of guided missiles by the Iranian government.
Some can be linked to their controllers via satellite and have sophisticated GPS based guidance systems. Some can drop bombs or fire missiles and return to base to be reused.
What the Houthi are using are some version of the Shahed armed drone. Iran based the design on a Russian design.
Here is a link to a wikipedia article on the Shahed,
HESA Shahed 136 - Wikipedia
The Ukranians are using "drones" of various designs and capabilities to kill a lot of Russians up to several hundred kilometers into Russian territory.
What the Houthi are launching are much larger and produced more along the lines of guided missiles by the Iranian government.
Some can be linked to their controllers via satellite and have sophisticated GPS based guidance systems. Some can drop bombs or fire missiles and return to base to be reused.
What the Houthi are using are some version of the Shahed armed drone. Iran based the design on a Russian design.
Here is a link to a wikipedia article on the Shahed,
HESA Shahed 136 - Wikipedia
The Ukranians are using "drones" of various designs and capabilities to kill a lot of Russians up to several hundred kilometers into Russian territory.
How much is the ~$1-Million USD missile worth if it isn't used to stop a kamikaze drone if it hits its intended target…
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LVSteve
Member
The initial response is described here, although it does not go as far as convoying ships, which seems obvious to me. I suspect the Houthis are being given enough rope to reveal their launch sites to a more permanent fix that the US and its allies will apply in due course.
Newly Formed Operation Prosperity Guardian To Protect Red Sea Shipping
Newly Formed Operation Prosperity Guardian To Protect Red Sea Shipping
Convoying ships without escort would work to the Houthis advantage.
One person I know well who works in the marine shipping industry says that there is a faction that doesn't want to attach the Houthis because it would give them some legitimacy. I'm not sure I agree with that, but it's a consideration.
The ballistic detection systems used by Israel and the US can track the missiles back to their origins and calculate counter battery fire.
Again, these are not toy drones and are more accurately referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. There are also Unmanned Surface Vessels and Unmanned Underwater Vessels. The Ukraine military has USVs and maybe UUVs against the Russian Black Sea Fleet to the point where what's left has been withdrawn from the Black Sea.
One person I know well who works in the marine shipping industry says that there is a faction that doesn't want to attach the Houthis because it would give them some legitimacy. I'm not sure I agree with that, but it's a consideration.
The ballistic detection systems used by Israel and the US can track the missiles back to their origins and calculate counter battery fire.
Again, these are not toy drones and are more accurately referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. There are also Unmanned Surface Vessels and Unmanned Underwater Vessels. The Ukraine military has USVs and maybe UUVs against the Russian Black Sea Fleet to the point where what's left has been withdrawn from the Black Sea.
The more expensive means to deal with drones are ECMs, electronic countermeasures units. They've been in use for years to counter IEDs initiated by radio and cell signal. They are NOT cheap, and small units have limited range. They work for UAVs if close enough, which makes the suddenly unguided UAV easier to destroy by gunfire or SAM. But they kill ALL signals, so with one on, your comms (and radar, and sonar) are as dead as the signals to the UAVs.
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A lot of development work, especially by the Russians and US is geared to building UAVs that use Inertial Navigation System (INS) which are much harder to jam. Everyone has GPS jamming or spoofing equipment these days. A lot of that is actually used by smuggling ships, in which China leads the way.
Exactly right. The Houthis, however, are pretty low tech.
The Houthis are also equipped with Chinese made C-802 anti shipping missiles armed with thermobaric warheads…
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They fly the helicopters for certain.
Armed with and competent to use are different matters. They are armed with lots of higher tech Saudi and US equipment they've seized or stolen as well - doesn't make them competent. They're not bad with Dushkas if they have enough weapons.
Do recall that CJTF HOA is at Lemmonier.
The Iranian made Drones and the Chinese made C-802 fly a roughly the same speed! How likely would a prudent destroyer Captain be in accessing a drone from an anti shipping missile, given the target a anti shipping missile is likely to be fired at…
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Well, both our and the UK destroyers on station have done well. Even the two unarmored. unarmed cargo ships hit by Houthi ballistic missiles (Unity Explorer; MV Bessel No. 9) suffered only minor damage and no injuries. Not exactly fearsome results, and Maersk only stopped shipping because their insurance carrier required it.
If you want to pay 'war risk' rates, you certainly can get insurance. Rates for Israeli-flagged vessels in the Red Sea are up 250%.
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