Middle East Defence & Security

[swerve]

Martlet would be my bet - we've moved a pair of Wildcat helicopters out there and they can carry dozens of them - they're lightweight, laser guided and as cheap as chips.

If you're wanting to splash drones then you could carry 30 plus rounds quite easily.

Tens of thousands of quid for Martlet rather than hundreds of thousands for CAMM & millions for Aster, Standard, Patriot, ESSM etc.

For those flying low & slow enough door gunners, a trainer equipped with a gun pod, etc. should be cheaper. I'm all for using everything that works, while taking into account cost effectiveness. Small drones to blow up bigger ones, guided APKWS, whatever. And non-kinetic when available & suitable.

 

[KipPotapych]

This is one of the ways they do it, allegedly:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2030671482062266660

Also saw a couple of videos with F-16s as well.

 

[the concerned]

The UK could have used this as a oportunity to test the dragonfire.

 

[uguduwa]

Against low and slow drones a door gunner works too, or a gun-pod. Russia and Ukraine are doing that quite actively.



It might be a sign that they cant reliably cover the strait with radar and have to opt for this instead. In principle the US can clear mines, the issue is they have to send assets in to do that. So the question is, can Iran still hit ships in that area or not?

Maybe they just want oil prices to go up after prices went down. It doesn‘t seem like they have a Hortsge of missiles or drones. Tonight they sent more missiles than the past few days. This is either going to be a long war or a humiliating TACO that could cost the Us the entire middle east.

 

[uguduwa]

Why Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Is Still Useful

For more than a decade, he has been known more as a regime opponent than as a supporter.

www.theatlantic.com

https://x.com/jonathanchait/status/2031483411450183763?ct=rw-null

Apparently A-dawg wasn‘t just not killed but the strike freed him from house arrest. What a plot twist. I was wondering before what the intent of killing him was because he seemed like a person that the west could deal with.

 

[Feanor]

Maybe they just want oil prices to go up after prices went down. It doesn‘t seem like they have a Hortsge of missiles or drones. Tonight they sent more missiles than the past few days. This is either going to be a long war or a humiliating TACO that could cost the Us the entire middle east.

It wouldn't be a missile shortage. It would be a targeting issue, I think.

 

[MARKMILES77]

For anyone interested in the implications of the Closure of the Strait of Hormuz, The UN trade and development organization has put out a useful report.

Few points:

1:Are the straits really closed? The answer is yes to everyone except the Chinese.




2:What actually flows through the Straits:

 

[MARKMILES77]

3:What regions are most effected?


4:And don't forget how severely World food production will be hit due to fertilizer shortages.
Note also Australia is very vulnerable to this problem.

Strait of Hormuz disruptions: Implications for global trade and development |

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, carrying around a quarter of global seaborne oil trade and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers.

unctad.org