Thread: Russia Test Fires Two Nuclear Capable ICBMs

Russia test-fires two nuclear missiles

AFP Dec 24, 2011, 07.57AM ISTTags:Yury Dolgoruky|White Sea|Russian military

MOSCOW: The Russian military has successfully test-launched two intercontinental nuclear-capable missiles, the defence ministry said.

The Bulava missiles were fired from a submarine in the White Sea on Russia's northwest coast and the test "went as planned," Lieutenant Colonel Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
The missiles hit their targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Pacific Ocean, he said.

The firing marks the fourth successful launch this year from the Yury Dolgoruky, which was built to carry the missile.

In all, 18 Bulava missile tests have been carried out since 2005 but only 11 of those were successful.

The latest Russian missile can travel at least 8,000 kilometres and is equipped to carry multiple warheads that can each maneuver to hit separate targets.

The Bulava, also known as the Mace or SS-NX-30, is meant to replace Soviet-era missiles that Russia is decommissioning with age and under agreements with the United States.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...tiple-warheads

Nuclear sub narrowly avoided collision in Strait of Juan de Fuca, newspaper reports

By Tom Callis
Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — A nuclear-powered submarine narrowly avoided colliding with a cargo ship in the Strait of Juan de Fuca in October, according to the Navy Times.

The newspaper reported Wednesday that the USS Kentucky, a ballistic-missile sub based at Bangor, was traveling at periscope depth when it came within 900 yards of a 839-foot-long cargo ship on Oct. 12.

The officer of the deck had failed to check for other vessels while making a course change, the Navy Times said.

Both ships turned to avoid colliding.

The crew of the Kentucky became aware of the danger after being hailed by another vessel, asking if they had contacted the merchant ship to arrange passage.

The captain of the cargo ship, the Midnight Sun, which was crossing in front of the sub, had noticed the periscope and ordered the ship to turn left, helping to avoid a collision.

The Kentucky’s bow swung clear of the ship, the newspaper reported, but the stern was in danger of striking the vessel.

The sub’s commander, Joseph Nosse, ordered use of more rudder to “check the ship’s swing.”

The newspaper did not say where in the Strait the incident occurred.

In an email, a Navy spokesman declined to provide the location or additional information, adding “it is U.S. Navy policy not to discuss specific submarine operations.”

Coast Guard spokespeople could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Nosse was relieved of his position in October after the incident and reassigned to Submarine Group 9, the newspaper said.

He was replaced by Capt. Paul Skarpness, head of Submarine Squadron 17.

A Navy spokesperson told the newspaper the decision did not arise solely from the near-miss but from multiple “shortfalls in professional performance.”

The newspaper said the control room had a made series of accumulating errors, including confusing the inbound cargo ship as an outgoing vessel, and the commanding officer, concerned about a trawler, ordering a change of course but not saying in which direction.

________

Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/ap...=2011312259992

US aircraft carrier 'spotted' in Iran wargames zone


Iran rebuffs US warning on closing Strait of Hormuz

Tehran (AFP) Dec 29, 2011 - Iran on Thursday rejected a US warning against closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with a Revolutionary Guards commander saying "our response to threats is threats."

"We have no doubt about our being able to carry out defensive strategies to protect our vital interests -- we will act more decisively than ever," said the Guards' deputy commander, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, quoted by Fars news agency.

His comments came a day after the US Defence Department warned that "interference with the transit... of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz will not be tolerated."
The US message was in reply to Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi saying this week that "not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz" if the West broadened sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
The Iranian navy commander, Admiral Habibollah Sayari, backed that up by saying it would be "really easy" to close the strait, through which more than a third of the world's ship-borne oil passes.

by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Dec 29, 2011

A US aircraft carrier entered a zone near the Strait of Hormuz being used by the Iranian navy for wargames, an Iranian official said Thursday amid rising tensions over the key oil-transit channel.



"A US aircraft carrier was spotted inside the manoeuvre zone... by a navy reconnaissance aircraft," Commodore Mahmoud Mousavi, the spokesman for the Iranian exercises, told the official IRNA news agency.

Iranian planes and vessels took video and photos of the US ship and the weaponry and aircraft it was carrying, he added, according to a report carried by state television.

"We are prepared, in accordance with international law, to confront offenders who do not respect our security perimeters during the manoeuvres," the IRIB network quoted Mousavi as saying.

"We suggest that trans-regional forces completely and seriously take any warning issued by any unit of (Iran's) naval forces," he said.

The US aircraft carrier was believed to the USS John C. Stennis, one of the US navy's biggest warships.

US officials announced Wednesday that the ship and its accompanying carrier strike group moved through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow stretch at the entrance to the Gulf that is the world's most important choke point for oil shipments.

After warnings from the Iranian government and navy this week that Iran could close the strait if threatened by further Western sanctions, the US Defence Department warned Wednesday that such actions "will not be tolerated."

The United States maintains a navy presence in the Gulf in large part to ensure oil traffic there is unhindered.

Iran, which is already subject to several rounds of sanctions over its nuclear programme, has repeatedly said it could target the Strait of Hormuz if attacked or its economy is strangled.

Such a move could cause havoc in the world oil market, disrupting the fragile global economy.

The Islamic republic is halfway through 10 days of navy exercises in international waters to the east of the strait that have included the laying of mines and the use of aerial drones, according to Iranian media.

Missiles and torpedoes were to be test fired in coming days.

The wargames zone covers an area of 2,000 square kilometres (770 square miles) in the Gulf of Oman into the Gulf of Aden, according to Iranian media.

So far, Iran and the United States have limited themselves to rhetoric and naval manoeuvres. But analysts and the oil market are watching the situation carefully, fearing a spark that could ignite open confrontation between the longtime foes.

The United States had proposed a military hotline between Tehran and Washington to defuse any "miscalculations" that could occur as their navies brush against each other. But Iran in September rejected that offer.
Could Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz?

Washington (AFP) Dec 28, 2011 - Iran could make good on its threat and temporarily shut down or disrupt oil shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, but it would trigger a devastating US military reaction and leave Tehran utterly isolated on the world stage, experts say.

While Iran is invoking a possible closure of the vital strait as it faces the prospect of punitive sanctions, analysts say Tehran may be more inclined to take smaller-scale action short of mining the channel.

With an estimated 2,000 mines in its arsenal, Iran could possibly plant several hundred in the strait before being detected.

Such a move would either shut down the strait or hamper shipping traffic in the narrow channel enough to cause havoc in the world oil market, analysts said.

But laying mines in the strait would represent a clear act of war and Iran would face a massive US military response while antagonizing governments around the world, said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In such a scenario, "everyone in the Gulf is going to support outside intervention," Cordesman told AFP.

Iran would be putting much of its military power and its economy at risk by plunging into a direct confrontation, he said. "This is a country that does not have a modern air force or modern navy."

US-led military action could include "attacks on nuclear facilities, or military production facilities or much broader attacks on Iranian air power," he said.

If the Iranians dropped mines into the Strait of Hormuz, the United States would face the painstaking task of removing the mines or at least clearing out a safe shipping lane while facing hostile fire from Iranian anti-ship missiles and swarms of small boats.

Sophisticated US warplanes likely would be able to take out much of the Iranian missile arsenal and air defenses, but the conflict could drag on depending on Iran's ability to hide its weaponry in an initial assault.

Some optimistic assessments predict the strait would only be closed for a matter of days but other experts take a more pessimistic view.

A 2008 study concluded that "the experience of past mine-warfare campaigns suggests that it could take many weeks, even months, to restore the full flow of commerce, and more time still for the oil markets to be convinced that stability had returned," wrote academic Caitlin Talmadge in International Security, a Harvard University journal.

With Iran relying on the strait as an economic lifeline for its own oil exports, analysts and officials say Tehran might instead opt for lower-level action that would cause a spike in oil prices.

"You have an extremely wide range of asymmetric options that don't have to be anywhere near the strait," Cordesman said.

Iran could choose to harass or board commercial ships in the Gulf and stage searches, said Alireza Nader, an Iranian specialist at the RAND Corporation think tank.
In 2007, Iran seized a crew of British sailors and marines, alleging their boats had crossed into Iranian waters.

The last time Iran confronted American warships in the Gulf, during the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s, it was badly outgunned.

Since then, Iran has sought to bolster its naval power and coastal defenses, investing in more powerful mines, mobile anti-ship missiles, submarines and a large fleet of smaller boats.

A US military officer on Wednesday dismissed Iran's threats over the strait, saying the statements out of Tehran were "mainly rhetoric" and that it was unlikely the Islamic republic would be willing to take such a volatile step.
"Our priority is freedom of navigation. And we would do whatever is necessary to make sure the area is open," said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

But there would be limited objectives for any US operation it would be tailored "to things that they're doing" near the strait, he said.

Iran is threatening to choke off the Strait of Hormuz as part of a high-stakes game in which it hopes to discourage countries from backing tough sanctions over its nuclear program, said Nader.

There was a growing danger that a low-level provocation by Iran, such as the seizure of a ship belonging to a Gulf state, could trigger an escalating chain reaction -- even though neither Washington or Tehran wants a conflagration, he said.
"The issue is tensions are so high, even if Iran is bluffing, there's a lot of room for miscalculation by both sides," he said.
"Iran is using this as a deterrent but if it goes too far, it might have a war on its hands."
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/..._zone_999.html

Iran raises anti-US threat level. Israel's C-of-S warns of potential for regional war

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
December 29, 2011, 6:28 PM (GMT+02:00)
Thursday afternoon, Dec. 29, Tehran raised the pitch of its threats to the United States when Dep. Chief of the Revolutionary Guards Gen. Hossein Salami declared: "The United States is in no position to tell Tehran what to do in the Strait of Hormuz," adding, "Any threat will be responded [to] by threat… We will not relinquish our strategic moves in Iran's vital interests are undermined by any means."
The Iranian general spoke after the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and its strike group passed through the Strait of Hormuz to the Sea of Oman and into the area where the big Iranian naval war game Veleyati 90 is taking place.
At around the same time, Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz spoke of "the rising potential for a multi-arena event," i.e. a comprehensive armed conflict. Facing in several directions as we are "between terrorist organizations and Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon… we can't afford to stay on the defensive and must come up with offensive measures," he said.
Earlier Thursday, Dec. 29, debkafile reported that an Iranian plan to mine the Strait of Hormuz had put US and NATO forces in the Persian Gulf on the alert.
US and NATO task forces in the Persian Gulf have been placed on alert after US intelligence warned that Iran's Revolutionary Guards are preparing Iranian marine commandos to sow mines in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The new deployment, debkafile's military sources report, consists of USS Combined Task Force 52 (CTF 52), which is trained and equipped for dismantling marine mines and NATO Maritime Mine Counter measures Group 2 (SNMCMG2). The American group is led by the USS Arden mine countermeasures ship; NATO's by the British HMS Pembroke minesweeper. Other vessels in the task forces are the Hunt-class destroyer HMS Middleton and the French mine warfare ships FS Croix du Sud and FS Var.
Also on the ready are several US Expeditionary Combat Readiness units of the US Fifth Fleet Bahrain command. Seventeen of these special marine units are attached to the Fifth Fleet as America's answer to the Iranian Navy's fast assault boats and marine units.
US military sources told debkafile Wednesday, Dec. 28, that United States has the countermeasures for sweeping the waterway of mines and making it safe for marine passage after no more than a 24-48 hour interruption.
At the same time, leading military and naval officials in Washington take Tehran's threats seriously. They don't buy the proposition advanced by various American pundits and analysts that Iran would never close the Strait of Hormuz, though which one third of the world's oil passes, because it would then bottle up its own energy exports. Those officials, according to our sources, believe that Tehran hopes the mines in the waterway will blow up passing oil tankers and other shipping. It doesn't have to be sealed hermetically to endanger international shipping; just a few mines here and there and an explosion would be enough to deter shippers and crews from risking their vessels.
As Adm. Habibollah Sayari commander of the Iranian Navy put it Wednesday, Dec. 28: "Shutting the strait for Iran's armed forces is really easy – or as we say in Iran, easier than drinking a glass of water." He went on to say: "But today, we don't need [to shut] the strait because we have the Sea of Oman under control and can control transit."
debkafile's Middle East marine sources said the Iranian admiral's boast about the Sea of Oman was just hot air. For the big Iranian Velayati 90 sea exercise which began Saturday, America has deployed in that sea two large air and sea strike groups led by the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier and the USS Bataan aircraft amphibious ship.
And they are highly visible: Thursday morning, Dec. 29, Iranian Navy's Deputy Commander Rear Adm. Mahmoud Mousavi reported an Iranian Navy aircraft had shot footage and images of a US carrier spotted in an area where the Velayat 90 war games were being conducted – most probably the Stennis. Its presence, he said, demonstrated that Iran's naval forces were "precisely monitoring all moves by extra-regional powers" in the region.
Clearly, the US navy is very much on the spot in the Sea of Oman and other areas of the Iranian war game.
Middle East sources warn however that the repeated threats to close the Strait of Hormuz coming from Tehran this week and the framework of its naval exercise clearly point to the manner in which Iran intends to hit back for the tough new sanctions which the West plans to approve next month. The new round is expected to shear off 80 percent of the Islamic Republic's revenues.
The European Union's 27 member-states meet in January to approve an embargo on Iranian oil, with effect on 25 percent of Iran's energy exports. Next month, too, President Barack Obama plans to sign into law an amendment authorizing severe penalties for foreign banks trading with Iran's central bank, CBI, including the loss of links with American banks and financial institutions.
Tehran is expected to strike back hard by sowing mines in Hormuz and in the waters opposite the oil fields and terminals of fellow Persian Gulf oil producers, including Saudi Arabia.
It would not be the first time. In 1987 and 1988, sea mines were sown in the Persian Gulf for which Iran never took responsibility. It was generally seen as Tehran's payback for US and Gulf Emirates' backing for Iraq in its long war with the Islamic Republic. A number of oil tankers and American warships were struck by mines, including the USS Samuel B. Roberts. Such disasters can be averted today by means of the sophisticated countermeasures now in US hands.

http://www.debka.com/article/21606/