The conflict in the Middle East is already reshaping thinking about naval operations, with lessons around resilience, air defence, and intelligence exploitation coming sharply into focus, according to Thales’s Naval Defence Advisor Eric Chaperon.
In an analysis published by the company, Chaperon drew four key lessons from the ongoing conflict. The first, he said, is that naval forces are vulnerable regardless of their distance from the front line. “At sea, you are not safe anywhere. The torpedoing of the Iranian corvette, far from the area of operations, is a striking example,” he said.
The second is the importance of resilience and the ability to sustain operations over time. Chaperon noted that it remains unclear whether American or Iranian forces will reach their limits first, framing the challenge as a balance between striking capacity and the risk of ammunition depletion on one side, and the capacity to absorb punishment and retaliate on the other.
Third, Chaperon highlighted intelligence as the key to action at every level. “What is new, however, is the ability to rapidly exploit this intelligence to accelerate the decision and engagement cycle. The Americans have become masters in this area, with, as a result, an efficient C2 based on a strong AI component,” he said.
His fourth lesson was that robust and adaptable air defence has become vital in the face of growing numbers of missiles and drones. He pointed to Thales’s recently launched SkyDefender system, which combines sensors, effectors, and command and control solutions, and said deployment of such capabilities must be accelerated.
On the underwater domain, Chaperon acknowledged that much of Iran’s submarine capability has likely been destroyed but warned that the threat from underwater drones remains. “This stealthy threat is extremely difficult to detect and counter,” he said, adding that he could not rule out the possibility that Tehran could receive assistance from other powers possessing such capability.
He also raised the prospect of Iran mining the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as a plausible scenario. Should it occur, Chaperon said clearing the strait to reopen navigation would become an urgent operational requirement, and noted that mine countermeasures capabilities provided by Thales to the French and British navies could be called upon.
Chaperon set out four priorities for Thales in response to the conflict: robust in-service support for client navies, helping navies strengthen integrated air and missile defence, improving tactical awareness and decision-making speed, and providing tools for mastering the electromagnetic spectrum, an area in which he said the Americans are leading the way.
I think the ‘fourth’ lesson above should trump (no pun intended) the others. Air defence affects them all including and especially at sea, operationally overseas and for the homeland. Peace Dividend at what cost?
Until WW1, and even beyond, warships had limited means of finding their enemies. Now, surface ships locations can be pinpointed by satellites, surveillance aircraft, manned or unmanned. They cannot hide so have to rely on sophisticated self defence weapons to resist attacks. This makes them very expensive- £1b+ for a an air defence escort and not much less for an ASW frigate.- and with limited combat endurance.
The range of modern anti ship missiles forces ships further away from defended coastlines, limiting their ability to conduct amphibious operations.
Submarines remain hard to detect. Indeed CASD depends on that. So future navies may have to be largely sub surface in order to survive. Surface warships might be reduced to low cost patrol operations rather than forming part of the battle fleet.
China and America are on lines one and two.
“The torpedoing of the Iranian corvette, far from the area of operations, is a striking example,”
If your adversary has SSN and or support for conventional subs.
The idea of ‘hiding’ in an ocean has become a bit of a dead duck in the last 10 years but is still trotted out all the time as a reason for not having defences. At some point RN has to drop all that and arm eavery ship to the teeth so they are survivable against the proliferating multiplicity of threats.
Does make you think how the current “fitting out” of the T31 makes it incredibly vulnerable to sub-surface attack!
And what about the T45s, carriers and RFAs? Haven’t TKMS just developed a anti-torpedo torpedo that could be worth looking at? Is it time to bring back a SEA TWS to launch ship based dual use torpedos?
That depends if it has CAPTAS or something else added to it.
You don’t get much from a passive hull sonar once you start moving at speed and even using it active high power is very limited.
Interesting to know how T31 ‘Fitting Out’ is going.
Very slowly. They’ve never fitted out a complex warship before.
Sinking an unarmed warship on its way home from a commemorative event many thousands of miles away from the conflict amounts to murder of its crew – it’s a war crime.