The USS Carney (DDG-64) launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against a Houthi radar site in Yemen at 3:45 a.m. local time.
The strike comes the day after the U.S. and United Kingdom launched a series of strikes across 28 locations in Yemen, with multiple targets hit.
There have been 28 attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Nov. 19, according to the Central Command release.
“At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen,” CENTCOM said on X.
It added: “This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels.”
I wonder if the Iranian “destroyer” actually a 2500 ton light frigate with 1980s technology and weapons onboard is actually feeding the Houthis targeting information. In which case she should be sunk or in the very least suffer continuous jamming.
Iran also has a commercial ‘spy ship’ in the Red Sea. The Iranian navy recently boarded a tanker in the Indian Ocean justifying the action with some flimflam argument about retaliation for some earlier event. The Mullahs have built their ‘arc of fire’ around Israel by arming their proxies while they avoid any action that can be directly attributed to themselves. Bunch of cowards and loudmouths. They are sailing close to the wind. If we can prove direct responsibility we should come down in them like a ton of bricks.
👍 Sooner rather than more drift.
A good choice for our Typhoons I would have thought. Post By Tom Dunlop -February 26, 2020 MBDA Marte ER anti-ship missile completes second test firing “The Marte ER programme is progressing at full speed in order to meet customers’ requirements and the full integration of Marte ER on the Eurofighter Typhoon platform is proceeding at pace in order to implement an anti-ship capability onto the fighter.” MBDA MARTE ERLONG RANGE, LIGHTWEIGHTANTI-SHIP MISSILE SYSTEM All weather capability Stand-off engagement ranges for helicopter safety Minimum on-task time and fast disengagement to minimize launch helicopter exposure (covert operations, launch on external targeting, short reaction… Read more »
Unfortunately the RAF have shown no interest in getting navel strike in a hurry infact it’s been a hole since sea eagle missiles went out of service…it’s one of those areas where jointed upperey of services has failed and lead to fuckedupery. It’s a huge hole in capacity for an island nation.
Time to get a move on in that case.
The US is planning to purchase 48 JSM which could also be added to the Typhoons arsenal I would have thought.
Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace (KDA) and Raytheon.22 Mar 2023
“The US Air Force is planning to buy 48 JSM (Joint Strike Missile) cruise missiles for its F-35 Lightning II fighters, according to a budget request for the fiscal year 2024. The JSM is a stealthy, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed by Norway’s”
Meanwhile. January 12, 2024 at 2:20 PM “PARIS — The French military has placed an order for over €5 billion ($5.5 billion) from aircraft-maker Dassault Aviation and partners Thales, Safran and MBDA for 42 more Rafale fighter jets to be delivered between 2027 and 2032, the government announced today. For France this is the fifth tranche of jets from the Rafale program, bringing the total to 234 aircraft — 13 ordered in 1993, 48 in 1999, 59 in 2004, 60 in 2009, 12 in 2021, and now 42 in 2023. The 42 single-seat aircraft will come in the standard 4… Read more »
I guess like our supposedly defunct but in reality still effective older Eurofighter batches, they are looking to retire either older batches or simply add mass. Unlike our beloved cut cut cut cut and then cut some more.
You really couldn’t make it up.
But JSM doesn’t fit into F35B stealth bay – as we have been over numerous times on here.
I do totally agree that we need one platform with JSM type functionality and it should really be F35B because of its carrier role.
To be honest we don’t even need heavyweight anti ship missiles to be in the bays..any attack on ships is usually from below the radar horizon anyway, with a pop up before launch…it’s pretty easy for an aircraft to get within strike range of a ship…the only time you need the stealth is of your trying to crack an integrated air defence system with airborne radar. We should procure one of the options and not wait for an option that fits in the bays…time is ticking. Ive sort of changes my mind around how our procurements should go..simply put I… Read more »
I never suggested that the Bats should have NSM or the like.
I was suggesting that the Albions should have NSM and Sea Ceptor as the core systems are there.
They can then chug around doing valuable protection roles as well as being able to put an umbrella over Bays and Points as and/or providing supporting fires from NSM in their primary roles.
We are very short of grey war canoes and these are good ones that can be readily adapted.
Bit of a Miss understanding supportive, when I said bays I meant the weapons bay of the the F35b not the bay class. I don’t think we need to wait for a heavyweight anti ship missile that fits into the weapons bays of the the F35b we can just have them on the wing pylons as you don’t need stealth to attack single ships ( you can use the radar horizon to hide) you only need stealth when you are trying to crack an integrated air defence system which has a airborne radar element which removes the ability to hide… Read more »
Ah
That makes more sense!
It does make sense to give the albions AD ,has went doing beach head Assault air cover is vitile has we learnt in the Falklands conflict .However this won’t happen ,has word has it both ship’s could be for the chop 😕
I think the whole offensive and defensive package for amphibs and RFAs needs re-evaluating. Following the massive shrinkage to the frigate fleet. Previously it has always been the task of the GP frigate to provide both the local air defence and any offensive requirement. However, that was when we had a lot more frigates to play with. Today, not only has the threat to shipping has changed, but also the availability of any escort vessel. We have seen non-state actors can get their hands on a plethora of weapons. Ranging from traditional anti-ship missiles, anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-tank guided weapons,… Read more »
Completely agree…infact the use of the amphibious vessels could be completely re-envisaged. The fight for the littoral is going to be dominated by drones and one thing the amphibious vessels have is lots of space for drones, big fight decks for airborne drones and well decks for surface and subsurface drones…infact the 21c amphibious vessel is likely to be a drone warfare vessel as you will need huge numbers of drones to dominate the littoral.
JSM not exactly heavy weight neither is Marte ER. You might find 6 SPEAR would be more effective against a modern warship.
Few ASM are going to sink a destroyer or larger sized vessel outright. One hit to the radar and it’s pretty much useless.
Indeed in the long run spear three will be a very effective anti shipping missile that will be ideal for overcoming integrated air defence systems..but its still developmental..we need to be putting in place operational capabilities now and in the near future..I fear the clock is ticking and something that may be operational in 2028 is not going to deter our enemies in the next 4 years ( unfortunately we wasted the years we had and have now it the critical point where immediate deterrence is needed).
“I fear the clock is ticking and something that may be operational in 2028 is not going to deter our enemies in the next 4 years”
Spot on.
Tell that to Storm Shadow
Scuttlebut is that there is a JSM in development for F35B internal carriage. The USMC is said to be very interested as part of its island hoping strategy in the pacific.
“Island hoping,” as opposed to island hopping? Curious, Freudian slip? Critique of USMC strategy in the Indo-Pacific? Or simply a typing issue (frequently have a few myself)? 🤔😉
“But JSM doesn’t fit into F35B stealth bay”
I know, I was talking about Typhoons hence the reason for saying “which could also be added to the Typhoons arsenal in relation to my post on MARTE giving the RAF two options.
No doubt Tempest will be able to fit the JSM internally when it arrives in the 2030s.
Given that state of finances I cannot see two air launched ASM’s being bought…..
One would do nicely?
And the Swiss Army knife is F35 in UK use.
Will the MARTE require TR-3/Block 4 (now 2029) and an engine upgrade? FOC for either will be when on our F-35B? I was looking for something a little bit sooner given the current state of play. “An important milestone has now been achieved, with the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) passing the last of its planned tests in the missile qualification programme. The development phase of the JSM is now in its final stage and is scheduled for completion in autumn 2018. “This is very good news for the Norwegian Armed Forces and Norwegian industry. What is now remaining is the… Read more »
Typhoon. Stealth TechnologyOne solution to the problem of combat aircraft survive ability is to use low-observable (Stealth) technology to escape or delay detection. But although such fifth-generation aircraft are very hard to detect using current radars, these aircraft are not invisible, and are becoming progressively easier to detect as counter-stealth technologies are being rapidly developed and deployed. Mark Hewer, Leonardo’s vice president for the Integrated Mission Solutions Business, points out that: “You cannot easily modify a stealth platform to counter new high-end threats, because you can’t redesign the skin of your aircraft, or its internal structure, or its configuration. You… Read more »
We have FC/ASW on the way for typhoon scheduled by 2027 ish.
🙏
It really doesn’t matter that the JSM/NSM can only fit on the pylons of the F-35B, its a stealth missile so won’t effect the RCS of the plane much. they designed a variant of the AIM-9x that is stealth as well as a pylon and found it doesn’t raise the RCS at all to have those mounted externally, and bizarrely they found it actually lowers the RCS from certain angles.
I completely agree it should be one of our key defence priorities to be honest..I would have preferred to have seen NSMs on typhoon and f35 than on frigates ( well I would prefer them on both..but if it was one or other the Heavyweight anti ship missile capacity should have been placed on our fixed wing aircraft first and escorts second).
Agreed and on both as you quite rightly say.
That’s a bit rich of them. The USAF wouldn’t even consider the JSM, but now the NSM is being bought and widely used by the USN and USMC they are.
But Norway had to fund LM to integrate it for use in the F35, its part of Block 4. We had to do the same for Meteor and SPEAR.
That is paying back in the extra sales.
“ we have a good missile at a very reasonable price point that is plug and play”
Sounds a lot better than
“ we have a good missile at a very reasonable price point that is might be integrated one day”
Hi Nigel, i think you could add JSM for the P8s too. The UK might need to top up its sub Tomahawks and maybe get some ship launched versions on order for the T31s MK41s. Imagine if the T45s had MK41s….
Hi Quentin D63, yes, all very good points. When you take into account the size of the Chinese Navy for example which will reach some 400+ ships by all accounts come 2030, it seems pointless trying to match their numbers with ships but rather increase the amount of long-range anti-ship missiles at your disposal to meet the potential threat. Now take into account the cost of building a Type 26 (UK Batch 1: £1.31 billion) and the fact that we have just allocated £2.5 Billion for FY2024 to Ukraine. Eurofighter Typhoon: around $124 million. 24 Nov 2023 LRASM $3 million… Read more »
Jeeze, these missiles and platforms are all at inflationary prices!!! Guess nothing cheaper on Black Friday sales…. Lol 😁 If the UK ever goes for more TLAMs they’ll be in a queue behind Aus, Japan and I think the Netherlands too. The UK’s FCASW should cover both AShM and LA if they’ll get both types and they’ll need to be MK41 compatible. But if new stocks are needed right now it basically looks like NSM, TLAM and LRASM off the 🛒 shelves. The powers that be must be watching all their inventory levels very closely at the moment. It’s good… Read more »
All very true, but far far cheaper than 400+ ships and the men and women to crew them! I look at £6 Billion over four years and what we could get for it including missiles, extra P8s, and Typhoons. For an Island Nation, that would serve as a very useful deterrent. 22 Nov 2023 “Each P-8A costs roughly $175 million to manufacture according to the United States Navy’s annual budget. All of that money goes to outfitting what is essentially a passenger plane with not only an array of sensors to hunt for threats, but also act when such threats… Read more »
Those P8s positively look like a bargain! Can you put an order in for another three? Just dreamin’.. Lol 😁
We can but…😜
The platform for that is F35B really not Typhoon.
Given F35B’s carrier based role and stealth.
Ummm…er…sorry, but need to request definitions of “upperey” and “fuckedupery,” for the benefit of at least some of the colonials. No joy on Google search of terms, even as urban slang. 🤔😳😉
They are totally made up words Joined upperey is the idea of joining things up fuckeduppery is fucking up being joined up. the learning here is that ability and willingness to abuse the English language that the English have compared to our US cousins who are profoundly more conservative in regards to the English language. you in the US have had far less linguistic drift that in the Uk. Your pronunciations and dialects are far closer to the dialects of the original settles from the UK than the present English dialects. apart from the word pronunciation of the word tomato… Read more »
TBH you could do most of the surveillance with guys with binos on the shore. It is that narrow there. That said it will be coming from Iranian navigational radars – these civilian ships are huge and will have the RCS of a block of flats. The more interesting thing is how they are tracking T45 which has a much smaller RCS than you might think. That could be as simple as physical spotters or ‘fishing’ boats passing on coordinates. I’m not sure than an elderly frigate offers much over that. It is mostly there for bluster value. They know… Read more »
It’s thought so by the US. If so, maybe didn’t do such a good job in this report. First time a link with Russia can be discerned. Vessel suspected to be one of the ghost tankers employed to move their oil, apparently.
Would that be some ‘sophisticated strategic plan’ or a group of crazies running AWOL with their new found notoriety?
The Tanker they took a Pot shot at last night was Panamanian carrying illegal Russian Oil. Oops.
I know Iran sent the frigate Alborz, to the Red sea, she is 55 years old and displaces 1100 tons Fitted with Noor Ashm, she should be no match for the western warships.
I’m not suggesting Alborz is a match. In fact I know for certain she isn’t. Just a concern if she has been sent to monitor military traffic in the area and report coordinates to the Houthi for a cruise or ballistic missile strike.
If found responsible. Which I think they might be, then the private letter Bidden wrote to the Iranians might simply be a cease and desist or be engaged warning.
She hightailed it beforehand. Ex-Vospers, if I recall.
I touched upon this in another thread. What comes next? On Friday, the UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps gave a warning to leaders in Tehran. “You must get the Houthi rebels, others who are acting as proxies for you, Lebanese Hezbollah are obvious examples, [and] some in Iraq and Syria, you must get these different organisations to cease and desist because we are, the world is, running out of patience,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “We see you, we see through what you’re doing. We see how you’re doing it, particularly the Houthi rebels, and no good can come from… Read more »
In my view, back in the Cold War there was a higher level of professionalism from government officials. People didn’t make statements like this calling out the USSR as our enemy and threatening them. Today people make these grand statements, and talk big, but it’s mostly empty posturing for the home audience. This lack of professionalism and basic lack of discipline is a worry. It goes from leaky social media posts showing videos of crashed F35Bs right up to public statements like this, including statements by past government officials about the Kusnetsov being a ‘rust bucket’.
I agree to a point – but Schapps would never have been considered as a Cold War defence secretary given his lack of gravitas. In the Cold War it was coded messages. Each side understood but neither side really wanted a war so backed off. That said there is far too much open source info about the state of play. Mind you if there wasn’t we would be down to a couple of Rivers operating Tues-Thurs when it is sunny offering trips round the lighthouse. “ Kusnetsov being a ‘rust bucket” Isn’t exactly top secret. You can see her from… Read more »
The Chinese and Russians are using social media very effectively – in my view it should have the same restrictions as traditional publishing media. Freedom of expression comes with responsibilities. It’s remarkable that TiKTok is allowed in the UK. Only India has banned it. Western militaries do seem very leaky, but there’s some remarkable stuff coming out of China these days as well, extreme corruption taking place in their military by the sounds of things. It’s in our best interest that the Russians keep wasting money on the Kusnetsov 🙂
They have to waste money on Kusnetsov as they can’t build a replacement. Their largest and best shipyards were Ukrainian and now there is the small matter of the war Russia started stopping the Russian navy from building any warship over say 5000 tons without it being built in China. China has the shipbuilding capacity to help rebuild the Russian fleet but will Putin be prepared to go cap in hand to China and complete the transition to Russia being China’s 2nd fiddle?
Yes, the BBC not calling out the Hamas’ attack as terrorism was unforgivable. But there are innocent victims on both sides. The best defence is a strong military.
But she is a rust bucket, long overdue the scrap heap. Still the Russians are using up valuable resources trying to refit Kusnetsov and that occupying dockyard crews and capacity is useful for NATO.
When she emerged from her refit she will be to coin a Russian phrase a large useful target.
Brave Grant Shapps will sell our amphib assault ships and then dictate that the marines go ashore in Yemen by row boat
Do we possess any row boats? I thought they were sold off cheaply some years back due to a hole in the defense budget!
Captured from illegal Channel crossings and sold to MOD by the Home Office to help pay for their former occupants’ board and lodgings?
So not cheap then😂
😅
He said rowing boats not half deflated, leaky rubber dinghy
We must have a couple of thousand inflatable boats stored in Dover by now 😀
It’s that or the Home office has been selling them to a very nice man in northern France that needs several hundred a month 😀
If we’re selling them it will defiantly be cheap 😅
There is a really good market for them in France – hadn’t you heard?
Border Farce sell them over in France to defray their costs. They say they can sell the good ones many times over.
……jokes.
They are keeping the ,”Dover flotilla” for the next Dunkirk style retreat from Europe. We have thousands of them but the original crew are being retained in the UK and looked after very well, as a contingency in case the “Dover fleet” is ever needed.
🤗 but really it’s no joke
Laugh or you’ll cry!
No they’ll have to swim from 20 miles out with full bergens and carrying enough ammo to fight for a week.
Chances of drowning…..very very high.
The new MK70 launcher would allow T45 to carry/launch, a token number of Tomahawk, if we had the will to do it.
The issue isn’t platforms to fire them though, there could well be a British Sub down there already but we don’t have the quantity of Tomahawks in inventory to fire them willy nilly.
US news agencies are reporting that 60 targets were struck, with 150 missiles used, the RAF accounted for either 13 or 15 (sorry can’t remember the exact figure there)
It’s quite the target list, will be interesting to see how the Houthis respond. If they have anything left.
This must underline the need for strong Western Navies to stop such actions around the globe. The Treasury needs to stop dithering over future warships and maintain the Bulwalk class in service.
Couldn’t agree more 🍺
It couldn’t be clearer, which is exactly why they’ll do the opposite
It would have been very good pr for the RN to get one of the carriers down there for a few weeks on station.
So the BBC has knocked out a “Verify” video on the strikes on Yemen: Yemen strikes: What we’ve verified and know so far Yemen strikes: What we’ve verified and know so farCloseThe US and UK have launched strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. Merlyn Thomas from BBC Verify examines videos from inside Yemen and goes through what we know so far. So, what do they claim they can verify? Well 17+ ships attacked, which is true, but somewhat misleads because as of this morning that figure was 28 ships Claims that Houthi only targeting Israeli ships when nearly all… Read more »
Yes. But to be a little fair, Frank Gardiner in his reports is clear that other ships, not just Israeli ships, are being targeted.
That may be so, but I am referring to the so called gold standard of BBC news coverage “BBC verify” a so called sub division of BBC news which is supposed to tell truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in which to promote the message : “You can trust us”
Yeah the idea was a good one, to employ analysts to verify data etc but it’s drifted back to a ‘story’ to tell, along with assumptions rather than fact.
You can’t expect the truth from BBC. Their are a propaganda tool for the ideology of their journalists.
Is there any truth in these rumors? Royal Navy crisis as £3bn warship’s Red Sea mission scuppered by low staff numbersStory by Tim McNulty 3h “Royal Navy aircraft carriers have been unable to contribute to ongoing UK-US military operations in the Red Sea because of manpower shortages. Britain has been unable to bring the £3billion aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to bear in the region. HMS Queen Elizabeth would normally take part in operations as part of a Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group (CSG). However the only support ship available to keep the CSG supplied, RFA Fort Victoria, cannot carry… Read more »
There isn’t an official CSG to the Red Sea, the next one is CSG25. The RN designate Carrier Strike Groups when the escorts are defined over the whole deployment and the visits are, to some extent, laid out in advance. This doesn’t stop carriers deploying not as a CSG, like Queen Elizabeth has been doing around Scandinavia, because the escorts were flexible and a lot less (one or two GP frigates and a T45 for a bit). The Americans have a carrier down there, seeing as we’re in a joint operation there’s little point in doubling up. If we actually… Read more »
I tend to agree and just wondered if anyone else on here had also heard this story.
Another option is to deploy an Albion to the Red Sea, an excellent large platform to carry maybe 4 M270 muti-launch system of GMLRS and ATACMS, for stand-off strikes ashore.
I doubt that we could not put one carrier to sea because of crew shortfall – we have only recently had a carrier at sea.
Problem is surely solely RFA Fort Vic. I hear she is in Leith, is now ‘mechanically sound’ but has a skeleton crew as you say. Surely crew could be transferred from another RFA vessel that was not immediately required for sea duties?
Fingers crossed that’s the case. Nonetheless, it heightens ones awareness of the concerns over the shortfall we have in available manpower.
The UK needs to get its Type 26 & Type 31 with Mk41 vls into service and start filling silos with Tomahawk Block V & Va
Tomahawk, LRASM, NSM, quad packed sea ceptor FCASM the list of potential weapons load out for proposed MK41 VLS silos is huge.