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2006-02-03 Home Front: WoT

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Posted by Steve White 2006-02-03 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 first deployment in 2007 to either Kuwait, South Korea or the Horn of Africa.

Can I vote for pirate hunting around the Horn of Africa?

Posted by trailing wife 2006-02-03 06:31|| 2006-02-03 06:31|| Front Page Top

#2 Too short-legged a platform. DDG or similar (like USS Winston S. Churchill), a platform with more than a day's endurance, is much better choice.

Posted by Bill 2006-02-03 08:04|| 2006-02-03 08:04|| Front Page Top

#3 I suspect that this unit is experimental. That is, the Navy wants a large littoral fleet, capable of policing long distances of shoreline. The primary ships to do this are the 500-600 ton Streetfighter class, but at $90M a pop, not enough of them can be built to do the entire job. However, they can be used as heavy weapons platforms for a region of coastline.

But they need to be augumented with a lot of very small PT-boat style gunboats that could be modular and forward positioned for quick assembly, or flown in by plane; which would use a Streetfighter much like a "mothership".

One such "swarm" of boats could control either many miles of coast, or could police a heavily trafficked sea lane, deploy area denial mines quickly, and perform all sorts of other operations.

Posted by Anonymoose 2006-02-03 09:47|| 2006-02-03 09:47|| Front Page Top

#4 This is odd to me. Our larger capital ships, such as aircraft carriers, already have 35 foot rigid inflatables (RIB's) that can act as pickets. But the navy security folks I've spoken to say they are never deployed overseas where they are needed because of political sensitivites. Now those conversations took place a couple of years ago, so maybe something has changed, but the Cole was old news then. I don't see what is different here.

Posted by remoteman 2006-02-03 10:47|| 2006-02-03 10:47|| Front Page Top

#5 Wow, and it only took six years!

Posted by gromky">gromky 2006-02-03 11:33|| http://communistposters.com/]">[http://communistposters.com/] 2006-02-03 11:33|| Front Page Top

#6 At first glance this looks mlike an ideal anti-smuggling/dope running/pirate counter force.
Spot a Pirate boat trying to board a vessel at sea, fly in the mini-PT's and swamp them for firepower.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2006-02-03 13:46|| 2006-02-03 13:46|| Front Page Top

12:58 CaziFarkus
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23:58 Rafael
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22:59 trailing wife
22:58 JosephMendiola