Busy Spooks...

Im willing to bet we've had a few low and slow silent watchdogs near Iran recently...

Iran making midget submarines: Report

Web posted at: 5/11/2005 8:59:41

Source ::: Reuters

TEHRAN: Iran has started to manufacture midget submarines that can land troops and fire rockets, state media reported yesterday.

State television showed pictures of a bottle-green midget submarine docked in the southern port of Bandar Abbas, but said it could not show the production line for security reasons. ?We are currently making a number of these submarines and we are proud of it," said Admiral Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who heads the plant producing the submarines.

One foreign military attache in Tehran said the vessels appeared to be well-engineered but he doubted they had much ballistic capability and were most likely to be used for ferrying troops.

The news came as Iran faces continued Western pressure over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is limited to peaceful electricity generation.

The US and Israel accuse the Islamic state of developing atomic weapons and have vowed to stop Tehran acquiring them. But U.S. officials have played down media speculation earlier this year they were planning military action against Iran.

Another defence industry official confirmed to state radio that Iran had begun a production line of midget submarines, which are generally used for carrying troops in amphibious operations. "This vessel is completely domestically made and the mass-production line has been launched at the Defence Industries Organisation," said Amir Babaei, deputy head of the organisation, which is part of the defence ministry.

Lol, the US Navy doesn't have a whole lot to do these days. With a budget bigger than the combined defence budgets of Britain and Russia, and nothing to do except drop bombs on Iraq (for almost $10,000 per ton MORE than the Air Force), the Navy gets to keep eyes on the South China Sea and the Sea of Japan (China/Taiwan and North Korea) and the Persian Gulf, and that's about it. The attack-submarine community has no more Russian boomers to trail, but they don't really like brown-water stuff like the Persian Gulf.

I remember when I read Hunt for Red October, and I desperately wanted to be Bart Mancuso. I was about 12, and then I read Blind Man's Bluff, about Cold War sub operations, and I even more wanted to be a sub skipper. But then I realized that was all twenty years ago. Now they just patrol quietly.

I would bet though, that if we DO attack Iran, their three Kilos and these midget subs would have an exciting, albeit very short, combat career. Same with the Iranian Air Force and their small surface fleet. They have just enough planes, tanks, and ships to offer worthwhile targets.

I don't know if we should or not. The postwar would probably be similar to Iraq. I already bet that when I am commissioned on active duty, two or three years from now, I will have to go to Iraq, but who knows? Maybe it will be Iran. Ah, the fun times of the modern US military.

Matt

Of course, none of us knew of theat "blind mans bluff" stuff til what, 20 years later? I dont know. I wouldnt be suprised if we are still doing a litle sub chasing.

Read up on China's submarine program. We're going to have more to do in ten years than we ever *thought* about during the previous cold war.

Indeed....

Know a good place to get caught up on that?