Incipient Asymetric Martime Warfare Possibilities

[Lethal Lou]

"Information Dissemination" regularly has interesting memes being examined. Recently they discussed what forms of engagement should be anticipated in the immediate short term on the martime front. Possibilities included:

- A proliferation of sea and beach-launched small (read model airplane size) UAVs utilized by non-state actors to help target their water-borne IEDS and anti-ship cruise missiles

- Small, randomly strewn maritime IEDS (mines) through vital commercial choke points – think the Verrazano Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn vice Strait of Hormuz. Really, the whole “E” component isn’t necessarily, just some sinister looking boxes and an emailed threat alone is enough to disrupt traffic for a while in any given port

- Commercially available UUVs designed for oceanography converted into torpedoes

- Cell phones and social media used to agitate “flash mobs” of local fishing vessels in order to block the movement of navy or merchant vessels

Curious what counter-measures/immediate action drills would be appropriate for the above. Also any other creative options (either attack/defense) that spring to the collective minds of this imaginative group . . .

FYI the link to the original discussion is: http://www.informationdissemination.net/2010/05/open-source-warfare-navy-style.html#disqus_thread

[Panchito12]

- Small, randomly strewn maritime IEDS (mines) through vital commercial choke points – think the Verrazano Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn vice Strait of Hormuz. Really, the whole “E” component isn’t necessarily, just some sinister looking boxes and an emailed threat alone is enough to disrupt traffic for a while in any given port

Old news. That tactic was already tried in a FLTEX in the early 90's <wink><wink>p-).

Let's say that the uncorroborated allegation of some enemy-owned "civilian" vessel laying mines across the entrance/exit to the Hampton Roads (re: Norfolk) just prior to the beggining of the "hostilities" really threw a wrench into the exercise and the surging of the CVBG.
rofl

p.s. I will neither confirm, nor deny, the weasel-ality of a certain former Ops officer & his brilliant former Gunnery officer. But at the end of the exercise, those two junior USN SWO officers found themselves briefing the unexpected surprise to a SUPER DUPER high-ranking DoD civilian from Wyoming.;-)

[orionhawk]

- Commercially available UUVs designed for oceanography converted into torpedoes

- Cell phones and social media used to agitate “flash mobs” of local fishing vessels in order to block the movement of navy or merchant vessels

Curious what counter-measures/immediate action drills would be appropriate for the above. Also any other creative options (either attack/defense) that spring to the collective minds of this imaginative group . . . [/URL]
well, the UUV's are either expensive (probably easier to just buy a real torpedo), or tiny.
and the "Flash Mobs" thing would probably work even against the Navy - once. IIRC we've still got a reg on the books that amounts to being able to run down small craft that try to block us.

what scares me is the idea of terrorists getting a multi-thousand-tun tramp freighter and packing it to capacity with ANFO, and pulling a Cole on one of our CVN's. a 5-kt kamikaze tramp freighter would NOT be an easy thing to stop. you'd have to hit it hard enough to detonate it, pretty much, and we're hurting for hard-hitting quick-response antiship weapons at the moment