Iran Arming Fast Sportboats With Russian Torpedo

Idea of sinking Nimitz Class carrier is not easy task. How to break its defences and cause multibillion losses to US Navy? All Ideas are in the table in Iran and Debka has leaked one of those...

Iran gets fast sporting powerboat for arming with Russian torpedoes

After laying hands on the record-breaking 61.5 mph speedboat, built for a British sporting adventurer, the Iranian navy plans to arm it with the reputedly fastest torpedo in the world, the Russian-designed Shkval (Squall), which moves at speeds of 360 kph. debkafile's military sources report Tehran is aiming for a seaborne weapon able to sink a US carrier in the Persian Gulf.
Blogs tracking the international weapons trade and the Financial Times reported Monday, April 5, that after purchasing the Bladerunner 51 powerboat from a Florida boatyard in 2005, the British sailor Neil McGrigor smashed the Italian-held record for the fastest circumnavigation of Britain in 27 hours 10 minutes.

Advertised for sale next year, the British government blocked it its purchase by Iran, which finally managed to purchase it under cover through South African agents in the face of an international embargo.
In Jan 2009, US special forces stood ready to intercept the Iranian merchant vessel carrying it to the Revolutionary Guards headquarters in Bandar Abbas, but the operation was called off for some unknown reason.

The deputy commander of the IRGC, Gen. Ali Fadavi has boasted that no warship can escape from the Shkval torpedo whose speed makes it almost impossible for radar to pick up. This claim has not been tested, but the US Persian Gulf naval command is concerned that the Iranians are outfitting the former Bladerunner 51 to lead the Guards navy's fleet of fast boats in attacks on the big American warships and aircraft carriers deployed in these waters.
It is feared that big warships may prove vulnerable to "swarming tactics by small boats," a hypothesis never yet demonstrated in practice. US naval experts stress that in recent US naval exercises in the Persian Gulf, small boats, however fast, trying to attack large warships, were beaten down and destroyed by the helicopters mounted on the ships' decks. They stressed that the powerboats were no match for military helicopters.

At the same time, these experts admit that a surprise hit-and-run operation by an armed powerboat able to approach a warship undetected could be extremely damaging.

www.debka.com...

- Can David knock out Goljat?

Idea is still interesting - size against mobility once again.

[edit on 5-4-2010 by JanusFIN]

I wonder if the odds would change if the speed boats had portable stingers. Or Gyro stabilized mounted stingers on board to counter the Navy cobras. Iran has a lot of portable stingers.

I've often wondered about something like this. How much of a radar profile does a fibreglass hull have to track? I'd guess the largest return is off of the engines, but how practical is it to pick out a fast moving relatively small boat on radar?

Just remember, the Afghans used to beat Soviet tanks by mounting anti-tank rockets on little Toyota pickup trucks and driving around the tanks faster than their turrets could rotate. This just may work. A lot of it depends on how powerful the squall torpedo is, it's likelihood of causing the required damage, and how many of them a little boat could carry.

Forgive my ignorance but

After laying hands on the record-breaking 61.5 mph speedboat,

My buddy's bass boat goes 70 MPH.

Originally posted by JanusFIN
Idea is still interesting - size against mobility once again.

Not just size and mobility - don't forget money!

War is a business on it's basic levels, no point winning if it costs too much (not just money, resources, global/regional standing all sorts of factors).

I have often thought that while Americas military might is awesome it is incredibly expensive and advanced... In this case we have a clear and huge disparity - A multi-billion dollar floating city verses a handful of swarming speed boats armed with a handful of munitions and men - even if you don't succeed in your attack you could easily justify the expenditure when the potential prize is so valuable.

I think it's an accepted view that the weapons development between the US and Russia in the cold war reflect this - quite often America went Hi Tec and Hi value while Russia would go for low(er) value with things like missiles where they could have many more units for a similar investment (not to mention all the countries that don't like America love to buy Russian made kit! Probably cos most of it works damned well).

reply to post by Signals


Hi Signals,

Think this is what was meant by 'record breaking';

the British sailor Neil McGrigor smashed the Italian-held record for the fastest circumnavigation of Britain in 27 hours 10 minutes.

Also did 101 mph

www.lornecampbelldesign.com...


Peace!

[edit on 6-4-2010 by The Wave]

[edit on 6-4-2010 by The Wave]

This idea is good but just 1 boat?

I've thought about what it would be like to use many small civilian vessels and light aircraft with military grade weapons to attack a battlegroup.

Using sportboat as a base for torpedo launchers --- How much extra weight comes from those weapon systems, launchers, and from weight of torpedo?

What is the smallest torpedo launcher today?

Maybe as operating crew two is enough - I think mission is still Kamikaze.

Every extra kilo in boats drops lots of performance in speed.

reply to post by belial259


"Copy / Paste" - just like chinese does with Russian systems, and Russians are also very good to "Copy / Paste" their products too - they just bought about year ago many different kind of drones from many manufacturers - we can wait "Russian Drones" coming operative very soon.

reply to post by JanusFIN


Well it looks like this boat was built for endurance trips - a poster above said about the 27 hour round Britain record... That's some pretty tough varied sea states for a boat to handle.

I imaging there is plenty of kit in there they could throw out to make way - it's probably got a galley and bunks for starters.

info on the shkval (squall) super-cavitating torpedo

Shkval High-Speed Underwater Rocket

Original unguided production model.
Used a tactical nuclear warhead on a timer to destroy incoming torpedoes and/or the submarine that launched them. This model was deployed in 1977; it could only be fired in a straight line and had a range of about 10 miles (16.2 km).

Shkval-E
Export variant. This model requires the crew of a submarine or ship to define the target's parameters -- speed, distance and vector. The torpedo must also be fed data for the automatic pilot. This variant does not have a homing warhead and must follow a computer-generated program. Warhead weight is reported to be greater than 462.9 lb (210 kg).

---

PERFORMANCE
Speed
Maximum 230 mph (360 kmh, 100 m/sec, 200 kts)
Some reports say in excess of 300 mph (483 kmh)
Exit from tube 50 kts (93 kmh)
Range 3.5 nm (4.0 mi, 6.4 km)
Shkval-E
range
launch 3.8 nm (4.4 mi, 7.0 km)
cruise 5.4 nm (6.2 mi, 10.0 km)
minimum 0.3 nm (0.3 mi, 0.5 km)
launch depth 100 ft (30 m)
cruise depth 20 ft ( 6 m)
after-launch turning angle
+/-20 deg

from here

Just keep an eye on it in port, if it moves toward open water it vanishes after a brillant eruption.

Originally posted by hatonam
Just keep an eye on it in port, if it moves toward open water it vanishes after a brillant eruption.

and why would this be?
i am curious

Originally posted by aegis80
I've often wondered about something like this. How much of a radar profile does a fibreglass hull have to track? I'd guess the largest return is off of the engines, but how practical is it to pick out a fast moving relatively small boat on radar?

Forget radar. Thermal imaging will pick it up like a flare at night.

I'm just wondering how fast that boat will go with a torpedo that weighs about a ton and it's launching equipment? Rig some Rockeye to open at about 500 ft. and watch the F/A-18s have some fun. They could also put the miniguns on the Seahawks and take them out. Coast Guard in Florida takes out fast boats all of the time by helicopter. That torp has a range of maybe 10 miles max. Declare a 20 mile exclusion zone and sink anything that comes into it.

TI isn't the all seeing eye people think it is. I had the pleasure of tracking a Finnish Hamina Class missile boat with its anti-TI measures going active, bastard just vanished from my TI. The distance was about a click... so Carbonfibre superstructure is naturally radar-stealthy, combine that and some anti-thermal tricks into a small hull and you'll have a very hard to spot target.

Sound will most likely reveal the vessel, but when you hear it it's too late (and you can't direct fire based on sound alone)

reply to post by JanusFIN


Well I hate to say it but if they sink a carrier they will be turned into a parking lot. The American people will be so upset the will give the OK to use whatever means possible to take them out. We need to remember Pearl Harbor and what happens when America takes a serious blow. I hope Iran remembers this history lesson for their own good.





[edit on 9-4-2010 by Subjective Truth]

reply to post by Subjective Truth


It's too bad that Americans don't seem to remember the history of Pearl Harbour, especially how the US government intentionally allowed it to happen after the Japanese gave them clear warning of the invasion moments beforehand

I have been hearing that if America goes to war with Iran, Iran will cut off access to the Persian gulf and wreak havoc to America's navy. Even with the best military, nothing is impossible when it comes to human ingenuity

The fastest speedboat can not out run a F/A 18 with cluster bombs at 12.000 feet. (Out of range of manpads like the stinger missile)
At 12.000 feet you would get a good spread on the bomblets
CBU-75 Sadeye could hold 1,800 one pound BLU-46 anti-personnel bomblets, each of which containing 0.7 pound of explosives with impact or time delay fuzes that would produce around 600 fragments.

Now if they have any old Vietnam US Mk 44 Lazy Dog bomb dispensers they had 10,000 little 50 caliber bullet size bomblets in each one and dropped from over 10,000 feet they will go through a truck or helmet. a fiberglass boat would be ripped apart.
www.abstractstorm.com...
commons.wikimedia.org...:Lazy_dog_bombs.jpg

It would be like killing fish with a shotgun.