In fact, Iran even managed to sink an aircraft carrier.
Key point: The war game should have been a wake up call, but it was too embarrassing. Instead, the rules were changed during the game to ensure American victory.
As tensions escalate in the Persian Gulf region, it’s worth recalling a 2002 Pentagon war game in which a U.S. Marine Corps played the part of an enemy commander waging a bloody defensive campaign against a much more powerful U.S. force.
Lt. Gen. Paul Van Riper’s own hodgepodge of troops, ships and planes was similar in organization and capability to Iran’s actual forces. Van Riper’s success in blunting a simulated American assault could reveal how Tehran might fight in the real world.
These helicopters were bought from the cash-strapped Russians after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Key point: Practice makes perfect. But even better is practicing against the actual hardware your opponent might use.
A U.S. Air Force rescue-helicopter squadron in November 2019 flew mock battles against a fearsome enemy. Soviet-designed Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters.
The war game over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona helped to prepare the base’s resident 55th Rescue Squadron for intensive warfare that could involved helicopter-on-helicopter combat.
This article first appeared earlier and is being reposted due to reader interest.
Two Mi-24s deployed to Davis-Monthan for the training. Official Air Force photos depict the heavyweight, twin-seat ‘copters flying low over the desert and sharing a hangar with one of the 55th Rescue Squadron’s Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters.
These ships cannot hold their own in battle and have many problems.
Key point: These warships are too easy to kill and do not carry enough fire power. Is it worth trying to buy more and upgrade them?
After spending $30 billion over a period of around two decades, the U.S. Navy has managed to acquire just 35 of the 3,000-ton-displacement vessels.
Sixteen were in service as of late 2018. Of those 16, four are test ships. Six are training ships. In 2019 just six LCSs, in theory, are deployable.
While that number should increase as the remaining ships in the class finally commission into service, the LCS’s low readiness rate calls into question the wisdom of the Navy’s investment in the type.
The F-35 lacks both active jammers and a compatible radar-homing missile.
Here s What You Need to Remember:
Two U.S. Air Force F-35 stealth fighter had a close encounter with a mobile air-defense system during combat operations over the Middle East.
The encounter underscores the stealth fighter’s potential as a platform for suppressing enemy air-defenses, a service official said.
A dozen F-35s from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings in April 2019 traveled from their home station at Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates to participate in coalition air operations targeting Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
With its simple shape and apparent fiberglass fuselage, the new UAV probably is unsophisticated.
Here s What You Need To Remember: Iran around a decade ago began arming some of its drone types with missiles and bombs. Iran Aviation Industries Organization in 2014 revealed a Mohajer variant that Iranian media claimed could shoot down other aircraft.
Iran has revealed a new attack drone. The Kian jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle appears to be around 10 feet in length.
With its simple shape and apparent fiberglass fuselage, the new UAV probably is unsophisticated. But even an unsophisticated drone can pose a danger to enemy forces if its user employs it the right way and in sufficient numbers.