Archive through March 10, 2026
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Non-Game Discussions: Real-World Military:
Archive through March 10, 2026
SVC
I didn't say they don't - but when the most precise weapons in the world are blowing up Schools - when last advanced Iranian weapons are hitting civilian areas and Iran gets blamed in the Media, you can't have one rule for one side and another rule for the other side?
SVC NEVER SAID WE DID.
Sea Transportation: Germany Cracks Down On Shadow Tankers
March 7, 2026: Earlier this year, Germany began seizing illegal Russian Shadow Fleet tankers that mover sanctioned Russian oil to customers worldwide. This Shadow Fleet consists of about five hundred ships, many of them barely seaworthy and lacking insurance. Since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and was hit with the first of several rounds of economic sanctions, their Shadow Fleet began with about a hundred ships and grew each year. Oil is Russia’s principal export and the source of the money needed to maintain its forces in Ukraine. Germany is one of the 32 NATO nations that enforce the sanctions and that led to the current crack down on Shadow Fleet ships in the Baltic Sea. This body of water can only be entered via the Danish straits. At the other end of the Baltic is the Russian port of St Petersburg. If the German crackdown continues and intensifies, the Baltic will no longer be available to the Shadow Fleet.
Russia’s economy and war effort against Ukraine is financed by oil and other energy exports. Russia is operating under severe economic sanctions imposed to reduce that income and create economic conditions for Russia that make it difficult to impossible to continue their war in Ukraine.
The key to Russian oil exports is the use of foreign tankers to smuggle their petroleum and coal from Russia to overseas customers. Eighty percent of the oil for China goes by pipeline and cannot be disrupted. China accounts for nearly half of Russian petroleum and other energy exports. It’s the other half that is at risk because of a growing list of sanctions.
The economic sanctions were imposed on Russia because of its 2022 invasion, in an effort to reduce its hard currency income from exports of oil and natural gas. These are the main Russian exports and the major source of income for the Russian government and war effort. To evade these sanctions, Russia created a growing shadow fleet of oil tankers purchased and/or leased abroad and obtained unrestricted access to a Chinese smuggler haven maintained in Hong Kong.
Current estimates are that over 500 tankers are smuggling sanctioned Russian petroleum to customers in China, India, the European Union/EU, Turkey and Myanmar. Most refined petroleum products go to Turkey, China, Brazil, Singapore and India. The rest goes to nine countries, in the Middle East, Africa and Taiwan. China has been buying 47 percent of the crude oil while India takes 37 percent followed by Turkey and the EU with six percent each. China, India and Turkey account for about 90 percent of Russian income from the sale of oil, natural gas and coal. The U.S. is imposing additional tariffs on countries that import Russian oil. India is already subject to these tariffs, which increases what they have to pay for imports from the United States. The Americans are negotiating with China and Turkey over what tariffs are being imposed to discourage Russian oil imports.
The nations enforcing the sanctions, particularly the United States, have tracked the routes of the Russian shadow fleet and noted the key role Hong Kong plays in arranging the movement of sanctioned Russian oil to its primary customers in China and India. Hong Kong is also a major source for supplying sanctioned nations with weapons and munitions. A current customer is Russia. Hong Kong does this by allowing Russian tankers and cargo ships, operating with fake credentials to disguise their Russian affiliation, to bring in Russian oil and other raw materials. The Russian ships then leave Hong Kong carrying weapons for their war in Ukraine.
Another major player in the Russian smuggling effort is North Korea. For years North Korea has been buying small, secondhand cargo and tanker ships and using them for smuggling. A favored evasion technique consists of taking on or transferring cargo at sea in its own territorial waters. The North Korean merchant fleet consists of about 150 ships, mostly purchased from Chinese firms.
North Korea is a notorious and persistent maritime smuggler. Because of North Korean smuggling, the United States expanded its maritime smuggling and sanctions enforcement program in 2018 when a new multi-national enforcement organization was created. Initial members were the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain, France, South Korea, and Japan. The Enforcement Coordination Cell, or ECC, is enforcing the UN sanctions that curb North Korean smuggling related to items needed for their nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In addition, the ECC allowed member nations to also enforce whatever other sanctions or naval missions their government put a priority on. The U.S. has since invited India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines to join and assist with monitoring growing Chinese violation of offshore water rights, especially in the South China Sea and other areas of the West Pacific.
The ECC concentrates on the 2,000-kilometer-long shipping lane from the Indian Ocean, through the Malacca Strait and the South China Sea to North Korea. Along this route there are not only North Korean flagged ships participating in smuggling, but even more Chinese, Taiwanese, Liberian, Sri Lankan, and ships that are independent and fly whatever flag they believe will keep them from getting seized for smuggling. Earlier U.S. efforts had already identified many North Korean and Iranian owned tankers and cargo ships that were often engaged in smuggling. This led Iran and North Korea to use their own ships less and willing foreign ships instead. These third-party ships are the ones the ECC sought to identify. These ships can be identified, along with their owners and the owners can have banking and other sanctions placed on them. Many nations, not part of the ECC, but economic partners with ECC members, will cooperate if a smuggler ship visits one of their ports. At that point the captain can be arrested and the ships detained.
The ECC member warships do not depend on inspecting suspicious ships while at sea but confirming who is where and when. This is especially useful for spotting smugglers who often turn off their location beacons and continue in running dark mode. These location beacons transmit current ID and location to any nearby ships and often, via satellite, to their owner and international shipping organizations. The location data, past and current, can be found on several public websites. The beacons exist mainly as a safety measure for ships operating at night or in bad weather in heavily used shipping lanes. Smugglers have learned how to turn off their beacons near a port where, it is assumed, they have docked or anchored off the coast waiting for an available dock.
Some smugglers are using spoofing, a form of jamming that just modifies the beacon signal to present a false location. This is where warships and maritime aircraft come in as these can identify ships visually or using radar followed by visual inspection. This is more damaging to the smugglers because it provides more evidence that their ship was involved in smuggling, and with enough evidence, you can go after the ship owners and seize the ship whenever it enters coastal waters, within 22 kilometers of land belonging to a nation that will seize outlaw ships.
FYEO
Winning: The South Korean Push Back
March 7, 2026: South Korea is the tenth largest economy in the world. China is second, after South Korean ally the United States. Trade between China and South Korea last year exceeded $300 billion. China relies on South Korea for many items essential for keeping the Chinese economy going. What China does not like is the growing military power of South Korea. The only potential enemy South Korea has is China. North Korea is a threat, but the per capita GDP of South Korea is more than 50 times larger than North Korea. China has long backed North Korea but can do little to alleviate the self-destructive economic policies the Kim dynasty has imposed for over 70 years. While North Korea is now building destroyers and large submarines, South Korea has had a large fleet for decades and is now building nuclear submarines. China sees that as a threat but can’t do much about it. The South Korean, Japanese and American Pacific fleet forces can block any Chinese effort to take control of the western Pacific. For China, South Korea has become a crucial trading partner and dangerous regional naval power.
China and South Korea have other problems. The quantity and qualities of people in East Asia are changing. The populations of China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Russia are aging and shrinking, while India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Australia continue to grow.
China has an official population of 1.42 billion and an actual population of 800 million or less. The Chinese government went to great lengths to conceal the negative population impact of the one-child policy and covid19. But reports from tourists or commercial travelers indicated there were far fewer Chinese than the government claimed. Satellite photos showed fewer lights where major cities were and many lights for smaller towns were now absent. Unless living in the dark at night became a new Chinese custom, the lower population estimates are apparently accurate.
Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea have declining populations because of prosperity and comfortable living conditions. Worldwide, industrialized countries face lower birth rates because of this. The Japanese birth rate is 1.15, Taiwan’s .89, South Korea’s is .75. Other industrialized countries are experiencing similar birth rates. In Italy it’s 1.18, Germany is 1.62. The United States is no exception with a birth rate of 1.58.
India has a population of 1.46 billion. That’s nearly 18 percent of the world population. That is changing as India's birth rate of 1.9 is also below the 2.1 replacement rate. The Philippines birth rate is also 1.9. In Vietnam it’s 1.4, and Australia 1.8. There are nations with high birth rates. Most are in Africa, which has an overall birth rate of 3.1. Worldwide the rate is 1.75.
This will have an impact on economies, military capabilities and relationships with major trading and military partners. Two nations matter the most when it comes to trade. The United States had total exports and imports valued at $5.2 trillion. China did $6.1 trillion in trade. The importance of trade to the Chinese, who now have a declining middle class, is critical. Disrupt economic stability and you have chaos and maybe even another civil war. China builds most of the world’s commercial shipping and has the world’s largest navy, at least in terms of ship numbers. The United States still has a larger fleet in terms of total tonnage, 11 aircraft carriers and over a century of experience. China may threaten war, but to actually start one would be a political and economic catastrophe for China. Peace through prosperity is more than a catchy slogan.
The Chinese fertility rate, or number of children born to each woman, is among the lowest in the world and nothing the government can do seems able to change it. Chinese women no longer accept the traditional role of wife and mother. Many refuse to marry Chinese men, instead seeking American or European spouses. Americans are preferred because they help with childcare and housework. Most Chinese women don’t have access to foreign men and simply stay single.
China continues trying to make the best of a bad situation they cannot seem to control; a shrinking population, a workforce that is shrinking even faster and markets for its exports leveling off. The workforce shrinkage raises dire doubts about Chinese export statistics as those simply remaining where they were six years ago entails an unbelievable rate of labor productivity increases.
These three factors mean China’s Ponzi scheme economy has reached its limits with substantial declines now in progress. Other East Asian nations have similar problems, some not involving on-going Ponzi scheme financial systems, after having experienced a sustained economic boom that has moved much of the population into the middle-class. China too has prospered and given several hundred million Chinese prosperous middle class lives. This is unprecedented in Chinese history. One of the downsides of this prosperity is that couples have fewer children. When poor, families have more children because that is how people can create some support for their old age. Children do that and, in the absence of savings, children have traditionally supported their elderly parents. Because of all the prosperity, that traditional form of old age care is eroding.
China’s total population began a rapid collapse and reached 800-1200 million in the 2020s instead of the predicted 2030s. The biggest current problem is the growth of retirees with a steadily shrinking number of workers to support them. Proposals to allow more births run into arguments about limited resources. Japan is way ahead in this population decline curve, and China does not want to join them, but no one has yet come up with an acceptable alternative. The impact of fewer births in urban areas over two decades ago is showing up in growing shortages of skilled labor. The costs of manufacturing high tech items is growing, forcing Chinese manufacturers to move more factories to nations with cheaper labor. The military is giving the troops a raise, especially the technicians. Otherwise, it can’t recruit or keep them.
Chinese manufacturing activity has been shrinking since 2022 and that is one of several indicators that the Chinese economy is in trouble. There are also some epic failures of infrastructure, with provincial electrical blackouts increasingly common. The problems are largely self-inflicted. The shrinking of Chinese economic activity is the result of several different economic problems, including consumers not resuming their pre-covid19 spending habits. Less consumer spending was not expected. None of this should be a surprise because all the problems have occurred in China before, but not all at once. Paying attention to Chinese history is a respected popular tradition for basing major decisions on. Chinese leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 and initially concentrated on reinforcing government control of the military. Xi, like most Chinese leaders, pays more attention to history than foreign counterparts do. Chinese military history is measured in thousands of years while Westerners in most cases have only a few centuries of it and don’t pay as much attention to past experiences as China does.
Chinese economic history over those long periods did not change much either. It was largely feudal and, since 1910, China has been trying to develop a form of government capable of handling economic problems more effectively. Xi Jinping has had some success and recently saw the Chinese banking sector improving to the point where it can assist in reviving the economy. The economy is still in bad shape, with too much debt, and many foreign companies pulling out of China while too many Chinese companies are barely staying in business with a growing number slipping into insolvency and bankruptcy.
FYEO
Attrition: Erasing Iranian Armed Forces
March 6, 2026: A week ago the United States and Israel began launching air strikes against Iran in an effort to bring down the religious dictatorship that had misruled the country since 1979 and been a threat to most nations in the region and a promoter of terrorist activities worldwide. The American forcers used bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait to carry out these attacks and these countries joined in with their own attacks once it was obvious that the American and Israeli air operations were indeed taking apart the Iranian military. By the end of March 5th Iranian ballistic missile attacks had diminished by 90 percent, drone attacks were down by 83 percent. Air strikes concentrated on the remaining supplies of Iranian drones and missiles.
So far, the attacks have destroyed more than two thousand targets inside Iran and sunk or disabled 30 ships of the Iranian navy. The Iranian air force and air defences have been largely destroyed allowing unarmed transports carrying electronic monitoring equipment or supplies for active Iranian rebels, to operate freely.
During the first week of air operations against Iranian security forces the IRGC has lost about 15 percent of its personnel to desertion, with some of those men leaving with their weapons and joining the armed rebel groups forming inside Iran. Another one percent of IRGC men have been killed and few percent more wounded. The IRGC uses a decentralized command structure that enables members to improvise as needed to protect the Islamic government.
From the beginning American and Israeli military and political leaders stressed that these operations would require a month or more of continuous attacks to succeed. The Iranian military and security forces are extensive and spread all over Iran. Most have been located studied and attacks plans prepared. The initial attacks took out air defense and ballistic missile storage and launch sites. The attacks did not eliminate all Iranian offensive weapons. The damage Iranian counterattacks could inflict was significant, but not extensive enough to persuade any of Iran’s neighbors to support Iranian efforts to halt the war.
Mojataba Khamenei was quickly appointed to succeed his father Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28th, during the first wave of attacks. Israel had already decided to kill the Ayatollah last November and had been tracking his movements since then. Attacks against Mojataba Khamenei and the Council of Guardians would eliminate all the Ayatollah as well as the younger Khamenei. Surviving Iranian officials announced that all surviving leaders were ordered to operate independently if they were no longer able to contact senior leadership. Ismail Qaani, head of Iran’s Quds Force is apparently still alive, despite reports that he is dead.
Speaking of the dead, it’s also unclear how much, if any, popular enthusiasm there is to replace Islam with the ancient Persian Zoroastrianism religion. This was the religion of Persia for 1200 years until forcibly preplaced by Islam in 651 AD.
Meanwhile the airstrikes were systematically destroying IRGC\Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which normally consists of about 120,000 members. The volunteer Basij militia has up to half a million armed members and the Iranian army, navy and air force comprise about 400,000 active duty personnel. For the Iranian government, the problems is that a growing number of these troops are joining the rebels or simply deserting. The initial airstrikes encouraged this by killing many, if not most of the senior military leadership. Those appointed to replace the dead leaders were soon aware that they could quickly be attacked. Iran has long known that their military and government bureaucracy was filled with rebels and these rebels were now taking advantage of the disorder to eliminate rivals and key personnel still loyal to the religious dictatorship. Iranian security forces are still seeking Israeli agents and recently arrested general Esmail Qaani, the commander of the IRGC Quds Force after accusing him of working for Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence organization. Quds force organizes and supports Iran-backed militias and terrorist groups throughout the region. These include Hezbollah and Hamas as well as several Islamic terrorist groups.
It will be a week or more before accurate data on losses are available. Meanwhile, anti-government operatives are still able to assist in identifying new leaders who can be attacked by air or by anti-government Iranians. As more IRGC, Basij, police and regular military personnel join the rebels it will be easier to obtain accurate data on the state of the religious dictatorships armed forces.
Targeting information is still getting out of Iran and air strikes are quickly carried out to eliminate government forces or moved/newly created facilities and such. As fewer and fewer armed Iranians loyal to the government remain, they prove their loyalty by fighting to the death. Nearly half a century of Islamic government created a lot of true believers but their numbers are declining as the air and ground attacks continue. It is still unclear if newly liberated Iranians would call for the elimination of Islam inside Iran. Iraqi Kurdish militias and Iranian Kurds are also preparing enter the fight against Iranian forces. In another week the situation will be clarified and much less chaotic. There will still be Iranian military forces operational and dangerous to confront, at least for Iranian civilians. Armed Iranian civilians and soldiers who switched sides are another matter. In another month, one can only hope for a major improvement.
FYEO
Forces: Russia Reorganizes As NATO Expands
March 6, 2026: For Russia, one of the more alarming results of the Ukraine War was two neutral nations, Sweden and Finland, bordering Russia joining NATO. With Sweden in NATO the Baltic Sea has turned into a region controlled by a defensive alliance containing 32 nations, including the United States.
Preparations include the formation of a division sized unit to serve along the Finnish Norwegian border. The 71st Guards Motorized Rifle Division is nominally composed of about 12,000 troops organized into the following units.
The division in Pechenga is believed to include the following units.
126th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
127th motorized Rifle Regiment.
27th Separate Tank Battalion.
87th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment.
37th Separate Anti-Tank Artillery Battalion.
53rd Separate Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion.
57th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion.
9th Separate Engineer Battalion.
43rd Separate Signal Battalion.
129th Separate Logistics Battalion.
4th Separate Medical Evacuation Battalion.
Where the Norwegian and Finnish borders meet is south of the nearby base of the Northern Fleet.
Even before Finland joined NATO during the Ukraine War, preparations were being made to deal with possible Russian aggression. Seventeen years ago Finland increased defense spending in order to keep up with inflation. Finnish lawmakers also believed that the rising cost of war material and military equipment, besides inflation, necessitated the additional funds. The measure to spend more money on the military was met with significant opposition from the usual left of center political parties. The opposition used the argument common throughout Western Europe; that Finland has no major conventional threats at the moment and the additional money could be better spent on social programs.
Still, the opposition to the move was hardly overwhelming, with 116 legislators voting for additional money against 64 voting against. At the time the Finns had no major threats, but they did have long memories. Finland is a small country with a small military. To make up for their lack of manpower, procuring sophisticated, high-tech equipment is top priority. Based on their 20th century experiences, the Finns tended to take defense a little more seriously than countries like Germany or Portugal.
The last time Finland had to fight a war was during World War II, against Russia. The Finns ultimately lost but inflicted several severe defeats on the Russians, who outnumbered them many times over. This was largely thanks to the professionalism and skill of the Finnish soldier, whereas the Russian soldiers were largely poorly trained and led conscripts.
This was the same scenario that Finland became nervous about again, knowing that all it took was the wrong president or dictator in Russia to spark a major confrontation. At the time Russia was making everyone nervous with its increasingly aggressive stance against surrounding nations. The Finns thought it was a good idea to spend a little extra cash on their armed forces.
At the time, Finland's military budget was around $3 billion. That's about 1.3 percent of the country's total GDP of $273 billion and 5.5 percent of Finland's total national budget. This was well below the 2 percent minimum of the GDP that NATO recommends its members and partners spend on their militaries.
Still, by raising their spending, Finland contributed more to the alliance and was more likely to get a favorable response to any future requests for defense aid if they were attacked. Finland was then a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, and, with their new emphasis on added security, are likely to grow a closer relationship in the future. Finland didn't show an eagerness to get full NATO membership, unlike virtually every country in Eastern Europe, but they also liked the idea of NATO having their back if the country had to fight. The failure of many European member and partner countries to spend the recommended 2 percent on defense has been one of NATO's biggest problems for years and it continues to this day, even with the new threats of terrorism.
Back then, the Finnish ground forces had about 61,000 active duty troops organized into Operational Units, but the total wartime strength of the army in the event of invasion or national emergency is 237,000, with the active duty troops being augmented by 176,000 Regional Units. Because of their small size, the active duty soldiers use the regiment, not the division or brigade, as their basic combat unit. Divisions and brigades are activated once wartime mobilization becomes necessary. These 237,000 troops, beefed up with the latest infantry weapons and heavy armor, are nothing to sneeze at, and certainly enough to give any attacker a bloody nose. The Finnish Army still uses a system of conscription but feels that it is necessary in order to keep up a formidable level of manpower on the ground.
FYEO
Procurement: Hanwha Stumbles
March 5, 2026: Hanwha Group is a $65 billion annual sales South Korean conglomerate with operations in more than 50 countries. One American operation is a shipyard in Philadelphia with a shortage of qualified workers along with outdated and poorly maintained equipment. Hanwha had a contract to build the State of Maine training ship for the U.S. Maritime Administration/MARAD. This is an 8,500 ton, 160 meter long vessel with a crew of 100. The State of Maine is the third of five ships in this class. Because of the inadequate workforce and deplorable conditions of the shipyard, Hanwha is uncertain when they will actually get the work done.
Other Hanwha projects are completed on time and usually under budget. One example of this is the 25 ton, twin-engine, single-seat South Korean jet fighter-bomber which recently entered service. The engines are American F414 models built in South Korea under license. Up to 7.7 tons of weapons can be carried for surface attack missions. There is an internal 20mm autocannon with 480 rounds of ammunition. Max combat range is 1,000 kilometers while ferry range, carrying only additional fuel pods, is 2,900 kilometers.
Delivery of the first 40 Block 1 air superiority aircraft will be completed in 2028. After that, 80 Block 2 fighter-bombers are to be ordered and delivered by 2032. The Block 3 stealth version will show up sometime in the 2030s. This year South Korea began development of a South Korean engine for the KF-21. The new engine will be available when the Block 3 aircraft arrive in the 2030s. Block 1 and 2 aircraft will also be able to use this new South Korean engine. Jet fighters wear out several engines during their usual 30-40 years of service. The current engine for the KF-21 is the American GE F414, which is built under license in South Korea. The South Korean engine will be built by Hanwha.
Three years ago, after decades of incremental improvements in UGVs/Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Estonia and South Korea recently delivered UGV models that troops find useful, dependable and easy to operate. The most recent is the 2022 South Korean Arion-SMET/Autonomous and Robotic systems for Intelligence Off-road Navigation – Small Multi-purpose Equipment Transport. Arion is a 6x6 version of a 2019 4x4 UGV that was adequate for civilian uses but not for the more dangerous and demanding military operations. A major improvement for the 2022 Arion is the vehicle software, particularly the autonomous capabilities and ease of use for operators. Hanwha, the developer and manufacturer, has been developing UGVs since 2006 and created lots of incremental improvements in UGV design.
Arion can carry up to 550 kg of cargo or accessories. The primary use is battlefield transport of ammunition and other supplies as well as evacuation of casualties. Additional vehicle equipment turns Arion into a reconnaissance vehicle which can also call-in artillery fire or airstrikes. Standard equipment includes gunfire detection that quickly locates where gunfire is coming from. Arion can also be armed with a machine-gun controlled by a remote operator or autonomously. The navigation system can follow a specific nearby individual or autonomously find its way to a location. An onboard diesel generator charges the batteries which, on a full charge, enable Arion to travel up to 100 kilometers. Max road speed is 43 kilometers an hour while it is 34 kilometers offroad.
FYEO
Surface Forces : Battleship Illusions
March 5, 2026: The United States recently experienced a short period of excitement and surprise about a presidential plan to build a new class of battleships. For various practical reasons the battleship plan was quietly laid to rest. The battleship was a 20 th century development with 177 built and put into service by the major naval powers. The U.S. Navy completed 59 battleships by the end of World War II in 1945. Great Britain built 43, Germany 23, Japan 14, France 17, Italy 9, Austria-Hungary 4, and Russia 8.
Battleships went out of fashion after World War II. The modern battleship rapidly evolved in the decade before the 1914-18 World War I and, early in the 20th century, some weighed as much as the Zumwalt. Battleship design rapidly evolved through 1945 to the point where the last ones weighed as much as modern carriers. A few battleships continued to serve after World War II but no more were built. These huge vessels had outlived their usefulness, and nothing really replaced them. By the 1950s, missiles were equipping destroyers, cruisers, submarines and aircraft carriers.
Radical new warship designs are rare and many fail for technical or financial reasons. Such was the fate of the radical new Seawolf SSN/ nuclear attack sub. Designed at the end of the Cold War; there were to be 29 of these huge boats. But when the Cold War ended in 1991, so did the mighty Soviet Navy the Seawolf was designed to deal with. So only three Seawolf’s were built, in part because there were cheaper post-Cold War alternatives like the Virginia class SSNs. A similar fate befell DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyers, which began life as a 1990s effort to design a new destroyer for the 21st century. That meant lots of expensive new technology, some of it not really invented yet. Like the Seawolf the DDG-1000 proved too expensive and the orders were cut to three.
It was ironic that a century before the DDG 1000 showed up there was the Mississippi class battleship that displaced 14,400 tons, was 116.5 meters long, and 23.5 meters wide. A crew of 800 operated a variety of weapons, including four 12 inch, eight 8 inch, eight 7 inch, twelve 3 inch, twelve 47mm, and four 37mm guns, plus four 7.62mm machine-guns. There were also four torpedo tubes. The Mississippi had a top speed of 31 kilometers an hour, versus 54 for DDG-1000. But the Mississippi had one thing DD-21 lacked, armor. Along the side there was a belt of 23 cm armor, and the main turrets had 30 cm thick armor. The Mississippi had radio, but the DDG-1000 had radio, GPS, sonar, Aegis radar, electronic warfare equipment, and the ability to shoot down ballistic missiles. The century old Mississippi class ships cost about half a billion dollars (adjusted for inflation). The DDG-1000 class destroyers cost over $4 billion each, thus possessing the price, size, and firepower, if not the name, of a battleship. The U.S. Navy could no longer afford battleships and, given its continued inability to control costs, the navy could not afford enough of its new DDG-1000 destroyers either. Many senior navy officers are aware that the way warships are procured has changed in the last century, and apparently not for the better. Many other nations do not have the procurement problems the U.S. Navy is suffering from. But attempts to fix the procurement mess constantly run into political opposition.
By 2025 the Zumwalts finally found a useful purpose, as a launch platform for long range two stage Hypersonic Strike Missiles that can hit a target anywhere in the world in less than an hour. Zumwalts carry twenty of these missiles as well as 80 VLS cells for anti-ship, anti-submarine or land-attack missiles.
Another aspect of all this is how, since World War II, the descriptions given to warships have evolved. Warships called destroyers appeared a century ago and by the end of World War I they were ships of about 1,000 tons armed with a few guns and some torpedoes and depth charges. By World War II, destroyers had grown to about 3,000 tons. There were also cruisers, weighing in at between 6,000 and 12,000 tons, and battleships, which were 30-60,000 tons. Half a century later, all that's left for surface warfare are destroyers and frigates. For whatever reason, the modern frigates perform the same mission and are about the same size as the World War II destroyers.
Meanwhile the modern destroyers have grown to the size of World War II cruisers. Actually, some of the larger destroyers are called cruisers, even though they are only 10-20 percent heavier than the largest destroyers. The latest ships in the U.S. Navy's Burke class destroyers weigh 9,200 tons, cost $1.5 billion to build, have a crew of about 330 sailors, and carry 96 anti-aircraft and cruise missiles. There's only one 5 inch gun, but two helicopters. These modern destroyers could take on any World War II cruiser and win, mainly because the cruise missiles have a range of 1,500 kilometers. A Burke class ship could probably defeat a World War II battleship, although we'll never know for sure since one of those heavily armored ships never got hit by a modern cruise missile. In effect, the U.S. Navy has settled on just four major combat ship types; aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and nuclear submarines.
FYEO
SVC:
Was it a mistake?
And more important, why should we accept Paul Howards “knee jerk” reaction as proof?
In my opinion, what this is, is another islamic “human Shield” exercise.
We have heard from Paul for years about the evils of U.S. or Israeli bombs damaging or destroying hospitals, schools and all manner of civilian targets as if they were intentionally target.
In every case that I have reviewed, the civilian target was bering used to “screen” or “protect” military targets.
It was true in Gaza where terrorists built their bunkers under hospitals.
In the case of the school there were (depending on the source) three Iranian republicans guard buildings adjacent to the school.
I am not in favor of killing civilians, but at the same time, guilt for choosing to build facilities near schools and hospitals to protect them from enemy attack belongs to the Iranians not U.S. or Israel.
Quote:Battleship design rapidly evolved through 1945 to the point where the last ones weighed as much as modern carriers.
(From the 3:09 PM post this afternoon - taken from FYEO.)
Uhh... What???
I believe the displacement of a Nimitz-class CVN at full load exceeds a Yamato-class BB at full load by approximately... 30,000 tons! Where did FYEO get this "... the last ones weighed as much as modern carriers" from?
Pres. Trump has announced that he will address the nation at a news conference at 16:30 CDT today.
Jeff
I can only assume 'Facts' are just plain ignored by you and you read what you want to read.
1) What knee jerk reaction?
2) Human Shield - the School was built around 2005/2006 or slightly earlier. What War was the Iranians involved in then, so they could 'shield' what ever was next to it?
3) Do the Amercians never build a School or Hospital next to a Mililtary Base?? (and probably fair to point out, most nations build Schools next to Miltiary Bases for the Family of Military Staff to go to - I bet some of the larger bases even have schools IN the Base, if they are in the middle of no where)?
Today, Pres. Trump told a CBS News reporter, who shared the comments in a post on X, that “the war is very complete, pretty much.”
“They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force,” the president said, adding that the U.S. is “very far” ahead of his initially stated timeframe for the war of four to five weeks.
Trump also said that ships are now passing through the Strait of Hormuz and that he is “thinking about taking it over.”
On a totally seperate matter : -
"Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea have declining populations because of prosperity and comfortable living conditions. Worldwide, industrialized countries face lower birth rates because of this. The Japanese birth rate is 1.15, Taiwan’s .89, South Korea’s is .75. Other industrialized countries are experiencing similar birth rates. In Italy it’s 1.18, Germany is 1.62. The United States is no exception with a birth rate of 1.58.
India has a population of 1.46 billion. That’s nearly 18 percent of the world population. That is changing as India's birth rate of 1.9 is also below the 2.1 replacement rate. The Philippines birth rate is also 1.9. In Vietnam it’s 1.4, and Australia 1.8. There are nations with high birth rates. Most are in Africa, which has an overall birth rate of 3.1. Worldwide the rate is 1.75."
Could a future War for resources turn in for a grab for people or do Governments need to start a re-birth program 'now'?
South Korea went up from 0.75 in 2024 to a 'huge' 0.8 in 2025 - and accepting people are living alot longer, those numbers fast forwarded say 75 years would see a huge drop in population.
Who will care for the Elderley if there are so few younger people??
China had the problem where there was so few females, males had to accept they would never have a female partner - and so Femalies of a Marriageble age become massively in demand (and iIRC, China's Made Suiicde Rate for youbger Males went through the roof??).
We are many many many years away from these issues, but which nation will need to introduce generous Imigration Terms to regain sufficent numbers of young workers*?
* - Which could add to the problems for poorer nations with a low birth rate - Italy isn't a ideal example (it's not poor, but has a neighbour which is much richer), but if the Germans was offering a better wage for Car Workers say, why stay in Italy??)
Jeff Wile:
Ref: Skippy “End of Tour” Pool
Put me down for March 17 at 17:17:17 UTC in honor of St Petrick’s Day when snakes are driven out of Iran. :D
Chuck Strong: noted and logged!
Speaking of “Skippy”…
The conspiracy groups are already weighing in.
One popular conspiracy notes that the rest of his family (father, wife, son etc…) all died in the attack that the IIRG claim that “Skippy” miraculously walked away from, albeit wounded.
The idea is that since Skippy has not been seen in public for ten days now, he may in fact be deceased, and the IIRG is spreading the word that he is still alive so as to use the “Biden Model” of modern government. All they need is an auto pen and an internet connection to post edicts as needed.
Put the President and the United States military in a difficult position, how do you convincingly kill someone who is already deceased, in such a way as to convince the world that the individual is indeed dead.
Sounds like a movie plot from Mel Brooks or Howard Hawks.
Careful there; the blood dripping from your fangs might stain your keyboards.
Late last week, there was a photo posted (always possibility of a fake), showing a smoke trail, going up to about 4/5k and coming almost straight back down, to what is pointed out to be the school....
Orsini:
After five decades of these damnn cowardly radical Islamists clerics authorizing the murder of thousands of innocent lives including Americans and especially my fellow service members, I have no issue mocking these SOBs and will celebrate their demise and stomping on their graves. They are the ones who truly spilled blood and not on their keyboards!
Chuck, you can refer to her as "Jessica" or as "Ms Orsini" but you're being rude to address her by her last name. She's not a private in your basic training course.
Paul: You're in a hole. Stop digging.
Paul, I never said that the "accident rule" didn't apply to both sides. Russia has clearly targeted civilians and Iran irresponsibly so. One could agree that von Braun deliberately targeted civilians, for that matter. So did Harris. The USAAF actually TRIED to hit industrial targets in Germany, not so much in Japan.
Reliance on AI will not help either.
1 Agree with SVC. Mistakes are part of war. War Crimes require intent.
2) "Taiwan could arrange to move the Fabs" You know how massive those things are? I was the Chief Safety guy building the IBM/ Toshiba structure (just the concrete stuff) in Manassas 30+ years ago. Most of you just don't understand how massive the underlying structure has to be. Not least for vibration resistance. The waffle deck had 5 FOOT deep cells. 24" wide "joist" with 5 foot wide beams. Columns were 40" square with a passel of rebar. And the air filtration systems are incredibly elaborate. We had 4 tower cranes INSIDE the footprint that only reached about 5' out of the building envelope. Blowing up and building anew maybe. You really want to be in techtonically stable place. Like Australia.
3) I think those population numbers quoted are a bunch of hooey. Wiki and the CIA have date online that seems to refute them. I can state that in the Philippinjes there are tons of kids wandering aound. My wife is one of 7 kids, her dad one of 7, her mom one of six...
Air Defense: Defeating Shahed drone Swarms
March 1o, 2026: Ukraine is producing interceptor drones to destroy Russian Geran attack drones flying high enough to avoid Ukrainian truck-mounted heavy machine-guns that destroy low-flying Shahed 136 drones. It requires an average of two interceptor drones to destroy one Shahed drone.
Iran developed its delta-wing 200 kg propeller driven Shahed 136 drone a decade ago and it was first used by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen during 2019. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Iran provided Shahed 136 drones to Russia and assisted Russia in building a factory to produce a Russian version.
Last year the Russian October air campaign against Ukraine was one of the most intense so far. Russia used over 5,000 Shahed drones, 74 cruise missiles, and 148 ballistic missiles. The targets were components of the Ukrainian energy production network. Russia wanted Ukrainian industries and civilians to suffer as the weather grew colder. Russia is now producing over 5,000 Shaheds a month. They want to increase production 1,000 attack drones per day but so far have only been able to build 350 a day.
Russia calls the Shaheds it produces the Geran. These 200 kg drones travel at a speed of 180 kilometers an hour at an altitude of about 100 meters. They carry a 50 kg warhead. GPS navigation is jammable when close to the target while the unjammable, but less accurate INS backup, is not affected.
Over 80 percent of the Gerans have been detected and destroyed by a clever Ukrainian air defense system created by two Ukrainian engineers. Called Sky Fortress, it consists of nearly 10,000 cell phones mounted on two-meter poles with their microphones activated to detect the unique sounds of Gerans flying nearby. All this data goes to a command post where operators can triangulate on, locate and track the incoming drones and direct groups of gun trucks, equipped with multiple machine-guns and lots of ammunition, to positions the drones will pass over. The gun trucks have managed to destroy most of the drones they encounter. Ukraine has built several hundred of these gun trucks and deploys them quickly via roads or cross country to carry out the interception. This system costs less than a single Patriot air defense missile. This drone defense system is operated by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, and its simplicity, effectiveness and low cost has led NATO countries to request more details from the Ukrainians, including visits to NATO countries to further explain the system. Russia responded by having their Gerans fly higher, beyond the range of the machine-guns. Ukraine went on to develop new countermeasures.
Year by year Russia and Ukraine develop new offensive weapons to use against each other. Ukrainian air strikes use larger drones at targets deep inside Russia. Unlike most western militaries, Russia has become dependent on the use of missiles and drones instead of artillery and airstrikes. Ukraine reports that, from late 2022 through late 2024, Russia used 4,800 missiles and nearly 15,000 attack drones. The missiles are expensive, most costing one or two million dollars each, while some of the drones cost $35,000.
More recent drone designs cost only a few hundred dollars each. It was thought that the inexpensive drones would replace the use of 155mm artillery. The range and cost of artillery shells vary from $3,000 to $100,000 depending on its version and purpose. The basic 155mm shell weighs 43 kg and contains about seven kg of explosives. The Russian equivalent is the 152mm shell.
The only overt foreign Russian sources of weapons and munitions have been Iran and North Korea, which has a feeble economy with a GDP of only $30 billion and has long been subject to economic sanctions. Iran is also sanctioned but has oil to export and a GDP of over $400 billion. Iran was also responsible for the recent completion of a Shahed drone manufacturing facility on the Volga River. Russia has over fifty firms manufacturing over two dozen types of drones. These include three dozen different models, most of them with a range of 40 kilometers while about a dozen have ranges of 100 to 2,000 kilometers.
Russia is building a drone manufacturing infrastructure. By 2026 330,000 people will be involved in the development, production, and operation of drones by 2026. By 2035 1.5 million people may be involved in drone design, development and production.
Russia continues to obtain drones and drone construction assistance from Iran. While Russia produces 330-350 Shahed-136 drones per month, Iran also helps out. Russia has manufactured over 2,000 Shahed drones and at least 2,600 have been sent by Iran.
FYEO
I just saw a still photo taken of the "Tomahawk" that hit the Iranian Girls School.
Granted, I'm just a dumb civvie who don't know s#!t, but it did NOT look like a Tomahawk to me.
Yeah, it's body looked like the sort of thing that could be fired from a submarine torpedo tube, but the wings on it? The wingspan was less than three times the body width and the distance from the leading edge of the wings to the trailing edge was a lot. If it were Tomahawk scale, the wingspan came to, oh, somewhere between fifty five and sixty inches (assuming the Tomahawk BARELY fits in a twenty one inch torpedo tube), and the wing length was nearly seventy inches at the root, dropping down to some sixty to sixty five inches at the wingtips.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I could swear that Tomahawks have got some pretty long wings.
If I'm right (and yes, that's a pretty darned big 'IF' ), the "Evidence" that the Iranian Islamic Council is providing is a bunch of bovine manure.
While the numbers provided are eyeball estimates, what does the weak evidence I provide say to those of you who actually KNOW something about the Tomahawk?
Jga, have you tried pulling up an image of a Tomahawk? I ask because it's pretty much exactly the stubby-winged thing you described.